Buyer Service: New Power for B2B Industry Development

HANGZHOU, China, June 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Alibaba published its Q1 financial report on April 4th, 2012. According to the financial report, its number of overseas users increased by 38.6% in Q1, indicating that the traffic from user and buyer activity rose; the daily overseas visitors in March grew 30% from the previous year. According to specialists' analysis, the financial report shows that a series of buyer service measures taken by Alibaba have achieved an initial success.

It is generally acknowledged that conventional B2B industry began the in-depth development of buyer services at the end of 2011. Due to the influence of economic crisis, credit issues of trade and other factors, the B2B industry has seen slow development. The potential of this industry cannot be exploited further; therefore, innovation and reformation are urgently needed. Even though the B2B industry has more than ten years of history, it persists in the priority of the supplier. The TrustPass from Alibaba and Maimaitong from Huicong are products developed for suppliers. The weakness of this single model has come to the forefront in recent years; moreover, the slow increase of buyer resources cannot match exploding supplier resources; therefore, the B2B industry has run into a dilemma. 

Alibaba's new service measures have lifted buyer services to an unprecedented level for the first time, laying equal stress on buyers and suppliers; so the development of suppliers could be motivated. This new model is needed for the development of this industry, and it can also solve the problem of an enormous supplier group. The activity and transfer quantity are the basic metrics for a B2B website. The supplier will be attracted by the site only when it has enough purchasers. "The most essential element for a B2B platform is a buyer's purchasing experience. Although suppliers are the gods of B2B platform companies, we must establish the concept that buyers rank first while suppliers rank second. You can only satisfy the god when you put god's god first," said Zhou Bangbing, E-commerce specialist and president, Weiku.

The buyer service is aiming to lower the purchasing risk, save the purchasing cost and improve the purchasing experience. Some B2B websites have established the professional buyer service department and released a series of buyer service products, which has achieved preliminary results. Take Seekic.com, a vertical electronic component platform, for instance. It has continuously launched the quality supplier recommendation, supplier certification, Escrow service and other services for buyers. The quality supplier recommendation is developed for the purchasing need of buyers, evaluating the suppliers from qualification, transfer quantity and credit record, thus the most suitable supplier can be found for the buyer, the purchasing risk can be lowered and the purchasing efficiency can be improved. The supplier certification can help to improve the quality of suppliers by investigating their true identity. Escrow service means that SeekIC plays a role as a mediator to provide security to buyers and suppliers when they are trading online. Escrow service intends to ensure safe trading.

To achieve long-term development, the B2B industry should attach importance not only to the supplier service, but even more to the buyer service. Only in this way can the B2B industry become the platform that is worth trusting and relying on.

SOURCE Hangzhou Weiku Information Technology Co. Ltd