E-Commerce

Why B2C Startups Need to Understand Walled Gardens

Why B2C Startups Need to Understand Walled Gardens

Let’s start by making sure we all know what we are talking about. First, “B2C” means Business-to-Consumer -- startups that sell products to consumers as end users. We can contrast B2C with B2B, which is businesses selling to other businesses. Each type – B2C and B2B – have different selling processes. So today, we are going to focus on B2C and the challenges they might experience selling through e-commerce sites.

So far, so good. But, what’s a “Walled Garden?” It is just what it sounds like. It comes from olden days when rich people had beautiful, luscious gardens that they locked behind a wall so that others could not see in. We use the term to describe the big tech giants. Here’s a more specific definition from mediarithmics_what is:  “A Walled Garden is a closed ecosystem in which all the operations are controlled by the ecosystem operator.” Think Google, Facebook, Amazon to start. They’ve created a really interesting marketplace in which they make the rules and they have all of the data. Together, these three companies control 70% of the all the digital ad spend.