B2B Internet Trading Platforms - EDIS

industries into the standardisation process in order to avoid standardisation efforts that only produce
specifications that will not be practically implemented.
2.3. Lack of trust in B2B electronic transactions
Trust and confidence has, so far, been mainly addressed in the context of B2C e-commerce, under the
aspect of consumer protection 9 . However, trust and confidence is a major issue also in the B2B field.
Trust has always been the foundation of business relationships and e-commerce has further reinforced
its importance. In general, many issues of trust in B2B are equivalent to B2C. The main difference is
that the customer is a company instead of a private consumer and this may make the need for trust
even more pressing, as the financial risk is often higher if something goes wrong with the transaction.
In general, B2B relationships are characterised by a high degree of familiarity, often based on long
established relationships, between suppliers and buyers. Statistical data 10 suggests that businesses are
using e-business mainly to communicate more effectively with suppliers they already know. 68 % of
companies purchasing on-line continued to work with existing business partners, while only 22 % of
companies choose new suppliers. However, reaping the full benefits of e-business may be subject to
the condition that companies transact with partners they have never met. Therefore, how to build trust
with so far unknown suppliers can be a critical issue for the future success of e-business and in
particular of open e-marketplaces.
The Eurostat e-commerce survey confirms that the lack of trust is one of the most important barriers to
the take up of e-commerce. In particular, enterprises cited that the most important barriers for e-
purchasing are uncertainties about contracts, delivery and guarantees (23 %) and uncertainties about
payments (21 %). For on-line selling, the perceived lack of trust on the side of the customer ranks as
second most important barrier, as regards payments (20 %) and contract terms of delivery and
guarantees (17 %).
In addition, the open consultation of the Enterprise Directorate-General on B2B related trust issues,
conducted between March and May 2002, confirms that the most important trust barriers for the use of
e-marketplaces for on-line purchasing, as perceived by companies, are the uncertainties related to
confidentiality of sensitive data (60,7 %), the lack of clear information on the terms and conditions of
the contract (57,1 %), the uncertainties related to security issues (55,4 %), to on-line payments
(51,8 %) and to the settlement of disputes (51,8 %). The most important trust barriers to the use of e-
marketplaces for on-line selling are the uncertainties related to the confidentiality of sensitive data
(58,9 %), to security issues (51,8 %) and to the settlement of disputes (51,8 %). In addition, the lack of
transparency and clear rules for auctions has been identified as a major trust barrier for SME
participation is such business model. This clearly confirms that trust is also an issue for B2B as well as
for B2C. A detailed analysis of the results of the consultation is annexed to this paper (Annex 3).
In general, the trust challenges in B2B electronic exchanges may differ according to the specific
business model and on the type of functionality it offers. For example, on-line auctions may raise
specific concerns related to the nature of this business model as a tool to reduce prices. In addition, the
trust issues are different according to whether the business partners already know and trust each other.
In case the business partners are well established and known in the off-line environment, the main
trust issue concerns the security of the electronic communication systems. If the business partners are
previously unknown to each other the trust issues concern both the identity and creditworthiness of the
business partner as well as the transaction process.
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The E-confidence initiative was launched in May 2000, to address the problem of consumer trust and
confidence in e-commerce. A group of consumer and industry stakeholders has been established to
discuss the main issues at stake and as a result an agreement has been reached between UNICE and
BEUC on a set of commonly agreed guidelines. The Commission intends to adopt a Recommendation
on the basis of the agreement. http://econfidence.jrc.it/default
PricewaterhouseCoopers “Trust not built at e-speed” Trust issues in European b2b e-procurement
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