Software-as-a-service (SaaS) marketplace providers do more than just offer software for selling your products. They also serve as strategic partners to help you grow your B2B sales and leverage your business’s operational capabilities.

Investing in a SaaS B2B marketplace is a big decision and can feel like an even bigger undertaking. That is why it is essential to choose a provider that truly gets your business’s needs and can grow with you over time. 

We at DJUST know exactly what you should look for in a SaaS B2B marketplace provider, the questions to ask potential providers, and the best options to consider in 2024. This guide covers all this and more.

Ready to dig in? Let’s go!

Why you should use a SaaS provider over an on-premise provider

SaaS marketplaces offer several significant benefits over on-premise marketplaces — and there are three major reasons why:

They help streamline integration and management

SaaS marketplace providers offer pre-built connectors and APIs to make it easier to integrate with your legacy software systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) or product information management (PIM) software. With on-premise systems, it is much more likely that you will need to build custom integrations — which is a time-consuming and expensive process.

Another benefit of SaaS platforms is that they leverage the cloud so your employees can access essential tools and functionalities from anywhere, on any device. That often isn’t possible with on-premise systems, which typically require employees to be in the office and connected to the workplace network. Worse, if an employee’s device is lost or stolen, they lose access to everything on it.

They are cost-effective and scalable

SaaS marketplaces are more cost-effective than on-premise marketplaces because they eliminate upfront infrastructure investments and maintenance costs. You can reduce IT overhead and plan on predictable subscription pricing.

Plus, without needing to invest in on-premise IT infrastructure, you can easily scale your SaaS B2B marketplace as your business grows. Your software provider is responsible for the cost of investing in new servers needed to handle more traffic or data. If you need additional features, your SaaS software provider will roll those out as updates to your existing platform.

Conversely, with an on-premise system, scaling would require you to make additional (and very costly) investments in new servers and other IT equipment. If you need new software features, you will have to develop them on your own — or upgrade to an entirely new version of your existing software.

They require no maintenance

Lastly, SaaS marketplace providers automatically update, patch, and maintain their products, so you do not have to. On-premise platforms, on the other hand, require you to invest in dedicated IT staff to keep your marketplace up-to-date.

The lack of maintenance is crucial because it means SaaS marketplaces always have access to the latest features and security enhancements. Plus, they are less susceptible to downtime. You can focus on building your business instead of maintaining your software.

Expert advice: You may think it is a good idea to build a custom marketplace if your needs are really complex. While this allows for total customization, it is a massive and expensive commitment and will require a lot of maintenance once finished. Keeping up with the latest tech and security updates will be all on you, too, adding to the effort and cost.

The top 4 B2B SaaS marketplace providers in 2024

Now that you know more about the benefits of SaaS marketplaces, let’s take a closer look at the four best B2B SaaS marketplace providers your business can start using today.

Expert advice: Be careful of what we call a “fake SaaS.” Some companies (we are not going to name names 😉) qualify themselves as SaaS providers when they are really only cloud-based solutions. Many of these solutions are simply on-premise platforms that moved onto the cloud but are not fully SaaS.

DJUST x Mirakl

DJUST and Mirakl have partnered to create one of the most unique and scalable B2B marketplace solutions available today.

Together, we offer a B2B-focused marketplace solution suitable for businesses of all sizes. Given that DJUST launched in 2020, you might consider us “the new kids on the block.” But in the short time since our inception, we have developed partnerships with major companies such as Adore Me, deSter, Monoprix, Naturalia, Franprix, Jeff de Bruges, and many others.

Meanwhile, Mirakl is a B2C marketplace provider with solutions for building seller networks, dropshipping, real-time order tracking, and more. When Mirakl is paired with DJUST, the result is a powerful and highly flexible SaaS platform with B2B-specific features for customer management, multi-channel selling, and more.

You can use DJUST and Mirakl together to develop complex sales channels involving customer-specific catalogs, international sales, and multiple delivery options. You can also build custom order validation workflows and give customers real-time order fulfillment and delivery updates. Customers can split orders, too, making it easy for businesses to order what they need for multiple locations.

You can monitor all of this through a comprehensive analytics dashboard. This is a great way to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for your marketplace and identify opportunities for growth.

We at DJUST have a long-standing partnership with Mirakl and can deliver integrated B2B marketplace solutions tailored to your company’s needs in a matter of months. Our solution works with all legacy systems and is designed to help your business succeed.

Plus, our team will be by your side and offer you support from the get-go — a true partner throughout this process, which we know can seem daunting.

Salesforce

The Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a SaaS marketplace provider that supports B2C and B2B sales. It enables you to build a digital storefront, monitor customer journeys, and manage your order fulfillment process.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a leader in incorporating AI into its marketplace. Customers can chat with a conversational AI bot to find products and place orders. Your sales and marketing teams can use AI to instantly generate product descriptions and landing pages. While the AI is not perfect, it is a neat tool that has the potential to increase conversions.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is especially powerful when used in combination with other Salesforce tools, such as Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, or Data Cloud.

However, it does not have great support for legacy systems or a large range of integrations. That means that if your business does not already heavily rely on Salesforce products, implementing a marketplace with Commerce Cloud can be challenging.

VTEX

VTEX is a SaaS marketplace provider that enables you to sell products from third-party vendors. Vendors can establish storefronts on your platform, and you earn revenue every time they make a sale.

A nice thing about VTEX is that you can onboard sellers from more than 2,400 vendors already working with this marketplace. (Vendor networks like this have become increasingly common over the past two years!) With VTEX, you decide whether sellers should manage their own products, prices, and orders or whether you want to manage order fulfillment for all sales on your marketplace.

A drawback to VTEX is that it is not a dedicated B2B solution — the company also supports B2C. While that might seem like an advantage, we have found that marketplace platforms supporting both types of sales often put a lot of resources into B2C selling and not as many into B2B selling. As a result, VTEX may fall behind on innovative B2B features in the future and leave your business at a competitive disadvantage.

Spryker

Spryker is an enterprise marketplace provider that enables you to manage a digital storefront with products from various vendors. You can also onboard third-party merchants and enable them to sell directly to your customers.

One of the unique aspects of Spryker’s marketplace is the Spryker State Machine. This workflow automation tool enables you to manage what products third-party vendors can offer, how inventory is managed, how orders are fulfilled, and more. It is customizable and does not require coding, even for advanced workflows.

Spryker is highly scalable and offers key B2B features such as contract-specific pricing, order validation, and omnichannel selling. 

However, like VTEX, Spryker spreads itself thin by supporting both B2B and B2C marketplaces. This has already manifested in a major missed feature for the platform: It lacks back-end features for sales and marketing. This can be incredibly limiting if you want to grow your business’s customer base.

5 key questions to ask your marketplace provider while shopping

DJUST's golden rule for finding the right SaaS B2B marketplace provider? Start by asking them these five questions. 

How does your platform integrate with my legacy technology?

Learning how a SaaS marketplace platform will integrate with your legacy systems, such as ERP or PIM software, is crucial. It allows you to foresee potential hurdles, check the provider’s flexibility, and decide if it meets your business’s needs.

On average, how long does it take to implement your platform?

This question helps you manage expectations and plan resources effectively while transitioning to a SaaS marketplace. The more you know about the implementation timeline, the better you can coordinate internal processes, minimize disruption, and ensure a smooth transition.

What is the roadmap for the next 12 months?

Asking a prospective SaaS marketplace provider about their roadmap offers a glimpse into upcoming updates, features, and enhancements. It also helps you understand whether a marketplace provider’s strategy aligns with your needs. Plus, it lets you see whether the provider is truly committed to a long-term partnership.

If a provider supports both B2B and B2C sales, ask about their B2B roadmap specifically. If they do not have a B2B-specific roadmap, that can be a sign that the company is more focused on B2C sales — a big red flag!

Who are your platform’s technical partners?

This question helps you gauge a SaaS marketplace provider’s stability, reliability, and potential for innovation. You can assess its strength against disruptions and see what it plans to introduce down the line, too.

Additionally, this question can provide insights into how committed a provider is to enhancing its platform’s capabilities through strategic partnerships.

What is the pricing structure?

Since most SaaS marketplace providers offer pricing by quote only, discussing the pricing model gives you clarity on the overall investment and what to budget for. Knowing about fees or usage-based charges also allows you to evaluate a platform’s affordability, scalability, and long-term value.

The bottom line

SaaS software is more cost-efficient, easier to manage, and requires less maintenance than on-premise marketplace solutions. However, it is important to pick the right B2B SaaS marketplace provider to achieve your business goals and scale up as your order volume grows.

You have many SaaS marketplace providers to choose from, including DJUST, Salesforce, VTEX, and Spryker. DJUST stands out as a top pick because it is solely dedicated to building B2B marketplaces and offers a wide range of innovative features.