How’s your holiday shopping going? Did you go online to make any purchases? Perhaps you were one of the millions of people who participated in Cyber Monday? Well, if you’ve answered yes to either question, then you’ve participated in ecommerce; arguably one of the largest shifts in the way we conduct business in the 21st century.
This post explores the definition of ecommerce, takes a look at who the key players are in ecommerce software and services, and shares how you can be an influencer in the B2B ecommerce space.
Four Types of Ecommerce
There are four types of popular ecommerce.
Business to Business (B2B)
B2B ecommerce occurs when a business sells its product or service to another business electronically. While B2B digital retail got off to a slower start, lagging behind its B2C counterpart, increasingly we’re seeing businesses invest in their ecommerce resources, a trend which we predict to explode in 2018. Not only does digital ecommerce improve efficiencies, but businesses also attribute higher conversions and revenue to ecommerce solutions.
Business to Consumer (B2C)
B2C ecommerce is the process of businesses selling goods or services to a consumer over the Internet. If you’re an Amazon Prime user, or if you listen to Spotify throughout your daily commute, then you’ve engaged in B2C ecommerce.
Consumer to Business (C2B)
Consumer to Business ecommerce is when consumers sell products or services to businesses. For example, consumers will target businesses that crowdsource logos, web, or graphic design material.
Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
Companies like eBay or Amazon are excellent examples of platforms for consumers to sell products or services to one another online.
Ecommerce Provider
Now that we have a baseline for the types of ecommerce, how is it provided? There are a number of ecommerce platform providers including, IBM, Oracle, and Magento ecommerce solutions. One key player, SAP Hybris B2B Ecommerce, is an omnichannel ecommerce provider, with solutions for accounts payable, commerce, customer service, marketing, sales, and more. SAP Hybris is frequently referenced as the ultimate platform by analysts in this industry and was recently rated as a leader for B2B ecommerce by Forrester.
Ecommerce Service Providers
If you’re a B2B company that has considered moving toward an ecommerce business model, there’s no doubt that you’ve thought about how convoluted it could be, given the lengthy process and the level of support required. In a nutshell, that’s where ecommerce service providers, like SAP partner Zaelab, come into play. Zaelab helps their clients ensure a seamless ecommerce platform implementation through providing strategy assessment and benchmarking, rapid platform migration, and B2B industry accelerators. See how Zaelab delivers pain-free ecommerce implementations for their clients in manufacturing, healthcare, and more.
If you’re a legacy business using outdated technologies – or none at all – you could benefit from an ecommerce platform and service provider. Does my business need ecommerce?
More than ever, ecommerce is a game-changing platform. Already dominating the B2C space, it won’t be long before ecommerce technology becomes the standard in the B2B world. Now that you have all of your ecommerce questions answered, do you think you require an internal business assessment by experts? If so, connect with authorities in the space.
