1 Introduction


The purpose of the report is to research on any two competitive e-Commerce websites which are SingTel shop and Yahoo! Auctions. SingTel has the largest market share in Singapore’s telecommunication industry. Therefore, they have also expanded their market online trying to gain more consumers. SingTel shop has thus been aggressive and competitive in promoting their products online. Yahoo! Auctions is a world wide online auction site which is the second largest in the market after eBay. Yahoo! Auctions has also been very competitive in gaining market share world wide in the online auction industry.


2 SingTel shop



2.1 Objectives


Singapore Telecommunications Limited(commonly abbreviated as SingTel) is Singapore's largest telecommunications company. With a combined mobile subscriber base of 124 million customers from its own operations and regional associates at the end of March 2007, SingTel is the largest mobile network operator in the Asia Pacific outside of the People's Republic of China. A former government monopoly privatized in 1992, SingTel divested its postal operation SingPost in 2003 and now concentrates on providing internet service provider(SingNet), mobile phone and fixed line telephony services. Its mainstay is in the mobile phone industry, however, where it commands a total subscription base of 92.42 million as at 30 June 2006, with a total of 35.57 million proportionate subscribers (subscribers calculated as a proportion of shareholding). SingTel shop is one of its subsidiaries. It offers consumers the ease and convenience of purchasing telecommunications equipment that they wish immediately, together with the signing up of a service price plan and value-added services with other SingTel subsidiary service providers such as SingTel Mobile Pte Ltd or SingNet Pte Ltd.


2.2 Features & Characteristics


SingTel shop is a Business-to-consumer (B2C) business model. It is a virtual storefront whereby they sell telecommunications devices, mainly mobile phones, directly to consumers online. Consumers need to sign up for a free account in order to conduct any activities in the website. It is directly linked to its parent site, Singtel, and therefore allows users to gain easy access to other features and links in the website.

There is a wide array of brands and models available. Attractive pictures and details of the phone description and key features are provided at a click. Consumers can easily search for the hand phone model that they want. There is also a search engine provided. The Singtel Shop can also make recommendations accordingly to your preferences. Regular promotions and exclusive online offers are used to attract more potential consumers. However, certain terms and conditions are applied.

The modes of payment include debit and credit cards such as VISA or MasterCard. However, his only limits to UOB & OUB cardholders. All transactions made at the SingTelshop payment server are as safe as possible, using the best technology. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software is the industry standard and among the best software available today for secure commerce transactions. It encrypts all of your personal information, including credit card number, name, and address, so that it cannot be read and retrieved by unauthorized parties as the information travels over the Internet.

In addition, an independent Certification Authority issues their digitally signed certificate. This third-party authority will act as a "digital notary" to vouch that the connection you established was accurately made to the right party.

Home delivery is provided with a charge of S$8.00. Consumers are able to log in to track their order. This is to check if their order has been processed smoothly online and are able to deliver on time. Being the only way to receive your order, if a failed delivery occurs, another delivery will be made with an additional charge.

Feedback and enquiries services are available. In addition, customer service hotlines are provided on the website too. This gives consumers a “human touch” with the company. Consumers can also find the nearest physical outlet through the location map provided.


2.3 Strengths


Most consumers are reluctant to deal online with unknown shops for reasons such as credit card security, delivery, and item quality. However, Sing Tel has established themselves as a market leader in Singapore’s telecommunication industry which provides excellent customer service. Hence, the SingTel Shop does have a competitive advantage over other small e-business in mobile phone such as http://www.whymobile.com/. Therefore, consumers are willing to make their purchases online as SingTel Shop.

The clear advantages consumers see in this e-service is the convenience it provide, saving time from both going to the shop and queuing, and thus may attract higher income group with time constraints.

Just as mentioned above, it is relatively easy to find the mobile phone matching the shopper’s preferences using the search engine provided. The site gives more than enough details for shopper to make their decision. The ‘step-by-step’ procedures are also clear and easy to follow.

There are currently only 3 branded online mobile shops in Singapore, namely Singtel, M1 and StarHub. With it holding the lion’s share of the market, they are able to focus on retaining existing consumers with such service and getting new consumers to further increase their market share.

2.4 Weakness

The SingTel Shop is targeted at Singaporeans and foreigners currently residing in Singapore only. Consumers residing in other countries will not be able to purchase or get their goods delivered though the website as it is to be bundled with a local service line. Therefore, it does not reach out to consumers internationally.

First time consumers might be turned away by the complex verification process and requirements. In addition, they only accept credit card or UOB/OUB debit card as their only payment method. This may limit their target group to the working adults and turn away the younger group that potentially purchases and changes their mobile phones more regularly.

The delivery service stated is not flexible enough. Delivery is available, from Mondays to Fridays, excluding public holidays; the 3rd working day after the order is placed. This delivery service could have been a value-added service if consumers are not made to pay.


3 Yahoo! Auctions



3.1 Objectives & Background


Yahoo! Inc.is an American public corporation and global Internet Services Company. It provides a range of products and services including a web portal, a search engine, the Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, news, and posting. It was founded by Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo in January of 1994 and incorporated on March 2, 1995. Yahoo! Auctions (Singapore), owned and operated by Yahoo! Pte Ltd and/or its affiliates, is an online service through which you may list or bid on items.

3.2 Features & Characteristics

Yahoo! Auctions is a C2C business model. It acts as a marketplace where buyers and sellers meet to auction and conduct online trading of good or services. Yahoo! Auctions acts only as a venue and does not interfere any transactions between the seller and buyer nor screen the credibility of the users and items offered for sales. However, there are still terms and conditions which apply to all users such as ban of selling certain items through Yahoo! Auctions.

To make any transaction in Yahoo! Auctions (Singapore), the user must first have a Yahoo! ID. With this Yahoo! ID, user will be able to enjoy any services provided on Yahoo. Sellers first upload their items for sale and set a minimum bid price. Interested buyers can make use of the search engine to find their preferred item. Ratings of the sellers are shown so that buyers may feel safe to purchase items from them. There is also a countdown ticker so that sellers and buyer can check the availability of the item.

If buyers have made bids for any items, they can keep track of them by adding to existing features like the ‘Watchlist’ or ‘My Calendar’ on the website. Seller can also link their auction page to their own blogs, websites or email address so that buyers can obtain more information. This is also a form of advertising for their online business.

When a buyer has won the auction, the seller is ultimately responsible for contacting the buyer. The seller decides the shipping details, venues, mode of payments and terms and conditions. These information are stated clearly on the auction page. Nevertheless, buyers can also send an instant message to sellers through the Yahoo! Messenger to accelerate the transactions. Sellers and buyers are completely responsible for working out the sale and exchange of goods.

There are various modes of payments include:

• Bank or credit card transfer
• Personal cheques
• Cashiers checks and money orders
• PayPal
• Cash on delivery or post
• Bank draft

Shipping options include:

• Ship upon receipt of payment.
• Ship at the close of auction.
• Will ship to international bidders

Sellers can also indicate the shipping price on the submission form, this shipping price will be included on the winning bidders invoice if the seller uses PayPal. Yahoo! Auctions also have links to major shipping services which offer online tracking. Hence, buyers must take note of the details and terms and conditions before deciding to bid for their items.




3.3 Strengths


The layout of Yahoo! Auctions is user friendly with many useful and easy to understand instructions of how to bid and sell. Items are usually categorized and users can easily search for items they want. For all goods that are traded online, there are pictures of the items so that buyers can have a better view. Besides that, there is also a site map where all items are categorized and providing instructions and help to users who get ‘lost’ in the website.





Escrow Service

Yahoo! Auctions have links with escrow service can be employed to conduct a transaction after the winner of the auction is decided. Internet escrow services such as Escrow.com collect funds from the buyer and hold them until the buyer receives the item. The service then releases the funds to the seller. Escrow actively works to prevent fraudulent transactions. Therefore, by using Escrow protects both the buyer and seller as all information will be keep confidential.

Neighborhood Watch

Neighbourhood Watch is a way for users to report directly to Yahoo! about auctions that might be violating the Additional Terms of Service or Yahoo! Auctions Guidelines.
This feature allows Yahoo! Auctions participants to voice their opinions about items that are currently listed on the site. Anyone with a positive rating is allowed to review an auction. This information will help the Customer Care Department identify auctions that might:

• Contain adult items.
• Look like spam.
• Belong in another category.
• Violate our Terms of Service.

The seller is notified when the auction has been submitted to Neighbourhood Watch three times. When an auction has received three Neighbourhood Watch ratings, the seller cannot resubmit the auction and might be blacklisted.

Auctions are reviewed by the Customer Care department prior to any deletion. When an auction has been deleted, the seller cannot resubmit the auction. If Yahoo! Auction detect that a member is using this tool to rate auctions unfairly, they will suspend the member's account. There is also a Yahoo! Auctions Abuse form for users to fill up if they have any bad encounters with their transactions. Users can also contact the customer service department to get any information.

3.5 Weaknesses

Auction sniping
This refers to the process of watching a timed online auction, and placing a winning bid at the last possible moment (often literally seconds before the end of the auction), giving the other bidders no time to outbid the sniper. Some bidders do this manually, and others use online services and software designed for the purpose. Yahoo! Auctions have no preventive measures on auction snipping.

Dishonest Feedback System

For every transaction the seller and buyer can leave feedback, which accumulate to represent the consumer's rating, but there are also some visible weaknesses on the feedback system. Feedback can't be edited or removed by Yahoo! Auctions. This system may made consumer to be reluctant to leave honest feedback out of fear of negative retaliatory feedback (including "negative" in retaliation for "neutral"). The feedback itself does not carry the same true value, small and large transactions carry the same weight in the feedback summary. It is therefore easy for a dishonest user to initially build up a deceptive positive rating by buying or selling a number of very low value items, such as e-books, recipes, etc in order to improve their ratings.

Decreasing Competitiveness

Yahoo! Auctions in US and Canada Auctions sites has since retired in June 2007 due to the penetration of eBay which has caused Yahoo! Auctions to lose a big market share. Therefore, this shows that Yahoo! Auctions is losing their competitiveness as a world wide online auction site.

4 Conclusion

To conclude, no doubt that the Sing Tel shop and Yahoo! Auctions are considered big names in their industry. They would still need to focus on how to strategize themselves to gain a bigger market share in e commerce.