E-corporation and their busine


E-Corporation and their Business Model



Selling businesses, products or services has become much more complex through the Internet. As Hugh Patission mentioned, ?The E-Corporation - Competition today is not between products, it's between business models?. This explains the complexity of the whole marketing of a product or service via net. Which way is more efficient, cheaper, updated, or which model to use for a specific product? Should companies go directly to consumers via the Web or protect their traditional channels? These are the daily questions of many corporations selling on the net.

The World Wide Web is a large environment progressing and changing at a very erratic pace, and only companies quick in trying, learning and adapting will survive and win this new battle. A thing that has changed in fact, is the approach of product/service towards consumer. Off-line the consumer is told to ?check out? the new store next door, but online the consumer checks out what he wants. The consumer is able to travel through 50 different stores in different countries in one afternoon whilst it would probably take him weeks or months to do the same off-line. One of the features about surfing on the net is that one normally surfs on the page he or she wants, therefore the consumer almost gathers the total control of what to buy, choose, compare with, or how much information to retrieve. This change brings the first difficulty for companies, the bargain of a product. Obviously one of the major new facilities for consumers with the advantage of being able to compare prices much easier, efficient and less expensive, consumers become more picky and more specific in what they want or need. It is not a situation anymore in which the consumer has to satisfy its need with a similar object, or has to wait for a specific order or is even a victim of lack of information (e.g. pays more for a product than he should). Corporations are offering the consumer any possible variation on their products, e.g. consumer can order a digital camera in green not having to wait and fill-out a specific order in a store.

This enlarges the information or the access to available information giving the consumer the possibility to compare features, price and performance of the desired product and make a better choice. In other words companies battle fields have shifted towards space to put information, and ways and tricks to gain new passing eyes, potential new customers.

A number of different models used to approach the consumer on the net are as follow:



_ The Business Models of Lawrence Et.

_ The Business Models of Timmers

_ Real Time Business Model



They have been created with the aim to increase or maintain their market share in this new battle-field, the Cyberspace. Each product may apply a different strategy of models or combinations of models due to its shape, weight, time dependence or the segment the product is targeting.

The following will present and explain some of these models, the Advertising Model, the Subscription Model, the 3.5.7 Model by Lawrence Et. and, the Real Time Model, and also evaluating them.

As mentioned before each product or service has its own model in which a product is more successfully marketed.

How does a not-so-well known company show what they have, or how does a known company attack new segments seeking more consumer attention? Since the rolls on the net became voiceovers, the consumer retrieves what it wants, and the producer has to be hunted. The advertising model is based on using creative advertising banners and links in very frequented web-pages. Some companies have successfully advertised their new products and services through this system making sure their ads are more creative and attractive for the roaming eyes of the consumer. The biggest winner here though, is the page that offers that space. Search engines like Amazon or Yahoo have made big use of this model. All the services they offer (e.g. chats, games, e-mail, search engine etc.) are for free, charging companies for the use of space for ads on their Web-pages. The more frequented a page is the more it costs to display an ad. Companies starting to use this model are definitely at an advantage for their present position and the its cost.



The Subscription Model has become a very popular model with a high range of success. By subscribing in any service or company on the net, all your given information is stored on a special data base that is used to classify users. With this data-base that has all the records of visited products and purchases, the providers are able to target the visitors on a more personal basis. An example of this is Hotmail. Hotmail is not only one of the most popular, free e-mail services, but it also belongs to Microsoft. The new way to link the customer to the wanted page can also be manipulated by the new ?Passport? system of Hotmail. All the information given in subscription to Hotmail is automatically transferred to other services Microsoft offers. Say you entered, your hobby is to travel, therefore you will get e-mails about travel with new offers on where to fly, it also facilitates one with the advantage of not having to re-enter all their personal details all over again when subscribing in a new company run by Microsoft. This model is very powerful and it does not end there, consumers are followed through their life cycle becoming aware of what the company has to offer to the specific consumers. It is more likely that a father will consider the idea of a family insurance rather than a child. For the child, the company will target for example new bikes. This model divides the segments even further, making sure that the consumer feels special, with not costing much extra.

The two models mentioned before are more aggressive and more suitable for newcomers to the net while the 3.5.7 Model tries more to maintain the customer happy and loyal. The model consists of 3 steps to focus better, a 5 dimensional strategy and a 7 point tactical Guide. This can be achieved with the help of the other models.

The focus is present in the physical and the electronic environment. Statistics have shown that purchasing through the net has increased but mostly the consumer gathers information off the net and purchases the item afterwards. Therefore the link between the physical and electronic environments have to be maintained and not be forgotten. The other aspect suggests the advantage of having cheap communication costs between the consumer and the company. The same e-mail can be sent to millions of people all at the same time.

The strategies mainly place importance in maintaining the communication with already existing customers, providing closer, faster service and support and not to forget the potential of future customers. This can be helped by the proper use of brand-links and stored data-base for example. The model? tactical ...