← DictionaryBusiness to Consumer
Selling directly to individual consumers.
Selling to people.
What It Is
In the BWH map, Business to Consumer lives under Business — Market. The canonical meaning is selling directly to individual consumers.
It is a label with a settled working definition, so the value is in using it the same way every time. Keep it that plain and it will still be true in twelve months.
How It's Used
Business to Consumer earns its keep in commercial decisions, pricing conversations and how the business runs. It is usually discussed together with Business to Business, Direct to Consumer and Target Audience. The practical test is whether everyone in the room means the same thing by it.
Why It Matters
The cost of being vague about Business to Consumer shows up later, not today. When it is unclear, margin leaks in places nobody is looking. It is worth pinning down before anyone builds on top of it.
Think of it as a name on a box. Open the box and this is what is inside: Selling to people.
Termshift™
How the meaning shifts depending on who is using it, and where.
Practitioners use Business to Consumer as shorthand and expect no explanation — selling directly to individual consumers.
Outside the industry, most people would just say: selling to people.
The Bottom Line
Keep Business to Consumer plain: selling to people. That is the version that holds up in a real project.