Objectives of knowledge management

Chapter 2
Marketplace analysis for e‑commerce
Figure 2.4
An online marketplace map
1 Customer
segments
Different customer
segments with
specific needs
Horizontal portals
or mainstream
media
Small-affiliates
and blogs
B: Intermediary flows
to different types of
intermediary
OVPs = 
Online value
propositions
Aggregators
and
super-affiliates
Niche media
sites or
social networks
Company site
OVPs
Search engines
2 Search
intermediaries
3 Intermediaries
and media sites
4 Destination
sites
A: Search flows natural and paid
Google
Yahoo!
Live
Ask
Other
search
networks
Vertical
Search
engines
Specialist
directories
Different search types:
• Generic sear
ch
• Pr
oduct-specific search
• Brand sear
ch
Purpose of mapping is to identify:
• Main marketspace actor
s
• Their r
elative importance
• Relative visibility in marketplace
given different customer journeys
Existing vs new
Web savvy
Non-web savvy
Demographic
segmentation
Lifecycle
segmentation
Psychographic
segmentation
Create personas
for key audiences
Direct
competitors
OVPs
In-direct
competitors
OVPs
The main elements of the online marketplace map presented in Figure 2.4 which should 
be reviewed as part of the process of marketplace analysis are:
1
 
Customer segments
The marketplace analysis should identify and summarise different target segments for 
an online business in order to then understand their online media consumption, buyer 
behaviour and the type of content and experiences they will be looking for from interme‑
diaries and your website. (We cover customer analysis further in Chapter 9.)