Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce: outcomes and implications

Abstract

One outcome of the digitised retail environment is the emergence of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) electronic commerce. Existing research has extensively addressed C2C commerce in an offline environment, while relatively little is known about online C2C behaviour. Thus, there is a need to deepen the understanding of how and why consumers engage in C2C e-commerce as well as the implications that C2C e-commerce holds for retailers. To address this gap, a comprehensive survey targeting Finnish consumers was conducted. The survey yielded a total of 2823 respondents who had transacted on C2C e-commerce platforms. The data are used to profile C2C e-commerce with demographics, product categories, customer value and key retail outcomes. This analysis provides a well-grounded basis for discussing the implications of C2C e-commerce for retailers.