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Orders and payments are an important part of the marketplace experience. B2BCMarket is designed to support marketplace interactions between businesses, buyers, sellers, and merchants while keeping the connected business and product context available throughout the marketplace.
An order represents a buyer's marketplace transaction for one or more products or offerings.
Depending on the marketplace model and the participating businesses, an order may involve products associated with different business entities, companies, branches, and sellers.
The connected marketplace structure provides the surrounding context of the offering while the order represents the commercial transaction.
Buyers can discover products through the connected catalog structure before proceeding toward an order.
Business
↓
Company
↓
Branch
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Product
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Order
This allows the marketplace discovery process and the commercial transaction process to remain connected without treating the product as an isolated listing.
A product may be associated with a specific branch and, through that branch, with its company and business.
This context can help buyers understand where an offering originates within the marketplace structure before placing an order.
Orders create a commercial relationship between marketplace participants.
A buyer may purchase an offering from a seller through the B2BCMarket marketplace. The seller provides the marketplace offering, while the buyer initiates the transaction.
Buyer
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Marketplace Offering
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Seller
B2BCMarket separates the concept of an order from the business hierarchy.
The business hierarchy describes the structure of the marketplace entity, while the order describes a commercial transaction involving an offering.
A typical relationship can therefore be understood as:
Business
↓
Company
↓
Branch
↓
Product
↓
Order
The order does not replace the connected entity structure. Instead, it represents the transaction involving an offering within that structure.
An order may contain one or more marketplace offerings, depending on the marketplace transaction.
Each ordered product can retain its own product information and marketplace context.
This is particularly useful when products have different classifications, packaging information, inventory information, or business relationships.
Product availability is an important part of marketplace activity.
A product may be visible in the catalog based on the current marketplace availability rules. The ability to place an order can depend on additional transaction and availability rules.
Therefore, catalog visibility and order processing should be understood as related but separate concerns.
Product inventory can provide information about whether stock is available.
In the current catalog architecture, product inventory is represented using stock quantity and stock availability information.
This information can help buyers understand the current availability of an offering before proceeding with a transaction.
Payments represent the financial part of a marketplace transaction.
An order and a payment are related but should be treated as separate concepts. The order represents what is being purchased, while the payment represents the financial settlement associated with that transaction.
Order
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What is being purchased
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Payment
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How the transaction is financially settled
Marketplace payment methods can vary depending on the transaction, marketplace configuration, participating businesses, and applicable payment providers.
The payment process may therefore be treated as a dedicated part of the transaction lifecycle rather than being embedded into the product catalog itself.
Orders can move through different stages during their lifecycle.
A typical order lifecycle may include stages such as:
The exact lifecycle can depend on the marketplace transaction and the implementation of the ordering and payment systems.
Payment processing can also have its own status independent of the order status.
For example, an order may exist while its payment is still being processed. Likewise, a payment may fail or be cancelled without changing the identity of the original order.
Keeping order and payment states separate provides a clearer representation of the transaction lifecycle.
Businesses can use marketplace orders to receive commercial transactions for their products or services.
The connected structure can provide the business context surrounding an ordered offering.
This can be especially useful for businesses that operate multiple companies, branches, or marketplace locations.
Buyers can use orders to keep track of their marketplace transactions.
Depending on the transaction, order information may include details about the ordered products, seller, quantities, pricing, delivery information, and payment status.
Sellers can use marketplace orders to manage transactions associated with their marketplace offerings.
The order can connect the commercial transaction with the offering that was originally presented through the seller's marketplace presence.
A product can be associated with a branch in the B2BCMarket connected entity architecture.
This relationship can provide useful operational context for an order, especially where different branches represent different locations, service areas, or operational units.
The Connected Entity Architecture (BCEA) primarily describes the public relationship between:
Business → Company → Branch → Product
Orders are a commercial layer that operates around marketplace offerings.
Conceptually:
Business
↓
Company
↓
Branch
↓
Product
↓
Order
↓
Payment
This distinction helps keep public catalog identity separate from transactional information.
The catalog describes marketplace entities and their relationships.
Transactional systems handle information related to orders, payments, fulfillment, and other commercial processes.
These responsibilities can work together without requiring the public catalog structure to contain private transaction information.
Public catalog information can describe businesses, companies, branches, and products that are available for marketplace discovery.
Order and payment information may contain private transaction details and should therefore be handled separately from public catalog representations.
This separation is important for maintaining a clear boundary between public marketplace discovery and private transaction processing.
A transaction can preserve the relationship between the buyer, seller, product, and relevant marketplace context.
This provides a foundation for a marketplace experience in which the transaction can be understood in relation to the offering that generated it.
Merchants can participate in marketplace activity around orders and transactions according to the applicable marketplace and commercial arrangements.
Merchant participation can therefore exist alongside the buyer, seller, and marketplace transaction without changing the underlying public entity hierarchy.
Separating orders from payments provides several advantages:
The overall marketplace experience can therefore be understood as two connected layers.
Business
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Company
↓
Branch
↓
Product
Buyer
↓
Order
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Payment
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Fulfillment / Completion
Together, these layers provide a marketplace journey from discovery to transaction.
The central idea is that the public catalog helps users discover marketplace offerings, while the ordering and payment systems handle the commercial transaction that follows.
This allows B2BCMarket to maintain a structured public marketplace while supporting transactional activity around the offerings represented within it.
You can continue exploring the B2BCMarket introduction through the following topics: