B2B

Business & Finance abbreviation · Marketing & Advertising

B2B
Stands forBusiness-to-business
CategoriesBusiness & Finance

B2B stands for Business-to-business, a marketing & advertising abbreviation.

Commerce, marketing and sales in which one business sells products or services to another, such as software sold to companies, components sold to manufacturers or wholesale goods sold to retailers. B2B purchases usually involve longer sales cycles, larger orders and several decision-makers.

Example: We're a B2B software company, so most of our leads come from LinkedIn and industry events.

Usage notes

The abbreviation spread during the dot-com era of the late 1990s alongside B2C. Research firms such as Gartner report that a typical complex B2B purchase involves a buying group of roughly six to ten people. B2B marketing leans on account-based marketing, content such as white papers and case studies, and sales teams, and B2B e-commerce is larger by value than consumer e-commerce. Pronounced "B-to-B."

More marketing & advertising abbreviations

  • 4Ps – Product, price, place, promotion
  • ABM – Account-based marketing
  • ACV – Annual contract value
  • AIDA – Attention, interest, desire, action
  • AOR – Agency of record
  • ATL – Above the line
  • B2B2C – Business-to-business-to-consumer
  • B2C – Business-to-consumer
  • B2G – Business-to-government
  • BANT – Budget, authority, need, timeline
  • BOFU – Bottom of the funnel
  • BTL – Below the line

See all 111 marketing & advertising abbreviations →