Marketing Differences B2c & B2b

Marketing Differences B2C and B2B Sites

The Internet has changed the way marketing professionals implement new ideas to promote and sell products. The challenge nowadays is centered towards tendencies and trends established in the last 10 years by Internet users. Creativity and innovation have become necessary to lure customer's attention through B2C and B2B websites; hence, it is imperative to constantly improve sites without losing attention on customer needs. However, since there are sound differences between B2C and B2B sites, websites are required to be customized according to each business needs.

It is evident that there are sound differences between B2C and B2B sites. B2C sites are created for activities of commercial organizations serving the end consumer with products and/or services. B2B sites purpose is to effect electronic transaction of goods or services between commercial businesses. Both terms originated and is almost exclusively used in electronic commerce. According to Murphy (2007), the marketing programs are the same for each type of business (events, direct marketing, internet marketing, advertisement, public relations, word of mouth, and alliances), how they are executed, what they say, and the outcome of the marketing activities differ.

Although B2C and B2B are different, they share a common factor, which is the identification of who is the customer. After selecting and identifying the customer, the marketing activities are dissimilar. The first difference between this sites is the purpose of the site. B2B is very much relationship driven, which means that marketing professionals working in a B2B strategy are required to maintain a healthy business environment with other business partners in the same field. Regarding B2C, these sites are product driven, meaning that marketing professionals put emphasis in strategy to offer and sell a product to the customer.

B2B sites are created to maximize the value of the relationship with other business in the same field. This activity is achieved through exchange of information, company promotion, and building a robust network. In the other hand, B2C sites are more driven to maximize the value of the transaction, which means that they are more focus to promote and sell goods and/or services to individual customers in search for a more specialized product. Moreover, B2B sites targets small markets while B2C sites has its sights in a more large target market.

One difference that stands the most are related to the pricing of goods and/or services offered in both sites. Usually, the process of selling products or services under a B2B company takes longer than a B2C business. Most of the times, B2C customers are searching for the best pricing and efficient customer service. In the B2B world, selling a product requires more than direct communication between businesses, and it is important that details of a service or a product are clearly specified, that is manufacturing details, engineering design, or fabrication specifications.

As explained above, the selling and buying process in a B2B company can be described as a multi-step buying process, which are sales with a longer cycle, while B2C companies have a single step buying process, which means that sales cycles are shorter. The goal of B2C marketing is to transform shoppers into buyers as aggressively and consistently as possible (Murphy, D. 2007). B2C companies have a dynamic strategy of using more merchandising activities like coupons, displays, and very good offers to lure customers to buy products or to hire services.

Marketing strategies are different for B2B companies; the objective is to turn prospect into customers. As mentioned before in this paper, B2B marketing strategy is focused on building a solid relationship with business partners, and creating a communication network using marketing activities that will preserve or enhance