The “ebay of Blank”: Digital Intermediation in Electronic Commerce

New technologies for electronic commerce on the Internet dramatically change the spectrum of possibilities for transacting in the marketplace. They also enable the entry of new players – digital intermediaries – that employ the new technologies to help connect buyers and sellers. In this chapter, we formulate a basis for analyzing the strategies of digital intermediaries by presenting a framework that describes the context of competition among traditional and digital intermediaries. We argue that digital intermediaries -in their roles as new Internetfocused competitors -can apply various approaches to achieve short run competitive advantage, and maintain long run competitive parity. However, there are very few strategies that will provide sustainable competitive advantage. Unfortunately for many firms, long run competitive advantage is likely to be based more on how well these Internet intermediaries leverage their first-mover advantage, "stealing the march" (while established market leaders are still only dimly aware of the competitive threats) and then creating a foundation for longer term gains.