The Salesforce data model has roots in B2B (Account-Contact-Opportunity). B2C requires adjustments.
B2B (default):
- Account = company.
- Contact = person at that company.
- Opportunity = potential deal with the Account.
- Lead = pre-qualified company + contact info.
- Many-to-many: a Contact can be on multiple Accounts via Account Contact Relationships.
This works for any B2B (selling to other companies).
B2C (consumer):
- The Account-Contact split is awkward — a consumer is a single person, not a company with contacts.
- Person Accounts — Salesforce's solution. A record represents both an Account AND a Contact in one. Enable once; irreversible.
- Alternative: keep B2B model but use a fake Account "Consumers" with all individual contacts. Limits some features (Account Hierarchy, Account-driven sharing).
Hybrid B2B + B2C:
- Person Accounts for individual customers.
- Business Accounts for companies.
- Both coexist; record types differentiate.
Other B2C considerations:
- High volume — millions of consumers; LDV strategy mandatory.
- External-facing portals (Experience Cloud) heavily used.
- Marketing Cloud Engagement instead of Pardot/MCAE.
- Identity verification, login more emphasis.
- Privacy / GDPR — consumer PII regulations stricter.
Decision criteria:
- Pure B2B -> standard Account-Contact-Opportunity model.
- Pure B2C -> Person Accounts.
- Hybrid -> Person Accounts + Business Accounts coexisting.
- Very narrow B2C use (a few consumer customers in mostly-B2B) -> stick with B2B model, treat consumers as Contact under a generic Account.
Senior consultants probe early: "Do you sell to companies, individuals, or both?" The answer drives data model and scales the project significantly.