Lesson 4	Selecting an eBusiness model for B2C
Objective	Identify the various B2C models.

Selecting an ebusiness Model for B2C

There are as many business models in the B2C classification as there are novel and diverse ways of delivering products to the customer. ebusiness has given rise to many new and potentially revolutionary models on which a business can be based, so much so that some business models are now being patented.

Applying the Models to B2B and B2C
Although we cannot discuss every flavor of B2C business model in existence, we can classify them into a few categories. These categories include:
1. The Information Intermediary (Infomediary) model
2. The Affiliate model
3. The Merchant model
4. The Web Community model
5. The Utility model

The following series of images below describes each of these models.

Various B2C Models

1)Information intermediary model: Infomediaries are a natural progression of e-Business. Information about consumers and consumer-buying habits is of great value to sellers and buyers alike. Infomediaries use various methods to collect and sell this information. — 1) **Information intermediary model:** Infomediaries are a natural progression of e-Business. Information about consumers and consumer-buying habits is of great value to sellers and buyers alike. Infomediaries use various methods to collect and sell this information. Infomediaries can use this information to aid customers with recommendations and filters, and by acting as an agent. There are many issues concerning the trade of information and how it is obtained which can make this model complex.

2) The affiliate model is a combination of aspects of the brokerage and advertising models. It is well suited to the web and is growing rapidly in popularity — 2) **The affiliate model:** The affiliate model is a combination of aspects of the brokerage and advertising models. It is well suited to the web and is growing rapidly in popularity. It involves the linking of businesses with Web presence and incentive program for customers or other affiliate sites based on usage. Variations of this include revenue sharing, banner exchanges, and pay-per click systems.

3) Merchant model is another growing and evolving model or eTailer. These may be businesses with a traditional brick and mortar approach to retailing that have adopted a web strategy to supplement or expand their business. — 3) **Merchant model:** The Merchant model is another growing and evolving model or e-Tailer.These may be businesses with a traditional brick and mortar approach to retailing that have adopted a web strategy to supplement or expand their business. Merchants can also operate exclusively via the Internet or have unique web-based digital products such as mp4 or software downloads.

4) This model is based on community concept. It may involve membership and subscriptions and can offer professional advice, classified advertisements. In some cases, the users contribute to the content. Some sites offer specialized news content — 4) **Web Community Model:** The Web Community model is based on a community concept. It may involve membership and subscriptions and can offer professional advice, classified advertisements. In some cases, the users contribute to the content. Some sites offer specialized news content.

5) This model offers content on a metered or pay-as-you use approach. — 5) **The Utility Model:**^[1] This model offers content on a metered or pay-as-you use approach.

Value Creation

Intermediary, Affiliate, Merchant, Web-community

While business-to-business commerce refers to business transactions between companies, business-to-consumer models are those that sell products or services directly to personal-use customers. B2C or business-to-consumer companies connect, communicate and conduct business transactions with consumers most often by means of the Internet. B2C is larger than just online retailing and includes

online banking,
travel services,
online auctions, and
health and real estate sites.

Example of Information Intermediary Model In connection with use of their service, some sites using the Information Intermediary Model collect website usage data and traffic pattern data with respect to activity both within and across websites. We will discuss eMarketing and privacy in a later lesson. A site that offers a Web-based consumer-to-consumer shopping information resource might include the following features:
1. Registered users can read and post information about products for sale on any Web site, including price comparisons, product reviews, and recommendations and tips for purchasing. ·
2. Consumers can review information about purchasing and owning a car and choose from a list of accredited dealer networks, and dealers can reach online car buyers efficiently.
Business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C) is a form of electronic commerce in which products or services are sold from a firm or company to a consumer.
The search for an extra revenue source resulted in developers to think about building relationship with businesses and the emergence of two sided intermediary business model instead of the traditional one sided business models like B2B and B2C models prevailing in the industry. Most of the incumbent players like DistributedNetworks started diverting their attention by focusing on the B2B side of the business for creating a third revenue stream. Lately, companies started getting the pay off from this model by retaining their dominance in the value network by not leaving the interaction with customers. The experiment by DistributedNetworks with a local business dashboard is a sign of this. The business model of Gofpatterns, mobile application which rewards and offers mobile users simply for walking into stores and OOPortals. Media Solution's mobile advertising platform are examples of increasing business interactions in the consumer market. There is an increasing focus on Business to Business interaction in the market using intermediary model and this report intends to provide an insight on this.

Figure 3-4: Health Insurance and Managed Care, Online communications approaches between physicians and payers.

Examples of B2C models

The following links contain examples of B2C models.

ecommerce Business Model

Example of the Utility Model

Sites that align themselves with this model offer services on a pay-per-use basis. Examples of sites using this model are listed below:

A site that lets you dynamically control the distribution, access, and audit trail of content using the three most popular forms of business communications: email, Web sites, and document distribution.
A site that sells surveys that provide in-depth analysis of more than 50 industries; these reports are usually sold in yearly subscriptions.

To understand the nature of the utility model, it is useful to place it in the context of business models in general. A business model is a method of doing business. All business models specify what a company does to create value, how it is situated among upstream and downstream partners in the value chain, and the type of arrangement it has with its customers to generate revenue. In any given industry, the methods of doing business may vary, but there are limits imposed by technological factors, by the competitive dynamic among companies and between companies and their channel partners, and by customer expectations and preferences.

[1] Utility: Sites that sell content or services on a metered, or per-use, basis. This is an evolving business model that might be used in the new approaches to software distribution. Horizontal market: Suppliers and products that focus on broad categories crossing multiple industries such as software, office supplies, and utility markets.