Business to Consumer

A transaction that occurs between a company and a consumer, as opposed to a transaction between companies (called B2B). The term may also describe a company that provides goods or services for consumers.

How B2C Uses Technology
A common theme for a business to consumer model is a huge, diverse set of items for the person to choose from through a database. Another theme is the ability to inspect items enough to determine which particular item is desired, or providing known commodities (like books) that can be described by title and source/author.

eTailing
During the last few years, Web sites have shifted from displaying electronic catalogs to providing a channel for complete solutions to business challenges - generating sales using interactive and dynamic tools as well as electronic customer service. The growth of eCommerce consulting has changed the way business is done today. Businesses will spend $50 billion a year on Internet strategic services in 2005. Outside of its traditional "brick-and-mortar" retail locations, the bulk of the company's revenues come from its catalog sales. It has experienced tremendous growth in revenues during the last few years.

Challenges for B2C Businesses
What are the major challenges of B2C e-commerce? Getting browsers to buy things — Your e-commerce site cannot live on traffic alone. Getting visitors to the site is only half the battle. Whether they buy something is what determines if your online store is successful. There are many factors other than traffic, which determine if your online store has strong sales numbers. Some people are disappointed to learn that their particular item does not sell well on the Internet. Go to the page what businesses sell for a list of things which don't seem to do as well.

Some items which need to be examined first hand don't do as well online. For example, for most people in the USA having access to 10,000 types of cheeses is not good on two counts - most don't choose among that many varieties, and the name and a text description or pictures is probably not enough for most people to make a decision online.

Outlook for B2C Businesses
When you compare all sales methods you see that being online often has clear advantages to the buyer, and not just price. But if a likelihood of online success is important to your business you must weigh all the factors.