{"id":83823,"date":"2025-02-07T01:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T01:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/glosario\/ecommerce\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T16:48:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T16:48:24","slug":"ecommerce","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/ecommerce\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecommerce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ecommerce, in its most common sense, is a virtual store that sells from a website. More broadly, ecommerce is a buying and selling system that uses the internet to conduct sales and maintain close contact with customers.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In reality, the evolution of electronic commerce means that ecommerce sales aren&#8217;t just generated from a website. An ecommerce business also leverages social media and mobile apps, either for direct sales or as a source to bring the target audience into a sales funnel.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Advantages of ecommerce<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From the seller&#8217;s perspective, comparing traditional brick-and-mortar sales to ecommerce, selling online offers several advantages, such as:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lower costs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reaching a broader audience (global market).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provides autonomy and flexible hours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lower initial investment required to open the business.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Makes it easy to have thousands of products available 24\/7.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Makes it very easy to scale the business as needed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Convenient customer segmentation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Allows you to send customers automated email marketing campaigns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Ecommerce models<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Depending on the business model, you can find the following types of ecommerce:<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8211; Own products.<\/strong> In this case, it&#8217;s an online store that operates much like a physical store, managing its product inventory but selling exclusively online.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8211; Membership.<\/strong> This ecommerce model is based on recurring sales through a periodic subscription model, with Spotify being a prime example.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8211; Dropshipping.<\/strong> This ecommerce model only handles taking and billing orders, delegating logistics to the wholesaler who delivers the order to the final customer.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8211; Marketplace.<\/strong> This is a store on a web platform where different sellers offer their products and pay a commission for each sale to the owner. Amazon is a great example.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8211; Services.<\/strong> These are service-based ecommerce stores that sell offerings like consulting or training, meaning they don&#8217;t sell physical products. Coursera is a good example.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Types of ecommerce<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ecommerce businesses can be classified based on the market or type of customers they target. The most common ones are:<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Business to Consumer (<a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/b2c\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B2C<\/a>)<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the most common type, where products and services are sold directly between a business and the consumer (final customer).<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Business to Business (<a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/b2b\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B2B<\/a>)<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this case, businesses create products and services that they sell to other businesses.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Business to Government (B2G)<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this model, businesses conduct their commercial operations with governments and public institutions over the internet.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Consumer to Business (C2B)<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this business model, the end user or consumer creates a product or service that a company uses to complete a business process and gain a competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Consumer to Consumer (C2C)<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This business model facilitates trade between individuals, meaning one person sells to or provides services for another person.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related posts<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/gamification\/\">Gamification<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/\">Generation X<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/geomarketing\/\">Geomarketing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/getresponse\/\">Getresponse<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/gif\/\">GIF<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/gimp\/\">GIMP<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/gmail-clipping\/\">Gmail Clipping<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/gmail-email\/\">Gmail (Mail)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-83823","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ecommerce - Mailrelay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ecommerce, in its most common sense, is a virtual store that sells from a website. 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