The evolution of C2C social commerce models

Abstract

While large retailers utilize social commerce to increase consumer trust and online sales, a variety of online transactions take place among social networking users. These new forms of e-business models often conceptualized as C2C s-commerce have become one of the most popular methods for consumer online trading. The article proposes four phases of C2C s-commerce (i.e., ad-hoc, empowered, organized, integrated) and examines how consumers can leverage the features and functionalities of social networking websites to their benefit. These four phases reveal the evolution of C2C s-commerce business models with future implications.