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.
C2C model
C2C model
All parties to the deal usually share concerns and can form communities (for example, couchsurfing – experience and cultural exchange; blablacar - lift-sharing)
Parties take up interchangeable positions (seller can become a buyer and vice versa).
Both seller and buyer benefit from a deal
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.
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B2C model
B2C model
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.
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.
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