What is Business-to-Consumer (B2C)? 

Business-to-consumer – “B2C” – refers to commerce between a business and an individual consumer.In the B2C model, a consumer goes to the website, selects a catalog, orders the catalog, and an email is sent to the business organization. After receiving the order, goods are dispatched to the customer. Following are the key features of the B2C model −

• Heavy advertising required to attract customers.
• High investments in terms of hardware/software.
• Support or good customer care service.

                    Models of B2C Sales                   

In online business-to-consumer sales, there are generally five business models.

1. Direct Sellers

This is the type most people are familiar with – they are the online retail sites where consumers buy products. They can be manufacturers such as Gap or Dell or small businesses that create and sell products, but they can also be online versions of department stores selling products from a wide range of brands and manufacturers. Examples include Target.com, Macys.com, and Zappos.com.

2. Online Intermediaries

These “go-betweens” put buyers and sellers together without owning the product or service. Examples include online travel sites such as Expedia and Trivago and arts and crafts retailer Etsy.

3. Advertising-Based

This approach leverages high volumes of web traffic to sell advertising which, in turn, sells products or services to the consumer. This model uses high-quality free content to attract site visitors, who then encounter online ads. Media outlets that have no paid subscription component, such as the Huffington Post and Observer.com, are examples.

4. Community-Based

This model uses online communities built around shared interests to help advertisers market their products directly to site users. It could be an online forum for photography buffs, people with diabetes, or marching band members. The best-known example is Facebook, which helps marketers target ads to people according to very specific demographics.

5. Fee-Based

These direct-to-consumer sites charge a subscription fee for access to their content. They typically include publications that offer a limited amount of content for free but charge for most of it – such as The Wall Street Journal – or entertainment services such as Netflix or Hulu.