# Markets and business models

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A market defines a geographical selling region, combining a merchant, price list, and inventory model. Commerce Layer supports multiple business models — B2C, B2B, private sales, and more — each configurable through market settings.
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## Markets

A [market](/core-api-reference/markets.md) is a location in a geographical region where merchants sell and customers purchase. An organization may have one or more markets, each associated with SKUs, prices, stock items, and more. Every market requires a merchant, an inventory model, and a price list. You can also associate it with a customer group and, optionally, a geocoder, a tax calculator, one or more price list schedulers, and one or more stores.

The merchant is the legal entity of the market. The price list defines the prices that apply to SKUs in that market and their currency. For specific time windows — such as seasonal sales — the market's price list can be overridden by a different one associated with a price list scheduler. The inventory model determines how inventory is provided in the market.

When obtaining an access token, a market scope filters the market's resources. If a store is in scope, the associated market is inherited from it. Customer groups allow selected customers private access to a market, promotions, and more.

Markets can be enabled or disabled — useful for temporarily activating private sales, testing new market setups, and more.&#x20;

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Your [pricing plan](https://commercelayer.io/pricing) limits refer to *active* (enabled) markets only. If you've reached your plan's limit, disable an active market before enabling a new one.
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At the market level, you can also set a default payment method and shipping method, automatically applied to any order or shipment in the market not already associated with one.

## Business models

Commerce Layer supports several business models, each affecting the configuration of payment methods, shipping methods, price lists, and more.

### Business to customers (B2C)

B2C is a transaction between a business and an end-user, covering everything from the sales channel to how a customer purchases a product.

B2C can be used for single markets, global ecommerce, VIP sales, and more. Customers don't need to be registered to browse or check out.

### Business to business (B2B)

B2B is a transaction between businesses — typically a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer who then resells to end-users.

Only logged-in and verified customers can make purchases in a B2B model. Customer groups manage access by granting private entry to a market, promotions, campaigns, and more.

There are two common ways to set up a B2B model:

* Assign a specific price list to the market associated with the B2B customer group. All business rules and promotions apply to that price list.
* Assign the public price list to the market and create a promotion (e.g., a percentage discount) for that market. Business rules and promotions apply to both the price list and the promotion rules.

### VIP or private sales

A private sale is a transaction between a business and a specific group of customers. A VIP market is set up with associated price lists, promotions, and loyalty programs. Only customers belonging to the VIP customer group have access.


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