Types of E Business

Ebusiness mainly consists of distribution, purchase, sale, marketing and provision for supplementary information of products or services via the Internet. E-commerce also includes the transfer of information between enterprises. In late 70s, Ecommerce started as a process of sending and receiving electronic documents such as invoices. As the process evolved, it included activities such as purchase of goods and services via Internet by using different types of purchase cards i.e credit and debit cards. Today, Ecommerce is spearheading a all new way of buying and selling online. Ecommerce activities fall into identifiable categories and can be classified as business to business (B2B), business to customer (B2C) and many more. This article is aimed at discussing these categories in detail



1. Business to Consumer (B2C): It is the direct trade between companies and end consumers. This is the direct selling via the Internet. For example: selling goods direct to customer and anyone can buy any products from the supplier’s website. In this mode is intended to benefit the consumer and can say business to consumer (B2C) Ecommerce works as retail store over internet.

2. Business to Business (B2B): Business to business Ecommerce existed in marketing from the very beginning. It is the trade that takes place between companies. Terms like offshoring and outsourcing are generally associated with B2B Ecommerce. For example: If I give my company’s payroll work to another accounting firm, it would be deemed as outsourcing. The term offshoring decides the outsourcing term further. If the work is outsourced to a company, which is outside the geographical boundary of the country in which the outsourcing company resides, it is termed as offshoring.

3. Consumer to Business (C2B): In today’s Ecommerce arena, it is growing trend wherein consumers demand specific products or services from respective businesses. For example: I contact a tour and travel operator via their website for purchasing a holiday package.

Consumer to business Ecommerce is growing at a rapid pace and the trend is set to continue in the future.

4. Consumer to Consumer (C2C): Usually, this type of Ecommerce works as Consumer to Business to Consumer (C2B2C). It essentially means that a consumer would contact a business in search for a suitable customer. Most of the auction websites (like eBay) and matrimonial websites are working on this methodology.

Apart from the types of Ebusiness mentioned above, there are various other hybrid forms of Ecommerce being practiced in today’s globalized world. Choosing the appropriate model is crucial and vital for your business and I would leave it to your best judgment.