An E-Commerce Business Model of Peer-to-Peer Interactions among Consumers

Abstract

E-commerce facilitates not only consumer-to-company interaction, but also consumer-to-consumer interaction. In earlier years, text-based message boards characterized the community nature of these consumer gatherings. Now, advanced technology and higher bandwidth allow use of images and video as integral parts of sites such as facebook.com or youtube.com. Unlike the earlier era of dotcom bubbles, the high valuation of these sites is reflected in their capacity to generate revenue—not only do they boast high visitor numbers, but a higher extent of much desired “stickiness,” too. Organizations look at these new “water cooler” places with interest as they may have some implications for the e-commerce strategy of a firm. Since social networking is an emergent phenomenon, much of the research is in the exploratory stage. A case study was conducted to examine how a firm, Eliterecruiting.com, which provides a social networking platform to football fans, integrates the virtual community in its business model.