Business models supported by WebSphere Commerce (Business Edition)

All sites or stores developed with WebSphere Commerce are an instance of one of the following supported business models:

Direct sales
Direct sales supports commerce transactions involving products, services, or information directly between businesses and consumers or between two businesses or parties. WebSphere Commerce supports the following types of direct sales business models:
  • Consumer direct
  • B2B direct
     
Consumer direct
Consumer direct supports the commerce transactions involving products, services, or information between businesses and consumers. Consumers typically purchase goods or services directly from a business in a consumer direct scenario. The FashionFlow sample store is an example of a consumer direct business.
B2B direct
B2B direct supports commerce transactions involving products, services, or information between two businesses or parties. Typical B2B direct transactions occur between buyers, suppliers, manufacturers, resellers, distributors, and trading partners. The ToolTech sample store is an example of a B2B direct business.
 
Hosting
Hosting supports hosting of merchants or other businesses by an Internet Service Provider or other hosting provider.
Value chain
Value chains support transactions involving multiple enterprises or parties. Products, goods, services, or information are delivered through the parties of the value chain from producers to end users. A value chain also has relationship and administrative aspects, that is, you can manage the relationship of the partners or enterprises in your value chain, as well as offer some administrative services to those parties.

WebSphere Commerce supports the transactions through, and relationship management of the following two types of value chains:

  • Demand chain
  • Supply chain
     
Demand chain
Demand chains support both direct sales channels and indirect sales channels. The Commerce Plaza is an example of an indirect sales channel demand chain.
Supply chain
Supply chains support procurement and sourcing of goods. WebSphere Commerce supports sourcing of goods through private marketplaces. A private marketplace provides a forum for vendors to offer their wares for sale to buyers with whom they have contractual relationships. The Commerce Supplier Hub site is an example of a private marketplace supply chain.

All sample stores provided with WebSphere Commerce are classified by business model, and packaged and delivered as store archives. For more information on the store archives provided with WebSphere Commerce, see Sample store archives.

For more information on the type of stores provided within each business model, see Stores in WebSphere Commerce.