1.1 Competitive rivalry within an industry – medium level B2C and other e-commerce models are experiencing dramatic growths in recent years because of improving technology and being easier to set up that other business models. Internal competition in the B2C industry is amplified by large competitor websites, examples being Taobao Mall. Expected that many B2C companies will direct their focus towards gaining the attention of new customers. This would be done instead of taking their competitors’ market share via heavy marketing efforts. To an extent this means that the direct fierce competition among the existing parties will not be as high as it was. Differentiation of the B2C business model. In the growth stage of the B2C industry, different …show more content…
The advantage falls to the that has wider options or less to lose if the relationship was to finish. The input contributed by the suppliers is not unjustified to the B2C platforms. The majority of potential customers who visit the B2C website are looking for products that have comparable functions and could not name specific brands for the product this negates the necessity for the input by suppliers; the second reason is that there is no danger of high fees when changing to other product suppliers. This is because the products are not sold in a physical …show more content…
To open a B2C website, the capital requirements are relatively low. Depending on the volume of customers a website could be large or small scale, it could be the case that a large scale B2C website started off small due to a relatively low customer volume during its early years. A large number of existing successful C2C websites could enter the B2C market by using their current customer base that could lead to a popular new B2C offshoot website. The distribution channel is not exclusive to the existing players in the market. Those channels are gateways for companies that wish to sell their products to their clients or customers. It is possible for both B2C and B2B to sell through a single or multiple of channels. For the B2C websites, the internet would be the single biggest distribution channel and it would not be exclusive for the the B2C websites . Furthermore, the logistic service is open for all B2C companies and C2C
The growth of online business has grown enormously over the years. Cliptomania is a family operated and owned small e-business that primarily sells clip on earrings (Brown, DeHayes, Hoffer, Martin, & Perkins, 2012, p. 308). Cliptomania early developments were very modest, and as such the company experienced copious strategic dilemmas. An initial strategic dilemma that the company encountered when establishing and building their new e-business undertaking was to create a website for the business operations and essentially to have it fully operable. The owners, Jim and Candy elected to hire a vendor to host the website and additionally utilize the IT systems resources of the vendor to sustain their business. At the very beginning they exploited the offerings of the Yahoo Store. However, continuing down this avenue of using the services of the Yahoo Store inevitably became too costly. By using the services and business offerings of a vendor made it convenient and effortless for Jim and Candy to start their e-business store. Unfortunately the couple did not have much in the way of professional help, and so they had to create and put together the website by themselves. Additionally they also had to deal with establishing their online credibility as many customers preferred to call in their orders just to talk with a real person before being comfortable enough to place their orders via the webpage.
Rivalry among established firms is fierce. There are several factors that illustrate this: established market players (6.1). The product is highly standardized and the switching costs of the customers are low. Players are aggressive (6.2)
In this wholesale retail industry, the major key players are Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, and Target. Other e-commerce businesses like Amazon are also considered the rivals of Costco and other primarily brick-and-mortar businesses. The level of rivalry among existing players is high due to many reasons. First of all, it is easy for the customers to switch their memberships if they are unsatisfied with the company’s products or services. Since the annual fee of membership at Sam’s Club is ten dollars lower than that of Costco, Costco customers can switch their membership to Sam’s Club anytime they want. Many wholesale retailers have similar items, which means that there are no product differentiations among the companies. In addition to that,
Currently majority revenue is generated by store sales but online sales from the stores’ websites are increasing. With US dollar getting weaker, international sales from these US based websites are increasing too. This creates significant positive outlook for the large incumbent players but also acts as a significant barrier of entry for new players.
The industry has loyal customers with broad customer base that lowers the collective bargaining power of buyers to medium. The switching cost is very low and thus the customers can turn to a service provider who provide faster and innovative service but this is overcome by customized services and integrating into their customer supply chain.
One of the main costs is to manufacture their products. A major reason the companies are moving manufacturing plants to Asia and South America is to lower manufacturing cost. This will lower the cost for the customer and keep each company competitive and allow them to keep a high margin. Another cost is the inventory cost for each company. Each company needs major capital to store their broad catalog of products. This is especially true for Fastenal because one of their niches is time of delivery. Since Fastenal has more distribution plants we as a company are able to get a customer an order in a shorter period of time. The problem for both companies is since the catalog is so broad many products end up staying in inventory for too long raising inventory costs. Also another cost is product development and management. Each company has many products that need to be developed and the customer seems to always want something else. Both companies spend capital to satisfy their customer’s product needs and each company needs to manage product
Business models are possibly the most discussed and least understood facet of the web. Brokerage models, such as Priceline.com are market makers: they bring buyers and sellers together to facilitate transactions. Priceline.com leads the way to a unique new type of e-commerce known as a "demand collection system". Priceline.com is the world's first online buying service through which consumers name the price they're willing to pay. Leveraging the unique attributes of the Internet, Priceline.com finds sellers willing to meet buyers' needs and price.
One interesting aspect of B2C marketing, however, is that many companies have realized the importance of loyalty. Amazon, Best Buy, and Staples combine merchandising and education to keep customers coming back. Add great customer service, and you get a winning combination.
In summary, “Internet activities are not most significant in competition, such as informing customers, processing transactions, and procuring inputs”. (Porter, 2001) significant corporate assets--skilled employees, proprietary product, and efficient logistical systems – these factors are the most important to keep competitive advantages. In fact, it is foreseeable that the Internet's evolution will come up in the future involve a shift “in thinking from e-business to business, from e-strategy to strategy”. (Porter, 2001)Only by integrating the Internet into overall strategy will this powerful new technology become an equally powerful force for competitive advantage.
E-marketing is a fast growing and rapid platform for any form of business. EBay has been highly successful over recent years and this is a perfect example of an online business. The internal and external environments are constantly changing and in order to keep up with these changes, businesses and organisations must make relevant changes, and generate new strategies to keep up with contemporary developments in e-marketing and to also maintain their position in their market in comparison to their competitors.
Companies doing business on the Web must be certain of their ability to manage the liabilities that can emerge as a result of today's online business environment. This environment includes laws and ethical factors that are sometimes different from those in the brick and mortar setting. The online environment often forms a network of customers who can have considerable levels of communication with each other. Online businesses that break the law or violate ethical standards, therefore, can face swift and harsh reactions from customers and other stakeholders who will quickly learn of the businesses' unscrupulous online behaviors. Online customers also have much more interactive and complex relationships with online businesses than they do with traditional companies. This is because Internet technologies enable companies to build Web sites that can be customized to meet the specific needs of their B2B or B2C customers (Schneider, 2004). Online businesses can use this property of the online environment to manage the legal and ethical requirements of both business and consumer clientele.
The considerable mixed bag of projects offered by colleges makes it troublesome for a man to settle on the right college and the right course of study. In any case, what would it be a good idea for you to hold up under as a primary concern when picking a future degree course? Essentially, the decision of degree ought to rely on upon individual gifts, abilities and hobbies. Also, the course of study ought to be adapted towards the viable requests of organizations or business parts. This is the main route in which a graduate can begin a vocation both rapidly and effectively and keep away from the stun when entering the employment market.
Zott, C. et al (2010) «The business model: theoretical roots, recent developments, and future research», Working Paper 862, June 2010, Navarra: IESE Business School – University of Navarra.
The are two basic categories of business conducted over the internet, Business-to-Customer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B), and they share one common key aspect - use of Internet technologies to manage all aspects of the business.
E- Commerce is a phenomena that is emerging rapidly between businesses all over the world, and it has affected the businesses at all sizes in many aspects.