The best ideas are those created by the Internet itself. These ideas create new value in the market, rather than just carving out a piece of the old market value as it goes online. Customers will find the experience so different to any off-line equivalent that they will realise true value and return again and again. If your products or services have these characteristics then they will be very successful. To illustrate the opportunities to create new value, consider these three examples: aggregation of information, product customisation and dynamically changing product selections.
The Internet enables the rapid and low cost publication of content or information. This information can be a product within itself, or an added value service, giving a significant competitive advantage over offline sales where the information may not be available. Not only is this information becoming accessible online, but shopping robot technology helps customers search through it to find information that is relevant to them. The implications of the publication and collation of information are immense.
Hard to find products in fragmented markets represent an online opportunity. If you are looking for a Georgian armchair you could spend months touring antique shops to find the right one. Now you can visit Southeby, Amazon or icollector.com who are integrating many antique dealers' stocks in one place.
Firms earning high margins because the customer does not have perfect information will see their margins decline. Oneswoop.com, the online European car dealer is helping customers find the best European price for their car, matching the buyers and sellers in an Internet-enabled open environment.
Intermediaries are at risk. With shopping robot technology, customers can find the best product to meet their needs themselves, reducing the need for intermediaries – is this the end of the financial services salesman?
If you compare looker/buyer ratios of 'researched technical products' such as computer equipment, they tend to be 33% higher than average looker/buyer ratios. An information rich online service will always win over an underinformed shop assistant who doesn't understand the complex products.
Category-led businesses may differentiate themselves by becoming service- rather than product-based retailers online, integrating information or content with the commerce element to produce a differentiated site. The proliferation of wedding sites across Europe illustrates this concept well. These sites are based on the desire to have a wonderful wedding rather than 'selling categories'. For example, if you plan to get married, then you may need to:
Creating a community around the site can also add interactive information. This could include interactive ideas such as:
If you can't find one, feel free to launch it. If you have a different idea, try to ramp up the content and community aspects to increase your own competitive edge.
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1. Online businesses must provide quality to buyers in order to succeed
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