What is ecommerce? If someone questions you what would be your answer? It is all about doing business online. Or in other words, performing business transactions electronically. This may include purchasing, selling, or exchange of goods and services through the use of networks like the internet. Although people believe that this is a completely new trend, it could be stated that since 1970s, there have been business-to-business undertakings via EDI (Electronic data interchange).
Did you ever know that? Nevertheless, basically there are four major categories in ecommerce which you need to know before an most reliable ecommerce website design.
Business to Business
B2B, is where the deal takes place between two or more companies. For example, a manufacturer will have to get the service of a distributor to deliver the goods to retailers and whole sellers. When they are connected through the Internet and also with the use of technologies such as RFID, once the goods are sold out at the retail store, the manufacturer will be updated in an instant and he’ll start producing a new batch of products to be sent out.
Business to Customer
A B2C ecommerce platform is quite different to a b2b. This where you carry out your business with the general public via the Internet and with the use of a shopping cart software. Unlike in b2b, b2c is all about what is in the mind of your customer. He/she should be willing to do a purchase online. There are some people who never do any deal on Internet due to security issues. In that case, there’s a risk unless you research properly and see whether you will have a considerable amount of customers and so on. On the other hand, the benefit of this method is that the consumer can purchase anything without human interaction and physical presence. It saves a lot of time and the product or service could be customized too.
Customer to Business
This happens mostly in academic matters. Let’s assume that you did a project or an assignment based on an important topic, and you need to sell it. With c2b, you can post it on a blog or any other web site and set a certain budget. After that, different companies may place bids within few hours once they review your requirements.
Customer to Customer
Although it sounds a bit strange, the best example for c2c is eBay. It is where the consumers sell their products to other consumers through bidding. The one who places the highest bid will win the deal and own the product. Further, there are other examples such as free classified ads, auctions where people can buy and sell to other consumers. They use PayPal as a tool of online payments.
What would be your choice? B2B, B2C, C2B OR C2C? Decide and go ahead.