Research Impact on E-commerce Analyzing the Case Downfall of eBay

Question: How the Market Has been Taken Over by the Amazon. Answer: Introduction Today the economy is a system which practices modern technology. Number of companies has vigorously transferred their businesses, from traditional business to internet. As internet delivers new prospects for companies to extend their business activities and also facilitates in increasing their profits. Internet is not only relevant for the businesses but also essential for the business processes. Online business can be regarded as an innovative economic system that permits to intensify the sales and to lessen the costs(Kin, 2010). For example, numerous corporations have magnificently controlled the areas in which a customary business types` conquered over the businesses only a few years ago. This research proposal lays emphasis on financial management`s impact on e-commerce, this research will be done by analyzing the case: downfall of eBay and how the market has been taken over by the Amazon. Both of the companies are well-known and carry out their business activities through e-commerce. In eBay, both buying and selling can be done by people. On the other hand, in Amazon, products are being sold to the customers(Silverman, 2016). This proposal id carried out to assess the issues which resulted as downfall of eBay and the strategies used by Amazon to conquer the market place. Importance of the research is also being included in this proposal as by conducting this research different different users will be benefited. Expected results of the research are also comprehended in this proposal. Problem Statement E-commerce organizations can promptly develop their business into multi-billion dollar industry by practicing the financial management in proper ways(Kin, 2010). The main problem for which research is going to be conducted associates with the improper financial management which can led to downfall of e-commerce organization; whereas the proper financial management can facilitate an e-commerce organization to hold a place in market(Qin, et al., 2014). To continue the research, focus will be led on two major organizations i.e. Amazon.com and E-Bay.com. E-Bay was well recognized brand earlier to the establishment of Amazon. Earlier, eBay had surplus funds in comparison to Amazon but improper utilization of the funds and some wrong strategies adopted by eBay, did not help it in achieving growth and on the other hand, Amazon practiced financial management in proper way which helped it to hold a better and large market place(Cheffy, 2011). This problem is important to be considered so that e-commerce organizations shall understood the important of financial management and lay emphasis on practicing better ways to manage their financial funds in order to achieve growth, profit and get able to achieve a place in the market. Research Aim, Objectives and Question Research aim-The aim of the research will be to assess the factors which led to the downfall of e-Bay and the factors which facilitated Amazon to achieve market place. To achieve my research`s aim focus will be laid on the aspects which would help to identify those factors which help in growth of an organization (Amazon) as well as which became reason for downfall of another organization i.e. eBay(Silverman, 2016). Research Objective-Main objectives of the research will be to assess several aspects which should be concentrated by e-commerce organizations. Research Question- Question that arises in the research is linked with the problem statement of research proposal. As the main problem for which research is necessary to be conducted put a question i.e. - How e-Bay faced downfall and what are the reasons that made, Amazon to achieve place in market(Flick, 2014). Justification of the Project The project will be useful for several users, more importantly to the e-commerce organizations. As they will get information about the factors which can help in achieving better market place and factors which can become reason for downfall of the organization(Maxwell, 2012). Through this projects, users will come to know about the importance of e-commerce and the benefits which they can avail by doing online business. This project will benefit the users not only those who run online business, but also to those who possess traditional business to know the importance of financial management for achieving prompt success and to increase profits. As through studying this project, people will come to know about the important aspects of financial management for the success and growth of business. This project will also be helpful for the researchers who have interest in financial management(Kauffman Tallon, 2014). Above all, this project will be most important for the organizations i.e. eB ay and Amazon; as eBay after studying the report can make plan to improve its financial management and strategies could also be further adopted by the company to make improvement by making some changes in its business process and identifying the risk which can cause uncertainties for the business in future.; on the other hand, Amazon could use this report to identify the aspects which can become reason for downfall of the business and then proper planning could be done by the company to mitigate those factors which can make loss in the business. Potential Research Outcome Each and every research is conducted to achieve something. The outcome of the research is helpful to assess the answer of the research question. If the outcome of the research do not help in achieving the aim and objectives of the research then it is important to carry out the research again(Zopounidis, 2012). The expected research outcomes of this research proposal are mentioned below: It will identify the factors which can be a cause for downfall of business organizations. The factors which can facilitate growth in business as well as to achieve better market place are the expected outcome of this research. Importance of internet for e-commerce is also one of the expected outcome of the research, as the benefits which could be achieved by the business organizations would be laid focus in the research and this will came as outcome of the research and will be helpful for the organization to understand importance of internet(Qin, et al., 2014). Another expected outcome of the research is, benefits of online business. Benefits of financial management and the ways which should be concentrated for management of funds is one of the other expected outcome of the research. Conceptual framework At the present time, e commerce use for businesses has turn out to be crucial not only for the tenacity to domain market place, but also to multiply the market share in relation to the prompt development of information technologies as well as intensify the role of the assimilated automation industries and Internet. Online business can be done by any person in a successful manner, and the business can be controlled by the use of internet, irrespective of physical location. The Virtual World Wide Web provides better prospects for developing an online business for the reason that it has a universal character. There are number of benefits associated with online business and some of them are- Minimization of costs. Minimum initial investment Ability to work 24 hours a day. Availability of vast information(John Tonder, 2017). Perfect image of the company can be created and maintained through online business. Better opportunities can be provided to the clients. It is being acknowledge by eBay that its main business i.e. auction activities faces slackening progression in the market. In the regulatory filing, it is disclosed by the company that, it is facing challenge in the Germany, U.S and U.K`s market, which are its 3 largest markets for active users and growth of listings. It is expected that in coming period, risk of weaker user spending in these market could be faced. In recent years, the revenue of eBay has suffered a dramatic slowing of growth as downfall in rates are 30% to 40%. According to (Hansell, 2009) the policies adopted by eBay has made it less attractive to its identical market i.e. sellers of collectibles and antiques. eBay is making buyers pay with electronic payment methods or credit cards, but many of the antique shoppers still wish to send checks to sellers through mails. One of the reason for fall in Web traffic of eBay is that- sellers use to spend less time on the eBays site as they use to prefer to spread their merchandises to Amazon. In order to draw attention of customers eBay is trying to create reliable place for the buyers, but it has fallen in fulfilling the needs of buyers. If anyone purchases something from Amazon then he or she gets guarantee for that merchandise but eBay is still working on the guarantee terms, said by (Hansell, 2009). The website if eBay has switched from trying to promote itself as a place for a full range of merchandise to one that emphasized off-season and used goods.EBays traffic has begun to fall sharply and it has dropped below in comparison to Amazon. EBay is doing struggle in getting earlier customers to return, in addition to the usual challenge of enticing new customers to its sites. Changes were made by eBay in its policies and fee terms on its marketplace, but these changes created controversies with large number of sellers(Hill Jones, 2012). This controversy led the users to move their business away from eBay`s site and fall was recorded in gross merchandise volume and in several successful listings which tend to harm in profitability and operating results.Pessimistic language used by eBay to explain its business prospects replicate an emergingawareness that eBay is no longerthe solitary game in market for traders. Downfall of eBay has facilitated Amazon to enjoy flowing growth in its business if trading. Changes in price by eBay has resulted as revolt by the users(Kelleher, 2015). Amazon has gained the advantage by entering into business of fixed price retailing, but on the other hand eBay has failed in doing so which has resulted in downfall of eBay and Amazon.com has realized to hold major part of market place. According to (Kelleher, 2015), in the holiday seasons i.e. November and December, sales of eBay rose 7.3 percent but on the other hand sales of Amazon grew 27 percent in the same time period. EBay has become one of the shingles where users use to hang out as the most trusted sellers of eBay can be found on Amzon.com. Amazon is acquiring the market place through its effective and flexible strategies. As per (Lashinsky, 2012), Amazon.com is pushing itself into all business activities such as, from feature film production and couture retailing to iPad. Database software which are ultra-cheap are also sell by Amazon for businesses. According to Christopher, One of the greatest strength of the Amazon is that its relationships with the customers are intrinsically one-to-one, more of the same kind like banks as well as telecoms have with their customers. In addition to this, Amazon is also potential to collect useful information about its shoppers endlessly and this information is further u se by the company to make increment in sale by selling more products or services to the customers by targeting them through analyzing the information collected by it(Matthews , 2012). The customers are targeted by sending e-mails and through the website itself. Comparison of both organizations i.e. eBay and Amazon on basis of some aspect are stated below: Web Designing: Success of the online business depends upon the web designing. As the main image of the online business among its customers is represented by its website. Therefore, to build a brand, website plays an important role. eBay did not made change in its website according to the time and the website displayed old logos which made the website ineffective, as well as the content in the website was also not changed promptly when some changes were made. On the other hand, Amazon`s website is effective and plays important role in drawing the attention of the customers. Cost was incurred by both the organizations for maintenance of their website, but eBay failed in maintain its website in proper manner(Close, 2012). Product promotion- Through the website, products which are available for the users or customers are used to be promoted(Kauffman Tallon, 2014). The product promotion strategy of Amazon was more appropriate and effective in comparison to the strategy adopted by eBay. The above mentioned factors can be analyzed as the reason which became reason for the downfall of the eBay, as eBay failed in managing its funds in appropriate manner and selected some strategies which were not beneficial for the business of the company(Close, 2012). Meanwhile, when eBay was facing number of difficulties such as- downfall in customers, less profits, less sales; Amazon managed to take over the market place by its appropriate strategies for promotion and the financial management was also done by the company in proper manner. Methodology This research is based on a case study, as the cases of both the organizations i.e. eBay and Amazon are included in the research. Therefore this research is qualitative in nature as focus will be laid on the case studies of the organization; this reason makes the research as qualitative research. The methodology which will be used for the research are discussed below- Data collection- this research demands for both source of data collection i.e. primary source for data collection and secondary source for collection of data. Data in both qualitative and quantitative form will be collected through these source(Flick, 2014). Primary data: This data will be collected through different methods such as- observation method, current sales of the eBay and Amazon as well as the strategies adopted by both of the company to enhance their sales will be observed and recorded to identify the factors which led to the increment of sales or the factors which do not support to enhance the sales; different questionnaires will be developed for management of eBay and Amazon to collect data from them and one more questionnaire will also be developed for the users to identify which company they like to deal with(Pardalos Tsitsiringos, 2013). Relevant and easy to understand questions will be included in the questionnaire and it will not comprehend large number of questions so that the respondent can fill the questionnaire in less time. Secondary Data- In order to collect the secondary data, methods which will be approached are- case study analysis, the data will be collected through analyzing the case of Amazon and eBay and focus will be laid on the earlier sales of both companies and the popularity of the websites of these companies; data will also be collected through internet. Data Analysis- Analysis of data provides an answer for the research question or a solution for the research problem can be achieved through analysis if data. Through analyzing the data, irrelevant data which is not useful for the research will be omitted and the data which is useful for the research will be processed in meaningful form. All the collected data will be sorted and recorded and presented in the tabular form in order to make the process of data analysis easier(Brown, 2012). To analyze the dataof the research statistical techniques will be used, as the quantitative data can be analyzed in better way by using statistical measures. On the other hand, qualitative data will be analyzed through the experts of financial management as they would analyze the data which is more descriptive in nature and includes the strategies adopted by both companies for the management of their funds or to increase their sales or to promote their websites for the objective i.e. growth in business , profitability and to hold better and larger market place. Data analysis will provide outcome of the research and then solution of the research problem could be identified with the research`s outcome( Nix, 2017). Organization of the Study The research will be organized in the manner stated below- Chapter first of the study will be Research Proposal which is outlined in the assignment. Chapter second will make discussion about problem statement of the research as the main problem for which research is going to be conducted will be discussed(Silverman, 2016). Chapter third will comprehend the aims, objectives and the question associated with the research. Chapter fourth will provide the importance of the research as the research will be justified with the importance of the research for different users. Chapter fifth, will provide the expected outcomes of the research( Boeije, 2009). A conceptual framework i.e. literature review will be included in the chapter sixth. This part will provide information about the business activities of the organizations i.e. eBay and Amazon. Chapter seventh deal with the methodology for the research. Project Schedule Activities Starting date of Activity Ending date of Activity Total duration for completion of activities Detailed Problem Statement April 1, 2017 April 5, 2017 5 Research aim, objective and question April 6, 2017 April 10, 2017 4 Justification of the project April 11, 2017 April 15, 2017 5 Potential outcome of research April 16, 2017 April 19, 2017 4 Conceptual Framework April 20, 2017 26 April, 2017 7 Research Methodology May 27, 2017 May 5, 2017 10 Total days taken to complete the activities - - 35 Gantt chart- This chart will help to complete the activities related with the research in specific time period. Gantt chart for the research is given below: Budget for Research and justification of expenses Activities Expenses Justification of expenses Conceptual framework or literature review $600 The literature review required for the research, demands for peer reviewed articles and published journal articles on both of the organizations i.e. eBay and Amazon(Cheffy, 2011). In order to access the required material for literature review $600 will be incurred. Preparation and distribution of questionnaire $1500 Questionnaire which will be prepared for the research will be made by the expert and he will charge $1000 for preparation of questionnaire and to distribute the questionnaire a cost of $500 will be incurred(Brown, 2012). Observation of business activities $500 To collect the data, observation will be done on business activities of both organizations. This will incur a cost of $550. Data analysis $2500 To analyze the collected data, charts and tables will be formed as well as the software will also be used to analyze the statistical data, which will incur some cost i.e. $1500(John Tonder, 2017). Total estimated budget for the research project $ 5100 This budget is required for the completion of project. It is an estimated budget, in real the cost for the budget can slightly vary from the estimated cost of the budget for research project References Boeije, H. R., 2009. Analysis in Qualitative Research. s.l.:SAGE Publications. Nix, . C., 2017. Data Analytics. s.l.:CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Rothchild , J. A., 2014. Research Handbook on Electronic Commerce Law. s.l.: Edward Elgar Publishing.. Brown, M., 2012. Data mining techniques, s.l.: s.n. Cheffy, D., 2011. E-business E-commerce Management. s.l.:Pearson/Financial Times Prentice Hall. Close, A., 2012. Online Consumer Behavior: Theory and Research in Social Media. s.l.:Routledge. Flick, U., 2014. 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