Picking a business model is extremely important for your business idea, or is a great way to think of ideas by applying a certain model you like to a solution you have to a problem. Different business models require different resources and expertise to operate, which makes knowing your options even more important!
Here is an extensive list of various different business models with examples. Usually, with business models it is easier to imagine the example, and how they make money, then an explanation of what the business model is. This is not every model out there, but it is a huge list that will allow you to test how your idea will make money.
Advertising
Models – Examples
Display ads – Yahoo!
Search ads – Google
Text ads – Bing
Video ads – YouTube
Audio ads – Spotify
Promoted content – Facebook
Paid-content links – Outbrain
Recruitment ads – LinkedIn
Lead generation – MoneySuperMarket
Affiliate marketing – YouTubeCreatorsHub.com
Classifieds – LetGo
Featured listings – Yelp
E-mail ads – Gmail
Ad-retargeting – Criteo
Real-time-intent ad delivery – Snapchat
Location-based offers – Foursquare
Sponsorships/Site take-overs – Google Play Music
Lifetime, unique ad space – milliondollarhomepage.com
Sponsorships – Twitch.tv
Commerce
Models – Examples
Retailing – Zappos
Marketplace – Etsy
Crowd-sourced marketplace – Threadless
Excess-capacity markets – Lyft
Aggregator – Hipmunk.com
Flash sales – Gilt
Group buying – Groupon
Digital goods/downloads – Napster
Virtual goods – Zynga
Training – Theworkanywherelife.com
Pay what you want – paywhatyouwant.eu
Commission – SharesPost
Commission per order – Skip the Dishes
Auction – eBay
Reverse Auction – Priceline
Subscription
Models – Examples
Software as a Service (SaaS) – Salesforce
Service aaS (as a Service) – Shopify
Content aaS – Netflix
Platform aaS (PaaS) – Heroku
Freemium SaaS – Dropbox
Donations – Wikipedia
Recurring donations (w/ rewards) – Patreon
Membership services – Amazon Prime
Support and maintenance – MondoDB
Paywall – New York Times
Strict Paywall – The Information
Voice and video conferencing – Uberconference
Peer to Peer (P2P)
Models – Examples
P2P lending – Lending Club
P2P gambling – Youbetme
P2P insurance – friendsurance.com
P2P computing – CrashPlan storage
P2P service – TaskRabbit
Transaction-Processing
Models – Examples
Merchant acquiring – PayPal (Online/Offline)
Acquiring processing – Paymentech
Bank transfer – Transferwise
Bank depository offering – Movenbank
Bankcard issuance – Simple
Fulfillment – Amazon FBA
Messaging – WeChat
Telephony (public networks) – Zoom
Mobile payment gateway – Braintree
Licensing
Models – Examples
Per seat – Sencha
Per device/server – Qlik
Per application instance – Adobe Photoshop
Patent – Qualcomm
Brand franchise – Subway
Data
Models – Examples
User data – Oracle
Business data – Duedil
User intelligence – YouGov
Search Data – Rubicon Project
Real-time consumer intent data – Yieldbot
Benchmarking service – Comscore
Market research – GLG
Mobile
Models – Examples
Paid-app download – WhatsApp
In-app purchase – Angry Birds
In-app subscription – Foundr app
Advertising – Go2Mobi
Digital-to-physical – Postagram
Gaming
Models – Examples
Freemium (virtual currency) – Zynga
Subscription – GameCrates
Premium – Xbox One Games
DLC (downloadable content) – World of Warcraft
Ads – addictinggames.com