What is B2B ecommerce model?
In B2B ecommerce model, the term business to business means the service are exchanged between two business organizations (Reijonen et al. 2015). Here one business offers the service and the other business purchase the service based on the charge that is decided while the deal was made (Bocken and Short 2016). The process is not much different than the traditional B2C ecommerce model where service is exchanged between the customer and the customer (Laukkanen 2015). The fundamental difference here is that instead of a single consumer, the client here is another business organization which makes the booking for the required service (Porterfield 2015).
The ecommerce model that has been chosen here is the B2B business model.
Business name |
Homepage URL |
Screenshot |
Capify |
|
|
Charternet |
https://charternet.com.au/ |
The website that is chosen here follows the same ecommerce model that is B2B or business to business ecommerce model.
The first website in the list is Capify website that is expert in financial consulting and assistance (Capify 2018). The website charges organizations that are in need for financial assistance and the website helps the organization in that. It also helps the organizations to raise funds for the business and obtaining business loans which is often difficult for small and medium business.
The second website Charternet provides financial market research as part of their service (Charternet 2018). The company on behalf of the client conduct financial research so that it becomes easier for organization to make better decision before making investment in the market. The organization are charged after the service as per the agreement to maintain clarity.
The Capify website mainly focus in serving small and medium scale business. It helps those business in making financial decision. The pricing is made such that the small business can afford it. Investment in financial services is often require huge resources and investment which often small and medium scale business lacks. Hence the website aims to provide financial assistance to those business that finds it difficult to manage it on their own due tom lack of resources and budget
The Charternet website is somehow different in the style and kind of services they offer. It provides assistance in conducting market research and gain valuable insight through the data collected through the research. This type of research being complex requires experience resources and cost (Dan 2015). In order to help clients in taking intelligent financial decision based on market value and research data, the website conducts research on behalf of the clients. Apart from the research the website also offers analysis of the research data if client opts for that. The kind of research are aimed towards helping clients make intelligent and effective financial decision.
Capify – Financial Consulting and Assistance
Capify:
Evaluation criteria |
Rating |
Comment |
website URL relate to the business name |
4 |
Website url chosen well. The rating justifies that as there is close relationship with the url and the service offered |
website found using general internet search engines |
4 |
The website is easy to find when searched on the internet with the search engine |
website give all the organisational information a user could reasonably require |
4 |
all the necessary information is available when website homepage is accessed. Hence the particular feature is marked with rating of 4 |
Appropriate information about the user asked |
4 |
Yes the information that is asked about the user is appropriate. It does not demand any sensitive information about the user Appropriate information is asked about the user.no such information is asked that is qiestionable and sensitive in nature |
website reassure users about the security and use of their information |
3 |
The website might have equipped with proper security tool but it is not easily available. Hence the The website might be secured with proper tool but the users does to get that information while accessing the website. Hence a rating of 3 has been given against this particular feature |
website raise user trust in the organisation |
4 |
Website features user comment and reviews that provides trust about the organization. Hence the features has been rated with a scale of 4 |
website address legal issues regarding the payment engagement |
3 |
Users are not provided with any direct information about the legal issue that they might encounter while making transaction on the website |
accessibility needs of users offered by the website |
3 |
accessibility needs of the users have not been addresed that well. Hence the feature is needed to be improved |
website address the language or cultural needs of users |
2 |
English is the only supporting language. The website should add other languages as well |
website contain all the product information |
4 |
information about the product that the website offers is provided in detail. The visitor of the website does not find it diificult to figure that out |
website allow all the customisation |
3 |
The website needs customizations to enhance the user experience so that it is more easier for the user to use the website |
website personalise the experience for users |
3 |
Website should offer more options to personalize the website. hence it has been rated on the scale of 3 |
website identify sufficient channels for user service/support |
4 |
The website does provide sifficient option for making contact with the organization.the options that are provided are email,phone call and direct chat options. It will hence improve the communication |
Ease of finding the product information on the website |
4 |
The product information is quite easy to discover.user does not need to spend much time on the website to find information about the product they are looking for. |
Ease of reading information on the website |
4 |
User does not have any difficulty for reading content on the website.hence the engagement with the website is likely to be increased |
Ease of navigating through the website to find information about the website |
4 |
Navigation of the information on the website is quite easy and special care has been taken to improve that feature.and hence not much improvement is needed and a rating of 4 is hence justified |
Appropriate use of the website aesthetics(use of layout, colours, imagery, fonts) for the audience |
4 |
The website design has perfectly combined the website aesthetics have been integrated while the website was designed. hence the website appears to be attractive to the users. |
website raise community among users |
3 |
community features to provided with the website so that users have enough option for communicating with others so that business related communication is improve |
website load into your browser and the website features, links and embedded objects works as intended |
3 |
Altough the website in some browser reloads well, not all the browser supports that. However to provide users with seamless ecperience it is must that the website reloads faster in all the browser. hence improvement is needed |
website support different web-browsers or platforms |
3 |
altough support for different website browser has been provided , however there is difference in speed and experience for different browser. Hence improvement is needed |
website provide a sufficient range of payment |
3 |
only online payment option is provided and hence other mode of payment is needed |
website provide a sufficient range of delivery options |
4 |
service is provided in online mode only. However, the type of service the website offers is justified with the mode of service that is offered through the website |
Charternet:
Evaluation criteria |
Rating |
Comment |
website URL relate to the business name |
3 |
Not so smart approach has been made in this section. Hence rating of 3 is provided |
website found using general internet search engines |
4 |
User does not have any difficultly in this section |
website give all the organisational information a user could reasonably require |
3 |
All the information related to the organization was not presented so well |
Appropriate information about the user asked |
4 |
Not any illegal or sensitive information is asked by the website |
website reassure users about the security and use of their information |
2 |
The information about the security has not been clearly specified. Hence a rating of 2 is justified |
website raise user trust in the organisation |
3 |
other user’s review has included for enhancing client trust |
website address legal issues regarding the payment engagement |
2 |
It might be doing so. However it is not clearly communicated to the user through the website |
accessibility needs of users offered by the website |
3 |
The feature has not been well addressed |
website address the language or cultural needs of users |
2 |
Not variety of language support is provided. Only English is supported |
website contain all the product information |
3 |
It contains the product information but it is not easy to find |
website allow all the customisation |
3 |
The customization options is not so impressive |
website personalise the experience for users |
3 |
The feature need to be improved |
website identify sufficient channels for user service/support |
4 |
wide range of communication option has been provided including phone, chat and email |
Ease of finding the product information on the website |
3 |
The process needs to b simplified |
Ease of reading information on the website |
3 |
The experience is not so good. Improvement is need for making the process simpler |
Ease of navigating through the website to find information about the website |
4 |
It is quite easy to navigate through the website |
Appropriate use of the website aesthetics(use of layout, colours, imagery, fonts) for the audience |
3 |
Improvement is needed in the fronts and layout of the website for better user experience and making the website attractive |
website raise community among users |
3 |
Community features are not so good. Not much options are provided for building strong community network |
website load into your browser and the website features, links and embedded objects works as intended |
3 |
Not much effort has been put forward,. Improvement is needed |
website support different web-browsers or platforms |
3 |
Only optimized for few websites. Hence performance is not same for different browser |
website provide a sufficient range of payment |
3 |
Not many options are provided in this section provided, only online payment is supported is supported |
website provide a sufficient range of delivery options |
3 |
Online mode of delivery is supported. However simplification needed |
The discussion here will however take a very specific approach. First the design aspect of the two website will be analyzed. Then a comparison will be drawn between the services that is offered. This sequential approach will make sure that the comparison is effective and free from bias which is needed when making some comparison between the two website.
When a user will search the website, the first thing that matters is how easy is to type the website and how effective it resembles the service offered by the website (Raisch 2016). When it is compared between the two URL of the website, it is seen that the URL of the website 1 has done it better than the website 2.
After the customer visits the website the initial impression about the website is very much important. Here the customer will particularly look for the service that they are interested in and how easy it is to find that information (Warren 2017). In case of website 1 a very smart approach has been taken. The services that are in offer is presented in the homepage section itself. Users does not have to make much effort for to find that. However in case for website 2 the services have to be searched from the main menu section. Although that is not too complicated either. However these small details are important when making an initial impression on the customer about the website
However one thing that the other website does here better is the inclusion of awards and recognitions which will definitely create a good impression on the customer.
When users make decision about the purchase of the service for the first time, user review is very important for the customer as it gives idea about the quality as well as credibility of the service (Rule 2015). The website 2 has here managed to do better.
At the very beginning of the comparison it was made clear that in order to make the website successful, it is not only sufficient to have a stunning design , it is important to attract the website visitor. But what even more important is the service that is being offered to the clients through the website (Chan 2014).
In case of the first website, users are given the opportunity to get the sample of the service before payment is made for the actual service. The best thing is that the clients are offered the sample of the service free of cost. Clients just need to apply online for that. In case of second website, the visitor first need to pay some amount. Although the initial consulting cost is removed, however the information of this has not been provided clearly for the clients.
Charternet – Financial Market Research Services
Conclusion:
The features talked about so far are some major factors to attract the users as well as making them visit the website again after having a solid initial impression about the website. However one thing should be noted that when it is said that one website has done a particular things better does not mean that the other website has completely overlooked it. It just means that one website has done better than others in terms of presentation and how likely it will impact the customer, especially the ones visiting to the website for the first time. After all the factors like website design, services offered has been analyzed it can be said that the first website Capify will be more successful than the second website.
When discussing about the success factors of website one important thing should be noted here that it is not only the design of the website, a website becomes successful only when the design aspect is perfectly addressed along with perfection in the service offered. There should be perfect balance between the two for better success. When users are looking for a particular service, they expect to find the information about the service easily and the Capify website has taken this aspect seriously where the process is not so simple in the case of Charternet website. Hence it is recommended to improve this feature for attracting the users to the website. When some service is offered through website especially online, including a sample work for the client in free of cost is always wiser for building interest of the client in the service. However it has not been addressed in the Charternet website and this option is a must in the recommendation list for the Charternet website.
Although the Capify website has not managed to address this thing perfectly but it has done it better than the Charternet website. Hence to compete in the market it is recommended that Charternet website improve in this section for better success of the website.
Reference:
Bocken, N.M.P. and Short, S.W., 2016. The eMarketplace: Strategies for success in B2B eCommerce. McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Capify. (2018). Capify. [Online] Available at: https://www.capify.com.au/ [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].
Chan, C., 2014, January. Management and business issues for B2B eCommerce implementation. In System Sciences, 2002. HICSS. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 3083-3093). IEEE.
CharterNet. (2018). CharterNet, tax advisory firm, tax professional, Sydney Australia – CharterNet. [Online] Available at: https://charternet.com.au/ [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].
Dan, A.., International Business Machines Corp, 2015. Method and apparatus for meta-shopping and dynamic setup of B2B eCommerce
Laukkanen, T., 2015. The definition and scope of the B2B business plan. Industrial Marketing Management, 42, pp.35-46.
Porterfield, T.E., 2015. B2B eCommerce: an empirical investigation of information exchange and firm performance. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 40(6), pp.435-455.
Raisch, W., 2016. Towards a sufficiency-driven business model: Experiences and opportunities. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 18, pp.41-61.
Reijonen, H., Hirvonen, S., Nagy, G., Laukkanen, T. and Gabrielsson, M., 2015. The impact of entrepreneurial orientation on B2B branding and business growth in emerging markets. Industrial Marketing Management, 51, pp.35-46.
Rule, E., 2015. The eMarketplace Strategies for Success in B2B eCommerce. NY: McGraw-Hill.
Warren, R., 2017. Online dispute resolution for business: B2B, ecommerce, consumer, employment, insurance, and other commercial conflicts. John Wiley & Sons.