Chapter 3 Retailing in Electronic Commerce: Products and Services

Transcription

1 Turban- Electronic Commerce 2012 Instructor s Manual Chapter 3 Retailing in Electronic Commerce: Products and Services Learning Objectives Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to: 1. Describe electronic retailing (e-tailing) and its characteristics. 2. Classify the primary e-tailing business models. 3. Describe how online travel and tourism services operate and their impact on the industry. 4. Discuss the online employment market, including its participants, benefits, and limitations. 5. Describe online real estate services. 6. Discuss online stock-trading services. 7. Discuss cyberbanking and online personal finance. 8. Describe on-demand delivery of groceries and similar perishable products and services related to them. 9. Describe the delivery of digital products and online entertainment. 10. Discuss various online consumer aids, including comparison-shopping aids. 11. Describe disintermediation and other B2C strategic issues. Content Opening Case: Amazon.com: The World s Largest B2C E-Store 3.1 Internet Marketing and B2C Electronic Retailing 3.2 E-Tailing Business Models 3.3 Travel and Tourism (Hospitality) Services Online 3.4 Employment Placement and the Job Market Online 3.5 Real Estate, Insurance, and Stock Trading Online 3.6 Banking and Personal Finance Online 3.7 On-Demand Delivery of Products, Digital Items, Entertainment, and Gaming 3.8 Online Purchasing-Decision Aids 3.9 Issues in E-Tailing and Lessons Learned Managerial Issues Closing Case: Walmart Powers Online

2 Page 2 Answers to Pause/Break Section Review Questions Section 3.1 Review Questions 1. Describe the nature of B2C EC. B2C e-commerce is concerned with businesses selling products to customers. 2. What sells well in B2C? A variety of goods sell well online. These goods include: computers and electronics, sporting goods, office supplies, books and music, toys, health and beauty products, entertainment, apparel, services and cars. 3. What are the characteristics of high-volume products and services? The characteristics of high-volume products and services include: high brand recognition, recognized guarantees, digitized formats, relatively inexpensive items, frequently purchased items, commodities with standard specifications and well-known, un-openable packaged items (that do not need to be inspected before purchase). 4. Describe the major trends in B2C. Some trends include: More reliance on research Internet effects on retail sales Increased incentives for cross-channel sales Increased rich media 5. Why is B2C also called e-tailing? It is the electronic version of retailing. 6. List the major characteristics of B2C. Goods and services marketed and sold directly to the end-customer. 7. What are the benefits of B2C? The benefits to buyers and sellers are listed on pages 105 and 106. Section 3.2 Review Questions 1. List the B2C distribution channel models.

3 Page 3 The B2C distribution channel models include: direct marketing, pure-play e-tailers, and clickand-mortar retailers. 2. Describe how mail-order firms are going online. Companies are attempting to leverage their existing infrastructures by using a new marketing system (online), in addition to their existing method (catalogs, etc.). 3. Describe the direct marketing model used by manufacturers. The direct marketing model takes place without intermediaries between manufacturers and buyers. 4. Describe virtual e-tailing. These firms sell to customers over the Internet while not maintaining any type of physical sales location. 5. Describe the click-and-mortar approach. With this approach the firm sells to customers through the Internet and through physical sales locations. 6. Describe e-malls. Electronic malls (e-malls) are combinations of several online merchants in one location. Some malls are just an aggregation of merchants, while other malls provide integrated services (like a single checkout for many merchants). 7. Describe B2C social shopping models. These models cater to groups that shop together, or for a particular type of item. 8. Describe shopping in virtual worlds. In this model, the shopping and e-commerce take place completely inside the virtual world. 9. Describe visual virtual shopping. Shopping based significantly on the visual inspection and evaluation of products. Section 3.3 Review Questions 1. What travel services are available online that are not available off-line?

4 Page 4 Some of the additional services provided include: travel tips, electronic travel magazines, fare comparisons, currency conversion calculators, fare tracking, worldwide place locators, a travel products store, expert opinions, travel news, driving maps, chat rooms, bulletin boards and frequent-flyer deals. 2. List the benefits of online travel services to travelers and to service providers. Online travel services provide the benefits of large amounts of free information, 24/7 availability and the potential for significant reductions in price. Service providers are able to reach a broader potential market, and provide services that may be evaluated on more than just price. 3. How do social networks facilitate travel? Social networks allow for additional marketing through direct and indirect methods, including word-of-mouth. 4. Describe corporate online travel services. Corporations can use all the travel services that individuals do, but in addition may receive extra services to assist with cost control and authorization. Section 3.4 Review Questions 1. What are the driving forces of the electronic job market? The electronic job market is driven by the volatile nature of the employment market itself and the constant change in available positions and applicants. 2. What are the major advantages of the electronic job market to the candidate? To employers? A variety of advantages are described in Exhibit Why is LinkedIn so useful for job seekers and for employees? The service allows individuals to create and maintain personal networks that can aid greatly when seeking new employment. 4. List the specific tools provided by recruiters. Recruiters may have access to specific positions and work to match applicants with positions. 5. What are the limitations of electronic job markets? Limitations of the online job market include Internet access and privacy/security.

5 Page 5 Section 3.5 Review Questions 1. List the major online real estate applications. The major online real estate applications include: advice systems for customers who are buying and selling homes, directory and new sites, property listings, commercial property listings, residential property listings, links to realtors, maps, mortgage information, mortgage comparisons, mortgage brokers, online lenders, and sites for home sellers and buyers. 2. What are the advantages of selling insurance online? It provides an easy, self-service system to evaluate and select a product that may have a low margin. 3. What are the advantages of online stock tracking? The major advantages of online stock tracking are its ease-of-use, access to large amounts of information, convenience, and in many cases, reduced costs. Section 3.6 Review Questions 1. List the capabilities of online banking. Which of these capabilities would be most beneficial to you? Student opinions on the usefulness of features will vary. The capabilities available include: viewing current account balances, access to statements, online bill pay, downloadable account transactions, money transfer between accounts, balancing accounts, communicating with the bank, accessing information anytime, anywhere. 2. How are banks protecting customer data and transactions? Banks accomplish this by encrypting data within their systems, and communications between these systems and the user. 3. Describe a P2P loan system. This is a system where individuals lend to other individuals instead of using a bank. 4. How are banking transactions protected? Banks accomplish this by encrypting data within their systems, and communications between these systems and the user. 5. List and briefly describe other major personal finance services available online.

6 Page 6 The major personal finance services available online include: bill paying, electronic check writing, tracking of accounts, portfolio management, investment tracking/monitoring, stock quotes, budget organization, cash flow/profit-loss analysis, tax services and retirement services. Section 3.7 Review Questions 1. Explain on-demand delivery service. On-demand delivery service is express delivery that is made quickly after an online order is received. 2. Describe e-grocers and how they operate. These firms will take orders online and provide deliveries to customers through a regularly scheduled delivery. 3. What are the difficulties in conducting an online grocery business? Describe some solutions. Customers may be frustrated shopping for groceries online because they cannot physically examine the goods before purchase. Solutions may include better product information. 4. Describe digital goods and their delivery. Digital goods are products that can be completely digitized and delivered over the Internet. 5. What are the benefits and the limitations of digital delivery of software, music, etc.? There are several advantages to the use of digital delivery including increased speed of delivery, low product cost and low distribution costs. The major disadvantage is that not all goods can be digitized. 6. What are the major forms of online entertainment? (See Online File W3.5.) The major types of online entertainment include web browsing, gaming, sports games, etc. A full list can be seen on page 129 and 130. Section 3.8 Review Questions 1. Define shopping portals and provide two examples. Shopping portals are gateways to storefronts and malls that may be either comprehensive or niche-oriented. Examples would include gomez.com and aol.com/shopping.

7 Page 7 2. What are shopbots? A shopbot is a shopping robot that scouts the Web looking for goods and services that meet consumer s specified search criteria. 3. Explain the role of business and Web site rating and site verification tools in the purchasedecision process. These tools add to customers feelings of security in making an online purchase. They allow the customer to evaluate the quality of the merchant, and not just the price of the good, before making a purchasing decision. 4. Why are escrow services and electronic wallets useful for online purchases? Describe spy services in B2C EC. The services are useful for online purchases because they can decrease the amount of contract risk for the customer during an online purchase. These agents are able to aggregate information from several sources as well as maintain information about personal preferences to enhance the shopping experience. 5. How can a site motivate people to contribute opinions on products and vendors? There are many possibilities including discounts and recognition. Section 3.9 Review Questions 1. Define disintermediation. The elimination of a component of the traditional value chain. 2. Describe disintermediation and reintermediation. The use of EC and IT can create changes in a traditional supply chain. These changes can remove existing players (disintermediation) and can bring them back with different roles and functions (reintermediation). 3. Describe channel and other conflicts that may appear in e-tailing. Channel conflict can occur when an upstream member of the value chain begins to sell directly to customers. Channel conflict can also occur when the online division of an existing company begins to compete with its off-line division. 4. Describe price determination in e-tailing. Under what circumstances might there be a conflict?

8 Page 8 Prices need to be competitive, while still providing an adequate margin. EC can allow companies to segment users into different price groups and test pricing more than was possible with only brick-and-mortar operations. This may be an issue when the differences are discovered by customers. 5. Explain personalization and mass customization opportunities in e-tailing. Personalization is the ability to use technology to create goods that meet the exact specifications of the consumer. Mass customization is the ability to create personalized goods for a large number of customers based on their exact specifications. 6. What makes click-and-mortar companies successful? These firms may be successful because they are able to tap into both online and offline markets, while providing services for all customers in both arenas and reaping the benefits of larger scale. Answers to EC Application Case Questions EC Application Case 3.1: SELLING CARS ONLINE: BUILD-TO- ORDER Questions 1. Why sell cars online? It allows you to reach a large, geographically diverse market. 2. Why is build-to-order an attractive strategy for a car manufacturer? It allows you to meet the customers exact requirements. 3. Why do customers like to configure their cars? The case indicates that customization is important to some customers, and the ability to create a unique product based on their preferences is very appealing. 4. Compare a push versus a pull model. A push model is based on the marketing of the company. A Pull model is based on the requirements of the customer. EC Application Case 3.2: WAYN: A SOCIAL NETWORK FOR TRAVELERS Questions

9 Page 9 1. Visit wayn.com. What options do you find most exciting on the site? Student opinions will vary, but will most likely be related to social aspects of the site that allow for unbiased opinions. 2. Why has WAYN been so successful even though the site requires subscription fees? The site provides a service that is considered very useful and valuable, and provides resources not available for free. EC Application Case 3.3: SECURITY FOR ONLINE BANK TRANSACTIONS Questions 1. Why is security so important for a bank? Security is important for a bank because they are dealing with large sums of money and personal customer information. 2. Why is there a need for two firewalls? The two firewalls provide redundancy of security. One firewall protects the security of the user, and the other firewall protects the security of the bank s application server. 3. Who is protected by the bank s security system the customer, the bank, or both? Elaborate. Both parties are protected by the security system. The system protects the customer by ensuring that their personal information and accounts cannot be easily tampered with. The system protects the bank by protecting the integrity of its transactions and the security of its information. 4. What might be the limitations of such a system? If passwords and account numbers are compromised, the system can be compromised. Answers to Discussion Questions 1. Discuss the importance of comparison tools, product reviews, and customer ratings in online shopping. Shopping aides provide a variety of advantages to the customer. The greatest advantage is the ability to find a variety of products quickly and easily, and compare their attributes and prices. Student answers will vary on whether or not vendors should provide comparison tools on their

10 Page 10 site. Comparison tools would make vendors more competitive if others in the market are already doing so, but by placing comparison tools on their site they are creating an environment where cost may be the primary decision criteria. 2. Discuss the advantages of specialized e-tailors, such as dogtoys.com. Can such a store survive in the physical world? Why or why not? Stores such as this have several advantages, specifically that they are able to target a very specific niche and service that niche very well. Student answers will vary on the ability of such stores to survive in the real world. One argument would be that a store such as this could not survive in any particular physical market because the number of potential clients is so small. The Internet is needed in order to create a critical mass of potential clients. 3. Use Google to find the benefits of travel-related social networking sites. Discuss five of them. (Start with hotels.megawn.com/benefits-of-travel-relatedsocial-networking-sites-2.) Student research will vary, but will show advantages such as better recommendations, reduced costs and socialization. 4. Discuss the benefits of build-to-order to buyers and sellers. Are there any disadvantages? Build-to-order provides the customer with the advantage of being able to select the exact good that they desire. Merchants are able to meet their customers exact needs and may not need to carry any inventory. The possible disadvantages would include: increased time to delivery due to manufacturing time, possible necessity to carry a wide variety of components for manufacture, and possible higher prices for customized goods. 5. Why are online travel services such a popular Internet application? Why do so many Web sites provide free travel information? Online travel services are very popular because they allow customers to perform a function traditionally performed by an intermediary, while generating a cost savings. Many of the services are relatively easy to provide and easy for the customer to use. Many Web sites provide this information as an added benefit and incentive for users to visit their Web sites. 6. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of online stock trading with off-line trading. Online stock trading provides the advantage of allowing traders to quickly and easily trade securities and view their accounts any time of the day, from any location. Much of this is at a lower cost than traditional services. The advantage offered by off-online trading is the ability to interact directly with a broker who can provide recommendations and information on trades. 7. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of distributing digitizable products electronically versus physically.

11 Page 11 Student answers will vary. Some disadvantages include: ability to package as a selling tool, greater ability to control the product after purchase (copying, etc.) and ability to use existing sales channels. Some advantages include: decreased cost per item, decrease in distribution cost and decrease in sales cost (from an existing sales channel). 8. Do you trust your personal data on social networks such as LinkedIn or Facebook? How do you protect your privacy? Student opinions will vary, but will focus on security and use of personal details. 9. Many companies encourage their customers to buy products and services online, sometimes pushing them to do it. Why? In many cases it is less expensive, and allows for tracking and research. 10. Would you use monster.com or linkedin.com for recruiting or would you rather use a physical office of a traditional agency? Why? Student opinions will vary. Topics for Class Discussion and Debates 1. Discuss the advantages of established click-and mortar companies such as Walmart over pure-play e-tailers such as Amazon.com. What are the disadvantages of click-and-brick retailers as compared with pure-play e-tailers? Student opinions will vary. The debate will center on the advantages of a streamlined pure-play operation versus the scale benefits of a combined operation. 2. Online employment services make it easy to change jobs; therefore, turnover rates may increase. This could result in total higher costs for employers because of increased costs for recruiting and training new employees and the need to pay higher salaries and wages to attract or keep existing employees informed. What can companies do to ease this problem? Student opinions will vary. The focus of the debate will be on issues of employee satisfaction. 3. Discuss each of the following as limiting factors on the growth of B2C EC: (a) Too much competition, (b) expensive technology, (c) need a computer to shop, (d) people need the social interaction of face-to-face shopping, (e) many people cannot afford Internet access, (f ) the fear of fraud and security breaching. Student opinions will vary. The debate will be a combination of weighing advantages of online operations versus the listed objections and ways to eliminate or reduce the objections. 4. How should a company handle channel conflict with its distributors?

12 Page 12 Student opinions will vary. The debate will focus on the benefits of disintermediation and reintermediation. 5. Debate: Competition between pure play e-tailers (e.g., Amazon.com, Blue Nile) and traditional e-tailers that add the Web as a part of a multichannel (e.g., Walmart, HP, department stores) (e.g., see O Connell 2009).Who may win? Under what assumptions? Student opinions will vary. The debate will center on the advantages of a streamlined pure-play operation versus the scale benefits of a combined operation. 6. Debate: Should online sales be an independent division in a click-and-mortar firm? Student opinions will vary. The debate will have pros and cons of each model, and may be industry/company specific. 7. Debate:What is the future of Amazon.com? Student opinions will vary. Students will be evaluating the overall business model of Amazon. Internet Exercises (Note: URLs may change over time; please check the Internet Exercises on the Turban Web site for possible updates: 1. Many consumer portals offer advice and ratings of products or e-tailers. Identify and examine two separate general-consumer portals that look at other sites and compare prices or other purchase criteria. Try to find and compare prices for a digital camera, a microwave oven, and an MP3 player. Visit clusty.com. How can this site help you in your shopping? Summarize your experience. Comment on the strong and weak points of such shopping tools. Student answers will vary. Possible options include Gomez.com and consumernow.com. 2. Visit landsend.com and prepare a customized order for a piece of clothing. Describe the process. Do you think this will result in better-fitting clothing? Do you think this personalization feature will lead to greater sales volume for Lands End? Student answers will vary. Perceptions will be based on choices and preferences. 3. Make your resume accessible to millions of people. Consult asktheheadhunter.com or careerbuilder.com for help in rewriting your resume. See jobweb.com for ideas about planning your career. Get prepared for a job interview. Also, use the Web to determine what salary you can get in the city of your choice in the United States. Student answers will vary. Perceptions will be based on choices and preferences.

13 Page Visit move.com, decisionaide.com, or a similar site and compute the mortgage payment on a 30-year loan at 7.5 percent fixed interest. Also check current interest rates. Estimate your closing costs on a $200,000 loan. Compare the monthly payments of the fixed rate with that of an adjustable rate for the first year. Finally, compute your total payments if you take the loan for 15 years at the going rate. Compare it to a 30-year mortgage. Comment on the difference. Student answers will vary. Rates change frequently and are also location-dependant. 5. Access the Virtual Trader game at citycomment.co.uk and register for the Internet stock game. You will be bankrolled with 100,000 in a trading account every month. You can also play investment games at investorsleague.com, fantasystockmarket.com, and etrade.com. Student answers will vary. Choices and preferences will drive student perceptions and results. 6. Compare the price of a Sony digital camera at shopping.com, mysimon.com, bottomdollar.com, bizrate.com, and pricescan.com. Which site locates the best deal? Where do you get the best information? Student answers will vary. Content changes frequently. 7. Enter xing.com and identify its job-related offerings. Prepare a list of support activities offered. Student responses will vary, but will include support services on job-hunting, career decisions, salary expectations, and resume creation. 8. Enter Bazaarvoice (bazaarvoice.com) and find how consumers can engage in a dialog. Look at its Ask & Answer service. How is quality of content maintained. Write a report based on your findings. Student answers will vary. Perceptions will be based on choices and preferences. The model allows for user-based answers to user submitted questions. Quality is controlled by user voting on answer quality. This is very similar to the Yahoo! Answers system. 9. Enter vivente.com/resumix/web site, examine the capabilities of the tools, and write a report. Student answers will vary. The site provides an interesting suite of services. 10. Enter lockerz.com and compare its feature with that of gilt.com and ideeli.com. What are the similarities? What are the differences? Student research will vary. Student preferences and feature selection will drive the report. 11. Enter tripit.com and dopplr.com. How can these sites help travelers? How do they relate to social networks?

14 Page 14 Student opinion will vary. Both sites provide consumer information on travel services. 12. How can LinkedIn and Facebook help job seekers? How can they help employers? Student opinion will vary. Both sites can help connect employees with employers. 13. Compare the sites yelp.com and epinions.com. Student research will vary. Perceptions will be based on choices and preferences. Both sites solicit user opinions, but Yelp focuses on business while Epinions focuses on products. 14. Visit hayneedle.com. What kind of a mall is this? The site focus is home furnishings. 15. Compare the offering of JobServe to that of Aspire Media Group regarding solutions for recruitment. Distinguish services to employees from those to employers. Student research will vary. Content changes frequently. Team Assignments and Role Playing 1. Assignment for the Opening Case Read the opening case and answer the following questions. a. What are Amazon.com s critical success factors? Is its decision to offer a much broader selection of items a good marketing strategy? With the broader selection, do you think the company will dilute its brand or extend the value proposition to its customers? b. Amazon.com uses Zappos as a separate store. Does it make sense? Why or why not? c. Visit amazon.com and identify at least three specific elements of its personalization and customization features. Browse specific books on one particular subject, leave the site, and then go back and revisit the site. What do you see? Are these features likely to encourage you to purchase more books in the future from Amazon.com? Check the 1- Click feature and other shopping aids provided. List the features and discuss how they may lead to increased sales. d. With what type of companies does Amazon.com have alliances? Why? e. Check all the personalization features at the site. List their advantages. f. Find the non-b2c activities of Amazon.com. Why do they offer these services? g. Find some recent material on the marketing strategy of Amazon.com and discuss it. h. Examine social networking activities at Amazon.com. What are their purposes? i. Describe what an astore is. Student answers will vary. Responses are largely dependent on student evaluation of Amazon s business model.

15 Page Each team will investigate the services of two online car-selling sites (from the following list or other sites).when teams have finished, they should bring their research together and discuss their findings. a. Buying new cars through an intermediary (autobytel. com, carsdirect.com, autoweb.com, or amazon.com) These sites allow users to evaluate and select a car through a third party, then helps broker the sale with a dealer. b. Buying used cars (autotrader.com) This site allows users to search listings of used cars. c. Buying used cars by auto dealers (manheim.com) This site allows dealers to select cars for resale. d. Automobile ratings sites (carsdirect.com and fueleconomy.gov) These sites provide unbiased information on cars to aid in the selection process. e. Car-buying portals (thecarportal.com and cars.com) These sites allow for the select of cars, and link to dealers that sell them (in general or for a specific car). f. Buying collectors cars (classiccars.com and antiquecar.com) This site allows users to search listings of classic cars. Student answers will vary. Report content will be driven by site selection, and which features are compared. 3. Each team (or team member) will review two or three travel-oriented, social-oriented networks (e.g., Zimbio,World 66, Virtual Tourist, BootsnAll, Eezeer, Trip Advisor, TrekCafe, Lonely Planet Thorn Tree, WAYN, and Budget Globetrotting). Compare their functionalities. Student answers will vary. Report content will be driven by site selection, and which features are compared. 4. Each team will represent a broker-based area (e.g., real estate, insurance, stocks, employment). Each team will find a new development that has occurred in the assigned area over the most recent three months. Look for the site vendor s announcement and search for more information on the development with google.com or another search engine. Examine the business news at bloomberg.com. After completing your research, as a team, prepare a report on disintermediation in your assigned area. Student answers will vary. Content changes frequently, and reports will vary greatly based on topic selection. 5. Plan a wedding entirely online (geek-style). First, make a chart of the process. Do not forget the proposal itself, buy the ring, get music, use Twitter, and use a self-managed DJ. You want to save money and to use guest-generated content. You may start by looking at itworld.com/offbeat/68244/wedding-20-when-weddings-go-geek and by searching Google for geek wedding.

16 Page 16 Student answers will vary based on personal preferences. 6. Watch the video Internet Marketing and E-Commerce with Tom Antion (Part 1; Part 2 is optional); 9 minutes, youtube.com/watch?v=tc1u9eqpf68, and answer the following questions: a. What revenue sources are cited? b. What B2C revenue sources that you are aware of are not cited? c. What are the two affiliate models? Compare these two models. d. Why is ebay so great for selling? e. Comment on the suggestions for products/services to be sold from your home. f. What problems and limitations do you see for conducting business from your home? 7. View some videos about future retail shopping (both offline and online). Discuss what B2C e-commerce may look like in the future considering these developments (e.g., see Microsoft s future vision on retailing and several videos by Metro AG in Europe). Student answers will vary. This is an interesting video, and students will respond differently to the arguments presented. Answers to End-of-Chapter Real-World Case Questions: WAL-MART POWERS ONLINE 1. Compare walmart.com with amazon.com. What features do the sites have in common? Which are unique to walmart.com? To amazon.com? Student answers will vary. Both stores have a wide variety of products available and span several different categories. Both sites have a variety of customer service and shopping features. 2. Will Wal-Mart become the dominant e-tailer in the world, replacing Amazon, or will Amazon dominate Wal-Mart online? What factors would contribute to Wal-Mart s success in the online marketplace? What factors would detract from its ability to dominate online sales the way it has been able to dominate physical retail sales in many markets? Student answers will vary. The dominant factor that will help Wal-Mart is their ability to purchase in bulk and their understanding of purchase-side logistics. Amazon.com has the benefit of understanding online sales and order fulfillment online. 3. Check the shopping aids offered at walmart.com. Compare them with those at amazon.com. Student answers will vary. Both sites provide a variety of robust aids. 4. What online services can be purchased at walmart.com? Student answers will vary. Examples include: B2C sales, photos, gift cards and other services. 5. Compare buying a song from walmart.com versus buying it from Apple s itunes.

17 Page 17 Student answers will vary based on preferences related to the processes involved. 6. Visit walmart.com, target.com, marksandspencer.com, and sears.com. Identify the common features of their online marketing and at least one unique feature evident at each site. Do these sites have to distinguish themselves primarily in terms of price, product selection, or Web site features? Student answers will vary. There is a great amount of diversity, and students will focus on different aspects. 7. Investigate the options for international customers on the Wal-Mart Web site. Student answers will vary. Content changes over time. 8. Study Walmart s affiliate program. Compare it to that of Amazon.com. The programs are similar, but it appears Amazon s model provides more flexibility.