The so-called purchasing behavior encompasses all actions concerning the purchase of a product – from the planning of a purchase up to its conclusion. Depending on the consumer, these can be completely individual. Buyers and sellers may be either final consumers, companies or public organizers. Both constellations business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) are particularly frequently mentioned here.
B2B, the abbreviation for Business-to-Business, describes the business relationship between several companies, such as the sales of merchandises of a manufacturer to a wholesaler. The products sold in the B2B segment are usually not used by the one who have taken the decision to buy them. Several people can be indeed part of the decision-making process.
As opposed to this, the term B2C (Business-to-Customer) depicts the relationship of a company to individual people or end customers.
An example: the manufacturer of drilling machines delivers its merchandise to hardware stores (B2B), who, in turn, sell them to private individuals (B2C).
Meanwhile, the term Business-to-Business also describes the communication relationships between companies, especially when electronic communication means are used within the business processes.