Go to Alibaba.com and search for some industrial products such as polycarbonate,

Question

Go to Alibaba.com and search for some industrial products such as polycarbonate, aluminum bar stock, or chemicals such as sodium hydroxide. Then go to ThomasNet and search for the same items. Compare and contrast these two sites: what is similar and what is different. Focus on the e-commerce capability, the types of communication, and other concepts from Chapters 1-3 of the Laudon & Laudon text.

write around 400 words,thanks .(have sample):

In comparing Alibaba and ThomasNet, I saw some very distinct differences and some similarities in both e-commerce sites. In a ubiquitous sense, both websites were easy to accessible from my laptop and I had no trouble trying to search for them which was convenient. If I needed, I would be able to access both websites from anywhere I have internet connection, from either a laptop, tablet, or phone. When looking at the richness of both sites, there are many quite distinct differences that I noticed. Alibaba seemed more outdated in its layout and when an item was searched, there would be a lot going on on the page in the context that there was a bit too much text and one would not know where to look to first, since there is a vast amount of information just being thrown at you all at once, however there were multiple pictures to for the consumer to see the product they were looking at. In contrast, ThomasNet was a lot more modern looking and easier to navigate. It was more simpler looking, however not too bland as to where it looked as if no effort was put into it but in this case, there were barely any pictures of the products which would be difficult for the consumer since they would not know exactly what they would be getting. In the essence on interactivity, both websites allowed you to refine your search and to pinpoint exactly what you were looking for. Alibaba sort of looked like it had a bit too much going on with all the text and numerous options on what you may need. On the other hand, on ThomasNet, when an item was searched for there would simply be the number of suppliers or catalogs which would then take you to a description of each supplier for an easier step by step process to fulfill your needs.

            Both websites were excellent in the amount of information they gave to the consumer about the product and about the supplier and the supplying company’s description. It was nice to see everything you would ever need to know about a company before buying a product of theirs so the consumer is aware of what they are getting themselves into. Both websites were good at delivering the consumer’s needs and allowing them to customize what they were looking for. ThomasNet allowed you to search for items that were within a certain mile radius of a consumer in case they needed something urgently. Alibaba just gave options of markets in different regions of the world, not to where a specific person lived. Both websites allowed a consumer to send a message to the supplier directly from the website if they had any questions or needed more information about a product they were inquiring for. On the very bottom of both websites, there were links that allowed access to each website social media accounts, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Etc. One thing Alibaba had that ThomasNet did not was that it showed that it was available as an app on Apple and Google smartphones. Out of these two sites, I would prefer to use ThomasNet as it looked more modern and neat and was a lot easier for me to access that Alibaba was. However, I do feel both e-commerce websites used all these advantages effectively, in my opinion, ThomasNet just did a better job at it.

       T-mall can be compared to Alibaba’s core B2B business when it expanded its business “through acquisitions, investments, licensing arrangements, and partnerships” (P.171, para 3). It allowed for the business to expand in multiple different markets and grow in its market value and seek “cross-selling, cross-marketing and licensing arrangements” (P.171, para 3). The B2B version of Alibaba’s modern Youku was the subscriber based system that they had originally put in place. The company’s goal had been to “convert more users into paying customers” and to “generate more revenue from existing paying members through sales of added value services” (P.170-171, para 6). Essentially, by instilling a subscriber based system, they earned more revenue and would be able to provide an array of digital media to a global audience. The online payment method, Alipay, compared to Alibaba’s core strategy of selectively expanding “its sales and customer service capabilities into international markets” (P.171, para 1). Lastly, the Taobao can be how since the start, “Alibaba.com’s marketplaces were difficult to replicate” which in turn, created and “effective barrier to new entrants and a virtually insurmountable lead over competitors” (P.170, para 1). The fact that the company was always so innovative allowed it to have an advantage over its potential competitors, which helped make it a successful business overall.

Explanation / Answer

Product I looked for is brass sheet in both of the websites.

Alibaba link - https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=brass+sheet
Thomasnet link - https://www.thomasnet.com/nsearch.html?WTZO=Find+Suppliers&cov=NA&heading=7934607&searchx=true&what=brass+sheet&which=prod

Basic differences between the two website was very common that alibaba.com on focused on Chinese suppliers where thomasnet is providing information about the United State based suppliers
Both of the website and excellent availability of the information as well as variety but alibaba.com has a very large number of available suppliers as compared to the Thomas net which increases its overall reach and enables alibaba to provide better prices.

p.s - rest of the text which is written is exactly correct and provide adequate information about the website.

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