Consumer-to-business

Definition
Consumer-to-business (C2B) is a business model in which consumers (individuals) create value, and firms consume this value. For example, when a consumer writes reviews, or when a consumer gives an useful idea for new product development, then this individual is creating value to the firm, if the firm adopts the input.

Another form of C2B is the electronic commerce business model, in which consumers can offer products and services to companies and the companies pay them. This business model is a complete reversal of traditional business model where companies offer goods and services to consumers (business-to-consumer or B2C). Examples include blogs or internet forums where the author offers a link back to an online business facilitating the purchase of some product (like a book on Amazon.com), and the author might receive affiliate revenue from a successful sale.

This kind of economic relationship is qualified as an inverted business type. The advent of the C2B scheme is due to major changes:


 * Connecting a large group of people to a bidirectional network has made this sort of commercial relationship possible. The large traditional media outlets are one direction relationship whereas the internet is bidirectional one.
 * Decreased cost of technology: Individuals now have access to technologies that were once only available to large companies (digital printing and acquisition technology, high performance computer, powerful software).