Theory
Business over the wire
When you order something from an online store, pay a bill through an app, or download a paid song, you are taking part in e-commerce. It has reshaped how the world buys and sells, and this subject studies both the commerce itself and the security threats that surround it.
We follow a running example, an online store and the threats around it, throughout. This opening lesson defines e-commerce and sorts it into its main types, named by who is trading with whom. Getting these categories straight sets up everything that follows.
Theory
What e-commerce is
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is conducting business, buying and selling goods, services, and information, over electronic networks, chiefly the internet.
It covers more than just online shopping: online banking, digital downloads, electronic ticketing, and business-to-business ordering are all e-commerce. Compared with traditional commerce, it offers wider reach (a global market), greater convenience (shop anytime, anywhere), and often lower cost (no physical store needed). The common thread is that the transaction, or a key part of it, happens electronically rather than face to face.
At a glance
| Type | Who trades | Example |
|---|---|---|
| B2C | Business to Consumer | An online store selling to shoppers |
| B2B | Business to Business | A manufacturer selling parts to a retailer |
| C2C | Consumer to Consumer | Individuals buying and selling on a marketplace/auction |
| C2B | Consumer to Business | A freelancer offering services to companies |
Theory
The main types
E-commerce is classified by the parties in the transaction.
B2C (Business to Consumer) is the most familiar: a business sells directly to individual shoppers, your online store. B2B (Business to Business) is trade between businesses, often larger in volume and value, like a supplier selling to a retailer. C2C (Consumer to Consumer) connects individuals to trade with each other, typically through a marketplace or auction platform. C2B (Consumer to Business) reverses the usual direction: individuals offer goods or services to businesses, such as a freelancer or an influencer. Naming the type tells you the relationship, and often the scale and style, of the commerce.
Quiz
An online store selling clothes directly to individual shoppers is which type of e-commerce?
- B2B, because a business is involved
- B2C (Business to Consumer), because a business sells directly to individual consumers
- C2C, because consumers buy the clothes
- C2B, because consumers pay the business
Show the answer
B2C (Business to Consumer), because a business sells directly to individual consumers
A business selling directly to individual shoppers is B2C (Business to Consumer), the most common form of e-commerce and the running example of this subject. Option A, B2B, is trade between two BUSINESSES (like a supplier selling to a retailer), not a business selling to individual consumers. Option C, C2C, is between individual consumers (like a marketplace where people sell to each other), with no business as the seller. Option D, C2B, is when consumers offer to businesses (like a freelancer), the reverse direction. Identify the seller and buyer: business-to-individual-shopper is B2C.
Think first
Why does classifying e-commerce by B2C, B2B, and so on matter?
Why bother naming these categories rather than just calling it all e-commerce? Then tap.
Show the answer
Because each type has DIFFERENT customers, needs, scales, and design implications, so knowing the category shapes how you build and run the business. Consider B2C versus B2B. A B2C store sells to many individual consumers who make relatively small, quick, emotional purchasing decisions, so it emphasises an attractive storefront, easy browsing, simple checkout, marketing, and consumer payment methods (cards, wallets). A B2B system sells to other businesses, where orders are larger, often negotiated, placed by professionals following procedures, and may involve contracts, bulk pricing, credit terms, and integration with the buyer's own systems, so it emphasises accounts, catalogues, approvals, and reliable ordering over flashy design. C2C platforms have yet another shape: the operator does not sell anything itself but provides a marketplace connecting individual buyers and sellers, so its concerns are trust, ratings, dispute handling, and taking a fee. C2B flips the roles again. These differences affect the technology, the payment and security setup, the marketing, the legal terms, and the user experience. So the categories are not mere labels; they tell you WHO your users are and therefore WHAT the system must prioritise. When someone says 'we are building a B2B platform', that single word conveys a great deal about the design ahead. Classify to understand the customer, and the customer determines the build.
Summary
Key takeaways
- E-commerce is conducting business, buying and selling goods, services, and information, over electronic networks, chiefly the internet.
- It includes online shopping, banking, digital downloads, ticketing, and business-to-business ordering.
- Benefits over traditional commerce: wider reach, greater convenience, and often lower cost.
- Types are named by the parties: B2C (business to consumer), B2B (business to business), C2C (consumer to consumer), C2B (consumer to business).
- B2C is the most familiar (an online store); B2B is trade between businesses; C2C connects individuals; C2B reverses the usual direction.
- The type tells you the relationship, scale, and design priorities of the commerce.
- Memory hook: e-commerce is business over networks; classify it by who sells to whom (B2C, B2B, C2C, C2B).