Consumer-to-Business (C2B) Marketing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer-to-business

Consumer-to-business

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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.[1]

Another form of C2B is the electronic commerce business model in which consumers can offer products and services to companies, and the companies pay the consumers. This business model is a complete reversal of the traditional business model in which companies offer goods and services to consumers (business-to-consumer = B2C). We can see the C2B model at work in blogs or internet forums in which the author offers a link back to an online business thereby facilitating the purchase of a product (like a book on Amazon.com), for which the author might receive affiliate revenues from a successful sale. Elance was the first C2B model e-commerce site.

C2B is a kind of economic relationship that is qualified as an inverted business type. The advent of the C2B scheme is due to:

· The internet connecting large groups of people to a bidirectional network; the large traditional media outlets are one-directional relationships whereas the internet is bidirectional.

· Decreasing costs of technology; individuals now have access to technologies that were once only available to large companies (digital printing and acquisition technology, high-performance computers, and powerful software).

Contents

· 1Positives and Negatives

· 2Distinguishing between traditional business models

· 3See also

· 4References

Positives and Negatives[edit]

Nowadays people have smartphones or connect to the internet through personal tablets/computers daily allowing consumers to engage with brands online. According to Katherine Arline, in traditional consumer-to-business models companies would promote goods and services to consumers, but a shift has occurred to allow consumers to be the driving force behind a transaction.[1] To the consumers benefit, reverse auctions occur in consumer to business markets allowing the consumer to name their price for a product or service. A consumer can also provide value to a business by offering to promote a business products on a consumers blog or social media platforms.[1] Businesses are provided value through their consumers and vice versa. Businesses gain in C2B from the consumers willingness to negotiate price, contribute data, or market to the company. Consumers profit from direct payment of the reduced-price goods and services and the flexibility of the transaction the C2B market created.[1] Consumer to business markets have their downfall as well. C2B is still a relatively new business practice and has not been fully studied.[2]

Distinguishing between traditional business models[edit]

Consumer to business is an up and coming business market that can be utilized as a company's entire business model or added to an already existing model.[1] Consumer to business (C2B) is the opposite of business to consumer (B2C) practices and is facilitated by the internet or online forms of technology.[3] Another important distinction between the traditional business to consumer market is that the consumer chooses to be a part of the business relationship inside a consumer to business market. For a relationship to exist though both parties must acknowledge that it exists, implying that the relationship is important to both participants.[4]

Data and analytics are going to drive the C2B world and enable companies to gain a better understanding of customers. Businesses need to go back to what drives the sales, people. Move away from innovation and the newest technology and go back to who, what, and why of the people interacting with businesses.[5]

See also[edit]

· business-to-government

· consumer-to-consumer

· e-Business

· Business-to-business (B2B)

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e "What is C2B?". Business News Daily. Retrieved 2018-10-22.

2. ^ Chen, Deng-Neng (October 11, 2006). "An agent-based model for consumer-to-business electronic commerce". Expert Systems with Applications.

3. ^ Doyle, Charles (2016). Oxford Dictionary of Marketing. Online: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198736424.

4. ^ Raciti, Maria M.; Ward, Tony; Dagger, Tracey S. (2013-03-29). "The effect of relationship desire on consumer‐to‐business relationships". European Journal of Marketing. 47 (3/4): 615–634. doi:10.1108/03090561311297490. ISSN 0309-0566.

5. ^ "Forget B2B or B2C—It's About C2B". DMNews.com. Retrieved 2018-10-22.

https://www.marketing91.com/customer-to-business-marketing/

Customer to business marketing model

May 4, 2018 By Hitesh Bhasin Tagged With: Online marketing

The Customer to business marketing model is a relatively new concept and it was possible because of the power that companies place in the hands of today’s customers. It is also known as the C2B model. It is diametrically opposed to business-to-customer, as the end customers create products and services which are consumed by businesses and organizations. Customer to business or C2B involves e-commercetype of business which came into existence due to Internet, which made possible the relationship between customer and business.

The customer of today wants control to feel that he or she is the one that decides which brand to buy or which product to prefer. As the internet grew in popularity, the trend accelerated giving more power to people to share and express their freedom. The decreasing cost of technology gave customers access to networking that was once available only to large companies.

Likewise, the very characteristic of Internet of being a bidirectional network, allowed customers to become their own businesses. Therefore, those who have something to offer to companies, actively contact the enterprises via internet and raise questions or suggestions that can be used for improving or marketing their products or services.

As an example of a customer to business model is a customer’s blog which links back to the product placed on the company’s website thereby facilitating the sale. In this case, the author might receive compensation from a successful sale. Sites like Imagebazaar.com enable individual photographers to sell stock images to businesses. In many such cases, stock photo agencies purchase photos from private photographers, typically on a contractual basis.

It is important to note that the customer to business model is possible only in online marketing and not in other forms of marketing.

The C2B model involves three actors:

The customer – who can be any individual with something to offer, either a good or a service. Depending on the model, the customer can be met under one of these names:

· webmaster or blogger

· photographer

· any individual answering a poll

· any individual with connections who offers job hiring through referral hiring sites

The business – is represented by any business or company which purchases goodsfrom an individual (the customer) through intermediaries. Examples of companies which can be such clients:

· companies which need to advertise online

· advertising agencies which need to buy stock photos

· companies which would like to hire (through referral hiring sites)

The intermediary – usually it is a portal which is used both by the businesses (buyers) and individuals (sellers). The intermediary is an essential element between the buyer and the seller. This portal can link one buyer with many sellers.

The primary roles of an intermediary is to promote the goods and services that the individuals plan to sell and proposes a distribution channel for sending them. It also offers the sellers services like large promotion, technical expertise or logistics. A second role is that of offering buyers contact to a mass of individuals and also considers the legal aspects of money transactions. Examples of these intermediaries are Google Adsense or Google Adwords. However, some intermediaries prefer to create two different access portals, one for buyers and one for sellers.

The intermediaries can also be classified into two categories:

· Extern intermediary – is the one who acts as an agent between buyer and seller (like the referral hiring site)

· Intern intermediary – is basically the business itself, which through an affiliated program pays the seller directly.

In a C2B model, the seller or the individual is not the only one who has to make efforts for selling his or her products, but the businesses also have to develop some skills if they want to reach C2B  audience and choose the best product or service. Therefore they should consider marketing tools like market research, customer feedback channel, comments or suggestions from customers, social media.  Adopting a C2B approach requires extra effort and resources, but involving the customer in business decisions is essential for today’s customer-driven market.

https://seopressor.com/blog/what-is-c2b-ecommerce/

What Is C2B Ecommerce And How Does It Help Your Business?

By joanne on May 31, 2017

SEOPressor / Blog / What Is C2B Ecommerce And How Does It Help Your Business?

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In simpler times, B2C ecommerce was the largest market, with B2B marketing close behind. Then, with the age of the Internet and the ease of ecommerce, we saw the dawn of the C2C ecommerce, which soon rose to become one of the biggest markets in the world, even forcing businesses to evolve their strategies.

(Read our guide to B2C marketing here for more B2C marketing strategies and B2C examples.)

Now, we are seeing things come full circle. Believe it or not, we are increasingly seeing a shift towards a C2B ecommerce world.

What Is C2B?

C2B ecommerce is also known as consumer-to-business. This change heralds a complete reversal of the traditional model, with those who would normally be end-users creating products and services that are consumed by the businesses and organizations they themselves buy from.

Elance (now operated by Upwork) was the first truly C2B ecommerce site, which inverted the usual relationship.

Instead of a business advertising a service to someone and waiting for them to take it up, customers now demanded a service for a price that they’re happy to pay and waited for a business (or freelancer) to fill the gap. This inversion of the usual way of working is now becoming even more common.

This has come in a large part to the power the Internet has put in the hands of consumers. Customers are now starting to realize the power they wield and are looking to leverage that power for profits. In much the same way as a brand leverages its prestige, consumers can now leverage their influences. It is a new form of currency that has nevertheless proven very effective for both sides.

How Does C2B Marketing Work?

C2B marketing works because there are three different groups whose relationships are changing. These are broken down as the customer, the business, and the intermediary.

The Customers

The customer is an individual who has something to offer. This can be broken down into goods or services.

This is how people are promoting their services in Upwork.

For example:

· A webmaster or blogger can offer a service by showcasing the latest product.

· Someone who is active on social media and has thousands of followers or subscribers can share their use of a product to introduce it to new audiences.

· Someone who takes great photographs might sell them as stock photos for businesses.

· People who are willing to answer polls can provide valuable market research data.

· Those with connections can help refer potential hires to the business.

Throughout these examples, there’s one key theme, which is a changing nature of the relationship to customers away from being top-down and toward being back-and-forth. Consumers are now no longer a market, they are a network.

The Business

In this particular transactional relationship, the business is the for-profit institution that purchases goods or services from individuals. This can be for many reasons, and in both direct or indirect ways.

C2B ecommerce like Amazon Affiliates allows the purchase of a product, for which the website owner will receive revenues or commission from a successful sale.

· Companies may need to advertise online and seek exposure from those who can give it to them.

· Advertising agencies who need to buy stock photos to populate their content.

· Companies who need to make a new hire and want to find the best peoplethrough referral hiring sites.

· Manufacturers that need feedback on their products to help inform the development of new products.

The Intermediary

In C2B ecommerce, the intermediary is the portal, or the medium that is used by both businesses and individuals, and connect the two.

· Traditional advertising like a TV advert cannot do this. But a Facebook page, a Twitter account, an Amazon online store or a modern website can do this.

· The portal can also link one buyer with many sellers, such as the Amazon marketplace, or it can be used by both individuals and business, like eBay or Facebook.

· Affiliate marketing is an example of a C2B ecommerce model, as a customer can utilize their blog to links back to a product sold on the company’s ecommerce website, thereby facilitating the sale and being financially rewarded for doing do.

· Sites like imagebazaar.com enable individual photographers to sell stock images to businesses. These kinds of online marketplace allow ordinary people to make money from their hobbies and activities.

Common C2B Ecommerce Examples1) Customer Reviews

All feedback is valuable.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking negative feedback harms their business. Little did they know, it is the response to negative feedback that can harm a business.

If a customer decides to leave a review on Yelp, Google+, Angie’s list, or some other online review site, they are offering you a valuable piece of data. If you can respond to that data, whether that be with a reply, a thank you, an apology or a change in your business, you will build your reputation.

Even with unsatisfactory testimonial from a customer, Tony’s Italian Delicatessen still reply and handled it well.

So if you are a consumer with a profile and influence, you can potentially be a valuable asset to companies who want to improve or establish their online reputation.

Dimensional Research did a survey and indeed, customer reviews do affect consumer decision making.

The rewards for leaving reviews don’t have to be as direct as money. They can be entries into a competition, vouchers for money off a next purchase, and other more creative incentives.

2) Online Buzz

Another useful way for a business to utilize consumers is to help them create online buzz. Traditionally, one of the best methods for creating online buzz has come from press coverage highlighting new product launches, key developments and more.

Writing a press release, or better, getting a press release written by a professional can help you expand your reach considerably.

That said, journalists are losing their influences while individuals are growing theirs. This has caused a lot of problems through the explosion of fake news and the resuscitation of just about every conspiracy theory going, but it is not without advantages too.

Getting consumers directly engaged in events such as product launches is something Apple is now famous for but can be achieved at every level. By doing so, you gain exposure to new potential clients.

You can also cultivate regular mentions of your brand on niche websites, forums, and on social media by activating your current customer base. Identifying those who already demonstrate some brand loyalty and turning them into evangelicals through properly incentivizing them can be truly useful.

If you are a brand-loyal consumer, shouting about it while developing the number of followers can be a great way to bag free material from your favorite businesses.

The most common way of C2B ecommerce is sponsored posts and endorsements by Influencers.

ColourPop X Jenn Im

Known mostly from Instagram and YouTube, but present everywhere, social media influencers can introduce their loyal following to products and services that are useful to them, or aspirational brands that they can sell through synthesizing them with their exotic lifestyles.

3) Focus and Test Groups

Another valuable asset consumers have for c2b ecommerce is insight. A consumer is the target market, and why they decided to buy or not buy a product could have huge implications for the business manufacturing and selling said product.

Getting audience opinion on specific features and an idea of what audiences want most is still largely standard, despite mavericks like Steve Jobs famously claiming that consumers don’t know what they want until they see it.

For businesses, this amount to making the most of a captive audience and allowing an open-ended discussion to inform innovation. Market research ahead of launching a new product can help drastically improve the chances of success.

As a consumer, you know your frustrations very well, and you know what limitations your products entail and how you would like to overcome them. Sharing this information for free is charitable, but you can look for opportunities to be rewarded for your feedback.

How To Make C2B Ecommerce Work For Business

If you’re a business, you can consider using marketing tools that rely more on consumer interaction, including market research to inform co-creative innovation, customer feedback channels that allow for endorsement and recommendation, a dialogue with customers through social media that establishes relationships with influencers, and having a healthy mix of positive and constructive reviews, which help both endorse and optimize the business.

As a consumer, you can start to think of yourself as wielding more power than you ever have before. You can directly affect the sales of a company with your review, which means you have a responsibility to treat them seriously.

If you do so, and your quality of feedback across multiple touchpoints is useful and informative, you can start to see yourself become an influencer. The ideal channels for such influence are Instagram and Yelp, where such behavior is actively encouraged by the format. If you do, you may find your influence becomes a form of currency.

Fiverr is one of a great C2B websites examples of a successful C2B ecommerce because of its low cost introductory price to solve your problem.

I’ll leave you with a final thought from Facebook’s Ad VP, who says that C2B messaging is a ‘tremendous opportunity’ for business. Why?

Unique visits to Pages have grown 40% year over year, Messenger is being integrated to allow a direct line of communication to a business. Things are becoming more interactional than ever, and all of these evolutions are consumer-led.

Consumers are being put first, time and time again, by businesses. While this does increase consumer power and leverage over a business, it also increases the success a business can experience, by making purchases easier and more instinctive than ever before.

The oldest adage in marketing is arguably “people sell to people”. Last week, we saw how that is now a lucrative business model in itself and how businesses are having to adapt – everything about C2B marketing suggests businesses have to become more like a person to succeed in the modern environment.

Have you leveraged C2B ecommerce practices for your business? Tell us in the comments below! Equally, if you’ve discovered new opportunities for C2B ecommerce we haven’t listed here, then don’t let your fellow readers miss out!

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