Marketing Management free essay sample

The sellers were also pleased because they reached a wide variety of buyers, and they ended up owing very little overhead when the deals were done (Kotler amp; Keller, 2012, p. 411). The reason eBay succeeded while others failed is because the others were unable to create a unique business model which pleased both buyers and sellers (Bandyopadhyay amp; Wolfe, 2004, p. 141). Although there is little revenue input from these companies, many sites such as auction. com, sandcrawler. com, and firstauction. om, merged with others or shutdown due to lack of participants (Bandyopadhyay amp; Wolfe, 2004, p. 141). Bandyopadhyay and Wolfe (2004) examined the reasons an auction site succeeds and their variables for their research were determined as ease of user interactivity, variety of product offerings, level of trust, rate of growth and adoption, networking, level of commitment, and payment options. When customers feel they are more than just a number, they will soon become frequent buyers. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Other mentionables by Bandyopadhyay and Wolfe (2004) were the web address must be easy to remember, the site must be easy to navigate, easy interaction with other members or the site itself, availability 24/7, high-usage interaction, advanced features, and the design of the website must be clutter-free (Bandyopadhyay amp; Wolfe, 2004, p. 141-143). eBay has all of these listed features and must be part of its success. In addition to the above reasons, the CEO, John Donohue, states that he continues to search for new innovations. This gives eBay a competitive advantage from its competitors with mobile apps and e-commerce offline as well as online (Stewart, 2012). Changes in technology will continue and Donohue seems like the needed man for the job to continue with eBay’s success. eBay also surveys its buyers and sellers quite frequently and holds teleconferences with them. They use this information to make recommended changes from the active users. eBay is constantly aiming to please their eBay community (Kotler amp; Keller, 2012, p. 411). 2. Evaluate eBay’s fee structure. Is it optimal or could it be improved? Why? How? Sellers currently must pay a listing fee per item (whether it sells or not). They also have the option to pay for additional list features such as product pictures, the duration of the auction, a secret reserve price, borders, bold titles, etc. If the item sells, the seller pays a commission to eBay (Song amp; Mela, 2008, p. 863). There is always room for improvements within every business. eBay is not any different. eBay currently does not charge the bidders for any participation or bought items. They could offer the buyers to elect to pay to go into a select penny auction bidding room for special products. However, I would not recommend the same business model as quibids. com, as it seems you pay sixty cents for every one cent you spend, plus the members must pay to be members and then, buy the products as well (Quibids. com, 2012). eBay could also charge the sellers to enter their products in the special penny auction bidding room for a discount price if they are having trouble selling it on a â€Å"Buy it Now† option. Bay could also pilot other types of auctions such as the Dutch auction, where the auctioner places the high bid and slowly decreases the bid until a bidder accepts it (Kotler amp; Keller, 2012, p. 402). Or, eBay could try the sealed-bid auction which would allow for bidders to only submit one secret bid without knowing the other amounts of the bids (Kotler amp; Keller, 2012, p. 402). Also, eBay could always increase their percentage of commission which I would not recommend with the current economy. 3. What’s next for eBay? How does it continue to grow when it needs both buyers and sellers? Where will this growth come from? eBay will continue to grow through innovations like its CEO, John Donahue, stated in the recent New York Times article, Behind eBay’s Comeback (Stewart, 2012). They must always concentrate on the newest technologies and what the customer wants before the customer knows it even wants it. eBay should continue to look into other profitable business ventures such as paypal, but should continue to stay in the realm of auctioning or paying for auctioning items. They should continue to increase their business ventures in Europe and Asia. Currently, its largest market in Europe is Germany and its largest market in Asia is South Korea (Bazdan, 2011). They should focus on other wealthy countries which they have minimal presence or no presence at all. Perhaps also, ebay should venture into the different types of auctions as I mentioned above. Some buyers and sellers may be attracted to the silent-bid auction or Dutch auction. This may actually attract additional sellers and buyers who were never interested in the current ebay English auction type. They will not know if it is a success unless they pilot the new idea for many months in many different geographical locations.