INMA_A01.QXD

Business or consumer model?

It is now commonplace to describe Internet marketing opportunities in terms of

whether an organisation is transacting with consumers (business-to-consumer – B2C) or

other businesses (business-to-business – B2B).

Figure 1.6 gives examples of different companies operating in the business-to-con-

sumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) spheres. Often companies such as easyJet

and BP will have products that appeal to both consumers and businesses, so will have

different parts of their site to appeal to these audiences. Figure 1.6 also presents two

additional types of transaction, those where consumers transact directly with other con-

sumers (C2C) and where they initiate trading with companies (C2B). Note that the C2C

and C2B monikers are less widely used (e.g. Economist, 2000), but they do highlight sig-

nificant differences between Internet-based commerce and earlier forms of commerce.

Consumer-to-consumer interactions were relatively rare, but are now very common in

the form of the community components such as discussion groups or forums on B2C or

B2B sites. These interactions are also found on sites focusing on C2C interactions such as

eBay (www.ebay.com) which are still run on a business basis and some blogs which are

not run by companies, but individuals. Figure 1.7 is another example of a C2C site: the

youth network Dubit (www.dubit.co.uk) which is also used by FMCG brands to research

youth market trends and engage opinion formers. Hoffman and Novak (1996) suggest

that C2C interactions are a key characteristic of the Internet that is important for com-

panies to take into account, as is shown by Activity 1.2.

CHAPTER 1· AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNET MARKETING

Figure 1.5 The distinction between buy-side and sell-side e-commerce

Intranet

E-business

Internet and

extranet

Suppliers

Key

Suppliers’ suppliers

Organisational processes

and functional units

Intermediaries

Customers

Customers’ customers

Sell-side

e-commerce

Internet and

extranet

Buy-side

e-commerce

Business-to-
consumer (B2C)
Commercial
transactions between
an organisation and
consumers.

Business-to-
business (B2B)
Commercial
transactions between
an organisation and
other organisations
(inter-organisational
marketing).

Consumer-to-
consumer (C2C)
Informational or
financial transactions
between consumers,
but usually mediated
through a business site.

Consumer-to-
business (C2B)
Consumers approach
the business with an
offer.