B2B & B2C

B2B is short for 'Business to Business' and is used to designate those aspects of e-commerce that involve the exchange of goods of services between companies over the Internet.

B2C (Business to Consumer), on the other hand, refers to Internet sales by businesses to consumers. B2B platforms encompass not only commodity exchanges and wholesale supplies on the Internet but virtual auctions as well.

On the Internet, B2B (business-to-business), also known as e-biz, is the exchange of products, services, or information between businesses rather than between businesses and consumers. Although early interest centered on the growth of retailing on the Internet (sometimes called e-tailing), forecasts are that B2B revenue will far exceed business-to-consumers (B2C) revenue in the near future. According to studies published in early 2000, the money volume of B2B exceeds that of e-tailing by 10 to 1. Over the next five years, B2B is expected to have a compound annual growth of 41%. The Gartner Group estimates B2B revenue worldwide to be $7.29 trillion dollars by 2004. In early 2000, the volume of investment in B2B by venture capitalists was reported to be accelerating sharply although profitable B2B sites were not yet easy to find.