What is e-commerce?
The growth of e-commerce in the world today
The word that immediately comes to mind when talking about e-commerce is growth. Indeed, many studies have been conducted recently. They show that over the past 14 years, the growth of e-commerce companies has skyrocketed in all areas.
In sum, growth projections estimate that by 2022, e-commerce revenues will exceed $638 billion in the United States alone.
Overall, e-commerce growth projections are also on an upward trajectory. They show that retail sales could exceed $4.058 trillion by 2020.
Other data reinforce the e-commerce growth trend:
there could be as many as 2.14 billion digital shoppers worldwide by 2021,
U.S. e-commerce sales of apparel, footwear and accessories are expected to exceed $123 million by 2022,
shoppers spend an average of 36% of their budget online.
But what’s exciting is that there is still so much opportunity in the online marketplace. In fact, some studies show that e-commerce sales currently average about 9.1% of total retail sales. This means that there are still endless opportunities for brands to launch an e-commerce site and expand their reach.
Also, it’s important to consider the expansion of online sales opportunities through omni-channel retailing (such as adding Amazon and eBay storefronts to your sales approach, for example). So it’s easy to see that now is the best possible time to grow an e-commerce business.
The definition of e-commerce
Essentially, e-commerce (or electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods (or services) over the Internet.
E-commerce encompasses a wide variety of data, systems and tools for online buyers and sellers. It ranges from mobile shopping to online payment encryption and beyond.
Most businesses with an online presence use an e-commerce site and/or platform. This allows them to conduct online marketing and sales activities and oversee logistics and fulfillment.
The different types of e-commerce
1. B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
B2C e-commerce encompasses transactions between a business and a consumer.
It is one of the most widely used sales models in the context of e-commerce. When you buy shoes from an online shoe retailer, it is a business-to-consumer transaction.
2. B2B (Business-to-Business)
Business-to-business e-commerce refers to sales made between companies, such as a manufacturer and a wholesaler or retailer.
This type of e-commerce is not consumer-oriented and exists only between companies.
Most often, B2B sales focus on raw materials or products that are repackaged or combined before being sold to customers.
3. C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer)
One of the earliest forms of e-commerce is the C2C model. It refers to the sale of products or services between, you guessed it: customers.
This includes consumer-to-consumer sales relationships such as those seen on eBay or Amazon, for example.
4. C2B (Consumer-to-Business)
The C2B model reverses the traditional e-commerce model (and is commonly seen in crowdfunding projects).
C2B means that individual consumers make their products or services available to commercial buyers.
An example of this would be a business model like iStockPhoto. Stock photos are available online for purchase directly from individual photographers.
5. B2A (Business-to-Administration)
This model covers transactions between businesses and governments online. An example would be products and services related to legal documents, social security, etc.
6. C2A (Consumer-to-Administration)
Same idea here, but with consumers selling products or services online to an administration. The C2A model could include online consulting services for education, online tax preparation, etc.
Both B2A and C2A focus on improving efficiency in government through the support of new information and communication technologies.
