Supply Chain Paper

Supply Chain Paper

The internet environment has created many opportunities for businesses to expand their markets, reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase customer satisfaction and help partnership with others who are part of the supply chain. Companies must become experts in e-commerce today in order to take advantage of the opportunities and compete in a global economy. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) commerce are the exchanges companies use to stay competitive. These exchanges are unique in their function and create distinct supply chain site differences. This paper will discuss B2C and B2B commerce and how the supply chain differs on a B2C site compared to a B2B site.

B2C sites are internet based market places. E-business portals link customers to suppliers with the objective of passing goods and services to the end user. B2C sites use three venues to entice prospects to become customers. The first venue is the auction store, the second venue is the on-line store, and the third is on-line services. The internet auction store, like eBay has many advantages such as convenience, increased reach to a global market, and because this is a virtual market no infrastructure is needed, so the cost of doing business is reduced. The disadvantages are that the bidder is left vulnerable to possible fraud because the bidder must trust the seller to transfer the goods, and not being able to see the merchandise upfront is another disadvantage. The physical product is only viewed through pictures and descriptions that may not reveal the actual condition and quality of the merchandise. The second venue, online store, benefits the company by increasing demand, low-cost global reach, cost reduction, and overall reduction in costs. The third venue, on-line services is using the exchange to provide customer service, or as a tool to enable the creation of services that can help to make life easier. On-line services seek to leverage the power of the internet. Advantages to the consumer are lower prices, wider choice selection, better quality information, and convenience.

Capabilities of the B2C exchange are real-time,