B2B, business to business, was a popular concept in dot com era. The idea was to connect the companies (suppliers, OEM, vendors…) using B2B software. In those days, there are a few B2B software companies such as Commerce One flied high. But B2B never grew as big as people dreamed in the US. On the other hand, Alibaba, the China company connecting Chinese manufacturers with foreign buyers, was very successful. The bar raised again recently as more players joined the party. One of them, is the Ninetowns (NINE), the company provides software for importing and exporting in China. The following is I saw from Andy Yu’s blog (in Chinese, see below).

We all know in business especially foreign trade, trust is very important. Essentially TooToo is creating its own rank system for the Chinese exporters. They have the raw data when providing the software and services for Chinese companies, and the rank is based on those data. When foreign buyers see an exporter is certified by TooToo, or “China Qualified Supplier”,  they can worry less about the quality etc. TooToo (Ninetowns) essentially is trying to create a credit report for the Chinese suppliers.

4.沱沱网–高品质是其核心所在（外贸）  

差异化！以高品质定位，这是沱沱网（www.tootoo.com）与其它竞争对手不同的地方。
沱沱网认为类似阿里巴巴那种以给钱的多少来评价供应商的优劣的模式已经落伍。沱沱网制定出了一套衡量中国出口企业是否优质的标准。这套标准理论上已经远远超越阿里巴巴的诚信通模式。
　　这套体系可以用衡量中国供应商质量的”九项指标”来描述。从中提取”货物名称、H.S.编码、产地、出口总值、出口规格、启运地、出口目的国、到达口岸、贸易方式”等九项海外买家最为关心的指标，并根据中国优质供应商[CQS]本身的意愿，将他们全部或部分贸易信息在沱沱网上进行展示，从而为海外买家提供慧眼识珠的依据，降低采购风险。
　　从资源上讲：九城关贸拥有充足的现金储备，截至2006年6月30日，九城关贸持有的现金和现金等价物总值为人民币9。38亿元，同时九城集团本身从事B2G业务，为进出口企业、提供海关行业的诸如申报，监管等服务。并且在此市场上占有90％左右的市场份额。服务的进出口企业达12万4000家。
从差异化策略上讲：九城采取以进出口记录加上质检相关信息来评价中国供应商的模式，把优质的供应商从大量的企业中挑选出来。这样可以比较好的与阿里巴巴等区隔开来。而且由于自有九城拥有这方面的资源，也不怕阿里巴巴抄袭。
　　所以有理由相信九城将会成为B2B外贸领域一股值得关注的力量，当然九城到底能够在这个市场走多远，这也是很难预料的。 

Disclosure: I own Ninetowns (NINE) ADRs.