What are the different types of e-commerce?

The major different types of e-commerce are: business-to-business (B2B); businessto-
consumer (B2C); business-to-government (B2G); consumer-to-consumer (C2C);
and mobile commerce (m-commerce).
What is B2B e-commerce?
B2B e-commerce is simply defined as e-commerce between companies. This is the
type of e-commerce that deals with relationships between and among businesses.
About 80% of e-commerce is of this type, and most experts predict that B2B ecommerce
will continue to grow faster than the B2C segment.
The B2B market has two primary components: e-frastructure and e-markets. Efrastructure
is the architecture of B2B, primarily consisting of the following:9
● logistics - transportation, warehousing and distribution (e.g., Procter and Gamble);
● application service providers - deployment, hosting and management of packaged
software from a central facility (e.g., Oracle and Linkshare);
● outsourcing of functions in the process of e-commerce, such as Web-hosting,
security and customer care solutions (e.g., outsourcing providers such as
eShare, NetSales, iXL Enterprises and Universal Access);
● auction solutions software for the operation and maintenance of real-time auctions
in the Internet (e.g., Moai Technologies and OpenSite Technologies);
● content management software for the facilitation of Web site content management
and delivery (e.g., Interwoven and ProcureNet); and
● Web-based commerce enablers (e.g., Commerce One, a browser-based, XMLenabled
purchasing automation software).
E-markets are simply defined as Web sites where buyers and sellers interact with
each other and conduct transactions.10
The more common B2B examples and best practice models are IBM, Hewlett
Packard (HP), Cisco and Dell. Cisco, for instance, receives over 90% of its product
orders over the Internet.
Most B2B applications are in the areas of supplier management (especially purchase
order processing), inventory management (i.e., managing order-ship-bill
cycles), distribution management (especially in the transmission of shipping documents),
channel management (i.e., information dissemination on changes in operational
conditions), and payment management (e.g., electronic payment systems
or EPS)
eMarketer projects an increase in the share of B2B e-commerce in total global ecommerce
from 79.2% in 2000 to 87% in 2004 and a consequent decrease in the
share of B2C e-commerce from 20.8% in 2000 to only 13% in 2004

Likewise B2B growth is way ahead of B2C growth in the Asia-Pacific region. According
to a 2001 eMarketer estimate, B2B revenues in the region are expected to exceed
$300 billion by 2004.