Short answer
B2B ecommerce is online commerce between businesses. It covers wholesale catalogs, distributor portals, manufacturer stores, supplier ordering, quote requests, repeat purchases, payment terms and account-specific buying.
How it differs from consumer ecommerce
Consumer ecommerce is usually checkout-first. B2B ecommerce often starts with discovery, specs, availability, buyer questions and negotiated pricing before payment.
- Complex catalogs with SKUs, variants, technical specs and documents.
- Quote or RFQ workflows before checkout.
- Repeat buyers, reps, account pricing and approval steps.
- Payment gateways, invoices or terms chosen by the seller.
How total.supply helps
total.supply lets B2B sellers publish a buyer-ready catalog first, capture RFQs, connect payment gateways and run commerce operations with AI.