What is B2B, B2C and C2C Selling ?

B2B Selling (Business to Business)

• Selling products to companies or firms. Sale (Bill) amount are usually Large.

• Driven by efficiency & cost effectiveness.

• Firms want to be educated (Informed) about products.

• Long term Relationships are established between firms.

• Decision making involves multi-level meetings.

• Centered on Logic & rationale

B2C Selling (Business to Consumer)

• Selling products to customers (Individuals).

• Sale (Bill) amount are usually small.

• Driven by promotions & panache.

• Customers want to be entertained (elated) about product.

• Relationships are short termed.

• Decision making is simple.

• Centered on desires & gratifications.

C2C Selling (Consumer to Consumer)

• A type of business model that facilitates interaction between customers.

• Customer to customer businesses provides individuals with a place to converse, exchange and interact with other people.

• Many C2C businesses have online operations, online auctions and classified such as Ebay and Craig's List are examples of very successful customer to customer business models. These sites don't look to directly sell goods to their members, instead the customers are exchanging with other customers.

Difference between marketplace and inventory model.

Marketplace Model:

Marketplace model of e-commerce refers to providing an information technology platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller. The main feature of the market place model is that the e-commerce firm like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon etc. will be providing a platform for customers to interact with a selected number of sellers. When an individual is purchasing a product from Flipkart, he will be actually buying it from a registered seller in Flipkart. The product is not directly sold by Flipkart. Here, Flipkart is just a website platform where a consumer meets a seller. Inventory, stock management, logistics etc. may or may not be actively done by the ecommerce firm.

Inventory Model:

Inventory model of ecommerce means an ecommerce activity where inventory of goods and services is owned by e-commerce entity and is sold to the consumers directly. The main feature of inventory model is that the customer buys the product from the ecommerce firm. He manages an inventory (stock of products), interfaces with customers, runs logistics and involves in every aspects of the business. Alibaba of China is following the inventory model.