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Running a profitable e-business involves accepting continual change and finding the correct business model is not always easy. Thanks to many of the Internet pioneers, corporations now have some history to analyze their desired approach. IBM analyzed over 700 companies that are currently active on the web and noticed that specific online business model patterns emerged (see table below). “Interestingly, while these groupings remain constant across geography, industry, company size or type of commerce, their distinction is marked by their primary focus and market scope” (IBM, p1). The following is a list of these groupings and a brief description each: 1) Offline facilitator: promote their brands online, but do not take online orders in an effort to avoid potential channel conflicts, 2) Context provider: also called affinity groups or content aggregators, they are experts in a particular domain, are aligned with a specific value proposition, and might be based on subscriptions, advertising or transaction fees, 3) Commerce destination: direct sales channels that exist to sell a company’s product or service. 4) Online exchange: bring buyers and sellers together and revenue is generated from commission, advertising and subscription fees, 5) Gateway: generally a search engine, ISP or shopping agent deriving most of its revenue from advertising. While most companies find themselves in one of these models hybrid versions do exist. The key concept to remember is that “[…] the dynamic nature of the digital economy demands constant reevaluation and adjustment” (IBM, p3). This paper will look at three different e-business models: Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), and Business-to-Business (B2B) and discuss the differences and similarities between these models. B2C First, we will look at Amazon.com. Amazon sells and ships products to consumers. The company launched its site in 1995 and quickly took on the nations major retailers.
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