Types of ecommerce: business models, examples and how to choose

In short: the main types of ecommerce are B2C, B2B, D2C and C2C, by who buys. A business model also sets where goods come from (own stock, production, dropshipping), how customers pay (once or by subscription) and where they order. In 2025, 92% of Bulgarian companies selling online sold to consumers and 58% to businesses (Eurostat).

This guide is for anyone starting an online business in Bulgaria or adding a second model to an existing one: Bulgarian merchants, foreign founders with a Bulgarian company, expats and sellers who ship from Bulgaria to other EU countries. It is written by the team behind CloudCart, the Bulgarian ecommerce platform, with market figures from Eurostat.

What is ecommerce

Ecommerce is the sale of goods and services over the internet, where the order is placed online. Bulgaria's E-Commerce Act (in Bulgarian, Art. 1) defines it as providing "information society services": services that are normally paid for and provided at a distance, by electronic means, at the request of the recipient.

Under Art. 4, every online store gives permanent access to its name, address, phone and email, its Commercial Register details and whether it is registered for VAT. In practice: the Contact page and the footer. Separately, every online store in Bulgaria is registered with the NRA (the National Revenue Agency, Bulgaria's tax authority) before its first sale, under Ordinance N-18, the Bulgarian rules for recording and reporting online sales. The steps are in the article on Ordinance N-18 for an online store. CloudCart prepares the monthly N-18 file for the NRA, as described on the invoices and Ordinance N-18 page.

Online shopping in Bulgaria is growing from a low base. Eurostat's data on internet purchases show that in 2025, 35% of people aged 16 to 74 in Bulgaria bought something online in the previous 3 months, up from 24% in 2022. The EU average in 2025 was 62%.

What is an ecommerce business model

An ecommerce business model is the way an online sale turns into profit. It decides how much money you need to start, what margin you keep and how much daily work the store takes. Models are described along four dimensions, which combine freely:

Dimension	Question	Models
Customer	Who do you sell to?	B2C, B2B, D2C, C2C, C2B, B2B2C
Product	Where does the product come from?	your own stock, your own production, private label, dropshipping
Payment	How and how often does the customer pay?	one-off purchase, subscription, membership, digital product
Channel	Where does the sale happen?	your own online store, marketplace, classifieds, social media, a physical shop plus a website

Example: a cosmetics brand makes its own products, sells straight to consumers (D2C), offers a monthly box (subscription) and sells in its own store and on eMAG, the marketplace for Bulgaria and Romania. That is four decisions in one business.

Types of ecommerce by customer: B2C, B2B, D2C, C2C

The types of ecommerce by customer are B2C, B2B, D2C, C2C and C2B. The first letter is the seller, the last the buyer: B is a business, C a consumer.

B2C: business to consumer

B2C (business to consumer) is a company selling to people who buy for themselves: clothing, electronics, cosmetics, food, toys. It is the most common model. In Eurostat's data on enterprise web sales for 2025, 92% of Bulgarian companies with 10 or more employees that sell through a website, an app or a marketplace sell to consumers. The EU average is 83%.

• Pros: a large market and a quick start.
• Cons: price competition, ad cost per new customer, returns.
• What makes it work in Bulgaria: easy ordering from a phone, a clear shipping price, card payment plus cash on delivery (COD), and fast delivery with Econt or Speedy (DPD Bulgaria), the two main Bulgarian couriers, or to a BOX NOW parcel locker.

In B2C, the customer can withdraw from an online purchase within 14 days without giving a reason. The rule comes from EU law, applied in Bulgaria through the Consumer Protection Act; Your Europe lists the exceptions, such as made-to-order goods and perishable food. Build returns into your margin from day one.

B2B: business to business

B2B (business to business) is a company selling to other companies: shops, restaurants, repair services, installers, distributors. Orders are larger and less frequent, and prices often differ per partner. In the same Eurostat data for 2025, 58% of Bulgarian companies with web sales also sell to businesses or public bodies, against 67% in the EU.

• Pros: high order value, loyal customers, predictable revenue.
• Cons: a long path to the first order, individual prices, deferred payment.

In an online B2B store, the partner logs in, sees their own prices and orders without phone calls or Viber messages. In CloudCart, this runs in the same store as retail: customer groups with their own login and discount, up to 12 quantity tiers per product, payment by invoice for businesses only, a private catalog for partners and VAT number validation through VIES, the EU VAT number check. See the page on the B2B wholesale store.

D2C: brand direct to consumer

D2C (direct to consumer) is a manufacturer or brand owner selling straight to the end customer, with no wholesalers in between. D2C is a type of B2C with one important difference: you sell your own product, so the margin is higher and the customer data stays with you. Typical D2C sellers in Bulgaria are small producers of cosmetics, honey and rose products.

• Pros: a higher margin, control over price and brand, direct customer feedback.
• Cons: you handle marketing, stock and customer service.

C2C and C2B: when the consumer sells

C2C (consumer to consumer) is a sale between private individuals on a classifieds site, which earns from fees and ads. For a business, it is a channel: many stores also list products on OLX, the main classifieds site in Bulgaria. C2B (consumer to business) is the reverse: an individual sells a service or content to a company, as in affiliate marketing.

Mixed models: B2B2C and B2G

B2B2C sells through an intermediary business to the end customer under your brand. B2G sells to public institutions through public procurement.

Business models by product: own stock, production, dropshipping

The model by product decides how much money is tied up in stock and how much control you keep over delivery.

Own stock (reselling)

You buy goods wholesale from a manufacturer or importer, keep them in stock and ship on each order. It needs capital for stock, but you control every parcel.

Own production and private label

You make the product yourself or order it under your own brand (private label), the base of D2C. The margin is the highest, and so is the risk of unsold stock.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a model without your own warehouse: the customer orders and pays in your store, and the supplier packs and ships the goods straight to them. You earn the difference between your price and the supplier's. You buy no stock, but the margin is lower and delivery depends on the supplier.

Stock levels and prices have to update automatically from the supplier's data. In CloudCart, two apps do this: Suppliers links a product to one or more suppliers with their price, lead time and minimum quantity, and XML Sync fetches the supplier's file on a schedule and updates stock and prices. The numbers for one order, taxes and choosing a supplier are in the article on dropshipping in Bulgaria.

Models by payment: one-off purchase, subscription, digital products

The model by payment says how often one customer pays you.

One-off purchase

The customer orders, pays and the transaction ends. Post-purchase emails and loyalty programs bring the customer back.

Subscription and membership

With a subscription, the customer pays regularly for a product that runs out (coffee, pet food), a monthly curated box or a membership with access to courses or members-only prices. It raises customer lifetime value, but every month the customer needs a reason to stay. In CloudCart, the Subscriptions app raises a new order on every date in the schedule and charges the customer's saved card or sends the order cash on delivery. Membership with private pages runs in the Membership app, and subscribers are listed under Orders → Subscriptions.

Digital products

A digital product is sold without shipping: an ebook, a PDF, templates, photos, music or access to a course. Each extra sale costs almost nothing. In CloudCart, you choose "Digital product" when you add a product and attach the file, which the customer downloads after payment.

Models by channel: own store, marketplace, social media

The channel is where the customer places the order, and most online businesses use more than one. In Eurostat's data for 2025, 77% of Bulgarian companies with 10 or more employees and web sales sell through their own website or app, 47% through marketplaces and 24% through both. Bulgaria stands out on one figure: 23% of its online sellers sell only through marketplaces, against 14% in the EU.

Channel	How you earn	Pro	Con
Your own online store	the whole sale, minus payment and shipping fees	your brand, your customers and data, your prices	you bring in the visitors yourself
Marketplace (eMAG and others)	the sale minus the marketplace commission	an audience from day one	commission, marketplace rules, the customer belongs to the marketplace
Classifieds and price comparison sites (OLX, Pazaruvaj)	the sale, sometimes for a listing or click fee	buyers who are already comparing	a hard fight on price
Social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)	orders from a post, a story or a catalog	close to the customer, easy advertising	you depend on the algorithm

The most resilient setup is your own store at the center, with marketplaces and social media around it. In CloudCart, eMAG, OLX, Google Shopping, Facebook and Instagram, TikTok Shop and Etsy all take products from the store catalog. Price and stock reach eMAG within 4 hours, and price comparison sites such as Pazaruvaj, Glami and Skroutz get their own XML feed.

Selling from Bulgaria to other EU countries

Cross-border ecommerce is any model above with customers in several EU countries. In Eurostat's data for 2025, 38% of Bulgarian companies with web sales sell to other EU countries, against 43% across the EU. Three things change when you sell abroad.

• VAT on distance sales. Since 1 July 2021, B2C sales of goods shipped to other EU countries are taxed in the customer's country once your total cross-border sales pass €10,000 a year (excluding VAT). Below that, your home rules apply. Above it, you can declare all of them in one country through the EU VAT One Stop Shop (OSS). Your Europe's page on cross-border VAT explains the threshold.
• Language and storefront. A buyer in Romania or Greece expects the store in their language. In CloudCart, the multilingual setup gives each language its own storefront with a synchronized catalog, as shown on the multistore page.
• Shipping and payment. Speedy (DPD Bulgaria) delivers to Romania; GLS, DHL, EuShipment and Sendcloud cover the rest of Europe. Mollie adds iDEAL and Bancontact, next to Stripe and PayPal.

Comparing ecommerce business models: capital, margin, risk

Dropshipping and digital products need the least capital, D2C and digital products bring the highest margin, and B2B and subscriptions the most predictable revenue. The values are relative, for a first choice.

Model	Starting capital	Margin	Control	Biggest risk	Best for
B2C with own stock	medium	medium	high	unsold stock	merchants with good access to goods
D2C, own brand	medium to high	high	full	a product nobody searches for	producers and brands
B2B, wholesale	medium	low per product, high on volume	high	late payments	importers, producers, distributors
Dropshipping	low	low	low	wrong stock data and slow delivery	a first business, testing a niche
Subscription	low to medium	medium to high over time	high	cancellations	products that run out, content
Digital products	low	very high	full	copying and competition	experts, authors, trainers
Marketplace only	low	low to medium, after commission	low	changes to rules and fees	testing a product quickly

Platform fees come out of the margin in every model. A platform that takes 2% of a €40 order takes €0.80, and with a €5 margin per order that is 16% of the profit.

How to choose a business model for your online business

Start with the customer and your access to goods, and end with a margin check on one product:

1. Describe the customer. A person, a business or both: this picks between B2C, B2B and D2C.
2. Check your access to goods. Production, an importer with a good wholesale price or a supplier who ships in your name. Without capital for stock, start with dropshipping. The paths for 8 types of business are in the guide on how to start an online store for your type of business.
3. Work out the margin on one product. From the retail price, subtract VAT, the cost of goods, shipping, the card payment fee, packaging and the advertising cost per sale. If only cents are left, no order volume will save the model.
4. Decide how often the customer buys. A product that runs out suits a subscription. A rare, expensive purchase needs reviews, a warranty and detailed descriptions.
5. Choose the main channel. Your own store is the base; marketplaces and social media bring new customers to it.
6. Test small and fast. Launch 10 to 30 products, see what sells, then grow or add a second model.

Can you combine several models

Yes, most online businesses combine two or three models in one store:

• B2C and B2B: consumers buy at listed prices, businesses log in and see wholesale prices.
• Own stock and dropshipping: best sellers in stock, the wider range from suppliers.
• One-off and subscription: the customer tries the product, then picks monthly delivery.

If your current platform cannot handle a second model, online store migration to CloudCart moves your products, customers and orders from WooCommerce, Shopify, OpenCart, Magento or any other platform, while the old store keeps selling. The move by the CloudCart team is €0 with a 24-month contract, as described on how the move works.

How to start an online business with the model you chose

Once you have chosen a model, put the costs and revenue into a business plan for an online store. What remains is the store, payments and shipping. With CloudCart, there are two ways:

1. On your own in the admin. Sign up, choose a theme, add products, shipping and payments. The steps are in the guide on how to start an online store in Bulgaria.
2. With an AI assistant. You create a PAT token in the admin and tell Claude Code, ChatGPT Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor or VS Code what store you want. How it works is on the page about an online store built with AI.

Plans on the pricing page, billed annually and excluding VAT, are Baby Pack €14, Starter Pack €33, CC Pro €83 and CC Master €249 a month, with a 0% transaction fee on every plan. All plans and limits are on the CloudCart pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about which model to set up? Write to support@cloudcart.com.