Marketing Services: Ricardo.ch Case - Essay Example

Marketing Services: Ricardo.ch Case Study Introduction Ricardo.ch was founded in November 1999 under the of auktion24.ch in Baar. It is now a part of MIH Internet Europe. It is a subsidiary of South African media group Naspers. The firm employs over 100 employees. Ricardo.ch is one of Switzerland’s largest online marketplaces with more than 1.7 million visitors. There are over 500000 current offers on Ricardo.ch. The site has a trade turnover of approximately 600M Swiss Francs (Ricardo.ch, 2010). The firm operates on a B2C e-commerce model where businesses sell to individual shoppers. The platform allows e-tailing where shops or retailers from the area are able to sell products and services to consumers. Business Strategy According to the management, the firm has a focus on satisfying the needs of consumers, with the aim of providing comfort, safety and protection and achieving market leadership in all parts of Switzerland. Security is an important issue, and each member is checked for a postal address. The transactions are insured with an insurance charge and there is encryption of user data. Members enjoy a modern, simple and secure website. Members can avail a six-language customer service by phone during office hours, and on all days via e-mail. The management has emphasized that one of the aims of the firm is to make services affordable for all people, and the firm strives to offer its members a high quality of services at minimal fees. Partnerships include major Swiss websites such as www.bluewin.ch; www.romandie.com; www.ticinonline.ch, and ch.msn.com. There are over 5000 affiliate advertisers. The management team includes Heiner Kroke as CEO, Eveline Duschletta as Head of Customer Service, Christian Kunzler as Director of Finance and Controlling, and Luke Thoma as Head of Marketing and Communications. Business Model The portal has been successful for over ten years and is the largest and most popular eCommerce site in Switzerland. The site is listed at number three behind Google and Facebook in Switzerland. The success of the firm can be attributed to ease of use, optimal pricing, performance and safety. Safety lies at the heart of the Ricardo.ch site. This is in sync with the needs of 84 percent of users who place safety at the top of online shopping (Ricardo.ch, 2010). One of the services from Ricardo.ch is shops from particular areas. Shops provide over 2.5 M products continuously at a fixed price. Products can be inserted and purchased comfortably on Ricardo.ch. Shop articles can be found by selecting search category and entering the search term. Well known shops have prestigious Swiss companies integrated. They also include the product line on leading online shops. The characteristics include high quality, attractive price, wide and or deep range of products or services backed by excellent customer service. There is a special emphasis on efficient and optimized mail order (Ricardo.ch, 2010). According to the management all products that a customer wants to buy can add them to the cart and purchase them together. The basket only works with products from shops. The shop owner provides several payment options. It is possible to pay by credit card and the payment can be made via the shopping cart of ricardo.ch. There are other payment options provided by the shop owner in the absence of credit card. It is not possible to pay for items from multiple suppliers simultaneously and each order must go through the ordering process by the vendor. As most of the data is already given the ordering process takes very little time. According to the management, shops that are established and a proven company for several years are allowed to provide of good service and customer service. The seller guarantees normal execution of a purchase. Some partner shops include Ackermann and Kidoh. Buying Registration is required to be able to offer or buy. Information, bid assistant, and seller contact information are some useful features of the system. Types of offers include auctions; fixed price offers; or classifieds. In auctions the highest bidder is the winner of the auction. Fixed price offer includes selling at a fixed price and each bid leads to a successful purchase. In classifieds the price is shown as a reference price. It is not possible to place bids in classifieds. In auctions and fixed price offers binding leads to final purchase agreement. Under each category there are benefits for buyers and sellers (Ricardo.ch, 2010). Selling There is provision for article photograph, and a form that captures article information. This includes category, product title and text, and listing type. After preview the offer goes live. There is provision for modification of offers. An offer that has ended successfully is followed by an e-mail that includes the details of the buyer. There are seven days for settlement of payment and delivery of the product (Ricardo.ch, 2010). There are provisions for buyer and seller protection. When a sale has not been handled correctly buyers and sellers are protected upto an amount of 250CHF. There are certain conditions for buyer and seller protection to come into effect. This excludes transportation insurance. Individual transport companies are responsible for appropriate insurance provisions and liability limits (Ricardo.ch, 2010). Classifieds can be placed in categories including services; holiday and travel; real estate; vacancies; and animals. Advantages of classifieds include easy sell-form; direct contact information for suppliers; opportunity to link to own web address; or sale outside Ricardo.ch. There are several tool including Ricardo assistant; iPhone solution; RSS feeds; etc. that enhances the consumer experience (Ricardo.ch, 2010). Innovations The site is attractive as there are many new applications and new features. There are several user-friendly features such as Google Maps that show the buyer where the product, that has been purchased, can be picked up. Moneybookers allows quick payment within a short time via the internet. WebStamp has made the shipment of products easier in cooperation with Swiss Post. The auto.ricardo.ch was launched in January 2009 for vehicles and vehicle accessories. This professional online platform was developed in response to the needs of private and professional buyers and sellers. RicardoTrans is an escrow service that is optional. The service combines trust-money service with trust-delivery service. The service is offered by Justin Schmid Transport AG (Ricardo.ch, 2010). Analysis of Services Marketing Consumers have been influential in shaping service creation and delivery. The firm has been quick in its ability to comprehend how consumers interact with service operations and develop strategies to address the needs of the consumer. The service can be classified under mental stimulus processing. Shops or retailers advertise their products and services, which are directed at people`s minds. The firm has made provisions to allow only established business to use their platform, as there is the potential for suppliers to manipulate information. Thus, the firm has adhered to the highest ethical standards. Figure 1. Purchase Process (Ricardo.ch, 2010) The firm has taken extensive steps to address challenges faced by the consumer at the prepurchase stage. This includes tools for evaluating services, reducing risk, and making purchase decisions. For example, difficulty in evaluation can be reduced by broad exposure to a service category and frequency of use of a supplier. On the site it is possible to view the top selling items under various categories. Some risks include functional, financial, temporal, physical, psychological, social, and sensory. The firm has adopted strategies including allowing reputable suppliers, and extensive information such as gallery and seller rating (see figure below) to reduce risk. Figure 2. Information (Ricardo.ch, 2010) As there is little or no physical contact with service personnel, web-based technologies have been adopted to enhance contact. The customer staff are friendly and can be reached by phone or email adding another layer of credibility. Figure 3. Service Delivery (Ricardo.ch, 2010) The post encounter stage considers consumer evaluation of services for improving services. Consumer satisfaction is based on the level of service quality, price or quality tradeoffs, personal and situational factors. The firm has aimed at delighting the consumer by providing a high level of performance; and creating a positive effect on the consumer. This has led the firm to achieve a high level of brand positioning being the in the top three in online marketplace in the region. Conclusion Ricardo.ch is a leading online marketplace that serves consumers in Switzerland. It has a unique business model allowing shops in specific areas use their platform to offer products and services to consumers. Also, the platform allows direct retailers to market their products and services. The experience is enhanced by the application of innovative tools and services. Buyers and sellers enjoy a secure business environment on the platform. The business model has been well received leading the firm to be among the top three online marketplaces serving the area. References Ricardo.ch. (2010). Ricardo.ch. Available: http://www.ricardo.ch/. Last accessed May 05 2010. Read More