Case study on

AMAZON,EBAY

&GOOGLE :UNLOCKING &SHARING BUSINESS DATABASE

PRESENTED BY-• Pushpendu saha

INTRODUCTION AMAZON: It is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company. Headquarter in Seattle,USA. Opened its data vault in 2002.

Data available to 65k developers, businesses and Entrepreneurs. Transformed from “Earths biggest bookstore” to “Big piece of software available over web”.

1/3rd of beneficiaries developing software tools that help 800,000 Amazon’s sellers.

Example- Scoutpal & SellerEngine. Scout Pal turns mobile phone into barcode scanners.

SellerEngine helps merchants on main site upload their inventory, check price, and automate interacting such as adding new listings.

EBAY: It is an American multinational corporation and e-commerce company providing consumer-to-

consumer(C2C) & business-to-consumer (B2C) sales services via the Internet. It is headquartered in Jose, California. Ebay.com is an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell

broad variety of goods and services worldwide. $3 billion database was opened by eBay in 2003. Technorati gained access to 33million weekly auction items. Data was available to 15k registered developers. It emerges to 1000 new applications. Channel advisor, marketworks and Vendio offer auction listing software to eBay. Sellers using eBay’s APIs (Application programming interface) become 50% more productive. e.g.-

Super Pawn.

GOOGLE: It is an American multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and

products that include online advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, and software. Most of its profits are derived from Ad Words, an online advertising service that places advertising

near the list of search results. Its had opened access to some of its search result data. Unlocked access to its desktop and paid search products. Developer can access 1000 search results for free. In Jan 2005 Google opened up its AdWords paid search service for outside applicants. Allowed marketers to automate their Google Ad campaigns.

SUMMARY:• After so many confusion and worries about a question which was buzzing inside the

company :Should Amazon bust open the doors of its most prized data warehouse, containing its huge database, and let an eager world of entrepreneurs scavenge through its data jewels?

• Finally Jeff Bezos had declared “We’re going to aggressively expose ourselves”.

• Data was available to 65k developers, businesses and Entrepreneurs. And they helped Amazon to get 800,000 active sellers ,it also brings more customers and sellers to their platform.

• Later eBay has also opened its $3billion company database, which helps Technorati to access 33million weekly auction items.

• 1000 new application had emerged after the decision. And few companies like Channel advisor, Marketworks etc. were offering software services to eBay.

• At Google too, this concepts is finding its legs, they opened some of its search results data and recently unlock access to its desktop and paid search product.

• Developer can grab 1000 search a day for free but anything more than that requires permission.

• In 2005 Google finally opened up its Ad-Words paid search service to outside applicant and allow marketers to operate their Google ad campaigns.

• The decision or step which Jeff Bezos, Meg Whiteman and Google boys had chosen, pushed their company to an era in which online business operates an open ended software platforms that can accommodate thousands of new business selling similar products and services.

1) What are the business benefits to Amazon and eBay of opening up some of their database to developers and entrepreneurs? Do you agree with this strategy? Why or why not?

ANSWER-1• From the case study it is precise that the Amazon and eBay became popular by opening up some of

their databases to developers and entrepreneurs. It has created a huge value for those organizations. It enables the programmers (65,000 developers) to research and create money making websites, new online shopping interfaces and innovative services to thousands of Amazon’s independent sellers for free. Sales of the company have been increased from these innovated websites. Different software tools were created to support the customer service. Enabled lot of market space for buyer and sellers.

• I agree with the strategy. This strategy has given a numerous benefit to the organization plus customer. Amazon improved their business by using the barcode for scanning and Scout pal use. It increases the profits and cut the cost. It is also helped other businesses to grow smoothly. Developers improved their innovation and productiveness. Therefore, it is matching for the companies like Amazon and eBay.

2) What business factor are causing Google to move slowly in opening up its database? Do you agree with its go-slow strategy? Why or why not?

ANSWER-2• There are many business factors are causing Google to move slowly in opening up its database.

The integrity of data and security is most important to consider. There can be a possibility for sensitive data leakage. Make the database available to everyone is involved with high risk. Competitors can take over the Google’s market share. Fear on whether the organization’s reputation or image can be spoiled.

• It is good to have a go-slow strategy, because the risk is low and the organization can’t predict, it will work well for us, since it went well for Amazon and eBay. If any issues arise it is easy to go back to the normal. This is very important, so that the organization can maintain their brand image and the reputation among the customers. Always can ensure the integrity of data and its security, so go-slow strategy can guide the organization towards to the successful path.

3)Should other companies follow Amazon’s and eBay’s lead and open up some of their database to developer and others? Defend your position with examples of the risk and benefits to an actual company?

ANSWER-3• It is not possible to guarantee that it will work for all the companies the way it works for the other

companies. Google followed a go-slow strategy. They didn’t jump quickly to open up their databases. It will work for some organization but for others it will not. Open up their data base provides many benefits at the same time it has some risks also. Considering the benefits, as I discussed in the previous questions, it can increase the sales for the company, a lot of business can be started, so that the customer will have numerous places to purchase their order. It allows the developers to develop cost free many online stores and money making stores. When think about risks it has data issues. There are possible chances for leakage of sensitive data. Hackers can hack the important data. The security concern is there to consider. So when an organization plans to open up their database, they have to analyse the risk and benefits carefully.