Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

The different acronyms (B2B, etc.) are all related to the general process of who is selling to who. Each uses different methods to market, which is why we segment these markets.

The Internet is just one channel for any of these. It has definitely made some areas much bigger (such as C2C, which prior to Ebay was just people placing classified ads or having garage sales), but the Internet did not cause any of these areas to be created (they all existed prior to the Internet).

Notes:
1) the acronyms themselves (not the categories) may have been caused by the Internet. I don't recall having heard these acronyms until Internet companies marketing to businesses (usually Enterprise Software companies - companies selling software to large companies) started using B2B as a buzz word. Then came B2C and so on. I think this was in the 90s.

2) B2B and B2C are commonly used acronyms. I haven't heard C2C all that much, and G2C I had never heard before.

You missed B2G - Business to Government

C2c is a new one - maybe it's like MLM - Multi-Level Marketing (Think Amway, Nutrimetics)

These methods of communication, distribution etc work in any channel. Just that some of them are empowered by the internet.

What did people do before eBay? They put up a sign on a fence, or in a shop window. So they could still do business, albeit on a far more localised basis...

The internet is a great enabler, but it's not the only enabler.

Hope this helps...


ChrisB