Are you looking to or already running an eCommerce venture? If this is the case, then a website becomes your most precious and valued tool for marketing. Before moving on to any other advertising strategy, you have to ensure that your site is well designed to suit the needs of your target audience. As an eCommerce entrepreneur, you can choose between two approaches towards conversion optimization, which vary upon the audience you are targeting.

Is your eCommerce business running a B2B (Business to Business) eCommerce site? Or is your eCommerce business running a B2C (Business to Consumer) eCommerce site? After answering these questions, your next move would be to identify the difference between B2B and B2C eCommerce, and that is where we come in. This article will dig deep into B2B and B2C ecommerce websites and bring out the major difference between these two websites. Hence follow along as we help you grow your eCommerce venture immensely.

Did you know? By 2025 the global eCommerce market size is anticipated to reach $7 Trillion.

B2B vs. B2C marketing (and H2H!)

A company cannot communicate with a company. It is always a person who communicates with another person. Therefore, contact is always human-to-human (H2H). Rather than focusing solely on the categories B2B vs. B2C, it is more important to have a certain target group in mind to market to.

Starting from this target group, you can then consider how you would talk to the person and which channels you want to use to address them. Whether this is classic B2B or B2C does not matter at first.

In this article you will learn about general differences between B2B and B2C, the similarities and differentiators, and how B2B and B2C marketing work in different marketing channels. You will also learn about H2H marketing and how you can use this approach to improve your B2B and B2C marketing efforts.

B2B and B2C explained

In order to start with the marketing side of B2B and B2C, let’s quickly identify the overall difference between B2B and B2C.

Business-to-business (B2B) is the term used to describe a business relationship between at least two companies. This can be small businesses, medium sizes businesses or large corporations. An example of B2B would be a chipset manufacturer that sells its products to other companies.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) is the term used to describe a business relationship between one company and at least one individual consumer. An example of B2C would be a travel agency that sells flights to individual consumers.

Similarities of B2B and B2C marketing

Before we dive into the differentiators of B2B and B2C marketing, let us first have a look at the similarities. You will see some very fundamental points that apply for both categories.

You can do B2B or B2C marketing, but behind both groups are real people.You need to build trust in order to make a sale.You need to make clear that you are able to solve your client’s specific problem.You need to give your customers the option to contact you through different channels.You must continue the customer journey even after the sale happens.Your marketing should work hand-in-hand with sales.You have to recognize people as individuals.Your potential customers are willing to spend money on a product or service like yours and eventually have the intention to make a purchase.You need to identify and define buying personas (fictional representation of your individual human customer) and ideal customer profiles (fictional representation of the company that best fits your product or service) for successful marketing.

What are B2C and B2B eCommerce?

In a B2B eCommerce venture model, companies (often wholesalers or manufacturers) sell their products to different businesses, most often to retailers. After buying products from a company, retailers then sell the products to an end-consumer; this is the form of e-commerce venture referred to as B2B.

B2B ecommerce businesses are not always that simple, of course. I mean, some manufacturers might establish a direct connection to an end-user whereby they sell their goods directly to the individual and not through retailers. Hence they adopt a B2C business stream though they are developing the products. Take, for example, a beekeeper who harvests and sells their honey to consumers directly. Likewise, large retailers might decide to sell their products/goods to other businesses in great bulk. Take, for instance, a retailer that deals with furniture; if they sell hundreds of office desks and chairs to large companies, then this purchase would land the retailer in a business-to-business model.

Most businesses adopt both a B2B and B2C model. However, others might adopt a B2B2C model or a B2B2B2 model whereby a supply chain goes through multi vendors before reaching its end destination.

All this might seem overwhelming at first. To make it simpler, let us take examples from the real world.

B2B ecommerce: Symantec

Symantec is a company that supplies the software anti-virus utilized by apple to scan the companies’ internal infrastructure while also shielding the companies’ data—completing a B2B system.

B2C eCommerce: Walmart

Maybe you have heard of Walmart before; they buy goods from manufactures and wholesalers worldwide and then sell the purchased goods to consumers.

B2C and B2B eCommerce: IBM

If you love tech ideas, then you are familiar with the term IBM. IBM market their PCs to the end consumers directly. However, IBM also employs teams that are dedicated solely to corporate sales. Moreover, these corporate sales dedicated teams negotiate the purchases of goods (computer equipment) made in bulk. IBM hit the market initially as a B2B, but later on, they started to apply the B2C model for their Personal computers.

B2B2B ecommerce: Apple

Apple sells its iPhones to a company called AT and T completing a B2B model. In turn, AT and T resell the purchased iPhones to organizations that, in turn, distribute the phones to their employees. The phones are bundled up with a contract from AT and T corporate services hence completing another B2B model. Therefore this stream of sales makes up a B2B2B eCommerce.

B2B2C ecommerce: Alibaba

Are you a fan of online shopping? If so, then you might have heard of or even used the Alibaba online platform to purchase goods. Alibaba makes their sales directly to the retailers via an online platform completing a business model. The retailers then sell the purchased goods to consumers completing a B2C business model. Alibaba white labels their goods to brand the goods bought as their own and resell them to the consumers.

Why does all this Matter?

The marketing strategy you undertake is affected dramatically by the business model you apply in your business. Hence, knowing and differentiating the different labels helps your business grow immensely. If your company uses a B2B business model, you focus your marketing on retailers and other companies. Moreover, if you use a B2C model, then your marketing strategies should focus more on the consumer.

Primary B2C and B2B attributes

B2B business model:

Sales are of low volume but high value
Serves fewer buyers
Buyers and sellers negotiate prices
Longer sale cycle
The association between a buyer and a seller is usually long term

B2C

Serves a bunch of buyers
Sales are of low value and high volume
Mostly Non-negotiable, though coupons are offered
Rapid sale cycle

All in all, we can simply say that B2B customers make purchases to boost their businesses while B2C customers do so to have a better life.

So let’s take a look at the 5 key differences between B2B and B2C eCommerce:

1. Customers

B2B customers are typically more complex than B2C customers because they are businesses making purchases in bulk. B2B customers need to be able to be assigned to multiple accounts and often require products to be shipped to and from different warehouses. B2C transactions usually involve the buyer purchasing directly from the merchant, and that’s the end of the transaction. This is a far simpler process than it would be for a B2B customer who may need to research the product, manage shipments, and consider multi-ship-to and multi-bill-to combinations. Therefore, a B2B eCommerce platform needs to be able to handle the additional requirements and challenges of B2B buying.

2. Payments

B2C payments are generally made via credit card, but B2B customers need a far greater variety of payment options. B2B buyers need to have the ability to check their invoice history and AR record, as well as being able to select from multiple integrated payment options. B2B customers often have customer-specific pricing or volume-based discounts, which a robust B2B eCommerce platform is equipped to deal with. If pricing is changed or updated due to bill-to or ship-to information that has been provided, then the customer needs to receive this information quickly and accurately. A B2B eCommerce platform must be able to handle numerous unique pricing constructs in a way that is not required for B2C, so it’s important to choose the right B2B eCommerce platform provider that can build you a platform capable of handling this.

3. Products

B2B products tend to be far more intricate, with more product variants and customizations. Products can range anywhere from simple consumable products to highly technical and configurable products. Not all products are sold to an end consumer. Sometimes the product that is being sold is a product that is needed to make another product or system, which means that there are often multiple sizes and dimensions to choose from. The customer needs to be able to access information about bundles, dimensions, additional accessories, specification details, warranty information, and so much more to ensure that they are fully informed about the purchase they’re wishing to make.

4. Search Functionality

Advanced search functionality is essential to any B2B or B2C eCommerce site. B2B customers require a search function that allows them to search, filter, and sort search results to help them to find their desired product. The search function makes the customer buying experience far simpler and easier to use, rather than customers having to search through pages of unrelated products. Although both B2B and B2C often use a search function, more advanced search capabilities are usually required for a B2B, due to the number of search results a customer could be presented with. Due to the number of variations of some of the products of a B2B, customers could be presented with a large number of search results, so having the ability to filter if they have ordered that product before, or searching for specific sizes and dimensions, for example, could be extremely beneficial for a B2B customer. Other features such as powerful ElasticSearch, auto-complete and spelling suggestions can be really helpful when customers are searching for a specific product, as well as the use of synonyms to avoid customers from being presented with a ‘no results found’ page.

5. Checkout Experience

The B2C checkout processes tend to be fairly straightforward—you hit the checkout button, enter your shipping address, enter your card details and you’re done! B2B checkouts tend to have far more to consider than this, with multiple-order approvals, billing and shipping complexities, and credit limits all needing to be considered at the checkout stage. The B2B shopping cart needs to be far more sophisticated to allow for the additional requirements of a B2B eCommerce platform while ensuring that the checkout process doesn’t become too challenging or overwhelming for the customer. Price need to all be in order at the checkout stage to ensure the customer is being presented with correct pricing, and sometimes custom orders may need to be quoted. Customers should be able to provide as many details as possible, making it easier for a sales or customer service representative to respond quickly, via the B2B eCommerce platform so that the customer can return to the platform to retrieve the quote and simply add it to the basket if they would like. The checkout needs to allow for multiple shipping options and locations, and also offer multiple payment options, which is different from the usual B2C checkout.

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Difference Between B2B and B2C eCommerce