The speed with which new marketplaces are being formed has not slowed down at all since then. On the contrary, more new German B2B marketplaces were launched in the first six months of 2000 than in the whole of 1999. About three quarters of all German B2B marketplaces are under two years old. Relative number of buyers and sellers and frequency of use Not only the absolute number of marketplace participants is important, but also what economic roles they play. In its study, Berlecon Research therefore wanted to know not only the overall user registration figures, but also how they were split among buyers and sellers.
Many participants act simultaneously both as buyers and sellers, thus enhancing the network effect.
This difference can be explained by looking at the marketplaces' orientations and the different-sized target groups they serve. This distribution was particularly striking in the larger horizontal marketplaces we surveyed. Although our study focuses on German B2B marketplaces, the development of national B2B marketplaces cannot be seen in isolation from global trends. In this chapter we therefore examine the market for B2B marketplaces in an international context. To this purpose Berlecon Research has evaluated data on 1,090 virtual marketplaces worldwide as per the reporting date of July 1, 2000.