Business models

Before starting to develop your site with WebSphere Commerce, you need to determine the business model supported by WebSphere Commerce that best represents the purpose of your site. Usually sites created with WebSphere Commerce will be implemented based on of one of these business models.

A business model provides a sample commerce solution which includes an organization structure, default user roles and access control policies, one or more starter stores, administration tools, and business processes that demonstrate best practices. A business model can be customized to support business requirements and scenarios.

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

A store that supports commerce transactions involving products, services, or information directly between businesses and consumers.

B2B direct

A store that supports commerce transactions involving products, services, between two businesses or parties.

Hub

A site that enables its customers or partners to access products or services available from one or more partners or clients of the hub owner, through the use of other stores on the site.

Extended Site

A site that allow your selling organization to provide unique storefronts for different enterprise customers or showcase a number of branded storefronts. Creation and management of the extended sites is through the hub in Commerce Accelerator. These extended sites may share much of the data, such as master catalog and list prices, and presentation information. An extended site store can be a B2B direct or Consumer Direct store.

WebSphere Commerce provides the architectural infrastructure to put online businesses that fit into one of the following business models:

These particular stores are recommended for implementing the business models supported by WebSphere Commerce. You can also create your own types of stores using the store architecture.