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The major difference between B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customer) in internet terms is the role of the B2B website. B2B concerns itself primarily with supply chain management. These are portals that allow businesses to deal directly with their suppliers and distributors online. Allowing electronic transfer of orders, invoicing and even payments. Wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers fall in this category.

B2C websites are intermediary portals to link customers to suppliers. Some of the major ones are ebay, an auction site. Yell, an internet version of yellow pages and ZDNet a technology market place. All of these businesses exist primarily on the internet. They are what is known as e-businesses (electronic businesses). All of them can be classified under one general heading, market places.

B2C concerns itself with selling to the end user. Typically these are sites like Amazon, online book retailers, lastminute.com, a "good times" portal. These sites are more interested in passing the goods to the end user. There is likely a slight difference between them and your business. They are actually internet based. That is to say they exist primarily on the internet. Offices and warehousing are borne from necessity of their internet success.

A B2B site deals primarily with other businesses, not the general public, a B2C site sells directly to the end user. B2B sites normally handle a lot more than just sales of products, they are a portal to conduct business transactions.

Whether your business is going to be an e-business or an e-commerce centre is down to the nature of your business. If you require some assistance, simply contact us and we will help as best we can. It is free of charge of course.

The Business to Consumer market has often been compared to a land race. That is to say that the first person to set up shop will take a lead in their market. But do to recent shake ups in the market a lot more is now to be expected of these companies. The B-2-C market is extremely vast, anything you have ever bought or will ever want to is available online. Before the Internet people obviously have had places to buy consumer goods. These companies are now reffered to as the old economy and brick and mortar stores, and they are using their customer loyalty and brand name to enter the new economy. Most of the new economy have only been in existance for a few years, but this also means that they are using new business models.

These new models result in online customer service, speed of delivery, and lower prices, While many brick and mortar companies are just using the same models as they have in the past. This is putting them at a competitive disadvantage, because they are unable to tap the full scale possibilities of the Internet. As this shake up continues, we will likely see an evening of the playing field. The new economy companies are currently being punished for lack of profits, due to growth strategies, while the old economy is starting to change their business models. In the end, we, the consumer will be the winners.

Business to Business e-commerce has already surpassed the highly publicized the Business to Consumer sector, and it will continue to do so. For this reason many B-2-C companies are trying to cash in on it. B-2-C companies are attempting to change their business models to incorporate a B-2-B platform, but most investors are having no problem seeing right through this.

"B2B eCommerce will hit $2.7 trillion in 2004. While Internet trade between individual partners will continue to flourish, eMarketplaces will fuel most of the growth -- reaching 53% of all online business trade in five years."

Where Business to Business e-commerce will truly differentiate itself is in what are being called B-2-B Hubs. Hubs are two-way networks that mediate between buyers and sellers, and create benefits for both sides. These hubs will be broken down into four separate models, Catalog, Auction, Exchange, and Barter. Unfortunately, competition will be feirce, often only allowing one dominant hub in an industry.

Supply Chain The definition of supply chain would refer to the distribution of a product, service, etc. from conception through the delivery to the consumer. The managing of the supply chain involves sourcing, manufacturing, storage, distribution, and delivery of goods to the customers. It requires integration with channel partners, including suppliers, distributors, and customers, to create a linked channel (www.learnthat.com).