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

The firm is also no longer pursuing a new business-to-business dry-cleaning business that would have made use of its mammoth cleaning operation. — Evan Clark, Footwear News, 11 Sep. 2026

The primary commercial use case for RfP emerging right now is corporate treasury and business-to-business (B2B) payments. — Ivaylo Bozoukov, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2026

It was pitched as a business-to-business offering for institutional customers. — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 12 Aug. 2026

The former directly provides medical supplies to patients with chronic conditions in their homes, while the latter is a business-to-business distribution service that provides medical supplies and over-the-counter products. — Zev Fima, CNBC, 11 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for business-to-business

• agribusiness
• business
• nonbusiness