Bargaining Power of Suppliers
The suppliers and alliances such as SquareTrade and Escrow.com should not have a strong bargaining power as eBay’s strong brand name should be able to attract substitutes should any conflicts arise from these current suppliers.
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Unlike the segments listed in the case study, buyers can also be divided into basically the two types of sellers that list their products to be sold on eBay i.e. the corporate companies and the small businesses and the buyers that purchase the products from these sellers. All these buyers certainly have a strong bargaining power as they are needed to sustain the growth of eBay.
Threat of new entrants
Google, even though it is not in e-tailing or online auction is a potential competitor as it is a strong trusted brand that attracts traffic and has an excellent search system. It is even said that Google is actively pursuing a profitable combination of search and e-commerce that threatens both Yahoo! and eBay (Thomas 2008).
Threat of new substitutes
Although Amazon’s business model functions more as a one-stop e-shopping site, it is still capable of adopting a hybrid model that could threaten eBay’s market share. Craigslist is also another potential threat but eBay has a partial stake in this company.
Rivalry among competitors
Yahoo! is certainly a big threat with its similar business model, rapid innovation and international expansion strengthen by its desire to gain more market share because of its failure to overtake Google as the preferred search engine. However, it is also commented that eBay and Yahoo! will be better off working together rather than compete (Thomas 2008).
Question no. 2
The competition in online auctions is certainly less intense than in e-tailing by just comparing the sheer number of e-tailing sites and online auction sites.
Question no. 3
The rising price of fuel is also threatening the transportation industry and if the cost of