The buyer who stopped ordering but did not stop buying
A catering buyer found a good supplier of disposables through your marketplace. Three orders in two months, then nothing. The supplier's sales on the platform dropped at the same time. Later, you see a message thread where the supplier wrote their phone number with spaces between the digits to get past your filter. The buyer now orders by phone, the supplier saves the commission and the buyer saves nothing, except they have lost the protection and terms your marketplace offered.
Why trading goes direct
In B2B, repeat purchasing is the norm. Buyers reorder the same items from the same supplier. After the first few orders, the relationship feels like it belongs to them, and the marketplace's fee looks like an unnecessary cost, especially to the supplier. If the platform offers nothing beyond the introduction, leakage is almost certain.
Your terms may prohibit it. Terms alone rarely stop it. What keeps trade on the platform is value that both sides would lose by leaving.
| Signal of leakage | Where to see it |
|---|---|
| Contact details shared in messages | Messaging system |
| Buyer and supplier order pattern stops together | Order data |
| Quote requests with no resulting order | RFQ data |
| Supplier asks for direct payment | Messages, buyer reports |
| Buyer searches for supplier by name | Search logs |
What leakage costs
Lost commission on your best relationships, which are the ones that went direct. Distorted data, because the most successful matches look like failures. And a marketplace that ends up with only first orders and occasional buyers, which is a harder business to run. Buyers who go direct also lose the protections you offered, so when something goes wrong, they may still blame you.
It also changes how you value your own growth. Acquiring a buyer is expensive, and the return on that spend comes from their second, tenth and fiftieth order. If those orders happen by phone, the acquisition cost is paid in full and the return goes to someone else.
What we build to keep trade on the platform
- Message screening: messages are checked for phone numbers, emails and links, including disguised forms that simple filters miss, using pattern rules and AI; flagged messages are masked or held under your policy.
- Pattern detection: pairs of buyers and suppliers whose trading stops together after a run of orders are flagged, along with RFQs that go quiet after contact, for your account team to review.
- Reorder tools: buyers get saved lists and one-click reorders of previous orders, so ordering on-platform is faster than phoning.
- Consolidated invoicing and terms: buyers get one statement and payment terms across many suppliers, which is hard to replicate going direct.
- Supplier value: suppliers get guaranteed payment, collections handled and reporting on their buyers, which reduces their reason to take buyers off-platform.
- Outreach: flagged relationships get a conversation from your account team, focused on what the buyer and supplier would lose, rather than an accusation.
How you enforce your terms is your decision. We give you the signals and the tools; the policy stays with you.
What your team sees each week
A short list of relationships showing signs of going direct, with the evidence, for the account team to act on. Messages with contact details handled before they reach the other party. And, over time, data on which platform features keep repeat business, so you can invest in the ones that work.
Is repeat trade leaking away?
- Buyers and suppliers stop trading on the platform after a few orders.
- Contact details appear in messages despite your filters.
- Suppliers have asked buyers to pay them directly.
- Your marketplace offers little beyond the first introduction.
- Reordering on the platform is slower than picking up the phone.