Question 1
a) What experiences have you had with shopping online?
Ive only ever purchased online when i bought the prescibed text book for this unit on the site that Ian Knox recommended we use.
b) Describe a good experience.
Buying this book was so easy and i had the book the next week - from the UK!
c) What did you like about the online store you used?
The store was easy to use and I could search other books and ask them to notify me when they become available to purchase.
d) Describe a bad experience.
A bad experience is (i have experienced through family and friends) when you purchase something and the product you get in the end is far less the quality you expected - such as used cars on eBay. Also, when after winning the object on eBay, you contact them and they reply with "Oh, sorry I sold it to my brother a week ago" ...????? Those are definately bad experiences.
e) What problems did you have with the online store?
I have had only one problem with the online store I used to purchase a text book - the other text books i need are no available still! (good luck i bought them from Uni's book store.)
f) What features make an online store more appealing?
The easy access without going down the stree, finding a park and being disappointed when they dont have the book i stock and you get a parking ticket to top it off.
g) What features make an online store less appealing?
The lack of personal contact and noone there to explain what this or that actually means, or to ask questions and instantly get answers.
h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?
Online prices will rise as demand increases and in-store pirces will fall as demand decreases.
Question 3
Question 2
a) The dispersion of prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.
I agree with the findings of Bailey (1998a, 1998b), Brynjolfsson and Smith (1999) that there is no smaller price dispersion on the net as opposed to in the physical markets as on the net there is less chance for ill advised price choices as customers can browse more stores online than they can in person.
b) The importance of brand names will decrease.
I personally feel brand names wil decrease because there is less of a material importance to online shopping than there is to physical stores. It will come down more to best quality at the best price.
c) Price competition will make all products cheaper.
Price competition does force competitors within the market to make their prices as pleasing as possible to attract the most market share. However, some producers may be stubborn and not change their prices (an unwise move, but none the less not unfathomable).
d) Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites, like Amazon.com.
I dont feel that this will happen.... when i go to look for something online i google it. This doesnt always lead to Amazon.com. Nor will it lead to the more competitive price, therefore i dont believe this will happen.
e) How do you think the balance of power between buyer’s and seller’s will change?
I feel buyers will have the power still. If online buying is not working out and people feel they are being ripped off, they will go down to their local hardware store or supermarket instead.
f) Prices are clustered online.
Prices may cluster as online the profitable items are offered online, but it does not mean that the price cispersion will be effected.
g) Online prices are elastic. ( i.e. immune to change up and down with demand)
Online prices shoud have a quick reponse to demand as they should be monitored daily with each order being processed. They could become elastic as bargainging power is decreased, but they will respond to interest rate rises and disposable income decreases.
h) Online prices are generally transparent (the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace.).
Yes, the prices are transparent if they are displayed nest to the item. If for example you go to an accreditated Dog Breeding Kennel site, you can make a request to purchase a puppy in the next litter and they will email you back with a price and the availabilty. This is not transparent at all - little is known about the product (puppy) as the sexes of the litter, the number of the litter and the cost of the litter is not known when looking at the site.
Question 3
a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?
With Telstra, i can pay my bills online. It is not as simple as paying through Postbillpay.com, however it is still usable. You can now activate sim cards and change prepaid plans online - no ringing telstra to be on hold for ages!
b) Which of these services do you use?
I have activated sim cards online and I also pay my bills online.
c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device?
I do not perform transactions through my mobile as the internet is hard to operate on it. On my wireless internet though i can check my usage, pay bills and anything else available to me online.
d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?
I would like to be able to check my bank balance online instead of driving to the atm every pay day, or when i need to know my balance. It would be handy to set up an account i cannot touch through my eftpos card. To fix this however is simple - see my local bank tellor!
e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?
I like wireless advertsing as I am a member of several stores in Ballarat and they text me when there is a sale on! I do not like getting a call from Telstra (on my optus phone mind you!) where I pick up and a computer starts trying to sell me something! It has its ups and downs. And you cn always ignore texts and phone calls. It does get across to a lot of people tho - most have a mobile these days!
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