Successful strategy of E-commerce is an important research topic in the passed decades. Understanding the relationship between order of entry and competitive advantage is the main purpose of this research. In this research, it collected a lot of survey reports, press releases, financial information and market research data from well-known online research companies, consultant companies and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This research focus on three kinds of internet business models such as search engine service, online shop and e-auction. After analyzing the data, the market pioneers have better performance in present than the market followers. It can conclude that there is relative pioneer advantage in the Internet business. However the entry of order has different influence on different business models. For search engine service and e-auction, they have the advantage of taking first. But there is no apparent preponderating first in the on-line shop. The types of online shop and product characteristics also affect the performance under different entry of order. Keywords¡GPioneer Advantage¡Bonline shop¡BSearch engine¡Be-auction¡B E-commerce¡Be-business¡Be-business model

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate which product attributes lead consumers to prefer startups’ products over established companies’ products in the specialty product category. The research object is the electric vehicle market in Germany and the product attributes that are researched are alignable attributes, non-alignable attributes and the price. Design/Methodology/Approach – Quantitative data was collected via an internet questionnaire by means of the non-probability sampling techniques convenience and snowball sampling. The data of 408 members of the German Generation Y (age 17 – 38) was used to test six hypotheses by applying ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis. Findings – It was found that established companies possess a pioneer advantage in comparison to startups for the specialty product ‘electric vehicle’. This advantage can be overcome when startups differentiate their electric vehicles by implementing superior alignable attributes, a valuable non-alignable attribute or a lower price. Superior alignable attributes had the strongest positive influence on consumers’ preferences towards the startup’s electric vehicle, followed by the lower price and a valuable non-alignable attribute. Limitations/Implications – This study is limited to investigating consumers’ preferences without focusing on the reasons behind the preferences. Further, the category of specialty products is represented by only one example, namely the electric vehicle industry. Practical Implications – Startups can benefit from the results by adopting differentiation strategies that were found to be successful in overcoming pioneer advantage. Originality/Value – This study contributes to pioneer advantage literature by researching how startups can successfully overcome pioneer advantage in the specialty product category.