Week 6: Digital markets

Question 1
a) What experiences have you had with shopping online?
The only online experience I have had is looking for items online at the JB hifi store. JB hifi has an online store and a physical store. You can either order items online or just look at the items online and see prices which helps you make decisions to whether or not you want to purchase. I look at the JB hifi store to see if they have what music/TV shows or movies that I want. If they do not have it then I won’t go to the store until the website states that they have it.


b) Describe a good experience.
My experiences have been good. I have purchased a few items because of the online presence. I tend to look at the items and price to determine whether ill purchase the items or not. A good experience is when the consumer goes on the online store and purchases items which they want. The experience is good when you purchase the item and receive the item in the stated time.


c) What did you like about the online store you used?
The things I liked about the online store I used were that I could look at the items and see what for example special features that the DVD comes with. The last item I purchased from Jb was One Tree Hill season 5 which I looked at the online store before purchase. I looked at the price and to see when the DVD was coming out. The online store allows you to see different editions of movies such as Twilight I was looking at which DVD was better. To whether the special edition was better than the original version or not.


d) Describe a bad experience.
A bad experience of online shopping is that the site does not work properly. When trying to make a transaction if the site does not work properly you might not get the item which you want. I have yet to have a bad experience but I’m sure that a lot of people have.


e) What problems did you have with the online store?
There were no real problems which I have encountered when looking online or ordering. The only issue that I have come across is the store not having the item when I wanted it. For example the store did not have the movie which I wanted at the time and I decided not to purchase until I have the item.


f) What features make an online store more appealing?
Personally when looking at an online store I prefer to look at the items. The items have to say how much the item costs whether in stores have the items and what are on the item such as movies features.


g) What features make an online store less appealing?
In my opinion online stores which have little information about what they are seeing is very unappealing. I want to know exactly what I am purchasing. The appearance of the online store is very important. It has to look professional. If the website looks dodgy I won’t look or even order from it. Such websites as the banks have to have a professional feel since if they did not many people would not bank online.


h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?In my opinion I think it depends. There are a lot of consumers who still do not shop online. The introduction of eBay has increased people in using the internet to shop and purchase online. In my opinion it depends on the product or service. Such things as CD’s have significantly changed. Buying music online is cheaper than buying physical CD’s. Overall prices change depending on the product.


Question 2
a) The dispersion of prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.
In this case I agree. Consumers generally always look for products and compare the prices. Most of the time consumers look at products from different stores not necessarily just in store but online also and decide which to buy through the price. If an online store has a product cheaper than a physical store then the consumer will be more incline to buy from the online store to save money.


b) The importance of brand names will decrease.
The importance of brand names in my opinion will not decrease. A lot of consumers are very brand loyal. Some consumers will buy a certain product because of the brand no matter the cost. For example consumers will buy Ford cars even though there might be a cheaper car will the same features and just as good quality.


c) Price competition will make all products cheaper.
I agree that when stores compete on price that the product becomes cheaper. Such items as iPods when people purchase them they look around at the price since the product is the same in each store.


d) Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites, like Amazon.com.
I agree that digital markets are dominated by mega sites. Sites such as Amazon, eBay and other sites dominate since are well known so consumers turn to them first.


e) How do you think the balance of power between buyers and sellers will change?
I think that the balance of power will change between buyers and sellers are that people will be looking online for things. The buyers have to make sure that their prices are competing with other stores. If other stores are cheaper than consumers are more incline to go elsewhere. Sellers have more opportunity now since they can go online and see where they can get a product for a cheaper price.


f) Prices are cluster online.
This statement I am unsure about. I believe that the prices online vary. If products can be purchased online this does not mean that the prices are all the same.


g) Online prices are elastic. (I.e. immune to change up and down with demand).
I think this depends. Most prices would most likely stay the same due to demand always varies. Such items go through waves of popularity. If the items continually change through demand then the prices will change throughout the seasons. The price for a product might reduce for a certain amount of time but I do not think that prices online are elastic.


h) Online prices are generally transparent (the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace.).
I agree that online prices are transparent. Online prices would be close to the marketplace prices. Certain products are known for their value so if the online price is more expensive than other prices then consumers would purchase elsewhere.


http://moodle.ballarat.edu.au/file.php/24/Digital_Markets/MIT_price_paper.pdf

Question 3
a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?
My mobile provider which is Optus provides such m-commerce as:
· paying bills online,
· emailing
· Bluetooth
· Games
· Internet


b) Which of these services do you use?
The only service that I use when it comes to my mobile phone is games and entertainment. I tend to use Bluetooth to send photos to my laptop and send files but I do not bank through my phone and generally do not use the internet on my phone.


c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device? I generally do not make transactions on my phone. I send messages and call people but apart from that I hardly use it for much else. Many people I know use their phone to do many things. Some people use their phone to go onto the internet such as facebook and bank using their phone to know their bank balance.


d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?
Personally I don’t really want to make transactions on my phone since I have the internet at home which allows me to check things which need to be checked. On my phone I can go on the internet and download ringtones and download games.


e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?
In my opinion wireless advertising is a smart idea such as more people has a mobile then has the internet at their home. With people always on their phones it makes sense that marketers would tap into this trend. By making it easier for people to make transactions using their phone this helps people do things faster. With the introduction of iphones people have seen this as the latest craze since it allows consumers to go onto the internet to do normal things they would do on their computer. The iphone is bigger and easier to take anywhere.