Online Start-Up Plan - Essay Example

?Running Head: Online Start-up Plan Online Start-up Plan [Institute’s Online Start-up Plan Introduction to the Business Idea ABC Company provides appealing commodities selections on bargain prices. The company will offer the public an exceptional and inventive shop that will cater to the requirements of individuals on fixed incomes, for instance, low-income family units, the elderly, and the huge student in the region. Mission ABC Company’s mission is to offer specialized customer communication products via mail. Products offered by the company are either not accessible on the retail level, or are very costly if acquired from regular shops. The ABC Company offers a range of remarkable commodities alternatives on bargain prices. Committed to customer service, the ABC Company will offer its clients the type of service that is courteous as well as punctual. Employees of the company will as well be treated in a proficient behaviour with a satisfying working atmosphere along with fair compensation. The ABC Company wants every customer to feel as though he or she has gotten a first class service at a bargain price. Objectives 1. To offer a extensive variety of commodities at affordable prices 2. To attain a good profit margin during the first year 3. To attain a modest net profit by the end of second year 4. To be a dynamic as well as vocal member of the society, and offer constant re-investment by means of contribution in community actions as well as monetary involvements Keys to Success In order to achieve something and to attract more customers in this business the ABC Company must: 1. Sell an extensive collection of products 2. Offer products and service in a manner that give 100% satisfaction to the customers 3. Be an dynamic part of the society 4. Promote input from customers The E-Business Model The business model used by the company is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing (Lindahl & Rozek, p. 76, 2010) has been a very successful business model and there are many reasons for this. One does not have to have the personal product; there are little funds needed for getting started, and the vendor takes care of all the issues. Another positive part of affiliate marketing is that there are a lot of products and services you can pick from market. For any interest, passion, or area in which someone has knowledge, there are products and services he can advertise, which makes it more appealing (Lindahl & Rozek, p. 109, 2010). The first step company should take is to choose a suitable niche. By choosing a niche, it will be much convenient to write articles, web pages, blog posts, as well as other content essential to endorse the product. Therefore, in general it makes a great internet business model. The difficulty is that, like some other online business, it does need a large amount of time as well as dedication to make a start. However, once up and running the attempt is worth it. Nonetheless, as with any business, there is no such option of ‘getting rich quickly’. You are required to put in the time as well as effort in order to start getting benefits (Lindahl & Rozek, p. 76, 2010). Operational Issues Two significant chores facing risk managers are decisions regarding the assessment of loss and risk financing. In the quantification of risk or financial impact, sophisticated risk models can support if the correct efforts, as well as indicators are provided. Loss as well as denial of service will call for a business impact analysis in addition to the development of a network stability plan to correctly measure the potential for financial loss and lessen the severity of such a loss. Other risks will need significant evaluation if public records associated to cybercrime and cyber attacks has been mainly subjective or based on unknown surveys. In addition, estimations of possible losses associated to Internet-based technologies must take into consideration the developing and indecisive universal legal and regulatory setting. Risk evaluations based only on direct revenues from e-commerce actions will not give an appropriate amount of the impact of loss, damage, variation or disclosure of sensitive or strategic information regarding the venture or its clientele (Lindahl & Rozek, p. 20, 2010). PPC and E-Marketing PPC advertising (Lindahl & Rozek, p. 20, 2010) has been among the most successful online marketing instruments utilized for web-based businesses. It is essentially a way of promoting businesses where the business vendor need to give the host web site or search engines for every click made on their particular advertising. Two concepts are applied most often for computation of PPC advertisement expenditure - flat rate and bid-based. Flat-rate Pay per Click As the name implies, this method involves certain flat price at which host as well as advertiser give consent for the payment of a particular PPC promotional campaign. CPC (cost per click) is usually traced with the assistance of rate cards, which trace clicks in various parts of host website (Lindahl & Rozek, p. 52, 2010). Bid Pay per Click This method is believed to be more reasonably priced PPC technique where the company have the chance to bid on the keywords relating to a particular prospective clientele. Grabbing advertisement space is not that simple though, for the reason that company is in competition with a host of other bidders, although still there are likelihood of winning reasonable PPC promotional rates making it feasible for online businesses (Edwards, p. 101, 2010). Online Productivity Tools For Project Management Online project management is an immense way to stay prepared and an even better approach to present a prevailing collaboration instrument to the customers, retailers and teams. ‘Basecamp’ is the tool that company will use for project management. It provides everything business needs to store messages, correspondence, share files and gather input from customers. It is like having a customer portal instantaneously formed with each new customer. CRM tool CRM stands for customer relationship management; however, for the small business the software and services in this group are actually about tracking sales prospects and search for methods to transfer additional sales and do additional business with current customers. For this, the company will use ‘ACT 2006’. This program, once set-up and understood, will let the company to computerize a lot of the marketing contact activity and ensure that each prospect gets intended attention. There is a group of ACT professionals out there that can assist the company to modify the program according to its requirements (Silver, p. 20, 2007). For File Sending Sending large files can be complicated or even not possible via email channels. The company will use the service known as ‘DropSend’ to upload big files. The service then informs the receiver that they have a file to download. E-Commerce Requirements Complete account of Products The significance of completely describing the product that company is selling cannot be overstated. Different clients are expecting different attributes in a product and are assessing the quality of a service based on standards that business might not even think about. ABC Company will provide as much information as feasible, even if it seems superfluous or pointless (Lindahl & Rozek, p. 96, 2010). Telephone Number and Email Address ABC Company will always make its customer service's phone number accessible to its clientele. Email communication may very well be adequate for a lot of clients but not having a phone number to call is a top reason for customer disappointment and charge backs. Clients usually require instant attention and, if not given, are expected to file a dispute. Product Delivery Strategy This strategy of ABC Company is clearly stated on its web site. It includes the delivery time frame and any constraints that company might have on delivering the products. Use of Social Media Since the mainstream of people uses social media these days, the anticipation is that the customer can go online and find all the queries answered and problems addressed. This part of social media is an extremely testing and the company has to be very cautious to balance the online and offline presence. Due to the visibility online, there is an inclination to give online customer service precedence over offline. This generates the threat of creating the image of just being cooperative if the activities are exposed. One approach to avoid this is to post a phone number online on which clients can call, instead of assisting customers online. How long these policies will carry on to work is not certain. However, for the moment, it is almost certainly the company’s best bet. Measuring Success Generating traffic that increases page views is the most accepted online business success measures. While site traffic remains a significant measure to be dealing with, traffic on its own does not give a clear picture of benefits the company offers. What the business measure is evident by the business’s objectives. The majority of online businesses, including ABC Company, have quite a lot of jobs, such as distributing product information, dealing with technical support, and selling products and services. The ABC Company will establish its main objectives and then form metrics that allow it to measure the performance. Summary ABC Company anticipates sales to rise gradually as customers discover that they can buy a range of quality items on bargain prices. The company plans to tap into the retail market with rates that will promote quantity purchasing, and the pricing will draw customers on fixed budgets. The target market is the lower income segment of the community. This incorporates working class people, the old citizens, and students, a lot of of whom are price conscious and searching to discover a value for their dollar. ABC Company focuses on the price conscious customer who is searching for value as well as quality. If the company can draw as well as retain these customers the word will go on to spread regarding what this store has to offer (Walsh, p. 66, 2009). Consumers want quality customer service, reasonable pricing, along with a convenient locality. Competition is extremely tough with customer service and location key factors. The collection of commodities a shop offers is very essential as well (Lindahl & Rozek, p. 121, 2010). In conclusion, the paper has discussed some of the important aspects of online start-up plan. It is an expectation that the paper will be beneficial for students, teachers, and professionals in better understanding of the topic. References Edwards, E. 2010. Startup: The Complete Handbook for Launching a Company for Less. Essential Books. Lindahl, D. and Rozek, J. 2010. The Six-Figure Second Income: How to Start and Grow a Successful Online Business without Quitting Your Day Job. Wiley. Silver, D. 2007. Smart Start-Ups: How Entrepreneurs and Corporations Can Profit by Starting Online Communities. Wiley. Walsh, R. 2009. The Web Startup Success Guide. Apress. Read More