What Is C2C eCommerce? A Marketplace
C2C, meaning consumer-to-consumer commerce, is a business model often defined as one consumer selling goods or services to another consumer. When done online, C2C becomes a type of eCommerce. This C2C sale is often facilitated by a third party that takes care of the transaction details for a commission for bringing the parties—direct sellers and potential customers—together while offering quality control that is acceptable to both.
C2C business examples include eBay, Amazon Marketplace, and Etsy, which all work as online intermediaries. While one person might technically be the seller in such a situation, it's considered consumer-to-consumer (and by some as customer-to-customer) because that seller isn't a traditional business.
The purpose of a C2C business model and accompanying eCommerce platform is to enable one party to sell directly to buyers without spending a considerable amount of money building and maintaining an online storefront. This allows the seller to keep more of their profits because they aren't expending the capital to create infrastructure associated with a traditional business. Of all business models, C2C most closely resembles a marketplace.
The buyer may also get more competitive prices if sellers on the same C2C platform compete. The most common term for these types of eCommerce platforms is “marketplace.” The idea of a marketplace mirrors real-world examples like flea markets, where a building owner will offer booths to sellers in exchange for a percentage of the profits.
Clarity's own online marketplace platform creates these marketplaces for clients who want to take full advantage of C2C opportunities. We can build them from the ground up or combine them with other business models, such as a single online store, multi-store (i.e., many franchises connected to a single product database), global multi-currency market, customer-to-business eCommerce, and much more.