Five common toB business models

First, platform-based business

Selling platform resources to enterprises

Platform-based business mainly relies on advantages to provide the required resources to players on the platform. This type of platform-based business model is mainly attractive to B-side users because of the resources owned by the platform. In most cases, this resource mainly refers to the traffic, user volume and influence owned by the platform.

Large-scale commercial media websites are platform-based businesses. Their advantageous resources are strong content production capabilities, which attract a wide range of audiences and thus establish their own media influence. As a resource advantage of the media, their monetization ability is obvious, so selling advertisements has become one of the main sources of business income for the media.

In addition, large B2B websites, vertical e-commerce websites, vertical portals and local life websites, and large online community platforms are all platform-based businesses, either matching transactions between enterprises or enterprises obtaining and delivering valuable information through platform resources. Therefore, it is easy to understand that this is a to B platform-based business.

So is the B2C website a to B business? Enterprises open stores on the platform and sell things to individuals. The platform's operation on the enterprise side is a to B business. It invites enterprises to join the platform and helps enterprises sell better through various activities and mechanisms. But it is also a to C business. It promotes the platform brand to individuals, allows users to use the platform, and uses various means to allow users to buy better products and provide a better experience.

Second, product-based business

Selling relatively standard products to enterprises

Unlike the platform-based business model, the product-based business model provides standardized products to enterprises, thereby achieving the purpose of serving enterprises. The difference between product-based business and platform-based business is whether the value provided to users comes from the product itself or from the resources brought by the product.

For example, websites like Alibaba and Tmall are defined as platform products. Users pay the website a fee to open a store every year. What they buy is the right to obtain Tmall user resources, not the function of opening a store on Tmall. Tmall merchants can place advertisements through Alimama, purchase domain names and deploy servers through Alibaba Cloud. These are intangible products. We call them DMP, LaaS, SaaS and other products. Enterprises do not buy actual things when they pay, but they buy the right to use the marketing promotion platform, cloud server and logistics system. This is the "software as a service" business model.

In addition, some enterprise management software such as OA and CRM are standardized software products provided to enterprises, which also belong to product-based businesses. There are some air that cannot be smelled even if you spray perfume, and some people you will never meet in an office building.

Third, service-oriented business

Selling customized services to enterprises

Service-oriented business types can be divided into two types in terms of specific service methods. One is to use products as the medium, such as SaaS products. SaaS itself is also a software-as-a-service business model; the other is to use human resources as the main service medium, such as 4A advertising companies, consulting companies, human resources outsourcing companies, headhunting companies, etc. What corporate users pay for is actually the right of other companies' human resources to work for them.

The difference between these two types of service-oriented businesses lies in the form of service. SaaS business provides services to enterprises through software tools, and advertising companies provide services to enterprises through their own employees. Gradually, these two business forms have a trend of integration, and the service form with products as the medium will become an important development direction in the next few years. There are some roads that cannot be walked in high heels, some air that cannot be smelled with perfume, and some people who will never meet in office buildings.

Fourth, hardware business

Enterprise service model around production supply chain

The so-called hardware business refers to the physical product business, such as selling bicycle tires, toasters, switches, routers and other upstream and downstream products of the supply chain. If you are a manufacturer of bicycle tires, how to sell more tires to bicycle manufacturers before the Internet? I guess you probably only have a few offline channels such as ground promotion and participating in exhibitions to find manufacturers.

This kind of commodity sales between enterprises is actually the most primitive concept of "enterprise service". The emergence of the Internet has brought new changes to this primitive enterprise service model. Now, you can sell the tires you produce directly on the Alibaba website. In this way, more bicycle manufacturers can learn about you, and then become interested in you and start subsequent transactions. From the perspective of customer acquisition, the Internet provides new marketing channels and sales methods. Because of the changes in sales methods, new requirements have been put forward for the production links and the collaboration process between supply companies.

Fifth, solution-based business

Provide customized enterprise business model

Solution-based business is a relatively comprehensive business model, without strict boundaries and divisions. Generally, it is customized according to actual needs, and targeted solutions are formulated, and then delivered and implemented.

A solution may include only software products, or hardware, or an organic combination of platforms, products, services, and hardware. Therefore, it is relatively complex and large, and generally has high costs and construction costs. For example, the construction of smart cities, which is currently popular, is a typical solution-based business.