Our Team Presentation

2. A CASE STUDY
using
An online second hand bookseller

3. A PINEAPPLE TEAM
Presentation by
Jocelyn Peucker
Josh Atlee
Robin Hansen
Vivien Rayner
Net205
Curtin University of Technology
July 2010

4. Discover –
 a journey from Bricks and Mortar to Search
Engines – a timeline
 how Internet Commerce works today
 the power of the Network
 some Fundamentals of online Commerce
 an Introduction to the Knowledge Economy
 what the Attention Economy means

6. A Journey …
from Bricks and Mortar to Search Engines
– a timeline

7. Lots of books!
The average
second-hand
bookstore has
1
between 9,000 and
2
80,000 books.
Customers came from the
local area to buy them.

8. Except …
In the 1990s they started
coming in
less
and less
and less.

9. Why?
Because they found a
better way to shop.
ONLINE!
Internet Commerce
changed the way
people buy and sell.

10. Not long ago …
Sherar‟s started a bookstore in the early
1990s.3
They were passionate about books and
providing great service.
But … use of the
internet was growi ng

11. Products and hits!
Books became PRODUCTS
Booksellers were VENDORS
Customers turned into PAGE HITS
The value and experience of
customers began to “dry up.” 3

12. The Network
Economy
“Life is becoming more and more commodified …
communication … and commerce are becoming
indistinguishable.” 4

13. So…
in the year 2000, Biblio launched an online
database to find and compare prices of second
hand books.
This was “famous for several years as the
fastest „metasearch‟ site for books.” 5

14. Three years later …

15. Online market places …
such as Amazon and EBay were becoming
household names.
Realising that there was a market need for
buying used books, the Sherars gave up their
work on the search database and in 2003,
developed a marketplace – Biblio.com.5

16. Expansion
Over the next five years,
they grew – expanding
their networks both on
the Internet and through
offline communities.
The librarian in Sopachuy, Bolivia, shows off
some of her books.
Image from Biblio website – http://www.biblio.com/

17. 6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Jun-03 Dec-03 Jun-04 Dec-04 Jun-05 Dec-05 Jun-06 Dec-06 Jun-07 Dec-07 Jun-08 Dec-08
Number of Independent Booksellers with Inventory on Biblio

18. Biblio Database
Items Listed (millions)
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

19. A timeline –
bricks & mortar to search engines

20. Biblio.com …
Our case study, is a unique
example of how the owner of a
traditional store developed an online
marketplace for used books.
This market place has become one of the
most successful Internet Commerce
businesses.

21. What is Internet Commerce?
Internet Commerce “is a very broad area which
is entwined with the Knowledge Economy”, 6
along with the Network and Attention
Economies.
This is where you find experience, education
and skills all come together to create the
fundamentals behind e-commerce. 6
The fundamentals of e-commerce is all about
looking after the customer‟s online experience
and making it user friendly. 6

22. A Broker
Biblio.com is wholly an e-commerce business
with intangible items.
However …
Its sellers stock tangible items.
Its buyers receive the tangible items.
Biblio.com can be classed as the „broker‟
between its sellers and the buyers.

23. Some fundamentals
of this e-commerce business include …
Biblio.com is one of the world‟s largest online
search engines for finding used, rare and out-
of-print books.6
This caters to online sellers and customers.
Biblio.com continually adapted the business to
suit customers and sellers online needs.6

24. Shopping online
Biblio.com makes shopping experience safe by
providing PayPal payment options, which covers
their customers if a product is not delivered.
Biblio.com provides E-mail, phone and online
live-chat options.

25. Sellers …
are required to detail their online books for
sale, to ensure that customers
know what they are buying. 8
For more information on book conditions
and details click here.

26. Transparency
This is a point of differentiation between Biblio
and Amazon (along with other companies),
where Biblio.com are “... maintaining
transparency in the transactional process,
so the customer knows
who is really selling
them the book they
are interested in.” 8

27. No mark up
Biblio.com does not „mark up‟ the price of their
seller‟s listed books. 9
Pricing is very important to both the seller and
the buyer.
If prices are too high, the online stock will not
sell.
For more information on e-commerce fundamentals click here.

28. Pricing
Unfortunately for the buyer, “... there is no set
pricing structure for selling books online.
Therefore, economic competitiveness plays a
huge part between competing online vendors
through companies such as AbeBooks, Amazon,
Biblio, Seekbooks, in setting book prices”.1
Read how the pricing works by clicking here.

29. Earlier we mentioned that Biblio.com
can be classed as a „broker‟ between
the buyer and seller.
To be successful as a broker, businesses
such as this one, survive by being part of
a network.
This is also called the „Network
Economy‟.

30. What is the Network Economy?

31. Stop!
Grab a Cuppa (Milo, coffee, tea, whatever your
heart desires).
We‟re about to get deep
into the economies of
Internet Commerce.

32. Networks …

33. The hard stuff
Networks are powerful.
Many successful businesses rely on
networks to further their business,
increase profit and more.
Biblio.com made use of their networks.
How did this affect them?

34. First …
they began by “Forming relationships the
old fashioned way”, and recruited other
booksellers.3

35. They realised how more networking
could help them
2005 2008 2003 – 2009
Enhance online book Agreement with Affiliated with
data via Agreement with Bibliopolis to offer Thousands of
“MUZE” (provide book affiliates free inventory independent
cover images, synopses, management software Booksellers
reviews etc)
2005 WorldCat
Database –
2005 Worlds largest
Outsourcing agreement DB of books
with LinkConnector to held in libraries
manage affiliate program
and marketing
2005
Agreement with Australian 2005
Company Independent
Online
To provide Booksellers
Assoc
2006 2006
Outsourcing agreement Agreement with UK
2005
with Intrapromote. SEO company Biblion to
Launch Textbook
company to improve affilate with UK
warehouse with
ranking and drive traffic booksellers
Textbook vendors
to site.
1. Biblio.com, 2003 - 2009

36. Plus …
Biblio.com during its time of beta-testing,
offered free service to sellers willing to
help with the testing phase.12
This aided them with the radical
knowledge creation. These sellers then
became part of Biblio‟s network.

37. Millions of books …
Canada
Biblio book U Europe
search - USA K
BiblioQuest
book search
– Australia &
By June 2003, Biblio had signed up 350 NZ
Booksellers with 2 million books.2

38. Within the next five years …
Up to 2008, Biblio had “an inventory of
about 50 million titles from a network of
5,500 independent booksellers.” 11
Image from Biblio website – http://www.biblio.com/

39. Geography
“With traditional constraints of geography and
scale being eliminated, it is niche content that
accounts for a rapidly growing proportion of
total online sales, meaning that „popularity no
longer has a monopoly on profitability.”13
From this we can all see Biblio is not running on
popularity, but they are giving a niche service to
the consumer market which makes them stand
out as being different in the
e-commerce world.

40. Biblio connects many businesses to its
database
“We take pride in bringing together over 5500
professional, independent booksellers from
around the world.”14
These booksellers create part of Biblio‟s
network.

41. Biblio is …
“… an economy with heightened levels of
connectedness and relationships that are
mutually beneficial to sellers and customers
alike”.15
For more details about the Network economy, click here.

42. Using the concepts of the Network Economy,
entwined with the Attention Economy,
Biblio.com – as we have seen – continued to
encourage their own growth.

43. The Attention Economy
With millions of web sites and businesses
competing for a limited market, how did any of
them make money and continue to do so?
How do sellers and buyers connect – is it just by
chance?16

44. Perhaps in some cases yes
But more likely by a carefully constructed
network of strategically placed ads, links and
offers „too good to pass by‟ which gain our
attention – a commodity now more valuable
than information.17

45. A lonely place?
David Gauntlett states that
“… without attention, on the Web, you‟re
nothing.” 18

46. Biblio
grabs the attention
from multiple buyers
and sellers in a variety
of ways.

47. Some of these include: 19
• Biblio offers free bookmarks for friends,
family, relatives and more.
• They “... rely on fellow book lovers and book
sellers in telling their friends or family ...”
about Biblio.com and what they‟re trying to
do.
• They promote their buyers to visit local
bookstores, and of course, tell them about
Biblio.
• They provide an assortment of banners and
links that can be placed on anyone‟s website,
not just booksellers.

48. If business like Biblio.com, which relies on
commissions through sales to earn money, did
not get attention through their networks, then it
is quite likely that their business would not have
been successful.
Thus, Biblio.com has made an impressive use of
their Network and Attention economies for
profit. Much of this success, was actually
through the Knowledge Economy.
For more information on the Attention Economy
click here.
Image from Biblio website – http://www.biblio.com/

49. As stated before, there is one more economy type
that both of the previous economies rely on.
So let us now begin a journey through the …
Knowledge Economy

50. Assets …
that cannot be touched or are not solid are
intangible.
Biblio.com‟s database of used books, along with
databases such as: Amazon, EBay, iTunes,
Facebook, are all intermediaries for Internet
Commerce between the buyer and the seller.

51. Flew states that Knowledge “... is one where ideas and
intangible assets rather than tangible physical assets are
increasingly the central sources of new wealth creation ...” 20

52. For example,
we cannot walk into Biblio.com‟s online
database,
and we cannot physically hold the cash and buy
an item.
This system of commerce is becoming more
popular as it shares with the concept of
globalisation.

53. Radical –
Business
concepts can be
tested through
existing
customers and
sellers to
improve services
for all.
Explicit – that
which is written,
seen and can be
Knowledge Tacit – learned
from life
taught experience
Incremental –
applied
knowledge,
used to adapt to
a situation,
which is a
fundamental
basic for an
online business
today

54. How do these types of
Knowledge fit with
Biblio.com?

55. Radical – Adapted the
business to suit their
customers and sellers
needs3
During its time of beta-
testing, offered free
service to sellers willing to
help with the testing
phase, who then then
became part of Biblio‟s
network. 12 Tacit – Creating the
Explicit – Forming online presence
relationships the Listening to
old fashioned way. professionals and
Reviewing research Biblio’s customers feedback
reports to learn
how to increase
Knowledge Gained trust and
respect from
their networking. customers and
booksellers
Incremental –
Continually shaped
their learning
experience
Recruited other
booksellers
(growing)

56. Knowledge Economy …
is the ability to manage and diffuse knowledge,
which are very important factors when
companies are competing with each other. 21
This is also known as a shift in the economy,
which is referred to as an economic transition
(Flew, 2008). Knowledge economy does not only
refer to technology. 21

57. So to sum up …
For Biblio, Internet Commerce is more than just
buying and selling an item online.
It involves vast networking skills.
It involves gaining the interest of an audience
and keeping it long enough for them to react in
a positive manner.
They need to be versatile and creative with
newly acquired knowledge.

58. Fundamental basics
Internet commerce encapsulates much more than
just offering things for sale online.
A successful business must also understand and
harness the many facets of the internet economy
– networks, knowledge and attention in order to
build relationships, survive and grow.

59. Our Research
If you would like to see more of our research,
please explore the topics under „Research
Articles‟ on the left sidebar of this website.
And to summarise