E-Commerce Fundamentals and Business Models (电子商务概论与商业模式)
Domain 1 checks whether you can place an arbitrary business inside the standard framework, name its transaction parties, and explain how it actually earns money. Questions are short scenarios followed by "which model / which revenue stream / which flow is missing".
The five-layer reference framework
Bottom-up: 网络层 (network infrastructure) → 多媒体内容与网络出版层 (content publishing, HTML) → 报文和信息传播层 (EDI, e-mail, HTTP) → 一般业务服务层 (security, payment gateway, directory, catalogue) → 电子商务应用层 (the shop, the marketplace, the supply-chain application). A question asking which layer a payment gateway belongs to wants 一般业务服务层, not the application layer.
Three flows and the model taxonomy
A complete transaction closes 信息流、资金流、物流 (some texts add 商流). Classify by 交易主体: B2B, B2C, C2C, G2B/G2C; by 交易对象: physical goods vs services and digital products; by channel: pure online vs O2O. Revenue models: 差价 (resale), 佣金 (commission), 广告, 订阅/会员, 增值服务, 金融服务.
Worked example
Case: a platform lets farms list produce, catering firms order, the platform holds payment in escrow for three days and charges 5% of GMV, and cold-chain trucks are dispatched after payment clears. Reasoning chain: parties = 农户 supplying 餐饮企业, so it is B2B rather than B2C. The 5%-of-GMV charge is commission, so it is a marketplace, not a reseller - the platform never takes title and carries no inventory risk. Listing is 信息流, escrow is 资金流, dispatch is 物流: all three flows close, so the model is complete. If the case said the platform buys the produce and resells it, the answer flips to 差价 with inventory risk.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling any online shop B2C: check who actually pays.
- Treating O2O as a revenue model - it is a channel and fulfilment pattern.
- Assuming 电子商务 = 网上购物; it also covers EDI, procurement, supply chain, online services.
- Confusing 佣金 with 差价 when the platform never takes title to goods.
- Omitting G2B in government-procurement cases.