Topic 6 Questions

Topic 6: Digital Markets

1.       a) What experience have you had with shopping online?

I have bought numerous items off Amazon.com and many other online stores.

b) Describe a good experience.

The items I bought off online stores were cheaper and easier to purchase than those in a normal store.

c) What did you like about the online store you used?

It gave me more variety of products compared to stores where I lived and tended to be cheaper, including the postage.

d) Describe a bad experience.

Some of the online stores don’t have a specific shipping date so you can wait up to 4 weeks for a certain product.

e) What problems did you have with the online store?

 I have not had any problems with online stores

f) What features make an online store more appealing?

An online store is more appealing to me when they have all the little information on the product such as specifications and include realistic pictures. It also is good when there is customer ratings of the product of those who have already purchased the product.

g) What features make an online store less appealing?

The first impression is somewhat vital when I am browsing for new products on the internet so the layout, colours and style of the web page is quite important.

h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?

I think that we should expect to see the prices fall due to the migration of consumers online. People are becoming more aware of the popularity of purchasing online. It draws in a lot of customers because it tends to be cheaper to purchase things on the internet compared to in a store. Online stores have much less costs involved and they can target a much larger audience compared to a store in a certain town, state or country.

2.       Please discuss the following statements and indicate if you agree with them or not. No right or wrong answers.

a)      The dispersion or prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.

I agree. I think that as more and more people are attracted to purchasing items on the internet, the competition will become very fierce. Rappa mentions that customers will become more aware of the pricings on the internet and easily be able to compare multiple sites and prices very quickly.

b)      The importance of brand names will decrease.

I disagree. I still believe that customers will remain brand loyal. Even today, customers are still buying items that are branded no matter the cost because of the image and style they want to uphold. I think that customers will try to find places where they can get their brands cheaper.

c)       Price competition will make all products cheaper

I disagree.  I think that this statement is applicable with some items but not all. People are still willing to pay high costs for what they believe to be a high quality product.

d)      Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites like Amazon.com.

I agree. I think just as it has happened in the real world, there will be dominant sites over the internet. Also, just as the real world, there will also be speciality stores where online stores will be able to make sales but I believe that the giants will be dominate over the internet.

e)      How do you think the balance of power between buyers and sellers will change?

I think the balance will increase on the buyer’s side. They have more information available to them, being able to compare prices with multiple stores. Sellers will now have to compete with so many more businesses and constantly view competitor prices to make sure they are in level with them.

f)       Prices are clustered online.

It depends. I think that may be the case with some products where it can be lowered constantly but with other products such as brands and expensive items it becomes more complicated.

g)      Online prices are elastic (i.e. immune to change up and down with demand)

I disagree. I think that prices will rise and fall according to the demand of a particular product. The more a product is demanded by customers, the more sellers will stock them and a price war may erupt to gain potential clients.

h)      Online prices are generally transparent ( the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace)

Yes, I agree. Most buyers would do research on certain products based on price to see where they can source the product at the cheapest price.

3.       a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?

Mobile bill payment, banking and financial services, wireless advertising, location-based services and games and entertainment, Bluetooth, emails.

b) Which of these services do you use?

I use emails, games and entertainment and Bluetooth.

c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device?

I would check my emails when I am not at home, Bluetooth files and pictures and play games with my iPhone.

d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but currently unable to?

I don’t have any because I prefer using my laptop. I tend only to use my iPhone if I am away from home to check emails or am bored.

e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?

I think it is a very effective way of marketing to people as most have mobile phones compared to internet at home. It would be, however in my opinion very frustrating to be bombarded with mobile advertising while I am trying to perform tasks on my phone.