Marketplaces

Types of marketplaces: C2C, B2C and B2B

There are three business models of marketplaces. What is the difference between C2C, B2C and B2B marketplaces? What are their peculiarities? What kind of interaction is established between the participants of these models? We will explain and compare the models in this article.

Select the platform of interest for business

C2C B2C B2B
9 af73ff16bffb44cf1b9acd2a63bb4ea6383df84c1a1a6c846b29dc07ac8943ea
10 a27d85595320c76b1eca3dcbf71bb1d165a2073527d729430d8c8733840a2cbb
12 7834c8727105cf61cf2443f92cb5d9e6f199687cf5707ba49b1e359625fd3ad9
11 0862f95e79e51becb183a2e884b968a9563c88e375feaacffd4d99b86cf4e1dd
13 8064daf544a7675d548a820d85087387d2f084583533fd59ab50bb780efd1acd
8 045caf7eb46000abb76a0618db315e72418db03552f065dbee7130e3cb36138d

C2C model

C2C model
Idea edaa1bfad1bc7a6d4e35c744da4719991a29919801fe955b74b311fa573f3551

All parties to the deal usually share concerns and can form communities (for example, couchsurfing – experience and cultural exchange; blablacar - lift-sharing)

Similar interests
Shuffle 24ee3d4a8b189e3c308f3a8ea2ff1ea461277fb764639d46de98d09eaf7a1774

Parties take up interchangeable positions (seller can become a buyer and vice versa).

Role reversal
Bank f16b60c9c6014f13a7563404f6b3a0b3a2954f50f7f29baeb764c489a1613635

Both seller and buyer benefit from a deal

Cost-effectiveness

C2C marketplaces imply that all participants are equal. Therefore, the model can also be called P2P by capital letters, which may have three definitions: person-to-person or people-to-people. People that gather on the platform are not entrepreneurs. They are similar in interests, wealth, age and go to the site to share something. In such a situation, people can interact in a few ways. Users may agree on favorable terms that mean they can save money as well as get profit. In this case, the cooperation becomes convenient for both sides of the deal.

C2C model implies uniting in communities where people share their interests as well. Moreover, this type of marketplace gives more freedom. It is easy to change roles - today they are buying, tomorrow they are selling. These 3 peculiarities are suited for all C2C platforms. To make it clearer, we'll review each feature based on the examples of already existing marketplaces.

Show me more
6 1a94b98eb3a1990b3e42d23ff1b398d1a6b7228fe6f77dc4513609740d152632
4 9e7c8d3d3d99fef8b736661e50466e9a9b0183cfd737c3846680ac7192af7bb5
5 7a3e17536551e0078b12bc35343bfafc7a8f6ae9ab8f23b859c07994204f9cf1
7 4cfa081910855661c8ba1384ec54e17fe55a704b0f8741be1142355588049e18

B2C model

B2C model
Case 1053ebcb93da2bb5146c9cd43b5f954993226ca4c02d471b2f0b34e010e8b4eb
Business is involved in trading relations
Cart f448f056e8063834ad2020cae064771a8c48e75961b892e0a7dcd17b89766ac4
B2C marketplaces can be derivatives from C2C model
Shopping ef813a1668085334aa2dda5a79d9090618ae1f9c15a1285492f0954f256e8880
Marketplaces of such kind provide the widest range of goods and services
Checked 1ddb13dc54106ae7c8b5e27d061a3e9f73156b1cda4189ea6f31e455b687a9ac
Features both retail and wholesale trading schemes

Another marketing model - B2C - is different as it involves business. Entrepreneurs and their clients interact among themselves. Users do not stop at hospitable couchsurfs, instead they choose hotels at Booking.com or BedandBreakfast.

The advantage of such websites is a large selection of commercial offers on a single site. This is "one stop shop". In simple words, it is a place where everything can be found.

With the B2C model, the aliExpress marketplace works - a huge trading platform where different suppliers put out their products. The platform is visited by hundreds of millions of users each month. They find offers of manufacturing companies there: from clothing and household appliances to cars and motorcycles.

There, each product is sold under its own brand so it is obvious that the seller is not a person but a company.

That is why on the website of the Airbnb housing search it is possible to seenot only private announcements but also rental offers from companies. And on the Etsy platform, which also started as an absolute C2C marketplace, the products are now presented by the manufacturers.

Show me more
3 8794e3280295decaaf65b9bb0c675fa9792dff9592a46da2d36cc226330aaea9
2 4ced8cf4ede66a513ed4491ef3bf67716544a2c45d76f7c235b4b8ed08aabfd4
14 a567bfb91740b8c2d988cb8ec40a324e28d77cab14ffab27968082e589d841de
0 8255382da7e4888e1b0b3b5f88dfb63e6722de1bd0f612179203a0cb168a5a53
1 efac55549f0d35af97357011d828ad04271fee51f316a543bd8c57c788d35810
15 fbcbcdd9c6ecc1aa4640d19ad1740861398e31c72f5651cfe47d8136efbde895

B2B model

Deals are arranged between legal entities (companies)
The widest range of various product categories
The general part of the deals is wholesale purchase
B2B marketplaces can offer services both in a certain field and in various fields
B2B model

Speaking about B2B type, a company sells something to another company on favorable terms. A good example is the Alibaba platform that allows businessmen to do bulk purchases. There are about 40 categories of goods. Any company can make a wholesale order.

Depending on the goods and services sold on the marketplace, different B2B models are distinguished:

  • Vertical - concern only one sphere of the industry;
  • Horizontal - offer services from different spheres (industries).

It is important that the marketplace can work with the B2C scheme but also separately create proposals for business.

Show me more
18 ba724504fc5a9504b194aa68bb57549ac750f0f6407f564bac15daeedd16b02e
16 8cf47ea30552f9b908749ebf47eee61440cc9c5cbec4778a9344cb5bfa30af49
17 d787cb81541e63dbdfc454c35d660b3f5a9653a24ae819f2da40d0ff211e83c9
21 d7a20614323f65aff520dc3899fb7b4d2d39ac57b954ec78fa10f8b75808d1ab
20 3d0de7f04d48a1bd87f24c7f105305b17feffe7d7aa900c3a104a51484a7a77f
19 bf8abf8b3212d72068f49449739328cc77aff1d7c7005b3f15121fbda420bbae