Business Models

The objective of this assignment was to choose a recently purchased product (costing greater than $100) and search on the Internet where the product is available on three different websites. Once the websites have been identified then the business models they use are to be listed and evaluated.

The product that I recently purchased was a Sony DVD player/recorder. After doing research on the Internet I found there are numerous places where this equipment can be purchased from. The most trusted sites I thought were the ones that I know as a regular household name; such as Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Amazon, etc. Although these are the sites I trust the most they are not the only ones. All of those are business to consumer e-tailers; but those are not the only place on the Internet where a DVD player/recorder can be purchased.

The three websites I researched where I can purchase the DVD player/recorder from is Amazon, eBay, and Yahoo. All three of these website represent a different business model; such as an e-tailer, a market creator, and a portal.

Amazon is an e-tailer which is an online retailer who leverages the efficiency of the Internet to improve a customer's buying experience. Advantages of e-tailing over traditional retailing include 24/7 ordering availability, searchable product offerings, more product options, low overhead, unique and highly customizable sales promotions, and easily updated product descriptions (Wikipedia). This site offers both new and used products.

Ebay is a market creator which uses internet technology to bring buyers and sellers together. Ebay features an extremely horizontal business model. They enable transactions and communication between millions of people. They essentially propose that individuals will get the best service out of a free-market environment. eBay doesn't carry inventory. Those who list stuff on the service for sale bear all the inventory carrying costs and this is an enormous benefit for the company (Gardner).

Yahoo is a web portal which is a sites on the World Wide Web that typically provides personalized capabilities to its visitors. It is designed to use distributed applications, different numbers and types of middleware and hardware to provide services from a number of different sources. A further business-driven requirement of portals is that the content be able to work on multiple platforms such as personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cell phones.

Amazon and eBay are self explanatory; with Yahoo I used a different feature to search for my desired product. I used Yahoo classifieds. With this feature I was able to search for my product with sellers within my local area as well as across the nation. I can also access the listing through my cell phone as long as I have a user I.D. and password. It is also a free service in which I can post an advertisement;