business-to-business

noun

busi·​ness-to-busi·​ness ˈbiz-nəs-tə-ˈbiz-nəs 

: a sector of business activity that focuses on commerce performed between businesses rather than between a business and a consumer

a company that specializes in business-to-business

Business-to-business, the sale of goods and services to other companies rather than to the public, has flourished for centuries.

—Joanne Legomsky

—usually used before another noun

Business-to-business sales rose 4.4% from a year earlier, but retail sales increased less than 1%.

—The Wall Street Journal

business-to-business companies

the business-to-business market

—abbreviation B2B

Examples of business-to-business in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Other taxes proposed by the governor or Democratic lawmakers this year — like a new 75-cent fee on retail deliveries purchased online and a new 2.5% tax on a larger area of business-to-business services — are not in the final plan. —Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 30 Mar. 2025

The decrease is attributed to lower business-to-business sales, although business-to-consumer sales increased. —Quartz Intelligence Newsroom, Quartz, 27 Mar. 2025

As reported, last July the company introduced Digital Gateway, a new business-to-business division that provides business clients with services geared at ramping up their digital capabilities. —Martino Carrera, WWD, 25 Mar. 2025

One of the factors working in the merging parties’ favor to avoid a lawsuit is that the deal has relatively few consumer-facing components and is primarily a business-to-business relationship. —Owen Tedford, Forbes, 25 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for business-to-business

• agribusiness
• business
• nonbusiness