LUXURY E-TAIL: WHO IS BUYING THIS STUFF?
Source: www.ecommercetimes.com
By Lesley Hensell
E-Commerce Times
11/18/03 4:02 AM PT
In terms of demographics, online customers who buy luxury brands are primarily women ages 25 to 42. A high percentage of luxury e-tail customers also graduated from college and have income of more than $60,000 per year, Ashford.com vice president Michael Dell'Arciprete told the E-Commerce Times.
A US$75 box of truffles. A $550 designer handbag. A $10,000 diamond ring. While these may not sound like the kinds of products consumers would rush to buy over the Internet, e-tailers are claiming growing success in selling to the wealthy -- or at least to those with expensive tastes.
"During the last big boom, from 1998 through about 2000, people bought more luxury items and got used to it," Ken Kellerhals, CEO of gourmet chocolatier Bissinger's, told the E-Commerce Times. "We've always thought that once a customer got used to our chocolate and saw how superior it was, it would be hard to go back. So we've been able to hold on to the customers we gained in the last boom. We really believe it's a push toward quality."
The Santa Boom
Like other e-tailers this year, Bissinger's is counting on hot holiday sales fueled by an improving economy. The forecast is bright: While most retail analysts predict overall holiday sales will increase by between 4 and 7 percent from last year's levels, they expect online sales to rise between 22 and 29 percent.
That is one reason why Bissinger's recently launched two new Web sites. Although the company's chocolate store has been online since 1999, last month it opened Bissinger's Marketplace, which sells gourmet foods. The firm also has begun offering corporate gift sales on its company Web site.
"We've tripled our presence on the Web this year and are very glad we did," Kellerhals said. "Sales have been growing at a pace of about 12 percent a year since we first launched online. And our Web site now represents 22 percent of total sales."
In the past, Bissinger's relied almost solely on catalog sales. The Web now helps the company reach younger customers, who often find the Bissinger's site via search engines, according to Kellerhals. Online sales also reap higher margins because the company does not have to mail expensive paper catalogs to e-shoppers.
Selling by the Numbers
In terms of demographics, online customers who buy luxury brands are primarily women ages 25 to 42. A high percentage of luxury e-tail customers also graduated from college and have income of more than $60,000 per year, Michael Dell'Arciprete, vice president of marketing for Diamond.com and Ashford.com, told the E-Commerce Times.
Sales at luxury e-tail sites have risen considerably in recent months, beating projected revenue in both September and October, Dell'Arciprete said, noting that he expects holiday sales to increase 30 to 40 percent year over year. Like Bissinger's, he considers his company's online sales to be somewhat recession-proof, since its upscale customer base is less sensitive to shifts in the economy.
Golden Rules
Dell'Arciprete cited three keys to selling luxury goods online. First and foremost, the e-tailer must sell authentic, branded items. "It seems basic, but there are a lot of people out there selling knock-offs," he said.
Also, at Ashford.com and Diamond.com, buyers can purchase the current year's styles rather than close-out merchandise and can take advantage of a 30-day, no-hassle money-back guarantee.
"If you spend $600 on a Gucci handbag, you'd like to know that your final decision on whether to keep it doesn't occur until after you've seen it and had it in your hands," Dell'Arciprete said.
Finally, the sites offer free shipping on orders of more than $150. With an average handbag price of more than $200, buyers do not want to be nickel-and-dimed with shipping charges, Dell'Arciprete noted. Plus, they can avoid sales tax by buying online, at least for now.
Information = Sales
In fact, Dell'Arciprete argued that buying a diamond online actually can be a safer and easier process than going to retail jewelry stores in person. Since all of his company's diamonds are GIA certified, the buying process is standardized, and consumers can easily compare prices between diamonds listed on various sites.
Scott Todaro, product marketing manager for commerce at ATG (Nasdaq: ARTG), agreed that large-ticket items can be more convenient to buy online. One of ATG's customers, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), sells plasma television sets online for up to $10,000, Todaro told the E-Commerce Times.
"Best Buy estimates that 20 percent of all sales they make are influenced through the online channel," he said. "Over 50 percent of the people shopping in their stores are shopping them online as well."
This synergy enables consumers to educate themselves about large-ticket items online before making purchase decisions, he added.
Getting Personal
Another ATG customer, luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, has invested in online technology to try to create the same personalized shopping experience over the Internet as in its stores.
Last Christmas, Todaro said, Neiman Marcus targeted male shoppers, who tend to wait until the last minute to purchase gifts and are therefore less price-sensitive.
"They tried to create a sense of urgency for male customers," he noted. "And they had a tremendous success ratio getting these customers to act."
The personalized online shopping experience includes push e-mail based on past purchases and browsing activity, loyalty programs and ongoing communications.
"For a high-end item, customers want the greatest level of service possible and the greatest amount of information possible," Todaro said. "It's our goal to make this happen online, just as it does in the stores and catalogs."
If luxury e-tailers can succeed in expanding their customer base while maintaining their existing core of recession-proof shoppers, they could secure their position as one of the linchpins of e-commerce.
17 March 2007
10 March 2007
Class work 10.03.2007
ANALIZING THE THREE COMPANIES' CONCEPTS (Innocentive, YourEncore, NineSigma).
Key differences
1. Different data collection:
-Innocentive posts to their recruited network of scientists
-YourEncore posts projects to retired corporate technical personnel
-NineSigma posts Requests for Proposals (RFPs) globally to an open network of inventors, universities, and small/medium/large companies
2. Different fee systems:
- Innocentive charges fee from the Innovation Seekers, who seek for the “best” solutions only
-YourEncore charges fee from
-NineSigma charges fee from all the Innovation Seekers who seek for info (the company connects the Seekers to the results)
3. Different approaches to treat the Solution Providers:
-Innocentive rewards the providers of the “best” solutions only
-YourEncore pays to each employee at a rate that is based on their base salary upon retirement. YourEncore adjusts each salary for inflation and adds a 20% premium to cover bonuses and other related non-salary components of their compensation. With these adjustments and premiums along with the fact that YourEncore pays the employer portion of payroll taxes, carries worker’s compensation insurance, and handles the time consuming tasks of marketing, placement and billing associated with assignments, the retired expert enjoys an attractive compensation for their services
-NineSigma doesn’t reward the Solution Providers
Shared concept
All three companies provide services in scientific research field by intermediating between Solution Seekers and Solution Providers.
ANALIZING THE THREE COMPANIES' CONCEPTS (Innocentive, YourEncore, NineSigma).
Key differences
1. Different data collection:
-Innocentive posts to their recruited network of scientists
-YourEncore posts projects to retired corporate technical personnel
-NineSigma posts Requests for Proposals (RFPs) globally to an open network of inventors, universities, and small/medium/large companies
2. Different fee systems:
- Innocentive charges fee from the Innovation Seekers, who seek for the “best” solutions only
-YourEncore charges fee from
-NineSigma charges fee from all the Innovation Seekers who seek for info (the company connects the Seekers to the results)
3. Different approaches to treat the Solution Providers:
-Innocentive rewards the providers of the “best” solutions only
-YourEncore pays to each employee at a rate that is based on their base salary upon retirement. YourEncore adjusts each salary for inflation and adds a 20% premium to cover bonuses and other related non-salary components of their compensation. With these adjustments and premiums along with the fact that YourEncore pays the employer portion of payroll taxes, carries worker’s compensation insurance, and handles the time consuming tasks of marketing, placement and billing associated with assignments, the retired expert enjoys an attractive compensation for their services
-NineSigma doesn’t reward the Solution Providers
Shared concept
All three companies provide services in scientific research field by intermediating between Solution Seekers and Solution Providers.
ANALIZING THE EASYJET CONCEPT
1. The main sources of revenue
To gain the low-cost leadership strategy the company implemented the following actions :
1. Offering no commissions to travel agents (all the services are provided via internet)
2. Eliminating meals during flights
3. Savings in turnaround time (the key to profits is keeping planes in the air). EasyJet flies only short-haul routes and the company uses only one type of airkraft to minimise parts stock, training and maintenance costs – and to reduce downtime.
4. Negociating low cost with new and existing airports
5. Continuing implementation of more efficient technologies
6. Obtaining profitable conditions of airbus leasing
Additional Revenue sources
From comissions
- Hotels and apartments revenues
- Car rental
- Lounges
- Easy pizza ( food)
- Airports parkings
- Easy bus
- Easy cruise
- Insurances
2. Oppurtunities
- More advertising from the partners
- Affiliation programs (credit cards, mobil operators)
- To create a community
- Business collaborations
- To do more partnerships
- To change the lifestyle of people
- To fidelize the customers with their services
- To create more connection like easy cinema and easy meetic.
- Easy video games
- Easy excursions
- Easy meetiq
- Easy bet
- Easy fast food
3.Cross marketing
- the key element of the owing is the community of the cients
- it’s a networking marketing, with the different product that the company can offer.
- searching for all the opportunities that emerge on the market to provide to the community (Ex. Selling Easy Pizza in the Easy Cinema)
1. The main sources of revenue
To gain the low-cost leadership strategy the company implemented the following actions :
1. Offering no commissions to travel agents (all the services are provided via internet)
2. Eliminating meals during flights
3. Savings in turnaround time (the key to profits is keeping planes in the air). EasyJet flies only short-haul routes and the company uses only one type of airkraft to minimise parts stock, training and maintenance costs – and to reduce downtime.
4. Negociating low cost with new and existing airports
5. Continuing implementation of more efficient technologies
6. Obtaining profitable conditions of airbus leasing
Additional Revenue sources
From comissions
- Hotels and apartments revenues
- Car rental
- Lounges
- Easy pizza ( food)
- Airports parkings
- Easy bus
- Easy cruise
- Insurances
2. Oppurtunities
- More advertising from the partners
- Affiliation programs (credit cards, mobil operators)
- To create a community
- Business collaborations
- To do more partnerships
- To change the lifestyle of people
- To fidelize the customers with their services
- To create more connection like easy cinema and easy meetic.
- Easy video games
- Easy excursions
- Easy meetiq
- Easy bet
- Easy fast food
3.Cross marketing
- the key element of the owing is the community of the cients
- it’s a networking marketing, with the different product that the company can offer.
- searching for all the opportunities that emerge on the market to provide to the community (Ex. Selling Easy Pizza in the Easy Cinema)
EASYJET BUSINESS MODEL
EasyJet aircompany was founded in 1995 by Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Early on, Stelious came to conclusion that many passengers just want to get from point A to point B at the lowest possible price, so he started an airline without frills named EasyJet.
The company’s main winning ways to work :
• Determining customer needs and motives
• Constracting financial forecasts and budgets
• Low-cost leadership strategy
To gain the low-cost leadership strategy the company implemented the following actions :
1. Offering no commissions to travel agents (all the services are provided via internet)
2. Eliminating meals during flights
3. Savings in turnaround time (the key to profits is keeping planes in the air). EasyJet flies only short-haul routes and the company uses only one type of airkraft to minimise parts stock, training and maintenance costs – and to reduce downtime.
4. Negociating low cost with new and existing airports
5. Continuing implementation of more efficient technologies
6. Obtaining profitable conditions of airbus leasing
EasyJet aircompany was founded in 1995 by Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Early on, Stelious came to conclusion that many passengers just want to get from point A to point B at the lowest possible price, so he started an airline without frills named EasyJet.
The company’s main winning ways to work :
• Determining customer needs and motives
• Constracting financial forecasts and budgets
• Low-cost leadership strategy
To gain the low-cost leadership strategy the company implemented the following actions :
1. Offering no commissions to travel agents (all the services are provided via internet)
2. Eliminating meals during flights
3. Savings in turnaround time (the key to profits is keeping planes in the air). EasyJet flies only short-haul routes and the company uses only one type of airkraft to minimise parts stock, training and maintenance costs – and to reduce downtime.
4. Negociating low cost with new and existing airports
5. Continuing implementation of more efficient technologies
6. Obtaining profitable conditions of airbus leasing
8 March 2007
Innocentiv.com
1. What is it?
InnoCentive® is an exciting web-based community matching top scientists to relevant R&D challenges facing leading companies from around the globe. They provide a powerful online forum enabling major companies to reward scientific innovation through financial incentives.
InnoCentive matches top scientists to relevant research and development challenges facing leading companies around the globe, for rewards up to $100,000 USD or more.
InnoCentive is a market place.
2. Who owns it?
InnoCentive is a start-up business venture incubated through the e.Lilly division of Eli Lilly and Company, a leading innovation-driven pharmaceutical corporation. Lilly was the first seeker company at InnoCentive providing leadership on the initial InnoCentive problems and awards. InnoCentive is incorporated as an independent company, and partners with various Seeker companies in many science-driven industries to revolutionize the way scientific R&D is done.
The founding Seeker company is Eli Lilly and Company, a leading innovation-driven pharmaceutical corporation.
3. What is the business model?
InnoCentive has established an expert community of problem solvers. The Seekers get their problems posted to a global community of research scientists and then pay for the solutions to problems that are judged "the best" (so, as for the Experts' solutions, only the one deemed "best" by the Seeker will receive a financial award). The solution Seeker pays InnoCentive for this service and problem formulation expertise.
4. What problems does it solve?
Multibrain:
-Time saving
-Money saving
-Reduces the cost of R&D for the company
-Recognition for the talent of the scientists
1. What is it?
InnoCentive® is an exciting web-based community matching top scientists to relevant R&D challenges facing leading companies from around the globe. They provide a powerful online forum enabling major companies to reward scientific innovation through financial incentives.
InnoCentive matches top scientists to relevant research and development challenges facing leading companies around the globe, for rewards up to $100,000 USD or more.
InnoCentive is a market place.
2. Who owns it?
InnoCentive is a start-up business venture incubated through the e.Lilly division of Eli Lilly and Company, a leading innovation-driven pharmaceutical corporation. Lilly was the first seeker company at InnoCentive providing leadership on the initial InnoCentive problems and awards. InnoCentive is incorporated as an independent company, and partners with various Seeker companies in many science-driven industries to revolutionize the way scientific R&D is done.
The founding Seeker company is Eli Lilly and Company, a leading innovation-driven pharmaceutical corporation.
3. What is the business model?
InnoCentive has established an expert community of problem solvers. The Seekers get their problems posted to a global community of research scientists and then pay for the solutions to problems that are judged "the best" (so, as for the Experts' solutions, only the one deemed "best" by the Seeker will receive a financial award). The solution Seeker pays InnoCentive for this service and problem formulation expertise.
4. What problems does it solve?
Multibrain:
-Time saving
-Money saving
-Reduces the cost of R&D for the company
-Recognition for the talent of the scientists
Class work
FREEMIUM SITES
1. OTHER than core revenue sources:-sale of goods and services
-advertising
-subscription
Please list 3 additional revenue sources in e-commerce.
- technology (franchising, selling…)
- investing the funds in outside businesses
- using data-base
2. If "market segments are dead", how are segments replaced? Why is it important to the digital economy?To find the new market to project on is easy if the company has a big data-base (that is why big companies like Skype, Amazon, etc. have such a flexibility in actions).
3. How can 'free' generate revenue for an online business? Please include your favorite example.- Advertising: from the outside, from the users. Ex. Swicki
- Extra services/products payable Ex. Skype
- Using the data-base (segmenting, advertising). Used by almost all the companies
Some examples of free e-businesses:
1. Blog free (blogspot…)
2. Free chat services (ICQ, MSN messenger…)
3. Free mail services (google, yahoo..)
4. Free games
5. Free personal services (online dating services)
6. Free screen savers
7. Free software (anti-virus freeware, free disk drive utilities)
8. Free sounds
9. Free fonts (logos..)
FREEMIUM SITES
1. OTHER than core revenue sources:-sale of goods and services
-advertising
-subscription
Please list 3 additional revenue sources in e-commerce.
- technology (franchising, selling…)
- investing the funds in outside businesses
- using data-base
2. If "market segments are dead", how are segments replaced? Why is it important to the digital economy?To find the new market to project on is easy if the company has a big data-base (that is why big companies like Skype, Amazon, etc. have such a flexibility in actions).
3. How can 'free' generate revenue for an online business? Please include your favorite example.- Advertising: from the outside, from the users. Ex. Swicki
- Extra services/products payable Ex. Skype
- Using the data-base (segmenting, advertising). Used by almost all the companies
Some examples of free e-businesses:
1. Blog free (blogspot…)
2. Free chat services (ICQ, MSN messenger…)
3. Free mail services (google, yahoo..)
4. Free games
5. Free personal services (online dating services)
6. Free screen savers
7. Free software (anti-virus freeware, free disk drive utilities)
8. Free sounds
9. Free fonts (logos..)
AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT SUCCESSFUL E-BUSINES MODELS
link
If you want to build something...first find a model!
During the past week, I have spent a large amount of time studying successful web sites and finding out what it is that is separating them from all of the run of the mill web sites which are just there.
It is really interesting when you stop for a moment and look at why certain sites are becoming extremely successful on the Internet. What really stood out to me more than anything else was the variety of different types of businesses there were out there.
I researched extremely successful sites which focused on web hosting, business opportunities, pet products, golf, computers, information, and even paint thinner! Anything, if planned appropriately, can be sold online.
The other thing that has stood out to me is the variety of different models of success there are out there. A key to being successful in any venture is to find a business which is already doing what you want and model after them. Play follow the leader.
I cant go into every model of success I have found, but I do want to introduce to you six different models which kept springing up over and over again in successful sites.
As you look over these models, you may find that you are on your way to becoming just like that type of business. If so, good. If you dont see anything listed here which is what you are trying to do, you really should stop for a minute and organize your plans to more closely follow a successful web site model.
You may even find that your business fits into more than one of these categories...if so, again you are probably following the right road in your business.
Model #1 - Free Information Provider and Opt-In List Builder
These two things go hand in hand. For months you have heard me tell you over and over again that the profits in an online business are in the Opt-In List. Well, it is still true and I am going to keep right on telling you this.
Look at the most successful business online and almost without fail they are the same businesses which are building the Opt-In Email Lists. One key that you have to remember though is that you MUST provide high quality information to your list and not just a bunch of ads. If your newsletter is just an ad sheet, you can be assured that it will almost NEVER grow!
Then, learn how to write effective offers which ride right along with each of your mailings to the list. Once your list begins to grow, you will find out just how easy it is to build a Guaranteed Monthly income on the Internet.
Advantages: You can build your list up each month and watch your guaranteed monthly income go up right along beside it. It can be an easy way to create a Residual Income no matter what products or services you are selling.
Disadvantages: You have to like to write. If you hate writing and only want to send out pure advertising without value, you will find that this is a very hard road to travel.
Model #2 - Malls and Co-Op Advertising
Another successful model I found were sites which could almost be considered malls with many different products and advertising opportunities. Although a site like this wouldnt be successful in most cases by directly advertising, the mall owners came up with a very simple and effective method of creating awesome traffic at their sites.
They would start Co-Op Advertising online, in postcard decks, in magazines, etc. They would buy a large ad or postcard deck card and then split it up between 10 - 20 others and everyone would pay a small share. Then, the mall owner who is running the co-op would get his share for free and even sometimes make a small profit from the deal.
Being a co-op participant can be a low cost way of getting traffic to your site, but the real opportunity opens up when you start running co-ops yourself in this manner. I know of one Internet marketer who gets over $150,000 a year in free advertising by running these types of co-ops!
Advantages: You can get $100,000 or more free advertising if you schedule enough co-ops and they produce good leads for each of the participants.
Disadvantages: If your co-ops dont work for everyone involved, expect to have some serious trouble growing.
Model #3 - Free Services and Paid Advertising
If you find a service people need such as autoresponders, forms on their site, search engine listings, traffic tools, etc., you may find that this is the model for you. Sites which provide something extremely valuable for free can often take their traffic counters into the thousands literally overnight...then they can start charging people for placing banners and other types of advertising on their site.
You may think it is hard to come up with a Free service to drive traffic to your site, but it really isnt that difficult. Spend some time over at http://www.cgi-resources.com which contains thousands of CGI programs, many of which are low or NO cost. Some of them would also make great traffic generators if you would position them on your site in a unique way.
Advantages: You never have to pay to advertise this site. If your Free Service is extremely valuable and unique, word of mouth and press releases will be all of the marketing you need for it.
Disadvantages: The hard part is coming up with the winning idea.
Model #4 - One Product Page and Paying for Advertising
People dont talk about this technique as much as some of the others, but I have found it to be one of the easiest ways of making a good income online. When you find a hot product that you know a certain market is interested in, then focus on putting up the best sales letter possible with just one or two pages about the product.
Then, focus all of your marketing towards bringing people to that page. By presenting people with only one choice at your site, you eliminate any of the possible confusion or distraction which come with multiple page sites. From studying all of the different models, this one will usually have the highest response rate per visitor.
After someone buys your first product, you can then introduce them to all of your other products and services on the backend to create multiple income streams.
Advantages: This type of site has the highest sales rates of web sites because it eliminates the confusion and distractions.
Disadvantages: The biggest disadvantage is that you cant expect too much free traffic. You will have to pay for all of your traffic in most cases.
Model #5 - Catalog Sites and an Affiliate Program
Many sites have hundreds of products and services so choosing a lead product like the above model just doesnt make sense for them. Usually in these cases, I recommend going with creating a catalog site and building a network of affiliates.
Look at the size of Amazon.coms affiliate program. It is quickly establishing itself as the number one bookseller in the world. No one else is even close. Much of this is due to one factor...their affiliate program.
Every day new affiliate programs spring up...and go down. If you have a selection of products which have a strong USP and are good sellers online you have the makings of a good affiliate program.
Make sure to allow your affiliates to link to specific products also, not just to your main
site. This will allow them to earn maximum commissions.
Advantages: This is the way to take over a large market share on the Internet...expect to see in the coming years that probably as many as 40% of the top profiting sites will be affiliate programs.
Disadvantages: You have to support your affiliates better than the average site AND you have to be able to handle the amount of orders that will be coming in. Neglect either one and your affiliate program wont last long.
Model #6 - Community Building Even If You Dont Have a Product to Sell.
The other side of the affiliate program are those who sign up as your affiliates...the most successful of which will usually be those who have built an online community around a certain subject or hobby.
By putting up a discussion group, providing links to interesting content, publishing an ezine, and more you can build an online community around a specific subject that interests you and others.
Then, as your traffic grows, you can join affiliate programs or set up joint ventures to offer your audience products or services which are of great interest to them.
Advantages: You can start this type of business without even having a product or service to sell. You can build a traffic base and then ask your visitors what it is that they want. Then, you can find the exact products or services they want and need!
Disadvantages: You will have to go without much income for a while until your traffic begins to grow to a high level.
Each of these models presents a possible online business for you. Which one interests you the most? Which one do you understand the best?
Which one would your enjoy?
Pick one or more of these above business models for your Internet business and you will have taken the first step to Internet success...
"Getting Started."
About the Author
Terry Dean, a 5 year veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses Every Single Month" Click here to Find Out More: http://www.netbreakthroughs.com
link
If you want to build something...first find a model!
During the past week, I have spent a large amount of time studying successful web sites and finding out what it is that is separating them from all of the run of the mill web sites which are just there.
It is really interesting when you stop for a moment and look at why certain sites are becoming extremely successful on the Internet. What really stood out to me more than anything else was the variety of different types of businesses there were out there.
I researched extremely successful sites which focused on web hosting, business opportunities, pet products, golf, computers, information, and even paint thinner! Anything, if planned appropriately, can be sold online.
The other thing that has stood out to me is the variety of different models of success there are out there. A key to being successful in any venture is to find a business which is already doing what you want and model after them. Play follow the leader.
I cant go into every model of success I have found, but I do want to introduce to you six different models which kept springing up over and over again in successful sites.
As you look over these models, you may find that you are on your way to becoming just like that type of business. If so, good. If you dont see anything listed here which is what you are trying to do, you really should stop for a minute and organize your plans to more closely follow a successful web site model.
You may even find that your business fits into more than one of these categories...if so, again you are probably following the right road in your business.
Model #1 - Free Information Provider and Opt-In List Builder
These two things go hand in hand. For months you have heard me tell you over and over again that the profits in an online business are in the Opt-In List. Well, it is still true and I am going to keep right on telling you this.
Look at the most successful business online and almost without fail they are the same businesses which are building the Opt-In Email Lists. One key that you have to remember though is that you MUST provide high quality information to your list and not just a bunch of ads. If your newsletter is just an ad sheet, you can be assured that it will almost NEVER grow!
Then, learn how to write effective offers which ride right along with each of your mailings to the list. Once your list begins to grow, you will find out just how easy it is to build a Guaranteed Monthly income on the Internet.
Advantages: You can build your list up each month and watch your guaranteed monthly income go up right along beside it. It can be an easy way to create a Residual Income no matter what products or services you are selling.
Disadvantages: You have to like to write. If you hate writing and only want to send out pure advertising without value, you will find that this is a very hard road to travel.
Model #2 - Malls and Co-Op Advertising
Another successful model I found were sites which could almost be considered malls with many different products and advertising opportunities. Although a site like this wouldnt be successful in most cases by directly advertising, the mall owners came up with a very simple and effective method of creating awesome traffic at their sites.
They would start Co-Op Advertising online, in postcard decks, in magazines, etc. They would buy a large ad or postcard deck card and then split it up between 10 - 20 others and everyone would pay a small share. Then, the mall owner who is running the co-op would get his share for free and even sometimes make a small profit from the deal.
Being a co-op participant can be a low cost way of getting traffic to your site, but the real opportunity opens up when you start running co-ops yourself in this manner. I know of one Internet marketer who gets over $150,000 a year in free advertising by running these types of co-ops!
Advantages: You can get $100,000 or more free advertising if you schedule enough co-ops and they produce good leads for each of the participants.
Disadvantages: If your co-ops dont work for everyone involved, expect to have some serious trouble growing.
Model #3 - Free Services and Paid Advertising
If you find a service people need such as autoresponders, forms on their site, search engine listings, traffic tools, etc., you may find that this is the model for you. Sites which provide something extremely valuable for free can often take their traffic counters into the thousands literally overnight...then they can start charging people for placing banners and other types of advertising on their site.
You may think it is hard to come up with a Free service to drive traffic to your site, but it really isnt that difficult. Spend some time over at http://www.cgi-resources.com which contains thousands of CGI programs, many of which are low or NO cost. Some of them would also make great traffic generators if you would position them on your site in a unique way.
Advantages: You never have to pay to advertise this site. If your Free Service is extremely valuable and unique, word of mouth and press releases will be all of the marketing you need for it.
Disadvantages: The hard part is coming up with the winning idea.
Model #4 - One Product Page and Paying for Advertising
People dont talk about this technique as much as some of the others, but I have found it to be one of the easiest ways of making a good income online. When you find a hot product that you know a certain market is interested in, then focus on putting up the best sales letter possible with just one or two pages about the product.
Then, focus all of your marketing towards bringing people to that page. By presenting people with only one choice at your site, you eliminate any of the possible confusion or distraction which come with multiple page sites. From studying all of the different models, this one will usually have the highest response rate per visitor.
After someone buys your first product, you can then introduce them to all of your other products and services on the backend to create multiple income streams.
Advantages: This type of site has the highest sales rates of web sites because it eliminates the confusion and distractions.
Disadvantages: The biggest disadvantage is that you cant expect too much free traffic. You will have to pay for all of your traffic in most cases.
Model #5 - Catalog Sites and an Affiliate Program
Many sites have hundreds of products and services so choosing a lead product like the above model just doesnt make sense for them. Usually in these cases, I recommend going with creating a catalog site and building a network of affiliates.
Look at the size of Amazon.coms affiliate program. It is quickly establishing itself as the number one bookseller in the world. No one else is even close. Much of this is due to one factor...their affiliate program.
Every day new affiliate programs spring up...and go down. If you have a selection of products which have a strong USP and are good sellers online you have the makings of a good affiliate program.
Make sure to allow your affiliates to link to specific products also, not just to your main
site. This will allow them to earn maximum commissions.
Advantages: This is the way to take over a large market share on the Internet...expect to see in the coming years that probably as many as 40% of the top profiting sites will be affiliate programs.
Disadvantages: You have to support your affiliates better than the average site AND you have to be able to handle the amount of orders that will be coming in. Neglect either one and your affiliate program wont last long.
Model #6 - Community Building Even If You Dont Have a Product to Sell.
The other side of the affiliate program are those who sign up as your affiliates...the most successful of which will usually be those who have built an online community around a certain subject or hobby.
By putting up a discussion group, providing links to interesting content, publishing an ezine, and more you can build an online community around a specific subject that interests you and others.
Then, as your traffic grows, you can join affiliate programs or set up joint ventures to offer your audience products or services which are of great interest to them.
Advantages: You can start this type of business without even having a product or service to sell. You can build a traffic base and then ask your visitors what it is that they want. Then, you can find the exact products or services they want and need!
Disadvantages: You will have to go without much income for a while until your traffic begins to grow to a high level.
Each of these models presents a possible online business for you. Which one interests you the most? Which one do you understand the best?
Which one would your enjoy?
Pick one or more of these above business models for your Internet business and you will have taken the first step to Internet success...
"Getting Started."
About the Author
Terry Dean, a 5 year veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses Every Single Month" Click here to Find Out More: http://www.netbreakthroughs.com
7 March 2007
AMAZON BUSINESS MODEL
Amazon.com (NASDAQ : AMZN) est une entreprise de commerce électronique américaine basée à Seattle.
Sa spécialité la plus connue est la vente de livres. Elle a notamment été appelée plus grande librairie du monde. Elle se diversifie dans d'autres produits, et notamment dans la vente de tous types de produits culturels : disques CD, films, appareils photos numériques, etc.
Il a été crée par Jeff Bezos, son PDG actuel (2005), en juillet 1995 et introduit en bourse au Nasdaq à New York en mai 1997. La filiale française ouvre en 2000.
En 2005, la société emploie, de par le monde, 9000 personnes. Le chiffre d'affaire de 2004 est de près de 7 milliards de dollars avec sept filiales nationales.
Sommaire
1 Business model
2 Entreprises similaires
3 Le groupe Amazon
4 Liens externes
Business model
Pendant longtemps, Amazon.com a perdu de l’argent à chaque livre vendu en raison de ses importants investissements pour s'étendre, mais cette politique était délibérée : elle constituait en effet dans le même temps un fichier d’adresses assorti de préférences personnelles (astronomie, voyages, culturisme...) monnayable très cher auprès des publicitaires pour toucher un public ciblé, par exemple en ligne. Tout comme pour TF1, la captation d'attention permettait de vendre de l'audience, ce qui constituait la véritable source de revenus d'Amazon ! La première année réellement bénéficiaire est 2004, année où les ventes de matériels dépassent ceux des produits culturels. En juillet 2005 Amazon a lancé sa section française de l'électronique vendant des articles tels que des télévisions LCD.
Entreprises similaires
Il faut observer que seul Google, crédité en 2001 de dizaines de milliers de serveurs pour assurer un service de recherche gratuit, fait encore mieux dans le genre : il ne vend en effet rien à son public (le service est gratuit), mais « vend » en revanche le public effectuant tel ou tel type de recherche à ses annonceurs.
Par son activité, Amazon se rapproche énormément de la FNAC. Les différences sont néanmoins importantes entre les deux entités. La FNAC dispose de magasins physiques dans lesquels le public peut se rendre pour acheter les biens proposés, alors qu'Amazon ne les propose que sur internet. Cela diminue les coûts d'Amazon bien entendu et lui permet d'être très compétitif, même si les prix des biens culturels sont assez figés. Amazon.com fut le premier vendeur sur internet à vous donner, lorsque vous achetez un livre par exemple, une sélection des articles achetés par les internautes ayant commandé le même livre que vous. Cela permet de puiser des idées auprès de personnes ayant les mêmes goûts que vous.
Société souvent classée dans les "clicks", entreprises internet, par opposition aux "mortars", entreprises traditionnelles, Amazon a cependant une activité traditionnelle (vente et logistique d'objets physiques) pour laquelle Internet ne représente qu'un (formidable certes) accélérateur, un accès à un marché global, et un moyen de casser les coûts de structure par rapport à un libraire "mortar" comme la Fnac en France ou Barnes & Noble aux USA (il est d'ailleurs à noter que ces deux sociétés, aujourd'hui présentes sur Internet, sont souvent désignées par le vocable "click and mortar"). On oppose souvent Amazon à eBay, dont le business model est radicalement indissociable de l'Internet, à la différence d'Amazon.
Le groupe Amazon
Parmi les sociétés du groupe Amazon.com, on peut citer les moteurs de recherche Alexa et A9, ou la base de données cinématographique IMDb.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ : AMZN) est une entreprise de commerce électronique américaine basée à Seattle.
Sa spécialité la plus connue est la vente de livres. Elle a notamment été appelée plus grande librairie du monde. Elle se diversifie dans d'autres produits, et notamment dans la vente de tous types de produits culturels : disques CD, films, appareils photos numériques, etc.
Il a été crée par Jeff Bezos, son PDG actuel (2005), en juillet 1995 et introduit en bourse au Nasdaq à New York en mai 1997. La filiale française ouvre en 2000.
En 2005, la société emploie, de par le monde, 9000 personnes. Le chiffre d'affaire de 2004 est de près de 7 milliards de dollars avec sept filiales nationales.
Sommaire
1 Business model
2 Entreprises similaires
3 Le groupe Amazon
4 Liens externes
Business model
Pendant longtemps, Amazon.com a perdu de l’argent à chaque livre vendu en raison de ses importants investissements pour s'étendre, mais cette politique était délibérée : elle constituait en effet dans le même temps un fichier d’adresses assorti de préférences personnelles (astronomie, voyages, culturisme...) monnayable très cher auprès des publicitaires pour toucher un public ciblé, par exemple en ligne. Tout comme pour TF1, la captation d'attention permettait de vendre de l'audience, ce qui constituait la véritable source de revenus d'Amazon ! La première année réellement bénéficiaire est 2004, année où les ventes de matériels dépassent ceux des produits culturels. En juillet 2005 Amazon a lancé sa section française de l'électronique vendant des articles tels que des télévisions LCD.
Entreprises similaires
Il faut observer que seul Google, crédité en 2001 de dizaines de milliers de serveurs pour assurer un service de recherche gratuit, fait encore mieux dans le genre : il ne vend en effet rien à son public (le service est gratuit), mais « vend » en revanche le public effectuant tel ou tel type de recherche à ses annonceurs.
Par son activité, Amazon se rapproche énormément de la FNAC. Les différences sont néanmoins importantes entre les deux entités. La FNAC dispose de magasins physiques dans lesquels le public peut se rendre pour acheter les biens proposés, alors qu'Amazon ne les propose que sur internet. Cela diminue les coûts d'Amazon bien entendu et lui permet d'être très compétitif, même si les prix des biens culturels sont assez figés. Amazon.com fut le premier vendeur sur internet à vous donner, lorsque vous achetez un livre par exemple, une sélection des articles achetés par les internautes ayant commandé le même livre que vous. Cela permet de puiser des idées auprès de personnes ayant les mêmes goûts que vous.
Société souvent classée dans les "clicks", entreprises internet, par opposition aux "mortars", entreprises traditionnelles, Amazon a cependant une activité traditionnelle (vente et logistique d'objets physiques) pour laquelle Internet ne représente qu'un (formidable certes) accélérateur, un accès à un marché global, et un moyen de casser les coûts de structure par rapport à un libraire "mortar" comme la Fnac en France ou Barnes & Noble aux USA (il est d'ailleurs à noter que ces deux sociétés, aujourd'hui présentes sur Internet, sont souvent désignées par le vocable "click and mortar"). On oppose souvent Amazon à eBay, dont le business model est radicalement indissociable de l'Internet, à la différence d'Amazon.
Le groupe Amazon
Parmi les sociétés du groupe Amazon.com, on peut citer les moteurs de recherche Alexa et A9, ou la base de données cinématographique IMDb.
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