E-commerce is becoming a growing field for both businesses and consumers who want their share of the market profits. With the ease of online transactions, the barrier to entry in this industry is set fairly low. Before you jump in head first, it’s a good idea to have a basic understanding of the various types of e-commerce activity that takes place every single day.
Business to Business
This is a fairly popular form of e-commerce that takes place. This specific category covers all transactions conducted between two companies. These transactions are of goods and services. With this type of e-commerce, there is no consumer or public interaction going on. You’ll see this type of transaction most often in businesses who purchase their sourcing materials from another business. These sourcing materials are used in the production process for the purchasing company to manufacturer their products, which they later sell to the consumer.
Business to Consumer
Probably the most familiar type of e-commerce transaction is that from business to consumer. This is where businesses sell their products and services online. The end user of the product or service is the consumer, also referred to as the public. Virtual stores sell all kinds of consumer goods such as food, cars, shoes, software, computers, and much more.
Consumer to Consumer
This type of e-commerce is when a consumer sells goods or services to other consumers. Most transactions happen with the help of a third-party platform. Some of these include sites like Ebay.com and Amazon. Consumers list their goods or services for sale on these third-party platforms and other consumers will purchase them. There are many ways for consumers to make good money doing this. In fact, there are many software programs, such as Stitch Labs, that are specifically designed to help consumers manage their sales.
Consumer to Business
This type of transaction is the reverse of business to consumer. In this scenario, it’s the consumer who posts the availability of their products and services for businesses to bid on. This is most popular for industries like photography. The end consumer will list their photos and rights for sale. Any business can place a bid on the product. The consumer can approve or deny the bid. If they approve the bid, the business will become the owner of the photo and associated rights.
Business to Administration
This field of e-commerce encompasses transactions between businesses and public administration. Some of the most popular transactions in this field include legal documents, employment, social security, and registers. These transactions make up a large sector of the e-commerce field and those numbers are expected to climb in the coming years.
E-commerce is a large field that encompasses a lot of different transactions of goods and services. It’s important to really understand the different types of e-commerce transactions above before you decide to get into the industry. When you understand the types of transactions you’re doing, you’ll be better able to understand how the entire field of e-commerce works.