Sunday, May 25, 2014

Trust in the online environment

Trust is not associative: 
In E-Commerce the trust between buyers and sellers is not always at the same level. Each party may have different level of trust, whilst the seller trusts that he will get the money for his goods, the buyer may not trust that the product they purchased will be intact upon delivery or even make it to them.


Trust is not transitive:
Trust cannot be directly passed onto the next customer. However customers rely on what other people say to determine whether to trust a business or another online consumer. The key is for a seller to build up that trust. Not only by word of mouth, but have proof that the customer won't be disappointed the quality of product purchased.


Trust is it 2 parties:
This depends on the number of parties involved. When a transaction is between a buyer and seller as a general rule this is generally true. However adding suppliers, re-sellers (third parties) to the mix can add to the level of distrust a party may have.


Direct trust or recommended trust:
Direct trust relates to a consumer basing their judgment of trust on their perspective to the transaction taking place. Recommended trust goes back to the word of mouth; consumers will base their judgment on the views of others who have already had experience with the business be it bad or good.

Sites that build trust: 

eBay.com
eBay has built as security center which gives tips on increasing the users security, it also recommends whether the item you intend to purchase is off as well trusted party. Having this feature creates confidence that security is an important aspect for this site.

PayPal.com
PayPal, like eBay also has a security center and is a credible third party protector. It acts verify transactions and business companies and sellers. Having this instills a level of confidence to the user that the site is legitimate in what it is offering.

Channel Conflict


Conflicting interests

Today i will just give a small definition of what channel conflict is. Channel conflict is the process by which manufacturers dis-intermediate or try to remove any channel partners that they may have to sell directly online to consumers. they cut out their channel partners, such as distributors, retailers, dealers, and sales representatives, by selling their products or services direct to the consumers through marketing methods or through an online business. Channel conflict is defined as a situation where two marketing channels compete for the same sale of the same brand.




Online Auctions

eBay:

A pure play is a company that invests its resources in only one line of business.The Business Model of eBay is an online person-to-person trading community. Buyers and sellers are brought together in a manner where sellers are permitted to list items for sale and buyers to bid on items of interest. eBay allowed general trading of items when it was first constructed but over time has created itself an online community that feels safe and has the added feeling of safety with the third party paypal looking after your best interests.

Links:
http://hbr.org/2011/09/ebays-founder-on-innovating-the-business-model-of-social-change/ar/1

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/04/042904.asp

http://teamcaffeine.wikidot.com/ebay



eBay’s Dominance:
eBay has a greater dominance in the online market over sites such as Amazon.com due to its feeling of familty, reliability and security. Its dominant online auctions have matured reducing risk and increasing security. however in china ebay plays second due to tao bao having free listing.

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/business/ebays-turnaround-defies-convention-for-internet-companies.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Ebay uses a third party group to add security to transactions made online, with higher security measures PayPal looks after eBay customers privacy and security. A brand named vendor would set up an online business through eBay due to it added security, online presence and its ability to let consumers know trusted sellers. eBay has just recently changed the pricing for listing items through there site if you are a separate business, reducing the cost for businesses to sell their products through eBay.

Automata

Automata
Automata as communicated within the debate is an area of science study that is being funded build up smarter software to help humanity. It isn't all that far away, the studying on areas of the brain has seen great progress and exponential growth. They are able to differentiate between subjective and subconscious thinking and how to put that into a process of thought for a computer to interpret. Progress on the brain is rapidly expanding and scientists have mapped out how to stimulate dreaming, however need to build towards emotion.

Check out this link for more information on the debate surrounding Automata: http://videolectures.net/mitworld_kurzweil_gelernter_brooks_cmmm/


Automated customer service

Using what has been talked about i don't believe that automated customer service devices will be implemented soon in online shopping sites. The study around the brain is taking a long time. With so many cells all completing chemical processes we are finding it is taking a long time to map out. The prediction was made that it would be 50 years before we saw this activity implemented however with the rapid growth of technological computer software i believe the estimate could be a little shorter than that.

Digital Markets

Digital Markets
Online shopping has been relatively pleasant for me, i have shopped online at eBay and a online supplements store. Both experiences have been favorable as i have been given additional product as a gesture of goodwill from the online businesses. I found online shopping easy to use and they delivered either early or on time. However that's not saying everything has been 100% well. I have had some of my products sent to other addresses out of no fault of my own. However even this wasn't to much of a hassle as i simply contacted them and they re-sent the product with extra samples as well. Being able to contact them at a moments notice with the details being readily available on their site and the convenience of the product coming right to my door was great as i live in a rural area to travel to get product, buying online reduced all the hassle. In the future businesses will need to fight to stay competitive, retail stores may need to cut their processes to be more productive and cost effective and look to set up a online presence to compete with the growing online market.


Mobile devices have a number of functions that are designed towards working in e-commerce ways, maybe not with the original intention of functioning for that purpose, functions such as Bluetooth on smart phones offer the user the ability to fax, e-mail, access the internet whilst still performing normal phone capabilities. I tend not to use my phone for this due to 2 things, firstly my phone is a few years old and doesn't have these capabilities and secondly i firmly believe that i use technology to much and need to spend more time away from a screen and as such i haven't performed any transactions or processes through wireless mobile devices. I have separated my life a little and kept my business and purchases to the computer and my day to day life separate. I have seen the advantage of this however many of my friends have purchased items from eBay online through their phones winning betting wars on products online and as such i can see the great advantage and appeal of these wireless devices.