B2b Vs B2c Supply Chain

B2B and B2C Supply Chain

EBUS-400

April 2, 2007

B2B vs. B2C Supply Chain

Today's e-business market is all around us whether when purchasing goods from a business directly, or when one business purchases goods from another business. This is the simple difference between a business to business (B2B) transaction and a business to consumer (B2C) transaction. Despite this simple difference, there is also a difference in how the supply chain between the two is structured. This paper will explain the difference between a B2B and B2C and how the supply chain between the two is different.

B2B

A business to business or B2B site is designed specifically for a business to place orders with another business. Now days, businesses are able to maintain supplies with a supplier company swiftly via internet business accounts or automatically with inventory systems. These business to business sites are geared for quick ordering, so typically the websites may be tailored by the industry type or have quick links to show previous sales records and amounts ordered. Features like this enable the purchasing business to better calculate supply averages and to make reordering of supplies easier without having to remember specific part numbers. An example of a business to business site would be a company like BF Goodrich Tire Company that would sell automotive tires directly to an auto manufacturer like General Motors. Even a large corporation like General Motors would rather outsource a good like tires to a company that specializes in a particular field like tires. Large business deals can come from business to business contracts.

B2C

In a business to consumer or B2C site, a typical website is geared to public consumers rather than other businesses. Although the site is designed for public consumers, smaller companies may consider purchasing from the regular public access sites rather than the business websites. Typically the business to business websites require large business accounts to be created before allowing order transactions; however the public websites do not require this other than a temporary account for a single transaction. A good example of a business to consumer site would be Walmart.com or Target.com. These businesses work directly with the public consumer market.

Supply Chain

(Typical supply chain. Source: http://www.eil.utoronto.ca/profiles/rune/node5.html)

What is a supply chain exactly? A supply chain in its basic definition is how a good or product moves from the supplies used to make the good all the way to the consumer. According to Search CIO.com (2007) Supply Chain management is "the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer