The business model is a new tool for designing and planning business processes. They are aimed at finding the most effective solutions in making a profit. The process of building business models received a powerful impetus with the massive development. Today, these tools are used not only in the online sphere, but also in traditional business industries. Let's talk about the enterprise, what types of it exist and why they are needed at all.

The concept of a business model

Briefly describing the essence of the business model, it is worth noting that this is a simplified, schematic, conceptual representation of the flow of business processes. This concept arises in response to the numerous challenges of the new economic reality that emerged at the end of the 20th century. More and more newcomers came into the business, and they did not have the time, money and knowledge to develop deep development strategies, they needed effective and fast tools to maximize profits. And the business model is a clear, visual way to see all the components of the business and find points for development and increase in profitability.

Approaches to defining a business model

For the first time the term "business model" appeared in works on economics in the 40s of the 20th century. But then it was not widely used, for a long time it was used in combination with the concept of corporate strategy. And only in the 90s, business models became popular in connection with the understanding of business on the Internet. Later, the term organically entered the lexicon of managers and economists in various fields, not only online. There are two main approaches to formulating the definition of a business model. The first is related to the emphasis on the flow of production processes in the company and is aimed at finding the internal reserves of the company for additional profit. The second approach is related to the external environment of the company, in particular, to the consumer and his needs and values. In this case, the company chooses a consumer segment, develops a buyer, and establishes relationships with him. There are also many author's concepts, each of which formulates its own interpretation of this concept. In its most general form, we can say that a business model is an analytical tool that, in a schematized, visual form, describes all the processes in a company and helps to find points for making a profit.

Building goals

The main purpose of creating a business model is to find a way for the company to develop. It helps to identify the advantages and competitive differences of the enterprise and evaluate new business processes. Also, the business model allows you to determine the need to make changes to the already familiar ways of the company's existence in order to. In addition, modeling helps to identify weaknesses in the company and eliminate vulnerabilities. The business model is a good tool for assessing the effectiveness of production processes and management organization. It gives a holistic view of the activities of the company and the state of the internal environment, allows you to improve the flow of all processes.

Business model and company strategy

It is not uncommon to find that the terms "business model" and "corporate strategy" are used interchangeably. Or even the strategy is represented as an integral element of the model. However, there are significant differences between these phenomena. The strategy is based on a comprehensive analysis of the external and internal environment of the company and the formulation of long-term goals. And the business model is associated with relatively close goals, it is more of a tactic, as it provides specific answers to questions about how to achieve goals. The business model of the project includes a set of necessary actions as close as possible to the current reality. It is more connected with the financial sphere of the company. The strategy to a greater extent sets the direction of the development of the company, it is much less specific. The optimal planning sequence is the development of a strategy, and on its basis, the creation of a business model. The strategy in this case is an ideological platform for modeling.

Components

Since the field of business is extremely diverse, there are a large number of options for business models. Theorists and practitioners find different approaches to the definition of this phenomenon and identify diverse sets of components in it. Thus, there are many supporters of the point of view, which includes such components as the organizational structure, resources, business process, organizational functions, corporate strategy, and products and services produced. The generalized business plan model includes the following components: market and competitor analysis, organizational structure, marketing, production, finance plans, risk assessment, legal grounds. However, these concepts are not quite business models. Osterwalder's most popular business model has 9 main components: customer segments, customer relationships, distribution channels, selling proposition, resources, core activities, key partners, cost structure, and revenue streams. Below we consider this model in more detail. Traditionally, today the business model includes such blocks as consumer, product, marketing, suppliers and manufacturers, finance, competitors, market, non-economic factors of influence.

Stages of building a business model

Any modeling begins with an assessment of the existing situation and the formulation of goals. Further, the construction of business models is associated with the choice of a suitable template and its competent filling. Osterwalder, the world's leading ideologist of business modeling, says that the "design" process includes five main steps:

- Mobilization. At this stage, it is necessary to conduct preparatory studies, assess resources, set goals and, most importantly, assemble the necessary team.

- Understanding. This stage is associated with immersion in the situation, i.e. at this time you need to understand what is happening on the market and in what conditions you will have to do business.

- Design. This stage is associated with the generation of ideas, most often they appear as a result of the “brainstorming” of the team. At this stage, you need to find several viable business ideas and match them with appropriate business model templates.

P application. This stage is associated with testing the developed model to the real conditions of the markets and its adjustment to the existing circumstances.

At governing body. This is the actual stage of using the model, with a periodic assessment of its effectiveness and making adjustments to its functioning.

Types of business models

There are several approaches to identifying the types of objects under study. Realizable assets can serve as the basis for a typology. In this case, models with financial, human, intangible and physical assets are distinguished. According to the model object, such varieties are distinguished as templates for a specific product, for the company as a whole and for a group of companies. In this case, researchers speak of differentiated, undifferentiated, segmented, integrated, adaptive, and externally oriented species. However, the best business models are difficult to typify, and they usually bear the name of the company for which they were first conceived. So, in the 50s of the 20th century, models appeared for companies such as the American McDonald's and the Japanese Toyota. The 60s were marked by the innovative types of Wal-Mart and Hypermarket. In the 80s, Home Depot companies set a new trend, Intel and Dell Computer, followed in the 1990s by models designed for Netflix, eBay, Amazon.com, Starbucks, Microsoft, and the late 20th and early 21st centuries saw a boom in models for Internet projects.

Internet business models

Online commerce in recent years is only gaining momentum, it is the fastest growing area of ​​the modern economy. One of the secrets of such a boom is the ability to build a successful and profitable business with little investment. Since this area, first of all, is a place for young entrepreneurs to implement their plans, who do not have experience in deep research and strategic planning, it is on the Internet that a large number of models of different complexity appear. The most popular business model of a company on the Web is online auctions. There are several super-profitable and thousands of small companies built on this principle. The researchers argue that today there are 9 main types of business models implemented on the Internet: brokerage, subscription, trading, advertising, production, mediation, partnership, consumer and community.

Blank-Dorff Model

Steve Blank is one of the most successful startups, and his book with Bob Dorf talks about what new business models should be based on. They are proponents of a consumer-centric approach to business. When compiling a model, it is necessary to answer key questions from five groups:

- Consumers: who are they, what can be offered to them and how to keep them?

- Product: what is it good for and how best to deliver it to the buyer?

- Income: how to make money and how to increase profit?

- Resources: what is needed to achieve the goal, where are these resources and how to get them?

- Partners: who can help in achieving the goal and how to attract them?

Osterwalder model

One of the most famous in the world is the Osterwalder business model, it is suitable for projects in any field of activity. There are 9 blocks in the model:

- Consumer segments. It is necessary to analyze the market and identify suitable segments on which to focus your attention so as not to scatter resources.

- Value propositions. It is necessary to understand what is important for the buyer, what are his main needs and, on this basis, formulate an offer that would meet the needs and values ​​of the consumer. He must get something that will help him solve some problems and satisfy needs.

- Sales channels. Based on the lifestyle of the consumer and his media preferences, it is necessary to choose channels for disseminating information about the product and ways to sell it.

- Relationship with the client. You should consider ways to attract and retain customers, as well as methods to encourage them to make a purchase.

- Key resources. Any company needs tangible, human and intangible resources, an entrepreneur must have a good understanding of what he will need and where it can be obtained.

- Key activities. One of the most important blocks, it is necessary to prescribe the production processes and management specific to this particular project.

- Key partners. Who can help achieve the goals: suppliers, manufacturers of basic and related elements, it is important to understand how to involve them in your project.

- Cost Structure and Revenue Streams- these are the blocks for which the business is responsible. You need to have a good idea of ​​what the costs of producing a product and its delivery are and where there are points for potential increase in profits. All of these template blocks need to be completed by doing research and brainstorming.

Model E. Maurya

The "lean" business model is a modification of the Osterwalder template. It also highlights several blocks that need to be filled in: problem, value proposition, customer segments, key metrics, distribution channels. The most important thing in business, according to E. Maurya, is to find an advantage that dishonest competitors cannot copy. These can be technologies, ways of interacting with the buyer, distribution features. It is in the presence of such an advantage that the main secret of business lies.

Johnson Model

According to Mark Johnson, a business model is a way to properly capture the market. He based his template on K. Christensen's concept of pure space capture. The model has three components: the value proposition, the profit formula, and key resources plus key processes. All components are interconnected and influence each other.

• What are the types of business models.
• What examples of business models are rare.
• How foreign companies apply rare business models.

The business model is how the company interacts at all stages of work with consumers and finance. If you can explain the benefits of collaborating with customers, you will make a big profit. Let us help you figure it out types of business models and choose the right one for your company.

Types of business models

Companies often use popular business models. They are proven in practice and are used in many areas of business. Consider the most popular.

1. Franchising

2. Brokerage business model

This model implies that the business acts as a link between the seller and the buyer. For these services, the business receives a percentage of the transaction amount or, depending on the field of activity, a flat rate.

For example, a trading exchange is engaged in cost estimate goods, transaction management and quality control. The list of trading exchange services can be much wider. Trade exchanges can exist either with the support of monopolistic banking associations or independently.

The brokerage business model can work as a platform for collecting and executing orders. The platform controls the fundamental terms of the transaction: price, terms, etc. Or it could be a bid accumulation system, whereby a person who wants to make a purchase bids on a product or service.

Within the framework of this business model, promotional brokerage services are common. The company organizes and conducts auctions. Receives income as compensation for the placement of lots, and also has commission fees that depend on the amount of the final transaction.

Distribution is also a popular type of brokerage. The company acts as an intermediary. Connects manufacturers with their retail and wholesale potential buyers.

The brokerage business model can be either a search agent or a virtual marketplace. This can be a service that provides and facilitates the search for information, or hosting for online stores, or transactional service. The fee is charged for the monthly location on the site.

Recently, the so-called info-brokering has been spreading. User data, product information is very important for both business and customers. Intermediaries are implementing this important information.

Info brokerage can function as an advertising network. There is a broadcast of advertising (banner, contextual) on sites that provide information about the number of visitors. They also analyze how effective marketing is. To do this, collect data, explore the behavior of people on the Internet.

3. Advertising business model

With the development of the Internet, the advertising business model is increasingly focused on online work. The main goal of this business model is to create platforms that would attract the largest number of readers, visitors, viewers.

The implementation of this business model occurs to a greater extent using content marketing.

In the advertising business model, there are 2 operating groups: readers (or viewers) and advertisers. Ideally, you can profit from both readers and viewers. For example, for a subscription or newsletter. Advertisers pay you anyway.

The advertising business model can be in the format crowdsourcing. To do this, it is necessary to unite people so that they become content generators. Income here is also obtained from the sale of advertising or fees for the use of content.

The company may involve the authors in the public discussion of some issues and problems. The best author receives money for the expressed decision, and the company receives the idea and its further implementation. Crowdsourcing needs the right kind of reward system to get people involved.

4. Direct sales

This is the easiest business model to implement. Here, the individuality of the leader and his desire to develop independently and develop the business come to the fore. Discipline, the ability to work patiently without getting immediate results, high and ambitious goals - this is important for those who launch this business model.

Such a business model is launched as an additional activity or a monetized hobby.

Direct sales different in that starting a business does not require large investments. For example, you can sell your products through a network marketing system. Your cost at this stage, in addition to products, is to train salespeople how to sell correctly and effectively.

The convenience of consumers of this business model lies in the fact that they have a personal person who provides service and support. The customer feels an informal connection with the product, and the degree of trust in him grows. If this includes after-sales service, then this ensures greater popularity of your products.

Direct sales are popular in the global market. The Russian market is no exception: there has been a steady growth and development since 2008. Network marketing not only allows you to reduce the cost of maintaining a store and staff, but also provides a real opportunity for many people to earn any amount by building their business structure within the current model. Even during economic crises, a business that operates on a direct sales system, at least does not lose its position.

The high positions of the direct sales model are due to various reasons. For example, huge popularity among people who want to earn extra money by spending a minimum of time. You do not need to support people, but you need to teach them how to sell.

Every year the degree of skepticism and mistrust towards direct sales decreases. People perceive it in the same way as a traditional hike in supermarket. Also, the consumer receives constant consulting service and support, which he could not have if he used the services of retail stores.

The model of direct sales of business implies the presence of various types. For example, some organizations receive income from the volume of direct sales of the distribution network. Other companies add special programs here, according to which earnings can come from attracting additional product distributors and creating their own network. This is called a multi-level marketing system. In any case, the bulk of the money supply is generated from the sale of goods or services. Therefore, the main goal is to sell a larger volume of products.

In the field of direct sales, there are differences in promotion. Marketing communications of consumers and distributors are separated. The Department marketing in this case, it is engaged in training distributors in the correct presentation of products and positioning of the company. Develops various business tools that help increase sales and network growth, as well as provides service and support, forms standards for distributors.

This business model is suitable for many types of activities. But it will be most applicable in the segment of daily consumption goods.

Ready-made examples of non-standard business models

In addition to the usual and widespread business models, there are also rare, non-traditional types. Let's consider some of them.

"Razor and Blade"

The essence of this model is that the main product or product is sold very cheaply or completely free of charge, and additional goods for the operation of the main product or components have a relatively high cost.

To implement this model, you need to break down barriers and show the client its benefits. Also, your company must have an impeccable reputation and strong branding.

The first such business model was implemented by John Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company in the second half of the 19th century. Then people used kerosene lamps and bought kerosene for them. The lamps themselves were very cheap, they were given to oil refinery workers for free. And the kerosene produced was sold at a high price and brought the lion's share of the profits.

The Gillette company in the last century launched the production of razors with replaceable blades. She gave out razors for free to everyone, but the blades were quite expensive. As a result, the company's revenues began to grow steadily. Hence the name of this business model - "razor and blade".

The same model is used by Nestle. Nespresso coffee machines have a relatively low price compared to competitors, although they are of higher quality and have better features. But to make coffee, you need to use special capsules, which are equivalent to 3 times more expensive than regular coffee.

Customization

This model implies the orientation of its products to the tastes and needs of individual consumers.

The main thing is to correctly diagnose the needs of people, which may be identical, and then come up with additional options and modules that will be of interest to a large number of consumers.

Customization gives the opportunity to implement an individual approach to each client. By having the opportunity to implement individual modules into a product or service, the client himself will choose his modification of the product and remain more satisfied.

For example, Dell used to allow its customers to choose their processor content at the time of ordering. For some areas of activity, customization has long been ingrained and is an integral part, for example, for selling cars.

In the field of clothing and footwear, Levi's and Adidas have launched services with the help of which a person chooses the parameters of things himself, and does not choose from the proposed size range.

The Personal Novel service creates books at the request of the customer. A person writes what genre he wants to get a book, what names and external data the characters will have. According to the specified parameters, the service creates a book and sends it to the client.

Today, many experts and specialists talk about business process models and talk about their effectiveness, but many novice businessmen and startups do not even understand what it is. In this article, we decided to figure out what this term is and in what cases it is used.

Introduction

A business model is a unique, nuanced strategy of a company, the main goal of which is to maximize profits. The model necessarily includes various values ​​and directions that the company can offer customers, that is, in fact, it describes the possible potential of the organization, the possibilities for creating a certain product and communicating it to the consumer in order to obtain a permanent income.

Scheme of the classic business model

For example, a restaurant model offers a cozy place for the visitor to relax, where he can have dinner and have a good time on his own or with his relatives/friends. The online store model involves the resale of certain products through the network and the receipt of a certain profit, and the commercial site - the sale of advertising or links.

So what is a business model? This is a kind of link between the offer of the organization, the target audience and sales of the company's goods. Bringing this into a single whole, we get the necessary development and work strategy aimed at maximizing profits. When developing a strategy, it is necessary to understand the nuances of the company's work in order to build a detailed plan for its development. She will answer the following questions:

1. Who specifically influences the conduct of business processes and what exactly he does.
2. What commercial idea works/will be implemented in the company.
3. Who exactly implements the normal course of business processes.
4. What activities need to be carried out to improve communication and understanding of processes between branches or departments of the organization.
5. How to establish an effective system that allows you to manage labor resources and train new employees.

What is the difference between strategy and model

Many entrepreneurs and managers often cannot answer the difference between a strategy and a model, confusing these terms or considering them identical. Actually it is not. The model is needed to provide an option for quickly converting the company's offer into profit, while the strategy captures larger time intervals and considers ways not so much to increase profits as to survive the organization.

Attention:the model, unlike the strategy, does not consider where resources and financing will be attracted from, it aims only to increase profits.

It is also more superficial, that is, when compiling, it is not necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of the market, find out how much the product is in demand, whether the staff is qualified to reproduce it, etc.

What is a business model

Popular types

Today there are many different models - it is almost impossible to describe them all. Therefore, we will consider the most popular kinds:

1. creator or manufacturer. It's simple - you create a certain product or product, and then sell it either to the final buyer or distributors (you can even sell products to one distributor, transferring exclusive rights to him).
2. Classic retail. The idea is simple - you buy a product from a manufacturer or wholesaler, selling it to the final buyer, receiving a certain percentage or markup for this.
3. Niche work. If classical retail usually offers customers a wide range of general goods, then niche work implies functioning in a narrow direction.
4. Personal sales. The company operates in the retail sector, offering a wide range of products to all visitors, but at the same time it has a certain circle of customers who have the opportunity to get nice discounts on popular items. To do this, clients need to pay fees to get into the “club”.
5. The only sale. Retail does not sell a huge assortment, but one type of product per day, but at a big discount. Thereby company selects stale goods from a supplier and makes hundreds/thousands of sales per day. Customers are notified about the sale of a new product in the chosen way - via e-mail, instant messengers, etc.
6. Integration. A fairly successful technique that allows you to increase sales through online stores for classic distributors. Buyers purchase goods from them, but at the same time they receive it through warehouses in a convenient place (or at the dealer's representative offices).
7. Franchise. A well-known way of doing business whereby a company grants the rights to use its trademark and a polished process to a franchisee who in return pays a certain percentage of the income.
8. Razor and blade. The classic way, which was developed in the middle of the last century. It implies the sale of a certain product cheaper than cost, provided that the second product is sold with a good markup. As an example, you can consider Gillette razors - the razor itself is inexpensive, but the cartridges are tightened by a serious amount. The second example is printers - a cartridge can cost up to 50% of the cost of a new device.
9. Broker. A classic example of mediation is when a broker finds a buyer and a seller of a certain product/service, receiving a certain percentage or a fixed fee for their actions. Brokerage is carried out according to various schemes: auction (for example, Ebay), rent (Booking), sale of virtual goods (GooglePlay), work with finances (Forex), provision of services (Kabanchik or oDesk), etc.
10. Rent. The company rents real estate, vehicles or certain products, then rents it out and receives a certain income. For example, a company rents an entire office building and then leases out the offices. Or rent a plane, organizing charter flights.

There are other examples building business models: subscription to certain resources or software products, affiliate programs that pay rewards for the actions taken, multi-level marketing systems, etc.

Standard Template

Consider what the traditional model looks like. The template is shown in the picture below.it lets you understand how things work. The key section is services and products. In fact, there are practically no unique products, so the goods are not actually interesting to buyers, since there are hundreds of similar offers around them. Customers are not interested in the product itself, but in what exactly it will be interesting and useful to them. That's why the "Offer" section is so important - you need to describe what you offer and what the product provides. The main thing is to interest potential customers to make a purchase.

Standard Business Model Diagram

Right side of template are ways to sell goods. It consists of several points, the key of which is the establishment of a channel for working with the client. It is the correctness of the channel construction that determines how quickly the consumer will purchase the product after the company releases a certain offer. It is believed that the channel should work in five steps:

1. Informing the client.
2. Persuasion of a potential buyer.
3. Make a deal.
4. Delivery of goods to the buyer.
5. After-sales communication.

Attention:the last point implies that the employee of the company, after the transaction, will clarify with the client whether he liked everything, whether he is satisfied with the quality of the goods. If necessary, the manager will help the client to issue a return or warranty case.

On the left in the diagram, the costs that an organization will incur to create a product and sell it are considered. It is necessary to correctly assess them in order to understand what difficulties will be faced and how to overcome them correctly. It should be understood that the left block completely affects the right one, that is, the costs affect the formation of profits.

Creation principles

Consider how to properly build your own model for a particular enterprise. To get started, study the template above and think about what you can learn or add from it. Then take a pen and a piece of paper by answering the following 5 questions:

1. What exactly do you offer and why customers should be interested in your offer. That is, why the buyer should be interested and what he will receive by making a purchase. In order to answer this question, you need to make a portrait of the target audience, describe the proposed product, its functions and advantages.
2. Who may be interested and benefit from your product. This question involves working with a dedicated target audience. You need to understand who will make regular deals, who will be one-time deals, who your niche can touch, what segment it will cover, etc.
3. Channels of interaction. Decide how exactly you will communicate with customers: via the Internet, by phone or instant messengers, with the help of personalized meetings (store), etc. Quite a lot depends on the channels of interaction, so this step should not be ignored.
4. Relationship support. It is necessary not only to convey information to the intended buyer, but also to make it permanent in order to increase the number of sales. To do this, you need to provide support for relationships in various ways.
5. For what and how they pay. Decide which products will be especially popular, keeping in mind the 80/20 Pareto rule, think over payment methods, pricing and other financial aspects.

Build multiple business models to determine the most effective

These five questions will help you shape the revenue side of your plan. Next, you need to take on the consumables:

1. Think about what resources and technology are needed in order to launch the sale of products. Resources can be not only material - intellectual, human, etc.
2. What processes need to be run in order to make a profit. Processes can be production, that is, launching the creation of a product, platform (creating a site or connecting payments) and organizational, leading to the solution of various issues.
3. Do you need outside help to implement the project or can you do it on your own?
4. What will the launch of the scheme result in. Accordingly, you need to calculate how many resources you need to invest, which processes will be the most complex and expensive, which will require maximum resources and labor costs.

Is the game worth the candle

In the previous chapter, we figured out how to make up the expenditure and income parts. After that, you need to evaluate whether the process should be pursued, that is, to find out if the idea will be profitable. To do this, subtract the estimated expenses from the estimated income. But, as you understand, these are approximate calculations, because they do not take into account a huge number of real nuances that will arise during the implementation of the project. The question arises - then why make a model?

The answer is simple - in order to choose the most simple and profitable line of business. You need to make not one model, but several in different directions, evaluating the perspectives of each individual case. At the same time, you can studyto understand exactly how such schemes are drawn up, what is indicated on them and how the situation is analyzed.

Moreover, it is necessary to calculate the risks for each stage of cooperation. For example, think about what problems people who have purchased your service or product might have, try to do a little work with a focus group consisting of the intended target audience in order to understand if they like your idea, ask the audience to tell, what interested them, and what did not like or did not cause emotions.Based on the collected information and analytics, try to create a trial version of the product and show it to the audience, having studied their moods and wishes. Find out if you see the problem in the same way as your customers.

In contact with

I wrote about where business ideas come from, successful and not so successful. Today I want to talk about the very first and main filter when selecting ideas - passing them through the prism of existing business models. There are a great many of them. Below you can find several definitions of this concept and a brief overview of the literature on this topic, and in the following publications we will try to analyze real examples.

Business model logically describes how an organization creates, delivers to customers, and acquires value—economic, social, and other forms of value.

• Alexander Osterwalder (@AlexOsterwalder) in his book Building Business Models defines them as follows:

A business model is a representation of how an organization makes (or intends to make) money. The business model describes the value that an organization offers to various customers, reflects the capabilities of the organization, the list of partners required to create, promote and deliver this value to customers, customer relationships and the capital necessary to generate sustainable revenue streams.

He identifies 9 main blocks with which you can analyze a wide variety of models.

But is it enough to decompose any business into these 9 blocks in order to understand it to the extent we need? We will look at this a little further. And now some more definitions.

• Adrian Slywotzky (@ASlywotzky) in The Profit Zone says:

The business model is how a company chooses a customer, formulates and differentiates its offerings, allocates resources, determines which tasks it can perform in-house and which it will need to attract external specialists, how it enters the market, creates value for the customer and profits from this.

In this book, he describes 23 profit-making models. If you are too lazy to read the whole book (although I still recommend reading it), you can look through my presentation: they are all summarized there.

• The MIT Institute has developed its own methodology (Business Models Archetypes), in which there are 2 dimensions. Basic concepts along the Y axis: Creator (Creator), Distributor (Distributor), Owner (Landlord) and Broker (Broker). The second dimension - along the X axis - what assets are involved in the business: physical, financial, intangible and human. There are 16 types of business models in total.

• Another definition was given by Henry Chesbrough (@openinnov8tor) in his book Open Business Models:

A company's business model is the way a company uses tocreating value and generating profits.

• Robert Hacker (@rhhfla) in his book Billion Dollar Company defines a business model as a set of 3 components:

By the way, I have not found more sensible and practical books and authors on this topic. I saw a lot of books on this topic on Amazon and even bought some of them, but, basically, they all turned out to be “water”. Has anyone else come across any interesting literature on this topic? If yes, please recommend.

In the next post, as I promised, we will analyze the Gilt Group model.

business model". If we move away from economic terminology and try the Business Model (BM) - this is the very essence of the business, the ideal system by which it should function. The BM can be described in words or expressed graphically, but most importantly, it should give the answer to the question: how do you make money?

The business model defines the startup's place in the value chain. A business model is a system consisting of business components such as entrepreneurship, strategy, economics, finance, operations, competitive strategies, marketing, and company development strategies. Based on this, you can determine the main points that need to be considered in the business model from the very beginning:

1. Product.
2. Consumers.
3. Marketing (sales channels).
4. Suppliers and production.
5. Market (type, volume).
6. Competitors.
7. Finance (structure of expenses and incomes).
8. Non-economic factors that may affect your business.

Business Models for Internet Startups

Currently, 99% of companies have their representation on the Internet in the form of a website or a page on a social network, regardless of the field of activity. This is primarily due to the fact that the way of thinking of an ordinary person has changed. Think about what you would do if you needed to learn more about a product or service that you saw or heard advertised for? What will you do if you need to find out where you can find the best deal on the price of a new smartphone? Where to watch a new movie with friends? The list of questions can be continued indefinitely, and the answer will be one - on the Internet.

The size of the e-commerce market is constantly growing (see figure 2.1).

In the field of Internet startups, there are now many areas that are in the zone of special attention of investors. Such directions form trends, here they are:

• cloud technologies;
• education;
• media and advertising;
• game industry;
• social media;
• electronic commerce;
• security;
• crowdsourcing;
• mobile applications;
• content creation (including user-generated content);
• startup financing;
• business software.

In all these areas, various projects can be implemented. There are a number of popular business models on the Internet, for example:

• intermediary;
• advertising;
• informational;
• trading;
• production;
• partnership;
• community;
• subscription;
• by consumption.

Consider the most popular of them.

Paywall business model

The paywall business model is popular in the b2b (business-to-business) segment, especially in the SaaS (software as a service) model - a business model for selling and using software, in which the supplier develops a web application and independently manages them, providing the customer with access to the software via the Internet. The main advantage of the SaaS model for the service consumer is the absence of costs associated with installing, updating and maintaining the equipment and software running on it. Users pay a monthly subscription fee for using the service. The advantage of this model is obvious (you don't sell everything at once), and in some ways it's easier than selling ads. In addition, there is a solvent audience in the b2b segment (this is a very important point, since paid access for b2c (business for individual buyers) is not very attractive to the audience, you can immediately recall such a model only for Linux Format and Popular Mechanics magazines).

Freemium model

Business model based on paid additional services. This business model is used by various sites, for example, when the user's profile is raised higher in the search results for SMS. Online games have recently also been working on this model. Access to the main service or content is provided completely free of charge, and they earn on various additional services, including selling virtual goods for real money that strengthen the position of the player. Figure 2.2 shows an example of a standard registration page for a Freemium site.

Rice. 2.2.

Business models based on paid placement

There are various websites dedicated to certain services. For example, catalogs of restaurants in a particular city. They are free for users. And they earn by receiving funds from restaurants that want to be in the catalog. Among the sites of such a plan, there are many travel portals with information from travel agencies and hotels. This model is also quite viable in the presence of a popular site.

Infomedia business model

Infomediary is about building a business based on providing data and web analytics, such as:

advertising model

There is a difference in the effectiveness of banner and contextual advertising. Until recently, big money could be attracted for placing banners. But even today, and some time ago, it is not so easy to earn a lot on such a model. Firstly, your resource must have a sufficiently large attendance - about several tens of thousands of visitors per day. Secondly, the theme is important. You need to clearly imagine the audience of the resource, contacts in advertising agencies or a good (experienced) sales manager who knows how to build business communications will not interfere.

Now let's look at the classification of business models. Probably the most comprehensive classification of e-commerce business models is "Business Models on the Web" by Professor Michael Rappa. The main categories of business models include:

1. Intermediary (Brokerage). Organizations receive a percentage or fee for transactions, most often in business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) segments. This includes not only all kinds of exchanges and resellers, but also payment systems that receive their percentage of transactions.
2. Advertising (Advertising). Revenue comes from displaying ads or user referrals to advertiser sites; the functionality of the site often serves to attract a mass audience or target advertising.
3. Informational (Infomediary). Income is obtained through the sale of information: audience data, meta-intermediaries between sellers and buyers, and others.
4. Trading (Merchant). Direct sale of goods and services.
5. Production (Manufacturer / Direct). Here, the manufacturer of the goods benefits not due to the Internet as such, but due to the reduction of the "distance" between him and the consumer of his products.
6. Affiliate (Affiliate). Again, a kind of advertising model, where income comes from the owners of partner sites in exchange for incoming buyers (visitors).
7. Community (Community). Here the name of the class of models characterizes not even the source of income (it can come from the sale of paid services, advertising or donations), but the environment where this income is generated.
8. Subscription. Revenue comes from users who subscribe to certain services.
9. By consumption (Utility). The "antipode" of the subscription model, where a certain service is also provided to the client, but the form of payment is based on the traffic consumed / information received or other quantitative indicator, but not on time (as is the case with the "classic" subscription).

These models can be implemented in various ways. In addition, a company may combine several different models in its overall strategy.