Eight Features of E-Commerce of Quill.com - Case Study Example

Assignment E-Commerce Paper: Number: Executive Summary The current business can be dubbed as the age of information technology and application of e-commerce in business has become one of the most common practices. Companies around the world have either implemented it or is in the process of implementation. Staples Inc. not being an exception has implemented e-commerce into their ssystem of operations. Quill is a subsidiary of Staples Inc, which has already entered into e-commerce business in 2001 by way of providing office items to customers. However, Quill under the governance of Staples Inc has established a new online shop on 2nd May, 2014. The study revealed that the new e-commerce platform of Quill sells technologies and services required for establishing a new website independently. The major eight factors are ubiquity, universal standards, global reach, richness, information, density, interactivity, personalization and social technology. Considering the ethical aspects and other customer requirements it is strongly recommended that Quill.com should develop the platform in different language to cater to a mass segment. Table of Contents Staples Inc 4 Quill.com 4 Products or services 4 Assessment of eight features of E-commerce of Quill.com 5 Ethical issues arising from the business 6 Recommendations for improvement of E-commerce 7 Works Cited 8 Name of student: Name of professor: Course Number: Date of Paper: E-Commerce Staples Inc Staples Inc. is regarded as one of the largest office items providers, which owns about 2000 stores in more than 25 world countries (“About us”). It is engaged in selling machines, furniture and other supplies for offices. In 1998, the company acquired Quill Corporation for expanding business. Quill Corporation sells products including office machines and furniture, along with school items. In 2001, Staples decided to integrate its website with that of the subsidiaries, which is how Quill.com had come into existence (“About us”). Quill.com Quill is a subsidiary of Staples Inc, which has already entered into e-commerce business in 2001 by way of providing office items to customers. However, Quill under the governance of Staples Inc has established a new online shop on 2nd May, 2014 (“Quill.com opens an e-commerce technology shop”). Being unsatisfied with the limited sells of office supplies, Quill.com serves all requirements of small sized businesses while operating e-commerce sites through the new online shop. The company has engaged its customers through digital marketing (“Quill.com opens an e-commerce technology shop”). Products or services Quill.com has an established e-commerce business, where it sells office requirements like, furniture, machines and essential items, which are required in schools and colleges (“Quill.com opens an e-commerce technology shop”). The company has recently introduced an online shopping experience for customers, where it aims at providing technologies and services required by the individuals for structuring an e-commerce site as well as essentials that are necessary for running a digital marketing platform. The services that are provided by Quill.com on this new platform are very beneficial as they take into account needs of those customers, who want to open a website or online platforms. For this purpose, they require web designs, processes catering to e-mail marketing and use of social media to boost up business. Hence, in order to fulfill consumers’ needs, Quill.com has opened the new online platform that supports web solutions, web designs and use of social media (“Quill.com opens an e-commerce technology shop”). The new e-commerce platform takes the customers to separate sites that are co-branded by Quill, where they find details of desired services and technologies, along with their prices. After the customers have gone through the sites, they can select any of the web designs or social media required for establishing their websites. The online purchase of these designs helps customers to create their own website at a lesser period of time. However, cost of the whole process depends on number of web pages and that of social networking sites used by the customers (“Quill.com opens an e-commerce technology shop”). Assessment of eight features of E-commerce of Quill.com The new e-commerce platform of Quill sells technologies and services required for establishing a new website independently. The new e-commerce platform is assessed with the help of eight features so as to realize whether it is efficient for attaining success in long run. The eight features are described below along with their assessment with respect to new e-commerce platform of Quill. 1) Ubiquity: The e-commerce platform provided by Quill can be accessed from anywhere such as, home and work and even via mobile devices. The market places for the services are extended outside conventional boundaries. The platform has also reduced shopping cost of the customers. For establishing a website, a lump sum amount is required, which is paid to the website developer. In this case, the web designs and hosting costs are within the customers’ budgets, who are fully convinced with the services that they receive at that price (“Quill.com opens an e-commerce technology shop”). 2) Universal standards: The standards that are shared by all nations are known as universal standards. The e-commerce site of Quill is shared by every nation in the world and thus, has the advantage of entering bigger market at lower cost. The e-commerce platform has reduced the cost of product search for customers and has created a one world market, where customers can satisfy all essential requirements for constructing a website at a reasonable price. The time taken for constructing the websites is also lesser than taken by the website developers. The suppliers of the services are easily identified. 3) Global Reach: The services provided by the new e-commerce platform have reached beyond domestic boundaries of the United States. This has enabled a cross-cultural relationship between different parts of the world. The e-commerce platform aims at including huge number of customers for spreading its business potentially worldwide (“Quill.com opens an e-commerce technology shop”). 4) Richness: The information regarding the website development and web designs are delivered at all corners of the world, thereby implying the extensive reach. The new e-commerce platform of Quill helps in eliminating the trade-off between reach and richness. The platform supports in delivering right messages to customers for effective marketing (“Quill.com Introduces Purchasing Manager; New Feature Centralizes Control of Supply Buying for Multi-Site Businesses”). 5) Information Density: The platforms introduced by Quill helps in reducing cost for information collection as well as enhance quality of information by providing the latest web designs to customers. The platform has the option of targeting a range of customers with discriminated prices. The prices depend on affordability of the customers and also on services that they seek. 6) Interactivity: The platform provides good communication between the service providers of Quill and customers, thereby enabling perfect trade. 7) Personalization: The new platform provides different marketing messages to specific group of individuals. This service depends on interests of the customers and future prospects of the platform pertaining to repeat purchase. These customers desire for customized services that are solely dependent on individual characteristics (“Quill.com: Personal space”). 8) Social Technology: The newly launched e-commerce platform has generated latest content and social networking technologies, which is useful for customers during information sharing. As a result, Quill has tied up with social networking sites so as to provide customers with the best experience related to content sharing. The information can be shared with simply one click (“Quill turns to its B2B customers for new ideas”). Ethical issues arising from the business One of the ethical issues that can arise for the new platform is the fact that it does not support information in multiple languages. So, the individuals who are not acquainted with English cannot access the online platform, which in turn limits the target market. The website can get corrupted in case of any virus attack. These may ruin the whole structure of online platform and disturb the business until it is repaired. It is also possible that the customers who have already used the platform may encounter issues due to the sudden attack. Recommendations for improvement of E-commerce It is recommended that Quill.com should develop the platform in different languages. The platform should at least support major world languages so as to capture maximum amount of the world trade. The multi-lingual facility of the platform will allow customers to access necessary information as well as obtain the needed service. Apart from that, the platform should also build a strong security system, which will protect the site from any attack and secure services provided to the customers. Works Cited “About us.” Staples. Staples Inc., 2014. Web. 25 June 2014. “Quill turns to its B2B customers for new ideas.” Internet Retailer. Vertical Web Media, 2014. Web. 25 June 2014. “Quill.com Introduces Purchasing Manager; New Feature Centralizes Control of Supply Buying for Multi-Site Businesses.” Staples. Staples Inc., 2014. Web. 25 June 2014. “Quill.com opens an e-commerce technology shop.” Internet Retailer. Vertical Web Media, 2014. Web. 25 June 2014. “Quill.com: Personal space.” Internet Retailer. Vertical Web Media, 2014. Web. 25 June 2014. Read More