eB2B Platform in the Philippines: Meaning, Types and How It Works

What does eB2B mean?

The e stands for electronic, as in e-commerce. B2B means business-to-business: one company selling to another rather than to a shopper. Put together, eB2B is any trade between businesses that happens on a website, an app or a chat. It replaces paper, phone calls and face-to-face orders. It is also called B2B e-commerce.

Some everyday examples in Philippine trade:

• A sari-sari owner reorders biscuits, soap and sachet coffee from a brand’s app after the store closes for the night.
• A drugstore checks its price and places its weekly order with a distributor on a web portal.
• A paint dealer in Cebu sees how much credit it has left and orders more stock over a chat.
• A factory buys packaging from a supplier through an online catalogue.

The last example is procurement, where a company buys what it needs to make its own products. That is eB2B too. This guide covers the selling side: how a brand gets its products ordered online by the outlets and distributors that resell them.

eB2B, B2B e-commerce and B2C: what is the difference?

eB2B and B2B e-commerce differ only in where you hear them. B2B e-commerce is the more common term for websites where companies buy from suppliers, and it is what most search results in the Philippines show. eB2B is used more in consumer goods distribution, where it often means an app that outlets use to order from a brand or its distributors.

The real difference is between eB2B and B2C, where a person buys for personal use. A sari-sari owner ordering stock does not shop like a consumer. She buys the same items again and again, and she expects her own price and her usual terms. The goods usually come from a distributor or wholesaler, not from the brand.

Prices that change from one customer to the next, and a distributor in the middle, make eB2B harder to run than an online shop. Get either one wrong and the outlet goes back to texting the salesman.

The three kinds of eB2B platform

Most eB2B platforms that sell to outlets fall into one of three kinds. They differ in who runs the platform, whose products it carries and who keeps the record of what each outlet buys.

1. A brand’s own ordering app

Outlets see only your range, at their own price, with their credit and the trade promotions they qualify for. The brand runs the app, the order goes to the distributor who already serves that outlet, and the brand keeps the order history. This suits brands that sell through distributors to many small stores and want those stores to reorder between visits.

2. A distributor’s ordering portal

Outlets see every brand their distributor stocks, at the distributor’s prices. The distributor runs the portal for the stores it supplies, and it saves a lot of calls and texts. The brand, though, sees only what the distributor chooses to share. It also has no say in how its products are shown or which offers an outlet sees first.

3. A B2B wholesale marketplace

Outlets see many brands, often rivals side by side, in an order the platform chooses. A third party runs the marketplace and may set prices. Many marketplaces hold their own stock and deliver it themselves, which puts them in the place of your distributor. Stores get choice and one delivery for many brands. A brand gets reach into outlets it does not cover, such as islands and far provincial towns. It gives up control of price, placement and the customer record.

For a brand with a working distributor network, its own app is usually the right core. A marketplace can add sales in outlets your network does not serve. It should not become the only digital route to stores you already cover, because those stores then become the marketplace’s customers instead of yours.

How an eB2B order works, step by step

This is what happens when an outlet orders on a brand’s own app that is set up well:

1. The store owner opens the app, a web link or a chat and sees the catalogue at their own price.
2. The app shows the promotions they qualify for and suggests a basket based on what they usually buy.
3. The app checks the order against your rules, such as the minimum quantity, the credit limit and the items that outlet may buy.
4. The order goes to the distributor who serves that outlet, straight into its distributor management system, so nobody types it in again.
5. The distributor confirms, bills and delivers the order on its next route or van run. The outlet can follow it and see the invoice in the app.
6. The salesman who covers that outlet sees the order in the account history before the next visit.

When step 4 is missing, someone at the distributor copies orders into Excel by hand and mistakes creep in. When step 6 is missing, the salesman turns up and tries to take an order the store has already placed.

How eB2B works with salesmen, promodisers and distributors

An eB2B app takes over the routine reorder: the part of the visit where the salesman reads out the usual list and the owner nods. That frees the visit for what needs a person in the store: getting a new product onto the shelf, checking the display, and finding out why a regular has stopped ordering. An app cannot do any of that. When app orders show up in the salesman’s field sales app, he walks in already knowing what the store bought this week.

Two choices decide whether salesmen and distributors back the app or quietly work against it:

• Count app orders toward the salesman’s target. If an order placed on the app does not count for the rep who serves that store, he has every reason to keep taking orders by hand. Give him the credit, and your reps become the people who sign stores up.
• Send every order to the outlet’s usual distributor. Distributors often fear that a brand app will cut them out. When each order goes to the distributor who already serves that outlet, on agreed terms, the app brings them orders they no longer have to chase by text.

What consumer brands gain from eB2B

• Orders between visits. A salesman may call on a store once a week or less, and less often in island and mountain areas. Stock that sells out on a Tuesday leaves an empty shelf, or a rival’s product on it, until he comes back. With an app, the owner can restock your product as soon as she sees the gap.
• Promotions seen when they matter. A trade promotion the store owner never hears about sells nothing. In the app, the offer sits next to the product at the moment of ordering.
• Order data you can use. Every order comes in with the outlet, the items, the price and the time. You see what each store buys, not only what distributors report at month end.
• Fewer messy orders. Distributors stop receiving orders as calls, Viber and Messenger messages or photos of handwritten lists.
• A reason to come back. Rewards and loyalty programmes tied to ordering give the store a reason to open the app again.

Limits of eB2B and what goes wrong

Most eB2B projects that fail go wrong in the rollout. These are the problems that come up most:

• Too many apps. A sari-sari owner may already have several brand and supplier apps on one phone. If yours offers nothing she cannot get by texting the salesman, she will not open it.
• Stores that will not install anything. Some never will. Let them order through a chat or a web link as well as the app.
• Wrong prices on day one. An owner who is charged more in the app than the salesman quoted rarely gives it a second chance. Check every outlet’s price, credit and live promotions before launch.
• Weak mobile signal. In provincial areas and after a typhoon, coverage is patchy, and an app that needs a steady connection loses orders. It should save the order and send it when the signal returns.
• No link to the distributor’s system. If orders are typed in again, delays and errors come back, and distributors lose patience.
• Very small orders. Some outlets order too little to justify a separate trip. Their orders should join the distributor’s normal delivery run.

How to roll out eB2B and what to measure

Start small and let the results decide how fast you widen it:

1. Choose territories you can compare. Pick two or three distributors whose areas look alike, for example in Metro Manila and nearby Luzon provinces. Keep a similar area outside the pilot as your yardstick. Include some outlets your reps rarely reach, since that is where the app can add the most.
2. Get the distributors on side. Agree how app orders reach them and on what terms before launch. Connect their systems so they never handle an app order by hand.
3. Let reps do the sign-up. Store owners trust the person they already deal with, and suki relationships run on that trust. A salesman who walks the owner through her own usual order on the app, during a visit, gets far more use than a launch message.
4. Give it time. Judge the pilot after stores have had the chance to reorder several times, not after the first week’s novelty.
5. Widen when pilot stores reorder on their own. Add distributors in waves, and fix what the pilot exposed first.

The numbers worth watching in the pilot:

• The share of orders that outlets place themselves
• How many stores order again without a salesman
• The number of lines per order
• How long outlets go between orders
• How many orders still get typed in by hand

How to choose an eB2B app for retailers

Feature lists for eB2B software all look alike. A demo tells you more if you run these tests yourself, with your own data:

1. Three outlets, three price lists. Set up three test stores on different terms, log in as each, and check that none can see another’s price or offer.
2. Follow one order. Place an order as a store and watch where it lands. It should appear in the right distributor’s system without anyone copying it across.
3. No app installed. Hand the vendor a phone with nothing installed and ask them to take an order on it, through a chat or a link.
4. Signal off. Turn off mobile data, place an order, then turn it back on. The order should go through once, not twice and not never.
5. The salesman’s view. Open the rep’s app for the same store. The order you just placed should be there, and you should be able to count it toward that rep’s target.
6. The owner’s language. Switch the app to the language your store owners read, English or Tagalog, and check the product names and offers too, not just the menus.
7. Back office. Raise a return or check a credit balance and see whether it matches your ERP.

The first three tests matter most. An app that fails them can still look good in a demo, but your orders will keep arriving by text.

eB2B by industry

The basics are the same in every sector, but what the app must handle changes with what you sell:

• FMCG and food: many small, frequent orders from sari-sari stores, convenience stores and wholesalers. The app needs a fast reorder, promotions on screen and routing to the right distributor.
• Pharma: drugstores and chain pharmacies order often and in small amounts. Here you need control over which products each outlet may buy. Nurturemed Pharma, which runs on BeatRoute in the Philippines, raised PMR productivity by 20%; the details are in the Nurturemed case study.
• Paints and building materials: hardware stores and paint dealers place larger, less frequent orders, often on credit. The app has to show credit limits and balances due, and dealer rewards keep them loyal. A leading paints brand in the Philippines improved sales productivity by 30%, as the leading paints brand case study shows.
• Auto parts and lubricants: workshops buy, and mechanics influence what gets bought. Stores must find the right part quickly, and rewards for mechanics drive repeat demand.
• Agri inputs: dealers order in short seasonal peaks, often far from good signal. Credit, stock ahead of the planting season and ordering on a weak connection come first.

Build, buy or use a marketplace?

Brands that want eB2B usually weigh three routes. Each one suits a different situation.

A simple rule: build only if eB2B is central to how you compete and you can staff the team for years. Buy if you want your own channel without running a software team. Use a marketplace to reach outlets your distributors do not serve.

Where BeatRoute fits

BeatRoute’s B2B Customer App is a brand’s own eB2B app. Sari-sari stores, dealers and distributors order from your brand on Android, iOS, a web app or WhatsApp, at their own prices and promotions. Each order goes to the distributor who serves that outlet, and your salesmen see it in the same account history they use in the field. The Order AI Agent suggests each store’s basket from its own order history. The app runs on one platform with BeatRoute’s field sales, loyalty and distributor management tools. 200+ enterprise brands use that platform across 20+ countries.

It suits consumer brands that sell through distributors to many sari-sari and general trade stores and want outlet ordering, field sales and distributor management on one platform. If you sell straight to a handful of large business buyers from your own warehouse, a B2B web store will likely serve you better.

Book a demo to see the app set up with your own distributors, prices and promotions.

Frequently asked questions

What does eB2B stand for?

eB2B stands for electronic business-to-business. It means businesses buying from and selling to each other online. That can be through a website, an app or a chat, rather than on paper, by phone or in person.

What does B2B stand for?

B2B stands for business-to-business: a sale from one company to another, such as a brand selling to a sari-sari store, a drugstore or a distributor. B2C, business-to-consumer, is a sale to a person buying for their own use.

Is eB2B the same as B2B e-commerce?

Yes. Both mean online trade between businesses. eB2B is the term used more in consumer goods distribution, often for the apps that outlets use to order from brands and distributors.

What is an example of eB2B in the Philippines?

A sari-sari owner reorders noodles, soap and coffee from a brand’s app after closing time. The order goes to the local distributor, who delivers it on the usual route, and the brand’s salesman sees it before the next visit.

What is an eB2B app?

An eB2B app is an app that a business customer, such as a retailer, dealer or distributor, uses to order from a supplier. A good one shows each customer its own price, credit and promotions, and sends the order to whoever delivers it.

What is an eB2B marketplace?

An eB2B marketplace is a third-party platform where stores buy many brands in one place, often with one delivery. It gives stores choice. For a brand, it means less say over price and placement, and the store’s order history belongs to the marketplace rather than to you.

Will an eB2B app cut out my distributors?

Not if each order goes to the distributor who already serves that outlet. Agree the terms with your distributors before launch, so they see the app as a source of orders they no longer have to chase, not as a brand selling around them.

Does eB2B replace salesmen and promodisers?

No. A visit stops being about writing down the usual order and becomes a chance to sell something new or fix a problem in the store. Reps back the app when app orders from their outlets count toward their own targets.

Can stores order without installing an app?

On many eB2B platforms, yes. BeatRoute’s B2B Customer App takes orders through a WhatsApp bot and a web app as well as its Android and iOS apps, so a store does not have to install anything.