For the first time, entire industries can join centralized electronic exchanges that offer commerce among many buyers and sellers. With a click of a mouse, companies can execute secure, real time purchases and sales on a global scale.
Online exchanges represent a nearly frictionless form of commerce.
Layers of inefficient and expensive intermediaries are eliminated from the transaction chain. Other forms of business to business e-commerce like online catalogs and electronic integration of supply chains lack the ability to match a single qualified buyer with a single qualified seller. None of these are true marketplaces where all participants have a say in the dynamic determination of price. Even auctions fail on this count, because sellers can set reserve prices. Many startups in B2B e-commerce are trying to garner enough buyers and sellers to make their exchanges standards within their industries.