Abstract

Buying and selling are not the sole activities that describe EC. EC encompasses more activities than these two ones. The advent of the Internet has created new business platforms. The World Wide Web makes it possible for goods, services, communication, commercial trading, business process, learning, collaboration and community to be part of EC. King, D., Lee, J., & Wiehland, D. report wrote about the pervasive influences of the Internet Revolution. �The truly revolutionary impact of the Internet Revolution is just beginning to be felt�The explosive emergence of the Internet as a major, perhaps, eventually the major worldwide distribution channel for goods, for services, and, surprisingly, for managerial and professional jobs�� (Drucker 2002, pp. 3-4). Since the Internet facilitates the access and rise in EC and business creations, what will set these business entities apart is are their business models, the level of competition they can withstand, the type of Customer Relations Management they can provide and their products and services categories without forgetting the degree of technological sophistication and market segmentation. "Computers and the Internet, Bill Gates says, will spread wealth and power more evenly around the globe." Furthermore, Bill Gates�s remarks and views on this topic are reported, �Nobody controls the Internet. It's the most democratic, level playing field for commerce and the exchange of ideas and information that has ever existed" (Lowe 2001).

Introduction

In this digital economy or new economy, yahoo! is one of the most recognized names. As a pioneer, it has played a very significant role in the emergence and development of Electronic Commerce or EC, defined as �conducting transactions electronically.� It must be noted that besides being an information portal, Yahoo! provides links to various merchants, for which it gets paid a commission. It also provides hosting and software services. Through Yahoo! Store, customers can open and manage an account. In comparison to shopping.yahoo.com, shopping.com is a fairly recent company, built mostly on the success of epinions.com and a merger between epinions.com and dealtime.com Shopping.com helps customers find, compare and buy any products in matter of seconds. It powers Shopping.com, Epinions.com, DealTime.com, and PriceTool.com. Shopping.com which is now an eBay company claims to have pioneered online comparison shopping. Our goals are to compare the products and services of shopping.com and shopping.yahoo.com and present the business environment in which they are operating. To do so, we will look at the common factors that both companies have, the types of EC infrastructures that go into their formation, the categorization of products, the level of CRM, stickiness, security and privacy issues. To understand the contribution of EC and its impacts on these two organizations, it is worthwhile to examine today�s business environment. We will take a look at the pressures the environment creates on these organizations, the organizational responses to those pressures, and the potential role of EC in supporting those responses. �Economic, legal, societal, and technological factors have created a highly competitive business environment in which customers are becoming more powerful. The environment factors can change quickly, sometimes in an unpredictable manner� (King, D. & al.).

Every day, millions of people surf the Internet to conduct EC transactions, communicate, learn, search, compare and buy products. Being the top destinations on the Web, shopping.yahoo.com and shopping.com receive their shares of potential customers. Turning surfers into potential shoppers and buyers takes some planning, monitoring and the use of advanced technological devices. Both Yahoo Shopping and Shopping.com use software agent which can do more than just �search and match.� �It has capabilities that can be used to perform routine tasks that require intelligence. For example, it can monitor movements on a Web site to check whether a customer seems lost or ventures into areas that may not fit their profile. If it detects such confusion, the agent can notify the customer and provide assistance. Software agents can be used in e-commerce to support tasks such as comparing prices, interpreting information, monitoring activities, and working as an assistant� (King & al, p. 48). This type of interactivity is appreciated by most online shoppers. In fact, users can even chat or collaborate with these agents.

Before venturing into the grueling competition that exists among these two companies, it�s appropriate to take a look at the categories they fit in. Besides being a major information portal, Yahoo also has one of the top search engines that brings a lot of customers to the portal. The tens of thousands of people who surf the site are potential buyers of the goods and services that Yahoo�s affiliates and merchants offer. Just like any offline customers, these consumers are looking for bargains, customized items, collectors� items, entertainment, computers, clothing, electronics, home & garden, DVDs, music, flowers & gifts, movies, automotive, auctions. The e-marketspaces created by Yahoo allow sellers to own their own storefronts. These sellers sell direct from their shops. In a lot of ways, Yahoo and shopping act as intermediaries who manage the marketspace, match buyers and sellers, provide some infrastructure services, and help customers and/or sellers to institute and complete transactions.

What Shopping.com hopes to deliver to advertising merchants are ready-to-buy shoppers to their Web pages. �The Shopping.com Merchant Program delivers ready-to-buy shoppers to your product pages� (Shopping.com). While shopping.yahoo.com can be seen as a commercial portal, Shopping.com can be seen more like a pure e-business. In fact, without the advent of the Internet, it would be impossible to be developed. Furthermore, most industry insiders see Shopping.com as a shopping aid.

Both Web sites offer what tends to sell on the Internet. The most recognizable categories that sellers can find are the following: Computer hardware and software, Consumer electronics, Sporting goods, Office supplies, Books and music, Toys, Health and beauty, Entertainment, Apparel, Cars, Services.

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