It‟s easy to sell goods in a store where you can touch, feel, see,
and try the products on display but what about the companies
that do business in the virtual world. As there are different store
formats like supermarket, hypermarket, departmental store etc
similarly there are different business models for an online company.
A business model is the method of doing business by which a
company can sustain itself -- that is, generate revenue. The business model spells-out how a company makes money by specifying
where it is positioned in the value chain. Business models have
been defined and categorized in many different ways by research
analysts and academicians. So we are trying to present here a few observations on the web
which is not meant to be exhaustive or definitive because Internet business models have been
emerging since a decade now and continue to evolve. New and interesting variations can still be
expected with the mass awareness and availability of internet usage in the country.
Theoretically speaking the underlined are the business models over the web; stated by Professor Micheal Rappa, director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics at North Carolina State University in the document titled Business Models on the Web; which are as follows:
Brokerage:
Brokers are market-makers: they bring buyers and sellers together and facilitate transactions. This model is adopted by company named OLX. It‟s basically a marketplace where
buyers and sellers meet. Quickr..
Broker charges the seller a listing fee and commission scaled with the value of the transaction. Auctions vary widely in terms of the offering and bidding rules like in case of
eBay.
Transaction Broker is the one who provides a third-party payment mechanism for buyers and
sellers to settle a transaction eg PayPal.
Advertising
The web advertising model is an extension of the traditional media broadcast model. The
broadcaster, in this case, a web site, provides content (usually, but not necessarily, for
free) and services (like email, IM, blogs) mixed with advertising messages in the form of
banner ads.