A few years ago, I read something Warren Buffett wrote:
“if you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work till you die.”
I remember thinking, “shit that’s right, that’s what I have been trying to say”.
I’d been wondering if a digital online business was something I could do. I really had no idea what one was mind you or what it involved or even how to go about starting one. But, me being me, that meant I started with research and this post is some of what I found out.
I’d been wondering if a digital online business was something I could do. I really had no idea what one was mind you or what it involved or even how to go about starting one. But, me being me, that meant I started with research and this post is some of what I found out.
Reading this might help you shortcut your own research and get rid of the mystery that seems to surround the whole digital online business space. Of course, the mystery might just have been my huge lack of understanding about anything to do with this style of business!!
digital e-commerce business models
I understood that digital online business meant a business conducted online – but that was about the depth of my knowledge. 🤣
Then I heard this term digital e-commerce. What did that mean and what did it have to do with a digital online business or earning money while you slept?
Turns out digital e-commerce is just the term used to include all online business activities that connect buyers and sellers. Pretty straight forward!
It also seems that the connecting of buyers and sellers online is alive and well.
According to eMarketer.com, there was $25 trillion (that’s 12 bloody zeros!) in online retail sales world-wide in 2019. They estimate that the figure will rise to $26 trillion in 2020.
Just how many individual transactions is that do you think?
That got me thinking about how many transactions each of us makes online in a year. That figure is about 5,000 per year apparently. I thought that can’t be right, that’s about 13 transactions a day.
That led me to ask what is considered an online transaction because I sure don’t make 13 online purchases a day; or so I thought!
Turns out the business models that fall into this group are pretty broad. I have included some notes on each below for you to get a bit of an overview and this list isn’t exhaustive – just the main ones we are all familiar with:
Business 2 business (B2B)
This model is when the transactions for products or services occur between actual business entities. To fall into this category the business of providing products or services to other businesses has to be considered core business for the provider.
Business 2 consumer (B2C)
This is the model we are all use to. This is the one where a business supplies their products or services direct to the end consumer. In this whole e-commerce space, this is the most developed model and we see it in operation every day.
Consumer to consumer (C2C)
This one has developed as confidence in online transactions have grown. This is trademe, craigslist, gumtree etc.
Consumer 2 business (C2B)
This is one I would never have thought of but this is where consumers sell products or services to business. Think reverse auctions, Upwork, affiliate marketing, influencer marketing etc
All these models are generally retail in nature, however there is a whole other sub set of models that relate to government services:
B2G or B2A – business selling goods and services to government or public administration
C2G or C2A – consumer selling goods and services to government or public administration
That’s the six main digital e-commence models.
When I looked at my digital transactions on a daily basis across all of these models 13 online transactions a day didn’t seem so far fetched after all!
In my next post, I will explore the role of word of mouth marketing, affiliate marketing and influencer marketing.
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Take care and talk soon
Thrive; don’t just Survive with Janette