Electronic Commerce043002

Chapter 6: Online Auctions, VirtualCommunities, and Web PortalsDr. Jing Zhou

Dr. Jing Zhou - School of Computer Science, Communication University of China, Beijing; email zhoujing@cuc.edu.cn; © 2007

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Learning Objectives

In this chapter, you will learn about:

Origins and key characteristics of the seven major auction types

Strategies for Web auction sites and auction-related businesses

Virtual communities and Web portals

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Key Terms

ascending-price auction 出价逐升式拍卖 auction consignment service 拍卖委托服务 auctioneer 拍卖员 bid 出价 bidder出价人 consumer-to-business 消费者企业间电子商务 descending-price auction 出价逐降式拍卖 double auction 双重拍卖 Dutch auction 荷兰式拍卖 English auction 英式拍卖

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Key Terms

escrow service 代管契约服务 first-price sealed bid auction 密封递价最高价拍卖 group purchasing site 集体采购网站 intelligent software agent (software robot or bot) 智能软件代理

liquidation broker 清算经济公司 lock-in effect 锁定效应 minimum bid 出价的起价 minimum bid increment 出价的最小增价 monetizing 货币化 online community 在线社区

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Key Terms open auction (open-outcry auction) 开放式拍卖（开放出价拍卖）

open-outcry double auction 开放出价双重拍卖 private valuation 预估价 proxy bid 委托出价 reserve price (reserve) 保留出价（保留价） reverse auction (seller-bid auction) 逆向拍卖（卖方出价拍卖）

reverse bid 逆向出价 sealed-bid auction 密封递价拍卖 second-price sealed-bid auction 密封递价次高价拍卖

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Key Terms shill bidder 雇佣出价人 snipe 狙击 sniping software 狙击软件 third-party assurance provider 第三方担保者 Vickrey auction 维氏拍卖 virtual community 虚拟社区 virtual learning community 虚拟学习社区 Web community 网上社区 winner’s curse 胜者的苦恼 Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) 无线应用协议 Yankee auction 美式拍卖

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Origins (起源 ) of Auctions

In an auction (Sotheby, Christie) Seller offers an item for sale, but does not establish

price Bidders (出价人 )

Potential buyers Bids (出价 )

Prices bidders are willing to pay for an item Shill bidders (雇佣出价人 )

Can artificially inflate (使膨胀 ) the price of an item

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English Auctions ( 英式拍卖 ) Bidders publicly announce their successive higher bids

until no higher bid is forthcoming (ascending-price auction, 出价逐升式拍卖 )

Open auction (open-outcry auction, 开放式出价的拍卖 ) Bids are publicly announced

Minimum bid (起价 ) The price at which an auction begins

Reserve price (保留价格 ) Minimum acceptable price

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English Auctions Cont’d

Yankee auctions (美式拍卖 ) English auctions that offer multiple units of an

item for sale and allow bidders to specify the quantity they want to buy

Disadvantages Winning bidders tend not to bid their full private

valuations (预估价 )

Bidders risk becoming caught up in the excitement of competitive bidding

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Dutch Auctions ( 荷式拍卖 )

Also called descending-price auctions (出价逐降式拍卖 )

Form of open auction in which bidding starts at a high price and drops until bidder accepts price

Often better for the seller

Good for moving large numbers of commodity items quickly

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Other Types of Auctions

Sealed-bid auctions (密封递价拍卖 ) Bidders submit their bids independently

First-price sealed-bid auction (密封递价最高价拍卖 ) Highest bidder wins and is awarded the item

Second-price sealed-bid auction (密封递价次高价拍卖 ) Highest bidder is awarded the item at the price bid by the second-highest bidder, also known as Vickrey auction

Open-outcry double auctions (开放出价双重拍卖 ) Buy and sell offers (要约 ) are shouted by traders standing

in a small area on the exchange floor

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Other Types of Auctions Cont’d Sealed-bid double auctions (密封递价双重拍卖 )

In double auctions, buyers and sellers each submit combined price-quantity bids to an auctioneer

Reverse (Seller-bid, 卖家出价 ) auctions (逆向拍卖 ) Multiple sellers submit price bids to an auctioneer who

represents a single buyer

Bids are for a given amount of a specific item that the buyer wants to purchase

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Online Auctions and Related Businesses

Three categories of auction Web sites

General consumer (普通消费品 ) auctions

Specialty consumer (特殊消费品 ) auctions

Business-to-business (企业间 ) auctions

Largest number of transactions

Occurs on general consumer auction sites

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General Consumer Auctions

Most common format used on eBay Computerized version of the English auction

eBay English auction Allows seller to set a reserve price Bidders are listed Bid amounts are not disclosed until after auction Allows sellers to specify that an auction be made

private

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Specialty Consumer Auctions

Specialized Web auction sites Meet the need of special interest market

segments Specialty consumer auction sites

Golf Club Exchange, Cigarbid.com, and Winebid Gain an advantage by identifying a strong market

segment with readily identifiable products that are desired by people with relatively high levels of disposable income

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Consumer Reverse Auctions and Group Purchasing Sites

Reverse bid (逆向出价 )

Buyer can accept lowest offer or the offer that best matches buyer’s criteria

Priceline.com

Completes many of its transactions from an inventory

Operates more as a liquidation broker (清算经济公司 )

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Consumer Reverse Auctions and Group Purchasing Sites Cont’d

Group purchasing (集体采购) site

Seller posts an item with a price

As individual buyers enter bids, site can negotiate better price with the item’s provider

Posted price ultimately decreases as number of bids increases

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Business-to-Business Auctions

Liquidation brokers (清算经济公司 )

Firms that find buyers for unusable inventory items

Online auctions

Logical extension of inventory liquidation activities to a new and more efficient channel, the Internet

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Business-to-Business Auctions Cont’d Ingram Micro

Major distributor of computers and related equipment to value-added resellers

Often finds itself with outdated items turned over to liquidation brokers

Now auctions those items to its established customers through its internally operated auction site

Auction prices received average about 60 percent of the items’ costs

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Business-to-Business Reverse Auctions

U.S. Navy and the federal government’s General Services Administration (美国海军和联邦服务管理局 ) Experimenting with reverse auctions

Need for trust and long-term strategic relationships with suppliers Makes reverse auctions less attractive in some

industries

Use of reverse auctions Replaces trusting relationships with a bidding activity

that pits (使竞争 ) suppliers against each other

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Auction-Related Services

Auction escrow services ( 代管契约服务 ) An independent party that

Holds buyer’s payment until buyer receives purchased item and is satisfied with it

Auction directory and information services Offer guidance for new auction participants Offer helpful hints and tips for more experienced

buyers and sellers along with directories of online auction sites

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Auction-Related Services Cont’d

Auction software

For sellers

Software offer services that can help with or automate tasks such as image hosting

For buyers

Sniping software (狙击软件 ) observes auction progress and places a bid high enough to win the auction

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Auction-Related Services Cont’d

Auction consignment (委托 ) services

Create online auction for an item

Handle the transaction

Remit balance of proceeds (收益 )

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Virtual Communities and Web Portals Cellular-satellite communications technology (蜂窝 /卫星通信技术 ) Can be packaged with

Notebook computers

Personal digital assistants (PDAs)

Mobile phones

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Allows Web pages formatted in HTML to be displayed on

devices with small screens

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Web Page Displayed on a PDA

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Electronic Marketplaces

Marketplaces

Can serve people who want to buy and sell a wide range of products and services

AvantGo

Provide PDAs with downloads of Web site contents, news, restaurant reviews, and maps

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Intelligent Software Agents ( 智能软件代理 )

Programs that search the Web and find items for sale that meet a buyer’s specifications

Some software agents Focused on a particular category of product

Track ratings of buyer and seller reputations

Find the lowest price for an item

Simon One of the best shopping agents currently available

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Virtual Communities ( 虚拟社区 )

Gathering place for people and businesses that does not have physical existence

Exist on the Internet in various forms

Usenet newsgroups

Chat rooms

Web sites

Offer people a way to connect with each other and discuss common issues and interests

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Virtual Communities Cont’d

Virtual learning community (虚拟学习社区 )

One form of virtual community (Blackboard and WebCT)

Can help companies, their customers, and their suppliers plan, collaborate, and transact business

Google Answers Gives people a place to ask questions then

answered by an expert for a fee

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Early Web Communities

The WELL ( “whole earth ‘lectronic link”, 全球电子互联 ) One of the first Web communities Predates the Web

Tripod Founded in 1995 in Massachusetts Offered its participants free Web page space,

chat rooms, news and weather updates, and health information pages

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Web Community Consolidation (合并 )

Virtual communities for consumers

Can succeed as money-making propositions (主张 ) if

They offer something sufficiently valuable to justify a charge for membership

Most virtual communities

Have been unable to support themselves and have either closed or been sold

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Web Portal Revenue Models

Strategies that build on combination of virtual communities and other activities

Advertising supported web portals

One rough measure of stickiness

How long each user spends at the site

Nielsen//NetRatings

Determines site popularity by measuring the number of unique visitors

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Web Portal Revenue Models Cont’d

Web portals

High visitor counts can yield high advertising rates

Companies that run Web portals

Believe in the power of portals

Add sticky features such as chat rooms, e-mail, and calendar functions

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Mixed Revenue Portals

Time Warner’s AOL unit

One of the most successful Web portals

Charged a fee to users and has always run advertising on its site

Yahoo!

Now charges for the Internet phone service originally offered at no cost

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Internal Web Portals

Run on intranets

Can save significant amounts of money by

Replacing the printing and distribution of paper memos, newsletters, and other correspondence

Can become a good way of creating virtual community among employees

Many companies are adding wireless connectivity to extend the reach of portal to employees

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Summary Companies are now using Web to

Operate auction sites, create virtual communities, and serve as Web portals

Consumer online auction business Dominated by eBay

B2B auctions Give companies a new and efficient way to

dispose of excess inventory B2B reverse auctions

Provide an effective procurement tool

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Summary

New companies have formed that Capitalize on Web’s ability to bring together

geographically dispersed people and organizations

Organizations are using mobile commerce to Sell goods and services to users of handheld

devices Companies are using internal Web portals to

Communicate with employees

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