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

With Anthropic's business-to-business model (B2B), anything is magically possible. —Jim Cramer, CNBC, 8 Feb. 2026

Fil Maresca, who has been working with the San Jose 26 team to launch San Pedro SuperFest, has been going business-to-business in San Pedro Square to make sure all the bars and restaurants are properly signed up and understand the do’s and don’ts. —Sal Pizarro, Mercury News, 5 Feb. 2026

Maybe Mendoza will have another LinkedIn update about business-to-business sales if he does indeed get selected by the Raiders with the top pick in the draft. —Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 22 Jan. 2026

Get Blue is designed to be a longterm platform that enables companies across consumer and business-to-business sectors to treat water as a core operating and market issue. —Jennifer Bringle, Sourcing Journal, 20 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for business-to-business

• agribusiness
• business
• nonbusiness