What kind of eCommerce Website does your Business Need?
ECommerce is a widely encompassing term and touches every part of our lives, from working from home to purchasing your groceries with ApplePay. We seldom realise how ubiquitous digital eCommerce is in our everyday activities.
In general terms, eCommerce is any digital transaction that takes place between 2 parties requiring the transfer of money. Products can be physical, or digital, or include a service. They can be bought, traded, exchanged, bartered or sold.
Ecommerce Business Models
When you are considering a digital reconstruction of your business it’s crucial that you start with the business model that suits your organisations' goals. Let's look at the many ways of selling online and some great examples of local Australian and global brands.
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
This is the most traditional and recognised version of eCommerce commonly known as online retailing. It’s like taking a traditional bricks-and-mortar store online and has been further boosted in popularity by the current restrictions in traditional trading as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Characteristics include:
- Tend to be single industry sector sites that bring buyers and sellers together. Think of any product you have purchased online recently, from clothing to groceries to book or toys.
- Sell directly to you. You are getting your product from that company like our leisure and sports boating partner, Suzuki Marine
- Include intermediaries like travel & accommodation booking sites and Etsy.
- Include advertising and affiliates advertising a product or service like your favourite news or recipe site.
- Community aka social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter are platforms that offer something for the user in exchange for advertising and data retention.
- SaaS sites such as Adobe or Xbox.
- Digital content sites like Netflix and Spotify.
Business-to-Business (B2B)
This can include many variations, both direct and indirect from supplier to intermediary to the purchaser. Another example of massive growth thanks to the restricted trade via traditional channel and face to face sales models.
Includes:
- Industry, food, whitegoods acting either supplying directly, intermediary or wholesale sites.
- Services sites, like our eProcurement partners Kyburz Australia.
- Software & SaaS, like our favourite marketing automation partners Hubspot, and debt recovery partner Red Debtor.
- Small WordPress sites, complex supply-side and booking web apps, business intranets like our recent work with shipping partners Victoria International Container Terminal.
- E-procurement sites, supplier exchanges, RFP’s for larger organisations and bidding sites (Alibaba).
- Broker sites in the financial, banking, and insurance industries like our partnership with leading investment managers Montgomery Investments.
- B2B portals, industry forums and industry directories with the peak promotional products association APPA's "APPA Search" trading marketplace, designed and developed by Click to bring members together to exchange and trade their products with each other.
Consumer-to-Business (C2B)
The newest form of eCommerce has come out of the "gig economy" and puts the power directly back into the hands of the provider.
Includes:
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
More recent and lucrative areas of eCommerce development are barter, trade, and sales that charge a commission fee. This model can be a little more problematic in payments and policies as they are community transactions simply being hosted by a platform. Benefits include no middleman which means better pricing for the consumer.
Includes:
Business-to-Government (B2G)
Generally means providing services via the enterprise-style procurement process.
Includes:
- Local and State government departments.
- E-procurement sites.
- RFP and tender sites, contractor work, Health Care services.
- Database acquisition.
- Tax filing, forms, payments, applications, and licensing.
Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)
This site is mainly concerned with connecting consumers to government and allow services such as consumer voting, and community feedback.
There are several fulfilment models used for eCommerce trading:
Dropshipping
Has become much more popular with the rise in APIs and plugins to apply complex shipping models, too. This also means affiliates do not need to invest in a large amount of stock. They simply sell the item, notify the original company and its sent out via the suppliers. This was one of the original eCommerce models that has worked fabulously for the global giant Amazon.
Warehousing and wholesale
Mean supply chain logistics, inventory and huge costs to companies but is capitalising on the changing buying habits of many people. From groceries to clothing to industry, the inventory is ready to be shipped at just about any time of the day and delivered to you in a small percentage of the time it used to take.
Subscription models
Have grown exponentially in recent years. Everything from monthly Saas fees to Food delivery boxes, to monthly deliveries like Dollar Shave Club, and digital products such as stock photography.
The many incredible advancements in eCommerce platforms and technology have no doubt made life much easier for the consumer to purchase products. But delivering them at the right place and the right time is where its starts to get tricky. Knowing what your best options are for building your online store are crucial to delivery and customer experience. Where to next in the search for the right tools and partners to get your brand online and making sales?
Choose well and you can transition from decades of the "old normal" in your market... to a truly digital business. If you would like to learn more about accelerating your business transition to the "new normal", then we’d love to hear from you.
