The goal to this paper is to examine Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) companies and their online presences. B2C and B2B Web sites operate slightly differently. A further analysis is as follows:.
BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER:.
While analyzing each company, it soon became apparent that some of the companies operate totally online, and some of them operate partially on-line and partially through physical stores. The term cybermarket is used when identifying exactly what type of business the company holds. If they are a full cybermarketer, they operate totally online. A partial cybermarketer means that they have both a Web presence and a physical presence. Below is a list summarizing which companies are full and partial cybermarketers:.
Company Full Cybermarket Partial Cybermarket.
Amazon.com a .
Lands End a.
United Airlines a.
Dell Computers a .
Egghead.com a .
Charles Schwab a.
eToys a .
Drugstore.com a .
FTD a .
Hallmark a.
Wal-Mart a.
E*TRADE a .
During the analysis, some questions erupted that include such characteristics as product presentation, order entry, payment, and product distribution. I found it necessary to break down each company and answer these specific questions.
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AMAZON.COM.
I found that Amazon.com had a very nice Web site. The product presentation is very well thought out. Each section of the Web site, such as books, electronics, toys & games, etc, is spread out on the home page. Also, helpful information such as new items added to the catalog and best sellers are available on the home page. When accessing a specific item, a slew of information is right in front of you. Price, availability, features, and customer reviews (both official and user-made) are all accessibly from the product page, which I found very useful.
When ordering the product, easy to fill out forms must be filled out in order to give Amazon.com information about billing/shipping addresses, credit card information, and shipping method.