BUSINESS MODELS

Describe the features of each of these business models, on your blog page, giving an example of each.

1. Brokerage model - The brokerage business model bring buyers and sellers together to make possible business transactions. Brokers can facilitate consumer-to-consumer, consumer-to-business or business-to-business markets. This business model earns money by charging a fee or commission for each transaction. The eBay website is the clearest example of this model.

www.ebay.com.au

2. Advertising model - Advertising is probably the most widely used model online and it is the sole way of profit for many organizations. With the advertising model, websites can choose to put up some form of advertising on their site in exchange for money. According to Michael Rappa (2010) the online publishing model opens up subscription revenue options because companies can charge fees to access some or all of the content they produce. Google is an excellent example of the advertising model. It employs paid text advertisements, search placement and user tracking to guide advertising to consumers as they browse the Internet.

Rappa M (2010) Business Models in Web. Retrieved April 17, 2013 from http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html

https://www.google.com/adsense/www/en_US/tour/

3. Infomediary model - Infomediary is about independently collected data about businesses and their products are useful to consumers when considering a purchase. "Money saving expert" is a website that researches all financial products on the market and presents the information to customers helping them make a more informed decision before they buy.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

4. Merchant model - The Merchant business model is used by retailers and wholesalers. Merchants buy goods, and sell them with profit. Sales may be made based on list prices or through auction. Amazon.com is the one of the example of merchant model.

http://www.amazon.com/

5. Manufacturer (Direct) model- With this business model, company manufactures items and then sells them on to retailers or directly to the customer. Dell is one of the examples of Manufacturer (Direct) model.
http://www.dell.com.au/

6. Affiliate model - The affiliate business model is based on commission sales .This system basically consists of recommending products from other people, of which you get a commission each time you generate a sale. Pay per click model, banner exchanges and the more popular revenue sharing model. Barnes & Nobel is the examples of affiliate business model.

http://affiliates.barnesandnoble.com/

7. Community model - The community model can be business-to-consumer or business-to-business, but has found great acceptance as a consumer-to-consumer business model. Examples are consumer reviews of products and services on websites such as Facebook, Twitter and user-created content sites such as eHow and Wikipedia. Revenue may be tied to contextual advertising and subscriptions for premium services.  They all are based on individuals talking and sharing information and experiences, rather than companies advertising to individuals.

www.ehow.com

8. Subscription model – In this model business charge a fee for their customers to have access to service or as a continuity business model where a customer pays for product and then they are charged automatically at certain periods to replace the product until further notice. Brichbox, Bluum is the examples of subscription model.

http://www.birchbox.com/

9. Utility model - This type of business makes money by selling the usage of its products and services. Utility companies such as power, phone and cable operate under this type of model. Slashdot is the example of utility business model.

http://slashdot.org/