Swarm of XeBees

Have you ever experienced getting yourself photographed by visiting the photographer shop? Realistically, you will be given time slot, you wait, and when your turn comes, photographer takes significant amount of time in setting up and focusing and then finally clicks a photograph. He expects few days of delivery time because of his over-running schedule and his ever going pending orders. Hopefully, after three or four days you get a call from the shop saying that your photograph is ready and shipped. Imagine there is a dark shade in your frame or any other disliking feature distorting the image which might lead to you again undergo the same procedure and invest your quality time. Isn't it?

On the other hand, if you were given a chance to have yourself clicked wherever you are, at any given time, having a flexibility of previewing the clicked photograph and options of selecting the frame and the background image etc. then what would be your reaction? Surprisingly, this is how a smart b2B2C business model works!!! An application hosted on a website allowing users to upload the pictures and getting it printed and shipped is the real example of b2B2C model. Basically, a photo studio (b) is partnered with a firm (B) which is hosting an application and catering to consumers (C) needs and other photography services.

Though this appears complex, there are three simple steps for any business model to be successful which are as follows:

Search for the places where customer would like to look for these things. The studio has approached websites where students and officials would like to visit quite often for their needs.

The studio found a way to build on the relationship between customer and the studio by offering them what they want. Similarly, every business must find a way to build emotional connection with the brand which will actually give impetus to the business.

This experience with online studio is seamless since customer doesn't have to arrange a photo shoot with the studio, transportation and other hassles. In fact, online transactions are faster, reliable and, most importantly, time savers.

1. Auctions portal, such as eBay, which allows online real-time bidding.
2. peer-to-peer systems, such as the Napster which shares (music) data over internet.
3. money exchange models and classified ads at portal sites.

Consumer-to-business (C2B) transactions involve reverse auctions, which allow consumers to drive transactions. For an example, an airlines portal (makemytrip.com) offering various route/booking options to a traveler and online competitive offer study in response to the traveler's travel requests.

B2C : commercial site (.com)

business-to-business (B2B)

Business-to-Business e-commerce deals with relationships among businesses. The applications that deal in B2B are purchase order processing, inventory management, supply chain management and payment management, CMS software, real time auction solutions, application service providers who provide all the services from a central facility etc.

Business-to-consumer e-commerce deals with business or trade between companies and consumers. It involves customers gathering information, purchasing physical goods (books or consumer products) or information goods over an electronic network. It is the second largest and the oldest form of e-commerce which was initially started with online retailing. The common B2C business models are the online retailing companies such as Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, Barnes and Noble and ToysRus. The more common applications of this type of e-commerce are in the areas of purchasing products and information, personal finance management which pertains to the management of personal investments and finances with the use of online banking tools. B2C e-commerce reduces transactions costs by increasing access to information and allowing consumers to find the most competitive price for a product or service. B2C e-commerce also reduces market entry barriers since the cost of putting up and maintaining a website is much cheaper than building a physical firm. Moreover online purchasing saves firms from factoring in the additional cost of a physical distribution network.

Business-to-government e-commerce or B2G is generally defined as commerce between companies and the public sector. It refers to the use of the Internet for government-related activities like public procurement, licensing procedures etc. This kind of e-commerce has widest impact since the public sector has the largest customer base and hence, the greatest need for making its procurement system more effective.

Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce or C2C is simply a commerce between private individuals or consumers. This type of e-commerce is characterized by the growth of electronic marketplaces and online auctions (e-bay), particularly in vertical industries where firms/businesses can bid for what they want from among multiple suppliers. It perhaps has the greatest potential for developing new markets.

M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless technology i.e., handheld devices such as mobiles and PDAs. As the mobile industry is increasing day-by-day the usage and the belief in the m-commerce is surely going to increase. The content exchanged over wireless devices seems to be faster, secured and even more efficient than that over wired e-commerce platforms.

1. Financial services, mobile banking and stock trading.
2. Telecommunications where service plan changes, bill payment and account reviews can all be conducted from the same mobile device.
3. Service/retail, as consumers are given the ability to place and pay for order on-the-fly like railway reservation through SMS etc.
4. Information services which includes the delivery of entertainment, financial, sports news and traffic updates to a mobile device.

1. The availability of a secure broadband Internet platform which provides platform for private and public B2B e-marketplaces
2. The need for collaborations between suppliers and buyers
3. The objective to save money, reduce delays and improve collaboration

1. Financial services
2. Online services like stock trading, financing products and other services
3. Real estate
4. Travel and entertainment services

1. Creates new business avenues and opportunities
2. Paperless business transactions
3. Expedites processing and reduces cycle time
4. Lowers search costs and time for buyers to find products and vendors
5. Increases productivity of employees dealing with buying and/or selling
6. Improves quality of services
7. Reduces marketing and sales costs (for sellers)
8. Enables customized online catalogs with different prices for different customers

1. Channel conflict
2. Elimination of the distributor or the retailer within the chain