B2C - what is it? How is B2C courier delivery different? B2C business features

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The entire area of sales of various goods and services is usually divided into two large segments. The first is B2C, the second is B2B. Quite often, having met these abbreviations, many people ask themselves: B2C - what is it? Or what is B2B? So let's figure it out.

B2B market description

If you literally translate the transcript, you get "business to business", from English business to business. The term B2B refers to any business focused on the sale of goods or services for other businesses. An example is wholesale bases that sell their goods in large quantities, trade organizations representing large manufacturers and acting only as sellers, etc. So, B2C market - what is it, what is B2B and what are their differences?

B2B Market Characteristics

Sales in this market segment are characterized by a number of features. Among them are:

• Volume. B2C is focused on sales for business, therefore, companies operating in this segment are more interested in wholesale sales than retail sales. With a low cost of goods (compared to that offered to the end consumer), these companies make large cash flows due to the volumeall kinds of products. A vivid example is wholesale depots and dealer companies.



• Limited market. If we compare the number of buyers in the retail market with the number of potential consumers in the business-oriented market, we can conclude that the latter is many times inferior in quantitative terms to the former. Naturally, this fact increases competition in the B2B segment and requires completely different approaches to customers than the B2C market.
• Balanced decisions. Unlike an ordinary buyer, almost every businessman approaches any purchases for his business very strictly. First of all, this is due to the high risks. Let's say you can buy a batch of a new product, but it will not be in demand among consumers. Or, for example, buy a production line, and it will issue a marriage. In fact, there are many such risks. And a businessman should take them into account, especially since the financial and time costs for purchasing goods on the retail market vary significantly.

B2C – what is it

With the business-oriented market, more or less figured out, let's move on to the consumer-oriented segment. So, B2C - what is it? In English - business to customer, and translated into our native language - "business for the buyer." If you compare it with a segment of a business focused on selling to sellers, you can see that these concepts are fundamentally different.

Key business features forcustomers

• Assortment. Typically, retailers try to cover as much of the market as possible. This is done by maximizing the range of goods sold and services provided. Perhaps the most striking example of B2C is supermarkets. In such stores, the consumer can buy almost everything he needs. Plus get additional services, such as delivery, setup and installation of home appliances.
• Customer value. In retail, the value of one customer is not very high, since the bulk of the money supply is made from sales volumes for different consumers. Therefore, the B2C segment is focused on the needs of the market as a whole, and in rare cases takes into account the needs of a single person. As an illustrative example, you can take any consumer product, such as bread. This product has all the characteristics that can attract the maximum number of buyers. And if one person wants to buy mint-flavored bread, it is unlikely to succeed. And no factory will make one loaf just to satisfy the needs of one customer instead of thousands. And vice versa: let's say the owner of a supermarket, for some reason, decided that mint-flavored bread would sell with a bang. He negotiates with suppliers - and they make him a trial batch of such bread. Naturally, for such experiments, the volume must be large. The situation, of course, is rather unnatural, but, nevertheless, one can understand from it how different the methods of promoting goods onbusiness- and consumer-oriented markets.

B2C: courier delivery

Like the market for goods, the service market for B2C is different from B2B. This applies to any area of business. For example, B2C - courier delivery. Orientation to the consumer market obliges the carrier company to have a very wide warehouse network, as well as transport. This is necessary because the company needs to reach the maximum audience and create the best conditions for customers.

Combining Markets

If you look closely at many businesses, especially large ones, you can understand that in a certain place a clear line between the two types of promotion of goods is blurred. The natural desire of the owner of any enterprise is to get more profit, and if an opportunity is given to get an additional portion of customers, no one will refuse. A good illustration would be all kinds of bases of building materials. Or dealer companies that distribute products to retail outlets.

Example of a multi-market company

Consider an example: there is a small organization engaged in the production of metal products. In its work, this company uses paint and varnish products. The owner purchases it in construction stores or at construction bases, since he has small volumes to buy goods directly from the manufacturer. Alternatively, this owner can find an organization that has a factory dealer agreement that distributestheir goods for the same hardware stores. Given that such companies have a so-called minimum order, such as $100, regular consumers are automatically screened out. But for a small business owner, this amount is quite acceptable, given that he uses these goods in the production process. By working with a dealer company, he gets significant savings, since in this case the price he pays for the goods is almost equal to the purchase price of any store.

In this case, the owner of a small business acts as a small consumer, since the volume of his purchases is much less than that of stores, and yet he is able to take advantage of better conditions than other consumers.

Difference in approaches

What is the difference between B2B and B2C? There are quite significant differences between these two markets, although at first glance they are very similar. These differences lie in both marketing approaches and end-user goals.

The main differences between the market for consumers and the market for sellers:

• Balanced and rational decision-making about purchases. B2C is characterized by emotionality, the need to satisfy desires.
• Volumes. While the average consumer buys to satisfy his needs, the businessman buys to support his business. Therefore, purchase volumes can be huge.
• Product price. For an ordinary consumer, the cost of goods plays a big role, but very often not decisive. But in the case ofIn the B2B market, a difference of $1 per unit can translate into tens of thousands across the entire batch, so the value of the product is given great attention.
• Sales methods. If for B2C sales much attention is paid to mass advertising, then in sales on the B2B market, personal contacts with buyers and work with databases come to the fore.

Thus, we can conclude that corporate sales are significantly different from sales in the B2C market, that this is a separation that requires completely different approaches and methods.