Business to many

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Business-to-many or B2M is a marketing term for a business that sells their goods or services to other businesses as well as to consumers. Unlike B2B firms that only engage themselves with other businesses or retail firms (B2C) that only contact consumers or the end users of the product, B2M firms do both. It is important to understand that just because an organization does B2M marketing, this does not mean that they target their products and services to everyone. B2M companies, like any other type of company, have a more specific target audience.

Contents

The terms B2M, B2B and B2C are usually used when describing methods of e-commerce - the act of selling goods and services online. However, these terms can be used to describe all exchanges and interactions made by an organization, whether it is via e-commerce or not. [1]

B2B and B2C

Business-to-business or B2B marketing is when organizations produce and sell their products and services to other businesses. [2]

Business-to-consumer or B2C marketing is when organizations produce and sell their goods and services directly to consumers or to the end users of the product.

Benefits

With a larger target-audience group, B2M companies have the opportunity of receiving more exposure and funding. These companies receive exposure from word-of-mouth marketing (from consumers) and through various business channels (from other organizations). To add to that, while B2C offers a wider pool of customers, B2B customers are more loyal. This is because customers in B2B commerce most likely have contracts and/or other long-term agreements with the company. The switching costs are also somewhat higher in a B2B relationship, contributing to longer-lasting business-customer relations. What this means is a sustainable source of income to the company. With both B2B and B2C, B2M companies get increased brand awareness through multiple channels, resulting in a company establishing itself more quickly on the market. [1] [3]

Limitations

B2M businesses have a wider target audience and/or a more varied target-audience group. This means their marketing strategies must be more diversified than the usual B2B or B2C businesses in order to appeal to all their customers. Businesses will have more say and tend to have more control over the providing company. They may demand more of the providing company such as more face-to-face meetings, customization of products and services and/or negotiation of prices. This may mean more work from the providing company. On the other hand, consumers are a less reliable source of income who need regular reminders and advertisement schemes to keep their attention. B2M companies will have to work on satisfying both groups, which may result in more workload and higher production and marketing costs. [4] [5]

Examples

An organization that does a combination of B2B and B2C is known as B2M. An example of an industry that does B2M is a book-publishing company. The working relationship between authors and publishers is a B2B relationship as neither are end users of the final product. When a book is published and sold to customers, this is a B2C relationship.

Another example of an industry that does B2M is charity-event organizers. Charity events generally want to attract wealthier individuals as well as businesses and sponsors. They advertise and sell their tickets and send invitations to individuals who wish to attend, as well as inviting large companies to donate and sponsor their cause in order to obtain as much funding and exposure as possible.

Related Research Articles

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information.

E-commerce is the activity of electronically buying or selling products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E-commerce is the largest sector of the electronics industry and is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marketing</span> Study and process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to customers

Marketing is the act of satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sales</span> Activities related to the exchange of goods

Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. A period during which goods are sold for a reduced price may also be referred to as a "sale".

Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Distribution (marketing)</span> Making products available to customers

Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or business user who needs it, and a distributor is a business involved in the distribution stage of the value chain. Distribution can be done directly by the producer or service provider or by using indirect channels with distributors or intermediaries. Distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix: the other three elements being product, pricing, and promotion.

Database marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses databases of customers or potential customers to generate personalized communications in order to promote a product or service for marketing purposes. The method of communication can be any addressable medium, as in direct marketing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online shopping</span> Form of electronic commerce

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Business-to-business</span> Commercial transaction between businesses

Business-to-business is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when:

B2B e-commerce, short for business-to-business electronic commerce, is the sale of goods or services between businesses via an online sales portal. In general, it is used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a company's sales efforts. Instead of receiving orders using human assets manually – by telephone or e-mail – orders are received digitally, reducing overhead costs.

Business marketing is a marketing practice of individuals or organizations. It allows them to sell products or services to other companies or organizations, who either resell them, use them in their products or services, or use them to support their work.

The target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to the previously intended audience. In marketing and advertising, the target audience is a particular group of consumer within the predetermined target market, identified as the targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message.

Industrial marketing or business-to-business marketing is the marketing of goods and services by one business to another. Industrial goods are those an industry uses to produce an end product from one or more raw material. The term, industrial marketing has largely been replaced by the term B2B marketing.

Customer engagement is an interaction between an external consumer/customer and an organization through various online or offline channels. According to Hollebeek, Srivastava and Chen S-D logic-Definition of customer engagement is "a customer’s motivationally driven, volitional investment of operant resources, and operand resources into brand interactions," which applies to online and offline engagement.

Consumer-to-business (C2B) is a business model in which consumers (individuals) create value and businesses consume that value. For example, when a consumer writes reviews or when a consumer gives a useful idea for new product development then that consumer is creating value for the business if the business adopts the input. In the C2B model, a reverse auction or demand collection model, enables buyers to name or demand their own price, which is often binding, for a specific good or service. Inside of a consumer to business market the roles involved in the transaction must be established and the consumer must offer something of value to the business.

Business-to-employee (B2E) electronic commerce uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees. Typically, companies use B2E networks to automate employee-related corporate processes. B2E portals have to be compelling to the people who use them. Companies are competing for eyeballs of their employees with eBay, yahoo and thousands of other web sites. There is a huge percentage of traffic to consumer web sites comes from people who are connecting to the net at the office.

Affinity marketing is a concept that consists of a partnership between a company (supplier) and an organization that gathers persons sharing the same interests to bring a greater consumer base to their service, product or opinion. This partnership is known as an affinity group.

Customer to customer markets provide a way to allow customers to interact with each other. Traditional markets require business to customer relationships, in which a customer goes to the business in order to purchase a product or service. In customer to customer markets, the business facilitates an environment where customers can sell goods or services to each other. Other types of markets include business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C).

Marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments and organizations automate repetitive tasks and consolidate multi-channel interactions, tracking and web analytics, lead scoring, campaign management and reporting into one system. It often integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) and customer data platform (CDP) software.

There are many types of e-commerce models, based on market segmentation, that can be used to conducted business online. The 6 types of business models that can be used in e-commerce include: Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Business (C2B), Business-to-Business (B2B), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), Business-to-Administration (B2A), and Consumer-to-Administration

References

  1. 1 2 Rainer, R. Kelly; Prince, Brad; Cegielski, Casey. Introduction to Information Systems (5 ed.). John Wiley & Sons Singapore Pte.Ltd. p. 172,173.
  2. ↑ "Business to Business - B to B". Investopedia. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  3. ↑ Andreas, Kopatz. "Senior Expert Business Development". Ecommerce Manager. Archived from the original on 2014-10-25. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  4. ↑ Rainer, R. Kelly; Prince, Brad; Cegielski, Casey. Introduction to Information Systems (5 ed.). John Wiley & Sons Singapore Pte. p. 172,173.
  5. ↑ Dontigney, Eric. "The Disadvantages of a B2B". AZ Central. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
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