ISORG-mini research report

Background - Mini-Research Project: e-Transaction Broker
This research is carried out in conjunction with the recommendations of the UOL-ISORG study guide. This is a group research to investigate into the nature and operations of one e-commerce TRANSACTION BROKER website.




Website analysed: http://www.accomline.com/



Definitions:

E-commerce: consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers is referred to as business to consumer (B2C). Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.

Transaction broker: The Transaction Broker crafts a transaction by bringing a willing buyer and a willing seller together and assists with the closing of details. A transaction broker is an intermediary who acts as a middleman, merely providing the business link between a buyer and a host of sellers, and earning a commission for each successful transaction. Transaction broker do NOT own the end products or services transacted. They are NOT wholesaler or retailers (e.g. NTUC, Amazon.com, and Vehicle Resellers)



Introduction and features of the e-commerce transaction broker:
The objective of the transaction broker is to ensure that customers obtain some added advantage (such as convenience and cheaper prices) from conducting their transactions via the site. This means that, not only the buying and selling of products and services, but also the information delivery related to the transactions, could be the added advantage offered by the transaction broker. For instance, a travel agent can sell not only air tickets, but also distribute information about air tickets promotions, hotel promotions etc. A travel agent can also make use of its community’s purchasing pattern to work together with airlines and hotels in introducing packages that meet the customers’ needs. It is not as useful to provide communities of transaction with customer-to-customer mode of interaction as when customers visit a transaction broker site; their purpose is to conveniently purchase something from an “expert” and not to “waste” time interacting with other customers. There is a need for the e-commerce transaction broker to allow vast communication globally. These enable the reduction of transaction cost, such as search cost, and also allow open competition by comparing prices and services provided across different transaction broker websites. Hence, more trades to take place faster, more effectively and efficiently.


The purposes
Accomline.com is an e-commerce transaction broker website which provides a platform for hotel bookings and other services for the convenience of people especially travellers. It functions as a B2C dealing basis. It mainly offers worldwide hotel booking services with fast secure access to over 60 000 hotels in 134 countries.


The Design and Functional online services
The design of the website is simple and much organised. The useful and relevant tabs, links and search options are available at visible locations.





It comprises brightly coloured signs and catchy statements to attract attention. Information is well presented in appropriate format and each picture of the hotels is shown with respect to the hotel’s descriptions. The website facilitates the customers in the booking of their choice of hotel and rooms by allowing them to fill in all their particulars in simply 4 steps, with last step being the payment. They will only proceed to the next step only if they finish the current ones.
booking page


The strength
Offering over 60,000 hotels in 134 countries worldwide, Accomline.com offers many choices of the room eg: single, double, triple. The prices and ratings of each hotel are shown clearly, neatly and specifically eg: not only the star rating of the hotel, ratings for cleanliness, facilities, services, locations and pricings are shown as well. Other services such as flight bookings, car hire, sightseeing, travel insurance and even last minute deals and group bookings are available. Hotel promotions and specials are being emphasized for the benefit of all customers eg: every month favourites / top cities with prices stated. The website translated into 14 languages allowing more than 6 million unique visitors per month. Most importantly, it ensures secure and safe booking using 128-bit SSL encryption. It has a FAQ page for customers to clarify their doubts as much as possible.FAQ page


The weaknesses and problems
Website viewers have to click on many links in order to view all the information they require. It operates completely in cyberspace and does not have a bricks-and-mortar setup to complement the online business. Hence, it may seem unreliable for visitors who visit the website for the first time. As for other services such as the flight bookings, there is a limiting choice of flights. Not much reviews of Accomline.com are done, hence it is quite hard to justify it's efficiency. However, we can see that much effort has been put in by Accomline.com to seek feedback and comments from visitors who visited the site.Feedback Survey






Security and Privacy
Accommodation Line is committed to data security and utmost privacy. The customers' personal information and credit card details are encrypted using 128-bit SSL in their database hosted in high-security facilities. These details are stored at all times and will not be disclosed to unauthorised third-parties. privacy policy