B2B, B2C, & C2C

B2B e-commerce offers direct links between a manufacturer, its supplier and its customer, and it supports business transactions, processes and information exchange. It enables a manufacturer to bypass other middlemen and shorten the length of distribution channel. Another prominent feature of B2B e-commerce is to provide a channel to develop new products and services for both existing and new customers. It offers a manufacturer the ability to dominate the electronic channel and therefore controls the access to customers and set terms of trade. The impact of e-commerce on the B2B sector has been already manifesting itself in a number of different ways. However, the future will bring more discussion between manufacturing company and its business partners on a number of levels within the supply chain that will result in an even greater need to harness the benefits of B2B e-commerce can bring (Walters and Lancaster, 1999; Fraser and Fraser, 2000).

Business to Customer (B2C), sometimes referred to as Business to Consumer, describes the activities of businesses in selling products and/or services. For example, someone buying a television set from an electronics retailer would be a B2C transaction. The transaction preceding this, eg, the purchase of components, screens, plastics etc. by the manufacturer, and the sale of the set from the manufacturer to the retailer would be B2B transactions. Many B2C transactions now take place online, eg, the purchase of books from amazon.co.uk, CDs/DVDs fromplay.com, or even doing the weekly shopping online at Tesco.

Customer to Customer (C2C), sometimes known as Consumer to Consumer, E-Commerce involves electronically-facilitated transactions between individuals, often through a third party. One common example is online auctions, such as Ebay, where an individual can list an item for sale and other individuals can bid to purchase it. Auction sites normally charge commission to the sellers using them. They act purely as intermediaries who match buyers with sellers and they have little control over the quality of the products being offered, although they do try to prevent the sale of illegal goods, such as pirate CDs or DVDs. Another popular area for customer to customer transactions is online classified advertising sites, such as Craigslist and Gumtree. Major online retailers like Amazon also allow individuals to sell products via their sites. C2C is expected to increase in the future because it minimizes the costs of using third parties. However, it does suffer from some problems, such as lack of quality control or payment guarantees and there can sometimes be difficulties in making credit-card payments.