E-Commerce Merchant Companies.
Merchant companies take title of the goods that they sell. Within this category, it can be divided into three sub-categories.
- The first being Business-to-Consumer (B2C). This refers to the sales between a business and a consumer. a good example of this is Amazon.com.
- The second is Business-to-Business (B2B). Refers to the sales between companies. Could be seen in the picture below.
- The last one is Business-Government (B2G). This is considered as the sales between companies and governmental organizations.
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| Found in P. 225 figure 7-14 in Experiencing MIS Updated 2nd Edition |
E-Commerce Nonmerchant Companies.
Nonmerchant e-commerce companies arrange the purchase or sale of goods and services owned and provided by others. Unlike Merchant companies, Nonmerchant companies do not take title of the goods that they sell. Within this category, it can be divided into three sub-categories.
- The first is Auctions. These companies match buyers and sellers by using an e-commerce version of a standard auction. By doing so, they support a competitive bidding process. A good example of this is Ebay.
- The second is Clearinghouses. These provide goods and services at a stated price and arrange for the delivery of goods, but they never take title. An example of a clearinghouse e-commerce company is Amazon.
- The last is Electronic Exchange. This just simply matches buyers and sellers. An example of this Priceline.com
