Yahoo Auctions Singapore

Objectives

Purpose

Yahoo! Auctions Singapore is an online marketplace which provides auction service to facilitate transaction among its users. It acts as a platform not only for individuals and businesses who use the site to auction off goods and services but also for the others who wish to purchase goods online.


Features

Business Model

Yahoo! Auctions Singapore is based on an online marketplace business model which is also known as an net marketplace or eHub model. It can be categorized as a C2C (Customer to Customer) or B2C (Business to Customer) model too. As some businesses operate solely online via Yahoo Auctions or they may have a physical store and also an online Yahoo Auctions booth. An example of such a booth would be one by tokyohobby. They have a store down at Far East Plaza but they also market their items online, in hope of increasing sales.

Users can buy or sell via Yahoo! Auctions Singapore at the convenience of their own comfort. Previously, such commerce was conducted through garage sales, flea markets, and classified advertisements. However, now buyers and sellers can transact online within minutes of registering. Buying and selling online with ease in an auction format is made possible with auction software.

Items put up for auction are being sold by other registered users, Yahoo! Auctions Singapore does not own the goods. The items are organized into different categories which make searching easier. Sellers and buyers are responsible for all aspects of the transactions in which they participate. Yahoo! Auctions Singapore merely facilitates the process of listing and displaying goods, the bidding procedures, and payment. All transactions must be consistent with any applicable legal rules and with Yahoo!'s guidelines, Yahoo! Terms of Service and the Yahoo! Auctions Additional Terms.

Payment Scheme

Payment and shipping options are usually determined by the seller. Yahoo! Auctions Singapore does not have any shopping cart or payment processing system.



At the end of an auction, the seller would email the buyer the payment details. One of the most common payment method would be a bank funds transfer. Buyers can transfer payment to the seller’s bank account via an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Internet Banking or a Cash Deposit Machine. In an event where the buyer does not have an ATM card or bank account, the seller may suggest that the buyer send concealed cash via mail or they may compromise and agree on a face to face cash-on-delivery meet up. Paypal is used mainly for the occasional overseas buyer as the bulk of buyers and sellers in Yahoo! Auctions Singapore are mainly local.

Links

Yahoo! Auctions Singapore has several link features which make online auctioning a breeze.



The left-hand links panel of the home page shows the separate categories of items up for bidding. While the right-hand links panel has a Getting Started section which is useful for the new users. Below that section is a ‘Recent Announcements’ corner where Yahoo! Auctions would keep its users updated with latest features or news relating to the website.



On an auction item page itself, there would be four links available on the top right-hand corner. These are namely the ‘Neighbourhood Watch’, ‘Email a Friend’, ‘Add to My Calendar’ and ‘Add to Watchlist’ links.

The ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ allows users to report auctions that do not belong on the Yahoo! Auctions site. Yahoo! Auction would then use the information provided by the user to decide whether the auction should be removed.

The ‘Email a Friend’ function allows the registered user to notify a friend who might be interested in that particular auction item via email.
The ‘Add to My Calendar’ allows registered users to add the auction to their Yahoo! Calendar as an appointment or notice. Users may set a reminder in their calendar in regards of the auction item.

The ‘Add to Watchlist’ allows the registered user to add the auction item to his online Watchlist in Yahoo! Auctions.



The ‘My Auctions’ link would show the registered user a summary of his buying and selling activities. Under the user’s buying activities, there would be a summary of what is in his watchlist, what he had won and lost in past auctions. And if the user is a seller as well, there would be a summary of his selling activites. It would list a summary of the current auction items he has for sale, the auction items which were sold and those auctions which had been closed without any buyers for the item.



The side panel of ‘My Auctions’ also has links. It would show the registered user’s ratings. A link to edit the user’s profile and contact info.

There are also several links under the Options menu like ‘Set Event Notification’, ‘Edit Blacklist’, ‘Customize Winning Email’, ‘My Auction Booth’, ‘Bulk Loader’, ‘Bulk Loader Options’ and ‘Paypal’. All of these are to aid the seller in their online auction transactions.

Yahoo! Auctions Singapore has a basic search function as well as a refine search function for its users.



The refine results search function allows users to search for a particular item through several specific ways. The user can choose to search via a specific categories, price range, seller, keyword or item id number.

The user can also choose for search results to display only items with photo, without reserve price, those with ‘Buy Now’ price, those that accept Paypal payment, those freshly-listed auction items and those auctions which have been closed already.



Yahoo! Auctions Singapore has this Yahoo Instant Messenger function incorporated with the auction booth. If the seller have a Yahoo Instant Messenger account, his potential buyers may communicate him via the messenger.



The IM icon would reflect when the seller is online and interested buyers may send the seller a message via the Send IM function. Potential buyers may ask sellers questions via this medium or even make an offer. Transactions are facilitated through this innovative feature where users get live and timely response.


Characteristics

Online auctions have become a popular way for many people to make money. The online auction business model includes one party that sells products and services, while another party bids to purchase them.

Like most auction companies, Yahoo! Auctions does not actually sell goods that it owns itself. It merely facilitates the process of listing and displaying goods, bidding on items, and paying for them. It acts as a marketplace for individuals and businesses who use the site to auction off goods and services. Below are examples of how Yahoo! Auctions conducts its auctions:- as seen, there are several categories that consumers can choose when selecting their items. This type of design scheme is user- friendly and even elderlys have no problems using them.





When one is inside the auction page that is desired, the item name, description and auction information would be displayed. From here, the bidder would be able to place a bid on the right hand side of the page.

Bidder however must be a Yahoo! Member and thus is required to sign up for an account as shown below :-



It is easy to use Yahoo! Auctions and to bid for items that one needs and wishes to own. Everything is straight- forward and hassle free. However, there are still strengths and weaknesses of using online auctions such as Yahoo! Auctions.


Analysis

The strategic advantages of Yahoo! Auctions include:

1. No time constraints. Bids can be placed at any time (24/7). Items are listed for a number of days (usually between 1 and 10, at the discretion of the seller), giving purchasers time to search, decide, and bid. This convenience increases the number of bidders.

2. No geographical constraints. Sellers and bidders can participate from anywhere that has internet access. This makes them more accessible and reduces the cost of "attending" an auction. This increases the number of listed items (ie.: number of sellers) and the number of bids for each item (ie.: number of bidders). The items do not need to be shipped to a central location, reducing costs, and reducing the seller's minimum acceptable price.

3. Intensity of social interactions. The social interactions involved in the bidding process are very similar to gambling. The bidders wait in anticipation hoping they will "win" (eBay calls the successful bidder the "winner"). Much like gambling addiction, some bidders may bid primarily to "play the game" rather than to obtain products or services. This creates a highly loyal customer segment for eBay.

4. Large number of bidders. Because of the potential for a relatively low price, the broad scope of products and services available, the ease of access, and the social benefits of the auction process, there are a large numbers of bidders.

5. Large number of sellers. Because of the large number of bidders, the potential for a relatively high price, reduced selling costs, and ease of access, there are a large number of sellers.

6. Network economies. The large number of bidders will encourage more sellers, which, in turn, will encourage more bidders, which will encourage more sellers, etc., in a virtuous circle. The more the circle operates, the larger the system becomes, and the more valuable the business model becomes for all participants.

7. Captures consumers' surplus. Auctions are a form of first degree price discrimination. As such, they attempt to convert part of the consumers' surplus (defined as the area above the market price line but below the firm's demand curve) into producers' surplus. On-line auctions are efficient enough forms of price discrimination that they are able to do this

8. Many bidders: Since Yahoo! Auctions allow for the potential to find a wide variety of items at lower-than-retail prices, it draws many consumers to try their hand at getting a bargain through an online auction. The ease of the bidding process also attracts consumers, who can bid from their computers in the comfort of their own home.

Disadvantages

Auction sites are now garnering a reputation as a place for criminals to unload stolen, diverted and counterfeit products.Yahoo! Auctions inevitably have to face such issues as well. Stolen goods are so rampant that major law enforcement organizations now use such websites to catch criminals and recoup stolen goods. The Internet offers a global marketplace for consumers and businesses. But crooks also recognize the potentials of cyberspace. The same scams that have been conducted by mail and phone can now be found on the World Wide Web and in email, and new cyber scams are emerging. It's sometimes hard to tell the difference between reputable online sellers and criminals who use the Internet to rob people. Yahoo! Auctions teaches u to protect yourself by learning how to recognize the danger signs of fraud. If you are a victim or attempted victim of Internet fraud, it's important to report the scam quickly so that law enforcement agencies can shut the fraudulent operations down. Here are some tips that consumers can follow when bidding in an online auction.

• Check out the seller before you bid. Yahoo! Auctions have ratings whereby there are comments about the sellers based on other people’s experiences. Be aware that positive reports may have been “planted” by the seller and negative comments could be from a competitor.

• Be especially cautious when dealing with sellers in other countries. If you have a problem, the physical distance, difference in legal systems, and other factors could make resolving it very difficult.

• Get the name and contact information of the seller. The name, email address, and phone number are helpful to have for checking the seller out and following up later if there is a problem. Don’t do business with anyone who refuses to provide that information.

• Be wary of claims about collectibles and other expensive items. Since you can’t examine the merchandise or have it appraised until after the sale, don’t assume that claims about its condition or value are true, or that photographs are accurate. Print out and save the description and any photos to document the claims that were made.

• Ask about delivery, returns, warranties and service before you pay. Get a definite delivery time and insist that the shipment is insured. Ask about the return policy. If you’re buying electronic goods or appliances, find out if there is a warranty and how to get service.

• Pay by credit card. Under federal law, you can dispute the charges if you paid the seller with a credit card and the goods were never delivered or if they were misrepresented.

• Try mediation to resolve disputes. Not all problems are due to fraud. Sometimes people simply fail to hold up their side of the bargain in a timely manner or there may be a misunderstanding about something. Some auction sites provide links to third-party mediation services that help people resolve disputes. There may be a small fee that is usually paid by the party who requests the mediation.

• Inform Yahoo! Auctions about suspected fraud. Yahoo! Auctions have policies to remove sellers from their sites if they don’t live up to their obligations.

Tiger Airways

Objectives

Purposes

Tiger Airways is a virtual storefront cum transaction broker. The main purpose of the site is to provide a form of interactive media/electronic marketing that allows customers to view, book and pay for their air tickets on their computer screens. Its secondary purpose is to act as a transaction broker, a middleman, for customers to access various travelling essentials, such as hotels, tours, car rentals, and insurance.


Features

Business Model

Tiger Airways is a virtual storefront. In other sense, it does not have a physical brick and mortar stall. It is a business that operates solely online via a website.
It can be categorized as a B2C (Business to Customer) model eg. Tiger Airways transacting directly with individual customers for personal travel
or B2B (Business to Business) model eg. Tiger Airways transacting with Travel Agents for group bookings. Travel Agents acting as middlemen for traveling customers. The middleman will earn a commission / service fee / administration fee.

Payment Scheme

Tiger Airways uses 128-bit SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology to secure and protect users personal information.

Some safety measures Tiger Airways took are:


And Payment is simply by Credit cards or Voucher Payment.





Links

Tiger Airways has links to many travel related necessities which make it a 1-stop travel website thus making arrangements for the entire travel program a breeze. Links to Hotels/Apartments and sightseeing (Schedule and tailor-made), Transfers (Shared and Private) with octopustravel.com. Also Car Rentals with Hertz and Travel Insurance with AIG. All under one roof.



The website also has a link to Angsana Spa and offer Vouchers worth up to 40% discount.

Tiger also have a tie up with UOB VISA Gold Card. They offer a discount and great privileges for UOB Tiger Airways VISA Gold Cardmembers. Eg. Book hotels online and enjoy 5-10% discount on selected destination worldwide, Earn double Uni$, Quarterly travel deals, 10% Rebate on Tiger Airways ticket booking and 10% discount on in-flight purchases.

Tiger also have a link to Zouk Out at Siloso Beach, Sentosa where they can purchase admission tickets.

Other Features

When you first enter Tiger’s website, you can make a selection on your preferred region eg. Singapore, Australia etc. only once and your settings will be remembered the next time you visit the website. The website will automatically use the specific language commonly used in the country. As for Singapore, you can choose between English and Mandarin. This customization allows the website to be more personalizing for the user’s comfort.



In the Flight Info link, you can find out more about flight Schedules, Flight Combo, Destinations, Useful Travel info, Fare Rules, Onboard Merchandise and Onboard Food & Beverage.



There is also a “About Us” link to read up on their company’s overview, past news reports on Tiger, their fact sheet, about their fleet of planes, “Tiger Tales” their inflight magazine, Careers opportunities, Sponsorship and how to contact them in different countries.



Very importantly, they have a Help link. A guideline on how to go about to do group bookings, how to book online, website info and even info for Travel Agents.



The website offers you to choose whether to retain your details for next visit. Thus you can save time having to repeat entering your details for your next purchase of air tickets.

Tiger also offers the user to a sign up to receive tiger airways’ real deals and exclusive online offers. So you can be up to date with the latest promotions and not miss out on any great deals.

The website even provides users with the latest regulations for hand luggage.

Some extra features of the website include seat selector, sports equipment check-in, luggage upsize etc.




Characteristics

Unlike other competing websites, Tiger Airway does not only sell its tickets online like a virtual storefront. It is also a transaction broker, in which it acts as a middleman, linking up customers to other travel related businesses, such as the booking of hotels, sightseeing tours, car rentals, and travel insurance.

Therefore, not only does the website allow customers to book and pay for tickets online, they are also able to source for hotels, tours, and car rentals, etc.
The website’s design is pretty straightforward. Tiger Airways has adopted an orange color scheme for its website and also its affiliate’s website. This is consistent with Tiger Airways’s branding as they use a tiger for their logo. Also, the website’s usage of tabbed browsing makes different segments of the site, easy for customers to navigate and look for what they want.

On the main page, customers can start checking for flights that they can book. They have to choose between round trips or one way flights, which cities they would be heading to, the desired departure and returning dates, and then select the number of adults/children/infants going on the trip.



After all relevant information has been entered, a click on “Get Flights” would show a list of available flights, with detailed information such as price, flight number, and departure and arrival times.



Customers can select whichever flight they want and continue on to booking and payment. Customers would then have to print out their travel tickets and present them when boarding the plane.

Besides the sole function of booking tickets online, tigerairways.com also allows customers to book hotels and search for sightseeing, through the website.



Fill up all the required fills and customers are redirected to another website, Octopus Travel. This shows Tiger Airway’s affiliation with another business, Octopus Travel.



From there, customers are able to book and pay for their hotel rooms.

Even though the website’s design is pretty foolproof, all is not lost for those who have absolutely no idea how to use the booking system.



Tiger Airways has a help link, which provides help and information for customers. It teaches new customers how to book for plane tickets online.


Analysis

Strengths

Fulfillment time – the period from initial order to delivery is reduced significantly since the tickets and seats are confirmed immediately, the customer can print out his itinerary and air-ticket as soon as payment is made. Direct order and configuration also reduces order-entry errors which can be made by service staff at a physical shop.

e-Commerce increases the level of service by providing personalized and accurate customer information, with better tracking and performance measurement.

With e-Commerce, the chances of the service personal at the physical store making a typo error decrease 100%. Thus the risk of having a boarding pass with the wrong name is of zero chances also means the No such hassle and trouble for customer just before boarding the plane because a ticket with the wrong name will not allow the passenger access to the aircraft.

With an online store, Tiger has the ability to connect to potential customers in new markets. Eg. A customer from US is coming to Singapore for a holiday and he would like to purchase a budget ticket for a relaxing get away to the beach in Krabi (Thailand). Tiger does not operate in the US but he can go online to book his ticket for his trip to Krabi departing from Singapore. Therefore, e-Commerce allows a virtual sales force to reach global markets with product information while targeting new demographics within current markets.

With a virtual storefront like Tiger Airways, it provides capabilities that improve customer service through

- interactive and personalized customer communications: stated in features, the customer can view the website in their selected region thus suitable language. The ticket is purchase with no-frills. Any additional needs of the customer may be fulfilled by add-ons available in the website. Personalized to the consumer’s satisfaction.

- speed and accuracy: as mentioned above

- enhanced ability to track and measure capability

- Instantaneous: Internet dramatically reduces / eliminates time. Customer need not take the trouble to go down to the physical shop with the hassle of traveling and so time consuming when with the virtual store, they can book the ticket and pay in the comfort of their own home / office or any where in the world.

- 24x7 communications: a brick n motar shop opens normally maximum from 9am-9pm and is closed on public holidays n festive occasion. But Tiger’s Virtual store like all other e-commerce store is opened all the time. You can make your purchases anytime of the day, all year round

- Global: Anywhere geographical distance is meaningless with the internet and the virtual store.

- A customer-driven business model.

Benefits of e-Commerce on the whole is entering new markets, reducing cost, improve knowledge sharing, enhance customer service, improve communication, reduce time to market, create new products and services, fostering innovation and supporting globalization.

Weaknesses

Some challenges that Tiger Airways may face is:

Immaturity – limited services, incomplete product offering. Since the company is only 3 years old and e-Commerce is relatively new only happening in the recent years. Also since Tiger only have a online store, some services and product offerings are only applicable to those with a brick and motar / clicks and motar store.

Security – Fraud leading to loss incurred by customers and Tiger themselves. They are also open to hackers whom can get into their system and create havoc plus steal information.

Immature legal environment – local and international laws. As e-Commerce like mentioned above is relatively new and happened only in the recent years, the laws and legal system is not mature yet.

Rapid change in technology – support skill and technology investment. Almost everyday new systems and products are being created so Tiger must keep up to date to be in this competitive e-Commerce market by invest a lot on the latest systems and IT products get obsolete very quickly.

Ethical issues of e-commerce - Privacy issue: the implementation of booking plane tickets through e-commerce requires considerable customer information. People are afraid that their personal data and their behavior on the web may be sold, used or revealed in an inappropriate manner. Such fears may keep many consumers from shopping online. Customers may not feel save and comfortable giving detailed personal information eg. Name, Passport no., Passport expiry date, phone no., address, email etc required for the purchase of the air-tickets plus having to pay by credit card can make them feel very insecure too especially for the older generation.