What’s the difference between B2B ecommerce and B2C ecommerce?
B2B stands for ‘business to business’ while B2C is ‘business to consumer’. B2B ecommerce utilises online platforms to sell products or services to other businesses. B2C e-commerce targets personal consumers. A company that sells office furniture, software, or paper to other businesses would be an example of a B2B company.
B2B ecommerce tends to be more complex than B2C ecommerce. It involves heavier research, more needs-based purchasing, and less marketing-driven buying. Many B2B buyers have very tight parameters around the purchases they can make. This means that traditional revenue drivers like add-ons don’t have the same impact.
Why is B2B ecommerce more complex than B2C E-commerce?
- B2B buyers have to consult with multiple departments before purchasing, while B2C consumers only have to consider themselves.
- B2B buyers look at the long term, which means they spend more time researching and sourcing recommendations. The B2C customer is more prone to impulse buying or emotionally driven purchases.
- B2B buyers deal in high-value purchases, so any misstep is magnified. Small-value B2C purchasing errors are much less impactful.
- B2B buyers are generally repeat purchasers, so organizations’ have to consider the long-buyer lifecycle. B2C consumers will often only buy a product once.
- Since B2B buyers are making buying decisions for entire companies, they have a tighter remit than B2C customers.
What Is Business-to-Consumer (B2C)?
The term business-to-consumer (B2C) refers to the process of selling products and services directly between a business and consumers who are the end-users of its products or services. Most companies that sell directly to consumers can be referred to as B2C companies.
B2C became immensely popular during the boom of the late 1990s when it was mainly used to refer to online retailers who sold products and services to consumers through the internet.
B2C in the Digital World
Direct sellers
This is the most common model in which people buy goods from online retailers. These may include small businesses or simply online versions of department stores that sell products from different manufacturers.
Online intermediaries
These are liaisons or go-betweens who don’t actually own products or services that put buyers and sellers together. Sites like Expedia, trivago, and Etsy fall into this category.
Community-based
Sites like Meta , which build online communities based on shared interests, help marketers and advertisers promote their products directly to consumers.
Advertising-based
This model uses free content to get visitors to a website. Those visitors, in turn, come across digital or online ads. Large volumes of web traffic are used to sell advertising, which sells goods and services.
B2C vs. Business-to-Business (B2B)
As mentioned above, the business-to-consumer model differs from the business-to-business (B2B) model. While consumers buy products for their personal use, businesses buy products to use for their companies. Large purchases, generally require approval from those who head up a company. This makes a business’ purchasing power more complex than that of the average consumer.
Unlike the B2C business model, pricing structures tend to be different in the B2B model. With B2C, consumers often pay the same price for the same products. However, prices are not necessarily the same. Businesses tend to negotiate prices and payment terms.
What Is Business-to-Consumer and How Does It Differ From Business-to-Business?
business-to-consumer (B2C) increasingly became a term that referred to companies with consumers as their end-users. This stands in contrast to business-to-business (B2B), or companies whose primary clients are other businesses. B2C companies operate on the internet and sell products to customers online. Amazon, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Walmart are some examples of B2C companies.
What is B2B?
B2B stands for “business-to-business,” which refers to a business model where businesses sell products and services to other companies as opposed to consumers.
If you’re a new marketer in the B2B space, or a small B2B business owner learning the ropes, B2B marketing can seem new and strange, but not to worry — you’ll soon learn it’s not so different from typical consumer marketing, and we’ll go over everything you need to know so you can create an effective B2B marketing strategy.
