To help summarise the linkages and traffic flows in your e-marketplace, it is helpful for marketers working on an e-marketing plan, or students working on a case study to create an e-marketplace map like the one shown.

The marketplace map should show the types of sies and the relative importance of different online intermediaries in a particular marketplace.

In a more advanced form, it could also show the flow of clicks between different customer segments and to differe company site(s) and different competitors via the intermediaries.

Companies then need to work out which sites are effective in harnessing search traffic and either partner with them or try to grab a slice of the search traffic.

I also have an interview with a supplier of an online marketplace analysis methodology which gives further details on situation analysis.

The main elements of the e-marketplace

The main members of the e-marketplace model are:

1. Customer segments.

   Identify different segments to understand their online media consumption and the type of content and experiences they will be looking for from your website. Personas are used to understand the preferences, characteristics and online behaviours of different groups as described in link at bottom of page.

2. Search intermediaries.

   These are the main search engines in each country. Typically Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft Live Search, but others are important in some markets such as China (Baidu) and Russia (Yandex). Use audience data from Comscore (www.comscore.com), Hitwise (www.hitwise.com), Nielsen Netratings (www.nielsennetratings.com) to find out their relative importance in your country. You will need to know the most important phrases using tools such as the Google Traffic Estimator and Google Keyword tool (referenced from the link below) and which sites the visitors are directed to. For example, in the financial sector, the intermediary MoneySupermarket is an important potential partner if you are offering these services. se.com)

3. Intermediaries and media sites.

   Media sites and other intermediaries such as affiliates are often successful in attracting visitors via search or direct since they are mainstream brands. You should assess potential partners in the categories shown in the figure such as:

   • Mainstream news media sites or portals (traditional, e.g. NYT.com, FT.com or Times or Pureplay, e.g. Google news an aggregator)
   • Niche / vertical media sites, e.g. E-consultancy, ClickZ.com in B2B
   • Price comparison sites (also known as aggregators), e.g. Moneysupermarket, Kelkoo, Shopping.com, uSwitch, etc.
   • Superaffiliates. Affilates gain revenue from a merchant they refer traffic to using a commission based arrangement based on the proportion of sale or a fixed amount. They are important in e-retail markets, accounting for tens of percent of sales.
   • Niche affiliates or bloggers. These are often individuals, but they may be important, for example, in the UK, Martin Lewis of Moneysavingexpert.com receives millions of visits every month. smaller affiliates and bloggers can be important collectively.
4. Destination sites

   These are the sites that the marketer is trying to generate visitors to, whether these are transactional sites, like retailers, financial services or travel companies or manufacturers or brands. The figure refers to OVP or Online Value Proposition which is a summary of the unique features of the site which are described in more detail in Chapter 4. The OVP is a key aspect to consider within planning – marketers should evaluate their OVPs against competitors and think about how they can refine them to develop a unique online experience.

   We have summarised a selection of free and paid for tools to help you analyse your e-marketplace below:

Online marketplace analysis tools.

1. Alexa. Free tool, see also www.compete.com. Also use the Google syntax related:domain.com to find related sites. Free service owned by Amazon which provides traffic ranking of individual sites relative to all sites. Works best sites for sites in Top 100,000. Sample dependent on users of the Alexa toolbar.
2. Hitwise. Paid tool, but free research available at the Hitwise Blog. Paid service available in some countries to compare audience and search / site usage. Works through monitoring IP traffic to different sites through ISPs.
3. Netratings. Paid tool. Panel service based on at home and at work users who have agreed to have their web usage tracked by software. Top rankings on site gives examples of most popular sites in several countries.
4. Comscore. Paid tool. A similar panel service to Netratings, but focusing on the US and UK. A favoured tool for media planners.
5. ABCE Database. Free tool. (Choose ABCE Database). The Audit Bureau of Circulation (Electronic) gives free access to its database of portals (not destination sites) who have agreed to have their sites audited to prove traffic volumes to advertisers
6. Search keyphrase analysis tools. These can be used to assess the popularity of brands and their products reflected by the volume of search terms typed into Google and other search engines.
7. Forrester. Paid research service offering reports on Internet usage and best practice in different vertical sectors such as financial services, retail and travel. Free research summaries available in press release section and on its Marketing blog.
8. Gartner. Another research service in this case focusing on technology adoption within companies. Also see Jupiter research who often have good reports on email marketing best practice.
9. IAB US, IAB UK, IAB Europe. The Internet or Interactive Advertising Bureau has research focusing on investment in different digital media channels, in particular display ads and search marketing. In 2007, the UK was leading in online ad expenditure, accounting for over 15% of ad investment.
10. IMRG. The Internet Media in Retail Group has compilations on online e-commerce expenditure in the UK which as the time of writing was averaging around £5 billion per month or over 10% of all retail spend.

Any other tools you have found useful, particularly free ones, please add below.