A simplistic study of a transaction broker eCommerce website

Introduction

The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily since the spread of the Internet. A wide variety of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in information and communication technologies (ICT) enabling external activities and relationships of businesses with individuals, groups and other businesses. Since then people began to associate the word "e-commerce" with the ability of purchasing various goods through the Internet using secure protocols and electronic payment services.

Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.

About SISTIC

SISTIC has been providing innovative ticketing services since December 1991 and licensing its ticketing solution STiX since 2003.

In Singapore, SISTIC is the largest ticketing service provider selling tickets for more than 90% of a wide variety of arts, entertainment and sports events; through a ticket distribution network that extends beyond Singapore to countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.SISTIC also offers STiX, a web-based and customer-oriented ticketing solution, to ticketing companies, event promoters and venues under a licensing arrangement. STiX has been used for events held at various performing venues in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong and China.


Purposes

SISTIC aims to be recognised globally and as a reputable and innovative ticketing company, connecting people to entertainment through the provision of innovative ticketing company.

Features

Business Model
SISTIC is considered to be a transaction broker, mainly business to consumer (B2C).

Payment Modes
Payment is mainly made via any credit/debit card(ie. VISA, MasterCard or American Express) with an international billing address. This means that those without such credit/debit cards are at a disadvantage. However, they can approach other such cardholders to undertake the payment on their behalf first or use other alternatives such as Paypal.

Characteristics: Design Scheme and Graphics

The site is found to be quite straightforward, user-friendly and systematic. It can be easily navigated with step-by-step guidance and helpful pointers. Thus, consumers can effortlessly decide on the events they would like to attend. The layout is relatively plain and simple, with white background and colourful images.

Identified Strengths

User friendly
The sistic website offers easy navigational access of the website. First of all, the events calendar allow the user to be aware of all the latest and upcoming events. Ranging from sporting events to concerts, all the user need to do is to click on his choice of event and the hyperlink will automatically bring him into the specific details of the event whereby booking the tickets can be done in just 4 easy steps.


Giving customers the assurance & protection
SISTIC works towards being a globally reputable and innovative ticketing company, assuring to protect their customers from theft or personal and credit card information.

Today, SISTIC is using the new VeriSign Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates, which immediately impressed the ticketing provider with the new features and advantages it offered above the standard SSL Certificates. VeriSign EV SSL Certificates contain a number of user interface enhancements aimed at making the identification of a secure and authenticated site much simpler for the end user.

This definitely gives SISTIC a competitive edge over other ticketing vendors.


Perceived Weaknesses

Do not maintain a client base
The sistic outlet does not manage a client base. They do not have a pool of membership list or regular customers with them. Although they do have an option whereby the customers can request Sistic to send him details on future events, it is not enough to hold onto the regular customers. They could employ membership scheme where regulars customers can get to enjoy certain privileges and discounts.

Linguistic Factors
The website is only in English therefore it might not appeal to customers who does not understand or know very little English. They should at least have it in other languages mainly mandarin, malay or tamil. If having too much of languages a hazard or cost incurring, they could do a poll or survey on the majority of customers to find out about their race or language preference and allow them to select another language apart from English.

Inaccessibility of refund area
Refunds could only be claimed at the indoor stadium unless the event is cancelled then refund can be claimed at various places in Singapore. Therefore the question is raised on if for example, the customer stays far away from the indoor stadium. It is too much of a hassle in collecting back the refund. Therefore they could consider including a postage service refund or increasing the number of collection spots.

Security

As a eCommerce website that deals with thousands of transactions a day, security is naturally an issue of paramount importance to SISTIC.

The main concern of a ticket purchaser here is mainly his personal information, as well as his credit card information.

To protect the user, SISTIC employs two layers of security for its ticket transactions. The first is a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption certified by VeriSign. This is evidently present as one purchases a ticket - the url is prefixed with the "https" protocol instead of the usual "http".

The second layer, the Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates from industry leader VeriSign, ensures High Assurance (HA) that the SISTIC site is authentic and personal information submitted is safe during purchasing transactions. Most modern browsers indicate this by a green tint on the address bar.

These two layers of security assures the end-user that the website he/she is interacting with is genuinely SISTIC and all information transmitted are properly encrypted from prying eyes.

However, it is unclear whether SISTIC maintains a record of the user's credit card information after a purchase; a search on both the Privacy Policy and Transaction Security pages revealed no definite statement on this issue. SISTIC would certainly do well with cautious buyers to include an unambiguous statement of assurance - that no credit card information is stored in its servers.

Privacy

In today's world where almost everything and everybody is connected via a digital network and information is freely available or easily obtainable, privacy has become a major concern of certain consumers.

When making a ticket purchase at SISTIC, one cannot do it anonymously - the buyer's name, identity card number, and phone number are compulsory fields in the purchase form.

However, SISTIC is clear (maybe except for the example given above about Credit Card information) about its data collection and usage policies. This information is largely transmitted to the consumer via the Privacy Policy page; moreover, at the transaction page during a ticket purchase, SISTIC states clearly its intentions of the user's data, while offering the user the choices of receiving correspondence from itself or interested parties.

The privacy-concerned consumer can then decide for himself whether to employ SISTIC's services.


Conclusion

Visitors to SISTIC's website probably have only one objective - to get information about an event, and if suitable, purchase a ticket for the seats they want.

Certainly, SISTIC is the epitome of eCommerce transaction brokers - it provides an efficient and reliable link between event organisers and event-go'ers; delivering what the consumer wants, in an speedy, efficient and secure manner, all in the comfort of his/her home.

Finding out more events and purchasing tickets has never been easier.