Starting a Business Online, Part 1 - Assignment Example

It is composed of data exchange in order to facilitate the payment and financing aspects of business transactions (Robinson, 2010). My local clothing store will obviously fetch me advantages when I turn it into an e-commerce. However, am likely to experience some limitations as well. The invention of powerful online tools and fast and quick internet connectivity has brought about new arena of commerce. This is what my clothing line is turning to when I take it online. From a SWOT analysis I carried out, I will gain various advantages including: Easy to begin and manage the business Easy access of the products as well as faster selling and buying procedures Selling and buying is done twenty four hours No costs of company set ups are incurred Better quality products and services as well as low costs of operation There are no geographical limitations Product or service selection is easily done without physically moving around to providers The visibility of search engine makes it easy to get more customers Cost effective marketing and advertising through social media Virtual store visits by customers eliminating travel cost and time Facilitates comparable shopping by customers Provide for coupons, bargains, deals and group buying Provision for abundant product and service information Targeted communication is created between stores and customers enhancing customer service Niche products can easily be located by the customers Economical in terms of infrastructure and insurance investment Creation of knowledge markets (Olsen, 2010).

On the other hand, I am likely to experience specific limitations associated with e-commerce. As a clothing line, I suspect the following disadvantages: Customers have had bad experience with fraudulent site and may not be willing to buy products online. Customers fear lack of guarantee of the quality of the products E-commerce is prone to attack by hackers There may be poor customer loyalty due to minimum company to customer direct interaction Total business processes may be negatively affected by mechanical failures Lack of personal touch with customers and other businesses Delays in products delivery to customers and may result into customers demoralization Customers do not get to experience goods before delivery after purchase Financial security concerns are likely to be experienced by customers paying via credit cards Computer viruses may cause delays, storage problems, and file backups leading to customer inconveniences Stiff competition with the large scale businesses that have brand loyalty may lead to constant losses There may be need for electronic malls as intermediaries to guarantee the legitimacy of transactions since the business will be new online.

Poor customer relations leading to poor customer loyalty Corporate vulnerability due to the availability of details and catalogs as well as information regarding the business to the competitors (Olsen, 2010) Electronic commerce faces various issues as it is considered an international commerce regardless of size. Issues to do with trust, language, culture, infrastructure, and government are likely to be faced by my clothing line. I will build trust with my customers through offering quality products to them and discounts on sale.

I will also provide genuine websites with http to assure trustworthiness.