What Is B2C?
B2C is a type of business model where a company sells products or services to individual consumers.
B2C was described as commerce between traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and people who walk in to purchase the products or avail of the services.
However, today, B2C has evolved to include digital channels such as company websites, e-commerce platforms, and social media.
In the B2C business model, the company and the customer are the only two parties involved in the transaction.
The B2C market is broad and includes companies that offer physical goods such as clothing and electronics, as well as digital goods such as books, music, and apps.
There are five distinct models that B2C companies use to move their products in a digital space.
Direct Sellers - This is one of the most common B2C business models that sell products directly to consumers. These include small online businesses as well as large retailers, like Microsoft and Apple, that sell exclusively in-house products.
Online Intermediaries - They do not own the products that are sold on their site, but they put sellers directly in contact with the buyers and usually profit by taking a cut of the transaction. eBay and Etsy are examples of online intermediaries.
Advertising-Based - It involves a company purchasing advertising space on a platform that receives large volumes of traffic, like Youtube or Reddit.
Targeted advertising used criteria such as internet searches, content viewed, and demographics to strategically place advertisements in front of a promising customer.
Community-Based - It takes advantage of online, like-minded communities occurring on media platforms and beyond. Since many of these communities form around a shared interest or a physical location, companies can identify promising leads more easily.
Examples of this B2C model are Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other online forums.
Fee-Based - These B2C models require payment to access a company's content. Subscription services like Spotify, Hulu, and Lynda, are prime examples of this model.