From Blogspot to Dot Com

Many blogshops have gone from using blog platforms to purpose-built e-commerce websites.

A blogshop is essentially an online shop that is built from a free blogging software like Blogspot and Word Press (the two most popular blog platforms used for blogshops).

There are various indicators of this classic blogshop format- the layout, the navigation, the chronologically-reverse posting arrangements, comment boxes, and the '.blogspot/wordpress' in the URL.

It is reasonable to guess that owners convert their blogshops into 'dot com' websites to take their business to the next level, as a proper website can better facilitate e-commerce operations. 

Where a blog software is free, a dot com site requires some expenditure to maintain the online presence, like hosting fees, Web design, etc. 

It seems to me that the essential questions to investigate here are:

1. the motivations to go from blogshops to dotcoms (including the features, facilities and capabilities that a website can offer over a free blogging platform)
3. whether the blogshop model is an entry-level phase for micro-business owners (the scope and size of business this model can support- for example size of customer base/turnovers, product range/inventory, geographic scope of operations, etc)
4. whether a conversion signals a move to grow the business (the neccessity to automate the business to handle larger scale operations)
5. whether it is possible for a blogshop model to sustained (without conversion to a dot com)

Here are blogshops that have converted to dot coms:

Loving Avenue: the blogshop
Loving Aveue: the dot com

Research Questions

The initial research questions are as follows:

1. Are blogshops a type of emerging eBusiness model?
2. Are blogshops a viable and sustainable e-commerce platform?
3. Why do people use blogs to buy and sell?
4. How do these blogshops overcome major issues and challenges in running online businesses like logistics and trust issues?
5. How is social media used to support blogshop businesses?

These are broad questions to be answered.  There will inevitably be other questions that will emerge later, probably at the conclusion of the literature review stage, and these will be added.