INTRODUCTION

Doors were opened for information technology and other allied opportunities related after the
invention of the internet. The establishment of the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) in the early 1970s
brought about growth in e-commerce (Khattak, Sultan and Khan, 2012). The use of EFT applications
was limited to just financial companies, large businesses as well as some establishments and firms.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) was established in the late 1970s to minimize the obstacles of
EFT. The partaking group of businesses was expanded by EDI, from services, retailers,
manufacturer, etc., which were later called Inter Organizational System (IOS). An IOS permits the
unified movement of information between organizations to reach a required supply chain
management system that would allow successful organizations to grow. Furthermore, electronic
commerce began the inclusion of enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs), data mining, and
data warehousing from the 1990s onwards (Agbeyegbe, 2022).

An online marketplace is said to be a type of e-commerce website where product, service and
information is provided by multiple third parties for the consumption of customers or visitors (Humaizi,
et al., 2020). In an online marketplace, consumer relations are carried out by the marketplace
operative and then delivered and fulfilled by the partnering retailers or wholesalers. These e-
commerce websites allow clients to register and sell single to many items and they get their fee after
the item has been sold. Usually, because marketplaces cumulate products and services from a wide
range of service providers, choice is usually wider, and availability is higher than in other online retail
stores that are vendor-specific (Kawa and Wałęsiak, 2019). There have been more online
marketplaces since 2014. Some online marketplaces have a wide collection of products that
customers are generally interested in. These marketplaces provide for almost all the needs of the
consumers, others are consumer specific and provide only for a particular section (Chaffey, et al.,
2009).

Ecommerce has over the years developed since CompuServe was launched in 1969. Propelled by
the changes that exist because of technology and the global conditions, ecommerce is growing and
shows no sign of slowing down. Retail sales in online stores are anticipated to reach 22% of global
retail sales by the year 2023, compared to 14.1% in the year 2019. It is estimated that by the year
2024, digital wallets will account for over half of total ecommerce payment capacities (Tokase and
Mujmule, 2021). According to emarketer, in the year 2022, worldwide retail ecommerce sales will go
beyond $5 trillion for the first time, accounting for more than one-fifth the total retail sales and by the
year 2025, total expenditure will go beyond $7 trillion, notwithstanding the slow growth. E-Commerce
whose customers may be Personal Computer users or Business computer users transacts as
business to business, business to consumer or online auctions, consumer to consumer. It can be
categorized is based on following two criteria:

i. Goods and services are sold by who orders.

ii. Who sold those goods and services and the means of transactions.

Table 1: e-Commerce Classification

S/ Model Name Full Form Example
No.
1 B2B Business to Business Model Alibaba, Builtwith
2 B2C Business to Consumer Model Wal-Mart, e-bay
3 C2B Consumer to Business Model Bazee.com Fotolia
4 C2C Consumer to Consumer Model OLX, quikr

Business to Business Model

This model is based on transactions between businesses, just like a product manufacturer and a
wholesaler; it is a large form of e-commerce model and it recognizes buyers and sellers as business
entities and discourages individual consumer participation.

Business to Consumer Model

This model encompasses business and consumers participation. Business sell products to individual
customers by creating special catalog based websites or applications (typical online purchasing sites
or software) and the consumer search for needed products or services, thus engaging in business
transactions. Examples of such platforms are amazon, flipcart, myntra, etc.

Consumer to Business Model

This model allows the consumer to request specific needs – products or services, from the
manufacturer or wholesaler. Examples include Bazee.com and Fotolia.

Consumer to Consumer
This model allows the online transaction of goods or services between two consumers. A consumer
posts an item for sale and another consumer bids to purchase it, thus engaging in an active
transaction. Examples are OLX.com and quikr.com
E-commerce as introduced by Goltz and Wilkins (1969) was aimed at enhancing business
transactions using dial up connection technology. The means of this practice has evolved overtime
especially with the emergence of the internet and other viable channels of business transactions.
Table 2 buttresses this evolutionary trend.

Table 2: E-commerce evolution

YEAR EVOLUTION OF E-COMMERCE
1969 CompuServe, the first e-Commerce company is founded by Dr John R. Goltz and Jerey Wilkins by using
a dial-up connection. This is the first time e-Commerce was introduced.

1979 Michael Aldrich (also considered as the founder or inventor of eCommerce) invented electronic
shopping. This was achieved by connecting a transaction-processing system via telephone link to a
changed TV. That was done for secure data transmission.
1982 Continued technology development, especially in electronics, has led to Boston Computer Exchange
launching its first eCommerce platforms.
1992 Charles M. Stack launched Book Stacks Unlimited as an online.

1994 In October 1994, Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark co-created Netscape Navigator as a web browsing
tool, and formally announced its release.

1995 In 1995 Jeff Bezos launched Amazon mainly as a book selling ecommerce site. Pierre Omidyar launched
AuctionWeb that same year which would later become what we know as eBay today.

1998 PayPal launches as ecommerce payment system. Founders Max Levhin, Peter Thiel, Like Nosek and
Ken Howery, In late 1998, PayPal made its Performa as a money transfer tool on the e-commerce stage.

1999 Alibaba Online launched as an online marketplace in 1999 with funding in excess of $25 million.

2000 In 2000 Google Adwords was launched as a way for e-commerce companies to advertise to users using
the Google search tool.
2005 Amazon introduces membership on Amazon Prime. Customers to get free shipping for an annual fee.

2008 Airbnb was founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia.

2009 Square was created by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey in 2009. Bookstore in 1992-three full years
before the launch of Amazon by Jeff Bezos. In 2009, Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper co-founded
BigCommerce and introduced it as a 100 per cent bootstrapped storefront ecommerce site that year.
2011 Google Wallet was launched as a digital method of payment. Facebook started to roll out early
advertising opportunities via sponsored stories to Business Page owners. Stripe payment processing
company launched.
2014 Apple introduced Apple Pay as a mobile payment and digital wallet tool which allowed users to pay with
an Apple device for products or services. Jet.com was founded in 2014.

2017 Instagram Shopping was launched with ecommerce partner BigCommerce in 2017.
For analysis, the AirBnb eCommerce platform has been utilised. More information on the company
will be included in this paper, along with an analysis of its merits as a case study for online business
settings. After evaluating potential data sources, the best analytical strategies are evaluated.

The rationale for the selection of the organisation

Airbnb Inc. is an American company that functions as an online marketplace for lodging, mainly
homestays for vacation rentals, and tourism activities (Wikipedia, 2022). With their base in San
Francisco, California, Airbnb which can be accessed via its website or mobile applications across
various operating systems, lists properties owned by private citizens on its platform and then earns
commission from the use of these facilities by travellers, and other users. The firm was founded by
Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia in 2008 and has evolved to 191 countries
housing over six million locations and providing short-term accommodation facilities t over 300 million
tourists (Airbnb, 2018). Airbnb, shortened from AirBedandBreakfast.com (Oskam and Boswijk 2015),
was formed to encourage local contents especially for home owners with spare rooms or homes, thus
providing reassurances to the owners of payment for the short-let accommodation. This stance
ingrained the business ideology of making money from idle or spare accommodation for local home
owners, thus gaining acceptance and encouraged geometric business growth.

Because Airbnb has unquestionably had one of the most substantial expansions within the worldwide
tourism business since its establishment, it was chosen for this article. Despite only being around for
about ten years, Airbnb has been able to revolutionise the long-standing peer-to-peer lodging practise
with a new technology-driven distribution platform. The business has given a timely invention full rein,
and it has taken off quicker than almost everyone anticipated (Guttentag, 2015). According to Zervas,
Proserpio, and Byers (2017), Airbnb's rapid growth has influenced several cultural norms involving
tourism lodging, created a plethora of small and medium-sized business owners in the hospitality
industry, and made policy a significant concern in major cities throughout the world (Guttentag, 2017).
Despite the fact that there are other businesses involved in peer-to-peer short-term rentals, most
people would say that Airbnb is the most significant of its kind and that it has become a substantial
aspect of obtaining, providing, or sharing access to products and services. As a result, academic
studies on peer-to-peer short-term rentals frequently focus specifically on Airbnb, and this field of
study has expanded significantly in recent years (Guttentag, 2019).

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 Online

Figure 2 Showing The Number of Airbnb Article Published (Source: Guttentag, 2019)

Major hotel companies Hilton ($24.1 billion market capitalization), Marriot ($18.7 billion), Starwood
($12.7 billion), and Windham ($9 billion) are all significantly less valuable than Airbnb ($25 billion)
(Wikipedia, 2022). However, that in no way implies that hotels are afraid of the newest housing and
accommodation ventures. In comparison to hotels, which have a wide range of products and offer
elaborate services to their visitors, Airbnb offers less amenities and services. Budget, economy, mid-
price, upmarket, and luxury are the five normal price ranges in the industry that do not apply to Airbnb
because its cost is so much less than that of hotels. Conference and meeting rooms, which are
traditional for hotels, are not available on Airbnb. The effects of Airbnb will be less noticeable on chain
hotels with more extensive marketing.

Evaluation of Potential Data Sources

Renowned journalists like Jade Moyano and Brad Stone have written articles on Airbnb as well as
publishers like Medium, Forbes and Bloomberg. The digital footprints of Airbnb can easily be traced
and accessed from their website www.airbnb.com to their newsroom www.news.airbnb.com. The
Wall Street Journal also made a report about an Airbnb executive resigning in 2019 due to concerns
about a lack of transparency around practices of sharing user data with the government of China. As
with all hospitality businesses operating in China, Airbnb shares information such as phone numbers
and email addresses with the Chinese government when a user books a rental. This includes both
Chinese citizens and foreign visitors (Li, J. and Biljecki, F. 2019). Again, in November 2021, Axios
another website reported that Airbnb had hosted rentals on lands owned by the Xinjiang Production
and Construction Corps, a Chinese state owned paramilitary entity sanctioned under the Global
Magnitsky Act for involvement in the Uyghur genocide.

Airbnb features a review system in which guests and hosts can rate each other after a stay. Hosts
and guests are unable to see reviews until both have submitted a review or until the window to review
has closed, a system that aims to improve accuracy and objectivity by removing fears that users will
receive a negative review in retaliation if they write one (Wikipedia, 2022). However, the truthfulness
and impartiality of reviews may be adversely affected by concerns of future stays because
prospective hosts may refuse to host a user who generally leaves negative reviews. The company's
policy requires users to forego anonymity, which may also detract from users' willingness to leave
negative reviews which may damage the objectivity of the review system (Pawlicz and Prentice,
2021).

Analytical approaches

The PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) analysis
enhances the objectivity of a policy with respect to its perception among the desired audience. The
political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental influences, whether internal or
external, of market and operational factors have severe impacts on a company's strategic orientation
(Ortiz, 2010). Being a worldwide company, Airbnb keeps an eye on the market and its customers in
order to make changes that will benefit their business. External factors jeopardize external
components that cannot be controlled but can be managed through certain tactics. Competition,
socioeconomics, ethics, politics, technology, external costs and the availability of non-renewable
goods are examples of external influences. External influences are typically unpredictable yet
adaptable, thus the business must change to survive (Garg, 2020).

The political influence of government policies on Airbnb especially as it affects housing taxation has
created a need for concern in the cities, states and countries of their operations. The firm’s business
model conflicts with many state housing laws and regulations. For example, in many locations of the
firm’s existence, the state’s policy mandates home owners who engage in home renting services to
reside in the homes. However, Airbnb violates this policy by encouraging people to purchase
separate houses for Airbnb rental services outside their residential homes. This practice incurs
economic drains to the home owners and company as taxes must be paid to service the extra home
from both ends as against one if the regulations were strictly adhered to. The total negligence of
these laws or regulations can incur serious legal actions against the firm if not handled properly.
Airbnb indulges itself in enhancing customers’ culture and promoting viable societies in the locations
of their business operations. In its service to over 34,000 cities in its 191 countries of business
existence, the firm encourages cultural diversity and respect for people’s belief and social systems as
well as uses social media platforms to promote this stance. In the "Help" and "Hosting" discussion
forums at Airbnb, hosts and tenants share their experiences and ask questions to further enhance
societal integration (Falak Naz, 2021).

Technology has aided the growth, business and individual integration of Airbnb. The website and
mobile apps allow visitors and tourists make reservations and get settled without basic knowledge of
the community they will dwell. The system allows the use of reviews and ratings to garner information
on business prospects, which leaves the firm at the mercy of users to gain wide acceptance. A poor
perspective and unfavorable reviews can harm the firm’s business reputation. The use of fully
automated mechanisms in its operations via technology, Airbnb has promoted positive connections
between hosts and tenants as well as validates users’ information on their system by employing a
messaging system. Without technology, Airbnb would be unable to carry out its fundamental
functions, such as booking, cancellation, and payment verification processes.

The Airbnb home sharing model is a good option for hosts, guests and the environment. It helps the
participants save money, energy, and waste by indulging unknowingly the firm’s environmentally
friendly practices. The firm’s shared economy policy is built on using resources already available and
traveling in a more environmentally friendly and kind manner (Airbnb, 2019).

VALUE ANALYSIS

An analytical approach called the value chain analysis helps in finding business operations that can
add value and give the worldwide platform for rentals and experiences a competitive edge. Peer-to-
peer listings of lodging, activities, and experiences are among the company's core services. Due to its
operation being entirely online, Airbnb's inbound logistics for its basic services only take a few
minutes. It allows hosts to list their properties and experience services on its website and does not
incur additional costs for the inbound logistics of any new addition to its platform. Additionally, a
variety of physical resources are utilized by the international hospitality service brokerage firm
(Johnson and Neuhofer, 2017).

Recent S-D logic discourses have been linked to Airbnb, as it has been argued that the firm offers a
unique value proposition because it not only facilitates face-to-face interactions with hosts but also
provides physical operand resources, such as the host's residence and the surrounding area, which,
when incorporated by actors, lay the groundwork for ensuing value co-creation (Guttentag, 2015).

DIGITAL MARKETPLACE MAP (DMM)

This tool's purpose is to assist in evaluating the company's internet presence and how it should
interact with its host and tourist client base. Prices on Airbnb are matched to the kind of
accommodations being offered by users to potential guests based on their needs (Camilleri and
Neuhofer, 2017). Because of the price point's ability to create income that can significantly boost the
financial return on real estate holdings, consumers are initially drawn to Airbnb and go on to offer
lodging. Because private homes and services offer greater flexibility and more authentic tourism
experiences, as well as a stronger sense of engagement and community, than public
accommodations, Airbnb gives consumers who host accommodation greater opportunities to justify
their price levels according to the experiential aspects of their value propositions (Falak Naz, 2021). A
study looked at how much Airbnb hosts used revenue management techniques and strategically
changed prices to promote their business operations.

CHANNEL STRUCTURES ANALYSIS

The channel structure map analyzes the online and offline service delivery. The services provided by
Airbnb are offered both online and offline. This analysis backs up the idea that Airbnb needs to
concentrate on both online and offline service aspects at once (Ju, et al., 2019). The study also
highlights the three-way aspect of peer-to-peer e-commerce, which requires the interaction of three
important stakeholders, namely platform/service enablers, service providers (such as hosts), and
consumers (Andreassen et al., 2018). As a result, a three-way relationship between the platform,
hosts, and guests forms the Airbnb service system.

Discontinuers frequently used adjectives like "horrible," "poor," "appalling," "bad," "awful," "worst," and
"worst" to characterize customer service issues. They discussed a variety of service issues they had,
as well as their ultimately fruitless interactions with Airbnb's customer care. Customers' view that the
process of lodging is non-standardized, inconveniencing, and non-guaranteed, hence categorized as
"no service delivery guarantees." Compared to hotels, staying in an Airbnb requires more work due to
the unstandardized service flow that deals with issues including difficult check-in and check-out
procedures, host cancellations, and denied reservation requests (Huang, Coghlan and Jin, 2020).
Airbnb has responded to these claims by implementing policies that support their hosts in this
direction as well as an active marketing and lobbying strategy that highlights Airbnb's benefits,
including its positive economic impact, the expansion of tourism to nearby neighborhoods, and the
ability to supplement the income of residents who do not hold traditional employment.

Conclusion

The many global platforms since 1969, the beginning of ecommerce's expansion, have been
highlighted in this paper along with an outline of the history of the industry. Airbnb was chosen as a
case study for digital business settings because of its success in connecting hosts and guests, as
well as the creation of a website that makes it simple for visitors to book a room without having to
physically visit the property first. Recent years have seen the emergence of networked hospitality
enterprises, which, while largely motivated by financial gains, have brought disruptive improvements
to the lodging market and to how tourists perceive their stay in a location. The development of
network platforms, which allowed users to share unused commodities while also allowing for financial
transactions, made these advancements viable. Additional research using DMM, channel structures
analysis, Value Chain Network, and PESTLE approaches aided in the evaluation of Airbnb with the
pertinent internal and external aspects needed to to increase the effectiveness of its operations. By
adopting self-regulatory methods, Airbnb and comparable businesses can help prevent negative
outcomes for future gains.
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