New Sales and Buying Models in the Internet: App Store Model for Enterprise Application Software

Whereas electronic marketplaces had been established years ago to distribute different kinds of software, they have become subject of public interest given the success of “app store” models in business-to-consumer (B2C) environment, especially for mobile device software. The expectation of a consumer grade buying experience, cloud deployment models and the disaggregation of software bundles to smaller and more focused offerings are fostering the app store model also for enterprise software. In this article, a classification of buying situations for enterprise application software is introduced reflecting organizational buying processes between the transactional and the consultative sales / buying model. In that context, the article outlines the role of electronic marketplaces and Internet-based sales infrastructures detailed in a practical case example.