Amazon.Com vs Ebay

Case study eBay, Inc. And Amazon.com

Presented by Mario Pugliese and Zhivko Kirov

Class MBA 725 Electronic Commerce

Professor: Weijun Zheng

Spring Semester 2013

Introduction

The case that we present concerns two of the most famous companies in the world: Amazon.com and eBay,Inc.. They have become so ubiquitous that probably there is not a household with a computer and internet connection in the world that hasn’t purchased at least one item from them or visited their websites at least once . In the following paragraphs we endeavor to analyze how these two companies have achieved this worldwide success and how they are defined by all as online giants and colossus. But above all, we will focus on how they differ from each other, what are their strengths and weaknesses, what their business model is and how it has changed over the course of time. We will discuss briefly the history of these two giants and explain how they deal and cope with this ever-changing market and business environment. We will start with the background of these two companies, and then analyze the differences in terms of business models, focusing on financial data, services provided, overall stakeholder value and customers’ perception.

Background of eBay

EBay was launched by Pierre Omidyar in 1995, and referring to his own words, his purpose was giving “ the power of the market back to individuals, not just large corporations”...and his goal was “pioneer new communities around the world built on commerce, sustained by trust and inspired by opportunities”. It is important for us to underline the words of Omidyar because they are the base of eBay’s success. Building up upon those initial foundations, eBay later on expanded in 39 countries, and developed partnerships and did investments in additional 15 markets. The main purpose of eBay was to connect sellers and buyers via an online market platform. In fact, as we know, the site is funded by transactions of goods and money...