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eBay marketing strategy case study

A case study focusing on eBay marketing strategy: The facts, figures, and strategy behind their highest quarterly revenue yet

2021 eBay marketing strategy update: E-commerce giant records highest quarterly revenue Q1 2021

Ebay has had a fascinating year. The quarterly revenue chart below depicts both highs and lows for this company in the last 12 months. Plunging to a low revenue of US $2,129 million in quarter 1 of 2020, the company then rocketed to it's highest recorded quarterly revenue of US $3,023 in quarter 1 of 2021. That's YOY growth of US $894 .

Moreover, ending the year on a high, Ebay finished 2020 with it's highest annual net revenue so far, at US $10,271 million . This demonstrates that e-commerce is still a growing sector, despite the initial market uncertainty during the onset of the pandemic. Lessons learnt from studying Ebay marketing strategy - react to market challenges to create new opportunities, to stay ahead in a competitive environment.

EBay ended 2020 with 185 million active buyers, up 11 million from the end of 2019. EBay acquired 3 million new shoppers in the second half of the year, even as panic-buying essentials slowed down and stores opened back up, leading experts to believe eBay’s turnaround may last post-pandemic:

“EBay is proving that it has the ability to sustain the gains it is seeing from COVID,” says Ygal Arounian, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “We expect these trends to increasingly become ingrained in consumer behavior, which will support eBay in 2021.”

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2018 stat update: Over 50% of purchases on eBay in the UK from mobile

At the end of 2017 eBay had 168 million 12-month active buyers, an increase from 90 million active in 2010. Nearly two-thirds of transactions are now international. The challenge of growing the business can be seen by the near static GMV in the last three years. Globally 58% of GMV is now transacted on smartphone.

Updating eBay brand positioning using traditional media

In an interview with eBay UK marketing director Gareth Jones, explained that:

“We don’t want to be defined by that online car boot sale reputation anymore. We need to get people to consider eBay in a completely different way. The UK is the petri dish for testing a new approach to rebuilding the brand globally. It is all about a shift away from the marketplace and over to being the ultimate shop”. 

He is candid that a past focus on prioritising digital channels has had a “small impact” on changing eBay’s perception. Despite stating we’re in an age of digital-based marketing, he believes TV is the best channel for brand building. This is based on regional tests that proved TV is the best place to get people to reap-praise eBay as a brand:

“TV is still on fire and a wonderful medium to get neurons into people’s brands in order to rewire their perceptions. If you ask someone where they are shopping on Black Friday then TV is the best place to put eBay at the front of their consideration set.”

It’s hard to believe that one of the most celebrated dot-coms has now been established nearly 20 years. Pierre Omidyar, a 28-year-old French-born Software Engineer living in California coded the site while working for another company, eventually launching the site for business on Monday, 4 September 1995 with the more direct name ‘Auction Web’.

Legend reports that the site attracted no visitors in its first 24 hours. The site became eBay in 1997 and by 2012, it had 112 million active users globally defined as users who have bid, bought or listed an item during the preceding 12 month period, with the total worth of goods sold on eBay $60 billion, which is equivalent to $2,000 every second. Total revenue was $8.7 billion.

eBay's Mission

eBay describes its purpose as to ‘pioneer new communities around the world built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity’.

eBay’s 2016 report describes the company’s view on current marketing approaches of exploiting Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.

To deliver the most relevant shopping experience, we continue our efforts to better understand, organize and leverage eBay’s inventory. With our structured data initiative, we are able to begin organizing our vast inventory around products rather than listings and aggregate insights into supply and demand. We continue to broaden the coverage of structured data, which enables us to create and start rolling out new consumer experiences that are modern, simple and differentiated. One of our goals is to deliver a more personalized shopping experience by determining what products to show our consumers and highlight the incredible price and selection advantages that eBay often provides across categories.

eBay's Revenue model

The vast majority of eBay’s revenue is for the listing and commission on completed sales. While it is best-known for auctions,  80% of UK sales now coming through new items  of which the majority are fixed price. UK marketing director Gareth Jones told Marketing Week he wants to focus on top-of-the-funnel consideration: " it wants British consumers to see it as the first choice for buying new items as opposed to its historic online car boot sale reputation ".

For PayPal purchases an additional commission fee is charged.

Margin on each transaction is phenomenal since once the infrastructure is built, incremental costs on each transaction are tiny – all eBay is doing is transmitting bits and bytes between buyers and sellers.

Ebay marketing strategy proposition

The eBay marketplace is well known for its core service which enables sellers to list items for sale on an auction or fixed-price basis giving buyers the opportunity to bid for and purchase items of interest. Software tools are provided, particularly for frequent traders, including Seller’s Assistant, Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro, which help automate the selling process, plus the Shipping Calculator, Reporting tools, etc.

Today over 60% of listings are facilitated by software, showing the value of automating posting for frequent trading.

An example of a new Shopper feature which is part of its OVP is the eBay ShopBot on Facebook Messenger.

This uses artificial intelligence to provide a personalized shopping assistant that helps people find the best deals from eBay’s one billion listings.

According to the SEC filing, eBay summarises the core messages to define its proposition as follows:

For buyers:

• Convenience.

In 2007, eBay introduced Neighbourhoods where groups can discuss brands and products they have a high involvement with.

For sellers:

• Access to broad global markets
• Efficient marketing and distribution
• Opportunity to increase sales.

In January 2008, eBay announced significant changes to its marketplaces business in three major areas: fee structure, seller incentives and standards, and feedback. These changes have been controversial with some sellers, but are aimed at improving the quality of experience.

Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) enable sellers to be reviewed in four areas: (1) item as described, (2) communication, (3) delivery time and (4) postage and packaging charges. This is part of a move to help increase conversion rate by increasing positive shopping experiences.

For example, by including more accurate descriptions with better pictures and avoiding excessive shipping charges. Power sellers with positive DSRs will be featured more favourably in the search results pages and will gain additional discounts.

Risk factors

Fraud is a significant risk factor for eBay. BBC (2005) reported that around 1 in 10,000 transactions within the UK were fraudulent; 0.0001% is a small percentage, but scaling this up across the number of transactions, this is a significant volume.

To counter this, eBay has developed 'Trust and Safety Programs’ which are particularly important to reassure customers since online services are prone to fraud.

For example, the eBay feedback forum can help establish credentials of sellers and buyers. Every registered user has a feedback profile that may contain compliments, criticisms and/or other comments by users who have conducted business with that user. The Feedback Forum requires feedback to be related to specific transactions and Top Seller status was introduced in 2010 to increase trust in the service.

There is also a Safe Harbor data protection method and a standard purchase protection system.

The fees model that eBay uses is often changed and this can cause problems with users, but the impact is calculated that it does not affect overall sales. In their 2012 SEC filing eBay note: 'We regularly announce changes to our Marketplaces business intended to drive more sales and improve seller efficiency and buyer experiences and trust. Some of the changes that we have announced to date have been controversial with, and led to dissatisfaction among, our sellers, and additional changes that we announce in the future may also be negatively received by some of our sellers. This may not only impact the supply of items listed on our websites, but because many sellers also buy from our sites, it may adversely impact demand as well'.

In common with other global platforms like Amazon, Facebook and Google, eBay note the potential threat of the shift to tablet and smartphone platforms noting that one risk factor is: 'Our ability to manage the rapid shift from online commerce and payments to mobile and multi-channel commerce and payments'.

There is also the common risk factors for online pureplays of retaining an active user base, attracting new users, and encouraging existing users to list items for sale, especially when consumer spending is weak.

Competition

Although there are now few direct competitors of online auction services in many countries, there are many indirect competitors. SEC (2012) describes competing channels as including online and offline retailers, distributors, liquidators, import and export companies, auctioneers, catalogue and mail order companies, classifieds, directories, search engines, products of search engines, virtually all online and offline commerce participants and online and offline shopping channels and networks. In their SEC filing, eBay states that the principal competitive factors for the Marketplaces business include the following:

• ability to attract, retain and engage buyers and sellers;
• volume of transactions and price and selection of goods;
• trust in the seller and the transaction;
• customer service; and brand recognition.

Amazon is one of the biggest competitors since it also has marketplace sellers integrated into its products listings. It’s latest SEC filing notes: Consumers and merchants who might use our sites to sell goods also have many alternatives, including general e-commerce sites, such as Amazon and Alibaba, and more specialized sites, such as Etsy.

Competitive factors today are listed as:

• customer service;
• brand recognition;
• community cohesion, interaction and size;
• website, mobile platform and application ease-of-use and accessibility;
• system reliability and security;
• reliability of delivery and payment, including customer preference for fast delivery and free shipping and returns;
• level of service fees; and
• quality of search tools.

Before the advent of online auctions, competitors in the collectables space included antique shops, car boot sales and charity shops. Anecdotal evidence suggests that all of these are now suffering. Some have taken the attitude of ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’. Many smaller traders who have previously run antique or car boot sales are now eBayers. Even charities such as Oxfam now have an eBay service where they sell high-value items contributed by donors. Other retailers such as Vodafone have used eBay as a means to distribute certain products within their range.

Objectives and strategy of eBay

The overall eBay aims are to increase the gross merchandise volume and net revenues from the eBay marketplace. More detailed objectives are defined to achieve these aims, with strategies focusing on:

• Acquisition – increasing the number of newly registered users on the eBay marketplace.
• Activation – increasing the number of registered users that become active bidders, buyers or sellers on the eBay marketplace.
• Activity  – increasing the volume and value of transactions that are conducted by each active user on the eBay marketplace.

The focus on each of these three areas will vary according to strategic priorities in particular local markets. eBay marketplace growth was driven by defining approaches to improve performance in these areas.

• First, category growth was achieved by increasing the number and size of categories within the marketplace, for example Antiques, Art, Books, and Business and Industrial.
• Second, formats for interaction. eBay Stores was developed to enable sellers with a wider range of products to showcase their products in a more traditional retail format including the traditional ‘Buy-It-Now’ fixed-price format.

eBay has constantly explored new formats, often through acquisition of other companies, for example through the acquisition in 2004 of mobile.de in Germany and Marktplaats.nl in the Netherlands, as well as investment in craigslist , the US-based classified ad format. Another acquisition is Rent.com , which enables expansion into the online housing and apartment rental category. In 2007, eBay acquired StubHub, an online ticket marketplace, and it also owns comparison marketplace Shopping.com .

Finally, marketplace growth is achieved through delivering specific sites localized for different geographies as follows.

You can see there is still potential for greater localization, for example in parts of Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia. Localized eBay marketplaces:

• South Korea
• Switzerland
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• United Kingdom
• United States

In addition, eBay has a presence in Latin America through its investment in MercadoLibre.

eBay marketing strategy for growth

In its SEC filing, success factors eBay believes are important to enable it to compete in its market include:

• ability to attract buyers and sellers;
• customer service; and brand recognition.

This implies that eBay believes it has optimized these factors, but its competitors still have opportunities for improving performance in these areas which will make the market more competitive. According to its 2010 SEC filing: Our growth strategy is focused on reinvesting in our customers by improving the buyer experience and seller economics by enhancing our products and services, improving trust and safety and customer support, extending our product offerings into new formats, categories and geographies, and implementing innovative pricing and buyer retention strategies.

Updates on eBay marketing strategy information

• eBay company pages
• eBay SEC filings
• eBay Youtube commercial strategy

Found our eBay marketing strategy blog useful? Keep up to date with the latest trends and innovations with expert advice and real-life case studies so you can win more customers. Get started today.

By Dave Chaffey

Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. 'Dr Dave' is known for his strategic, but practical, data-driven advice. He has trained and consulted with many business of all sizes in most sectors. These include large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses. Dave is editor of the templates, guides and courses in our digital marketing resource library used by our Business members to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here . Dave is also keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice . In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary . Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question .

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The eBay Case Analysis, Case Study Example

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Company Overview:

Internet trading has now turned into a very big business and there are many online marketing websites and strategies that you can find over the web. One of the most popular online shopping sites is eBay because it provides great trading platforms, effective online payment options and services and functional communication tools. Online shoppers are provided with high quality goods and superb services. Through the years, the company was able to establish a strong position in the marketplace and reliable brand value. However, due to the company’s involvement in different litigations as well as its transition from being an auction site to a fixed pricing store, eBay is currently facing great risks from internet fraud. This could mean the destruction and corrosion of the company’s competitive edge. The given paper critically analyses the internal and external factors impacting the company growth profitability and discusses the current market status of eBay considering various marketing aspects and evaluation techniques.

EBay vision/mission and Objectives:

Ebay intends to accomplish own mission of a creating a whole new world of innovative online market place by advancing and widening the operations across multiple formats, geographies and categories (BizWire, 2011).

My Vision statement for Ebay

EBay’s aims to become the world’s leading online auction destination, seamlessly connecting buyers and sellers as well as building long-term trust between them and be a positive force of change in communities across the globe.

Ebay’s mission is to render an international trading platform where anyone can trade anything practically. (BizWire, 2011)

Ebay aims to expand in all possible primary areas like communication, formats, services and multiple geographical marketplaces with internet as the main means of interaction with customers.

Proposed Vision and Mission statements

Ebay intends to provide all the needs of its consumers by supplying the quality products via highly effective online services and thus become one of the top most e-commerce industries maximizing the consumer trust on online community.

Ebay intends to overlook the entire online marketplaces via advancements and expansions to provide a considerable sense of online community to its sellers as well as buyers. Also, bring a secure online experience in order to achieve consumer trust and raise profitability.

External Opportunities and Threats

Opportunities

Expanding e-retail market and subsequently the need for safe payment systems is rendering a wide range of opportunity to eBay in an international platform. During the recent years, the Chinese government has greatly financed the level of high-speed internet access in the country. According to trade estimates, in 2009, China’s e-commerce market represented RMB263 billion, which is roughly around $38.5 billion. It represented a year-on-year increase rate of around 105%. Also, it is expected that every year there are around 30 million Chinese consumers that goes online to shop for the first time. Therefore it is estimated that by 2015, these consumers would be spending about $1,000 in a year, the amount of what Americans are spending online now (Corp., 2011).

According to industry estimates, China’s B2B market is anticipated to persist on growing speedily in the next few years because of the country’s economic growth and increasing e-commerce infiltration. The business-to-consumer (B2C) has also been rising due to the fact that retailers are enhancing e-commerce platforms as extra channels to get customer to purchase their products. The B2C transactions are also rising because there are more individual capitalists that are experiencing success on the existing C2C websites like Taobao.com.

PayPal partnered with China UnionPay Co in March of 2010. This electronic-payment service provider has allowed the Chinese consumers to shop from and make payments to merchants that are overseas. This collaboration is anticipated to assist eBay in expanding its business to China’s huge consumer market.

After the economic calamity in the US consumer spending has gone down. Household budgets are now tight and people are searching for all the chances for ways to save on each and every possible purchase. In the US, home savings in 2009 boosted by 51.6% and the private last utilization decreased by 4.7%. According to consumer survey done by Datamonitor’s, most respondents across the 15 countries surveyed agreed that they had been “making efforts and finding ways to save more money” during the time of the recession. The state for many distributors and suppliers has turned out real bad. Many of these suppliers and distributors are stuck with surplus product that are either using up expensive space at warehouses or gathering dust in retail stores. eBay approximates the international secondary market to be worth $500,000 million (Highfill & O’Brien, 2011).

The increase in rate of sales tax is one of the high time threats of ebay. The very complex increment in sale taxes is rather discouraging the buyers and in turn is raising the product prices and forcing the enormous burdens on both sellers and buyers of the organization. This has rather made sellers to track millions of taxing jurisdictions. Moreover the small scale online retailers will have to follow the varying changes in sales rates and rules for various tax jurisdictions.

Also increasing internet fraudulent activities is another problem of considerable litigation which has forced both buyers and sellers to rethink on online purchases. The effective elimination of fraudulent activities would cost eBay a very high price and hence these expenses of monitoring or preventing the fraud activities are again a burden on the company and will apply enhanced compensation for the problem solvers. All in all, all these factors are likely to bring unfavorable results for eBay business and revenues (eBay, 2011).

Ebay competitive profile MATRIX

As per the competitive profile matrix of ebay, it indicates that the strong points of the company compared to its competitors are its expertise in technology, innovation in products, brand name and billing accuracy and also the advertising strategies. The warranty period and sales, customer services are the weak points of the organization.

Ebay external factor evaluation MATRIX

As per the total weighted score, the ebay business indicates that it has a considerable external capability to respond for every type of external attributes of the company.

Ebay Internal strengths and weaknesses

The effective business strategy that helps eBay in expanding its customer base as well as its revenue, works on a specific business tactic that unites the consumers and the traders in a safe virtual marketplace. This type of business model ensure better trading practices that doing business on traditional marketplaces, which have the tendency to be divided with limits in the variety of available goods. The eBay way of trading also allows for decrease on transaction expenditures on per sale basis. Furthermore, eBay sustain zero inventories, this means there are also less inventory costs (Robinson, 2011).

Another good thing about eBay is that it provides consumers with new and scarce goods. Even those hard to find vintage items can be found on eBay, and this is one of the main reasons why this online marketplace is very popular. eBay is also one of the biggest online marketplaces and it has gross product volume of about $61,819 million in 2010. This is the total of the value of products sold in all eBay marketplaces for 2010. On a daily basis, it is estimated that eBay sells over 3 million goods across 50 thousand categories. The effective business model incorporated by the company has provided it with flexibility and cost-efficiency, which effectively aids the company to continuously improve the number of its members and consumers without the need to significantly add anything to its cost structure. This means there is increase in the revenue base of the company.

Increasing revenues with the development of online display ads and classified promotion revenues in the US $5.9 billion during the first quarter of 2010. This is an obvious increase of about 7.5% during the same period in the previous year. This is actually the highest first-quarter revenue level ever for online shopping industry. Shopping has now totally taken a new leap, and this is because of the advent of the Internet and the presentation of the latest innovations in technologies. Consumer access has now expanded and they have greater access to information and entertainment. eBay produces substantial revenues from advertising, publicity and classifieds. Trading services and other profits reached $45.5 million, or about 4%, in 2010 in comparison to 2009, and represented 12% of total net revenues in both 2010 and 2009. The enhancements in marketing services and other revenues was mainly attributable to eBay’s promotional and classifieds businesses, partly compensated by the segregation of marketing services and other earnings attributable to Skype. (eBay, 2011)

Company’s incapacity to oppose the sale of counterfeit goods

Though online trading has proven a success for many retailers because it helps increase their revenue while decreasing their cost, it also resulted in the development of online selling of counterfeit products. Sales of fake goods through online trading platforms like eBay and others has become uncomplicated because it will not be easy to trace the identity of the trader of these products. According to the critics and watchers of the industry, counterfeiting practices have cost the US economy of over $250,000 million a year.

Through the years, eBay also has been struggling to fight litigations against it with deference to sale of counterfeit goods through its website. In 2008, eBay needed to pay E40 million to Louis Vuitton Malletier because of the allegations that it has sold a counterfeit purse of the brand over its site. The company has ended up paying big huge fines to many other companies producing cosmetics and apparel brands because of the issue. The reason counterfeiting has happened or still happening on eBay is because the company lacks the essential monitoring tools to weed out such sales. In most cases, eBay is able to identify counterfeit goods only after they are included in the list. Because of this, there has been negative affect on the company’s image in media. This has also produced negative effects on the company’s reliability because the consumers and the rest of the public would naturally form negative perception. This will also taint the company brand image that will eventually affect the sales (Robinson, 2011).

Failed synergies between eBay and its acquired entities

In 2009, eBay traded Skype to a group of investors for the amount of $2.75 billion. Skype was purchased by eBay in 2005 for $2.6 billion with the prospect that its Internet telephone service and innovative peer to peer (P2P) technology would harmonize the other sections of the company. eBay’s Acquisition of Skype did provide a high-growth business opportunity because the company generated $526 million in revenues and successfully added 129 million users in 2008. Skype has more than 480 million registered users and an 8% market share of international call minutes. The company though, soon realized that Skype, as a standalone company would do well, but when it became a part of eBay it slowly became difficult to incorporate its offerings with the company’s Internet auction and payments business trading (Highfill & O’Brien, 2011).

Ebay internal factor evaluation MATRIX

As the matrix shows, eBay’s greatest strength is customer loyalty and high brand recognition. eBay has become synonymous with online auction and competitors such as Yahoo! have failed to stop eBay’s dominance even with free or lower auction fees. Customer trust eBay because the company has larger number of buyers and sellers and its feedback system has become a reliable tool to gauge the trustworthiness of buyers and sellers. In addition, the company also offers buyer protection to all buyers which enhance their trust.

Since eBay is a marketplace system entirely populated by buyers and sellers who engage in transactions round-the-clock, any disruption would not only affect customers’ trust in the company but will also result in significant financial losses to the company. eBay also has a difficult task of preventing fraud which becomes even more complicated task given the decentralized nature of the company’s operation. Buyers and sellers deal directly with each other on eBay and eBay is a trading platform instead of being an intermediary between buyers and sellers. Monitoring hundreds of millions of buyers and sellers is extremely difficult if not impossible task, thus, it is in the best interest of the company to minimize fraudulent activities.

eBay’s total weighted score is 3.0 which is well above the 2.5 average score and indicates an internally strong company. This doesn’t come as a surprise because the company has taken extraordinary steps to ensure that buyers and sellers continue to trust the auction platform. The company continues to improve fraud-detection tools and offer buyer protection so that buyers are encouraged to continue using eBay as their preferred shopping destination.

SWOT Analysis of Ebay

• Excellent CRM (customer relation management)
• Prominent e-commerce brand
• Leading international brand
• Slow online transaction
• System breakdown problems during online trading
• Online Fraudulent Activities
• Growing online shopping demand
• Market diversification and penetration
• Acquisition of new business opportunities
• Unbearable credit card charges
• Illegal practices
• Increasing competition and thousands of rising online shopping portals

SPACE MATRIX

Business Strength

The analysis indicates the ebay has to advance its pace of penetrating at the current market and improve its functionalities concerned with e-retailing

BCG MATRIX OF EBAY

The above analysis indicates that ebay, classified Ads, Amazon are some of the leading organizations bagging the larger market share. Though uBid and flea market seems to be dominating with higher market share but yet the growth seems low.

IE MATRIX OF EBAY

QSPM Matrix

Overall, as per the sum of total attractive score the result indicates that ebay should concentrate more towards market penetration and development.

Recommendations and Evaluations

Reliable market position and brand value that guarantees consumer loyalty even in the downturn has put eBay in a strong market position. Through the years, eBay has created a strong brand value. It concentrated on a speedy increase in the number of consumers and quantity of product listings. By the end of 2010, eBay approximately has 94.5 million active members in comparison to 90.1 million and 87.7 million active members at the end of 2009 and 2008, correspondingly. An active member is someone who needs to bid on listed products. During the first quarter of 2010, members have bought products totaling to more than $13,000 million across 50,000 categories. Over 25 million traders have more than 15 million listings in numerous formats on eBay. Increasing number of consumers has contributed to the development of the company enabling it to emerge as one of the biggest international online auction website, which is visible in 25 countries. In a recession, brand can act as a very powerful too, as retailers with a well-positioned brand have the opportunity to thrive and seize a bigger chunk of the market, in terms of customers. Strong customer base and market position provides competitive advantage and gives eBay considerable bargaining power.

Following are the recommendations that eBay can implement and overcome the existing problem in the system and emerge out an one of the successful organizations by improving the profit level of the company through the achievement of long and short term goals.

Recommendations to accomplish long term goals

• Ebay should grow its community and strengthen the brand which can fascinate more and rather new members and also would aid in maintaining the necessity of eBay community.
• Ebay must enhance its online portal functionalities and features by enforcing the provision of various personalization’s attributes like user own page creation which provides the features like own gallery and also let the sellers to highlight their selling items through photo catalog.
• Ebay should focus more on to community affinity and advancing community security and safety via service like insurance and user verification
• Advance the mode of payment by introducing innovative or prominent payment methods like PayPal or Moneybookers etc.
• Advance the selling process of modern gadgets or equipment as the fad of these advance technological items is spreading among youth.

Recommendations to accomplish short term goals

• The company must broaden its trading platform by growing the current product catalogues, introducing new product catalogues and offering various services for a particular region etc.
• It is even recommended for ebay to build the strategic alliance with various social sites like twitter, MySpace and Facebook to promote the value of various brands.

eBay is believed to have always done very well because it is concentrated on its main goals and it is very fast when it comes to grabbing onto opportunities. But, the limitations and threats mentioned could prove to be the Achilles heel for eBay. The best way would be to first pay attention of the email scams that are employing eBay names and scaring all the consumers off. Next there is the need to filter the content of eBay by keeping the scammers and illegal auctions away, and then assemble a shipping calculator of different delivery companies that a trader can use to include the right price of the shipping rather than traders using this failing to fill their pockets. eBay is relatively big; it has 62 million registered users though that is still a low number when it comes to the number Internet users from all around the world. Though the numbers of internet users are still growing and eBay could focus on making them members. They could do so in many different methods.

BizWire. (2011). Research and Markets: eBay Inc – An Essential 2011 SWOT Framework Analysis. Business Wire (English) , 13 (2), 12-90.

Cone, E. (2006). Inside eBay’s Innovation Machine. CIO Insight , 11 , 34-63.

Corp., T. (2011). Company Spotlight: eBay Inc. MarketWatch: Technology; , 23-90.

eBay, I. S. (2011). eBay, Inc. SWOT Analysis. California: Business Source PRemier.

Highfill, J., & O’Brien, K. (2011). The determinants of sales on eBay: the case of baseball cards. Applied Economics Letters , 15 , 34-89.

Robinson, L. (2011). Digitization, the Internet, and the Arts: eBay, Napster, SAG, and e-Books. California: Routledge.

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eBay Case Study

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1. What is eBay’s e-business model and why has it been so successful?

The eBay uses a Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) business model, which entails the creation of an online platform where consumers can communicate and trade anytime via the Internet. The platform brings together buyers and sellers in such a way that sellers have the opportunity to list their goods for sale and buyers to place their bids for the goods.

Both parties have the opportunity to browse through all the items on the list, which appear in different topics and categories (Baltzan, 2011). The company has solely relied on the internet to conduct its operations, presenting both buyers and sellers with a novel approach to business that guarantees security, timeliness and cost-effectiveness. This business model has enabled eBay to achieve noteworthy success in a relatively short time.

2. How has eBay’s strategy changed over the years?

Over time, eBay has adopted different strategies depending on the prevailing market conditions. When the business started its operations, it focused on marketing and sales, by developing an innovative platform where both buyers and sellers could have confidence in the system by minimizing chances of fraud, and encouraging users to police each other (Baltzan, 2011).

When the company grew in size, it changed its strategy and launched a number of sub-business ventures in an effort to add value to its customers. This strategy led eBay to purchase PayPal and Skype, which aimed to enhance payments and communications, respectively. In the recent times, eBay’s strategy focuses on building advanced infrastructure to sustain its large customer base.

3. eBay has long been an e-marketplace for used goods and collectibles. Today, it is increasingly a place where major businesses come to auction their wares. Why would a brand name vendor set up shop on eBay?

Initially, eBay was used as an e-marketplace for pre-owned goods and collectibles. Over time, however, the company has gained the trust and confidence of customers, and its users have increased significantly. By 2008, eBay had attracted many users and its list of registered users had hit hundreds of millions. Such a large traffic was essential for business, and it helped to attract many vendors to set shop on the site. In addition, the high level of fairness and trust helped to boost customers’ confidence in the site (Baltzan, 2011).

4. What are the three different types of online auctions and which one is eBay using?

The three different types of online auctions include electronic auction (e-auction), forward auction and reverse auction. In an e-auction, the prices of goods are determined dynamically, and both buyers and sellers solicit bids consecutively.

In a forward auction, sellers target many buyers, where the highest bidder emerges as the winner (Baltzan, 2011). In a reverse auction, a buyer aims at purchasing a product at the lowest bid. EBay uses the forward auction method, where sellers set minimum prices for their goods and the highest bidder emerges as the winner.

5. What are the different forms of online payment methods for consumers and business? How might eBay’s customers benefit from the different payment methods?

The different forms of online payment methods available for both consumers and businesses include financial cybermediary, electronic cheque, electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) and the digital wallet. Ebay customers are bound to benefit from these payment methods because they are cheap, convenient, fast, and secure (Baltzan, 2011).

Currently, most eBay customers use PayPal, which is one of the most commonly used financial cybermediary in the world. Most users prefer PayPal because it guarantees users a safe, fast, inexpensive and convenient way of making transactions.

6. Which metrics would you use if you were hired to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of eBay’s Web site?

To assess the efficiency of eBay, the appropriate metrics to use include revenue generated by the traffic on the site, the number of new customers joining the site, and a cutback in the number of customer service calls due to the traffic on the site. In this case, it is critical to measure interactivity and clickstream data (Baltzan, 2011).

Interactivity helps to measure effectiveness of advertising approaches adopted by counting visitor interactions associated with the advertisement. On the other hand, clickstream data help to study the exact navigation pattern associated with a specific consumer.

Baltzan, P. (2011). Business driven information systems . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

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EBAY INC. (A) Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

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EBAY INC. (A) Case Solution 

Question # 01.

Relate the case study to the topics/theories we learnt in class (signaling, agency, market efficiency, corporate governance)

Ebay offered public equity to raise more capital in order to repay the debts & for investment in new businesses, Ebay had selected Goldman Sachs. Gary Bering found the momentum produced by IPO, but it taken concentration on the implications of these technique.

Enrich technology has raised $145 million and it was offering below then to its price.And 88% IPOs were trading on lower price . Gary Bering was worried regarding the offering price of the company and he thinks that it might becomes stronger in upcoming days, and the players were investing in more saved securities. So by considering the government policies or the regulations every step taken by players and they were also very worried by analyzing the market behavior of the stocks. Marketing Channel or advertising also played a vital role for the selling of shares and everyone had analyzed it. Efficient results also very helpful for analyzing the market behavior just like the results of past 15 or 20 years, these numbers were very helpful for the individuals who were going to invest in the stock market or wanted to start trading.

Ebay has increased its number of users from three lacsforty thousand to eight lac fifty thousand in the start of 1998.Ebay wanted to spread its services on international level by the use of worldwide technological system. And the internet services were used as a medium of communication between the members. International Data Corporation analyzed that the international users through internet would grow from 69 million to 130 million in just five years so this was also a sign of success for the business that was totally dependent on the amount of users. IDC also assumed that the internet commerce would grow from $32 billion to $130 billion in just two years.

Industry market multiples applied for setting up the price of IPOs, including the price of sale, price earnings or market to book ratios. This way felt difficult for the emerging markets. Beginner showed that he had techniques for collecting more data because if data was increased so then there would become more chances of the efficient results. He felt that the date has only a minimum time so due to this he had not taken any new step and he don’t want to enter in any new thing. There’s need to do plan on the spot of time. If EBAY accept the offer, then he must have to agree on the targeted value. In the IPO, the original certificate was sell on below then 9%. And the cost of current owner holdings was $16 that is $600.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of going public for EBay? You will need to relate the   points learnt in class to EBAY’s situation. Simply restating your lecture notes is not enough.

Benefits of ebay.

• The biggest benefit of Ebay was it had given a best solution to the people invest in stocks, which would have the chances of becoming profitable for them.
• And also the system was auto generated means that it had collected long years of data and then the charts and different graphs were also available.
• If someone wanted to invest so he could easily get an idea about the best stock where it would become very profitable for him to invest in.

Drawbacks of EBAY

• Ebay had taken step for the registration process with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) FOR its first sale. As because many other companies were also trying for the registration so due to this it taken a lot of time.
• Many investors that were very interested to invest in Ebay, by seeing the long duration of registration some investors had changes their mind and then divert towards other exchange companies.
• This is the weakest point in the history of Ebay that sometime Ebay’s team didn’t work efficiently due to this some customers mind had been changes. Or there’s need to make more marketing channels for this business so then the profitability would increase.......................

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• February 7, 2024

eBay’s marketing strategy – eBay is a global leader in the e-commerce industry, with a presence in over 190 countries. The company’s success can be attributed to its effective marketing strategy that encompasses the four Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. 

In this article, we will explore eBay’s marketing strategy mix in detail, highlighting the key strategies and tactics that have propelled the company to its current position.

Read More : Domino’s Marketing Strategy : A Full Study Case

Founded by Pierre Omidyar in California in 1995, eBay started as an online auction site and has evolved into a multi-billion dollar e-commerce giant. With over 187 million active buyers, eBay has become a global platform connecting millions of buyers and sellers. 

In India, eBay focuses on enabling Cross Border Trade (CBT) for Indian sellers, promoting the culture of entrepreneurship in the country.

The Growth of E-Commerce

eBay’s marketing strategy – In recent years, the e-commerce sector has experienced tremendous growth, driven by increasing internet and smartphone usage. Customers now prefer the convenience of shopping from the comfort of their own homes. 

eBay, along with other companies, has contributed to this unstoppable growth of the e-commerce industry.

Product Strategy

eBay’s marketing strategy – eBay’s product strategy revolves around providing online services to buyers and sellers, making it a global marketplace for various goods and services. 

The company offers a wide range of products, including auction-style online trading services, instant sales services, and delivery services. The auction-style trading and instant sales services form the core of eBay’s business, allowing sellers to list their products and buyers to bid or make immediate purchases. 

Additionally, eBay provides managed delivery services and an application programming interface (API) to enhance the marketplace experience and support third-party developers.

eBay’s success in the e-commerce industry can be attributed to its vast portfolio of products. The company serves as a marketplace for the sale of goods and services. 

From collectibles to home decor, electronics to fashion, eBay offers a wide range of products to cater to the diverse needs and preferences of its customers.

Best Selling Products on eBay

Mobile phones and accessories: The mobile phone category on eBay is highly popular, with an average of 666 items sold in the mobile phone listing.

Video games: eBay’s video game category is another bestseller, with an average of 118 items sold.

Health and beauty products: The health and beauty category, which includes vitamins, skincare products, and hair tools, is also a popular choice among eBay shoppers.

Home and garden products: Home decor items such as lighting, coffee tables, and sofas are among the most sold items on eBay.

Pricing Strategy: Ensuring Competitiveness

eBay’s marketing strategy – Pricing is a crucial aspect of eBay’s marketing mix, as the company aims to remain competitive in the e-commerce industry. eBay follows a market-oriented pricing strategy, setting prices based on prevailing market rates. 

The company’s pricing structure includes fixed fees per item sold and fees as a percentage of the final sale amount. This dynamic pricing strategy provides flexibility for sellers to choose their selling formats and corresponding fees. 

By offering competitive pricing, eBay attracts more buyers and sellers to its platform, thereby increasing its market share.

Distribution Strategy: Virtual Places for Accessing Services

eBay’s marketing strategy – In terms of distribution, eBay operates primarily through virtual channels. The company’s official websites, such as ebay.com and localized versions, along with mobile apps for iOS and Android, serve as the main platforms for customers to access eBay’s e-commerce services. 

These online channels provide convenience and accessibility to buyers and sellers, enabling them to engage in transactions from anywhere with an internet connection. eBay’s distribution strategy aligns with its goal of reaching global markets and supporting its competitive advantage.

Promotion Strategy: Building Brand Awareness

eBay’s marketing strategy – eBay employs various promotional tactics to build brand awareness and attract customers. The company utilizes sales promotions, such as discount coupons and special offers, to increase sales in the short term. 

While eBay’s advertising efforts are relatively limited, the company focuses on sales promotions as a key element of its promotional mix. Additionally, eBay engages in public relations activities through its eBay Foundation, which supports corporate social responsibility programs and enhances the company’s visibility in different markets. Through these promotional strategies, eBay maintains a strong presence in the e-commerce industry.

The Impact of eBay’s Marketing Mix

eBay’s marketing strategy – eBay’s marketing mix has been instrumental in its success as a global e-commerce leader. By focusing on product diversity, competitive pricing, global distribution, and effective promotion, eBay has managed to stay ahead of the competition. 

However, the company continues to face challenges, particularly from its biggest rival, Amazon. To sustain its position in the market, eBay must continue to innovate and adapt to the evolving needs and expectations of customers.

eBay’s marketing strategy has played a pivotal role in its growth and success in the e-commerce industry. As a pioneer in online retail, eBay has revolutionized the way people buy and sell goods. With its diverse product portfolio, competitive pricing, global distribution, and effective promotion, eBay has become a trusted platform for millions of buyers and sellers worldwide. 

The company’s journey is far from over, and it will be exciting to see what innovative ideas eBay brings to the table in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. We hope you have gained valuable insights into eBay’s marketing strategy mix. If you’re interested in learning more about digital marketing, be sure to check out our weekly masterclasses at IIDE. Feel free to leave a comment below if you enjoyed this blog.

Lydia Pricillia

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Ebay study: How to build trust and improve the shopping experience

eBay has been one of the biggest and longest lasting success stories of the early dot com era. And a big reason for eBay's success has been its effectiveness at collecting and using data. Michael Goul, chairman of the information systems department, finds that strategic use of data has enabled eBay to dramatically reduce transaction costs for users, enhance the experiences for both buyers and sellers, and save millions of dollars for the company.

Few companies generate as much data as the online auction and shopping website eBay. Each time a user searches for a product, bids on an item, or navigates to or away from the site, the company collects information about the user interaction. Every day, the amount of data eBay processes adds up to an astonishing 50 petabytes — or 50 quadrillion bytes.

The company has been one of the biggest and longest lasting success stories of the early dot com era. And a big reason for eBay's success has been its effectiveness at collecting and using data, according to Michael Goul, chairman of the information systems department, who developed an academic case based on eBay's data management approach. He found that strategic use of data has enabled eBay to dramatically reduce transaction costs for users, enhance the experiences for both buyers and sellers, and save millions of dollars for the company.

"This is a key for eBay," says Goul. "The company is all about data. If they can find ways to use data to build trust and to improve the user experience, that is exactly what they're going to do."

In carrying out his study of data management at eBay, Goul worked closely with eBay Vice President of Analytics Bob Page, and he also relied on the writings and presentations of then Senior Director of Architecture and Operations Oliver Ratzesberger. A written report of Goul's findings are available as a case study for faculty and students in information systems. It is available for free for academics through the portal: www.TeradataUniversityNetwork.com

Ways to use 'big data'

Businesses of all kinds are struggling to manage what has been an explosion in data, triggered by the extraordinary advances that have occurred in recent years in computers, communications, and storage. The volume of business data worldwide doubles every 1.2 years, according to estimates.

Much of the data comes from new hardware and software systems that firms have installed to manage information that comes from within their companies or from interactions with clients. The internet and mobile phones are other major sources of new data.

"The term that is being used now is 'Big Data,' " Goul says.”We're finding that big data can change a company's strategy. It can create information products for the organization. Different companies are trying to figure out right now how to leverage their big data. It is a real challenge — and an opportunity."

A company built on data

Founded in 1995 by then 28-year-old software developer Pierre Omidyar, eBay grew rapidly in the early years of the Internet and went public in 1998. By 2010, the total value of goods sold on eBay was nearly $61.7 billion — more than $2,000 per second. Over 200 million items are listed on eBay on any given day.

Officials at eBay recognized early in the firm's growth that the huge volume of data being generated by the company was getting too big and unwieldy for eBay's existing systems to manage, according to Goul.

"Frankly, what was happening was that their big data was getting too big," Goul says. "They had to figure out new ways to go about storing it and to be able to manipulate it."

The company hired Teradata, an Ohio-based data solutions firm, to manage eBay's data warehousing and analysis. With operations in 42 countries, Teradata is the world's largest data solutions company.

Teradata's approach involved first collecting eBay's vast data stores and making sure the information was usable.

"You have to do some things along the way to storing data in a data warehouse," Goul says. "You have to clean it and scrub it so you can make it useful for the people that want to leverage it."

Data often arrives from disparate sources, and, in the case of eBay, Teradata made certain that formats were compatible and that data arriving from different places could be integrated seamlessly, according to Goul.

Renting space: A "virtual" private data mart

Once the data warehouse was established, the next challenge for Teradata was to find a way for eBay to use the data.

According to Goul, Teradata devised a system whereby the many different business units at eBay looking to analyze data could have temporary access to reserved space within the data warehouse. In the parlance of data analytics, eBay's analysts could "rent" space to create a "virtual private data mart."

"The enterprise has a big data warehouse, and the company can say to its business units, 'We're going to allow you to work with a portion of it,' " Goul says.”The finance department may be allocated one portion of it, while marketing is allocated another. Eventually, they release the space to another group. We call it 'multi-tenancy.' "

Another term that has arisen in the world of big data is "sandboxes," which refers to the secure environments or virtual data marts within the data warehouse where analytics are conducted by business units. Because the structure goes away once the analysis is completed, the process has come to be known as, "analytics as a service."

This approach is more efficient than providing each business unit with its own collection of data, according to Goul. "This way the individual units have a space where they can access the data and have the tools they need. They can do their analysis, and then the virtual data mart goes away."

In keeping with eBay's identity as an enterprise built on data, the company employs about 5,000 data analysts spread across 50 business units.

Turning clicks into profits

A visitor to eBay might search for an item on the site and buy it immediately. Another customer might browse several items without buying, then purchase something completely different. By analyzing these and hundreds of other consumer behaviors, eBay can learn whether revisions to the site and changes in business practices will improve the company's bottom line.

According to Goul, eBay has already scored some significant business wins through its data analytics. The company has long paid search engines for prominent placement in the results for certain keywords. By analyzing its big data, eBay was able to determine which keywords were worth buying and which ones were not, according to Goul.

"When they looked at the details, they were able to tell pretty much what the most effective use of their ad words was," Goul says. “They learned what ad words were bringing people in and which were the best ones by time of day and day of the week."

Data analytics also helped eBay to find ways to improve product result displays and matching, according to Goul. Matching searches and products is an important and challenging task for eBay, which has more than 50,000 item categories.

"They learned the approaches that work best to match buyers and sellers," Goul says. "That's really the bottom line."

Other gains from eBay's data-based approach have been reduced fraud, faster transactions, and overall better experiences for participants, according to Goul.

"Their goal has been to build trust," he says.

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I- Contrast Ebay ‘s original business model with its latest proposed business model? eBay’s leadership unveiled a three-year revival plan. eBay has begun to move away from its origins as an online flea market, and instead is starting look more Ilke an outlet mall where retailers sell out-of-season, overstocked, refurbished, or discontinued merchandise, and like low price bulk retailer Costco, where the Inventory Is somewhat fluid but everything is a good deal. 2- what are the problems that eBay Is currently facing?

How Is eBay trying to solve these problems? eBay Is not facing any current problems, but they had In the past tvn horrible problems with PayPal and skype when they took wrong dictions.

We Will Write a Custom Case Study Specifically For You For Only $13.90/page!

3- Are the solutions eBay Is seek’ng to Implement good solutions? why or why not? Are they any other solutions that eBay should consider? Yes, because they still the most successful Internet auction business. Hundreds ot thousands ot people support themselves by selling on eBay and many millions more use eBay to supplement their ncome.

During the holiday season, eBay is otten the most visited site on the Web. The solution that eBay should consider helping to avoid fraudulent purchases, eBay could act as a mediator between sellers and buyers, eBay could put rules stating that the buyer must pay the amount of the item to eBay once the item has been sent to the buyer, the payment will be delivered to the seller. 4- Who are eBay’s top three cornpetitors online.

and how will eBay’s new strategy help it cornpete? Will eBay be providing a differentiated service to customers? Bay’s top three competitors are Amazon , Google and Yahoo. eBay’s new strategy is to weave many of these purchases all together in a new open source commerce platform called Xxommerce, which will offer a wide variety of services enabling merchants to more easily Integrate online and offline commerce efforts, of course this new strategy will help eBay to compete with their competitors because they already providing a differentiated service to customer and they are fully satlsfled.

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• Clustering for high availability and HPC

Case study: How eBay uses its own OpenStack private cloud

Ebay runs one of its most crucial workloads – its website – on an openstack private cloud platform developed by itself.

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Online marketplace eBay runs one of its most crucial workloads – its website – on an OpenStack private cloud platform developed by itself.

Three years ago, eBay’s website was operated fully in its on-premises datacentre infrastructure.

“Today, 95% of eBay marketplace traffic is powered by our OpenStack cloud . It was zero three years ago,” said Suneet Nandwani, head of cloud engineering at eBay, during the sixth annual Cloud World Forum conference in London.

It started out as a developer cloud project in 2012, but today, eBay’s OpenStack-based private cloud is a multi-tenant, multi-region, self-service cloud that hosts the company’s customer-facing business-critical applications and the platforms its developers use. It has all the principles of a public cloud, but is in-house, Nandwani said.

The company wanted to build a robust, scalable, agile infrastructure that can support the IT demands of all its brands, including the PayPal and eBay websites. 

Building a cloud infrastructure

Deciding it needed a cloud infrastructure, the IT team first developed its own private cloud facility, not based on OpenStack. But the eBay team soon realised that was "not such a sensible idea", said Nandwani. 

It then selected OpenStack application programming interfaces (APIs) to build the private cloud facility because it was a mature, open-source system. “We wanted to avoid any kind of supplier lock-in. We were very clear about that,” he said. 

eBay X.commerce

eBay's X.commerce  is an e-commerce platform used by developers and businesses. 

It incorporates a range of commerce-related applications, from open-source e-commerce platform Magento to online payment service PayPal. 

Developers use the ecosystem to sell their own applications and build plugins to existing services such as Magento or Salesforce.com. 

This platform is built on the company’s OpenStack cloud architecture.

Strict compliance and regulatory requirements for operating an online marketplace meant the IT team had to ensure its cloud infrastructure was secure and PCI-compliant.

Today, its cloud infrastructure runs as many as 7,000 server instances and the internet marketplace is yielding the benefits of running mission-critical workloads in the cloud, said Nandwani.

“For one, we have brought down the app-provisioning time for our developers from four weeks in the datacentre infrastructure to 30 minutes on the cloud,” he said. “We've also gained operational efficiencies and have saved double-digit million dollars on hardware expenditure.”

But that is not all. Cloud infrastructure has also provided other benefits, such as self-service flexibility, ease of software and application development and an automated infrastructure – all a distant dream until 2012. 

“We have also brought down rack onboarding time drastically from 45 days to just three days,” Nandwani added.

Improved capacity management

One of the IT team’s main requirements was to have transparency of assets and features around capacity management. “We did not know what assets we had, which ones were running efficiently and how we could manage them. Cloud has enabled us to have asset transparency.

“We also needed sophisticated capacity management capabilities because we cannot afford to have the eBay website down at all,” Nandwani said.

But in its traditional IT, predicting capacity was tricky. “We would overestimate and overpay for capacity as lacking capacity is not an alternative for us,” he said. Cloud computing has helped eBay overcome this problem and the IT team is able to predict capacity requirements more accurately now.

The IT team at eBay has also been able to have showback and chargeback capabilities on the cloud.

IT chargeback is an accounting strategy that applies the costs of IT services, hardware or software to the business unit in which they are used. The feature is aimed to shift responsibility to users and encourage them to treat IT services as they would any other utility, unlike traditional IT accounting models where the centralised department would bear the IT cost. Reporting systems that leverage IT chargeback can help administrators to clearly see what factors are driving costs and to budget accordingly.

“By 2015, we hope to have full chargeback capability on our cloud,” Nandwani said.

Open-source challenges

But the move wasn’t without its challenges. “The trouble with OpenStack is that it is open source and we don’t have a vendor to go to who will fix our problems,” Nandwani said. “Our cloud problems are ours to deal.”

But the team pressed ahead with OpenStack because of the open standards and because the cloud engineering team had experience on the system. “We have developers who are experienced in OpenStack cloud platform and we wanted to develop a platform and share the code with the community,” he said.

If you are implementing open cloud with an IT team that has no experience on it, the process may be very difficult Suneet Nandwani, eBay

Nandwani also cited a blog post by an eBay colleague titled, OpenStack is not cloud . “It raised a lot of eyebrows. But when you really look at it, cloud is a service while Openstack APIs are open-source technologies. To make these APIs a cloud service, the IT team has to add network design, configuration management, autoscaling capabilities , metering and chargeback features, high availability, log processing, monitoring and alerting, SLAs, capacity planning and customer support tools, among other things.

“All this is hard work and needs experienced professionals,” he said. “So, if you are implementing open cloud with an IT team that has no experience on it, the process may be very difficult,” he warned the enterprise customers present at Cloud World Forum.

To make applications, virtual machines and instances more productive and interoperable on the cloud, eBay’s IT team is also gradually increasing the footprint of Linux-based hypervisors and open-source systems. 

“We are slowly shrinking our Microsoft and VMware estate,” said Nandwani. “VMware still forms a major part of our on-premises estate, but we hope to cut it down drastically in the next two to three years to have more KVMs [kernel-based virtual machines].”

Nandwani and his team are now looking to move more systems to its private cloud infrastructure as their long-term strategy. In the short term, his team is looking to optimise the cloud. “We have challenges around under-utilisation and are looking to resolve them,” he concluded.

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Case study: How big data powers the eBay customer journey

Speaking at the Gartner CRM Summit in London, David Stephenson, head of global business analytics at eBay, said the auction site's goal is to make shopping successful. The company is using analytics to help it understand its customers better. His ambition is to take the kind of personalisation possible in a small shop and apply it to the world of eBay. Managing the customer journey Stevenson admitted eBay is starting to struggle to process all the customer journey data. The big data challenge for eBay is that asking a simple business question such as "What were the top items that showed up in searches yesterday?" involves processing five billion page views. "So there is a huge problem just to ask a basic business question," said Stephenson. But eBay needs to do more than ask simple questions. Stephenson said the site wanted to run sentiment analysis, network analysis and image analysis, all of which cannot be run in a traditional transactional database. In terms of customer journey data, eBay used to keep a sample of 1% and throw the rest away, said Stephenson. "There is a tension, either to impose structure on the huge [web analytics] data set by throwing away data, or keeping all the data collected but not being able to work on it [because it is unmanageable]." To address this issue, eBay started its second data initiative. Seven years ago, the company began a project to store all its customer data. The auction site needed a product that could handle hundreds of petabytes of raw customer journey data, but would be easy to maintain by a team of five people, yet could be accessed easily by analysts. The company worked with Teradata to develop a custom appliance built with several hundred user-defined functions. The system was built on commodity hardware, with proprietary software to process all the customer journey data and store it cheaply. The end result is a custom data warehouse called Singularity. The system eBay has developed can run ad-hoc queries in 32 seconds. Stephenson said that at the time, Hadoop would have taken 30 minutes to run such queries. "Hadoop may not be best [suited] for business-critical issues such as really understanding your customers," he added. Along with the enterprise data warehouse and Singularity, eBay is also using Hadoop, which completes the third side of its data analytics triangle. The auction site has built two 20,000-node Hadoop clusters with 80PB of capacity, said Stephenson. These work alongside the Teradata data warehouse and Singularity custom data analytics appliance to give eBay the tools it needs to use data analysis to follow the customer journey. True value of analytics Stephenson said Singularity is proving its value in 'A/B testing' on the eBay site, which can be compared with trying different combinations of confectionery at a supermarket checkout to capture impulse buying. This allows eBay to test ideas on the site and assess what works, such as testing whether site visitors prefer bigger pictures in search results. The technology can also be used to power search hints, a concept Stephenson called "an economist in a box". It is possible for eBay to present search query tips based on topics that power users have already asked. “Just about every question that could be asked has already been asked by a power user," he said. Such searches enable an eBay seller to determine whether it is best to set a low auction reserve price, whether free shipping matters, and any other possible questions related to selling an item successfully on eBay.

Source: www.computerweekly.com

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Step 1 - reading up harvard business review fundamentals on the technology & operations.

Even before you start reading a business case study just make sure that you have brushed up the Harvard Business Review (HBR) fundamentals on the Technology & Operations. Brushing up HBR fundamentals will provide a strong base for investigative reading. Often readers scan through the business case study without having a clear map in mind. This leads to unstructured learning process resulting in missed details and at worse wrong conclusions. Reading up the HBR fundamentals helps in sketching out business case study analysis and solution roadmap even before you start reading the case study. It also provides starting ideas as fundamentals often provide insight into some of the aspects that may not be covered in the business case study itself.

Step 2 - Reading the eBay (B): Combating Fraud HBR Case Study

To write an emphatic case study analysis and provide pragmatic and actionable solutions, you must have a strong grasps of the facts and the central problem of the HBR case study. Begin slowly - underline the details and sketch out the business case study description map. In some cases you will able to find the central problem in the beginning itself while in others it may be in the end in form of questions. Business case study paragraph by paragraph mapping will help you in organizing the information correctly and provide a clear guide to go back to the case study if you need further information. My case study strategy involves -

• Marking out the protagonist and key players in the case study from the very start.
• Drawing a motivation chart of the key players and their priorities from the case study description.
• Refine the central problem the protagonist is facing in the case and how it relates to the HBR fundamentals on the topic.
• Evaluate each detail in the case study in light of the HBR case study analysis core ideas.

Step 3 - eBay (B): Combating Fraud Case Study Analysis

Once you are comfortable with the details and objective of the business case study proceed forward to put some details into the analysis template. You can do business case study analysis by following Fern Fort University step by step instructions -

• Company history is provided in the first half of the case. You can use this history to draw a growth path and illustrate vision, mission and strategic objectives of the organization. Often history is provided in the case not only to provide a background to the problem but also provide the scope of the solution that you can write for the case study.
• HBR case studies provide anecdotal instances from managers and employees in the organization to give a feel of real situation on the ground. Use these instances and opinions to mark out the organization's culture, its people priorities & inhibitions.
• Make a time line of the events and issues in the case study. Time line can provide the clue for the next step in organization's journey. Time line also provides an insight into the progressive challenges the company is facing in the case study.

Step 4 - SWOT Analysis of eBay (B): Combating Fraud

Once you finished the case analysis, time line of the events and other critical details. Focus on the following -

• Zero down on the central problem and two to five related problems in the case study.
• Do the SWOT analysis of the eBay (B): Combating Fraud . SWOT analysis is a strategic tool to map out the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that a firm is facing.
• SWOT analysis and SWOT Matrix will help you to clearly mark out - Strengths Weakness Opportunities & Threats that the organization or manager is facing in the eBay (B): Combating Fraud
• SWOT analysis will also provide a priority list of problem to be solved.
• You can also do a weighted SWOT analysis of eBay (B): Combating Fraud HBR case study.

Step 5 - Porter 5 Forces / Strategic Analysis of Industry Analysis eBay (B): Combating Fraud

In our live classes we often come across business managers who pinpoint one problem in the case and build a case study analysis and solution around that singular point. Business environments are often complex and require holistic solutions. You should try to understand not only the organization but also the industry which the business operates in. Porter Five Forces is a strategic analysis tool that will help you in understanding the relative powers of the key players in the business case study and what sort of pragmatic and actionable case study solution is viable in the light of given facts.

Step 6 - PESTEL, PEST / STEP Analysis of eBay (B): Combating Fraud

Another way of understanding the external environment of the firm in eBay (B): Combating Fraud is to do a PESTEL - Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental & Legal analysis of the environment the firm operates in. You should make a list of factors that have significant impact on the organization and factors that drive growth in the industry. You can even identify the source of firm's competitive advantage based on PESTEL analysis and Organization's Core Competencies.

Step 7 - Organizing & Prioritizing the Analysis into eBay (B): Combating Fraud Case Study Solution

Once you have developed multipronged approach and work out various suggestions based on the strategic tools. The next step is organizing the solution based on the requirement of the case. You can use the following strategy to organize the findings and suggestions.

• Build a corporate level strategy - organizing your findings and recommendations in a way to answer the larger strategic objective of the firm. It include using the analysis to answer the company's vision, mission and key objectives , and how your suggestions will take the company to next level in achieving those goals.
• Business Unit Level Solution - The case study may put you in a position of a marketing manager of a small brand. So instead of providing recommendations for overall company you need to specify the marketing objectives of that particular brand. You have to recommend business unit level recommendations. The scope of the recommendations will be limited to the particular unit but you have to take care of the fact that your recommendations are don't directly contradict the company's overall strategy. For example you can recommend a low cost strategy but the company core competency is design differentiation.
• Case study solutions can also provide recommendation for the business manager or leader described in the business case study.

Step 8 -Implementation Framework

The goal of the business case study is not only to identify problems and recommend solutions but also to provide a framework to implement those case study solutions. Implementation framework differentiates good case study solutions from great case study solutions. If you able to provide a detailed implementation framework then you have successfully achieved the following objectives -

• Detailed understanding of the case,
• Clarity of HBR case study fundamentals,
• Analyzed case details based on those fundamentals and
• Developed an ability to prioritize recommendations based on probability of their successful implementation.

Implementation framework helps in weeding out non actionable recommendations, resulting in awesome eBay (B): Combating Fraud case study solution.

Step 9 - Take a Break

Once you finished the case study implementation framework. Take a small break, grab a cup of coffee or whatever you like, go for a walk or just shoot some hoops.

Step 10 - Critically Examine eBay (B): Combating Fraud case study solution

After refreshing your mind, read your case study solution critically. When we are writing case study solution we often have details on our screen as well as in our head. This leads to either missing details or poor sentence structures. Once refreshed go through the case solution again - improve sentence structures and grammar, double check the numbers provided in your analysis and question your recommendations. Be very slow with this process as rushing through it leads to missing key details. Once done it is time to hit the attach button.

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Consumers Energy Case Study with McWane Poles

Consumers Energy is the largest investor-owned Utility (by land mass) in Michigan and provide electricity and natural gas to 6.7 million people. Consumers owns and operates over 96,000 miles of electric distribution lines (overhead and underground).

Both in the state of Michigan and nationally, improving reliability in the energy sector has been a major priority for stakeholders. The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) tasked Consumers Energy with reducing the number and length of outages. In addition, there has been a nationwide trend for utilities to use larger pole class sizes which strains the wood supply chain. Consumers Energy was experiencing difficulties sourcing wood poles to fill their needs.

Consumers launched an initiative to evaluate grid-strengthening measures and determined that ductile iron provided a more durable solution at a cost-competitive price point. Consumers discovered that all other pole options, aside from heavy weathering steel, would require continuous repairs and maintenance. Ductile iron, however, is highly resistant to wind, storms, and heat from wildfires, as well as completely resistant to rot, insects, freezing weather, and woodpeckers, and maintenance is minimal to none.

In addition, McWane’s ductile iron poles are similar to wood in weight and installation, reducing the scope of operational and tooling changes.

McWane Poles helped Consumers Energy through every stage of implementation, from tooling suggestions and requirements to writing a specification to nuanced standards changes. McWane’s production flexibility also helped ensure a smooth rollout.

Consumers is expecting a 200 to 300% reduction in truck rolls over the lifespan of a new ductile iron pole; in addition to a 80-100 year life expectancy. Long-term, Consumers believes that implementing ductile iron poles will save a significant amount of money for the company and their customers.

“After extensive research, I’m confident that the durability and sustainability of ductile iron is the ideal solution. The flexibility, consistency, and dependability of the team at McWane Poles enabled us to strengthen our grid and provide Michigan with reliable energy.”

McWane Poles

McWane Poles is a product line of McWane, Inc. McWane is a family-owned company that has been serving customers in the iron and ductile iron industries since 1921.

McWane Poles was conceived in 2007 with the research and development of a tapered pole design for centrifugal casting of ductile iron. In early 2008, McWane Poles was born. The first ductile iron pole was manufactured in Ohio, and after casting molds were commissioned and extensive third-party testing was completed, McWane Poles were taken to market. Today, McWane ductile iron poles are installed in 42 states and over 400 utilities.

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The Daily Iowan

Efficient Data Migration: Methods and Case Studies

Data migration is essential for businesses upgrading their IT infrastructure, optimizing processes, or transitioning to cloud solutions. This article explores effective data migration methods and presents case studies highlighting successful migrations facilitated by Visual Flow’s cutting-edge technology.

Key Methods for Efficient Data Migration

Planning and assessment.

• Define Objectives: Outline the goals of the migration, such as performance improvements, cost reductions, or compliance enhancements.
• Inventory and Analysis: Conduct a thorough inventory of existing data and systems to assess compatibility, quality, and dependencies.

Data Mapping and Transformation

• Map Data Elements: Establish detailed mappings of source data to target systems to ensure all necessary fields are accounted for.
• Transform Data: Use Visual Flow’s ETL/ELT tools to convert data into a compatible format, addressing any inconsistencies or errors seamlessly.

Utilizing the Right Tools

• Low-Code Solutions: Visual Flow offers a low-code, open-source ETL/ELT solution with a drag-and-drop interface, allowing even non-technical users to set up data pipelines effortlessly.
• Scalability Tools: Leveraging Apache Spark and Kubernetes, Visual Flow ensures scalability and parallel processing capabilities for large datasets.

Testing and Validation

• Pilot Testing: Perform initial tests on a small dataset to validate the migration strategy and tools.
• Full-scale Testing: Conduct comprehensive testing to ensure data integrity, performance, and security requirements are met.

Execution and Monitoring

• Phased Approach: Execute migration in phases to manage risks and allow for adjustments based on continuous monitoring and feedback.
• Real-time Monitoring: Utilize Visual Flow’s real-time monitoring features to address issues promptly and minimize downtime.

Post-Migration Activities

• Validation and Cleanup: Validate the migrated data to ensure accuracy and completeness. Clean up any residual data from the old system.
• Training and Support: Provide adequate training and support to users to facilitate a smooth transition to the new system.

Case Studies: Lessons from Real-World Migrations

Case study 1: cost reduction and performance boost.

A major IT company leveraged Visual Flow to cut ETL costs by 5x and boost performance by 3x. The use of open-source technologies and scalable infrastructure enabled significant reductions in operational costs while enhancing processing speeds.

Case Study 2: Rapid Deployment and Scalability

Another client utilized Visual Flow’s low-code solution to set up data pipelines within 15 minutes, achieving rapid deployment without writing a single line of code. The integration of Kubernetes and Apache Spark ensured the scalability necessary to handle growing data volumes.

Case Study 3: Flexibility and Customization

A business facing complex data integration challenges benefited from Visual Flow’s customization options. The ability to tailor ETL processes to specific needs, combined with no vendor lock-in, provided unparalleled flexibility and cost-effective solutions.

Effective data migration requires meticulous planning, the right tools, and rigorous testing. Visual Flow’s innovative solutions empower businesses to navigate these complexities with ease, ensuring seamless transitions and optimized outcomes. By learning from real-world examples, companies can adopt best practices and leverage powerful ETL/ELT tools for successful data migrations.

For more information on how Visual Flow can assist with your data migration needs, visit Visual Flow.

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eBay Inc And Amazon Com (A) Case Study Solution Analysis

by HBR Thirty

eBay Inc And Amazon Com (A) Case Study Solution Analysis. Get eBay Inc And Amazon Com (A) Case Study Analysis Solution. Contact us directly at buycasesolutions(at)gmail(dot)com if you want to order for eBay Inc And Amazon Com (A) Case Solution, Case... More

eBay Inc And Amazon Com (A) Case Study Solution Analysis. Get eBay Inc And Amazon Com (A) Case Study Analysis Solution. Contact us directly at buycasesolutions(at)gmail(dot)com if you want to order for eBay Inc And Amazon Com (A) Case Solution, Case Analysis, Case Study Solution. Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Anant Thaker Less

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Human Subjects Office

Medical terms in lay language.

Please use these descriptions in place of medical jargon in consent documents, recruitment materials and other study documents. Note: These terms are not the only acceptable plain language alternatives for these vocabulary words.

This glossary of terms is derived from a list copyrighted by the University of Kentucky, Office of Research Integrity (1990).

For clinical research-specific definitions, see also the Clinical Research Glossary developed by the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCT) Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard  and the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) .

Alternative Lay Language for Medical Terms for use in Informed Consent Documents

A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I  J  K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W  X  Y  Z

ABDOMEN/ABDOMINAL body cavity below diaphragm that contains stomach, intestines, liver and other organs ABSORB take up fluids, take in ACIDOSIS condition when blood contains more acid than normal ACUITY clearness, keenness, esp. of vision and airways ACUTE new, recent, sudden, urgent ADENOPATHY swollen lymph nodes (glands) ADJUVANT helpful, assisting, aiding, supportive ADJUVANT TREATMENT added treatment (usually to a standard treatment) ANTIBIOTIC drug that kills bacteria and other germs ANTIMICROBIAL drug that kills bacteria and other germs ANTIRETROVIRAL drug that works against the growth of certain viruses ADVERSE EFFECT side effect, bad reaction, unwanted response ALLERGIC REACTION rash, hives, swelling, trouble breathing AMBULATE/AMBULATION/AMBULATORY walk, able to walk ANAPHYLAXIS serious, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction ANEMIA decreased red blood cells; low red cell blood count ANESTHETIC a drug or agent used to decrease the feeling of pain, or eliminate the feeling of pain by putting you to sleep ANGINA pain resulting from not enough blood flowing to the heart ANGINA PECTORIS pain resulting from not enough blood flowing to the heart ANOREXIA disorder in which person will not eat; lack of appetite ANTECUBITAL related to the inner side of the forearm ANTIBODY protein made in the body in response to foreign substance ANTICONVULSANT drug used to prevent seizures ANTILIPEMIC a drug that lowers fat levels in the blood ANTITUSSIVE a drug used to relieve coughing ARRHYTHMIA abnormal heartbeat; any change from the normal heartbeat ASPIRATION fluid entering the lungs, such as after vomiting ASSAY lab test ASSESS to learn about, measure, evaluate, look at ASTHMA lung disease associated with tightening of air passages, making breathing difficult ASYMPTOMATIC without symptoms AXILLA armpit

BENIGN not malignant, without serious consequences BID twice a day BINDING/BOUND carried by, to make stick together, transported BIOAVAILABILITY the extent to which a drug or other substance becomes available to the body BLOOD PROFILE series of blood tests BOLUS a large amount given all at once BONE MASS the amount of calcium and other minerals in a given amount of bone BRADYARRHYTHMIAS slow, irregular heartbeats BRADYCARDIA slow heartbeat BRONCHOSPASM breathing distress caused by narrowing of the airways

CARCINOGENIC cancer-causing CARCINOMA type of cancer CARDIAC related to the heart CARDIOVERSION return to normal heartbeat by electric shock CATHETER a tube for withdrawing or giving fluids CATHETER a tube placed near the spinal cord and used for anesthesia (indwelling epidural) during surgery CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS) brain and spinal cord CEREBRAL TRAUMA damage to the brain CESSATION stopping CHD coronary heart disease CHEMOTHERAPY treatment of disease, usually cancer, by chemical agents CHRONIC continuing for a long time, ongoing CLINICAL pertaining to medical care CLINICAL TRIAL an experiment involving human subjects COMA unconscious state COMPLETE RESPONSE total disappearance of disease CONGENITAL present before birth CONJUNCTIVITIS redness and irritation of the thin membrane that covers the eye CONSOLIDATION PHASE treatment phase intended to make a remission permanent (follows induction phase) CONTROLLED TRIAL research study in which the experimental treatment or procedure is compared to a standard (control) treatment or procedure COOPERATIVE GROUP association of multiple institutions to perform clinical trials CORONARY related to the blood vessels that supply the heart, or to the heart itself CT SCAN (CAT) computerized series of x-rays (computerized tomography) CULTURE test for infection, or for organisms that could cause infection CUMULATIVE added together from the beginning CUTANEOUS relating to the skin CVA stroke (cerebrovascular accident)

DERMATOLOGIC pertaining to the skin DIASTOLIC lower number in a blood pressure reading DISTAL toward the end, away from the center of the body DIURETIC "water pill" or drug that causes increase in urination DOPPLER device using sound waves to diagnose or test DOUBLE BLIND study in which neither investigators nor subjects know what drug or treatment the subject is receiving DYSFUNCTION state of improper function DYSPLASIA abnormal cells

ECHOCARDIOGRAM sound wave test of the heart EDEMA excess fluid collecting in tissue EEG electric brain wave tracing (electroencephalogram) EFFICACY effectiveness ELECTROCARDIOGRAM electrical tracing of the heartbeat (ECG or EKG) ELECTROLYTE IMBALANCE an imbalance of minerals in the blood EMESIS vomiting EMPIRIC based on experience ENDOSCOPIC EXAMINATION viewing an  internal part of the body with a lighted tube  ENTERAL by way of the intestines EPIDURAL outside the spinal cord ERADICATE get rid of (such as disease) Page 2 of 7 EVALUATED, ASSESSED examined for a medical condition EXPEDITED REVIEW rapid review of a protocol by the IRB Chair without full committee approval, permitted with certain low-risk research studies EXTERNAL outside the body EXTRAVASATE to leak outside of a planned area, such as out of a blood vessel

FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the branch of federal government that approves new drugs FIBROUS having many fibers, such as scar tissue FIBRILLATION irregular beat of the heart or other muscle

GENERAL ANESTHESIA pain prevention by giving drugs to cause loss of consciousness, as during surgery GESTATIONAL pertaining to pregnancy

HEMATOCRIT amount of red blood cells in the blood HEMATOMA a bruise, a black and blue mark HEMODYNAMIC MEASURING blood flow HEMOLYSIS breakdown in red blood cells HEPARIN LOCK needle placed in the arm with blood thinner to keep the blood from clotting HEPATOMA cancer or tumor of the liver HERITABLE DISEASE can be transmitted to one’s offspring, resulting in damage to future children HISTOPATHOLOGIC pertaining to the disease status of body tissues or cells HOLTER MONITOR a portable machine for recording heart beats HYPERCALCEMIA high blood calcium level HYPERKALEMIA high blood potassium level HYPERNATREMIA high blood sodium level HYPERTENSION high blood pressure HYPOCALCEMIA low blood calcium level HYPOKALEMIA low blood potassium level HYPONATREMIA low blood sodium level HYPOTENSION low blood pressure HYPOXEMIA a decrease of oxygen in the blood HYPOXIA a decrease of oxygen reaching body tissues HYSTERECTOMY surgical removal of the uterus, ovaries (female sex glands), or both uterus and ovaries

IATROGENIC caused by a physician or by treatment IDE investigational device exemption, the license to test an unapproved new medical device IDIOPATHIC of unknown cause IMMUNITY defense against, protection from IMMUNOGLOBIN a protein that makes antibodies IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE drug which works against the body's immune (protective) response, often used in transplantation and diseases caused by immune system malfunction IMMUNOTHERAPY giving of drugs to help the body's immune (protective) system; usually used to destroy cancer cells IMPAIRED FUNCTION abnormal function IMPLANTED placed in the body IND investigational new drug, the license to test an unapproved new drug INDUCTION PHASE beginning phase or stage of a treatment INDURATION hardening INDWELLING remaining in a given location, such as a catheter INFARCT death of tissue due to lack of blood supply INFECTIOUS DISEASE transmitted from one person to the next INFLAMMATION swelling that is generally painful, red, and warm INFUSION slow injection of a substance into the body, usually into the blood by means of a catheter INGESTION eating; taking by mouth INTERFERON drug which acts against viruses; antiviral agent INTERMITTENT occurring (regularly or irregularly) between two time points; repeatedly stopping, then starting again INTERNAL within the body INTERIOR inside of the body INTRAMUSCULAR into the muscle; within the muscle INTRAPERITONEAL into the abdominal cavity INTRATHECAL into the spinal fluid INTRAVENOUS (IV) through the vein INTRAVESICAL in the bladder INTUBATE the placement of a tube into the airway INVASIVE PROCEDURE puncturing, opening, or cutting the skin INVESTIGATIONAL NEW DRUG (IND) a new drug that has not been approved by the FDA INVESTIGATIONAL METHOD a treatment method which has not been proven to be beneficial or has not been accepted as standard care ISCHEMIA decreased oxygen in a tissue (usually because of decreased blood flow)

LAPAROTOMY surgical procedure in which an incision is made in the abdominal wall to enable a doctor to look at the organs inside LESION wound or injury; a diseased patch of skin LETHARGY sleepiness, tiredness LEUKOPENIA low white blood cell count LIPID fat LIPID CONTENT fat content in the blood LIPID PROFILE (PANEL) fat and cholesterol levels in the blood LOCAL ANESTHESIA creation of insensitivity to pain in a small, local area of the body, usually by injection of numbing drugs LOCALIZED restricted to one area, limited to one area LUMEN the cavity of an organ or tube (e.g., blood vessel) LYMPHANGIOGRAPHY an x-ray of the lymph nodes or tissues after injecting dye into lymph vessels (e.g., in feet) LYMPHOCYTE a type of white blood cell important in immunity (protection) against infection LYMPHOMA a cancer of the lymph nodes (or tissues)

MALAISE a vague feeling of bodily discomfort, feeling badly MALFUNCTION condition in which something is not functioning properly MALIGNANCY cancer or other progressively enlarging and spreading tumor, usually fatal if not successfully treated MEDULLABLASTOMA a type of brain tumor MEGALOBLASTOSIS change in red blood cells METABOLIZE process of breaking down substances in the cells to obtain energy METASTASIS spread of cancer cells from one part of the body to another METRONIDAZOLE drug used to treat infections caused by parasites (invading organisms that take up living in the body) or other causes of anaerobic infection (not requiring oxygen to survive) MI myocardial infarction, heart attack MINIMAL slight MINIMIZE reduce as much as possible Page 4 of 7 MONITOR check on; keep track of; watch carefully MOBILITY ease of movement MORBIDITY undesired result or complication MORTALITY death MOTILITY the ability to move MRI magnetic resonance imaging, diagnostic pictures of the inside of the body, created using magnetic rather than x-ray energy MUCOSA, MUCOUS MEMBRANE moist lining of digestive, respiratory, reproductive, and urinary tracts MYALGIA muscle aches MYOCARDIAL pertaining to the heart muscle MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION heart attack

NASOGASTRIC TUBE placed in the nose, reaching to the stomach NCI the National Cancer Institute NECROSIS death of tissue NEOPLASIA/NEOPLASM tumor, may be benign or malignant NEUROBLASTOMA a cancer of nerve tissue NEUROLOGICAL pertaining to the nervous system NEUTROPENIA decrease in the main part of the white blood cells NIH the National Institutes of Health NONINVASIVE not breaking, cutting, or entering the skin NOSOCOMIAL acquired in the hospital

OCCLUSION closing; blockage; obstruction ONCOLOGY the study of tumors or cancer OPHTHALMIC pertaining to the eye OPTIMAL best, most favorable or desirable ORAL ADMINISTRATION by mouth ORTHOPEDIC pertaining to the bones OSTEOPETROSIS rare bone disorder characterized by dense bone OSTEOPOROSIS softening of the bones OVARIES female sex glands

PARENTERAL given by injection PATENCY condition of being open PATHOGENESIS development of a disease or unhealthy condition PERCUTANEOUS through the skin PERIPHERAL not central PER OS (PO) by mouth PHARMACOKINETICS the study of the way the body absorbs, distributes, and gets rid of a drug PHASE I first phase of study of a new drug in humans to determine action, safety, and proper dosing PHASE II second phase of study of a new drug in humans, intended to gather information about safety and effectiveness of the drug for certain uses PHASE III large-scale studies to confirm and expand information on safety and effectiveness of new drug for certain uses, and to study common side effects PHASE IV studies done after the drug is approved by the FDA, especially to compare it to standard care or to try it for new uses PHLEBITIS irritation or inflammation of the vein PLACEBO an inactive substance; a pill/liquid that contains no medicine PLACEBO EFFECT improvement seen with giving subjects a placebo, though it contains no active drug/treatment PLATELETS small particles in the blood that help with clotting POTENTIAL possible POTENTIATE increase or multiply the effect of a drug or toxin (poison) by giving another drug or toxin at the same time (sometimes an unintentional result) POTENTIATOR an agent that helps another agent work better PRENATAL before birth PROPHYLAXIS a drug given to prevent disease or infection PER OS (PO) by mouth PRN as needed PROGNOSIS outlook, probable outcomes PRONE lying on the stomach PROSPECTIVE STUDY following patients forward in time PROSTHESIS artificial part, most often limbs, such as arms or legs PROTOCOL plan of study PROXIMAL closer to the center of the body, away from the end PULMONARY pertaining to the lungs

QD every day; daily QID four times a day

RADIATION THERAPY x-ray or cobalt treatment RANDOM by chance (like the flip of a coin) RANDOMIZATION chance selection RBC red blood cell RECOMBINANT formation of new combinations of genes RECONSTITUTION putting back together the original parts or elements RECUR happen again REFRACTORY not responding to treatment REGENERATION re-growth of a structure or of lost tissue REGIMEN pattern of giving treatment RELAPSE the return of a disease REMISSION disappearance of evidence of cancer or other disease RENAL pertaining to the kidneys REPLICABLE possible to duplicate RESECT remove or cut out surgically RETROSPECTIVE STUDY looking back over past experience

SARCOMA a type of cancer SEDATIVE a drug to calm or make less anxious SEMINOMA a type of testicular cancer (found in the male sex glands) SEQUENTIALLY in a row, in order SOMNOLENCE sleepiness SPIROMETER an instrument to measure the amount of air taken into and exhaled from the lungs STAGING an evaluation of the extent of the disease STANDARD OF CARE a treatment plan that the majority of the medical community would accept as appropriate STENOSIS narrowing of a duct, tube, or one of the blood vessels in the heart STOMATITIS mouth sores, inflammation of the mouth STRATIFY arrange in groups for analysis of results (e.g., stratify by age, sex, etc.) STUPOR stunned state in which it is difficult to get a response or the attention of the subject SUBCLAVIAN under the collarbone SUBCUTANEOUS under the skin SUPINE lying on the back SUPPORTIVE CARE general medical care aimed at symptoms, not intended to improve or cure underlying disease SYMPTOMATIC having symptoms SYNDROME a condition characterized by a set of symptoms SYSTOLIC top number in blood pressure; pressure during active contraction of the heart

TERATOGENIC capable of causing malformations in a fetus (developing baby still inside the mother’s body) TESTES/TESTICLES male sex glands THROMBOSIS clotting THROMBUS blood clot TID three times a day TITRATION a method for deciding on the strength of a drug or solution; gradually increasing the dose T-LYMPHOCYTES type of white blood cells TOPICAL on the surface TOPICAL ANESTHETIC applied to a certain area of the skin and reducing pain only in the area to which applied TOXICITY side effects or undesirable effects of a drug or treatment TRANSDERMAL through the skin TRANSIENTLY temporarily TRAUMA injury; wound TREADMILL walking machine used to test heart function

UPTAKE absorbing and taking in of a substance by living tissue

VALVULOPLASTY plastic repair of a valve, especially a heart valve VARICES enlarged veins VASOSPASM narrowing of the blood vessels VECTOR a carrier that can transmit disease-causing microorganisms (germs and viruses) VENIPUNCTURE needle stick, blood draw, entering the skin with a needle VERTICAL TRANSMISSION spread of disease

WBC white blood cell