What’re B2B2C models, Explained with Examples | E-commerce

What are B2B, B2C, and B2B2C Business Models (with examples) and How it works in Starlity

Everyone today is talking about B2B, B2C, and even B2B2C models, but what they actually are and how those work in the real life. We are going to look closer to these business models and talk about how Starlity incorporates the B2B2C concept.

What are B2B and B2C?

B2B Company

Literally, B2B simply means Business To Business, and in this business model it only involves companies and companies, no individual customer is involved in this model. Especially in the supply chain, the B2B model is more obvious. One company purchases raw materials from another company and the completed products are sold via the transaction of business to customers.

See how B2B models work in these companies

• Apple and Samsung

The two gigantic smartphone producers could be the Business-to-Business example in real-life because Samsung is the largest producer of Apple, so they’re not only competitive to each other but holding the Business-to-Business Relationship. Meanwhile, Apple also has a B2B relationship with other companies, such as Intel and Qualcomm.

• Tesla and Panasonic

You know Tesla probably because its featured electric-car, and actually its massive battery supply comes from Panasonic. Panasonic has been supplying the battery used in Tesla’s electric car before Tesla hit it big. The battery that was used in one of Tesla’s car Model S is supplied by Panasonic.

B2C Company

In contrast to B2B companies, the term B2C means Business-to-Customer. B2C business refers to the transaction between Companies and Customers. The companies are the direct provider of that product or service, and the customers are the end-user of those products or services. Apparently, businesses like restaurants and supermarkets are B2C models.

See how B2C models work in these companies

• Starbucks (Multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery)
• McDonald (American fast food company)
• Uber (Offering vehicles for hire and food delivery service)

What is B2B2C?

Business-to-Business-to-Customer (B2B2C) is combined two business models that have said before. It usually adopted in the ecommerce business for the complete product and service transaction. To understand the B2B2C business model, think of an online retailer who sells smartphone accessories, but instead of approaching the customer by itself, the online retailer connects and approaches some franchised-mobile phone stores, the retailer ties up with the mobile phone stores to sell their products to the customer.

We could say that this was a brief example of how B2B2C business work, and how it works in the real-life could be more complicated.

To understand B2B2C, it could be split into single characters

The first B in the term B2B2C:

This is the first business to get into the whole chain of businesses, and they hope to acquire a bulk of customers. Instead of approaching a new customer every time, they wanted to expand their business scale by tapping into the customer base of another business. In most cases, connect and tying up with other companies could bring in a lot of credibility and trust in both companies.

The middle B in the term B2B2C:

The intermediate business could have different reasons to connect the other business with the customer. The middle B usually make money by charging a commission or share the profits from the products or services provider. They jump into the B2B2C model could because they want to provide a better price to the customer or getting them more convenient purchase options.

The C in the term B2B2C:

They are the end-user of the products or services, they get into the B2B2C route could because of the reliability of the products or business providers.

B2B2C Real Life Examples

In order to understand a bit more about what B2B2C business is, the best way is to explain with examples.

B2B2C Example #1 Manufacturer + Distributor + B2C Customer

This could be the simplest example to understand the B2B2C model. Their role could be like this:

• Manufacturers produce a wide range of products but they do not get the product to the end-user. However, they could make the decision to switch the entire business to the B2C model, and that could be critical.
• The distributor helps the manufacturer to get their product to the customer and they paid a small part of the commission in order to make money.
• The consumer gets the products they wanted from the distributor, and pay the price that the distributor has set.

B2B2C Example #2 — Manufacturer + Amazon + B2B/B2C Customer

Amazon is one of the world’s largest e-commerce company that using the B2B2C model, and by using this example, it could be easier to under the B2B2C business.

Like the last example, but at this time Amazon replaces the role of the distributor and because of this, the manufacturer now can get their product to both B2B and B2C customers. The manufacturer listed out their products on Amazon and when the orders have made, the manufacturer could choose to ship the product by itself or using the fulfillment service offered by Amazon.

B2B2C Example #3 — Manufacturer + Brick & Mortar Dealer + B2C Customer

Brick & Mortar Dealer refers to the traditional street-side business that they offer their products or services face-to-face in-office or in-store. The best example could be the grocery store near your house or the local bank in the neighborhood, they both offer you products and services in a face-to-face manner.

Think about the grocery store nearby you, they don’t have their own factory to produce stuff but they get products from different manufacturers and when the customer comes into the store they offer a bunch of products for the customer to choose.

All in all, the B2B2C business is not rocket science, and it could be easy to understand. Now let’s talk about how the B2B2C model works in Starlity.

Starlity and B2B2C Models

To begin, let’s start with the background of the Starlity. Starlity is based in Hong Kong founded by former managers from Amazon and Three in London. Starlity is an easier, more affordable way for brands to run their e-commerce operations. Leveraging an extensive global network of experts, businesses can develop their global brands without any of the hassles that they would face in traditional in-house operations. By building their brands on Starlity, brands can leverage Starlity’s broad e-commerce expertise and scale to sell their products to customers around the world.

The Role of Starlity in B2B2C

Starlity is the middle B in the term B2B2C, Starlity works with manufacturer and B2B / B2C customer (Manufacturer + Starlity + B2B / B2C Customer).

• Manufacturer signup for a free account on Starlity, upload, and provide the product information in the Starlity dashboard. They use the service offered by Starlity to get their product to the customer, and they skip all the steps of doing marketing by themselves. The manufacturer act as product provider solely.
• In Starlity with more than 1,500 specialists, they upload and list out the products of the manufacturer to different e-commerce selling platforms, such as Amazon, eBay, etc.
• The B2B/B2C customer get the information about the product when they search the product on these e-commerce platforms, and Starlity shares a small part of the revenue the companies made.

###########################################

Contact: henry@starlity.com

Read More E-Commerce Related Articles On Starlity

Starlity is an e-Commerce platform that connects its user with the world’s largest marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Lazada, Shopify… you name it!). Unlike other e-commerce platforms or website builders, Starlity lowers the barrier of entering the realm of selling online by offering their professionalism in doing e-commerce.