Week # 5 - B2B E-Commerce: selling and buying in private E-Markets

Chapter objectives:


Describe the B2B field.
Describe the major types of B2B models.
Discuss the characteristics of the sell-side marketplace, including auctions.
Describe the sell-side intermediary models.
Describe the characteristics of the buy-side marketplace and e-procurement.
Explain how reverse auctions work in B2B.
Describe B2B aggregation and group purchasing models.
Describe other procurement methods.
Explain how B2B administrative tasks can be automated.
Describe infrastructure and standards requirements for B2B.
Describe Web EDI, XML, and Web Services.


B2B E-commerce is the transactions between businesses conducted electronically over the internet, extranets and intranets or private networks.

The basic typs of B2B transactions are:
Sell Side
Buy Side
Exchanges
Supply chain improvements and collaborative commerce.

Managerial issue : Can we justify the cost of B2B applications ?
Although the implementation of B2B applications can be costly, such as the use of EDI or XML – it is well justified to do so due to the many advantages of these applications. It improves communication between business, reduces costs of customer service, saves time to both sellers and buyers and allows mass transactions to be processed in a much more efficient way. The limitations are not as major as the benefits; the bottom line is that B2B applications reduces cycle time and costs, and increase productivity and efficiency, while opening windows of opportunity for collaboration between a vast number of businesses easily and effectively.

EDI & XML

EDI (As per Wikipedia).
An inter-company, application-to-application communication of data in standard format for business transactions. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a set of standards for structuring information that is to be electronically exchanged between and within businesses, organizations, government entities and other groups. The standards describe structures that emulate documents, for example purchase orders to automate purchasing. The term EDI is also used to refer to the implementation and operation of systems and processes for creating, transmitting, and receiving EDI documents.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) can be formally defined as 'The transfer of structured data, by agreed message standards, from one computer system to another without human intervention'. Most other definitions used are variations on this theme.
Despite being relatively unheralded, in this era of technologies such as XML web services, the Internet and the World Wide Web, EDI is still the data format used by the vast majority of electronic commerce transactions in the world.

XML - as per Wikipedia:
The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language.[1] It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own elements. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet,[2] and it is used both to encode documents and to serialize data.


7 C’s Analysis --------------- Dr. Phil.com www.drphil.com

Preface:

One of my favorite television shows is The Dr Phil show on CBS. Dr Philip Mc’Graw has been running his one-hour talk show on CBS for approximately 6 years now, after
Being “discovered” by Oprah Winfrey on her show. Since then, Dr Phil has captivated
Millions of viewers with his “tough love” approach and “get real” attitude, giving
Advice on various issues such as family matters, relationships, marriage, health, self matters and more.

As a loyal viewer of the Dr Phil show, I have subscribed to his newsletter, and often
Check out his website, that offers a lot of information – from shows & video’s summaries to psychological advice, and from virtual forums to an online store.

Below please find my analysis for the seven design elements of the customer interface.

The 7 C’s include: context, content, community, customization, communication, connection and commerce.

Context: it’s all about aesthetics, looks and feel.
It’s hard to miss that the major background color on the Dr Phil website is blue.
Blue is a color that represents trustworthiness. Dr Phil is all about trust, he would expect his viewers to trust his words and accept his advice - hence the blue background. The site itself has a lot of motion and movement in it, subtitles that change often and attract viewers by offering a glimpse of “what’s next” on the Dr Phil show.

Content: The site is easy to navigate through, offering 8 major titles; each one carries subcategories and issues. In addition there is a search engine that allows one to search information about a specific show, a topic or advice.
Photographs of Dr Phil himself, in a suit and a tie (again - radiating trust and
Confidence) along with information about upcoming shows and burning topics to be discussed. The colors are bold, the letters are big and easy to read, and the front page does not carry too much information – so viewers will not be overwhelmed or loose interest.
A link to the Dr Phil foundation is also provided at the bottom of the front page as well as links to self-exercises that allow viewers to test themselves in various areas – part of the Dr Phil “self help” approach.

Community: In addition to the offer to “be on the Dr Phil show” – The website offers an interactive forum that allows viewers to discuss topics from
Show it, as well as reply to others. There’s also an option to contact Dr Phil for advice, or just to express an opinion.

Customization: There is not a lot of customization on the Dr Phil website, however
Some personalization is implemented when subscribing to the newsletter, as well as if one wishes to participate in an online discussion forum; then you will need to
Log in and create a user name and password.
The same applies when shopping at the Dr Phil online store.

Communication:
One can contact Dr Phil by email or through an 800 number; the site offers an option of using your webcam to send Dr Phil a video. Various discussion boards
Are available for communicating on a vast number of topics discussed on the show. The type of communication on this site is mainly user to site communication.

Connection: The Dr Phil website mainly links viewers to the Dr Phil foundation, which is a non profit charity organization meant to help others. Donations are accepted online, and information about the foundation is available as well such as success stories, upcoming events etc’. There is very little advertising on the website, such as ads for Verizon.com but most ads link viewers to drug rehab centers, and other rehabilitation facilities throughout the US. Since Dr Phil offers relationship advices - the web site offers a link to a singles dating website as well.

Commerce: A link to the Dr Phil online store is available, selling mainly Dr Phil’s books but not only. Other products that are meant to show support of Dr Phil – are offered online, such as logo T-shirts and more. The online store offers a secured checkout system. Dr Phil’s online store is very basic, offering a shopping cart viewer, the option of updating your shopping cart and checking-out securely. The main function of the Dr Phil website is to give advice and attract viewers to watch the show rather then sell merchandise, therefore less attention is given to the store itself and more attention is given to the show itself.

Overall review – I feel that this website’s design and contents reach their goal effectively and efficiently; the goal is to provide advice to viewers and attract viewers to watch the show, rather than to “sell them” a physical product. The website is basically “selling” the Dr Phil show and it does so with great success. Only by browsing through the various online discussion boards – you can see how many viewers are daily involved and carry an opinion about topics discussed on the show. By that, it is only natural to conclude that the mission has been accomplished.

Week # 4 - Consumer behavior, Market research and advertising.

Chapter's objectives:


- Describe the factors that influence consumer behavior online.
- Understand the decision-making process of consumer purchasing online.
- Describe how companies are building one-to-one relationships with customers.
- Explain how personalization is accomplished online.
- Discuss the issues of e-loyalty and e-trust in EC.
- Describe consumer market research in EC.
- Describe Internet marketing in B2B, including organizational buyer behavior.
- Describe the objectives of Web advertising and its characteristics.
- Describe the major advertising methods used on the Web.
- Describe various online advertising strategies and types of promotions.
- Describe permission marketing, ad management, localization, and other advertising-related issues.
- Understand the role of intelligent agents in consumer issues and advertising applications.

Building trust & E-Loyalty

Trust and customer loyalty are critical factors in the success of an e-business.
Basically, a company needs to gain the clients trust in order to have him purchase through their website. How do businesses do that ?
One way is to affiliate your business with a well known, trustworthy, business.
For example :
http://www.travelmania.com/
Travelmania.com is an Israeli tourist services website. This company is affiliated with El-Al airlines which is the formal Israeli airline that has been existing for many years. It is also affiliated with the Israel ministry of tourism. Such affiliations on the home page of travelmania, as well as verification of a secured order system - make all the difference.

In addition, customer satisfaction is needed in order to build trust and loyalty.
Satisfaction can be increased by conducting a market research and understanding consumer bavior, these actions allow businesses to personalize their products and websites, and make a client feel like they know him.

The story of 1800flowers.com
The success of 1800flowers.com was impacted by Data Mining. Data mining is the process of obtaining information about clients through their browsing and online shopping history, it allows businesses to understand consumer behavior and conduct an accurate market research . it allows businesses to understand what their customers desire, and which products will be most economically profitable for the company. Data mining can be used to facilitate customer service by personalization ; letting the client know that the business knows him and knows what are his preferred lines of business.
By using Data mining - 1800flowers.com created a competitive advantage in a very competitive world.

Check This URL and see how 1800flowers.com uses personalization as a competitive advantage.
http://ww21.1800flowers.com/welcome.do?cm_mmc=tagged-_-na-_-na-_-na&bannerBeacon=true

Week # 3 - Retailing in Electronic Commerce: Products and Services

Chapter Objectives :


Describe electronic retailing (e-tailing) and its characteristics.
Define and describe the primary e-tailing business models.
Describe how online travel and tourism services operate and their impact on the industry.
Discuss the online employment market, including its participants, benefits, and limitations.
Describe online real estate services.
Discuss online stock-trading services.
Discuss cyberbanking and online personal finance.
Describe on-demand delivery by e-grocers.
Describe the delivery of digital products and online entertainment.
Discuss various e-tail consumer aids, including comparison-shopping aids.
Identify the critical success factors and failure avoidance tactics for direct online marketing and e-tailing.
Describe reintermediation, channel conflict, and personalization in e-tailing.
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Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/ takes E-tailing into the next level.
Have you ever shopped on Amazon.com or at least browsed through their website?
Not only it makes the shopping experience more enjoyable, it does a great job personalizing and offering all kinds of features that would definitely make a client want to shop there again;

Amazon offers a search engine enhanced by Google.com, it provides useful information about products, allows clients to read reviews and recommendations or submit their own recommendations for a specific product. Amazon also offers low prices as well as an amazing shipping and delivery system, a secure payment system and more.

PERSONALLY , I can say that I have shopped through Amazon.com multiple times, and
always with great satisfaction; I mainly shopped for books for myself and for my son,
and when returning to the website - I was greeted by my full name and offered
products that I might like to purchase - based on my history of purchases.
NOW, If that's not a good way to personalize - I don't know what is ~! :-)

Check this out ! :

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=sa_menu_gro5/104-0541457-3632714?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=16310101

Amazon offers groceries as well. On the lefthand side you can see baby products.
From personal experience, new moms don't have a lot of time to go shopping and especially in the winter time - it is just easier to order baby formula and diapers online instead of
having to bundle up a newborn and go to the store.

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Is Walmart really only for toothless people ??? ;-) (losers versus winners ! )

Companies such as Walmart are considered a Multichannel retailers as they offer merchandise both online and In physical stores, allowing clients to search online for what they need, and if desired – come to the store and touch and feel the goods. In addition to this advantage, Walmart can reach a wider range of customers, in very urban places or very rural ones – where physical Walmart stores are not available. The combination of a huge online selection of products with a physical store – makes companies such as Walmart the ultimate winners in retailing.

(so why is it that they don't offer a dental plan to their employees ?? wink wink ;-) )