Ecommerce and Business Glossary

If you're new to business and ecommerce, you will no doubt be faced with a large range of new terms and acronyms. Use the list on the left or the quick find list below to understand them.

• B2B (Business to Business)

B2B refers to transactions that are carried out between two businesses. For example, this could be a supplier supplying components to a manufacturer. With large-scale B2B business to business applications, the systems of the involved parties are often integrated.

• B2C (Business to Consumer)

B2C refers to business to consumer transactions. These are transactions where a company sells goods to a consumer. Examples are retail sites such as amazon.com.

• C2C (Consumer to Consumer)

C2C refers to consumer to consumer commerce. This means that a consumer sells something to another consumer. A good example of a C2C consumer to consumer commerce website is eBay. eBay is basically an auction site that facilitates sales by one consumer to another.

• E-Commerce

E-commerce refers to doing business electronically. Usually, it refers to doing business over the Internet. E-commerce has many advantages over the traditional way of doing business.

• Internet

The term Internet refers to a worldwide network of computers that are interconnected through large backbone operators. The Internet was originally developed by the United States military and by educational institutions. A large number of commercial and private users have since been connected to the Internet. The Internet user base is now estimated to be several hundred million.

• Intranet


An Intranet is similar as the Internet. However, Intranets are usually local networks deployed within a company. It could be said that an Intranet essentially is a private Internet. Some Intranets are operated by large, multinational corporations. These Intranets may have many thousands users.

• MLM (Multilevel Marketing)

MLM multilevel marketing is also referred to by the term network marketing. It refers to a marketing strategy where products are sold through a distributor structure that has many levels. This means that every MLM distributor can hire more distributors.