Supply Chain Paper

Essay by davelong13University, Bachelor'sA, October 2007

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

B2C sites are internet-based marketplaces. eBusiness 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 online store, and the third is online 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 online store is the second venue, which benefits the company by increasing demand low-cost global reach, cost reduction, and overall reduction in costs. The third venue, online services is using the exchange to provide customer service, or as a tool to enable the creation of services that can...