E-Business Report: Suicide Girls

Authors Avatar

E-Business Report                                                        December 3rd 2004

Suicide Girls ()

E-Business Report: Suicide Girls ()

Lloyd Burgess, Bosco Lee, David Raine, James Round

December 3rd, 2004


Table of Contents:

1.1 - Introduction to Suicide Girls………………………………………… 3

1.2 - Business Web…………………………………………………………4

1.3 - Classification and Justification of Suicidegirls.com as an Alliance….5

1.4 - Suicidegirls.com as a Virtual Community……………………………5

1.5 - Adding Value in a Virtual Community……………………………….6

2.1 - Industry Analysis……………………………………………………..7

2.2 - Competitor Analysis………………………………………………….8

2.3 - Threats………………………………………………………………..9

3.1 - The Customer Perspective…………………………………………..10

4.1 - Recommendations for the Future……………………………………12

5.1 - Bibliography…………………………………………………………14


1.1 - Introduction to Suicide Girls:

Suicide Girls is a brand that was founded in 2001, beginning as a web art project by its founders, Missy and Sean Suicide (pseudonyms). It has since blossomed in popularity, offering a range of services including photos of non mainstream girls, online dating, interviews with celebrities, online chat forums, discussion boards and merchandise. While the brand has since expanded into many non-internet mediums, the website itself is still the primary focus of the site’s founders, and as such, will be the focus of this report.

The website’s primary income source is derived from membership ($9 / month) and supplemented by sales of merchandise and a limited number of banner ads on the website. The key value is the photos and videos of non – mainstream girls, although only 20% of traffic is for the girls (Kelly, 2004). The website’s success has been based on additional value sources such as online forums, dating services, interviews and blogging. These factors have contributed to the development of a thriving e- community that has attracted a cult following including Courtney Love and the Foo Fighters.

Some key demographic information:

  • Approximately 500,000 visitors a week
  • 95% of visitors from within the 18-26 age range
  • More than half of site members are female

(Kelly, 2004)

1.2 - Business Web:

The business web concept is a recent development in academic theory and is born from the rapid expansion of e-business, which is driven primarily by rapid technological development in the computing industry since the late 1980s. According to Tapscott et al (2000) a business web is an electronic system that facilitates e-business. It is useful to link suicidegirls.com to academic theory in order to fully comprehend the business model. Figure 1 shows the different types of business webs, while Figure 2 shows how to categorize suicidegirls.com.

FIGURE 1 – B-web Innovation (Tapscott et al, 2000)

FIGURE 2 - Business Web Definitions (Nandhakumar, 2004)

1.3 - Classification and Justification of Suicidegirls.com as an Alliance:

In practice Suicidegirls.com is classified as an alliance. Indeed practice and theory match neatly since the key value proposition of an alliance is “…creative collaboration in aid of shared goals across a community of contributors” (Nandhakumar, 2004). Suicidegirls.com is a dynamic and creative “place” whereby members can network and share ideas along common interest themes. Suicidegirls.com is classified as an alliance since it is self-organising, where members are encouraged to freely contribute to the content. As a result value integration is high since members share common interests. Any new postings will appeal to and aid the development of a closely knit virtual community.

Join now!

1.4 - Suicidegirls.com as a Virtual Community:

Suicidegirls.com can be defined as a “virtual community”. An understanding of Chaffey’s theory on virtual communities justifies the above classification since Suicidegirls.com:

  • Focuses on providing members access to photos of girls that are not mainstream models and thus appeal to member’s needs.
  • Offers online forums so members can communicate virtually.
  • Allows members to add content to the site in the form of discussion topics and postings.
  • Provides a diverse range of resources to members

1.5 - Adding Value ...

This is a preview of the whole essay