B2C (Business to Consumer)

B2C – What is it?

B2C, or business to consumer, refers to the business relationship between a company and a private individual, i.e. the end consumer (customer/consumer). Online stores in particular are classically designed for a B2C situation: The company offers the goods and services and the end consumer purchases them. This is therefore primarily consumer goods marketing.

What other business relationships are there?

Of course, there is not only the relationship between companies and end consumers. In addition, you will also find:

• B2B – Business to Business, i.e. business relationships between companies.
• B2E – Business to Employee, i.e. relationships with employees
• B2A – Business to Administration, i.e. business relationships with public administrations/administrations

Success factors of B2C

The basis of success in the B2C sector is a sophisticated sales and marketing strategy. This is what you need to address exactly the people you define as your target group. On the basis of this strategy you can precisely define the actions of your company. A market analysis is also helpful to be successful in the B2C area.

Marketing measures in the B2C sector

Content marketing

B2C customers like emotionalized website content. For this reason, content marketing is a great way to reach your target audience.

There are different types of content that are particularly suitable for a B2C campaign:

• How-to’s, which are short instructions or explanations that introduce the user to the product or service and explain how it works.
• Comparisons
• Insights into the product or service that strengthen the user’s trust. Here, for example, you can take the customer into the creation process or similar.
• FAQs – the most frequently asked questions of users. This helps your customers to clarify any ambiguities.
• Background knowledge
• Testimonials, i.e. experience reports from satisfied testers, are a good way to increase the credibility of the product/service. It also enhances trust.

Email marketing

Sending newsletters leads to regular and direct customer contact. This way you manage to inform them and win them over. (Potential) customers become newsletter subscribers for very different reasons:

1. The customer subscribes with the aim to be entertained.
2. The customer wants to be informed and up-to-date.
3. The customer hopes to receive useful information about products and services.
4. The customer wants to receive current offers.

Social media marketing

Social networks are particularly suitable for maintaining the closest possible contact with your consumers at all times. The social media content created for this purpose reaches them in a targeted manner and thus ensures an increase in your brand awareness. In addition, you can use social media channels to positively influence customer loyalty and the acquisition of new customers. But you won’t reach the right target group for you via every channel! The choice of the right platform is therefore crucial. LinkedIn and Xing in particular are the go-to when it comes to B2B contacts. In the B2C sector, on the other hand, you should definitely rely on Facebook, Twitter and similar.

Website

Your website is your flagship. Therefore, you should make sure that it has good usability. In principle, the user should perceive your website as positive, find his way around easily and not have any problems with page layout, etc. Your website should also be easy to reach on mobile devices and make a good impression. Responsive design ensures that your site is displayed appropriately on all devices. In addition, SEO helps you to be visible on the web and to be found by potential customers.

Differences between B2B and B2C

Especially between B2B and B2C there are some serious differences. You can find them summarized in the following table.

Digitization in the B2C sector

Stationary retail has been complaining for a long time that e-commerce is snatching more and more customers away from it. The fact is that companies are relying more and more on online and performance marketing. Google, Facebook, Amazon and the others are the appropriate keywords here. There, companies place click- and keyword-based campaigns that are intended to attract the attention of customers. Many companies are also active via their own online stores and are very successful with them. Online commerce has become indispensable, as have the appearances of individual brands on social media. Campaigns that can even be measured individually, in contrast to classic advertising media, make it much easier to analyze and optimize. This allows you to better monitor and control your marketing measures.