Creative Designs E-commerce Company Analysis - Essay Example

?Introduction and Business Background E-commerce is one of the mediums to increase the sale of the products globally and an advertisement is one of the critical factors involved in the success of any product. The vital aspect of the advertisement is the creativity in a way to encourage and compel the viewers, listeners and / or readers (audience) for buying the product. Keeping in view the importance of the eCommerce for increasing the sale of the products worldwide, I have decided to build a company name ‘Creative Designs’ which would provide eCommerce solutions and facilitate its customer by providing advertisement / marketing packages of the developed eCommerce website over the internet. Initially, this document provides a brief description of the business goals of the Creative Designs along with the functions and facilities which would be provided by the website of the Creative eCommerce. The document presents an analysis of the competitors of the Creative Designs, determines the targeted audience of the Creative Design’s website, the facilities to be provided to the customer / user of the website, a competitor analysis and website prototype. Business Goals and Website Goals The goal of the Creative Designs is to become one of the leading companies for the development of eCommerce solutions and advertisement products. The company would use several mediums to market the product includes but are not limited to the development of the website, marketing through social networks (either online or magazines), television, radio, newspaper, articles, email marketing, short message services and multimedia distribution methods (CD-ROM, DVD, mobile phone applications) (Andromida, 2013). There are several goals of the website of the Creative Designs and some of them are listed below (Davlin, n.d): Get a diverse audience excited about eCommerce Solutions Educating the audience about Creative Design services Development of a sophisticated website having a web-savvy look Increased usability of the website Easy to maintain website Incorporate multimedia – Flash for the menus and video for advertisement Development of a site referral program Analysis of Competitor Website There are several eCommerce solution providers in all over the world and some of the known eCommerce solution providers include: the Avangate – eCommerce Solution Providers, Gravite-e – eCommerce, Ingenuity, etc. These companies provide website applications along with eCommerce solutions. But it is pertinent to mention here that these companies only provide eCommerce solution, however, the Creative Design has planned to give not only the eCommerce solution but also the search engine optimized web application and also advertise the website to make it available at the top when searched through the searching engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. Hence, the Creative Design can earn more revenue as compared to its competitors (Avangate, 2013; Gravit-e, 2013). Targeted Audience and Use Environment The targeted audience of the website includes the companies having small and medium businesses and interested to make their presence over the internet to sell their products online in all or some parts of the world. There are three types of software would be utilized to develop the website of the Creative Design include: the application software, system software and utility software. The Microsoft Windows 7 is one of the system software would be utilized in the project. Moreover, the project would utilize the utility software includes: the Symantec Server along with endpoint protection and Resident Shield. The application software would be used for planning the project and developing the website for advertising the project include: the Adobe Dreamweaver, Java Applets, PHP, JavaScript, Macromedia Flash, Microsoft Project, Notepad and the Microsoft Office (Calhoun, 2003). User Tasks The users of the Creative Design website would be facilitated to register themselves with the company by providing their relevant information. After creation of the account the users can order the eCommerce solution by providing their high level requirements. Once the user requirements received by the Creative Design would contact the customer with their requirements analysis and proposed solution. If the proposal accepted by the user, the Creative Design would start work to develop their website application while maintaining close coordination with the user. Initially, the prototype would be developed by the Creative Design for having approval to proceed further with the prototype. The Creative Design would try their level best to complete and provide the agreed solution within specified time, cost and as per the user’s requirements. Page Contents and Tools The contents of the website would include the profile of the company (Creative Design), the information of the clients, the services and products being provided by the company. The user would be allowed to create user accounts to get the services and products of the company. Moreover, it is worthwhile to inform the customer regarding the history of the company by publishing on the website. The tools required for providing the services to the customer through the website have been discussed earlier in the document. Storyboard The following set of diagrams shows the sequence of steps and their responses when a user uses the website. The following diagram shows the scenario when the user enters wrong information. After entering the correct data the user of the website will be happy, as shown in the following diagram. Page Templates Process Analysis In order to complete the process of taking orders and delivering the solution, the Creative Design would require diverse human resources. These professionals include: the Customer Relationship Officer for interacting with the customers, the web designers and developers for updating the both web contents (static and dynamic) and maintaining the website. The customers would be contacted and acknowledged using the platform of the website. The website would be updated on a daily basis so that the customer would always be provided updated information. Marketing Techniques It is pertinent to consider and evaluate the pros and cons of the marketing medium to take informed decision for selecting the marketing medium. The advantages of the marketing through social media networks (magazines) include: easy accomplishment of the targeted audience, high quality of production and focused editorial facilities, whereas, the disadvantages include: broad or global market reach is difficult as well as costs more, the targeted audience (small and medium businesses) is difficult to reach, and the market penetration is decreasing day by day. The benefits of the marketing through internet (website) include: getting feedback from the customers, availability of the website any time (24 / 7) and anywhere (just need internet connection), online transaction facilities and reduction of marketing costs with the passage of time. There are drawbacks of the internet marketing that include: difficult to reach target audiences as millions of websites available, security and privacy concerns (Outdoor Advertising Association of America, 2013). Keeping in view the incredible growth of the internet as well as the analysis and evaluation of the marketing mediums, the promotion of the Creative Design would be done through a website and advertise over the internet. References Andromida. (2013). Marketing Mediums – Advertising Mediums for Business and Product Promotions. Retrieved from: http://andromida.hubpages.com/hub/marketing-medium-different-types-of-marketing-advertising-mediums Avangate. (2013). Avangate – eCommerce Solution Provider. Retrieved from: http://www.avangate.com/company/about/ Calhoun, B., D. (2003). Best Practices: Designing and Developing Web-Based Trainings with Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver and ColdFusion. Retrieved from: http://www.designbydi.com/documents/BestPracticesFinal.pdf Davlin, A. (n.d). 10 Essential Things Your E-Commerce Site Should Have. Retrieved from: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/essential-things-ecommerce-site-should-have/ Gravit-e. (2013). Gravit-e eCommerce. Retrieved from: http://www.gravit-e.co.uk/ Outdoor Advertising Association of America. (2013). Media Comparison. Retrieved from: https://www.oaaa.org/OutofHomeAdvertising/MediaComparison.aspx Read More