www.gv.com.sg

BRIEF INTRO ON GV:

Golden Village was established to develop and operate modern, luxurious multiplex cinemas. Golden Village’s first imprint in Singapore was madeon 28 May 1992 with the successful opening of the Yishun 10 cinema complex. Today, Golden Village has a reputation of offering more choice, comfort and convenience at its cinemas.

Golden Village also offers to patrons:

- An unmatched variety of movies to choose from at convenient screening times throughout the day so that patrons can walk in at practically any time of the day to catch a movie.

- Supported by a central computerised system, Golden Village movie tickets can be bought via an integrated telephone system, internet buying facility and also at all AXS stations located island-wide. Our ticketing system automatically selects the best seats available at any one time although patrons may choose their own seats via our Internet booking facility.


PURPOSE:

With the increasing prevalence of the internet as a means for gathering information & communication, offering patrons the convenience of booking tickets practically any time of the day anywhere as long as they have access to internet is an economic strategy, as well as to attract, satisfy and keep up with internet savvy patrons.

It provides cinema & movie information, promotions, corporate information, immediate movie booking without having to queue.

In fact, Golden Village is the first cinema to offer remote ticketing i.e. phone (1992), website (1997) and kiosk (2001).


FEATURES:

business model: B2C (business to consumer) where movie goers can book & pay their tickets through the internet.

Payment scheme:

Tickets can be bought using 2 different payment modes- credit card (Visa and Mastercard) and eNETS.

- card number is given & needed when collecting the tickets in person or through AXS machine- Able to view available seats & seats that has been taken, allowing the user to choose the seats easier.

- Provides detailed movie reviews, including decriptions & estimated duration of the films.- Able to check dates of sneak previews & released date of certain films.

- View the types of cinemas e.g GVmax, GV gold class.


DESIGN:

- Easy to navigate

- Links are easy to identify

- Booking is systematic, guiding users to book tickets step by step.

1. Select a Cinema or Film
2. Choose a Day
3. Choose a Time

- Website is attractive, which will encourage internet users who accidentally browse their website to spend some time looking through it.


STRENGTHS:

- Able to check if transaction has been approved online(If you pay by eNETS and you are not sure if the transaction has been approved, you can always check your booking status HERE. You can also click on the CHECK BOOKING button on GV homepage to check your booking status.)- Other promotions e.g student & snacks promotions.

- Advantage of choosing GV over other cinema operators:
http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2007/02/booking_via_sha.html


WEAKNESSES:

- Can’t make changes to booking, as compared to Cathay Cineplexes (You can only make changes to your booking by going directly to the box office of the cineplex that you booked your tickets. This is subject to seats availability of the movie and/or showtime that you want to change to. You need to make the changes at the box office at least 2 hours before movie showtime that you originally booked. No changes can be made after the movie that you originally booked has started and all tickets and bookings fees are non-refundable.)

- People without internet access or debit/credit card will have to go down personally to the cinema to buy the tickets.- Do not accept Amex ( While Cathay can: We currently accept Amex, Mastercard and Visa credit and debit cards for online purchasing.)

- Account may be deducted for unsuccessful transaction for people using IE6- Complimentary ticket cannot be used for online ticket booking. ms accessing the seating plan in the GV booking engine

- Only one language (English) available on the website, users who dont understand english wont be able to use it easily.


POTENTIAL:

- Make changes to booking available.

- Accept Amex as some users only carry Amex cards.

- Allow complimentary ticket to be used for all films, including online booking & sneak previews.

- Get IT department to translate the website to allow users to choose other languages.


SPECIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

-Golden Village Movie Club members enjoy Priority Seat Selection every Wednesday, between 6 to 9pm.

www.ebay.com.sg

BRIEF INTRO ON EBAY:

Founded in September 1995, eBay is a platform for the sale of goods and services by a diverse community of individuals and businesses. Today, the eBay community includes more than 114 million registered members from all around the world.

Globally, eBay has more than 25 million items listed for sale at any one time, and an additional 3.5 million items are added daily. There are more than 50,000 categories including collectables, antiques, sports memorabilia, computers, IT and office, art, antiques, toys, dolls, stamps, comics, magazines, music, pottery, glass, photography, electronics, jewellery and gemstones.

eBay provides an international platform where practically anyone can trade practically anything.

Although eBay is a global company, eBay.com.sg offers a trading platform tailored to the unique needs of Singaporeans. The eBay community consists of both passionate Singaporeans and international buyers and sellers trading in a variety of goods.


PURPOSE:

Founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar, who aimed to create a virtual marketplace for the sale of goods and services for and by individuals, it has become an online platform “enabling trade on a local, national and international basis”.

It is built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity.

Mission of connecting people & businesses to buy & sell goods & services.


FEATURES:

Business model: C2C (consumer to consumer)

Payment scheme: Buyers can pay through paypal, credit card, cheque, cashier’s cheque, money order, direct cash payment upon meet-up between buyer and seller, bank-to-bank funds transfer.

Types of auctions:

- Auction-style listings: allow the seller to offer one or more items for sale for a specified number of days. The seller can establish a reserve price.

- Fixed Price format: allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale at a Buy It Now price. Buyers who agree to pay that price win the auction immediately without submitting a bid.

- Dutch Auctions: allow the seller to offer two or more identical items in the same auction. Bidders can bid for any number from one item up to the total number offered.

Help readily available: Interactive Help pages and a 'Live help' link on topics inlcuding Account Security, Account Suspension and helps users navigate the site easily


DESIGN:

- Layout is simple & allows easy searching for an item.

- Users can easily access previous sub-sections that they were in.

- Website is organized into five sections: Buy, Sell, My eBay, Community and Help.


STRENGTHS:

- No time constraints. Bids can be placed at any time (24/7). Items are listed for a number of days (usually between 1 and 10, at the discretion of the seller), giving purchasers time to search, decide, and bid. This convenience increases the number of bidders.

- No geographical constraints. Sellers and bidders can participate from anywhere that has internet access. This makes them more accessible and reduces the cost of "attending" an auction. This increases the number of listed items (ie.: number of sellers) and the number of bids for each item (ie.: number of bidders). The items do not need to be shipped to a central location, reducing costs, and reducing the seller's minimum acceptable price.

- Intensity of social interactions. The social interactions involved in the bidding process are very similar to gambling. The bidders wait in anticipation hoping they will "win" (eBay calls the successful bidder the "winner"). Much like gambling addiction, some bidders may bid primarily to "play the game" rather than to obtain products or services. This creates a highly loyal customer segment for eBay.- Large number of bidders. Because of the potential for a relatively low price, the broad scope of products and services available, the ease of access, and the social benefits of the auction process, there are a large numbers of bidders.

- Large number of sellers. Because of the large number of bidders, the potential for a relatively high price, reduced selling costs, and ease of access, there are a large number of sellers.

- Network economies. The large number of bidders will encourage more sellers, which, in turn, will encourage more bidders, which will encourage more sellers, etc., in a virtuous circle. The more the circle operates, the larger the system becomes, and the more valuable the business model becomes for all participants.

- Captures consumers' surplus. Auctions are a form of first degree price discrimination. As such, they attempt to convert part of the consumers's surplus (defined as the area above the market price line but below the firm's demand curve) into producers's surplus. On-line auctions are efficient enough forms of price discrimination that they are able to do this.


WEAKNESS:

- Risk of fraud, buyer-seller relationship dependent on trust- there may be dishonest/untrustworthy buyers/sellers.

- Certain payment methods have inherent weaknesses. eBay does not recommend cash or cash wire transfers as a payment method since buyers do not retain any proof of their payment and will have little to no remedy for transaction problems.

- Pictures displayed by seller may differ from the real condition of the item.

- Some people take a long time to respond to emails when auction have ended, some take ages to pay out for goods they have bought, others take time sending the goods.

- People who exaggerate the descriptions of their goods on sale. New should be new and not sort of new. Good condition should not mean broken bits, scratches, missing or non existent parts.

- Consumers may feel trapped when a product they have received has gone bad or isn’t working right. The price of obtaining a good at such a bargain is, in most cases, that the seller is not readily accessible. Shipping back and forth may also get expensive and warrantees may not exist. The price of shipping may actually make the product more expensive than buying it locally.


POTENTIAL:

- Link with real auction houses. One of the problems in selling the products and especially high quality products is that the auction in the net is not truthfully. If Ebay collaborates with prestigious real auction houses, the wins will be bigger.


SPECIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

- Auto conversion of currency on items located in other countries. - e.g
US $6.00 (approximately S$ 8.84)

eBay...just for laughs (funny video)