eCommerce EDI Integration for B2B and B2C
October 30, 2018
By
Ray Atia
eCommerce EDI Integration for B2B and B2C
Today, electronic channels are the main pathway for business communications, administration endeavors, data exchanges, financial transactions, and so forth. Where such tasks once took hours, days, and even weeks or months to channel, electronic data exchange technology has continually advanced since 1971 to the point it’s now enhanced efficiency and streamlined the processes to a point of instant gratification. From logistics and trading to manufacturing and even ordering to-go from a restaurant, electronic data transfer methods are utilized across almost every realm of modern business. Welcome to the age of eCommerce.
eCommerce is the term broadly applies to paperless business transactions, communications, trading, and methodologies conducted over a computer network. eCommerce can be broken down into two large classifications based on the type of transaction involved. These are called B2C and B2B.
B2C is a business-to-consumer when a commercial entity provides a service or good directly to an end customer via electronic trading. No middleman. This traditional eCommerce category is the most common business model used.
B2B is a business-to-business when two separate business entities engage in collaborations, exchanges, selling, or services via electronic trading with each other, not the end customer.
While B2B and B2C are separate endeavors, they’re also highly interdependent since both typically involve collaboration between multiple vendors, software providers, partners, and suppliers. Cohesion between all these parties requires both B2C and B2B business models automate the data and document exchange between their business systems. Integration at the data level can be achieved via either EDI or API technology.