Analyzing the TBA Market: Changes Made and Changes Needed

Over the past few decades, information communication technology (ICT) and Internet interaction has developed drastically, causing more companies to join the phenomenon of Bricks and Mortar business model. Furthermore, as the trend persists, new business models have appeared: social networking sites, those who support online interaction and communication among the peers (such as Facebook and Twitter), email services and behavioral advertisement, electronic commerce for more convenient shopping experience, and information mediation online corporations, those who reduce individual search cost (such as online travel agency, OTA). Here, many times these corporations are not transparent in information and terms of use. If users do not agree to sometimes unfair statements, users are not permitted to use the service, which does not leave many choices for the users. This is much like the act of monopoly only except that it is overruling information instead of price. In order to combat this, we recall our traditional business model: competition brings about equilibrium in the market. In this research, we are going to investigate the fair terms of use and information transparency of online websites.