Online shopping and usage of auction site

Executive Summary

During the past decade Internet is the fastest growing media. Online Shopping is a rapidly growing e-commerce area. The concept of available 24/7 is an added advantage in this internet era which allows the customers to access such websites easily from anywhere hassle free. Be at work or be at home if you have internet you can shop anytime. A successful web store or e-commerce platform is not about good looking websites with dynamic technical features, listed in many search engines.

The aim of this study is to establish a preliminary assessment, evaluation and understanding of characteristics of using e-commerce platform for online shopping be it new goods, used goods (Auction), or any services provided through advertisement. Shopping online have considerable benefits, however it can create a thorny situation when the process goes poor. Auction e-commerce platform does provide used products at reasonable price as they work on the methodology of depreciating assets which includes the ask / bid prices associated with it.

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However, few problems potentially faced by the prospective online buyer / seller includes availability, timeframe, delivery methods, communication, fees and charges, payment method, faulty products, frauds, as well as the precautions to be taken are studied in this report.

Introduction

We are Trade Me, where internet Kiwis purchase and sell. The leading online marketplace in New Zealand and ranked advertising platform.

We allow auctions and fixed-priced sales with automotive, true estate and jobs companies for fresh and used goods. We also sell advertising across our boards.

Trade Me's key concept is straightforward: we connect individuals and companies and provide them with the data and instruments they need to make a transaction.

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(Morgan, 1999)

Our Values

  • Customer Aroha - We are part of the customer's community and customers are part of our community. We deliver valuable, empowering and easy to use things.
  • Hunger like Ed Hillary - Ambitious, but humble. We love learning and relish taking on challenges. We are not afraid of learning from our failures, thus we take risk.
  • There's no "I" in Trade me - Not afraid to challenge each other and we are united. Collective strength in diverse strands of whatever we do. (Values)

Profile

  • Name of The Company Trade Me
  • Established By Sam Morgan
  • Headquarters Wellington
  • Net Worth $2.5 billion
  • Ticker "TME"

Product Line New Or Used Goods

Business Services, Employments Job Search, Insurance, etc.

Our History (Our-Story, 1999)

The year was 1999, and a tiny website called Trade Me was established by a young computer consultant named Sam Morgan. Sam intended Trade Me following a frustrating experience purchasing a heater for his chilly flat, according to folklore.

The reality continues that Sam had been fed up with other websites that did not suit Kiwis

well, and he thought he could give something better.

it was a novel idea, for products they have never seen, individuals sending cash to vendors they have never encountered. Sam constructed the site on his own and operated it out of his little Wellington flat, and Trade Me had its first twenty registered customers within two days.

(Timeline, 1999 - 2019)

Our Fees (Seller Information)

  • Success Fees - This applies only if your item sells. Usually this is 7.9% of the sale price, maximum of $ 249 and no fees for less than $ 1.
  • Withdrawal Fees - If you withdraw before it closes, a $ 3 will be charged.
  • High Volume Listing Fees - Total Number of sales from your best week of selling (last six week) and multiply this by five.

Rank Investor Name Total Units % Issued Capital

  1. New Zealand Central Securities Depository Limited* 11,90,62,907 29.98
  2. HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Limited 8,04,70,277 20.27
  3. J P Morgan Nominees Australia Limited 5,79,93,305 14.61
  4. National Nominees Limited 2,85,00,490 7.18
  5. Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited 2,60,49,426 6.56
  6. Bnp Paribas Nominees Pty Ltd 98,75,048 2.49
  7. Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited 96,71,536 2.44
  8. UBS Nominees Pty Ltd 79,21,532 1.99
  9. Bnp Paribas Noms Pty Ltd 62,76,607 1.58
  10. New Zealand Depository Nominee Limited 35,24,010 0.89

Scope over the period of time has been increased for Trade Me which now offers possibilities of wide range listings. (Listings)

  • Automotive - Motor Bikes, Cars, Boats.
  • Property - Owned or Rental or Flat mates
  • Jobs
  • General Items
  • Antiques and collectibles
  • Pets and Animals. (Listings)
  • Trade Me - Main Auction site
  • Holiday Houses - Holiday homes booking
  • Motor web - Vehicle license plate lookup (Community)

Consumer Experience Mapping

Customer Experience Mapping is the strategic and visual method of mapping and mapping all client interactions and experiences according to their brand story. It includes everything from the very last interaction from the initial point of touch. (Gautam, 2017)

Promised experience by Trade Me.

Buyers (Buying)

  1. Looking for Items - Searching, Listing type, learning about the item and seller
  2. Bidding and Buying- Buy now, Placing a Bid, Removing a Bid, Shopping cart
  3. After the Listing Closes- Ways to pay, contact the seller, place a feedback as a buyer.
  4. Problems with your purchase - Most sellers will do all they can to attempt to solve any problems. A refund, repair or replacement item may be offered to you.
  5. Buyers Protection - Will consider buyer case and will reimburse you if buyer fulfils the eligibility requirements i.e. non-delivery, not as described, faulty goods but needs to file a dispute report prior we consider the case.

Sellers (Selling and Fees)

  1. Listing and managing items - How to create, manage and promote listing and payment options.
  2. Listing policies and restrictions - To find out what you can sell and what you cannot sell.
  3. Professional Sellers - Gold trade rebate, how to become a professional seller, seller programme, selling tools.
  4. After the listing closes - Receiving payment, contacting seller, book a courier, place a feedback as a seller.
  5. Problems with selling - Apply for success fee refund, problems communicating.
  6. Sellers Protection - Favours great customer service, dedicated disputes resolution team, payments team are fraud interception specialists, help to protect from scammers, review feedback.

Key Stages (Astute, 2019)

They depict a client's path from learning first about a brand to telling others about it.

Brand advocates can help attract new customers

Buyers Key Stages, Trade Me:

Awareness - Thought process starts when buyer wants to purchase a used good, he needs to be aware of auction site i.e. Trade Me. Buyer is excited and happy.

Registration / login to website - Buyer needs to login to the website and be a registered member, which keeps him engaged. Buyer is neutral as it needs verification.

Search for the product availability - If he is interested in buying a used good he will search for the availability of the product to find at reasonable cost. This phase will make him happy or neutral or sad as depends on the availability.

Place a Bid - He needs to place a bid, which shows the interest of purchasing the product. And he is happy to place a bid.

Win the Auction - Only placing a bid won't help, he needs to win the auction once he won the auction he is a happy consumer.

Contact the seller - Trade me will provide the contact details of the seller which will make him happy as well as neutral as the direct dealing with the seller takes place.

Payment Options - They ways to make the payment will either make him smiling or sad or no expressions.

Receipt of goods - Good are delivered is as expected, If not then he might have to raise dispute as this works on trust.

Feedback - Feedback to seller will be initiated and these are reviewed to ensure no abuse or negative feedbacks are made intentionally.

Sellers Key Stages, Trade Me:

Awareness - If Seller wants to sell used goods hence he needs to be aware of the auction site. If he has such awareness he can make that he can do a business and earn cash he will be engaged with this site.

Registration / login to website - Seller needs to login to the website and be a registered member, which keeps him engaged. Seller is neutral as it needs verification.

Create and Promote a Listing - Seller should know how to list a product and promote his listing.

Book a courier - Delivery methods or do they want a pickup to be done which will cost the seller depending on the weight of the product.

Payments - Ways of accepting payments by the buyer once the sale is initiated.

Fees information - what are the trademe charges for success fees, withdrawal fees, high volume listing fees

Find a potential buyer - Seller needs to get a potential buyer depends on what product are they selling and what buyers are looking for.

Post sale Information - Once the auction is win by the buyer, seller needs to know the contact details of the buyer which trade me provides.

Feedback - Feedback to buyer will be initiated and these are reviewed to ensure no abuse or negative feedbacks are made intentionally.

Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior is the study of the choices made by people, groups, and organisationsregarding the choice, buy, use, and disposal of products, services, thoughts, or experiences to meet their requirements and desires.By knowing how customers choose a product, marketers can fill the gap and define which product is required and which products are outdated on the market.

Buyer and Seller as a consumer of such ecommerce platform behaves differently as the key of such brands is awareness and how to trade or utilize the services offered.

Buyers Behavior - To look for potential sellers who are offering product and services he desires to have at a reasonable price and thus place a bid if he founds a seller and win the auction. High chances of losing an Auction will result in the exit of buyer and demotivation factor.

Before What to Purchase via Trade me, a thought process

During Search for availability i.e any potential seller

After Winning the auction and contacting seller, receipt of goods as expected if not raise a dispute asap.

Sellers Behavior - To look for potential buyer who are ready to purchase whatever seller wants to list, however fees charge on trade me makes a seller charge more price to cover the fees and which can result to not finding potential buyers to purchase at that cost.

Before What to sell via Trade me, a thought process - business or one off selling

During How to list and promote, being honest and genuine,

After Contact buyer, arrange for logistics, receive feedback and stay out of a dispute to continue being a user for selling genuine products.

Key Findings

Trade Me works on the concept of Trust and Barter system. Buyers trust the sellers and sellers trust the buyers, trademe earns a margin out of such transactions which is known as fees. There are potential buyers who are looking to buy new and used goods at a reasonable cost. Trade me not only provide goods but also into employment search and other classified business. There are sellers who want to list the items and trade it for some cash thus making a business out of it. Buyers and sellers are both protected by Trade Me and they can claim or get refund within the timeframe if they are not receiving the expected goods. However Trademe works on the concept of get the resolution by you first if not than raise a dispute report. Trademe is a household name across New Zealand and give an opportunity to get genuine products at reasonable cost. However buyers and sellers needs to be honest. The below is an article of usage of trade me August 2019.

Cold Kiwis search Trade Me for warmth in snowy snap.

(Herald, 2019)

Over the past week the cold snap has driven up searches for Firewood, heaters, snow chains and spa pools as a dream for warmer times by the chilly New Zealanders.

A spokesperson (Millie Silvester) mentions that in last seven days, "heaters are in hot demand with over 99,000 searches, which is up by 32 percent on the same time last year".

Firewood which is also a hot commodity at the moment, 110,000 searches was made in the past week and went up by 9%. Sunday alone it accounted for 13,000 searches for firewood".

More than 28,000 searches for snow chains are made by other Kiwis who are preparing for snow. This accounted for a rise by 89 per cent compared to the week before".

Close to 65000 searches accounted for Spa pools in the last week. That's a rise by 4% when compared to last year same week".

Customer Real Virtual Experience

Customer Real virtual experience is the actual experience of the buyer and seller who actually uses such ecommerce platform to transact and thus their experience have been shared in the form of a simple questionnaire to understand their usage, awareness, satisfaction level, incidents or frauds if any which will allow this report to be analyze, compare and conclude the experience versus the expectation. Please refer to appendix page for the customer real virtual experience this.

Conclusion

Online shopping and usage of auction site to do e-commerce is driven by awareness, development, payments systems, honest and genuine buyers or sellers, availability of the product and services offered, wear and tear cost i.e. usage if it is a depreciating assets, internet connectivity, security driven, logistics etc. The research shows that today trade me is a known brand in every household of Kiwis and it gives and opportunity to buy and sell from the wide range of listings available in the market and thus having a competitive advantage within the e-commerce platform. Wherein buyer compete with another buyer to have the same product at a reasonable price and win the auction by quoting the best price for that product. And Sellers have a competitive advantage over other sellers to offer the high demand product at a reasonable price and thus gaining a business platform with a concept of work from home or anywhere. Trade Me have a good market captured by the Kiwis which provides ease of use and opportunity to do business as well as purchase the goods which are highly priced in the New Zealand market. Thus protecting the buyers and sellers give them a confidence to use Trade Me, even if the product is a used one. However, privacy, logistics, inability to touch, feel, trust and bonding are the most disliking factors for using auction site as an ecommerce platform. These findings from our study have implications theoretical and practical / Managerial.

Theoretical Implications

This research offers a basis for future research to study New Zealanders internet auctioneers or shoppers consumer conduct. The Sample size studied in this report is less and more variables are to be considered in the future. Having said that, Trade Me offers best opportunity to work or be employed and showcase entrepreneurial skills by a seller while he is doing a business using this platform. They also provide an opportunity to a buyer to find the best product at a best rate and fulfill his wish or desires by having that product at a reasonable price, off course a used goods does fulfill someone's dreams at a reasonable price if genuine. Trade me are very clear and concise about buying and listing, but buyers and sellers are interdependent on each other and the mechanism only works on the basis of Trust and both the parties needs to be genuine and honest to complete a happy transaction. Trade me wants to stay out of dispute when there is a fraud and buyers and sellers to resolve issues on their own. If they are unable to resolve the issue Trademe interferes but they have to raise a Dispute report if they need interference.

Managerial Implications

The findings of this report provide managers guideline about the physical inspection of the goods and services being offered to the potential buyers as they are more reliable on the images uploaded by the seller to make a purchase decision. Buyers protection and Seller protection is a good way to have a trust build in mechanism however the process is a bit longer when it comes to dealing with frauds and to come up with a immediate action rather than waiting for a dispute report. Managers to come up with ideas with regards to fines and charges and restrict on fake account creation and therein a legal proceedings will be taken into consideration to prevent frauds. Buyer's needs to pay as promised to the seller via the payment method as agreed upon. Trade ME to implement physical inspection on random basis to check the whether the product is genuine as per the listings of the product. If these are taken into consideration, they might have competitive advantage over eBay and other sites.

Updated: Apr 13, 2021

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Online shopping and usage of auction site. (2019, Dec 13). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/online-shopping-and-usage-of-auction-site-essay

Online shopping and usage of auction site essay
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