Topic Nine - Online Auctions

Q1: eBay is one of the only major Internet "pure plays" to consistently make a profit from its inception. What is eBay's business model? Why has it been so successful?

In simple terms, Ebay is an auction broker which allows buyers and sellers an online forum in which to conduct transactions.

Ebay has been so successful because of

-the large media coverage

-extensive amount of users

-it’s cheap, easy and allows new, used or even old broken products to be traded

-buyers and sellers can trade in any parts of the world

-relatively simple layout used to minimise confusion

Q2: Other major web sites, like Amazon.com and Yahoo!, have entered the auction marketplace with far less success than eBay. How has eBay been able to maintain its dominant position?

Ebay was able to dominate the market because it was largely used and recognised before any other competition arouse. It is with this dominance that Ebay was able to tackle competition by having enough status to keep their prices lower yet their standards high. This benefits both the buyer and seller as the buyer wants the best quality product for the lowest money, yet the seller requires a high demand for their products. With the use of online auctioning both the buyer and the seller are satisfied because the buyer will only pay for what they think the product is worth therefore once an auction has begun price continues to rise (benefiting the seller) yet remain relatively low compared to average retail prices (benefitting the buyer).

Q3: What method does eBay use to reduce the potential for fraud among traders on its site? What kinds of fraud, if any, are eBay users most susceptible?

The best way Ebay can prevent fraudulent acts is with the use of Paypal for their payment system in which personal details are entered, passwords are also a requirement of using ebay. Other than that tutorials and other information are provided so that fraud is minimised. Plus it is well known that personal details should not be given over the internet to strangers. Ebay users need to watch out for false bids which unnecessarily raise the price of a product to get the most money out of a buyer.

Q4: eBay makes every effort to conceptualize its users as a community (as opposed to, say "customers" or "clients"). What is the purpose of this conceptual twist and does eBay gain something by doing it?

Loyalty and trust are important here. There is huge concern with internet trading, therefore trust and loyalty need to be established before buyers and sellers begin their transactions to know that they won’t be ripped off or come into any issues.

Q5: eBay has long been a marketplace for used goods and collectibles. Today, it is increasingly a place where major businesses come to auction their wares. Why would a brand name vendor set-up shop on eBay?

The best way to answer this is a simple response in which most organisations are looking towards the internet for future sales. The internet promotes shops and businesses in a cheap and easy way. They also allow for older products to be traded and sold at cheaper prices which allows for more sales which they may not be subjected to in regular stores.

Topic Eight

There was no topic this week as we had to complete the mid-semester exam. I received 22/40 as a result of my exam which I was pretty disappointed in. Truth be told the reason for such a low score was the fact that I didn't really attempt the short answer questions which were worth 5marks each. I'm relieved about having no end of semester exam for this class also for the fact that I am almost finished my assignment. You would think after 8 weeks the online aspect of this class would get easier for me, but its not - I still manage to get behind in the work and often find some of the content hard to get my head around.

Topic Seven - Digital Automata

1) Check this link to my ‘intelligent’ cybertwin which I also mentioned in the Powerpoint. You may like to create your own cybertwin as well. The more you 'train' your twin, the better the responses will be. While it is just a fun exercise, Think of the opportunities. Imagine if we had a cybertwin that could answer your questions about the course. Or perhaps a shopping assistant?

I created a cyber twin; the link is mycybertwin.com/naomi8246. I am currently still teaching it with the use of the classroom lessons.

Even though I do believe this sort of technology will become a way of the future, I don’t believe it could ever help with questions on the course or shopping as it requires on information input and would already be known by the user. I don’t believe technology should completely replace human interaction and information based conversations.

2) Write a one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument against the Turing Test, known as the about the Chinese room.

As defined in the PowerPoint, the Turing test is a proposal for a test of a machine's capability to demonstrate thought. But what does this mean? Basically in the 1950’s Alan Turing developed a theory of the concept that a computer or machine device can act as human. In order to test this theory a human is meant to have a conversation with the machine and if they cannot depict whether the device is human or machine than it passes the test.

The Chinese room is an argument created in the 1980s by John Stearle, which debates the turning tests reliability and actual rate of success. This is because Stearle believes that the test can be manipulated to read symbols which means that the system could not actually think like a real human.

* Question 3 was not answered this week as I wasn't totally sure of the correct answer and I believe customer service can be effective and not effective both in person and online. I didn't think I had enough information to answer the question fully and coherently.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test#The_Chinese_room.

Topic Six - Digital Markets

Question 1

a) What experiences have you had with shopping online?

b) Describe a good experience.

c) What did you like about the online store you used?

d) Describe a bad experience.

Questions A through to D are irrelevant to myself as I have never purchased anything online, nor has anyone in my immediate family.

e) What problems did you have with the online store?

By just viewing some online stores I have noticed that navigation is often difficult as well as getting the most information available to make the best purchase choices.

f) What features make an online store more appealing?

Online stores are appealing due to the freedom of being able to browse products online without having to leave the house and be bothered by busy stores or pushy shop assistants, different pay options, its quick, easy and cheap as well as extensive information such as product information, reviews and buyer opinions.

g) What features make an online store less appealing?

Online shopping can appeared less appealing due to lack of information, navigation issues, time spent on postage and the costs therefore involved, problems with bandwidth connections and confusion when trying to compare similar products.

h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?
I would assume that prices would rise with the introduction of online customers and for the fact that sellers will continue to use online auction based sites in order to sell to the consumer willing to pay the highest prices.

Question 2

a) The dispersion of prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.

I believe that online prices will always have a narrow effect because it is in the consumer’s best interest to search and compare when deciding on purchases. Therefore internet distributors of similar companies will always keep their prices low close to equal.

b) The importance of brand names will decrease.

I don’t believe brand names will decrease because they are important to distinguish between companies and their own guaranteed qualities. However due to the increase in internet shopping, consumers may be less concerned about a particular brand name as they are just looking for particular services that the product can provide such as 3G network, wireless and Bluetooth on a mobile phone, rather than just relying on the Nokia brand. Without contradicting myself I do acknowledge that the internet will provide a massive rival for conventional stores, however I do believe that for the time being and the near future, that brand names will still play a large part in the recognition on shopping for certain products.

c) Price competition will make all products cheaper.

Yes, competition of the same or similar product will usually make prices cheaper.

d) Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites, like Amazon.com.

People generally do a large search before purchasing anything on the internet which allows customers to get a great knowledge about the product and the companies involved. It is this knowledge which companies may take for granted, as mega-sites like Amazon.com may in fact overlook smaller sites which can sometimes offer cheaper prices. All sites have to start off small therefore I think it would take a very long time for domination to occur as competition is increased every day.

e) How do you think the balance of power between buyer’s and seller’s will change?

Since buyers are able to search and gain more information about products and comparative prices, it is the buyers who will essentially gain power. Sellers will always have less power as they rely on the buyers.

f) Prices are clustered online.

- I don’t really understand this question, but I think all prices whether online or in conventional stores, need to reflect the quality of the product and the services it displays.

Question 3

a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?

Content and products, wireless advertising, games and entertainment

b) Which of these services do you use?

Contents and products, wireless advertising

c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device?

Nothing

d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?

I prefer to make transactions in person rather than an online basis.

e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?
Advertising is essential to understand the product, promotion and for the companies to gain profits.Mobile advertising is usually in the form of sms promotions which are often annoying if you are not interested in the content, but can also be essential if you do require certain information straightaway, such as mobile phone access to emails.

Topic Five - Business Models

1. Describe the features of each of these business models, on your blog page, giving an example of each.

Brokerage:“Brokers are market-makers: they bring buyers and sellers together and facilitate transactions.”
eBay is an Auction Broker.

Advertising: Traditionally advertisements were used on mass media sources such as newspapers, radio and television, however advertising has now moved to online. Advertisements used online are usually in the form of banners and links. Google is a form of advertising as an online forum because it is a highly trafficked website displaying advertisements in conjunction with the relevant information searched.

Infomediary: This is when information is exchanged from companies and consumers. The companies supply the information and the consumers are looking for the information in order to understand the market, producers and products.

Merchant: The merchant is a wholesaler/retailer of a products and services. Manufacturers are not usually involved in this process as the stock is marketed differently due to the different form of selling and marketing techniques. Amazon is a form of internet merchant.

Manufacturer (Direct): The direct source that creates a product or service and after producing it they reach buyers directly via distribution channels. Dell Computers.

Affiliate: The model provides purchase opportunity wherever people may be surfing by offering financial incentives such as percentage from profit/revenue, to affiliate partner sites. Examples: Barnes and Noble.

Community: This is a media tool for free social networking, telephone, email and email. This is the use of the internet in a regular and emotional basis. As these websites are free to use, the ower of the website can only generate profits with the use of advertising. Examples of addicting social networking and regularly used websites are facebook, Wikipedia and twitter.

Subscription: Subscription is used to charge users on a period of time spent on a site rather than the actual usage. Netflix uses subscriptions.

Utility: This is the opposite of subscription, in which the usage is charged, such a “pay as you go” approach. An example of this approach is Slashdot.

2. What is the business model for TWITTER and how is it raising revenue?

Twitter has a high rate of traffic therefore they are able to introduce advertising, their site is used for social network therefore creating a sense of emotion and loyalty of subscription and can one day target all the business models. Revenue is raised due to the advertisements and large range of media coverage.

3.Mobile phone use per 100 populations - Australia, USA, China, India and UAE:
Unite Arab Emirates (UAE) 208.65

Australia 104.96

USA 86.79

China 47.95

India 29.36

4. Internet use per 100 populations - Australia, USA, China, India and UAE:

USA 74

Australia 71.98

Unite Arab Emirates (UAE) 65.15

China 22.28

India 4.38

My thoughts so far

I have been having difficulty understand the business models table in topic five. It is this reason why I would much prefer standard lectures, as it is difficult to get all information from the power points to coincide with the tute work. I think the power points could also benefit us more if there was more information, and detailed rather than brief points or unanswered questions. I know that we are suppose to learn independently in this class however it is a challenge for me sometimes especially since I don't know if I am on the right track or not.

Topic Four Questions - Web Analytics

Questions

I have one of my Google Analytics pages accessible for you. Go to www.google.com/analytics/ and logon using the email address

ewiki2@gmail.com password ballarat. This is a read only view (I hope) of one of Foliosapces. At the top right where it says My Analytics Accounts select Foliospaces.com (the other one is not currently active). Then click on view report and answer the following questions:-

1) Looking at the site useage, what does the terms visits, page views and pages/visit mean? What does the bounce rate mean and does it vary much from day to day?
Visits display the amount of times someone has used the website.

Page views are the amount of times someone has viewed that particular page of the website.

Pages/visits depicts the average amount of page views per visit were made.

The bounce rate shows the percentage number of page views compared to overall views; this is determined by the highest peaks of views daily.

2) Now look at the traffic sources report. What are the three sources of traffic and where has most of the traffic come from?

The three sources are of traffic are, direct traffic, referring sites and search engines. Direct traffic is creating the most traffic at the moment at 42.33%.

3) What was the most popular web browser used to access the site?

Internet Explorer was the most popular web browser used initiating 1,166 visits and 43.61% of all new visits.

4) How many countries did visitors to Foliospaces come from and what were the top four countries?

Visitors from 58 countries viewed Foliospaces creating 2,674 visits. The top four countries were the United States (1,109 visits), Australia (764 visits), Spain (436visits) and the United Kingdom (59 visits).

5) Having clicked every possible link on my analytics, make a few comments on (a) What you can track, (b) What you can track over time and (c) What you can’t track.

6) What do the following terms mean? These are just a few, you may like to add some more and perhaps include them on the Moodle glossary.

high bounce rate - The percentage of visits where the visitor can enter and exit the same page without visiting any other pages on the site in between.

key words – key words are common words used

Average Page Depth - Page Depth is the average number of page views a visitor consumes before ending their session. It is calculated by dividing total number of page views by total number of sessions

click through rate – is a way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign.

click- "refers to a single instance of a user following a hyperlink from one page in a site to another"

Cookie- is a text file stored as plain text on a user's computer by a web browser.

Impression - An impression is each time an advertisement loads on a user's screen. Anytime you see a banner, that is an impression.

Hyperlink- reference to a document that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. The reference points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document.

Navigation- reading and controlling changes and navigation from one place to another.

Pageview - A request for a file whose type which is defined as a page in log analysis.

Session - a session is when a user is using a website for 30minutes or less. The session will end if 30minutes has passed or if the user visits a new website before the 30minutes has passed.

Unique Visitors (or Absolute Unique Visitors) - The uniquely identified client generating requests on the web server (log analysis) or viewing pages (page tagging) within a defined time period (i.e. day, week or month). A Unique Visitor counts once within the timescale.

URL- the address of the webpage on the world wide web (WWW)

Visitor – A visitor usually makes multiple visits to the web server or viewing pages.

Visitor Session- Average amount of time that visitors spend on the site each time they visit.

Comparison shopping- allows individuals to see different lists of prices for specific products.

Source:

Wikipedia