Date : May 9, 2013
Strategic Management
SWOT analysis of eBay
Company : eBay Inc.
Introduction
eBay is an international online marketplace with a global customer base of 233 million. It is a multibillion business operating in 37 countries. There are millions of items listed on eBay, including antiques, toys, books, computers, sports and electronics, amongst many others.
In this assignment, I will perform a SWOT analysis of the company, then I will outline the strategies pursued by eBay.
Company background (sources : ebay – wikipedia)
|Name |eBay Inc. |
|Industries served
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No matter how many precautions eBay takes computer hackers and thieves will find new ways to trick honest shoppers.
2. Increasing numbers of online trading sites and competitors : eBay already has many competitors including Amazon.com, Online shopping is becoming more and more common. Stores such as Target and JC Penny have developed sites where people can shop from home. This poses a large threat to eBay. It is now not only competing with other online auction sites but also online retailers.
Analysis of eBay’s Strategies and business model
1. Business Level Strategy
Broad differentiation eBay competes in the online auction industry using a broad differentiation strategy. eBay may not be the most inexpensive online auction site, they have the largest variety of products offered. They also appeal to a larger group of consumers that include individual sellers, small entrepreneurs, and corporations all over the world. eBay achieves broad differentiation through their strong eBay community, a global reach not matched by any competitor, and a category span of 27,000.
The main ways that eBay differentiates themselves is through:
a) Variety of products offered • eBay boasts a category variety not matched by any competitor with over 27,000.
b) The eBay Community • eBay wants their customers to feel like they are a part
eBay has a choice preferred standpoint. Regularly contributed similar to the world 's greatest store, and have a bigger number of things available to be purchased than anyplace else. However its maintainability props on patch up unstable ground as omnichannel world envision, for arranging purposes, that everything is available to be purchased in each commercial center, each methods, and each channel. Partaking connected shoppers may never get to that world, yet it 's a helpful arranging presumption.
Ebay is primarily service providers who connect the sellers and buyers by providing platform to sell and buy any goods.
Ebay a company that made its name for buyers to bid on items of interest and for users to browse through a search engine for a broad market of items online world wide. Ebay-Inc., was founded by a 28-year-old software developer in September 1995 by Pierre Omidyar 's San Jose living room. On eBay one can conduct worldwide person-to-person trading, or sales which could be in the a forms of a garage sales, flea markets,
The birth of a child is thought of as beautiful- new life, new beginnings, and new experiences. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one child- Pearl- is anything but beautiful; she becomes a physical link in the town to her mother's sin. This sin conveys the young child as demon-like simply because of her lineage. The townspeople deem her unholy because she is unlike the other children who live "normal" lifestyles. Although Pearl seems to be rude, inappropriate, and defiant, she stands up for herself in ways that make her strong-willed, lively, and observant.
This widely-recognized corporation, as it is known today, has its roots back in 1995 when a man named Pierre Omidyar founded the company. The company focuses on a transaction based business and revenues are generated through marketing services, transactions that are successfully completed and advertising. eBay has a primary focus that can identify customer needs and efficiently provide global commerce and payments on behalf of its users, merchants, retailers and brands of all sizes.
EBay has a very broad range of target market primarily because of the broad range of products available at its website. Many items such as appliances, collectibles, computers, equipment and numerous items are listed, purchased or even sold every day. In additional terms, eBay normally targets online auction and shopping communities.
There are many major competitors for EBay. Of the many companies that are in the same industry which are at the top of the Hoovers in depth list is Amazon, Google, Overstock.com, Walmart.com, HSN and the list goes on. The industry that these companies are in is a multibillion dollar industry. All these companies know that the consumer is their main concern. The consumer will always have a these companies doing all they can so that they stay on top.[6]
eBay needs to focus on several issues to become more competitive. One issue is the fact that their competitors, like Amazon, make website purchases less difficult. On Amazon a customer can make a quick buy instead of having to bid on an item, wait for the auction to end, and then see if they won the auction. Another issue for eBay is the customer’s perception that scams are more likely on their site since purchases involve individuals and not companies. Even though eBay has the buyer protection plan to counter this idea, some customers might still shy away because they do not want to take a chance of having to go through the dispute resolution process in case it is a scam. When looking at Amazon’s return policy, they back their buyers 100%. If the buyer is not satisfied with the product or it doesn’t match the description that was on the website, Amazon will give the buyer a full refund. Looking at this from a buyer’s perspective, it makes purchasing more convenient to return a product as opposed to having to track down the buyer and trying to work out a resolution. I think that if eBay changes the protection policy and would
If you had the choice of traveling with one tribe, but didn’t know which one to choose you would want to know almost everything about the tribe as so did Smith and Bradford. John Smith was born in 1588 in Willoughby, England. He left his house at the age of 16 to fight in the Dutch against Spain war. Smith was then wounded and captured into slavery in 1602. After a couple years he escaped in 1604-1605. William Bradford was born in Austerfield. Yorkshire, England. In 1608 Scrooby Separatists leave England and settle in Holland. Bradford then then joins the Scrooby Separatists in Amsterdam. A couple years pass and then William meets a girl named Dorothy May and marries her in 1613. Both men were born in England and ended up in different tribes.
While at the University of Missouri, SAM WALTON increased his income by selling newspapers and organizing others to do so for him, had other part-time jobs too well. You may not amazing, then, that Walton took a job in detail with JC Penney later on the effect in 1940. Although there he has been at work for long experience and had a great impact on Walton. He learned to relate to colleagues in the business as partners (Kennedy 2000). He learned the importance to keep a finger on the pulse of the retail detail by visiting the stores on own and was very competitive. It was reported that he gave local managers a small shop on the benefits of making their stores as a way for them to buy the property in the success of the
Dicks Sporting Goods retailer is one of the leading companies in selling athletics products. Over the years, the company has achieved tremendous milestones in the industry. However, this being a competitive sector, there are various factors that inhibit the company 's progress. This research paper will conduct a SWOT analysis of the company, and there after offer possible recommendations on the effect.
Lastly, Ebay is an important, indirect competitor as it supplies similar products and services but in a different way. Ebay is an auction based market place which only connects the people who wish to trade.
Ebay, as a company itself, fits more in the category of an oligopoly, which is actually pretty common in any market. Other alternative websites include Yahoo!, Amazon, and Quibids, but there are only a small number of them, certainly not hundreds as in monopolistic competition. Also, eBay is interdependent on the few other auction website companies, competing with the fees they charge, as well as quality of customer support, and buyer/seller reliability. Another characteristic of eBay that coincides with it being considered an oligopoly is the fact that it has numerous entry barriers. It’s such a large company with many restrictions, and it would be hard for an up and coming substitute auction website to break into the market and compete with eBay or the other top companies in the industry. (6)
The fact that eBay does have some successful competition means that its strategic capability has become less unique. There is a hint in their competitor profile that innovation and perhaps adaptability to different cultures as they innovate is not core to eBay and something which has been developed more successfully by others working within their own national culture. Indeed, eBay rules in its own territory of North America and in Europe. The search capability of eBay also means that niche players do not really make sense, whereas the consumer trust that comes from being a big player is worth everything when trading on-line, as is the notion that whatever you want it will be on eBay because of its size. Thus, the so-called network effects of eBay (the bigger the company, the more successful it will be) and its first mover advantage that has led to this level are key to its success.
E-Bay is one of the dominant players in the global e-commerce market; but because of low entry barriers E-Bay is currently facing competition in its different market segments. Therefore, this market is full of competitors such as Amazon, Craigslist, Yahoo! Auctions, and other new players such as Alibaba, Jet.com and Overstock.com. The battle between e-commerce players engage in price- based competition to persuade buyers, therefore these players limit their ability to raise prices. Also, due to relatively low barriers to entry, new companies continue to crop up in the global e-commerce market, which intensify the competition. However, one of the biggest competitor of eBay is the drop off industry,