European Scientific Journal December 2013 /SPECIAL/ edition vol.

4 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN B2B AND B2C CUSTOMER

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT. FINDINGS FROM THE
CZECH REPUBLIC 1

Karel Kolis, Ing.

Katerina Jirinova, Ing. et Ing.
University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract
The purpose of this article is a comparison between Customer relationship
management (CRM) in the B2B environment and B2C Environment. Literature shows
significant differences; therefore the motivation of the research and hence the article was the
verification of theoretical statements. Based on the literature review of CRM, an online
questionnaire was sent. This research used 6 questions from the questionnaire.
On a large number of respondents the differential analysis was made. Results prove the
theoretical expectations: CRM in B2B and B2B environment are partially similar, but the
mostly differs.
Keywords: B2B, B2C, CRM, difference
Introduction
Customer relationship management (CRM) is well-known term during past decade.
Brought by academics and implemented into the business by practitioners, it is nowadays
well-used in many companies from different industries.
The purpose of this article is to compare the CRM approach between Business-tobusiness (B2B) and Business-to-consumer (B2C) relationships. The study was made on small
and medium companies in service industry in the Czech Republic.
Literature review
Relationships between the company and customer are usually categorized by types of
subjects on the customer side of the relationship 2. Therefore the categories could be
distinguished into Business-to-business (B2B), Business-to-customer (B2C), or Business-togovernment (B2G). (Payne & Frow 2013, s.56) This article will mainly focus on differences
between the B2B and B2C environment.
B2B and B2C
B2B is described as the form of relationship with the company on the side of supplier
and another business company on the customer side. This business company could be
represented by sole trader, company, or institution 3. (Kumar & Reinartz 2012, s.261)
B2B market includes big number of transactions, and is usually more complex (Davis
et al. 2012; Saini et al. 2010; Hutt & Speh 2012, s.38). The complexity leans on number of
1

This paper has been published as a part of the research with financial support of IGA VE 33/2013
For the purpose of this study we will omit the cases where the supplier is not a business company, but
individual as the consumer.
3
According to some sources the B2B environment includes government institution (Kotler & Armstrong 2009)
2

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European Scientific Journal December 2013 /SPECIAL/ edition vol.4 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

people responsible for the transaction and number of steps in these transactions. (Payne &
Frow 2013, s.56)
Johnston and Bonoma (1981) define the group of people responsible for the
transaction on customer side in B2B market as buying center. The complexity is higher also
because of number of people involved seller has to identify and understand their needs and
motivation. According to Davis, Golicic and Marquardt (2012, s.200) the number of people
in the buying center varies depending on the importance of the transaction, its stage and
character. The process is called decision making (Webster & Wind 1972, s.2).
The trend in last decades in B2B environment according to Ulaga and Eggert (2006)
are closer relationships and also decreasing number of relationships overall.
Business-to-consumer (B2C) relationships could be described as a relationship with
businesses on the side of supplier and consumers on the other side. The differences to B2B
are described in following part.
CRM
Building a relationship with customers is an important issue both for B2B and B2C.
Mousavy et al. defines CRM as a wealthy popular strategy having hypotheses on the belief
that collecting data and expanding the relationship with customers can be the best way to
serve customers loyalty and subsequent profits(Mousavy et al. 2012)
Campbell et al. (2009, s.109) see customer relationship consisting from two
perspectives: relationship breadth and relationship depths. Breadth represents phases or
evolution of the relationship. Organizations develop strategies for moving relationships to a
desired phase. By strategies Campbell et al. mean for example loyalty programs, etc.
Reichheld presents CRM as a process of developing a relationship with customers which
makes them more loyal. He also states that loyal customers are more profitable than nonloyal. (Reichheld 1996)
Customer relationship depth focuses on the factors that strengthen or weaken a
relationship within a particular stage e.g. trust, satisfaction, etc (Campbell et al. 2009,
s.109).
Javalgi et al. (2006) describe the four main components of service CRM: customer
satisfaction, customer loyalty programs, customer retention programs and customer lifetime
profitability. According to Reinartz et al. (2004), major CRM activities are customer
interaction management (customer identification, acquisition, retention), customer
relationship upgrading (cross-selling and up-selling) and customer relationship win-back.
Customer relationship management is often seen as technology-only approach. Many
studies confirmed this assumption is based on false expectations and CRM cannot serve
without other components (Kale 2004). Woodburn (2002, s.19) confirms this statement by
warning that relying on the technology only could inhibit or destroy the relationships with
customers.
Chen and Popvitch (2003), supported by other authors (Coltman et al. 2011) include
technology among the two other main CRM components people and processes.
Differences between B2B and B2C environment
According to Kumar and Reinartz (2012, s.261), the transaction volume on B2B
market is much greater than on B2C market. Several sources (Saini et al. 2010; Kumar &
Reinartz 2012) state there are fewer subjects on B2B market, therefore the value of each
transaction and amount in purchase is much bigger. Gummesson (2008, s.174) sees the
biggest difference in B2B and B2C in the greater degree of independence between buyers
and sellers in the former. Saini et al. (2010, s.366) show the evidence that the CRM
technology leads to higher performance in B2B than in B2C relationships.
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European Scientific Journal December 2013 /SPECIAL/ edition vol.4 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

Saini, Grewal and Johnson (2010) add another differences: in B2C relationship
customers are less loyal and therefore more likely to switch. Davis et al. explain the bigger
loyalty in B2B relationships by need of bigger reliability among trading partners (Davis et al.
2012, s.200). Because pure and discrete transactions are rare in B2B (Day 2000), the
importance in B2B is not only about the product or service, but also in the customer
relationship (Davis et al. 2012, s.200).
The study and methodology
The main aim of the study is to discover differences between B2B and B2C
relationships. The research was based on online questionnaire sent to random small and
medium companies in the service industry in Czech Republic. Company samples were
selected from Albertina database. The questionnaire contained 20 questions, but for purpose
of this study, only 6 were used. An e-mail containing link to the questionnaire was sent to
30 674 randomly chosen SMEs. 2 462 replies were collected, and 1 701 were possible to link
with additional information from the Albertina database.
From this amount were 1 091 samples from B2B relationship and 610 from B2C.
Since the main aim of this study was finding differences between the two types of
relationships, all the answers were analyzed for maximal differences between the two groups.
The table shows ten most interesting results.
Code

Question with a specific answer

B2B

B2C

QA1

The customer satisfaction with your services are inquired by: [Social media
and internet monitoring]

10%

27%

QA2

The key customers are determined by: [financial contribution to the

company]

55%

29%

QA3

The key customers are determined by: [We do not differentiate customers,
everyone is equal]

43%

67%

QA4

How do you select which customers have the right to better customer service?
[Those who spend more money]

25%

15%

QA5

How do you select which customers have the right to better customer service?
[Those who are prestigious, e.g. for the reference]

22%

11%

QA6

How do you select which customers have the right to better customer service?
[We do not differentiate customers, everyone is equal]

43%

56%

QA7

The most common customer faults are in your opinion: [They do last minute
orders]

45%

28%

QA8

The most common customer faults are in your opinion: [They ask about
information that can be easily found]

12%

24%

QA9

The most common customer faults are in your opinion: [They pay after
maturity]

65%

36%

QA10

What kind of the loyalty program does your company have? [None]

54%

47%

Tab. 1: Selected questions with selected answers

The differences between B2B and B2C group could be measured separately (as shown
above) or together as two groups. Coordinates of the centers and distance of the centers
m(B2B) and n(B2C) were calculated.
m(B2B) = [0,0999; 0,5509; 0,4326; 0,2539; 0,2181; 0,429; 0,4464; 0,1247; 0,6508; 0,5371]
n(B2C)=[0,2721; 0,2869; 0,6672; 0,1492; 0,1131; 0,5574; 0,2754; 0,2426; 0,3639; 0,4656]
In general:
m(B2B)=[ m1; m2; m3; m4; m5; m6; m7; m8; m9; m10]
n(B2C)=[ n1; n2; n3; n4; n5; n6; n7; n8; n9; n10]
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European Scientific Journal December 2013 /SPECIAL/ edition vol.4 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

Afterwards the distances between all items and centers of their clusters using the
equation of Euclidean distance were calculated:

(2) = (1 1 )2 + (1 1 )2 + + (10 10 )2

(2) = (1 1 )2 + (2 2 )2 + + (10 10 )2
Using the same principle the distances between all items and the centers of the other
clusters:

( 2 ) = (1 1 )2 + (2 2 )2 + + (10 10 )2

( 2 ) = (1 1 )2 + (2 2 )2 + + (10 10 )2
For the confirmation of affiliation of the item (company) to its group (B2B or B2C)
the test was made: if the distance between this item and the center of its cluster is smaller,
then add 1 to the group counter. Therefore:

If ( 2 ) > ( 2 ) then count +1 to B2B cluster

If ( 2 ) > ( 2 ) then count +1 to B2C cluster

This test showed 705 from 1091 B2B and 421 from 610 B2C are affiliated with their
4
groups . The conformity is not absolute; therefore the groups are partly overlapped. This
result shows the B2B and B2C relationships are not completely different entities but they
have something in common.
For a better quantification of the overlap was used distance from the clusters centers
and standard deviation for both clusters.
(2 2 ) =
2

=10

=1

( )2 = 0,57
2

=10
1
( ) = 1,42
=

=1
2

=10
1
( ) = 1,40
2 =

=1
The results can be visualized (see
Fig. 1). The width of B2B rectangle is 2 x 1,42 and the width of B2C rectangle is 2 x
1,40. The distance between clusters centers is 0,57. As mentioned above, the visualization
shows B2B and B2C groups partly similar, partly different.

Fig. 1: The distance of the B2B and B2C clusters

Next step was to find out which answers differentiate clusters the most. Therefore the
ratio between the answers was developed.

Which means with the type of the relationship they claimed in the questionnaire to use the most

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European Scientific Journal December 2013 /SPECIAL/ edition vol.4 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

QA1

QA2

QA3

QA4

QA5

QA7

QA8

QA9

QA10

0,099
9
0,272
1

0,550
9
0,286
9

0,432
6
0,667
2

0,253
9
0,149
2

0,218
0,446
0,429
1
4
0,113 0,557 0,275
1
4
4

0,124
7
0,242
6

0,650
8
0,363
9

0,537
1
0,465
6

ratio

2,72

0,52

1,54

0,59

0,52

1,3

0,62

1,95

0,56

0,87

inverted ratio

0,37

1,92

0,65

1,7

1,93

0,77

1,62

0,51

1,79

1,15

2,72

1,92

1,54

1,7

1,93

1,3

1,62

1,95

1,79

1,15

10

B2B
B2C

how many
important

times

rank

more

QA6

Tab. 2: Ratio and comparison of the answers

In the Graph 1 the results are visualized. The bigger value the more this answer
contributes to the difference of the clusters. In the graph the answers are sorted from highest
contribution to lowest.
QA1
QA3
QA9
QA8
QA6
QA2
QA7
QA5
QA4
QA10
0,00

0,50

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

3,00

Graph 1: Comparison of the answers

Conclusion
From the literature review are visible the similarities differences between B2B and
B2C customer relationship management. Although the topic of CRM is popular, not many
researchers compared these types of relations.
This research paper showed the evidence of different customer relationship
management approach in B2B and B2C relationship types. On the large number of
respondents from small and medium companies in Czech Republic was shown the approach
is partly similar, but more less different. The topics which differentiate the two groups the
most are QA1, QA3 and QA8+9.
The further research should be directed into deeper description of the differences and
comparison in different industries and countries. Deeper description could be fulfilled by
qualitative research especially interviews.
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Campbell, D., Wells, J. & Valacich, J.S., 2009. Diagnosing and Managing Online Businessto-Consumer (B2C) Relationships: Toward an eCommerce B2C Relationship Stage Theory.
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European Scientific Journal December 2013 /SPECIAL/ edition vol.4 ISSN: 1857 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

Coltman, T., Devinney, T.M. & Midgley, D.F., 2011. Customer relationship management and
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