Cayly Dixon 991436914
November 27th, 2003
B2C: E-Commerce
E-Commerce: (def.) The exchange of products, services,
information, or money with the support of computers and
networks; business conducted online. (Turban Glossary)
Why E-Commerce?
E-Commerce benefits everyone involved: buyers and sellers and the economy as
a whole. Buyers appreciate lower prices, more selection, innovative products and
services as well as improved customer services. Sellers gain access to larger
and more diverse markets, reduced costs, and new opportunities (Chesher 128).
Figure 1 illustrates the increasing value e-commerce is pumping into the
American economy. The picture is similar in Canada and other industrialized
nations.
<<See Figure 1>>
(McMahon 57)
Types of E-Commerce
This broad definition of commerce over the Internet can be broken down to
include interactions between

Business to Business (B2B)

Business to Consumer (B2C)

Business to Employee (B2E)

Government to Citizen (G2C)

Consumer to Consumer (C2C)

Path to Profit
(Chesher 44)
Cayly Dixon 991436914
November 27th, 2003
B2C: E-Commerce
This essay will focus on the interactions of B2C relationships. Please note that
businesses can be categorized as consumers in e-business. The difference
between B2B and B2C will be discussed further however, simply put, it is not the
official title of the player so much as the role they play in a business interaction
that fits them into different e-commerce categories.
B2B vs B2C
The natures of B2B and B2C are quite different. As a result the issues,
challenges, and opportunities around these sectors are unique and often
incompatible. The websites used for these different functions, then, are
fundamentally different.
B2C Websites serve the functions of

Product display and selection

Sales transactions

Customer support

Interactivity

Replace or augment a “Bricks

B2B Websites serve the functions of

Developing trading relationships
with other vendors

RFP1s and Bidding for contracts
o example

Manage internal processes like
and Mortar” storefront
o Manufacturing
Development of brand equity
o Procurement
and loyalty
o Product development
o Finance
B2C sites are more “What you see is
what you get” in the sense that
o Supply Chain
Management
customers can take or leave what they
choose, but besides customization
B2B sites tend to function as an
options and the like, they do not impact
interface where relationship building
the seller.
and interaction take place to develop
Cayly Dixon 991436914
November 27th, 2003
B2C: E-Commerce
business partnerships. The “customer”
may have a large impact on the “seller”
in a B2B environment.
1 Request For Proposal
(McMahon 56-62)
The Dot-com Boom and Bust
E-Commerce, especially B2C with home consumers, developed once key factors
came together including a critical mass gaining internet access (Chesher 210),
stable and reliable information transfer (especially for credit card information),
relatively cheap internet access, and public hype about this new technology.
This build-up lead to the dot-com boom and bust experienced a few years ago
(Levkowitz). After the bust, many people held a lot of skepticism around dotcoms and media coverage suggested e-commerce had come and gone. Prof.
Bruce Weinberg, at Boston University, however suggests that this time since the
dot-com crash has been a time for flushing out the companies that don’t have
anything substantial to offer and has been a period of growth for companies with
business models that will work online. In their earliest stage still, businesses are
still trying to discover what works and doesn’t work with B2C (qtd. in McGarvey
259).
Issues and Challenges for B2C E-Commerce
Being that e-commerce is still relatively new and compared with more traditional
business models, the issues and challenges around creating and implementing a
successful B2C venture are many. Robert McGarvey states that “[a] B2C
business is primarily focused on using the Internet as a low-cost marketing
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November 27th, 2003
B2C: E-Commerce
channel to build a brand for existing products and services” (102). The list below
certainly proves this statement is limited in its scope of the issues and challenges
involved in B2C.
A B2C must:

Develop an interactive environment that engages customers and satisfies
their needs.

Assure availability, of products or services listed, of access to the website
and of adequate customer services.

Consider customer experience from first contact through the
product/service life cycle to disposal/follow-up to ensure a positive
experience and potential repeat business (Chesher 210).

Be accessible: judge who (demographics, psychographics, special
needs, etc.) and how they access the website.

Have an “abundance of ‘live’ information” (Chesher 217) available when
and where customers need it.

Project a competitive image, either with lower prices than the competition
or value added. How to project this image and message are critical issues
to consider.
The web from a B2C perspective is all about self service. The challenge of the
business planner and web-designer is to figure out how to make the customer’s
self-serve experience run as smoothly as possible.
Distribution: An Example of the Challenges in B2C
The reputation that B2C has developed is that it cuts out the middleman to save
the consumer money, just see Dell’s advertising as confirmation. When a product
can be shipped direct to the customer from the manufacturing plant, it seems as
though a distributor has become obsolete. The distributor, however, can have a
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November 27th, 2003
B2C: E-Commerce
significant role in the e-commerce economy if they redefine their role. It becomes
the distributor’s challenge to create and communicate value for their target
market. Companies like Chemdex have worked to position themselves as a
channel for ordering, supplying and directing information – a key position in the
distribution chain (McMahon 229) and have thus secured themselves a place in
the e-economy.
“Customers decide value, and in the digital economy,
middlemen who add no value will find themselves out of
business.” (McMahon 230)
Opportunities in B2C E-Commerce
From extending a “Bricks and Mortar” storefront to a “Bricks and Clicks”
organization to building customer base in different countries, the opportunities
that can be explored with B2C are extensive.

Assuming you can fulfill order and shipping requirements, the Internet
allows companies to expand their potential markets (McMahon 59).

B2C e-commerce has urged innovation of new products and services
unique to this medium of delivery. An example is the customization of
holiday cards with a digital photo a customer submits to a company over
the internet like www.absoluteimage.org (McMahon 59)

The internet is a new distribution channel for “soft” goods and services,
that is to say, products that can be delivered online instead of in “hardcopy”. This works well for information-based products like training
materials and ebooks (Chesher 207).

The tools now available on the internet allow B2C companies to anticipate
and cater specifically to a customer’s needs and desires. This ability,
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November 27th, 2003
B2C: E-Commerce
along with improved communication and product availability greatly
improves customer relations (McMahon 60).

Already touched on, improvements to the order cycle have limitless
opportunities. For example, the Internet allows B2C companies to offer
customization to its customers in a process of mass customization.
(Turban 19).

Dis-intermediation, the process of elimination of unnecessary steps in
the supply chain (Chesher 216), is one aspect which opens up resources
and thus new opportunities for growth and expansion of the B2C
company.
Conclusion: B2C
The discussion in Opportunities in B2C E-Commerce touches on how well suited
the web is for “soft” products. A blatant argument against e-commerce is that it
will never fully satisfy all commerce needs. It lacks one-on-one interaction, tactile
selection capabilities and immediate acquisition. The truth however, is that B2C
e-commerce was never designed to “take over” but, as mentioned is an
additional channel for consumers and sellers to do business.
After a shaky start, B2C e-commerce is beginning to thrive offering customers
self-serve, instant information, 24/7 access and a competitive market on items
that suit this channel of commerce. There will be continued issues and
challenges around offering the interactivity, service and accessibility to
consumers in order to keep their attention (Gauntlett 9) and develop brand
loyalty. Companies have the world ahead of them in opportunities as ecommerce comes with few boundaries and endless possibilities with regard to
technological development.
Cayly Dixon 991436914
November 27th, 2003
B2C: E-Commerce
Bibliography
Chesher, Michael, Ricky Kaura and Peter Linton. Electronic Business
and Commerce. London: Springer, 2003.
Gauntlett, David. “Web Studies: A User’s Guide”. Web.Studies:
Rewiring media studies for the digital age. Ed. David Gauntlett.
New York: Arnold, 2000.
Levkowitz, Haim. “History of Dot-com IPOs”. 2001. Last Accessed 26
November. 2003.
http://lhaim1.cs.uml.edu/haim/courses/summer_2001/case_stu
dies/dot-com_IPOs_history.pdf
McGarvey, Robert. How to Dotcom. Irvine California: Entrepreneur
Press, 2000.
McMahon, Ed. Bricks to Clicks: E-Strategies That Will Transform Your
Business. Toronto: Stoddart, 2000.
Turban, Efraim et al. Information Technology for Management:
Transforming Business in the Digital Economy, 3rd Ed..Hoboken,
NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2002.