A common classification of EC (E-Commerce) is by the nature of the transaction. The following types of transactions are distinguished:
Business-to-Business (B2B)
The entire participant in this type of EC is businesses or other organizations. Today, most EC is B2B (Cunningham, 2001). B2B transactions include the IOS transaction and e-market transaction between and among organizations.
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
These transactions include retail transactions with individual shoppers. The typical shopper at Amazon.com is a consumer, not a customer. This business model is also called e-tailing.
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
In this category, consumers sell directly to other consumers. Examples include individuals selling residential property, cars, and so on in classified ads. The advertisement of personal services over the internet and the selling of knowledge and expertise online are other examples of C2C. In addition, several auction sites allow individuals to place items up for auction. Finally, many individuals use personal web pages and portals as intranets to advertise items or personal services.
People-to-People (P2P)
This type of transaction is a special type of C2C where people exchange CDs, videos, software, and other goods. A well-known organizer is Napster (napster.com).
Consumer-to-Business (C2B)
This category includes individuals who use the internet to sell products or services to organizations, as well as individuals who seek sellers, interact with them, and conclude transactions online. Priceline.com is a well-known C2B organizer.
Intra-business (Organizational) EC
This category includes all internal organization activities, usually performed on intranet or corporate portals that involve the exchange of goods, services, or information among various units and individuals in that organization. Activities can range from selling corporate products to employees to online training and collaborative design efforts.
Business-to-Employees (B2E)
This is a subset of the intra-business category where the organization delivers services, information, or products to individual employees.
Government-to-Citizen (G2C) and Others
In this type of EC, a government entity buys or sells goods, services, or information to businesses or individual citizens.
Exchange-to-Exchange (E2E)
With the proliferation of exchanges and portals, it is logical for exchanges to connect to one another. E2E is a formal system to connect exchanges.
Collaborative Commerce (C-Commerce)
C-commerce is an application of IOS for electronic collaboration between business partners and between organizational employees.
Mobile Commerce
When EC takes place in a wireless environment, it is called mobile commerce (m-commerce).
