The Computer Revolution/Business Models in a Nutshell

E-Commerce- Business Models in a Nutshell:
It's not that long ago since many of us started doing business online. This is an efficient of way of reaching to a large pool of consumers. E-Commerce refers to doing business transactions online. Now there are different ways how this can be done. Therefore they are further classified in four different E-commerce Business Models: B2C- Business to Consumer B2B- Business to Business C2C- Consumer to Consumer B2G- Business to Government

We've all used all four of these models sometime in our lives. But we aren't aware of what we are actually dealing with. Hence it is important to know and be aware of all these types of E-Commerce business models.

B2C:

B2C - Business to Consumer. This simply means transactions are being made between a business and a consumer online. To best understand this, we can take an example of Amazon. Amazon is the business and we who buy things off of it online, are the consumers. This is the most common type of E-Commerce Business model we see. Anything like Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Tiger Direct, Radio Shack and etc. fall under this category. They all fall under the category of B2C. They all have their own website and customers who buy merchandise online. The Pro's are that this has made buying products really easy online but there's always a slight risk of an unknown identity theft online.



B2B:

In this type of business model, transactions are being made between businesses. This usually takes place when a business is buying merchandise in bulk from another business. This also promotes better prices for the business that is buying merchandise in bulk. To better understand this, we can look at a school that is buying one hundred computers from Dell for student use. B2B transactions are more likely to take place in a large institution or companies for resources.

C2C:

This is an interesting type of business model where transactions are being made between consumers online. This type of business model has grown a lot in recent years and we all have probably used it once in our lives. The best example for this is eBay Here consumers can be buyers and vice-versa. Hence it's called C2C. People are buying and selling merchandise online. Craigslist is another big one here. If we notice, a lot of people buy used cars from craigslist because they're cheaper and they can negotiate more than they would be able to at a dealer. So in this case, it can be a win-win situation for both parties. This is one of the benefits of using this business model! Some of the cons in dealing with people online is you don't know them. There are also issues with security and warranty on products.



B2G:

B2G means transactions made between a business and the government. For example if someone were to get a parking ticket. He could pay it off online. The website that's processing the payment is paying it to the government. So this type of an online business model is referred to as B2G. Other websites where you pay federal taxes, property taxes and etc are also an example of this business model.

Reference: Morely, Deborah, and Charles Parker. Understanding Computers Today and Tomorrow. Boston: Course Technology, 2011. Print.