Types of E-commerce? Why B2B E -commerce is the most significant type?
E-commerce or Electronic commerce is categorized in various types. In this article, we are going to learn about various types and how B2B E-commerce is the most significant type among all of them.
The types of E-commerce are
- BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B)
- BUSINESS-TO-CUSTOMERS (B2C)
- CUSTOMERS-TO-CUSTOMERS (C2C)
- CUSTOMERS-TO-BUSINESS (C2B)
- BUSINESS-TO-GOVERNMENT (B2G)
- GOVERNMENT-TO-BUSINESS (G2B)
- GOVERNMENT-TO-CUSTOMER (G2C)
1. BUSINESS -TO -BUSINESS (B2B)
This is the most commonly used type where any organization if uses B2B E-commerce sells their product to an intermediate and then the product is transferred to the ultimate consumer.
In short there is no direct selling between the seller and the buyer, an intermediate is in between to act as a mediator for the transfer of product to the end buyer.
To understand B2B concept with more clarity we can look at an example:
Arun is having an online grocery shop, if he wants to sell its products to the customers he might ask for the wholesaler and order the product for his store. When the wholesaler will get the order he will deliver the products to Arun’s store and then finally Arun will sell it to its customers.
So in this example we can clearly see that Arun is the seller, Wholesaler is acting as an intermediate and then comes the final customer to which the products are sold.
There are many things that can be sold in B2B business like:
· Petrochemicals
· Shipping and Warehousing
· Electronic gadgets
· Paper
· Grocery materials
· Agricultural
· Motor vehicles
· Clothes and accessories
B2B E-commerce comprises of some models to give more clarity to this concept:
1. SUPPLIER ORIENTED MARKETPLACE
Supplier oriented marketplace is named as E-distribution.
According to this model of B2B E-commerce, the amount of sellers are less and the number of customers are more. In a market there can be a seller who is more dominant in the particular locality.
Consumers blindly trust that one particular store and the products delivered to them by that seller.
In this type of model, a common marketplace is provided by the supplier is used by both individual customers and business users. A supplier offers an E-stores for sales promotion.
2. BUYER ORIENTED MARKETPLACE
Buyer oriented marketplace is named as E-procurement.
According to this model of B2B E-commerce, the amount of buyers are less and the number of sellers are comparatively more. Customers have many choices in the prevailing market.
A customer can decide which seller is giving them the best service, then according to it a consumer decides to give preference to that seller which also increases a chance for sellers to participate in the bidding process.
In this type of model, buyer has his/her own market place or E-market . He invites suppliers to bid on product’s catalog. A buyer company opens a bidding rate.
3. INTERMEDIARY ORIENTED MARKETPLACE
Intermediary oriented marketplace is named as E- exchange.
According to this model of B2B E-commerce, there is an intermediary between a supplier and a buyer, which gives a ease in the activities between both of them. An intermediary can be considered as a wholesaler or a retailer, which acts as a link and provides easy maintenance.
This model initially helps to increase the productivity and reduce costs thus increasing the revenue opportunity.
In this type of model, an intermediary company runs a market place where business buyers and sellers can transact with each other.
2. BUSINESS -TO -CUSTOMERS (B2C)
Some websites do not take support of any intermediary but directly delivers the product to its customers. There is a direct transaction between the buyer and the supplier.
It is convenient for the customer to directly look at the website of the business organization of the supplier, search for the product according to their choice and place order for the same.
Now the website will send some notifications to its organization regarding the delivery of the product and then finally the product will be dispatched and reach its destination with no time to the customer.
CONSUMER UNDERGOES VARIOUS STEPS IN B2C E-COMMERCE
1. A consumer recognizes its need for the product.
2. A consumer gathers some information regarding the product on the website.
3. After this, consumer compares he product based on many factors like price, availability, demand, delivery speed etc.
4. If a consumer is satisfied, it places the order.
5. Make payment
6. Receive the product and review them properly.
7. Last step is followed by any kind of service given to the consumer by the organization or a consumer can return the product of not satisfied.
3. CONSUMER -TO -CONSUMER (C2C)
Some websites holding C2C E- commerce has a mechanism of helping consumers if they want to sell to their assets like cars, bikes, residential property or they can rent a room as well by publishing any post on website regarding the information of the room.
For example –OLX.com is a website on which customer 1 places
a post to sell its scooter for Rs. 30000.So the customer will display all the
relevant information of the scooter on the website along with the contact
details. Any customer who wants to purchase that scooter can approach to customer
1 for further enquiry. If both got satisfied, they can confirm the deal and
proceed with the purchase.
These types of websites may or may not charge the consumer for its services. Another consumer may opt to buy the product of the first customer by viewing the post/advertisements on the website.
4. CUSTOMER- TO- BUSINESS (C2B)
According to this type of E-commerce, a consumer can approach various websites displaying their ideas and interest on any organization for providing any kind of further services.
For example- Freelancer.com is a website that helps freelancers to work independently on this portal. Consumers can make their profile and places an estimate of amount which he/she wanted to spend on a particular service.
Any business organization who fulfills the consumer’s requirement within a specific budget can approach a consumer and render the services.
5. BUSINESS-TO-GOVERNMENT (B2G)
Business organization can attach themselves with the government for any trading activities.
6. GOVERNMENT-TO-BUSINESS (G2B)
Government takes help of these websites to arrange activities for business.
7. GOVERNMENT-TO-CITIZEN (G2C)
These websites acts on the behalf of government to support and facilitate citizen by managing auctions for selling of their assets like motorcycles, house, cars or any other material.
The ultimate goal of these websites is to reduce average time for fulfilling people requests for various government services.
Such websites also provide services like registration of birth, marriage or death certificates.
CONCLUSION – These types of E-commerce enhances different activities that takes place with the buying and selling of goods and services.
Each type has its unique characteristics to facilitate and provide smooth functioning by increasing buyer’s productivity, reducing time and efforts and avoiding administrative errors.