What is Consumer to Business (C2B)? Definition of Consumer to Business (C2B), Consumer to Business (C2B) Meaning and Concept

Consumer to business (C2B), which means consumer to business, is a business model in which the consumer sets the conditions for that transaction. Thus, the client proposes and collaborates in that particular service or product, instead of in a specific offer.


This type of model is typical of sectors such as leisure and tourism. For example, an online customer can offer from a price for a plane ticket with a certain route to what he is willing to pay for a hotel night in a specific city. After this proposal made by the consumer, it is the different airlines and hotels that can choose to accept or not accept the user's conditions.


The consumer-to-business model evolved dramatically from the growth of the most popular media used by the consumer, such as websites, blogs, podcasts, videos, and social media.


There are other types of transaction such as business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) and consumer to consumer (C2C).


Characteristics of the consumer to business (C2B) model


These are some of the most outstanding features of the C2B model:

  • Greater interaction by the consumer.
  • It increases the bidirectionality between the company and the client.
  • Collaborative consumption in the services and products generated by the company.
  • More specific segmentation of the final consumer.
  • Reciprocity is greater between the company and the customer.

Examples of the consumer to business model


These are some prominent examples of this model.


  1. C2B e-commerce is related to Priceline's patented “name your price” concept. In the US, Jay Walker, founder of this company, thought it might be interesting to hold reverse auctions for airline tickets or hotel nights, these services being perishable. That is, if they are not consumed on a specific day, they lose their value and cannot be saved for other occasions.
  2. Another example is Agropool that offers rural producers to join in the purchase of certain products, raw materials and fuels with the aim of achieving price reductions as the volume of the product to be purchased increases.