A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

Mixed-mode journey

Estate agent’s

site

vs

vs

At home

Phone/e-mail

Search engine

Online journey

Portal:

Rightmove

Book online

E-mail/text

Local property

paper

Offline journey

Go to agents

At home

Monthly letter

Awareness

of agent

Search and

select agents

Negotiation

Viewings

feedback

M02_CHAF6542_06_SE_C02.indd   56

7/23/14   11:11 AM

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Chapter 2  Marketplace analysis for e‑commerce

Commercial arrangement for transactions

Markets can also be considered from another per‑

spective – that of the type of commercial arrange‑

ment that is used to agree a sale and price between 

the buyer and supplier. The main types of commer‑

cial arrangement are shown in Table 2.4.

Each of these commercial arrangements is simi‑

lar to traditional arrangements. Although the mech‑

anism cannot be considered to have changed, the 

relative importance of these different options has 

changed with the Internet. Owing to the ability to publish new offers and prices rapidly, auc‑

tion has become an important means of selling on the Internet. A turnover of several billion 

dollars has been achieved by eBay from consumers offering items such as cars and antiques.

An example of a completely new commercial mechanism that has been made possible 

through the web is provided by priceline.com (

www.priceline.com

). This travel site is char‑

acterised by its unique and proprietary ‘Name Your Own Price™’ buying service. Here, users 

enter the price they wish to pay for airline tickets, hotel rooms or car hire together with their 

credit card details. If priceline.com can match the user’s price and other terms with inven‑

tory available from its participating suppliers, the deal will go ahead. The brand has also been 

licensed in the UK and Asia.