E-commerce B2B and B2C

Electronic commerce or e-commerce as it’s more commonly referred to is, in simplified terms, online shopping. More specifically it is all the activities or tasks that go on including finding products, selling them, purchasing them, hiring people, and many other activities on the world wide web. There are five main types of electronic commerce categories: business to consumer, business to business, business processes, consumer to consumer, and business to government. (Schneider, 2004) 

E-commerce is one of the most common ways for consumers to shop, do research, and stay in contact with family members. Christmas shopping, birthday gifts, flowers, anything can be purchased on the internet. Families can upload pictures and share them in online albums such as Snapfish.com or Yahoo photos. Additionally, families can create their own websites to keep others apprised of news. These sites are typically free to create and are supported through advertisements on the page. Advertising is common on internet sites both as banner ads and as pop-ups. Consumers are online all day long, 24 hours a day, this allows advertisers to reach a very large audience and also helps e-tailers be available to their customers at any time that is convenient for them. 

All the advantages of electronic commerce for businesses can be summarized in one statement: Electronic commerce can increase sales and decrease costs (Schneider, 2004). As are for many things money is a motivating factor in online sales. Web based organizations do not have to have large store fronts where they pay rent, insurance, and have additional employees.