Before analysing the differences between B2B and B2C, let’s look at what each of these terms means.
What is B2B?
The name comes from business-to-business and refers to a business model in which one company provides services to another to help improve sales of the products it offers. Something that could be summarised as a commercial transaction between companies.
In a recent article on our website, Javier Ocaña Olivares, from Sales, Marketing and Product, Presales and Provision in the B2B area of Telefónica Spain, explained what B2B consists of.
Likewise, this expert in the field described the commercial relationship with the customer as having ‘firm and strong links’, one of the main characteristics of B2B.
What is B2C?
B2C, on the other hand, comes from the English business-to-customer and refers, as its name suggests, to the business model in which transactions or the provision of goods or services take place between a company and an end consumer or customer.
In B2C, companies take care of the accounting, logistics and warehousing, a part that is invisible to the end consumer. Likewise, issues that are visible to the customer, such as customer service or after-sales support, are also offered by the companies.
From physical establishments to electronic stores (or e-commerce) are considered B2C business models.
Differences between B2B and B2C
Having considered the definitions of both concepts, let’s analyse how they differ.
The first and most obvious difference is implicit in the final letter of each of these business models: one is focused on selling products or services to other companies (B2B) and the other to individual consumers (B2C).
- The fact that the B2B relationship is between ‘peers’ means that the language used can be more technical and professional, while in B2C it is more plain or simple in order to reach a greater number of potential customers without the possible difficulties arising from the use of technical terminology being an impediment to the business.
- Just as the language is different, so are the marketing messages. In general, we could summarise it by saying that B2C appeals more to the emotional or to identification with the brand through experiences or advantages of a personal nature. On the other hand, B2B focuses on professional issues such as characteristics, efficiency, or customer satisfaction.
- The way in which the sales processes are undertaken also differs in these two models: while B2C refers to something rather sporadic and on a small scale, B2B needs specific professionals dedicated to sales to achieve the highest possible performance in the case of sales that in this case tend to be recurrent and/or of larger quantities of goods, products or services.
- Another characteristic, which is in line with the, has to do with the processes or times of purchase. The cycle in the case of B2B is usually short as it is simply a question of decisions made by the consumer that do not require a longer period of reflection, while in B2B there is a chain of command that must make the final decision.
- For all these reasons that differentiate the two business models, we can infer that the prices or the processes of negotiation of the same do not operate in the same way. B2C is somewhat ‘simpler’ and more standard while B2B can achieve a greater degree of flexibility by involving personalised agreements in which other issues such as other types of existing contracts or higher or lower purchase volumes have an influence.
We could conclude that, although the most obvious difference is the subject towards which the sale is orientated, there are also other related issues such as the negotiation processes or the purchase volumes.
