Retail Management Essay

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Retail Management – Case 1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of online auctions? Advantages: 1) Merchandise has exposure to the traffic of the online auction site. 2) If an item is popular, bidders can push the price up beyond its starting price. 3) If you are selling more than one item on the site, you can add a link for visitors to view the other items for sale. 4) You can add multiple photos with different views. 5) You can add detailed decriptions and shipping information. 6) Some sites offer promotions with no listing fees or other specials for a limited time. 7) The ability for potential customers to review feedback left from buyers or sellers. Disadvantages: 1) The item may not sell, you'll have to re-list it, and pay an additional fee. 2) A buyer may bid and not pay, resulting in a lost sale and a re-listing fee. 3) It is time-consuming to add a category, descriptions, price, shipping method, and photos to a listing. 4) It is time-consuming to promote listings to drive traffic to auctions. 5) People may try to convince you to close a listing and sell to them off the site. 2) Will a significant amount of retail sales be made through Internet auctions like eBay in the future? Why or why not? Retail sales will increase in Ebay due to below advances. 1. Go where the people go: According to Hitwise, in the UK eBay and Amazon have a larger share of traffic than all of the other online stores combined in their top 20 Retail Index. 2. Fixed costs: The costs of selling on eBay and Amazon are largely fixed. This means you will have a clearer understanding of your cost of sale prior to listing and ultimately selling an item. Compare this to the volatile world of paid search where the cost of advertising, if left unchecked, can quickly destroy any margin. 3. Good practice reaps rewards: Maintaining a good

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