Friday, July 18, 2014

What is the difference between B2B and B2C fulfillment?

A fulfillment warehouse company can be a strategic partner that enables your company to expand rapidly, as well as allowing you to focus on what you do best.  While a fulfillment partner can provide a long list of helpful services, two primary services generally provided are B2C Fulfillment Services, and B2B Fulfillment Services.  You may have heard these two terms many times before: B2C and B2B; but have you ever wondered what the difference was?

B2C stands for “business to consumer”.  This essentially covers where a business (such as an e-commerce online store) is shipping product to an end customer or consumer.  A classic example is where an individual purchases something on a web store, and then the company’s warehouse ships that product to the individual’s home or office.  This is a business to consumer, or “B2C” fulfillment transaction.
As you might have guessed, B2B stands for “business to business”.  This is where a business ships product directly to another business – generally in higher quantities, or in bulk.  An example of this would be where a company is supplying product to another company for resale – for example, shipping several pallets of a company’s product to a big box retailer such as Target or Walmart.  This is a business to business, or “B2B” fulfillment transaction.
Fulfillment Warehouse
There are very significant differences between a B2C and a B2B transaction.  B2C fulfillment typically involves a higher number of individual orders, each with smaller quantities within the order.  B2B fulfillment generally involves a smaller number of orders, but each order is much larger.  Both have their nuances and critical success factor.  B2C orders are all about speed, accuracy, and customer service.  B2B orders can involve speed, but are heavily weighted towards accuracy – typically being required to follow a very detailed and exacting “routing guide” provided by the retailer.  Failure to follow these specifications can result in very large penalties, or “charge backs” – and that ruins everyone’s day!

Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment has decades of experience and industry expertise in both B2C and B2B Fulfillment services.  No matter who your customer is, we treat your customer as our own.  We know what makes a raving fan out of an individual customer, as well as what makes a business partner trust you with their business.  Call or email us to learn how.  We’re certain we’ll be the best fulfillment warehouse partner you have ever had!

No comments:

Post a Comment