Functional Modelling and Analysis of IDM E-Tailer Platforms

The research described in this article is motivated by the need to provide models and frameworks that would guide online web-stores in their platform provisioning and customer retention. The authors propose the e-tailer Platform Functionality Model (ePFM) for modelling the requirements of business-to-consumer (B2C) online stores for Interactive Digital Media (IDM). Encompassing e-tailer strategy formulation and functional requirements of the web-store, a variation of the Empathic Design (ED) methodology was used in the field research for investigating the efficacy of the ePFM. The research suggests that incorporating multiple perspectives - namely transaction, marketing, and revenue functionalities - for an online business is a critical success factor. Secondly, development of an online business platform requires design that is aligned with customers’ expectations of each of the three functionalities. Finally, e-business managers and platform architects may need to pay special attention to strategies that advance value creation in order to retain competitive advantage. From the empirical results, the authors may conclude that while all three types of functionalities are required for market impact, there are also differences between hygiene and competitive factors that eventually differentiate between success and mediocrity.