E-commerce refers to the selling and buying of products using the internet. It’s an online business model where an exchange is processed between two parties.
Benefits of E-commerce
The term is often used to describe the transfer of money for physical products. However, any transaction that happens online can be considered as e-commerce.
Anyone can benefit from e-commerce. We all have before either through buying or selling a product on the internet.
E-commerce is growing by 23% each year, and it’s expected to top $27 trillion in 2020. If you want to profit from this online shopping revolution, now is the time to get started with it.
Types of E-commerce
There are four major segments of e-commerce online today. They differ depending on the two parties involved in the transaction.
1. Business to business (B2B)
B2B is when a business provides its services or products to another business.
Our service is a perfect example of this type of e-commerce. We’re a business that provides professional services to businesses in need of help.
BigCommerce is an e-commerce platform that allows business owners to build online stores, market their products, and sell on the internet. It provides tools that simplify storefront design, even for users with no coding skills.
You can sell on multiple online marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, eBay, and Google Shopping) and receive payments with digital wallets like Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and PayPal One Touch.
BigCommerce also integrates with Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to help you attract customers from social channels.
Other tools include: Shopify, Amazon Business and ECPlaza
2. Business to customer (B2C)
B2C includes businesses that sell their products or services to direct customers.
Constant Contact provides a platform that simplifies every step of the e-commerce process. Businesses can create and customize online stores, offer coupons and discounts, and accept payments through PayPal and Stripe.
Via Constant Contact’s online dashboard, you can add new products, track orders, and organise your inventory.
You may also generate automated receipts and shipping confirmations, and there’s a tax management feature that calculates and adds taxes to customer orders.
To help businesses collect valuable data and identify trends, the platform offers an in-store analytics tool.
Weebly brings your e-commerce store to life with beautiful website templates, simplified payments, and smart marketing tools to help you find new customers.
You can create custom gift cards to boost sales, product badges to make items stand out, and customizable emails to connect with customers.
Weebly also provides a handful of nice-to-have features, including an inventory management solution and a shipping tool.
Businesses can easily collect and display customer reviews, and payments are processed via Square, PayPal, or Stripe.
Ecwid is an e-commerce platform that lets businesses sell via a combination of online stores, social media sites, and marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.
You can manage your Ecwid store from a single dashboard with in-built functionality to organise customer orders, manage store inventory, and control pricing for all your products.
The platform also integrates seamlessly with MailChimp, as well as Facebook and Google Advertising, to help users find customers and grow their business.
Businesses can accept payments with PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Clover.
Other examples include: PrestaShop and Amazon
3. Customer to customer (C2C)
C2C transactions happen between two customers through an online marketplace. The platform through which the exchange happens takes a small fee for its’ service.
Examples:
Ebay
Fiverr
Facebook Marketplace
Etsy
4. Customer to business (C2B)
C2B refers to the transaction that occurs when a customer sells a product or service to a business.
Examples:
Google Adsense
Shutterstock
Fotolia
Upwork
Types of E-commerce Business Models
Businesses like to get creative when it comes to choosing a delivery model. Lots of thriving companies today combine different models to make their business successful.
1. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is one of the most popular forms of e-commerce.
It's the selling of products online by creating a storefront that takes customers' orders. But unlike other e-commerce business models, you don't have to maintain an inventory or own a warehouse.
All you have to do is pick successful products to promote. Then, you need to find a third party supplier to handle packaging, shipping, and inventory management for you.
Once your store is ready, it's all about driving traffic to your website and converting them into buyers.
Many successful drop shippers use Shopify and Squarespace to launch their online stores.
2. Wholesaling
Wholesaling is a popular B2B approach.
It's the selling of products in bulk for lower prices to retailers. The buyers will then repackage the material into smaller quantities and sell them directly to customers.
3. White Labelling and Private Labelling
In white labelling, you buy a successful product from a distributor. Then, you put your brand name on it and design your own packaging.
Private labelling differs in that the manufacturer creates a unique product for your brand that only you can sell.
4. Subscriptions
This is one of the most successful e-commerce models for lots of industries. It’s based on delivering a service or a product to subscribed customers at regular intervals.
How Can We Help?
If you’re all in a muddle about how to approach an e-commerce business you’re wanting to get started - call us. We’ll help defog your brain in a free strategy session!
In the meantime, keep an eye on our blog for important updates in the marketing world that could affect the angle you need to take.
