Buy.com is an online retailer based in Aliso Viejo, California The online retailer began by selling computers and electronics in 1997 and has since expanded into many other categories. Initially Buy.com sold items below cost and intended to make up the losses "from the sale of advertising and ancillary services like warranties and equipment leases. Buy.com sold $111 million worth of goods and services in 1998, its first full year, beating Compaq's record for most first-year sales of any company.
In 2002, Buy.com decided to go beyond selling solely electronics, movies and music and began adding more soft goods to their catalog. It was this same time that Blum extended a welcome to Amazon.com customers. Appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Blum’s address promised Amazon customers that Buy.com would prove itself to be the better buying option. This statement came shortly after Buy.com announced a 10% below Amazon.com cost on all books sold on the site and a free shipping site-wide offer
Buy TV was created in 2006 and has since become a pioneer in the e-commerce industry. BuyTV started on Buy. com's website; as of 2010, it can also be found on Youtube, Google, and the national television station G4. Filmed entirely in HD, BuyTV takes consumers into the world of entertainment and electronics with weekly top ten video spots and on-location technology convention interviews. To highlight the hot new products on the market, the program also includes one-on-one interviews with manufacturers that provide viewers with in depth product overviews.
When Buy.com updated its website in 2006, it announced a marketplace that allows consumers to purchase from various sellers with only one account necessary to process their purchase. At launch Buy.com had 100 marketplace sellers; today the company maintains over 1,000 sellers. Extending its reach even further, Buy.com began selling product on eBay in April 2008 and has since become the second company in eBay history to receive over 1 million customer reviews. The company holds a satisfaction rating of 99.7%.
Buy. com's virtual model and extensive marketplace have helped the company become recognized as one of the most environmentally friendly ways to shop. The company added the Epeat™ scale component to the website in 2007, encouraging users to discover what impact their purchase has on the environment. In 2009, Carnegie Mellon University’s reputable Green Design Institute conducted research concluding Buy.com was the best way to purchase in order to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions and reduce energy consumption. By June 2009, Buy.com had partnered with Imation to offer remanufactured toner cartridges and Kingston Technologies to sell a ‘green’ line of SD cards and flash drives housed in less packaging than other manufacturers.
By the end of 2009, Buy.com had proved the recession wasn't hurting all businesses. The company had been profitable for 11 consecutive quarters and recorded two of its highest sales days in company history. Originally in 2008, Buy.com's Black Friday and Cyber Monday claimed top sales, nearly doubling the company's revenue, however Buy.com exceeded itself in Dec. 2009 when it announced it had surpassed its 2008 numbers. The company touted over 4.4 million visitors to the site in December, with a 138% increase in marketplace sales over the previous year.
Marketing strategy
Utilizing various social networks and partner relations, the contests have received over 250,000 site views and hundreds of completed entries. Using Twitter and Facebook to kick off contests, participants have also been directed to the homepages of sites such as eBay, Fandango, Lexmark, eBillme, View sonic, Toshiba, D-link, YouTube, and Wikipedia. The initial Tweet n Seek contest consisted of a dedicated email that helped get Buy. com's initiative further recognized. Buy.com was honored as one of the Retail Email Blog’s 2009 Design Hall of Fame inductee for "Best Use of Multichannel".
Buy.com: Business Model
Buy. com’s business model is simple: “Attract customers by selling everything at below cost, drive revenues with premiere advertisers by guaranteeing them a buying market, and keep costs down by outsourcing fulfillment.” Buy. com’s business model is based on making sales and profits. They sell products, take orders, charge credit cards, and ship goods, offering their target customers the benefit of ease of use and selection. They also increase their profits by offering ad opportunities in their website.
Buy.com has changed the economics of the consumer-electronics distribution business by selling products at and below cost. It extracts value differently, through a mix of advertising, manufacturer sponsorship, and upselling of value-added products. No offline retailers can sustain this model over time, because they lack Buy. com's volume of both visitors and products.
Markets like Buy.com create economic value for:
– buyers
– sellers
– market intermediaries
– Society at large
Key features of Buy.com superstore:
– easy browsing, searching & ordering
– useful product information, reviews news & blogs
– Broad selection
– Low prices
– Secure payments systems
– Efficient order fulfillment
Buy.com: A potential existence of blog
In my opinion, blogging would offer some major advantages as the following:
Enhance marketing advertising and product promotion
Build reputation
Increase their market reach and customer base
Generate additional income
Limitations of blogging:
Constant updating
Potential Risk that an ill-judged comment could be seized upon by the media or disgruntled investors.
No Advertising
No Sponsored / paid posts
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