Ebay Business 202

What driving forces are operating in the online auction macro-environment? Is the combined impact of the driving forces likely to cause competitive pressures to strengthen or weaken? Are the driving forces acting to make the industry more or less attractive from the standpoint of future profitability?

The online auction industry has a strong increase in during the nineties when the internet use won every household and work use. EBay was one of the first companies in taking the advantage of the growing market thanks to the vision and business skill of Pierre Omidyar EBay has taken an important advantage face to its competitors under an efficient and contin growth through the driving forces that characterise this market. The most important driving forces are: The growth in the use of the Internet. The development of the internet had a huge increase in the North America and European markets, then in Asia and emerging countries. Everyday more people are becoming users of the Internet; the use of the internet in the companies and educational institutions is now a fact and the Internet is more accessible then ever before. This is a driving force for the online auction industry because it creates new customers and suppliers. People in foreign markets will continue to be exposed to the internet and will begin to use it more often. This increase will be a driving force of change in the online auction industry. The increase of the globalization. The Online Auction Industry had a boom in the United States; then, other market follows this tendency. The success and potential saturation, or at least a decrease in the rate of growth of this industry, has made some of the largest contenders branch out into the global community. These driving force help to develop the market but they increase the strength in the competitive pressures. The combination of these effects could be seeing in the EBay financial trend, an increase in the competition with a decreasing in the profitability of the business.

What do you see as the key success factors for firms in the online auction industry? What differences do you see between the KSFs for online auction members and the KSFs for online retailers?

The most important KSF in the online auction industry are: Technology: the Internet expansion, technological advance in the communications, secure transactions are part of the success factors in the growth of the online auction industry. These technological advances/improvements have allowed to increase the amount of people in the market as well as to increase the transaction number.

Opportunities: the auction process gives a strong opportunity to both sellers and buyers; for those people considered "bargain hunters" and "Hobbyist" the online auction market has created a huge opportunity face to the global market and the higher spread of opportunities. In addition, the online auction business has given an opportunity to many