Page 15 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

xvi Contents

Price and Quality Comparison by Shopbot Software Agents .............. 86
Ratings, Reviews, and Recommendation Sites ......................... 86
Comparison Shopping Websites ................................... 87
Trust Verification Sites ........................................... 87
Other Shopping Assisting Tools .................................... 87
Aggregators ................................................... 88
3.9 The New Face of Retail Competition: Retailers Versus E-Tailers .......... 88
The Online Versus Off-Line Competition: An Overview ................ 88
Retailers Versus E-Tailers ........................................ 89
Examples of Click-and-Brick Retailers .............................. 89
What Can Traditional Retailers Do? ................................ 90
3.10 Issues in E-Tailing and Lessons Learned ............................. 91
Disintermediation and Reintermediation ............................. 91
Channel Conflict ............................................... 92
Product and Service Customization and Personalization ................. 92
Lessons Learned from Failures and Lack of Success of E-Tailers ......... 92
Managerial Issues ................................................... 92
Summary .......................................................... 93
Closing Case: Etsy—A Social-Oriented B2C Marketplace ................... 97
References ......................................................... 98
4 Business-to-Business E-Commerce .................................... 101
Opening Case: Alibaba.com—The World’s Largest B2B Marketplace .......... 101
4.1 Concepts, Characteristics, and Models of B2B E-Commerce ............. 104
Basic B2B Concepts and Process .................................. 104
The Basic Types of B2B Transactions and Activities ................... 104
The Basic Types of B2B E-Marketplaces and Services .................. 104
Market Size and Content of B2B ................................... 105
B2B Components ............................................... 105
Service Industries Online in B2B .................................. 107
The Benefits and Limitations of B2B ............................... 108
4.2 B2B Marketing: Sell-Side E-Marketplaces ........................... 109
Sell-Side Models ............................................... 109
Sales from Catalogs: Webstores .................................... 109
Comprehensive Sell-Side Systems .................................. 110
Selling via Distributors and Other Intermediaries ...................... 110
4.3 Selling via E-Auctions ........................................... 110
The Benefits of Auctions on the Sell-Side ............................ 111
Auctioning from the Company’s Own Site ........................... 111
Using Intermediaries in Auctions ................................... 111
Examples of B2B Forward Auctions ................................ 111
4.4 One-from-Many: E-Procurement at Buy-Side E-Marketplaces ............ 112
Inefficiencies in Traditional Procurement Management ................. 112
Procurement Methods ........................................... 112
E-Procurement Concepts ......................................... 113
The Benefits and Limitations of E-Procurement ....................... 114
4.5 Reverse Auctions at Buy-Side E-Marketplaces (E-Tendering) ............ 115
The Major Benefits of Reverse Auctions ............................. 116
Conducting Reverse Auctions ..................................... 116
Case 4.1: EC Application: Branas Isaf Competes by Using E-Tendering ........ 117
4.6 Other E-Procurement Methods .................................... 118
Desktop Purchasing ............................................. 118
Group Purchasing ............................................... 118
Buying from Other Sources ....................................... 118