E-commerce web site design strategies and models: case studies of the best practice and CSFs of C2C e-commerce

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1 E-commerce web site design strategies and models: case studies of the best practice and CSFs of C2C e-commerce Author: Chen Der-Fu 作 者 : 陳 德 富 Candidate of Doctor of Business Administration 企 管 博 士 候 選 人 International Graduate School of management, National University of South Australia 國 立 南 澳 洲 大 學 國 際 管 理 研 究 所 博 士 班 ia2001@pchome.com.tw ; teacher2001@ms52.url.com.tw Abstract The study describes how Web corporation involved in e-commerce may benchmark their performance against a number of critical success factors (CSFs), for more aspects of academic and practice theories and applications, the study also proposed and discussed five cases: 1.Best practice in e-bay adoption of C2C e-commerce 2. Yahoo auction web 3.Web equity: a framework for building consumer value in online companies. Finally, due to above three cases I proposed an integrated business e-commerce model for Web corporation. The study is based on a series of literature reviews, case studies carried out amongst web corporation whose activities were judged to represent best practice and CSFs in e-commerce. Encourages a web corporation to analyse its own strengths and weaknesses on a continuing basis and to compare them with those of its competitors. The first step in this process is to identify the company's attitude to growth. Next, the web corporation should establish a suitable generic strategy and decide on a set of objectives that support it. Finally, web corporation should identify a set of relevant CSFs. Analysis of the related literature reviews identified CSFs relevant to the competitive performance of web corporation entering the e-commerce market. The rapid adoption of the web as a commercial medium has caused firms to experiment with innovative ways of doing business. Those firms that effectively market themselves on the web have a distinct advantage. This paper presents three e-commerce web site design strategies and one e-commerce model for gaining that advantage. Keywords: best practice, e-commerce, C2C, CSFs, web equity 1. Introduction The future of EC will accelerate the shift of the power toward the consumer, which will lead to fundamental changes in the way companies relate to their customers and compete with one another (Slywotzky, 2000). In today's global marketplace, fast reliable information is a necessity for most companies to attain some kind of competitive advantage. Electronic commerce via the Internet or the next generation Internet Protocol, IPv6, will change business institutions, operations and products/services as we know today, just as the telephone, TV, fax, and changed the way businesses and consumers communicate. Electronic commerce has become very popular because of the benefits and the convenience it brings along. As shown in Table I, the benefits include product promotion, cost saving, timely information, shortened remittance time, information consistency, better customer service, better customer relationship, customization of products, competitive advantages, and convenience of doing business. Electronic commerce is no longer an alternative, it is an imperative. The only choice open is whether to start quickly or slowly. Many companies are still struggling with the most basic problem: what is the best EC model? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer for this question. Even companies in the same industry, of the same size, or with similar cultures are finding that one EC model does not fit all. Companies are required to review their EC models and rethink strategy in order to capitalize on the changing dynamics of the marketplace. The purpose of this article is to examine the currently available EC models and help readers to figure out the best way to make money in the EC era. 1

2 Table I The benefits of electronic commerce Any company starting an e-commerce venture should first understand its market position and those of its competitors. As part of this process it needs to benchmark itself against similar companies. Furthermore, the rapidly evolving nature of Internet business makes it all the more important for companies to benchmark their performance on a regular basis. This paper describes three cases for doing this based on critical success factors (CSFs). 1.1 Web corporation and e-commerce An earlier paper by the same authors (Evans and Wurster, 2000) suggests that the battle for competitive advantage in e-commerce will be waged on three dimensions: reach, affiliation and richness. The study introduced a wider range of available models, extracted from the current commercial Web sites, than any previous studies. In addition, all models are discussed based on two different Web site design strategies, informational/communicational strategy and on-line/transactional strategy. Therefore, the study proposed three cases to be the references for web corporation as follows: 1.Best practice in e-bay adoption of C2C e-commerce 2. Yahoo auction web 3.Web equity: a framework for building consumer value in online companies (Christine Page, Elzbieta Lepkowska-White, 2002). Finally, I proposed an integrated business e-commerce C2C model for web corporation. Next, a detail literature review and case study discussing will be described as follows. 2. Literature review and case study 2.1 Best practice of web corporation to implement C2C e-commerce Following various EC model failed in e-commerce, the C2C auction web to rise and develop popularly recently. According to friendly human-machine interface and Internet popular over the world, e-bay develops to become the biggest online auction web. Now, it s a content web, EIP, C2C web even some small enterprises also sell products on the web. Therefore, e-bay also includes some B2C e-commerce. And through global users (sellers and buyers), e-bay can gain many income from advertise. Next, the study will introduce e-bay framework, advantage and disadvantage as follows: 1. About e-bay: ebay ( the world's personal trading community TM, pioneering leader of person-to-person online auctions. Founded in 1995, ebay has developed an efficient and entertaining trading site in an auction format on the Web that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ebay has more than one million registered users. Currently, there are more than one million items listed for sale. More than 150,000 new items are added daily, in more than 1,000 categories, including: antiques; books, movies, and music; coins and stamps; collectibles; computers; dolls and figures; jewelry and gemstones; photo and electronics; pottery and glass; sports memorabilia; and toys and Beanie Babies. ebay receives over 120 million page impressions per month. ebay (Nasdaq: EBAY; is The World's Online MarketplaceTM for the sale of goods and services by a diverse community of individuals and businesses. Today, the ebay community includes tens of millions of registered members from around the world. People spend more time on ebay than any other online site, making it the most popular shopping destination on the Internet. Marketplace of ebay ebay offers a wide variety of features and services that enable members to buy and sell on the site quickly and conveniently. Buyers have the option to purchase items in auction-style format or items can be purchased at fixed price through a feature called Buy-It-Now. In addition, items at fixed price are also available Half.com, an ebay company. ebay is dedicated to its community of members, and has numerous services which enhance the trading experience. Their marketplace services include: online payments by PayPal; wide array of Buyer and Seller tools; and Preferred Solution Provider programs. The key to ebay's success is trust. Trust between the buyers and sellers who make up the ebay community. And trust between the user and ebay, the company. ebay go to great lengths to provide their users with a safe, person-to-person online trading 2

3 experience. Through ebay's innovative Feedback Forum, users can submit comments about their dealings with one another. In addition, ebasy established SafeHarbor, an in-house customer support team dedicated to providing, to the very best of their ability, a safe trading environment, and protecting the ebay community against fraud. ebay community The ebay community is made up of a variety of people: individual buyers and sellers, small businesses and even Fortune 100 companies. Large and small, these members come together on ebay to do more than just buy or sell-they have fun, shop around, get to know one another and pitch in to help. ebay becomes a part of our members' lifestyles. Many members have created second businesses by selling items on ebay. Some have moved their brick and mortar business to ebay. Others have quit their day job altogether! For millions of people, ebay is the place to share a passion for items that are special or just to shop for practically anything on earth. For exploring best practice of C2C e-commerce, the study compare strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) between Yahoo and ebay. To seek how they can implement e-commerce C2C successfully. Next, the study discuss another case: yahoo auction web furthermore as following. 2.2 Yahoo auction web About Yahoo-kimo auction Yahoo!(Yahoo.com) is a high-volume traffic - typically tens of millions of visits per month - driven by generic or diversified content or services. Base on above, Yahoo-kimo auction service provide exchange platform between buyer, sellers and small business. The products publish on Yahoo-kimo auction are upload to sell by users but not sale it by Yahoo-kimo auction. To users publish products or join auction process, Yahoo-kimo auction all won t monitor or control them. Also won t interfere the exchange process of products, it includes delivery, payment, reimburse, flaw guarantee and other exchange affairs. When you use Yahoo-kimo auction must understand and obey follow affairs: buyer and seller must obey the complete responsibility of exchange fulfillment. buyer and seller must solve quarrel derived from exchange. buyer and seller must to take upon themselves the fees derived from exchange. buyer and seller must understand and obey Taiwan related law. For ensuring exchange fulfill smoothly, buyer should read and evaluate products specification, seller evaluation, the way of delivery and condition, etc. After gain the auction products, the contract exist between buyer and seller, both sides take the responsibility for payment and deliver products. Except the regulation of law, any side can t regret by any reason. The regulation of selling and buying To the sale products, if have buyer gain the auction products, seller have the responsibility sell the product according to auction price, unless buyers data is not true and cause seller can t identify buyers identity. To the auction product you gain, buyer have the responsibility finish exchange according to auction price, unless sellers data is not true and cause buyer can t identify sellers identity. If necessary, sellers have the responsibility to provide buyer about the related certificate of selling product. You can t steer or control auction, for instance, raise the price by purpose to make other buyer withdraw to bid. You can t interfere with proceeding auction. (i.e. contact with other buyer who have bid when other sellers proceeding auction, use lower than auction price to peddle alike or the same products to buyer.) SWOT Analysis SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis for e-bay and Yahoo-kimo auction web About ebbay S: ebay is committed to conducting its business in a way that minimizes the impact on the environment. We recognize that a responsible approach to environmental issues is critical to our continuing success and is important to our shareholders, stakeholders, employees and users. Although ebay's business activities have a negligible impact on the environment, we constantly evaluate new ways of conserving energy and reducing waste in operating our business. ebay will closely monitor and comply with all applicable environmental legislative and regulatory requirements particular to our business. To ensure that we continue to minimize our environmental impact, ebay will address a number of key areas in a sustained manner based on best practice. W: Equity between seller and buyer is not too fair, i.e. seller must to buy or they have responsibility of law, but seller often stop to sell by many excuse. Then buyers spend much time and spirit to win the auction products is meaningless. e-bay often send the detail data to seller but didn t send the same data to buyer. This put buyer in un-safety situation when sellers have conflict with buyer. bad seller also can give negative evaluation for buyer, and e-bay even can t cancel it for buyer, it s such unfairly. O: The ebay community is made up of a variety of people: individual buyers and sellers, small businesses and even Fortune 100 companies. Large 3

4 and small, these members come together on ebay to do more than just buy or sell-they have fun, shop around, get to know one another and pitch in to help. Through the ebay discussion and chat boards, members meet and get to know each other, discuss topics of mutual interest and provide one another with helpful information on trading on ebay. These discussion boards are public forums that encourage open communication between members. ebay becomes a part of our members' lifestyles. Many members have created second businesses by selling items on ebay. Some have moved their brick and mortar business to ebay. Others have quit their day job altogether! For millions of people, ebay is the place to share a passion for items that are special or just to shop for practically anything on earth. T: Yahoo auction web and other competitors. ebay also to form threat to itself. If it can keep improvement its weakness and compare with other competitors, then only according to the biggest auction web, it can t form sustain competitive advantage. About Yahoo-kimo S: Yahoo 提 供 會 員 評 價 制 度 會 員 確 認 註 冊 程 序 黑 名 單 制 度 檢 舉 拍 賣 品 制 度 及 賣 方 抗 議 制 度 等, 藉 由 確 實 的 交 易 紀 錄 與 網 友 守 望 相 助 的 力 量 共 同 來 維 護 線 上 交 易 環 境 Yahoo 歡 迎 國 內 公 益 團 體 / 企 業 透 過 網 路 拍 賣 平 台 進 行 義 賣 活 動, 本 服 務 將 不 列 入 收 費 範 圍,Yahoo! 奇 摩 拍 賣 將 義 務 宣 傳 本 義 賣 活 動. W: Yahoo! 奇 摩 將 在 未 來 對 使 用 者 收 取 相 關 費 用, 包 括 但 不 限 於 物 品 刊 登 費 及 交 易 成 功 費 用. Yahoo! 奇 摩 拍 賣 祇 是 提 供 交 易 之 平 台, 對 於 使 用 者 於 Yahoo! 奇 摩 拍 賣 所 刊 登 物 品 之 合 法 性 真 實 性 品 質, 及 使 用 者 履 行 交 易 之 能 力 等,Yahoo! 奇 摩 不 負 任 何 擔 保 責 任 偏 重 賣 方 抗 議 制 度, 買 方 受 到 賣 方 不 正 當 的 抗 議 時, 仍 需 到 結 標 的 拍 賣 物 品 頁 面 中 點 選 " 買 方 申 訴 " 對 於 已 經 得 標 的 物 品, 買 方 必 須 按 規 定 完 成 交 易 若 有 特 殊 情 況 不 能 完 成 交 易, 必 須 徵 求 賣 方 的 同 意, 但 對 賣 方 不 履 行 交 易 則 無 多 大 規 範 好 的 溝 通 與 信 用 是 買 賣 交 易 成 功 的 基 石! 但 應 雙 方 責 任 並 重 O: 會 員 評 價 指 數 為 -3 時, 將 無 法 在 Yahoo! 奇 摩 拍 賣 進 行 競 標 或 拍 賣, 當 賣 方 欲 刊 登 多 件 同 樣 物 品 時, 會 員 評 價 指 數 必 須 為 "5" 以 上, 並 且 使 用 拍 賣 滿 60 天. 新 使 用 者 ( 使 用 拍 賣 未 滿 60 天 ) 或 評 價 < 正 5 的 使 用 者, 將 被 限 制 出 價 次 數 違 反 禁 止 行 為 : Yahoo! 奇 摩 不 會 無 故 編 輯 或 移 除 意 見, 違 反 會 員 評 價 制 度 的 使 用 者,Yahoo! 奇 摩 得 禁 止 該 使 用 者 繼 續 使 用 Yahoo! 奇 摩 拍 賣 之 服 務 T: 為 了 提 昇 交 易 的 安 全,Yahoo 要 求 民 國 92 年 7 月 4 日 ( 含 ) 以 後 註 冊 的 新 會 員, 必 須 通 過 信 用 卡 認 證 才 能 刊 登 商 品 會 員 評 價 將 做 為 賣 方 抗 議 制 度 的 標 準, 再 一 次 對 買 方 不 公 平 According to above analysis, almost the same advantage and disadvantage for the two auction webs. The result of SWOT analysis can separate as 5 S and 1 W as follows: 5 S: 1. Speed: the linking speed to auction and refresh speed are most important to users who join to bid. They often compete a product at final 5-10 second. If speed can t be satisfied by users then any auction web can t be successful on web auction market. And can t win customers. 2. Service: though almost auction webs provide free use to sellers and buyers, but any one provide better service to users still is the key to win customers. Because no users no advertisement, then it mean no income for auction web. 3. Security: So far, the security of exchange still is the most concern by users, because hacker and virus etc factors often make users don t dare to buy on net. 4. Smooth: After users win the auction products, they can exchange smoothly or not is the key factor that affects them come this web again or not. 5. Stability: web stability also affects users willing to come this web or not, if not stable, then users won t again. 1W: Web equity: this include exchange equity, products publish reality, payment and delivery equity, evaluation equity, etc. these factors all will affect the EC performance of auction web. Besides, customers are very emphasis on web equity when they to bid on auction web. Thus, web equity will be the key point for Web corporations to win customer on C2C e-commerce. 2.3 Web site design strategy There are two generic Web site design strategies: 1 informational/communicational strategy; and 2 on-line/transactional strategy, summarised in Table IV. Table IV Web site design strategy 4

5 E-commerce Web site design models EC is not just about doing business over the Internet, it is about changing the way companies do business. It is about creating new business models while transforming traditional ones. After visiting many Web sites, a total of 12 Web site design models for EC were found, shown in Figure 1. were derived from the interviews with the best practice sample. The final list of 11 factors is shown in Table V. By eliminating repetitions, a core group of recommended actions for each CSF was derived. These were grouped by category so that Web corporation could focus on the recommendations applicable to them. Table V. Critical success factors, Source: Judith Jeffcoate, Caroline Chappell, Sylvie Feindt (2002) Figure 1 Emerging models of e-commerce Web site design Summary This paper studies the emerging models of e-commerce Web site design. The models are categorized based on different Web design site strategies. I identify two major Web site design strategies: "informational/ communicational design strategy" and "on-line/transactional design strategy." The models for informational/communicational design strategy include brand awareness and image building, cost saving, promotion, and info-mediary. The models for on-line/transactional design strategy include brokerage, retail, mall, advertising, subscription, community, manufacturer, and customization. Although a large number of companies use the Web as an advertising tool to build awareness or provide information rather than relying on the Web to do online transactions, I present eight e-commerce models that companies are using to make profits on the Internet. In fact, companies usually use more than one model to accomplish their e-commerce objectives. Although new models are beginning and are continuing to appear on the Web, no one knows which, if any, of these models will finally succeed. 2.4 CSFs (Critical success factors) KITE identified nine CSFs relevant to the competitive performance of small businesses entering the e-commerce market. This list took as its starting point a number of CSFs that were suggested to us by one of the reviewers (van Rijsbergen, 1998). The original list was expanded and refined in the light of experience with the Web corporation in KITE. A further two factors (commitment and partnership) 2.5 Web equity: a framework for building consumer value in online companies The study developed a framework (figure 2) that focuses on two dimensions important to building Web equity (Web awareness and Web image) and discuss antecedents of these two dimensions. Figure 2: Web equity framework,source: (Christine Page, Elzbieta Lepkowska-White, 2002) The study proposed that Web awareness is affected by marketer and non-marketer communications, whereas Web image is influenced by marketer and non-marketer communications, Web design features, vendor characteristics and product and service factors. Page and Lepkowska-White explain their concept of "Web equity" by demonstrating that it isn't simply the nature of the product or service bought that matters but the totality of the service and especially the appeal of the firm's Web site. This Web site acts in the same way as the 5

6 traditional retailer's store. Whether we're selling a service or products, online businesses have to recognize that - where they sell B2C - they are retailers not some mystical new type of business that didn't exist before. 3. Constructing an integrated business e-commerce model for web corporation Through above cases review and discuss, the study construct an integrated business e-commerce model for Web corporation as figure 3. Web equity: 1.Loyal consumer base 2.Prevent consumers from shopping online 3.Get the basics right - consumers matter Best practice means 1.the policies, procedures programs 2.commitment, content, price sensitivity and convenience 3.control, interaction and brand image 4.partnership, process Web design strategy: Informational/com municational design strategy On-line/transactiona l design strategy: CSFs EC performance. 1.Extending their reach to new international markets, 2.optimizing business processes, 3.reducing business costs and 4. improving e-customer service and relationships. 5. creating customer value. Figure 3: An integrated business e-commerce model for web corporation The aim of the study is to offer researchers and practitioners a good understanding of the aforementioned issues involved in the application of EC technologies in web corporation. "Best practices" relating to various IT and business aspects, it is on this premise that this issue is expected to provide both academics and practitioners with a frame of reference with which they can reposition their EC experiences based on well-established best practices. The study appearing in these issues provide conceptual and analytical models, strategic frameworks, interviews, and case studies focusing on C2C auction web and web equity, A combination of competency (i.e. enough of relevant skills, time, finance, marketing and technology, Analyze its strengths and weaknesses on a continuing basis and to compare them with those of its competitors, Growth strategy, objective, best practice, process, integration, and a clear understanding of how e-commerce can benefit the business, the security of e-transactions, Trust, value creation, web design strategy and model, and through CSFs to achieve EC performances. 4. Conclusions and Recommendations 4.1 Conclusions This paper has described an approach for the identification of best practices in C2C e-commerce for web corporation. Individual web corporation entering into e-commerce may use this approach to understand their market position and those of their competitors. It is suggested that web corporation should analyse their own strengths and weaknesses on a continuing basis and compare them with those of their competitors. As each company develops, it may use the approach to benchmark its performance on a regular basis. Best practice is likely to be more important for Web corporations which are involved in C2C e-commerce. The existing best practice approach will therefore be revised and extended to establish a new set of CSFs for this important group of web corporation in the C2C value chain, and identify indicators for successful evolution. This study reported on three global web corporation experiences with EC adoption. The study also illustrates the study describes web site design strategy. Furthermore, the study introduced E-commerce web site design models. Finally, the study review CSFs of e-commerce for Web corporation, and introduce web equity framework for building consumer value in online companies. References Christine Page, Elzbieta Lepkowska-White, Journal of Consumer Marketing,Volume 19 Number 3, pp , EBay, Evans, P., Wurster, T., "Getting real about virtual commerce", Harvard Business Review, , Judith Jeffcoate, Caroline Chappell, Sylvie Feindt, Benchmarking: An International Journal, Volume 9 Number 2, pp , KITE, "KITE - knowledge and information transfer on e-commerce", Slywotzky, A.J., "The future of commerce", Harvard Business Review, Van Rijsbergen, I., Private communication, Vescovi, T., "L'efficacia della comunicazione in Internet", Micro & Macro Marketing, 7, a. Yahoo-Kimo auction,