Read JA Grove's  Review of www.RecordsByMail.com Go to   www.RecordsByMail.com
Read Mo Onaneye's  Review of www.ITunes.com Go to   www.ITunes.com
Read Oscar Bautista's  Review of www.WeGotRecords.com Go to   www.WeGotRecords.com
Read Kelly Morris's  Review of www.gemm.com Go to   www.gemm.com
Read Tyler Wassell's Review of www.ebay.com Go to   www.ebay.com
 

RecordsByMail.com

What is the value proposition and business model for the site?

The value proposition for customers is multifaceted:

The business model is the B2C merchant model. There is no advertising or acting as an intermediary. Furthermore, the business appears to be entirely virtual.

Who are their competitors?

A search such as "buy vintage records" or "buy vinyl records" in Google returns millions of results. Further qualifying with music genres such as "buy vintage blues records" reduces the number of results to a few hundred thousand. Clearly then, there are many competitors using many business models. These range from giant intermediaries such as eBay all the way to relative pygmies offering wares either solely on the web or on the web as a means to sell beyond the confines of a small storefront. In any case, the main competitor is the latter, the small shop. More accurately, the main competitor is the body of small shops whose collective expertise attracts the serious collector which is the stated target market segment for RecordsByMail.com.

How does the website integrate with other channels? (NOTE: A channel can be a retail store, a catalog, direct mailing campaign, etc. )

There appears to be no physical store complimenting recordsbumail.com. However, visitors can sign up for a regular newsletter delivered by email. The newsletter of course contains content to keep readers interested but it contains links to featured merchandise, links to search the site by music genres, promos for special offers such as free shipping.

RecordsByMail.com also offers an affiliate program in which other sites receive access to banner ads and text links to place on their sites. Commissions are paid for each sale originating from an affiliate site.

Who are the intended customers for the website?

The target market segment for RecordsByMail.com is the collector – someone who will would easily $100 or more for rare works. In fact, the byline on the email newsletter is "The Best and Freshest Vinyl for Collectors, Connoisseurs, and the Obsessed Everywhere". The reach of the site appears to be truly international in light of the detailed information on both domestic and international shipping procedures and rates. Given that many items are also priced in the under $20 range, this site will not automatically turn off buyers who are more casual music enthusiasts.

How does the site market and advertise in order to attract consumer interest? (Attract)

RecordsByMail.com appeared on the first or second page of search results for at least one reasonably generic search on Google and Askjeeves. (Not so lucky with yahoo). This prominent placement (outside the paid advertisers set) is a huge advantage. It may suggest some search engine optimization is taking place.

As stated before, RecordsByMail.com does offer materials free of charge to affiliate sites who wish to make a play for sales commissions. (Sales only. Not merely clicks.)

I found links to RecordsByMail.com on pages such as http://portland.wweek.com/. This appears to be a free advertising site for merchants in the Portland area. In all likelihood, the site would collect commissions on any sale related to a click through.

The free email newsletter does have some interesting content. As such, it is likely that subscribers forward copies to (non-subscribing) friends from time to time.

Finally, RecordsByMail.com maintains an eBay Store to widen its reach.

How does the site attract different types of customers such as impulsive, patient and analytical buyers? (Attract)

Upon entry to the site's homepage, there is a prominent display of new arrivals. These may tempt the impulsive user.

Patient buyers interested in a good buy can use the "Want List" feature. Simply enter a title and wait for the site to contact you when it becomes available. Of course, one is under no obligation to buy if an article becomes available.

Analytical buyers may appreciate the documentation on "Record Grading" which seeks to assure that the site will properly grade merchandise and will NOT attempt to sell substandard goods as being in good or even very good condition.

Other than these features, there does not appear to be much attempt to differentiate customers by purchasing style.

What types of tools and features does the site provide to enhance customer experience? Consider how the site applies web 2.0 tools and personalization. (Interact)

The site incorporates articles from www.wikipedia.org as regular features on artists, record labels, and DJs. Although the site itself is not directly producing Web 2.0 content itself, it is using Web 2.0 content produced elsewhere.

During the account registration process, the user can choose music genre preferences. I could find no indication that these preferences were used to tailor online content. I did discover a statement that seemed to indicate some tailoring of email newsletters. The customer's preferred method of shipping stored in the saved account is used to initially compute shipping costs.

How does the site process order placement and payment? (Act)

The customer places records in a shopping cart. (Incidentally, entries in the cart are kept indefinitely until purchased or explicitly removed by the customer. In the case of shopping cart abandonment, the entries will show up in the item count on the ever-present cart icon indefinitely assuming the customer is logged in. This serves as a reminder that there are items the customer once considered purchasing.) When the customer is ready to purchase, he can click the check out or shopping cart icons to get a final look at the cart. Items can be deleted as needed. If the user is already registered and is logged in, shipping charges will be shown with the prices of items. (Shipping cost is calculated using information in the address and preferred shipping mode entries in the customer's account. The site will handle domestic US and overseas shipping. Certain domestic shipping is free for orders in excess of $99 USD. Certain overseas shipping is free for orders over $249 USD.). If the customer does not already have an account, he must create one to finalize the purchase. The account setup contains the standard information: name, phone, email address, shipping address, billing address, payment method, preferred shipping mode, preferred genre of music, and how did you hear about us. Payment methods include credit card, Pay Pal, check or money order.

For credit card payments, the card is NOT immediately charged at check out time. Instead, the card is charged only when the order is packed. Credit card is the site's preferred payment because it is the speediest way to get the order out the door.

For Pay Pal payment, the order is assembled and someone at RecordsByMail.com contacts the customer to finalize the transaction.

For check or money order payment, the order is assembled and a final bill is emailed to the purchaser within 1 to 3 days. The order is shipped only after payment is received and has cleared the bank. (I could not find any information on how long the order would be held before returning the items to inventory due to failure to pay.)

How does the site handle delivery, shipping and returns? (Act)

The site accommodates both domestic US and overseas shipping. The shipping methods for domestic customers are USPS priority mail (2-7 days) or USPS (7-21 days). Overseas shipping is via air mail (7-14 days) or economy air mail (10-21 days).

The customer always has control over the shipping mode but can take advantage of free shipping for domestic orders over $99 USD and Canadian orders over $249 USD if the slower methods are chosen. In all cases, shipping costs include insurance.

Orders can be tracked on the site although tracking is rather primitive in that one can see only a classification of Pending, Cancelled, or Shipped. Domestic customers are instructed to call if orders do not arrive within 20 days. For international orders the threshold is significantly longer at 6 weeks.

Customers are instructed to call before returning any merchandise. The site contains verbiage that they will always strive to make things right especially when they are the cause of any problems.

How does the site maintain customer service and support? (React)

Users are invited to contact the site by mail, email, or fax, or phone. In addition, the Help and FAQ pages offer very thorough and well organized material on just about all aspects of searching, account and cart management, payment, shipping, returns, and security and privacy.

The site does NOT offer 24x7 customer support. Hours are limited to 9 to 5 Pacific Time Monday through Friday.

How useful is the site's special interface feature and arrangement of content? (Usability)

The arrangement of content is reasonably well done. The general page design is top global navigation, left product and feature navigation, and center content. The homepage is a bit different in that the left navigation is features (such as tools and help center) with a right navigation for products selection by genre.

Although I could deal with these pages, I think they could be improved to (a) getter facilitate the F-shaped scan and (b) minimize the need for vertical scrolling which is now too frequent. My recommendation would be to place product related browsing on the left where it is naturally more prominent, feature related navigation on the right, and to minimize the real estate consumed by the upper left logo and rededicate the space to other purposes.

Describe how the site provides a utilitarian and hedonic shopping experience.

The utilitarian user's focus on getting the job, in this case searching for a particular work and possibly purchasing the item, is reasonably well accommodated by allowing a search of inventory without logging in. Search can be simple or advanced. Both are easy to use and results appear quite quickly. (I never had a search take over 10 seconds.) . Shopping cart and check out are always easily available. Purchase does require an account. Unfortunately, initially setting up the account is a somewhat lengthy process that could frustrate and lead to cart abandonment. However, logging in to complete a purchase is part of the check out process and is quite easy. The utilitarian user might also be interested in the "New Arrivals" feature which has two sections: a few featured new arrivals and links to new arrivals within each music genre. This would allow the user to quickly survey new offerings and be done.

The site offers a number of features to entertain the hedonic user. First, several of the rare and/or more expensive items have a related sound clip. Of course, the hedonic user might also be interested in the "New Arrivals" section. Hedonic user might enjoy the newsletter which is offered to those who subscribe. There is a rather hard to find link to features from past newsletters. These are lifted (with attribution) from wikipeida.org and are thoroughly entertaining. The site also offers up its own creation, a "DJ Playlist" which features the favorite tunes of DJs throughout the world. Each DJ has a small bio and some feature links to their home page or to the home page of their show or station. The favorites list itself, averaging about 12-20 songs, are listed by artist and title. The artist name is a hyperlink that performs an automatic search on RecordsByMail.com for works by that artist. Nice touch! Unfortunately, none of the material is dated so I cannot tell how often any of the material is updated. Obviously frequent additions would be needed to maintain interest and encourage regular repeat visits.

What are some possible improvements or enhancements you would recommend in order to improve customer loyalty?

The account registration process was relatively unwieldy. The amount of information required was a potential disincentive to registering. For example, one had to declare a payment method even if there was no purchase involved. The account registration could have been better organized as a "process funnel" in order to present a clearer picture of the overall scope of registering.

I found the search results to be rather plain. Incorporating images such as album covers to liven the results might help engage the customer. It was also easy to get lost in the search results after clicking several links deep into specific products or "More..." links to similar works. Registering preferences offered only a genre selection which appears to have no impact on search results. As such, personalization is minimal.

I did find some broken links on the FAQ page including a broken link near the words "maintains the highest standards." which was both ironic and less than confidence inspiring. Fortunately, the information behind the broken links was accessible by links elsewhere.

I was somewhat surprised that the site did not offer a facility for collectors to share reviews of albums or tracks especially given that the founder's love for blues actually led to the founding of the site.

Definitely offer a prominent location for archived features and DJ playlists! It's currently too easy to overlook.

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www.ITunes.com

What is the value proposition and business model for the site?

The value proposition for this site is to download, purchase, register and sign up for current and old music. ITunes lets consumer enjoy all their music, movies, video, and TV shows on your computer. The consumer does not have to go through CD’s or flip through channels. They just have to go to their computer and open ITunes. Which holds the consumer entire media collection in their ITunes library, the consumer can browse everything faster, organize it all easier, and play anything whenever.

The business model is a business to consumer (B2C) model. The iTunes is a free application for any computer. It organizes and plays consumers digital music and video on their computer. It syncs all your media with their, IPod, IPhone, and AppleTV. And, it’s a store on the user’s computer, IPod Touch, IPhone and AppleTV that has everything they need to be entertained. They also services online and in store which, gives the consumer an option.

Who are their competitors?

The main biggest competitors is Amazon’s (amazonmp3) service, which sells most popular tracks of $.99, but also offers plenty of other tracks at $.79 or less. So ITunes then respond to this pressure and increase the price of some tracks $.30. Other competitor is songbird which is officially released. It is exactly handles everything that ITunes program does.

How does the website integrate with other channels? (NOTE: A channel can be a retail store, a catalog, direct mailing campaign, etc. )

As an ITunes Affiliate, you can access Apple-designed marketing materials for use in your website, email, and online promotion. Link to music, TV Shows, movies, audiobooks even applications in the App Store and can earn a 5percent commission on all qualifying revenue. The ITunes Affiliates newsletter will keep you up to date on new releases, special promotions, and more. Examples of the affiliate are HBO, Imem, Pandora, Alice@97.3, and ITunes also have integrated with other international channel.

Who are the intended customers for the website?

ITunes Gift Card Holder: This card can be purchase online or in store. It is a prepaid card and, it comes in different denominations and good towards any purchase on the ITunes Store or online.

ITunes Coupons or Certificates: These are for customers who like to get discounts and offers. The coupon allows customers free music, 30 second previews of all songs available etc.

Online Users: This is where the online user clicks to listen to online music, watch movies and TV Shows and listen to podcast, an audiobook, or a lecture on ITunes.

How does the site market and advertise in order to attract consumer interest? (Attract)

ITunes has a lot of advertising channels, from music industries, TV ads, word a mouth etc. They also attracted user in home sharing where you can share music, movies, TV Shows, and more among computer within the home. Browse iTunes libraries on up to five authorized computers on consumer’s home network and import whatever they like. The consumer can also automatically import new purchases made on any of the computers.

How does the site attract different types of customers such as impulsive, patient and analytical buyers? (Attract)

ITunes starts on their website, easy to use, clean and fun to work with. ITunes is a free application which can be downloaded, and offer free listening.

What types of tools and features does the site provide to enhance customer experience? Consider how the site applies web 2.0 tools and personalization. (Interact)

Playlist: Consumer can make their own soundtrack like creating perfect music playlists. Just drag songs into a playlist, choose the play order, and let it roll. Make one playlist to get a party started or for the gym.

Search: When consumers download music and video from iTunes, it’s immediately added to their iTunes library. There they can view their media collection any way they like. To find something specific, type the title or artist’s name in the search field and iTunes quickly reveals results as typed. In consumer library, anything they want to watch or hear is only a click away.

Importing CD’s: Consumers can import their CD collection to iTunes. And, listen to their music in new and better ways. Just pop a CD into their computer. If consumers are online, iTunes automatically finds the album, artist, and song names. And, they can even choose to download cover art. ITunes converts their music to a digital format.

Shuffle your song: If the consumers don’t know which music they want to listen to, the shuffle takes over. The play order is refreshingly random.

ITunes Extras: This is when a consumer buys selected movies. The iTunes extras is a world of special features they can experiences right in their iTunes library.

ITunes LP: When consumers download select albums, they will experience a beautifully designed, interactive world right in their iTunes library on their computers. While they listen to their favorite songs, dive into the lyrics and liner notes, view photos, watch videos, and enjoy other bonus materials while, many are even created by the artists.

How does the site process order placement and payment? (Act)

The consumers have to download the free application, once it has been downloaded there is menu/section where they can register and add credit information and other personal information. Then users can be able to download as many they want. Consumer can also go to the store buy music it depends on the consumer choice.

How does the site handle delivery, shipping and returns? (Act)

ITunes music only downloaded on online, they do not do any handle of delivery, shipping and returns on music. The service is been store on the user computer automatically, or you can go the store and download music into your IPod or any devices you own.

How does the site maintain customer service and support? (React)

You can contact customer service and technical support in many ways it depends on how comfortable the consumers are. You can contact them through phone, email, chat, and the store (Apple). User will arrange a phone call with an Apple Expert who specializes in your exact question. And, they do callbacks which is available for people with US and Canada phone numbers.

How useful is the site's special interface feature and arrangement of content? (Usability)

The content of the website is very easy and fun to use since Apple is a large company and it has many product and services. The home page links you to everywhere .Once users is on the ITunes Tab also broken into sections where you can easily click on the links such as what’s new, what’s iTunes, what’s on iTunes, iTunes charts. It’s also talks about many other new features, redesigning etc. They are other links at the bottom of each page it for frequently ask questions, and links for users who wants more information.

Describe how the site provides a utilitarian and hedonic shopping experience.

The shopping experience is a simple on online downloading of music of your tastes. They only do the free preview and listening of music before purchasing. Once registration is completed user will be able to pay for their music.

What are some possible improvements or enhancements you would recommend in order to improve customer loyalty?

My enhancements will be:

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www.WeGotRecords.com

What is the value proposition and business model for the site?

WeGotRecords proposes the sale of collectible records. WeGotRecords sells a variety of formats that include 45’s, LP’s, 10”, 12”, 78’s. Additionally, WeGotRecords carries almost all music genres. This type of product makes WeGotRecords unique in terms of the product they sell and their target audience.

WeGotRecords offers a business to consumer model. They sell records that specific people will be interested in buying. This gives them a niche in the market. Furthermore, WeGotRecords attempts to achieve customer satisfaction by guaranteeing records and customer satisfaction. This peace of mind helps gain and retains customers.

Who are their competitors?

WeGotRecords competitors include companies like eBay, Itunes, recordsbymail.com, and gemm.com. These companies offer a mechanism, or forum, for selling music that may include collectible records.

How does the website integrate with other channels? (NOTE: A channel can be a retail store, a catalog, direct mailing campaign, etc. )

WeGotRecords has more than one way of reaching out to the public: wegotrecords.com, eBay, a store front, and a newsletter. This enables them to attract more customers. Furthermore, their site appears to be SEO friendly, which helps online viewers find the site through search engines, like Google.

Who are the intended customers for the website?

WeGotRecords targets three main audiences: people looking for collectible music online - attempting to find them using a search engine, people looking for collectible music on eBay, and people looking for a store front, so they can physically see what WeGotRecords has in stock.

Having a broad audience enables the business to find additional buyer. It also enables the buyers to find WeGotRecords.

How does the site market and advertise in order to attract consumer interest? (Attract)

WeGotRecords markets by having their site be SEO friendly, advertising and selling on eBay, having a store front, and enabling people to sign up for a newsletter. The newsletter is effective because the business can generate a newsletter once a month, so customers do not forget about the business. It also gives the business an opportunity to share latest news.

How does the site attract different types of customers such as impulsive, patient and analytical buyers? (Attract)

On WeGotRecords.com home page, they show a few important characteristics: a low price so customers are immediately interested, links to Amazon and eBay so customers can find them through other avenues, and links to music genres so customers can jump to the type of music they specifically seek. These characteristics help attract the different type of customers: impulsive, patient, and the analytical buyer.

What types of tools and features does the site provide to enhance customer experience? Consider how the site applies web 2.0 tools and personalization. (Interact)

WeGotRecords includes Amazon, eBay, and PayPal links on their home page. These are reputable companies, so immediately people may think WeGotRecords is legit. The site does offer various checkout ways, which is very helpful to buyers.

WeGotRecords does not include rich web 2.0 feature, but does offer a newsletter and different means of attracting and reaching out to customers.

How does the site process order placement and payment? (Act)

WeGotRecords enables buyers to checkout using a Web Form, Phone, Credit Card, Money Order, Check, PayPal, and eBay. This is good because these are all major ways buyers will be able to pay.

How does the site handle delivery, shipping and returns? (Act)

The site shows the companies address, which is used to ship back returned purchases. Their return policy is that items must be returned within 7 days. The site specifically show the postage on shipping, so buyers can see exactly how much the transaction will cost them.

How does the site maintain customer service and support? (React)

The site displays a “contact us” section that customers can use to reach out to WeGotRecords. The section displays the company’s phone number, email address, and physical store address.

How useful is the site's special interface feature and arrangement of content? (Usability)

While the site offers some important characteristics, the site lacks web 2.0 type feature. It is a brochure type site that is very modern looking. It does allow customers to jump to important pages and categories, but it lacks web 2.0 functionality.

Describe how the site provides a utilitarian and hedonic shopping experience.

The site enables peace of mind by offering a return policy and ensuring customer satisfaction. WeGotRecords is in the business of making people feel good (through helping people find collectible music). The site appears to cover all major areas of retail: helping people find products, support, checkout, and returning merchandise. I believe this helps complete a satisfactory shopping experience.

What are some possible improvements or enhancements you would recommend in order to improve customer loyalty?

I would enhance the site to be more web 2.0 friendly. I would change the look and feel of the site. The current look and feel of the site gives the impression of dull and boring. Furthermore, there is too much text on some pages. I would redesign the site to be a lighter, in terms of content (i.e. text), and display more pictures.

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www.Gemm.com

What is the value proposition and business model for the site?

The business model is Business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer but strictly uses the virtual merchant model.

Who are their competitors?

Gemm’s biggest competitors appear to be eBay and Amazon. There are a variety of other small online stores but these two are the only others that have the ability to bring together so many buyers and sellers. The customer service and guarantees that are provided by Gemm also allow them to surpass the smaller retailers.

How does the website integrate with other channels? (NOTE: A channel can be a retail store, a catalog, direct mailing campaign, etc. )

Gemm is strictly online and always has been since 1994, there is no physical office or store. They do allow links to their page or other types of advertising in either online or print advertising but they do not appear to initiate this type of integration. If others would like to do this they have to contact Gemm directly and request to be an affiliate. Internally they offer sellers the ability to post banners ads that can display product information or current sales.

Who are the intended customers for the website?

The intended customers are a wide variety of music lovers, both buyers and sellers. They attract to multiple types of buyers including those that are impulsive, patient or analytical. Impulsive buyers can do a simple or filtered search and use the broad browse feature. There are a wide variety of filter settings including price range so patient buyers will also enjoy the site. In general, the site is very simple to use and understand so it appeals to users or varying computer knowledge whether they are looking to buy or sell.

How does the site market and advertise in order to attract consumer interest? (Attract)

Gemm does not appear to do much of their own marketing. It seems to be a well established online resource for buyers and sellers so not much is needed on their part. But for individual sellers, they have the ability to place banner ads with the Gemm website. If an individual or company does want to market on their own website or print publication they can request to become an affiliate. Overall Gemm has made it one of their missions to reduce the role of mass marketing, production and distribution so typical marketing techniques are not used by them. They want to make sure that all sellers, regardless of size, have an equal opportunity to sell their products.

How does the site attract different types of customers such as impulsive, patient and analytical buyers? (Attract)

Impulsive buyers will be interested with the list of Quick Picks shown right on the homepage of Gemm. There is also a list of the most popular artists on the homepage for quick browsing. Once on a product page, impulsive buyers might be enticed by the stock levels; because most items are hard to find, the standard stock level is usually only one.

While searching through lists of items or looking at product pages, the price is also clearly shown so patient buyers can compare. But shipping costs are not immediately shown. Product pages can be somewhat vague since they are posted by the sellers but analytical buyers do have the option of contacting the seller directly to ask needed questions. Gemm also guarantees all orders that they process where the money is forwarded to the seller. This is a service strictly to protect the buyers and should appeal to all customers if they choose to purchase items in that way.

What types of tools and features does the site provide to enhance customer experience? Consider how the site applies web 2.0 tools and personalization. (Interact)

One key feature is that each sellers overall performance rating and feedback are clearly listed on each product page. It also shows estimated ship time. Users can also create an account for quicker checkout and to generate their own personalized My Want List. Their account also keeps track of all current and previous transactions.

How does the site process order placement and payment? (Act)

The customer first places item/s in their shopping cart. They can then review their shopping cart items and remove them, move them to their wish list or proceed to checkout. Immediately upon starting the checkout process, the customer must login or create an account.

Many forms of payment are accepted including most major credit cards, GemmPay, PayPal, checks and money orders. Typically payments are made directly to the seller but the customer can use GemmPay. In this instance, Gemm will forward the payment to the seller and act as a middle-man only to protect the buyers purchase. If any problems arise with the product, Gemm will fully refund the buyer including all shipping costs.

How does the site handle delivery, shipping and returns? (Act)

How does the site handle delivery, shipping and returns? (Act) All products are sent directly from the sellers and most ship within 48 hours. Sellers have the ability to sign up for Gemm’s notification system which emails buyers directly to let them know about the status of their order. For purchases made directly with a seller, the buyer has to contact them to discuss returns; Gemm does not get involved in those transactions.

How does the site maintain customer service and support? (React)

Gemm is available 24/7 for customer support. There are many email addresses listed for a variety of issues including general customer service, general seller problems or technical issues. They also list a PO Box, toll free phone number, fax number and phone number specifically for those overseas. Self-help sections are easy to find for interested buyers and sellers. By logging in, buyers can also receive language translation and currency exchange rates.

How useful is the site's special interface feature and arrangement of content? (Usability)

Overall this site is very simple to use. It’s easy to learn and remember what steps are needed for a desired task. If for any reason something is forgotten, the buyer and seller self-help sections are very user friendly. A novice computer user can easily browse and purchase from the site. Product pages are clean and only list the essential information. Though while browsing through lists of products, it is not always easily distinguishable as to where you are.

Describe how the site provides a utilitarian and hedonic shopping experience.

This site is mostly directed toward a utilitarian shopping experience. Though users can easily browse products they still need to have an idea of the artists they are interested in. There are a variety of search features so buyers can narrow down the exact items they are interested in and then compare from that point if needed.

What are some possible improvements or enhancements you would recommend in order to improve customer loyalty?

The biggest improvement to the site would be to make it more visually appealing. Although it claims to be one of the largest marketplaces for music, the site looks very novice. By improving the look of the site and requiring seller to post some type of related product picture, they could appeal to individuals browsing music for pleasure. Another way to achieve that is to have a search by genre rather than just by artist or seller.

Another improvement would be to show page placement at the top of the webpage when the user is browsing search results that span multiple pages. When doing a general search, bread crumbs may also be a good feature so customers can return to other pages easily.

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ebay.com

What is the value proposition and business model for the site?

Value Proposition

Business Models

Intermediary:
Ebay uses an Intermediary business model. It is a platform which brings third parties together to buy and sell goods. Ebay does not directly sell any of the products listed on the site.

Advertising:
While the majority of Ebay’s business is done as an intermediary, it also sells ad space on its web pages. The ads are targeted based on the category of product that the user is currently searching through on the site. For example, I navigated to Ebay Motors, the part of the site devoted to automobile sales. On this page I encountered a banner advertisement for Lexus.

Who are their competitors?

Any retail website can be considered a competitor of Ebay’s . For many online buyers, selection price, and brand recognition are important when choosing an online retailer. It is not necessarily the online auction that is what attracts them to ebay. Ebay tends to have a large selection of goods, low prices and wide user adoption.

Amazon.com is certainly a large competitor of ebay’s. Amazon.com not only sells new products but also allows anyone to sell new or used goods directly through its site just as ebay does. In this way, Amazon taps into the used goods market that Ebay is well known for.

Other intermediary models such as newegg.com and bizrate.com also allow buyers to quickly compare prices of multiple vendors of a specific product, just like ebay. While these are not retailers or auction sites, they provide similar value for consumers looking to compare prices and find the best deal.

Ebay stands out as the clear front runner in the online auction business. Even while other smaller auction sites such as onlineauction.com and ubids.com maintain a presence, these sites struggle to attract a critical mass to gain wide user adoption. In 2007 yahoo auctions shutdown their auction site in the US and Canada and endorsed ebay as the preferred auction site. Such a large endorsement demonstrates the size of ebay’s control on the market. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_Auctions)

How does the website integrate with other channels? (NOTE: A channel can be a retail store, a catalog, direct mailing campaign, etc. )

While Ebay brings many bricks and mortar businesses to the web, its business model is solely focused on the web. Third party businesses have started “I sold it on ebay” storefronts which specialize in assisting people in listing their goods on ebay. These stores are not directly affiliated with ebay.

Who are the intended customers for the website?

Ebay’s Meg Whitman states that Ebay’s target audience are “Average Americans”. While this is a very broad and general audience, it is quite true. Ebay sells almost anything you can imagine in the way of consumer products. This broad range of offerings attracts consumers with just about any interest. Whitman also notes that since Ebay is an online presence it is subjected to the consumers’ level of adoption of the internet and furthermore their willingness to purchase online.

Because Ebay tends to be a thrifty choice for online consumers, the “average” American title fits. The consumer must be educated and wealthy enough to have internet access and able to operate a computer. However, higher end consumers may find the Ebay experience inefficient and time consuming. (http://www.businessweek.com/bw50/content/mar2003/a3826090.htm)

How does the site market and advertise in order to attract consumer interest? (Attract)

How does the site attract different types of customers such as impulsive, patient and analytical buyers? (Attract)

Patient

Ebay provides sellers with the option to auction of items which may last several days. During that time buyers can put in their lowest bid for the product and wait and see if any other buyer comes along to offer a highest price. A patient buyer stands to gain from this sort of selling method in that they can sometimes buy a product at a lower price if no one else comes along and places a bid. This process weeds out the more impulsive buyers who may not being willing to wait a few days to secure a price for a product.

Impulsive

For those buyers who cannot wait the length of an auction to buy a product, Ebay offers the “Buy it Now” option. While most products do have an auction time limit and starting bid set, a buyer may choose to provide a “Buy it Now” link which also has a “Buy it Now” price. This price is usually higher and the auction bid price, however a more impulsive buyer may choose this method to purchase the price immediately and forego the wait associated with a possible lower price.

Analytical

For the analytical buyer, Ebay does not provide much in the way of direct research and information. However, Ebay does work to provide links to third party information. For example, when on the ebay motors site, there are links and even direct information from Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com) which provides pricing and appraisal information on used and new cars. There are also discussion forums and interest groups which span a wide range of topics where users can share information and ask questions about products.

What types of tools and features does the site provide to enhance customer experience? Consider how the site applies web 2.0 tools and personalization. (Interact)

While the power of ebay is derived from the size of its customer and seller base ( a key characteristic of Web 2.0), Ebay does not focus its site’s architecture on Web 2.0 technologies. However, the site does do a good job of keeping track of user behavior. In order to buy or sell on ebay, a user must create an account. Once logged in, a buyer’s behavior is logged. The site will keep track of items that you recently viewed or purchased in case you want to go back later an view the item again. The site allows a user to keep track and watch auctions that are of interest. As time goes on a buyer can watch the bidding progress of an auction and place a bid if necessary.

For sellers, the site has a strong seller-management system which streamlines the listing and customer management process. Sellers can view items that are currently listed for sale, items that sold, and items that did not sell. Payment process throught Ebay’s subsidiary PayPal, makes it easy for sellers to accept payment for the products that they have sold.

As mentioned earlier, Ebay does have some online user groups and discussion forums which do fall into the category of Web 2.0 but are not at the forefront of the Ebay experience. However, the rating and seller feedback is crucial to the buying process for ebay buyers. Each time a buyer purchases an item from a seller, they can leave feedback as to the experience they had with the seller. They can leave comments and provide a rating . If the seller was unresponsive, slow to ship the product, or never shipped the product purchased a buyer can post this information for other users to see. This rating system is highly valued and used by buyers to decide which sellers to buy from. If a seller has a low user rating and negative feedback, a buyer will be less inclined to buy from that seller. This rating system helps build trust in the ebay buying process and in Ebay in general as users feel they have more control over their experience.

How does the site process order placement and payment? (Act)

Most sellers on ebay accept payment through PayPal, a payment processing subsidiary of Ebay. Paypal requires that buyers create an account and register payment (credit card or bank account) information so that they may make payments.

How does the site handle delivery, shipping and returns? (Act)

While ebay does provide an interface for sellers to list preferred shipping methods for the customer to choose from, the shipping and delivery is left up to the seller’s discretion. However, if an item is not received via any form of shipping, a buyer does have the right to file a complaint with ebay in which case ebay can determine the necessary course of action to take with the seller.

How does the site maintain customer service and support? (React)

Ebay’s customer service is focused on claims processing, seller fees and transaction issues. Ebay is responsible for ensuring that paid listings are listed in a timely manner and that a paid listing is actually listed. Ebay customer service also is responsible for dispute resolution between buyers and sellers in some but not all cases.

After researching ebay’s customer service and “contact us” pages, I was unable to locate any phone numbers quickly to contact a human being via the telephone. Even for serious issues like possible account theft, a link opened up a chat box. For many issues I noticed that a chat format for speaking with a customer service rep was the preferred method on the ebay site.

How useful is the site's special interface feature and arrangement of content? (Usability)

I found ebay’s site very easy to navigate and find what I am looking for. The search box is first a foremost on the ebay home page. Most users who go to ebay can quickly find what they are looking for by entering a few keywords in a search box. Or, on the left and top of the homepage are the most common categories of products listed on ebay.

Once you have begun searching and browsing on ebay, they use a faceted menu on the left to subdivide the various categories of products which pertain to the items that are currently being viewed.

However, for users who are not sure exactly what they are looking for they may find the site to be a little cluttered in terms of navigation. If a user clicks on a category and does not enter a search term, they are immediately brought to another page with even more categories to choose from. The list of categories actually takes up the entire page.

Describe how the site provides a utilitarian and hedonic shopping experience.

Utilitarian

The site provides a search box as the point of entry on the site. For those who know exactly what they are looking for when they enter the site, the search box is available for them to pinpoint the item they are looking for immediately.

Hedonic

For the more casual ebay user who may just be looking around for anything for fun or just browsing, ebay provides a lot of information on item specials and special deals of the day. A good amount of real estate on the site is devoted to promotions and category browsing.

What are some possible improvements or enhancements you would recommend in order to improve customer loyalty?

In terms of usability, I feel that ebay could simplify their pages a little and have less clutter. For example, I start at the homepage and click a category “Business and Industrial”. I am then brought to a page that is everything “business and industrial” I feel as though the subcategories that are displayed at the top of the page are relevant to the category. However half way down the page, they show a large box that spans the page with keyword searches and pictures of possible items for the category. For such a broad category as “Business and Industrial” chances are that this large box taking up lots of real estate does not contain a picture or keyword of what I might be looking for. It seems to be a waste of space and I find that this is prevalent throughout the browsing pages of the site.

Also, as I mentioned, the customer service seemed to be lacking in that I could not find telephone contact information even for important security issues like account theft. It seems that trust is an important element of customer loyalty and without being able to speak directly with a customer service representative about such issues, it is hard to believe that ebay is completely dedicated to site security and user protection.

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