As a result, the dramatic forecasts for b2b ecommerce revenue growth from Gartner and other analyst groups never materialized. The company was acquired by an Italian cement maker in 2007 for $15 million. Digg this! Since the early days of the Internet, b2b purchasing has seemed like an area ripe for the efficiency and transparency improvements the web could bring. The theory has been that b2b buying processes are labor-intensive and inefficient, with heavy reliance on phone calls, emails and even face to face meetings. technologies. This is the place to do it.