BIZRATE.

CO
M
Presented By : Group 3

Exe MBA 2023-25 | North Campus FMS

 1
THE CASE OF BIZRATE
The case of BizRate.Com provides insights into the journey of the company from its inception to its growth and challenges. Founded by Farhad
Mohit, BizRate.Com started as a research firm collecting customer feedback data and providing merchant ratings to consumers. The company
received investments from Mission Ventures and Media Technology Ventures, which helped in its expansion and rebranding as "BizRate.

• BizRate.Com focused on collecting customer feedback through surveys conducted at the point-of-purchase and follow-up surveys via
email.
• The data collected helped in benchmarking merchant performance, understanding customer demographics, analyzing referral channels, and
identifying effective onsite tools for converting visitors into buyers.

• The case highlights the importance of customer feedback, the role of investors in supporting business growth, and the evolution of
BizRate.Com's business model.
• It also touches upon the challenges faced by the company and the strategic decisions made to overcome them.
• Overall, the case provides a comprehensive overview of BizRate.Com's journey, emphasizing the significance of customer-centric
strategies and data-driven decision-making in the e-commerce industry.

BizRate.com
 Av
THE VALUE PROPOSITION

BizRate follows a comprehensive research design in marketing research to gather insights and data that inform strategic decision-making.

Farhad Mohit wanted to create a consumer hub that centered on TRUST so that online buyers have limitless options for choosing the
reliable vendors.

Bizrate Rating System

Customer feedback data is collected through direct polling of consumers then

• Made rsearch available to consumers in the form of merchant ratings
• Analysed report is customised and sold to vendors.

BizRate.com
 B
RESEARCHING TRUST
BizRate’s services were particularly timely considering e-commerce merchants were growing by the day. The need of the hour was not
simply offering price comparisons, but a comprehensive shopping comparison website, where users can sort information according to
whatever criterion was most important to them.

They achieved this through,

• Prompting participating customers to fill out a survey on over 2000 participating vendors

• Establishing a panel of over 100,000 regular online shoppers who provided ongoing customer satisfaction data for merchants
outside BizRate’s circle of partners

They were growing by almost 10% every month in 2000, with it’s database amassing 6 million online buyers complete with
demography and email addresses, with detailed information about some 80 million transactions in a variety of product categories

Did not accept advertising - At no charge to merchants to participate - strict rules on data privacy, never sold data

BizRate.com
 B
RESEARCHING TRUST
Sold detailed research reports to supplement basic customer feedback information and statistics provided without charge

Customer Analysis Reports (CAR): insights included,

The company provides detailed Customer Analysis Reports
to merchants, which include comprehensive analyses of the
merchant's online buyers and their buying experiences.
These reports are customized for each merchant and offer
in-depth insights based on the collected data
• Detailed performance ratings across the ten key service dimensions, benchmarked
against competition.
• Demographic and psychographic profile of the customer base
• Analysis on referral channels
• Most effective tools and online features to facilitate buying
• Analysis of impact of merchant’s fulfillment services and repeat purchase behaviors

BizRate.com
 B
RESEARCHING TRUST
Consumer Online Reports (COR):
BizRate produces quarterly Consumer Online Reports that offer industry- and category-level analyses across various dimensions such as sales,
demographics, and buyer types. These reports provide industry benchmarks and insights for subscribing merchants

Custom Cuts - Offering Business-specific Customer Behavior Analysis:

• Allowed merchants to insert customised questions into their POS surveys, to provide direct feedback to merchants
• Gave way to gather data from non-buyers, by intercepting and inviting feedback from shoppers by intercepting and inviting feedback from
various exit point
• Allowed merchants access to BizRate's online research panel for purposes such as concept testin

By analyzing these statistics, one can gain a deeper understanding of its performance, customer behavior, revenue streams, and market
positioning, enabling informed decision-making and strategic planning for future growth and success.

BizRate.com
 B
RESEARCHING TRUST
;bbbbbbbbbbbb

Bbbbbbbbbb

Bbbbbbbb

BizRate.com
 E
RESEARCHING TRUST
2. Consumer-Centric Approach:

• With the help of point-of-purchase and follow-up surveys carried out by BizRate, we could get a first-hand information about what our customers feel
about us. This customer-driven approach enabled the understanding and meeting of the specific requirements and responses of online shoppers.
• The surveys covered multiple criteria, including pricing, product availability, ordering methods, and delivery, customer support, etc. This exhaustive
data gave the consumer the necessary power to choose what is right for them, and in turn built a stronger relationship between the consumer and the
merchant.

3. Creating a Comprehensive Database:

• Utilizing marketing research, BizRate built one of the most elaborate consumer database available on the Internet. This repository was a wealth of
information about the customer profiles, demographics, and millions of transactions.
• The surveys from which the comprehensive data was collected enabled BizRate to offer detailed performance ratings of merchants in a variety of
parameters. This content was meaningful for both consumers and merchants in order to know and make online shopping experience better.

BizRate.com
 E
RESEARCHING TRUST
4. Enhancing Consumer Experience:

• The BizRate website functioned as a hub where customers could view ratings and reviews to aid them in making choices. By providing a range of
information beyond price comparisons the site enabled shoppers to select products based on their individual preferences be it customer service or
product variety.
• Features like "My BizRate" and the acquisition of eBoodle.com demonstrated a commitment to enhancing the convenience factor for shoppers,
providing personalized experiences beyond basic ratings.

5. Adapting to Consumer Preferences:

• Red October was a turning point, for BizRates business strategy as it brought in e commerce strategies that focused on what consumers prefer. The
incorporation of tools for product searches direct connections, to retailers and merchandising pods was done with the goal of enhancing consumer
experience while upholding the credibility of BizRates ratings.

BizRate.com
 Red October and its Impact

The company unveiled a new website that reflected a shift in Biz Rate’s business model. Some
changes were added to Biz Rate’s consumer value proposition.

Biz Rate unveiled a new product search tool that allowed the customers not only to shop by a
specific merchant but also by a specific product. The shoppers could perform various
comparisons like comparing prices of a particular product over different vendors.

Biz rate began providing direct links from its rating charts to the participation retailers.

A Biz rate visitor, say, comparing merchants in the shoe category, could now inspect the Biz rate
rating, select a merchant, and then click on the merchant’s name. He was
directly taken to the retailer’s website selling the selected merchant’s shoes.
 Red October and its Impact

If the click resulted in a purchase, then the Biz rate collected a commission ranging from 1%-20%.
It also provided rebates to the customers on purchasing goods from the Biz rate website.

These changes added consumer value and protected the integrity of its ratings.
The business rate was different from Amazon.

The business rate was consumer-centric and retailer-neutral, which Amazon will never be.
Biz rate started the merchandising pods. It invited merchants with ratings of 4 stars or higher to
display promotional banners in a predefined space along the side of the ratings.

It did not charge the merchant for the banners but it collected a certain % of cut from the sales
generated from the click-throughs. They very well maintained the thin line between merchandising
pods and advertising
Biz Rate Conversion Rate Vs Industry Averages
27
Toys & Games
7.3
2.7
75
Home & Garden
9
1.2
71.5
Health & Beauty
14.3
2
81.8
Gifts & Flowers 9
1.1
42.7
Food & Drink 6.4
1.5
81.9
Entertainment
17.2
2.1

62.5
Electronic
5
0.8
112
Computer/Hardware 5.6
0.5

42.8
Apparel & Sports 7.7
1.8
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Difference BizRate Conversion Industry Conversion

BizRate’s Post-October website.
 Pushing E-Commerce

One of the new opportunities that Biz Rate discovered was the potential of e-commerce.

The company started to experiment with different e-commerce strategies in May 2000.
For instance, it switched from taking a commission on purchases to charging a flat fee for each
referral, which varied from 40 cents to $2 per click, depending on the vendor.

Another possibility was to use direct email marketing to reach out to the consumers in its large
database, with their consent.

A third option was to enhance the company's merchandising efforts.

Biz Rate had a high success rate with referrals, which created a high demand for space on its
website from merchants. The company could potentially offer more pages of special deals and
promotions if it wanted to increase that revenue stream.
 Ay
The Decision Point
The management decision problem facing BizRate revolves around the
strategic direction the company should take regarding its revenue streams,
specifically balancing the research division and e-commerce initiatives. The
key decision problem is whether to prioritize and invest more resources in
the e-commerce side of the business or continue to focus on the research
division. This decision is crucial for the company's growth, market
positioning, and overall success.

BizRate.com
The Decision Point Ay
The corresponding marketing research problem for BizRate is to gather insights and data that can help inform
this strategic decision-making process. Specifically, the company needs to conduct research to understand
customer preferences, market trends, competitive positioning, and the potential impact of shifting focus
towards e-commerce. The marketing research problem involves analyzing customer behavior, market
dynamics, and industry benchmarks to provide actionable insights that can guide the company in making
informed decisions about its future direction.

Market Research Revenue:

• The research side of the business accounted for half of BizRate's revenues. This statistic underscores the
significance of market research as a revenue-generating aspect of the company

• Many merchants spent between 20,000 to 250,000 annually on BizRate's research reports, indicating the
value placed on the insights provided by the company's research division

BizRate.com
 6
“Who can you TRUST on the Internet?”
The research problem is quite straightforward

1. Should BizRate become an e-commerce business?

2. If BizRate is to continue their research division, it would be at what cost?

The company already has a rich source of survey-based secondary date, and syndicates this data to
its partner merchants, and further it it to Google and Bing to optimise search-marketing. For this
current scenario, perhaps a exploratory research design would be useful.

BizRate.com
 6
The Executive vs the Entreprenuer
Objective
As detailed in an earlier slide, the problématique in this case is to completely pivot away from being a reputed market research firm to being an e-
commerce hub.

Methodology
Participant Selection: Using a combination of highly rated merchants (a non-random sampling) and a sample of active users (random sampling) who
contribute to BizRate can be invited.

Data Collection Methods

In-depth Interviews of Participating Vendors: One-on-one interviews with a mix of close-ended and open-ended questions can be conducted, to gain
insights on the relevance of their market research reports and gage the how customer-centric they feel the business has been. Following a laddering
technique, this could perhaps enable BizRate to check how the merchants feel about their ‘pay-for-performance’ and ‘merchandising’ efforts.

Survey Design and Distribution: BizRate is already pretty great at this. They could leverage their presence among 6 million voluntary profiles
through simple email questionnaires using simple itemized rating scales like theu usually do (e.g: Likert) see if they would like to receive messages
with special deals

BizRate.com
 6
The Executive vs the Entreprenuer
Ethical Considerations:
Adhering to ethical standards in data collection and analysis is paramount. BizRate have policies in place to ensure the privacy and
confidentiality of customer data, as well as guidelines for responsible data usage and reporting. They have strict data confidentiality norms that
ensure that merchant data is not shared to competitors, and that consumer data is not shared for advertising and marketing effort.

Actionable Insights:
The aim will be analyse the data gained to answer a few key questions, highlighted in the case.

- If they were to retain the Insights side of the business, how much market relevance would they continue to enjoy.

- If BizRate goes slow on e-commerce, will it miss out on a significant market share?

- If they go ahead with priortising and scaling their e-commerce side of the business, will they be viewed as a ‘me-too market place’

- If they make the e-commerce switch, are investors likely to pull out?

BizRate.com
 7
How to leverage syndicated data
What source of syndicated data would be helpful to BizRate in understanding
consumer selection of vendors?

While BizRate themselves serve as a reliable source of syndicate data in their industry.
Considering they want to foray into the e-commerce business in a bigger way, sourcing secondary data from external sources
might help them examine their competitive advantage. vis-a-vis other companies operating in this niche.

This would also reduce bias in their secondary data analysis since they work heavily on collecting and collating secondary
data themselves.

BizRate.com
 A FORK IN THE ROAD

BizRate facing a big question?

Should they focus on their e-commerce side ? Keep doing research too?
RANKING OF BIZRATE (BY MEDIA
METRIX)

April
2000

April
2000

August
06
1999

May
09
1999

March
21
1999
49

78
 NUMBER OF ACQUISITIONS

Symphony Technology Group acquires

Shopzilla, including all operating websites Bizrate Insights division of Connexity is
and Bizrate Insights. acquired by Synapse Group Inc., a
Division of Time Inc.

June September20 January

2004 14 2018

June September201
2011 6
E.W. Scripps bought Shopzilla, which Shopzilla.com changed its name to Time inc. and its subsidiaries, includin
included all its websites and Bizrate Connexity, Inc. Bizrate Insights still works Bizrate Insights, were purchased by
Insights. under Connexity. Meredith Corporation
 BIZRATE TODAY’s POSITION

Traffic rank of site, compared to all other sites in

GLOBAL RANK 6,553 the world

Traffic rank of this site. Shown for the country

COUNTRY RANK 1,685 where it gets the most traffic

Traffic rank of the site compared to all other sites

CATEGORY RANK 1 in its main category in the top country

Sum of all visits on desktop and mobile from the

TOTAL VISIT 12.9 M last month