IBM Case Study Sample

Online commerce has changed a lot in the decade since it entered into the cultural mainstream. Driven by relentlessly rising customer expectations, sites have become easier to use, merchandising has improved and, to put it simply, companies have gotten better at online commerce because they've come to understand its many nuances. In spite of these changes, however, the essential character of online retail–namely, the extension of traditional retail practices to the Internet channel–has remained largely unchanged. So, too, have some basic and long-held assumptions about the way consumers buy and what they are looking for from an online retailer.

The traditional view of online transactions is anchored on the idea that online stores are first and foremost a venue for transactions, which, by and large, tend to be tightly structured interactions involving the buyer and the retailer. Within this interaction, the retailer's key job is to provide customers with the information they need to purchase–such as pricing, product descriptions and orderly merchandising–and to deliver all within the context of a superior customer experience. However, the way customers are seeking and processing this information is beginning to change, and that's expected to have a big impact on tomorrow's online experience.

The biggest reason is the sweeping impact of Web 2.0, a term that describes a paradigm shift in the way people use the Internet to interact with each other–and with information. The key earmark of Web 2.0 is the exploding popularity of user generated content, examples of which range from blogs, wikis and discussion groups to YouTube and MySpace. What each has in common is a decidedly “bottom-up,” approach to generating and sharing information that’s heavy on collaboration and light on hierarchical structures. So how does this impact online retail? The answer, in large measure, lies in demographics and changing expectations.