Written Assignment Unit 1
BUS2202-Ecommerce
Week Beginning 02/01/2018
We will be discussing Business net types: Business Web Agora, and Business Web Aggregator. While Business Web Agora and Business Web Aggregator have many similarities, they also have noticeable differences because both are E-commerce business models, yet have different objectives, attributes, and benefits. To ensure understanding this paper will compare and contrasting Ebay (Business Web Agora) and Amazon (Business Web Aggregator) to identify the similarities and differences between the two business net types. Then we will discuss organizational advantages Business Web Agora, and Business Web Aggregator each offer. To begin below is a simple comparison chart of the two companies.
…show more content…
First, we will discuss the services each company provides buyers and sellers. eBay provides the tools needed for the buyers and sellers to easily send and receive money. This is usually done through PayPal which eBay also owns. Since PayPal and Amazon are competitors customers cannot pay via Paypal. Instead, Amazon facilitates the transfer of money through its checkout. Ebay’s service places less of an emphasis on customer service because there is more interaction between buyers and sellers. The three main customer services that eBay offers are forums, a dispute settlement system, and a system allowing buyers to rate sellers in which sellers can be penalized for low ratings (e-commerce-digest, n.d.). Amazon offers a highly involved customer service experience with customer support ranging from shipping support to assistance lines and chats. Customer reviews on Amazon are more for the buyer's education. Next, let’s discuss the product and transactions …show more content…
For example, the product quality on eBay varies from seller to seller and impacts the price because products are sold on an auction basis. With Amazon, there is a standardized quality for products and so the price is fixed. Regarding the transaction process, the details are discussed between the parties on eBay while Amazon’s transaction process and return policy are also standardized. The return policy is also discussed between parties on eBay. Additionally, eBay does not take possession of the items being sold (products sold under sellers name) while Amazon does (less brand recognition because products are sold under Amazon’s name. The many differences between these to companies offer contrasting experiences for buyers and sellers despite how similar they seem but how do these two Business Net Types benefit from and improve through
Amazon.com is an On-line retailer of, originally, books. The company was established as a micro enterprise in the US in 1994. Since then it has enjoyed rapid expansion in all aspects of its operations, including business turnover, and a spectacular rise in share value since public floatation in 1997. New on-line sites based in Germany and UK and a distribution centre in Amsterdam were established in 1998 to cater for European markets. On August 30, 2000 Amzon.com launched its third site outside the US, Amazon.fr in France. Amazon.com sells only on-line and is essentially an information broker. It holds a relatively small, though increasing, inventory and outsources most aspects of its operations (but not IT). The key to its operation is to offer value added and sophisticated customised services, a continuously expanding catalogue of products in terms of both quantity and range, and deep discounts. Alliances and partnerships with publishers, other on-line retailers and technology providers are therefore strategic. The ambition of the company today is to become a premier general on-line retailer by leveraging on its existing brand and business model. Amazon.com: Business Overview
Amazon’s macro-environment is made up of six external factors: political, economic, environmental, technological, social, and legal conditions. These factors are important because they shape how the company operates and you must know each piece to be able to compete within the retail and eCommerce industry. An evolving political factor are the efforts the government has made toward punishing offenders of cyber-crime. This kind of thief wasn’t walking into your store, but hacking into your computer. This type of crime wasn’t possible before the internet. The government has started to take these crimes more serious as technology evolves. Technology is a factor that Amazon.com must invest heavily in. They are reliant on having top of the line technology to survive against cyber-crime and to stay relevant in the tech world. ECommerce is everywhere now and competition is very high. This brings in legal conditions; Amazon must know what laws exist in which countries because they are a
External environment: Amazon.com, like any other company, is affected by external environmental factors. These include government laws and regulations in various countries which determine the level of penetration of the company in various markets and its level of sales; social factors that affect how consumers view the company and its products; and economic factors in various markets that affect the buying power of consumers (Hamilton and Philip 26).
In two distinct e-commerce business types, Business-to-business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C), there are many differences in the way they operate. Specifically in marketing, differences include how the marketing is driven and the values of the strategies, the size of the target market and length of the sales cycle, and even the buying patterns of the target consumers. Each of these differences will be better defined and explained in the following paragraphs.
Amazon has recorded a magnificent success in its business throughout the years that it has been in operation. It has attracted almost all people to use it when necessary. Amazon has built its success in business methodically and slowly. Amazon has made much success because of its ability to read market trends and diversify its operations. It started as an online book selling company. However, it changed its operations and started selling other products. Currently, many large retail shops use Amazon to host and power their websites, for instance, sears and virgin megastores. Amazon now attracts over fifty million visitors in a period of one month. Amazon has tried to make their services fit each individual user. It has based its services on the end user. It has shipping discounts, customer product reviews and a credit card with bonuses. It also has prime membership, product forums and 1-click ordering system among other services. The company has tried to make a remarkable experience for customers and visitors (Thomas, 2006).
Amazon.com creates value for its customers by offering customers broad array of products to select from through their website and ensuring timely delivery of products to exhibit high level of commitment towards their business and customers
World number one in its market in just 15 years, Amazon is the global leader in electronic commerce. Initially small bookstore in the new economy, the site is now a general distributor for food, clothing, electronic products, automotive equipment and others. Also offering many professionals services such as logistics...
Competition – The biggest competitor of Amazon is EBay and all the internet retailers and suppliers as Priceline.com; Buy.com; BN.com and many more.
From the consumer side, Amazon provides services like Amazon Prime, which delivers free two-day shipping on retail purchases, on-demand video streaming and a free access to the Kindle library, everything for an annual
I was unable to compare to eBay as the company its self does not hold inventory. Days of Sales Outstanding which measures the ability of the company to receive its money in a timely manner, propose that Amazon has a hard time collecting money due, either from its venders or credit companies, at the rate of 26.64, which is higher that the Industry average of 19.16. eBay, also seems to have this issue, at the rate of 26.52, which means to me that the issue might be getting the funds from credit card companies in a timely manner. As Walmart doesn’t seem to have this issue, at 4.32. Solvency
Amazon model initially offered customers access to massive selection without the needs to incur cost, time and stress of opening warehouses and stores and the needs for inventory handling. Amazon realized to ensure customers get a pleasant experience and Amazon acquire its inventory at reasonable prices, they need to be in control of the transaction process from beginning to the end through operating the business from their own warehouses.
One of the greatest opportunities for Amazon is an Online Payment System. The online system allows the company to reduce transaction fees and increase ease of use for their customers. Internet sales are increasing at a fast pace. This is a product of increased fuel prices, which make driving to a store less likely, and foreign purchases. This development allows foreign purchases to buy clothing as it becomes more popular abroad. Amazon’s biggest competitors can include retail stores that online stores such as Target, Best Buy, and Walmart among others, these can be considered the most dangerous for them since they have strong market share and can be a direct competitor since they attack the same market. Amazon wish to compete in prices, offering
The terms e-business and e-commerce are closely related but have some elements of differences between them.
Consequently, e-business and especially online shopping is crucial for retail stores. They should provide necessary infrastructure for selling their products online. By taking advantage of e-business not only they can get competitive advantage of online shopping, but the...
In today's competing world, many organizations are rethinking their strategies in terms of the online business and its capabilities and culture. Organizations are taking advantage of the widespread web to buy and sell goods from other companies and recently from individual customers. Exploiting these opportunities of convenience, availability and widespread reach of the web or Internet, many companies such as Amazon have benefited from the use of web successfully.