supply-side / sell-side map，forms of e-commerce

Generally we may distinguish between three major forms of e-commerce. These forms are primarily distinguished in terms of the value-chain supported, the economic actors involved, the direction of transactional/informational flow between economic actors, the frequency of commerce, the nature of goods or services exchanged, and the typical model of economic exchange utilised

•  Business to customer (B2C) and customer to business (C2B) e- commerce.
•  Business to business (B2B) e- Commerce
•  Consumer to Consumer (C2C) e-commerce

It is important to recognise that there are certain areas of overlap between these forms and in some instances distinctions between for instance B2C and B2B e-commerce are largely a matter of presentational convenience. However, they are useful ways for organisations to understand trends in information economies and they constitute useful conceptual tools for the construction and implementation of e-Business strategy.