What are the Business to Consumer e-market Chains

Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-market chains refer to the process of selling products or services directly to consumers through an online platform. This typically includes the following steps:

1. Website development and design: creating an online storefront for consumers to browse and purchase products or services.
2. Online marketing and advertising: promoting the website and products/services through various online channels such as search engines, social media, and email marketing.
3. Online payment and order processing: allowing consumers to securely purchase products or services using various payment methods, such as credit cards, PayPal, or Apple Pay.
4. Order fulfillment and delivery: processing and shipping orders to consumers, including tracking and customer service.
5. Post-sales customer support: providing customer support and addressing any issues or concerns that may arise after the sale.

Overall, the main characteristic of B2C e-market chains is that transactions are made directly between a business and a consumer over the internet.

Earlier lessons began with the storefront and moved through various elements of e-commerce, mainly discussing the potential business impact and, in some cases, its technical impact. The final form of an e-commerce site we will cover in this course is the e-marketplace. An e-marketplace is a Web site where buyers and sellers can meet dynamically, like a perpetual flea market, or even the stock market.
You may have heard of e-marketplaces: eBay and Yahoo offer consumer e-marketplaces. E-marketplaces are the rarest of e-commerce sites because they are the most complex and risky of the sites.
How can you use an electronic marketplaces or e-markets? Focus on e-markets and supplier directories which have a focus on business-to-business (B2B).

1. it is open to several buyers and several sellers
2. it is a trading platform, the e-market itself does not sell nor buy  goods or services traded on the platform
3. it has at least one trading function

Supplier directories support companies in establishing new business relationships but no actual trade takes place at these platforms. E-markets and supplier directories are also called B2B Internet platforms and these platforms include all Internet-based solutions that aim at facilitating the establishment of new trading relationships between companies .

For simple consumer-oriented sites, sellers post their goods and the price, and buyers can choose to make purchases. In many cases, the buyers bid for the item and the highest bid wins. Sometimes those "wins" turn into "loses" because consumer-oriented e-marketplaces offer the buyers and the sellers little protection. There is no guarantee that the goods sold are any good at all, or if the seller actually possesses the goods for sale. Consumer e-marketplaces have already been victims of all types of fraud because there is no built-in protection. There is no guarantee that the goods will be shipped to the buyer, that refund requests will be honored, or that the goods were represented accurately on the Web site. Nonetheless, they hold the same appeal as a physical auction or flea market since you never know what deal you might find. In the next lesson, you will learn about the impact of B2B e-marketplaces.