MANAGING E-COMMERCE

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Case Study 1

1)

 eBay is a web-based marketplace that uses a single business model that brings
together buyers and sellers from all over the world. Because the initial model was not
comprehensive, the company would still suffer a loss in value, market share, and
reduced profit as a consequence of customers looking to the competition for
additional things and competitive evaluation methods to provide. Since the initial
model was not comprehensive, the company would lose value, market share, and
reduced profit.
 eBay is currently looking for new chances for growth, expansion, and commercial
initiatives so that it can become the most diverse entity in the world of online
commerce. eBay would be unable to competitive edge if it did not come up with a
proposal to overhaul the infrastructure of e-commerce. As a result, the projected
business model would appeal to a wider audience by giving a spread that goes beyond
the auction framework.
 eBay is placed in a very position of streamlining its strategic advantage as a result of
the threat of getting an excess of competitive auctions. This indicates that the
company's current business model is not sufficient to maintain the company's name as
the prosperous international auctioneering powerhouse of e-commerce. Although
eBay was the undisputed leader in the field of online auction retail, many competitors
offer the same goods at a lower price, which is typically a factor that is favourable to
customers who shop via the internet.
 eBay's present business model provides the company with a variety of options, which
derive from the development of strategic alliances, which have the potential to
transform the company into an oligopolistic approach to online retailing. In addition
to developing ties with other businesses and expanding into new markets, the
company would also enjoy the benefit of global growth expansion if it were to
achieve a stronger posture within the market. They place a significant amount of their
 financial reliance on PayPal as a source of revenue due to the fact that in order to
make purchases from eBay, you are required to have a PayPal account.
 eBay was founded on the principle of providing a globalised marketplace for
transactions between buyers and sellers. This system served as the fundamental
framework that connected prospective business owners and customers with the e-
commerce infrastructure.

2)

 Seller Fraud: eBay is facing fraud in the products that sellers are selling. They are
putting the products with low quality, high values items at very discounted rates and
shorter duration listings. To deal with these problems now, Handbags, footwear, and
jewellery are some of the categories of goods that can now be authenticated by eBay,
which previously did not offer this service. Sellers can pay for an authentication
service to boost their value to buyers, and it is also possible for customers to pay to
assure that their purchase would be refunded in the event that the product is found to
be fake. In addition, sellers are keeping their fingers crossed that the corporation
would step up its efforts to combat buyer fraud soon.
 Legal Challenges: In 2002, eBay decided to acquire PayPal, which at the time
accounted for 40 per cent of eBay's income. In contrast, in 2015 eBay decided to
outsource its back-end payment operations to the Dutch payments business Adyen.
Because of this, eBay was able to exert a larger amount of control over the checkout
process. Although PayPal will continue to be a payment option for eBay customers in
the same way that it is for customers of Amazon and the Chinese e-commerce giant
Alibaba, eBay will now be capable of charging seller fees that have traditionally been
accumulated by PayPal. This change is anticipated to add $2 billion in annual revenue
to eBay's business. 
 Revenue Growth: The primary challenge consists of maintaining strong revenue
growth. The income growth of eBay had slowed down in part due to the fact that the
smaller shops that used eBay were unable to deliver the volume of sales that eBay
required. As a direct consequence of this, eBay has moved its focus to professional
large-volume retailers operating on a greater scale. In addition, eBay had to contend
with its own brand. Because the website is so well-known for its role as an auction
house, it was originally challenging for eBay to build a new brand image that was
more comparable to Amazon's role as a website that sells virtually everything at a set
 price. However, eBay is trying to move in that direction, and with great success: it
now earns 70% of its revenue from traditional forms of online commerce.

3)

 The answer is yes due to the fact that they are the most successful auction site house.
A significant number of people can provide for themselves solely via the usage of
eBay, and an even larger number of people utilise the website to increase their
income. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, eBay consistently sees the greatest
traffic of any website on the entire Internet.
 The arrangement that eBay ought to think about considering assisting with avoiding
fake purchases is for eBay to act as a middle person between purchasers and sellers.
eBay could put rules in place stating that the purchaser is required to pay the amount
of the thing to eBay once the item has been shipped off to the purchaser, and the
payment will then be transferred to the dealer.
 eBay is trying to remain competitive despite the presence of rivals such as Amazon. It
is a response that is better suited to the tendencies of online shoppers who would
rather not wait around or bid on products and would rather acquire the thing
immediately.
 eBay might provide its customers with a choice between its retail and auction
platforms depending on the arrangement that best suits them. eBay unquestionably
needs to improve its services to compete with Amazon and Walmart. The culture of
shopping online has evolved; users are now more impatient, and when they require a
product, they feel an urgent need to purchase it immediately. There are not a lot of
other options available to compete with eBay, which is currently attempting to
reinvent itself as a "general" retailer that also provides auction services.

4)

eBay’s competitors are Amazon, Walmart, Flipkart, etc. The strategies that eBay follow are
as follows:

 eBay put 160 million dollars into the Indian online shopping marketplace known as
Paytm Mall. Paytm Mall utilises the Buy APIs provided by eBay to provide its more
than 100 million active users and 10 million registered merchants with access to a
 comprehensive collection of goods located all over the world. eBay continues to be
one of the most reputable online brands and a leader in e-commerce, despite the fact
that Amazon is the most powerful player in the online retail industry. eBay has made
significant efforts to offer services that compete with Amazon, such as its eBay Plus
programme in Germany, which operates in a manner that is equivalent to that of
Amazon Prime, and its Guaranteed Delivery programme, which ensures that 20
million of its best-selling goods will be delivered in three days or less, or the customer
will receive coupons on the purchase.
 eBay introduced Managed Delivery in 2019, in an attempt to improve competition
with Amazon. Managed Delivery will allow sellers to cooperate with eBay in storing,
packaging, and shipping their products. Managed Delivery was introduced in an
attempt to improve competition with Amazon. eBay also has its version of Amazon's
Prime Day, which is a weeklong sale in July publicised as being available to the
people without the need to sign up for a subscription-like Amazon Prime.
Additionally, eBay has instituted a price match guarantee programme for 100,000
products, which will allow buyers to receive a full refund determined by the
difference between eBay's price and a competitor's price, plus an additional 10 per
cent, if they can find a better price offered by Amazon, Walmart, Flipkart, or any
other online retailer

eBay is continuing to sell itself as a unique alternative to Amazon, and despite some ups
and downs, the company seems to have discovered its niche. Although it is very doubtful
that eBay will ever match up to Amazon in terms of raw size, the company is continuing
to market itself as such.

5)

 Ubiquity: A marketplace is a physical location where you go to trade in traditional

commerce. Clothes and shoes, for example, frequently encourage consumers to go
somewhere and buy something. E-Commerce, on the other hand, is defined by its
accessibility: it is available almost everywhere, at any time. eBay is also an e-
commerce platform as it frees the market from the confines of a physical location,
 allowing us to shop from our laptop, at home, at work, or even in our car, thanks to
mobile commerce.
 Global Reach: E-commerce like eBay, Amazon, and Flipkart makes it possible for
business transactions to be conducted across cultural and national boundaries in a
manner that is significantly easier, cost-efficient, and effective than is the case with
conventional, customary, and traditional commerce.
 Universal Standards: One very remarkable feature of E-Commerce technologies is
that the Internet's technical standards, and thus the technical standards for conducting
E-Commerce, are worldwide benchmarks, accepted by each and every nation on the
planet. Most traditional technologies, on the other hand, vary from one country to
another. T.V. and radio standards, for example, change from country to country, as
does cell phone technology.
eBay operates on a global scale, but when every element is taken into consideration, it
is clear that the prices and inventory levels of eBay in each region are diverse from
one another. In addition to the listed pricing, there is an additional fee for shipping
that varies depending on the country. Therefore, we are able to deduce that eBay has
global standards; despite this, there are still some requirements that vary from nation
to nation. The Internet's and E-global Commerce's technical standards considerably
reduce market entry costs (The costs sellers must incur just to get their items to
market). Price discovery becomes easier, quicker, and more reliable for consumers as
universal standards minimise search costs (the effort necessary one-world market
area, where prices and product details may be published for everyone to see).
 Information Richness: The complexity and content of a message are referred to as
information richness. Traditional marketplaces are rich in that they are capable of
making personal, face-to-face service available and delivering it through visual and
auditory cues while making a deal. The diversity of traditional, customary, and
traditional markets makes them an effective selling and commercial environment.
Before the Web, there existed a trade-off between message richness and accessibility,
with the larger the addressees reached, the less rich the message. Advertising and
branding are crucial aspects of the business. Video, audio, animations, billboards,
signs, and other media can all be delivered via e-commerce.
 Interactivity: E-commerce technologies, in contrast to all other commercial
technologies developed during the 20th century, with the possible exception of the
 telephone, allow for interaction; this means that they make it possible for merchants
and customers to communicate with one another in both directions.
 Information Density: The density of information on the Internet has substantially
enhanced, as long as the whole volume and supporting element is available for all
industries, customers, and corporations. Information collecting, storage,
communication, and processing costs are all reduced because of electronic commerce
technologies. Simultaneously, the quality and reliability of information technologies
improve dramatically, and information is much more valuable and helpful than ever
before.
 Personalization/Customization: Personalization is possible because of e-commerce
technologies, which allow companies to tailor marketing messages to particular
individuals based on their identity, preferences, and previous purchases.
Customization, or modifying the provided product or service depending on a user's
preferences or previous behaviour, is also possible with the technology. Because of
the participatory nature of E-Commerce technology, the seller can obtain a lot of data
about the customer at the time of purchase. As a result, personalisation and
customisation levels previously inconceivable with existing commerce technology are
now possible. For example, we can't change the content of the news channel we're
viewing on TV. The internet form of news, on the other hand, allows us to choose the
types of news articles we would like to see first and to be notified when particular
situations occur.
 Social Technology: When we want to sell a thing, we can place the information about
that product on a social networking website. Simply copying and pasting the link to
the page that contains the product description is all that is required of us. However, in
this case, we have to copy the link in order to post it on a social media website. On the
website, there is no button that allows us to share a product that we have purchased on
a social media platform.

Case Study 2:

1)

Aspects of Netflix's target audience are as follows:

  Age: 20-35yrs
 Gender: all genders applicable
 Demographic: binge-watcher, tech-savvy, film buff, college students.
o Binge-watching: It means where a person can watch the whole series in just
several sittings. Netflix series made people so addicted to its series and stuff
that people can't wait to finish plus the usual target audience of Netflix are the
college-going students or those who are about to go to the college, or it can
also be categorised as those people who work from 9-5 and need some
relaxing stuff to watch afterwards.
o Film buff: Film buff means a person who is so interested in movies or is very
knowledgeable about the movie stuff Netflix creates such kind of interest in
people or targets this kind of audience so that it becomes easier for them to
stream new stuff. Just to entertain the audience and gain profits Netflix has
started creating their own shows and series along with that to engage the
audience it has started recommending people according to their past choices. It
has also added a new feature of "surprise me" where according to the person's
interest-only Netflix recommends various stuff to the viewer.
o Tech-savvy: Earlier the target audience was only limited to tech-savvy
persons now with the modern age, modern mindsets arrives and people who
have or do not have such kind of tech skills can also use Netflix, Netflix has
made its interface so easy to use for people that people of any age bar or with
zero skill can use it easily.
 Economic level: middle-class family, upper-class family.

2)

The Key Points of Netflix’s content are as follows:

Netflix has been and will continue to be, active over the next years in an effort to steadily
grow its subscriber base. At first, Netflix's business model consisted solely of sending out
DVDs via the mail. Subsequently, the company did away with late penalties, a move that
contributed significantly to Blockbuster's decline.
As more time passed, they upgraded from sending the content via mail to streaming movies
and television shows online in high definition. Previously, they had sent the content via mail.
Netflix has already begun the production of its own original content, which is part of the
company's plan to continue its expansion. Most people enjoy this unique material, and it is
consistently rated as a popular show across the board.

 Flexibility: Netflix is providing people with the advantage of personalizing the stuff
according to the taste of the viewer. it has a pile of all genres of movies and series so
people can't quit Netflix with sadness. It provides people with an opportunity to watch
content on-demand on any screen type. On Netflix people can watch any content with
convenience.
 Variety of options: Netflix provides a variety of options to viewers where they can
have a smooth experience. It can be old movies, new movies, series, documentaries,
or tv shows of every mood.
 The strategy of original content: to grab more and more attention from the old as
well as new viewers Netflix started streaming its self-made series and shows. It has
invested $15 billion for the content just to serve new content and that's why Netflix is
topping the consumer satisfaction survey.
 Ad-free content: it annoys every viewer when people are watching something and
suddenly some ads pop up Netflix understands this and provide people with ad-free
content for a better experience.
 Personalised experience: Netflix provides a personalised experience as it keeps on
recommending people about the new stuff and giving suggestions from time to time. it
also has categorised the movies and shows according to the mood (happy, sad,
curious, etc.) it also has a feature of "surprise me" where according to the past
searches of that particular person it suggests a viewer to watch a show or a movie.

3)

The following is a list of key areas in which Netflix and Disney+Hotstar differ significantly
from one another:

 In comparison to Netflix, Disney+Hotstar has a greater amount of liquid cash and, as

a result, deeper pockets; this is the primary reason why the monthly subscriptions for
Disney+Hotstar are significantly lower than those of Netflix.
  After launching their own streaming service, Disney and Hotstar have begun
providing their original content on their own streaming platform. This content was
previously available on Netflix, but the launch of Disney and Hotstar's own streaming
service has put price and creative stress on Netflix to create their own original content
and finish their reliance on licencing content from other production houses. Because
of this reason, Netflix has encountered difficulties in their efforts to boost its creative
output and price competitiveness.
 Disney+Hotstar has a wider selection of material than its competitors due to the
presence of six distinct content pillars on a single platform. These pillars include
Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Star, and National Geographic. In addition, the
Indian Premier League is broadcasted on Disney+Hotstar. Netflix does not offer
nearly as much diversity.
 While Netflix began as a company that rented DVDs, Disney+Hotstar was developed
as a result of a partnership between Star India and Walt Disney. This partnership
resulted in the transformation of Hotstar, a subsidiary of Star India that was already
operating as an OTT platform, into Disney+Hotstar, which brought the creative and
financial resources of Disney into Hotstar.

4)

It is really hard to believe, but it is true that Netflix makes almost no profit on the content that
it buys. This is very surprising. After all, Netflix is primarily a database and platform for
delivering content to its users. Netflix has chosen the riskier alternative of generating its own
originals, which itself takes up a lot of money. For instance, the Netflix drama known as
House of Cards costs Netflix over $100 million for only 26 episodes, which comes out to $4
million per episode. Netflix has, in essence, invested more than 14 billion dollars in online
content. Taking such risks never ensures that one will receive returns. It's up to the people to
decide whether they want this stuff. When it doesn't work, it always results in a great loss, but
sometimes it works, and when it does, it always comes up with a huge loss. As a result of the
launch of additional Ott platforms, there is now increased levels of competition, which in turn
necessitates increased levels of responsibility and, consequently, a greater demand for
financial compensation from content providers. Netflix does not have unique technology.

5)
By receiving several prizes, Netflix demonstrated superior performance compared to many of
its competitors, including HBO, Amazon Prime, and Hotstar. It was able to place itself ahead
of the competition and attract a huge number of viewers who were interested in fresh
programmes thanks to the fact that it created its own stuff.

Netflix is, in my perspective, doing rather well, but in comparison to other OTT providers, it
has a number of significant challenges.

 The prices that Netflix paid for its material were excessive, which led to a decline in
the company's profit. In order to generate fresh content, Netflix was forced to spend a
lot of money and take on a lot of risk by purchasing both old and new television
series. Any company would be wise to take this as a warning.
 India is a diverse country with diverse religions, regions, languages, and people. This
thing creates a lot of difference. If a person is supposed to serve food to two people it
becomes easier for him to consider their choices but on the other hand, if that
particular person is supposed to serve food to 25 people it eventually becomes
difficult for him to consider their choices, the same implements here too. We can see
the difference that Netflix creates, we can see that Netflix usually comes up with new
shows and series and movies, but we might not notice that for the southern part of
India, Netflix creates less of the content. No matter if it has an option to change the
language, the original content created by Netflix for the southern part of the country is
still less and this is the place where Netflix lacks behind while serving it to the Indian
audience.
 One of the reasons that Netflix is successful is that it is consistently working to
provide fresh material for its subscribers. Its goal is to provide clients with
recommendations that are tailored to their previous actions.
 The original shows that Netflix produces have helped it stand out from rival over-the-
top (OTT) providers, but they come at a premium price. As a direct consequence of
this, Netflix now has an advantage over other OTT services that compete with it.
 Since the majority of its information is geared toward millennials, older folks have a
harder time connecting with it and finding relevance in it.
 Netflix stays one step ahead of the competition by observing user data and producing
fresh content specifically for new customers.