| B2C | B2B (direct purchasing) | Implications for B2B |
Number of participants in market | Many | Few | Bulk of potential customers may be known. Switching costs for buyers may be high. |
Number of people involved in purchasing process | Few | Many | “Automation” of buying process should take into account work flow. |
Level of customer’s product expertise | Usually fairly low | Usually fairly high | Customer may demand certain product specifications. |
Number of transactions | High | Low | Customer interface may not have to be integrated with back-end order/sales system in real time. |
$ Value of transactions | Low | High | Sales process may include price negotiation. |
Important buying decision criteria | Price Perceived quality Availability | Availability Quality Price Likelihood of long-term relationship | Customers must reduce risk of not having raw materials, shipping and delivery are important ways to manage inventory costs. |
Sales process | May be conducted completely online | Often face-to-face interaction needed, online transactions occur once relationship is established. | Online presence may be how customers find out about you, but between this and the sales transaction, trust may be built using face-to-face communication. |
Methods of understanding customers | Traditional consumer research, analysis of web logs (clickstreams) | Sales force gathers information, web log (clickstream) analysis | The smaller the number of customers, the more personal interaction defines product offerings and web functionality. |
Integration of systems with customer | Low or none | Potentially high | Complexity of implementation rises sharply when customer wants to integrate his systems with yours. |
Fulfillment | Usually single shipment | Often multiple shipments on demand or schedule | Shipment details may be determined offline. |
Payment | Credit card, PayPal | (Purchase order, invoice, check), EDI, corp. purchase card | EBPP systems may need to be implemented |