Electronic Commerce - Essay Example

Electronic Commerce Supervisor: School: Word Count: 2898 Electronic commerce, generally known as e-commerce, is a kind of business where the acquisition and selling of goods or services occurs over electronic schemas such as the Internet and other computer systems. Electronic trade draws on equipments such as mobile trade, electronic funds transition, provision chain management, Internet promotion, online business processing, electronic information interchange (EDI), stock management systems, and computerized statistics collection system. Contemporary electronic trade characteristically uses the World Wide Web at least at one spot in the transactions life-cycle, though it may include a wider array of expertise such as e-mail, mobile procedure, social medium, and phones as well. Electronic business is normally considered to be the transaction aspect of e-business. It can consist of the switch of information to facilitate the investing and payment aspects of industry dealings. This is an efficient and competent way of linking within an association and one of the most valuable and practical ways of carrying out business. Why ecommerce is appropriate Overcoming Geographical Limitations If you have a location store, you are restricted by the geographical area that you can serve. With an ecommerce site, the entire world is your playing field. Additionally, the arrival of mcommerce, i.e., ecommerce on cellular phone appliances, has disbanded every remaining restriction of geography. Gain New Customers with Search Engine Visibility Physical trade is driven by brand and associations. In accumulation to these two catalysts, online trade is also driven by passage from search mechanisms. It is not curious for customers to track a link in search mechanism results, and settle up on an electronic commerce site that they have not at all heard of. This additional supply of traffic can be the tip point for some ecommerce dealings. Background Information and Venture description In this venture we wish to set up an e Commerce website that will be involved in the selling of prank items such as stink bombs, whoopee cushions using tick tail platform. The rationale behind this ecommerce venture is as follows. Lower Costs One of the most concrete positives of ecommerce is the lower cost. A fraction of these lowered costs could spill on to customers in the type of discounted prices. Here are a few of the designs that costs can be abridged with ecommerce: Marketing and promotion Organic search mechanism traffic, ppc, and social media interchange are several of the promotion channels that can be money-spinning. Personnel the mechanization of checkout, scheduling, expenses, stock management, and other outfitted processes, lessens the figure of employees necessary to run an ecommerce system. Real Estate An ecommerce business does not need a famous physical locality. Locate the Product Quicker It is not about approaching a shopping cart to the proper aisle, or reconnaissance for the desired item for consumption. On an ecommerce site, customers can connect through instinctive routing or use an exploration box to instantaneously narrow down their item search. Some sites bear in mind customer predilections and shopping list to make easy repeat procurement. Eliminate Travel Time and Cost It is not strange for customers to journey long distances to arrive at their favored physical shop. Ecommerce permits them to stopover the same store practically, with a few clicks of the mouse. Provide Comparison Shopping Ecommerce facilitates relationship shopping. There are quite a few online services that permit customers to glance through various ecommerce traders and find the paramount prices. Who necessitate information transversely product lines? Ecommerce sites can make further data easily presented to customers. Most of this data is endowed with by vendors, and does not charge anything to build or sustain. That said there are as well some evils facing the ecommerce. The problems can be categorized into technological and non technological. These problems are especially relevant to our venture. There can be lack of scheme security, dependability or standards due to poor execution of e-Commerce. Software growth industry is still developing and keeps altering rapidly. In many nations, net bandwidth might affect an issue as present is unsatisfactory telecommunication bandwidth obtainable. Special kinds of web servers or different software may be required by the merchants setting the e-commerce surroundings apart from system servers. Initial cost: The outlay of creating E-Commerce relevance in-house may be especially high. There could be a holdup in launching the E-Commerce appliances due to errors, lack of understanding. User resistance: User may not rely on the site being unidentified faceless seller. Such mistrust creates difficulty to make user switch from location stores to online or virtual stores. The eRetail supply Chain is the best and most effective supply chain to use in this venture that we have undertaken. This is because it has integrated all the functions and processes that an e commerce business needs to utilize in order to stay competitive and on the go. Some of the incorporated aspects include product& stock management, updating of your e-orders, warehouse management and scanner Integration. Agile project management methodology integrates well with our venture. This is because all the various goods on sale can be integrated into one and deployed as prank items. Any problem that may arise from this methodology can be dealt with in the testing stage. The old and traditional way of project management namely the waterfall management methodology did not have the testing of integrated products since it mostly dealt with industrial goods. However, to fully understand the scope of the business we need to analyze it deeply. To do this we need the help of tools of analysis. In this report I choose to deploy the SWOT analysis. The rationale behind this adoption of the tool is that despite the business concept being fairly old the business itself is fairly young. I as the entrepreneur need to understand my business surroundings. That is my strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strength For ecommerce traders examples may be a larger variety of products and quicker or cheaper transport than other ecommerce traders. Do you make compare -shopping easy and fast? Do you propose other item options to your clientele? These are lively advantages. Ecommerce vendors profit from a structural improvement — you have lesser operational costs than a block and brick store. What makes your industry unique? Do you offer position goods not available somewhere else? Are they handmade or exceptional? Weaknesses Because of delivery times, there is no instant gratification with ecommerce. Heavy, colossal and fragile goods are costly to ship. Costs are always a bother. Security and scam concerns mean some populaces are still averse to use their cards online. Allowing consumers to recompense using PayPal can dull this anxiety. Show rooming has rather dulled the dilemma of consumer inability of client to touch the products with buyers looking at commodities in stores and then using their cellular phones to place intent to purchase with an online vendor, often whilst still in the physical store. Opportunities The questions you are supposed to be asking are “What new technology can help me nurture my business and accomplish a lead over my rivals?” and “Where are my rivals vulnerable?”Ecommerce alters every day. New technology and applications have assisted in leveling the playing field with time-honored retailers. For example, improvements to shopping lug software have shaped a faster, smoother, more consumer-friendly shopping occurrence. Live converse has improved ecommerce shopper service, dulling the conventional retailer benefit. Using big information analytics could be an occasion for Ecommerce Company to better appreciate client preferences. Social media websites present free or low-cost promotions. But it’s up to the online business to stay contemporary and take on new applications and features. Threats You ought to always be looking for extensive industry shifts that may affect your expansion. These include authorized and legal changes. For example, legislation presently before parliament may force all Internet traders to amass sales tax. Low hurdles to entry are a steady hazard in ecommerce. It’s simple to set up ecommerce dealing, even in the dining room. Groups can sell items via social media without putting up their own websites. Business System option employed To properly facilitate my business I have gone for the tic tail system for a number of reasons that I will try to explain in the preceding paragraphs. Firstly let me start with a brief description of what tic tail is. Tictail is a free to register e-commerce platform that permits individuals and vendors to set up their own practical store quickly. Initiated in 2012, in less than two years Tictail has over 35000 stores that have been created through them. Reasons for employing tic tail as my ecommerce platform Tic tail takes care of everything needed in my venture. This includes setting up my online presence and keeping track of my orders. Tic tail employs a friendly user interface that is devoid of unnecessary and complicated jargon that only serves to confuse the user. It is a platform that keeps on evolving and in the process so does my business. It has an innovative and smart feed system that keeps track of my business and constantly endows my business venture with useful tips. With a growing number of tic tail applications my store is spoilt for choice as I can pick from an array the apps that I feel will best suit my store. Great designers available to me from the conception stage that will help me put out both the stores personality and mine as well. Last but not least tic tail presence can be felt in over 150 countries. I would also in future think of transferring my online presence to Magento. This is because Magento has more subscribers as compared to Tic tail. Magento has also been in the market longer making it more trustworthy and more trusted amongst consumers online. Budgetary Allocations Pay per click PPC is an online promotion model used to stream traffic to websites, in which promoters pay the website owner if ad is clicked. With search mechanisms, advertisers normally bid on integral word phrases significant to their intention market. With this expense it is hard to put in the exact cost. However, the rest of the costs incurred are easily estimated. Hosting cost with hostgator would set me back a cool $47.95 per year. Domain name registration will cost me $18 annually. DPA registration will coat a further $53.96 throughout the year. For the first year I do not intend to employ anyone. Legal requirements For any business to take effect there are some legal aspects it has to take into considerations. The type of business venture also matters. It can take the form of a sole proprietor, partnership, and limited liability Company. As a startup I thought of going at it alone. Some of the legal obligations include: Legal requirements for a sole proprietor Business License Many business owners have to obtain a trade license before they can lawfully operate commerce, and this pertains to sole merchants. A sole merchant should first confirm with the clerk in his district to acquire data on any certificate required to maneuver the commerce in the area. He can gain the basic license relevance forms from the region clerk. Business Name Sole owners are under no responsibility to select a traffic name for their trade, when they get on setting up the venture. However, if the trade owner chooses to run the business under a fabricated or assumed trade name, she has to catalog that trade name with the registrar in her regional office. Payment of Taxes A sole merchant has to make sure his industry meets the county and federal taxation necessities. Due to the reality that legally, a sole dealer ship and a sole merchant are a single person, the sole trader bears the excise of the venture. This means the proceeds and liabilities gained in the dealings fall under the private income tax division and are stored under his IRS Form 1040, agenda C. As a lone proprietor, he can employ his Social safety number to account on taxes Self-Employment Tax A sole owner has the duty to pay self-employment excise, that is, Medicine care and Social safety taxes, since she is the holder of the commerce. The commerce owner has to give to the IRS the primary business code to categorize her commerce structure. When exposing her taxes the commerce owner only pays her tax once even though the amount of sole dealerships she owns. However, if the profits ensuing from her business are below $400, she is not accountable to pay the tax. Legal requirements for ecommerce Data Protection (a) You must catalog under the Data shield Act if you bring together any kind of data about people, these could be your clients, human resources or potential consumers. This data includes forenames, physical address, cellular phone numbers and emails. (b) You must address what you do and aim to do with your focus data and not turn aside from that testimonial. (c) The Act relates to any amount of business. (d) You must not sell overseas the individual data beyond the EC (European Community) without consent from the populace you are gathering data on. (e) You must make certain that all data is held firmly and must be exposed or removed upon demand from the subject matter of the data. (f) You must only evidence data which is relatable to your chief business needs. Consumer safety (Distance Selling) Regulations The Consumer safety (Distance Selling) system 2000 applies to several ecommerce sites. However, they are not valid for business-to-business dealings. (a) You must present clear data about your goods and services prior to purchase. (b) You ought to be clear about posting and wadding costs and also if VAT or any additional tax is incorporated in the price revealed on your site. (c) You ought to provide a printed authentication of order subsequent purchase, for instance a verification email. (d) You must permit a "cooling off" time where by the shopper can transform their mind and terminate or revisit the order inside 7 effective days for most products. Certain barring do relate with substances such as unpreserved and digital merchandise. (e) You must notify your clientele of their privilege to call off their order with no failure other than return posting and packaging. Ecommerce Directive (a) You must present the name of your venture, the company listing number (or owners name), physical address, contact data e.g., handset number and emails, VAT register number if business churns out a profit of $400 and above. (b) You may submit to trade or expert designs if applicable. (c) You must present clear data on price, tax and transportation cost to buyers. (d) You must evidently show your sites stipulations and Conditions. (e) You must recognize all instructions. Marketing Strategy In marketing the venture I have employed the ACCESS model to assist me. My Audience in this case would have to be teenagers aged above 16 years. This is because youthful people are at the vanguard of the technical revolution and the existence of self-supportive children in the family unit seems to raise the popularity of workstation and internet entrance at home. The share of daily PC and web users has augmented over the past five years in all age clusters, but the gap transversely generations has relatively been stable. In 2008, 70 % of those between the ages of 16–24 used a PC daily and 66 % were online every day or roughly every day, frequently from domicile and from the situation of learning. The concept is that teenagers are more likely to purchase prank items online as compared to any other demographic. I will test this statement in the coming paragraphs. Competition is also another aspect that I will take into consideration. It is not necessarily a bad thing. Competition will take part of my market share but it also gives me the opportunity to assess my strength and explore other dimensions of my business that I probably did not consider. Concept testing parameters Age group between 16-24 Online usage Frequency on social media Justification 1. Brand Recognition – One of the most authoritative ways to use social medium is as a brand-development tool. With social medium, you get to settle on how you want to place your corporation and what you want populace to be exposed to regarding your venture. 2. Community – There is nothing like community media when it comes to taming a community. When your clique becomes part of your society, you gain instantaneous admittance to them. That means you can uncover out what disputes they are in front of and a mild critique of your products. 3. Repeat Exposure – There is an old promotion adage that says it employs six to eight revelations to merchandise before a consumer decides to acquire. A clear advantage of social medium is repeat experience with your system 4. Authority – For tutors, mentors, authors, orators, and other service- found businesses, social medium can be very influential in serving you set up authority in your ground—making you the go-to supply for your objective audience to look for out for you. 5. Influence – As your following amplifies, your pressure grows. Having a considerable social media viewer creates a escalate effect that can draw new customers, medium interviews, joint scheme partnerships, and all sorts of other chances. References Robert, T. (2012). Ecommerce: Formulation and strategy. New York: Prentice Hall. Fatemah, Z. (2007). Intelligent systems for Business: Expert Systems with ecommerce Networks. Michigan: Young and Sons Joarder, K. (2006). Ecommerce in Finance and Manufacturing, New York: Raul And Zonda Kate, A. (2002). Ecommerce in Business: Techniques and Applications. Calcutta: Gupta Idea Group Inc. Ming, Z. (2009). Artificial Higher Order ecommerce for Economics and Business, Cincinnati: IGI Global Snippet. Peter, G. (2004). Ecommerce Networks in Business Forecasting, Seattle: Illustrated Publishers Group zLon Safko, and David Brake. (2012). The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and strategies for Business Success. New York: John Wiley and Sons Read More