July 19, 2024 | Blog

Finding the right niche for your market is crucial when creating a business; hence, where you stand, either a business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-customer company, is equally as important. But what exactly do B2B and B2C mean? Today, IT Group, Inc. (ITG) will share insights into understanding the B2B and B2C markets, the possible strategies you can make, and how technology can help leverage your business.

What Businesses Should Know About B2B and B2C

1. 1. What is Business-to-Business (B2B)?

   2. What is Business-to-Customer (B2C)?

   3. B2B vs B2C: The Mindset and The Experience

   4. Let’s Venture B2B and B2C Together

What is Business-to-Business (B2B)?

A business-to-business transaction, or B2B for short, is a process where independent companies work together to provide products and services that one or the other business needs. For example, if you’re a manufacturer of can metal for can goods, you can be the manufacturer and/or supplier of manufacturers and/or retailers who sell can goods. James Chen said, “Business-to-business refers to commerce that’s conducted between companies rather than companies and individual consumers.”

Also read: Tech and Business Insights 2024

Nicolas Maechler, Sanjeev Sahni, and Martine van Oostrum’s article Improving the business-to-business customer experience, explainedhow business-to-business changes through time and how modern-day technology can help businesses. “Many discussions of customer-experience strategies begin with a flawed assumption. When executives delve into the competitive advantages of building a more customer-centric organization, they very often focus on interactions with retail buyers—the end consumers,” they said. “But in our experience, a customer-centric mindset is just as critical in the B2B space, and more and more executives are developing B2B customer-experience strategies with striking results.”

The B2B mindset brings forth more of the actual value of what you can offer to the company you are dealing with as a client and its direct impact on their customers. It’s like being B2C but in the back row seat as a solid support and resources.

What is Business-to-Customer (B2C)?

So, how is B2B directly proportional to B2C? First, we define what is B2C means. B2C or business-to-customer is an experience where companies directly interact and provide customers’ needs. “The term business-to-consumer (B2C) refers to the process of selling products and services directly between a business and consumers who are the end-users of its products or services. Most companies that sell directly to consumers can be referred to as B2C: How Business-to-Consumer Sales Works, 5 Types and Examples article.

Also read: Do’s and Dont’s When Your Business Starts to Expand

Esade Business & Law School also highlighted the difference of B2C and B2B and how related they are to each other. “B2C companies focus on meeting consumers’ needs –or, at times, creating those needs– by means of a given product or service, at a price and via a dedicated channel and promotion. By contrast, B2B firms must detect problems in their client companies and offer them solutions that represent a clear added value for them,” they said. B2C market plays an important as all B2B is rooted to the users—always the customers. In modern day marketing and business model, B2C can be categorized into five according to Kenton: direct sellers, online intermediaries, advertising-based B2C, community-based, and fee-based.

B2B vs B2C: The Mindset and The Experience

Although the dynamics of B2B and B2C are the same and interconnected, the B2B mindset helps elevate the B2C experience and vice versa. For example, your company is under the B2B category, and you manufacture and supply quality mattresses. Now, if you’re the country’s leading mattress manufacturer, big chances are you supply both businesses and consumers. Some are for bulk orders or wholesale deals for hotels in the hospitality and travel industry, in the health and medical sector providing medical beds, or for individuals who want to invest in how they sleep. Either way, one thing remains the same: the quality of experience you gave to both. For B2B, you are able to meet the demand, agree with the deal, and supply their request. For B2C, you give them choices, the quality they are looking for, and prices they can afford without sacrificing the return on investment you expect. 

Also read: 7 Ways to Get Your Business Successful this 2024

To implement a successful B2B and B2C way of doing business, digital transformation offers a way to elevate the experience using innovative solutions. In the Harvard Business Review, The Value of Digital Transformation, they analyzed how digital transformation can be applied to a company as a model, “For example, leading digital banks deploy personalization analytics and digital marketing campaigns to bring relevant offers to (potential) customers,” they said. “In the middle of this process, they create an omnichannel experience where branch and contact center professionals have the tools and data to support customers at any stage of the sales journey, even if that journey was started online. These leading banks also provide customer approvals in real time, thanks to automated credit-risk decisioning. At the back end of the process, they drive customer self-servicing through well-designed digital workflows enabled by a modern data architecture.”

Let’s Venture B2B and B2C Together

IT Group, Inc. has been the leading IT Solution Partner in the Philippines and ASEAN Region, with regional offices located in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, helping 200+ clients across the ASEAN region on their digital transformation journey and has a solid portfolio of 250+ successful projects. We’re an ISO 9001:2015 Certified company, the leading technology partner for system-wide innovative solutions that deliver seamless integrations and processes, from Business Management Solutions, IT Management, Integration & Automation, and Enterprise Data Management to IT Infrastructure.

Also read: Customer Centric: Why Businesses Should Always Listen to Their Customers

Whether your company is B2B or B2C or both and regardless of how big or small your business is, ITG can help you elevate your organization into the next level. In this competitive market, ITG provides innovative solutions to help you achieve your business goals and excellent customer experience through digital transformation. 

Let’s Venture Together to learn more about how we can help you today.