A row-oriented database stores data in rows, where each row represents a single record. This structure is efficient for transactions that involve reading or writing entire records, making it ideal for applications like customer relationship management and e-commerce systems. In a row-oriented database, all the data for a record is stored together, which speeds up access when retrieving complete records. However, it may be less efficient for analytical queries that require scanning large amounts of data across many records, where a column-oriented database might perform better.