B2b Vs B2c Supply Chain

B2C vs B2B Supply Chain Comparison Paper

Charmelle Hughes

The internet has played a pivotal role in changing how business in conducted across the world. Due to economic globalization, Ebusiness has become a necessity for companies to remain competitive. It is usually possible to categorize most e-business solutions as either business-to-consumer (B2C) or a Business-to-business (B2B). This paper will explain the supply chain differences of B2C vs B2B.

A B2C refers to on-line trading and auctions. The focus of a B2C is more on alluring prospects and changing them to retainable customers. The goal is to change a shopper into an aggressive buyer. The flow of information through a typical B2C is through the internet. The flow is as follows; product orders/service requests from customers, product information, specifications, providing of services by Business. Typical examples include ebay (Auction store), amazon.com (Online store), orbitz.com (Online service), and cheaptickets.com (Online service).

B2B commerce is basically doing business electronically or conducting business over the internet. It is usually associated with buying and selling information, products, and services by way of the internet or by using private networks shared among business partners. B2B also know as emarkets allow companies to synchronize activities such as product design, procurement, transportation planning, production planning, and marketing. B2B markets give businesses a more flexible, open, reliable, highly available and scalable environment. There has to be a basic understanding of how a business buys and what a business buys in order to categorize the type of B2B markets. In addition, a knowledge of if they follow systemic sourcing or spot sourcing. The types of B2B market include MRO, Yield Managers, Exchanges, and Catalog Units.

In conclusion when looking at both e-business solutions in totality a business-to- consumer site is the end point of business-to-business-to-consumer supply chain. In their infancy, B2B and B2C have advantages and disadvantages to the consumer. The end goal is to provide the best and most efficient customer service.