A market is where buyers and sellers meet and transact. eBay, Monster.com and match.com are all online markets.
eBay is an online auction site that provides services to retailers. You can set up your own eBay store here. Yahoo! Stores is another tool you can use to set up your own online store without having to create the web site from scratch.
RadicalBuy is seeking to challenge eBay by tapping into the large number of Facebook users to sell goods.
Job Search Sites
- Monster.com market capitalization about $3.5 billion, Q4 2007 financials
- http://careerbuilder.com is owned by several newspapers
- http://hotjobs.com is owned by Yahoo!
- http://www.careerjet.com
Online Business-to-Business (B2B) Markets
Online business to business marketplaces were big news in the dotcom boom, but still exist today in different forms. Covisint was set up by major auto manufacturers to faciliate online purchasing. Ariba acquired FreeMarkets.com, a company that specialized in setting up online auctions for businesses so they can lower their procurement costs. The British government offers a guide to online marketplaces. otxi.com is an online marketplace for electronic components.
A business buying on an online marketplace needs to answer some questions:
- How do I know the supplier can deliver at the price, quantity, quality and timing they promise?
- Will competitors be able to see my purchasing information?
Ellison and Ellison (2005)1 survey the impact of the internet on markets.
