Business Models and Marketing

Question 1

What is the definition of e-commerce?

Answer 1

E-commerce involves transactions between two or more individuals and/or companies in which each party hopes to gain a benefit by exchanging something with the other party.

Question 2

What are the four different perspectives of e-commerce?

Answer 2

1. A communications perspective
2. A business perspective
3. A service perspective
4. An online perspective

Question 3

What’s a business model?

Answer 3

A business model is the method of doing business by which a company can sustain itself - that is generate a revenue.

Question 4

Name the nine different business models and give an example of each.

Answer 4

1. Brokerage Model
      > B2B : Business to business
            - ChemConnect
      > B2C : Business to customer
            - Amazon
      > C2C : Customer to customer
            - EBay

2. Advertising Model
   
   • Yahoo!
3. Info - Mediary Model
   
   • Engadget (other tech blogs)
4. Merchant Model
   
   • All kinds of online shops
5. Manufacturer Model
   
   • Dell
6. Affiliate Model
   
   • Groupon
7. Community Model
   
   • MIUI (open source)
8. Subscription Model
   
   • Wall Street Journal
9. Utility Model
   
   • iTunes Movie Rental

Question 5

What are the four P’s of marketing?

Answer 5

1. Product
2. Promotion
3. Price
4. Place

Question 6

Market segmentation is…

Answer 6

The process of dividing potential customers into relevant groups for targeting.

Segments maybe be based on:

• Demographics
• Income and wealth
• Lifestyle

etc…

Question 7

When creating product features what is needed?

Answer 7

Design of new products usually requires strong collaboration between marketers and technologists throughout the planning and launch of a new product.

Question 8

What needs to be taken into account when deciding price of the product?

Answer 8

Need to take into account:

• Expectations of potential customers
• Price of competing, substitute and complementary products.
• Government regulation and taxes

Question 9

What does promotion refer to? What are some examples of advertising?

Answer 9

A promotional strategy refers to how potential customers can be made aware of the product.

Promotional messages need to communicate the identity of the brand to the target audience in a way which resonates with them.

Advertising may be:
> Mass advertising
- TV, newspapers, web-pages
> Or targeted to specific groups.
- dynamic web adverts may target particular
adverts at particular users, based on information
known about the user.

Question 10

Explain what Place (distribution) means. How does the buying process for a customer effect distribution?

Answer 10

The distribution strategy concerns where and how a customer can purchase a product.

The easier the buying process is for a customer, the more work is required upfront by the company providing the product.

Question 11

What’s the consumer purchase process model?

Answer 11

Need Arousal –> Info search –> Evaluation –> Purchase decision – > Post Purchase