Legal Definitions - business-to-business

B2B stands for business-to-business.

This term describes commercial transactions that occur between two or more businesses, rather than between a business and an individual consumer. In a business-to-business context, one company provides goods or services directly to another company, which then uses those offerings for its own operations, production, or resale.

Here are some examples illustrating business-to-business transactions:

• A software company selling enterprise resource planning (ERP) software licenses to a large manufacturing firm.In this scenario, the software company (the first business) provides a complex system designed to manage various aspects of the manufacturing firm's operations (the second business), such as inventory, production scheduling, and human resources. The software is not sold to individual users for personal use.
• A commercial cleaning service contracted by a chain of retail stores.Here, the cleaning service (the first business) offers its services to maintain the premises of the retail stores (the second business). The retail chain is the client, purchasing the service to ensure its business locations are clean and presentable for its own customers.
• A wholesale food distributor supplying fresh produce and ingredients to restaurants and catering companies.The distributor (the first business) sells food products in bulk quantities to other businesses (restaurants and catering companies) that use these items to prepare meals for their own customers. The distributor does not typically sell individual grocery items directly to consumers.