Marketplace or Own Shop? B2B Platform Strategy 2026

Digital B2B trade is no longer a niche channel. Including EDI and classic electronic ordering, B2B e-commerce in Germany exceeds 1.5 trillion euros in volume (IFH Cologne). B2B online trade among manufacturers and wholesalers handled via websites, online shops and marketplaces stood at 509 billion euros in 2024, up 7 percent year over year (ECC Cologne). For 2025, a further 6.3 percent of growth is forecast (ECC Cologne). Online trade already accounts for 12.1 percent of the total revenue of wholesalers and manufacturers (IFH Cologne) -- and rising.

What matters for the channel question is the split within this online trade. Between 2018 and 2024, marketplaces were the most dynamic driver with an average annual growth rate of 29.4 percent (ECC Cologne). In 2024, however, their market share stagnated for the first time at around 24 percent (ECC Cologne). Manufacturers' and wholesalers' own online shops continue to hold the lion's share of sales volume at 76 percent (ECC Cologne). In other words: marketplaces grow fast but so far carry only every fourth euro -- and three of four euros arise where the company keeps the customer relationship itself.

The own B2B shop is the channel with the greatest strategic sovereignty. The company sets pricing logic, assortment presentation, payment methods and the entire customer communication itself. It pays no revenue-based commission to a platform operator, and every transaction leaves usable data in its own system. It is no coincidence that, according to Bitkom, 97 percent of retail companies operate their own web shop -- it is the single most-used digital sales channel (Bitkom).

The price of this control is reach. An own shop brings no visitors with it; visibility has to be earned through SEO, existing-customer engagement and sales. Anyone choosing the own shop as a strategic base should therefore invest early in being found in the search of business customers. The upside: every customer won this way remains a direct contact -- no intermediary, no data skimming by third parties. A well-suited open-source base is Shopware Open Source as a B2B foundation, which adapts to B2B requirements such as customer-group pricing and role permissions without license costs.

A marketplace's great advantage is immediate access to existing demand. Instead of building reach laboriously, you present your assortment where buyers already search. The channel is correspondingly widespread: 78 percent of retail companies already sell through online marketplaces (Bitkom). The demand side confirms the trend too -- according to Forrester, in 2025 more than half of large B2B purchases (of one million US dollars or more) will be processed through digital self-service channels, which explicitly include marketplaces alongside the vendor's website (Forrester).

Reach comes at a double price: commission and distance. Every order incurs a revenue-based fee that directly reduces the contribution margin. Often more serious is the loss of the customer relationship: on many platforms the customer formally belongs to the marketplace, not the seller. Direct outreach, reorder reminders or individual advice are restricted or prohibited. At the same time, competitive pressure rises: 65 percent of retail companies report that marketplaces increase the number of competitors, and 67 percent see growing price pressure specifically from discount platforms (Bitkom).

The channels differ not only in reach but in nearly every strategically relevant dimension. The following matrix contrasts the three options -- own shop, marketplace and hybrid model -- along the most important criteria. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment but frames the underlying tendencies.

For many wholesalers and manufacturers, the most viable answer is neither one nor the other but a deliberate division of labor. The core idea: regular customers and high-margin core assortments run through the own shop, where margin and data ownership are secured. The marketplace handles new-customer acquisition and the sale of standard or phase-out items, where reach matters more than margin. Newly won platform customers are -- as far as legally permitted -- gradually moved into the own channel through service quality, post-purchase support and attractive direct terms.

This division of labor matches real buying behavior. According to McKinsey, B2B customers now use an average of ten interaction channels across the buying journey, twice as many as in 2016 (McKinsey). The study describes a 'rule of thirds': buyers want roughly one third in-person contact, one third remote interaction and one third full self-service -- and more than half expect to switch seamlessly between channels (McKinsey). A hybrid model serves this behavior instead of forcing customers into a single channel.

The often underestimated difference between the channels is data ownership. Selling through your own shop, you see which items a customer views, how often they reorder, which categories grow and where advice is needed. This data is the basis for a B2B customer portal with personalized prices and order lists, for targeted cross-selling and for reliable sales planning. On the marketplace, this picture usually stays with the operator -- the seller only sees the completed transaction.

Data ownership only unfolds its value once systems are connected. Only ERP integration between shop and inventory management turns order data into end-to-end processes: real-time stock, customer-specific prices, automatic document flows. Exactly this depth can only be mapped to a limited extent on a third-party marketplace. A digital spare-parts catalog in aftersales, for instance, depends on precise stock data and machine assignments -- a data asset that is lifted in the own channel but fizzles out on the platform.

A common mistake is the superficial cost comparison: 'The marketplace only costs commission, the shop costs development.' Realistic is the total view across the total cost of ownership of both channels -- including their effects on the contribution margin. Anyone setting up the calculation cleanly assesses not just initial investments but the ongoing cost per euro sold over several years.

The rule of thumb: for high-margin reorder assortments with a stable customer base, the own shop usually pays off faster because the saved commission lifts the contribution margin. For low-margin standard items where reach beats margin, the marketplace can be the more economical first channel. Separating both effects cleanly almost inevitably leads to a segmented -- that is, hybrid -- answer. A reliable calculation is part of our B2B e-commerce consulting.

Instead of a blanket recommendation, a structured self-check helps. The following guiding questions frame where the focus of your own platform strategy should lie. The more questions point toward control and repeat purchase, the more strongly they argue for the own shop as a strategic base.

Regardless of how strongly a marketplace is integrated later: the own shop is the data-sovereign backbone of the strategy. Shopware Open Source suits this because it is open source, requires no license costs and adapts to B2B requirements such as customer-group prices, volume discounts, role permissions and multi-level approvals. Via interfaces and integrations, the shop is connected to ERP, PIM and accounting so that stock, prices and documents flow end to end.

In our individual Shopware development, we build this base so that a later marketplace connection is not a reversal but an extension. On request, this grows into a full B2B portal with self-service, quotation and approval features. For assortments with high variant complexity, a product configurator with guided selling can be added, keeping complex orders in the own channel. This keeps the platform strategy adaptable over time -- without giving the customer relationship out of your hands.