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Among the marketing terms, you probably have encountered B2B and B2C in different talks. Are you familiar with these 2 terms and their differences? Let’s find out with BRNDY in this article.

What is B2B and B2C?

B2C (Business to Consumer) is the term indicating the transaction between businesses and consumers whereas consumer is the target audience. This business model can be found when a business or an organization sells their products or services to end-consumers with personal purposes.

B2B (Business to Business) is the term indicating the direct transaction of businesses together.

What are the differences between Customer Journey of B2B and B2C models?

1. Target Audience

While the B2B’s target audience is other businesses or organizations, the B2C’s are simply normal individuals. What should be taken note is the C element in B2C represents the end-user, which means it can include business buying products for consuming purposes. For example: a business buying interior equipment for office accommodating purposes.

Generally, these B2B transactions can be more complex and require more safety and security.

2. Negotiation & Transaction

The B2B model usually consists of many factors such as price negotiation, delivery and technical features of a product or services, while the B2C one doesn’t necessarily need to be like that. That’s why retailers find it very easy to put their product catalog in an online shopping website. The same reason happened for the fact that pioneered e-commerce apps are developed exclusively for fully finished products with simplicity in characterization and pricing.

3. Marketing Strategies

Some may think marketing is the same whether the target is business or normal individuals since they are all human. It does sound logical, but the fact a person buys that product for personal usage or for their business operation, two purposes can lead to very different experiences and feedback.

In reality, there are some core differences you have to remember. The B2B model relies on the effort of building relationships with other businesses, and focusing on their consumers to persuade them is really a waste of time and money; furthermore, you might even lose a golden ticket to their connection.

What should be done first for B2B Marketing is the same as B2C Marketing – determine your target audience and know clearly why they should listen to you.

4. Selling Process

B2C	B2B
Products decide everything	Connections decide everything
Utilize transaction value	Utilize connection value
Large marketplace	Small and easily-focused marketplace
Shorter and step-by-step buying process	Longer and more complex buying process
Brand awareness built by delivering repeated messages	Brand awareness built by close connection
Focus on sale and buying behavior	Focus on building awareness
Buying decision emotionally based on wants, condition or price	Buying decision rationally based on economic value and benefit

B2C Model

The ultimate target of B2C business is to transform normal visitors to loyal consumers with high needs of consumption. To raise the consumption needs and gain high market share, B2C businesses might apply various tactics such as vouchers, discounts, product showcases, store presence (both offline and online) and so on. 

For example: An email campaign for B2C companies is to gain customers in a flash by sending important information and websites, and customers can perform buying activity directly online. Notice that the process should be short in one click, to make sure people won’t feed up with such campaigns.

The main characteristics of the B2C model relates to the short buying process, so it’s crucial to understand the consumers’ needs immediately. Moreover, B2C businesses need to care deeply about customers’ loyalty. This has been done well in Amazon and Shopee, as they created their customers’ shopping habits to keep them coming back; therefore, having professional customer services can help you do it well.

B2B Model

The main target of B2B business is to persuade potential customers to buy their product, but it is more complex and might take lots of time compared with the B2C model. To make that happen, B2B companies focus on building connections and promoting with marketing activities that can be maintained throughout the sale cycle.

For example: An email campaign for B2B companies is to attract customers and let them know your products or services on your website. Contact information should be included in the email (phone number, address) and the landing page should display specific information of your products, services such as descriptions, features and prices if possible.

These first steps of marketing can be complex and take lots of time by sending emails, telesales and information seeding. Those actions are performed by the sales team, who will take direct responsibility in communicating with consumers for specific business details and from then, increasing the chance of closing a deal during the sale cycle. Don’t forget that Content is very important for B2B Marketing, so news, reports, products or service information on the public mainstream should look divine and professional to attract potential customers.