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304 Part 2 Strategy and applications

The type of criteria on which customers judge performance can be used to benchmark the
proposition. Table 5.10 summarizes criteria typically used for benchmarking. It can be seen
that the criteria are consistent with the strategic postioning options of Chaston (2000). Sig-
nificantly, the retailers with the best overall score at the time of writing, such as Tesco
(grocery retail), smile (online banking) and Amazon (books), are also perceived as the market
leaders and are strong in each of the scorecard categories. These ratings have resulted from
strategies that enable the investment and restructuring to deliver customer performance.
Plant (2000) also identifies four different positional e-strategic directions which he refers to as
technology leadership, service leadership, market leadership and brand leadership. The author
acknowledges that these are not exclusive. It is interesting that this author does not see price dif-
Online value
proposition (OVP) ferentiation as important, rather he sees brand and service as important to success online.
A statement of the In Chapter 8 we look further at how segmentation, positioning and creating differential
benefits of online services advantage should be integral to Internet marketing strategy. We also see how the differential
reinforces the core
proposition and advantage and positioning of an e-commerce service can be clarified and communicated by
differentiates from an developing an online value proposition (OVP).
organization’s offline
offering and those of To conclude this section on e-business strategies, complete Activity 5.3 for a different per-
competitors. spective on e-business strategies.

Table 5.10 Example scorecard criteria for rating e-tailers

Scorecard category Scorecard criteria
1 Ease of use • Demonstrations of functionality.
• Simplicity of account opening and transaction process.
• Consistency of design and navigation.
• Adherence to proper user interaction principles.
• Integration of data providing efficient access to information commonly accessed by
consumers.
2 Customer confidence • Availability, depth and breadth of customer service options, including phone, e-mail
and branch locations.
• Ability to resolve accurately and readily a battery of telephone calls and e-mails sent to
customer service, covering simple technical and industry-specific questions.
• Privacy policies, service guarantees, fees and explanations of fees.
• Each ranked web site is monitored every 5 minutes, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for
speed and reliability of both public and secure (if available) areas.

• Financial strength, technological capabilities and independence, years in business,
years online and membership of trade organizations.
3 On-site resources • Availability of specific products.
• Ability to transact in each product online.
• Ability to seek service requests online.
4 Relationship services • Online help, tutorials, glossary and frequently asked questions.
• Advice.
• Personalization of data.
• Ability to customize a site.
• Reuse of customer data to facilitate future transactions.
• Support of business and personal needs such as tax reporting or repeated buying.
• Frequent-buyer incentives.
5 Overall cost • A basket of typical services and purchases.
• Added fees due to shipping and handling.
• Minimum balances.
• Interest rates.