Conceptualization of a Digital Platform: Market or Business?

The reported study was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Project No. 19010-00352: Scenarios of Overcoming the Consumer Digitalization Resistance on the Digital Platforms Market. In the article, digital platforms are described as a new market mechanism (multi-sided markets). Digital platforms are defined in terms of technical, sociotechnical and economic organizational approaches. They are distinguished from nondigital platforms. The different terms for the phenomenon is analyzed (“two-sided platforms”, “two-sided strategies”). The condition for the functioning of the digital platform as an organizational mechanism is described, namely, as a combination of components: direct interaction between the sides, network effects, the presence of a mediator, specific investments of the sides on the platform. It is revealed that the platform internalizes indirect network effects, but for end users they remain external. The platforms are analyzed as transactional and non-transactional markets with external effects of membership and external effects of use. It is postulated that there is a need to determine the borders of the digital platform, to distinguish it from other socioeconomic relations. The difficulty of separating the horizontal and vertical borders of the platform is shown. The difference is described between the phenomenon and related concepts: intermediary markets, a market for complementary goods, a middleman, a product platform, digital infrastructures. The existing functional classifications of platforms are analyzed; a new classification is proposed and substantiated to reflect the specificity of B2C relationships on similar value chains, as well as the characteristics of resistance to digitalization on the digital platform markets. Business schemes in platform ecosystems are studied, and the reasons for the complexity of their description and classification at the moment are shown. The classification of business schemes based on pricing forms is given. The principle of non-neutrality of the price structure as an essential feature of all business schemes of digital platforms is derived through the level and structure of price. Freemium price strategy on the digital platform market is justified. It is shown that price discrimination of the sides is unavoidable, including under the influence of antitrust authorities, since the parties differ in their elasticity of demand for network effects and are more interested in having network effects than in obtaining a total market surplus. The features of pricing mechanisms for transactional and non-transactional digital platforms are determined. Business schemes and features of value chains are described on the suggested classification of digital platforms. The services underlying the value chains on digital platforms are classified, and their mutual significance is highlighted. The conclusion about the possibilities and threats of digital platforms as a new driver of economic development is made.

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