The Impact of Web Analytics on E-Commerce on Management, Technology, and Organizational - Case Study Example

Name: Tutor: Title: The impact of Web Analytics on E-Commerce on Management, Technology, and Organizational Course: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Executive summary 2 Introduction 3 Recommendation 13 Executive summary Web analytics is an important business strategy that has enabled the booming of businesses it exposes it to all the emerging markets of the all world. This is the best marketing line for both traditional and current businesses. This requires effective managements which will only be effected with the use of good managers. This will not only impact at the local but also the global environments. Hence, it must incorporate multicultural components for diversity as interpretation to different languages that can be understood by the clients in all the places of the world. This also calls for the understanding of the business models and concepts for the proper management of the business, this includes the business cultures and leadership models and above all, the business code of ethic because it defines the relationship between the clients and the business and hence the competitiveness. Web analytics is one such model in business, it is a model that spell out how a business can be done and sustain itself by giving indicators on the position of the business in the value chain. Therefore, it is the perspective of this paper to identify the impact of the web analytics especially on the E-commerce and the associated results. This will be the basis of providing solutions on the similar web analytics and other web related issues. Introduction Web analytics is the practice of collecting measuring, analyzing and reporting of information that can be trapped on internet for the value in comprehending and applying the web optimization usage. It is analyzes the impact of a website on its users. This is a system that is important in determining the traffic on the websites. Managers of E-businesses rely on web analytics to carry out market research as well learn how to determine and improve the effectiveness of their websites. It has various business applications that promotes e-marketing through business advertising campaigns (Kohavi, Mason & Zheng 2004). The web analytics provides precise information about the visitors and the pages viewed which are recorded by use of programs on the websites. This to a larger extent helps determine the preferences of the clients from the information collected on the customers’ comments or the views on the products. This enhances enables the e-commerce companies to improve on the contents of advertising. Usually, this can be done on either the off-site or on the on- site web analytics (Lenskold 2003). Off- site analytics refers to measurement done to determine whether one owns or maintains a website. This is important in maintaining the potential audience opportunities and the sharing of a voice for visibility as well as send responses on the happenings so as to update the people. The on the site analytics serve to measure the visitors extend of inquiries on the websites. This includes the drivers and the conversations as well as the source of the motivating pages so that more people can be encouraged to visit using the same links for purchase. This information is very vital in comparing the key information of the performance indicators that can be used to improve the web sites or the advertising campaign’s based on the audience response. It has been optimized by the use of software and other services and operates by the use of log files or page tagging enabled by the Java script or images on each of the pages to notify the server and all the business transactions on the web browser. The internet has created a new point in business controlled a single economic system within the e-commerce market place. It has become the way forward for the e-business world as the virtual main street of the e-marketing. This has not only provided a reliable and convenient way of doing business both regionally and globally, but also regionally. The e-commerce business is booming because of developments in the Internet accessibility. Organizational perspective Majority of the Americans about 70% have recognized the importance of having internet in their houses, and thus use it to connect with the rest of the people in the world. This indicates that E-commerce growth curve is always rising and it will not slow down any time soon. However, the effects of recession have taken toll on online sales. “There is a documented record of the e-commerce companies taking up traditional retailers and service providers which has improved the competitiveness of the business by the traditional players. As a result, they deploy their own commerce websites or altering their company strategy for retaliations.” This has been very important in the travel and the electronic businesses. For instance, the online travel companies in the 2005 reached the highest of $51 Billion which is an estimation of 44% of all the online sales of the business which was the greatest figure of $122 Billion in the same year (Farris et al, 2009). Today, most businesses are transformed to the extent that about 30% of all travel bookings occur by e-commerce, electronic sales occurred to an approximate value of $26 Billion of worldwide commerce. This includes the simple digital cameras, communication devices as mobile phones and home computers to allow access to internet. This is likely to contribute to decline in revenues, operating margins and profits. It has also given them a boost in terms of competition over the small business owners. This is because they are able to keep track of their operating cost and inventory due to the nature of the business environment. Amazon.com is a good example of the companies in the e-business that is creating revenue per employee and it has accumulated to about $850K. Its retail competitors’ best selling generates revenue per employee of about $270K. This is a good indicator that the e-commerce vendors will have a very bright future, particularly if they will be able to disrupt the retail acquisition, the dis-intermediate distributors, and resellers as well as involve in the price retail establishments. Consequently, e-commerce vendor gains, financials transaction processors and the shipping companies will benefit as well (Quinn 2006). Management perspective Management ethics Since management ethics is an important tool for sustainable e-commerce in ensuring the confidentiality and winning of the trust of customers. It is quite clear that web analytics to a larger extent impacts their services because when they collect personal information from the clients, the clients would prefer to be assured of the privacy policies of the e-commerce companies so that his or her information cannot be used by the fraudulent sites. However, for this to be effective, the clients will need the management ethics which can enable them keep their information safe, secure and very private. The consumers would as well prefer to keep their activity anonymous, an idea that greatly deserves much attention. The management will, therefore, need to be aware of the data that is collected and be informed of the uses of the information so that the employees learn how the business operates. For this to be effective, browser technologies and the tracking technologies are used to search for the proper information. This limits the habit of people hacking in the other person’s accounts as it breaks the codes of ethics between the business and the consumer. Through the use of web analytics software run by the legal team to promote best Information Technology business practices, the integrity of the data collected, its use and policy of the digitally collected data is enhanced (Croll and Sean, 2009). Emerging markets and web analytics The code of ethics determines the global penetration to the emerging markets. It is apparent that web analytics provides measurements or reports on the internet penetration, thus creating enormous impacts on e-commerce growth. It is important to note that there is improved internet accessibility in the whole world. This is due to the reduced internet cost in terms of the surfing costs, the improved internet technology development which have been facilitated by the enhanced and expanded bandwidth with increased speed and reliability. As a result, most companies have been exposed to e-commerce services for an expanded pool of the emerging markets of the consumers. The ability to gain competitive traction to large populations through internet accessibility has become the greatest challenge to all competitors in the e-commerce services. The implication of this is that some businesses may gain due to their competitive ability to provide online products based on the web analytics reports, while others loose for failing to meet the needs of their clients regarding the analytic reports from the web. This includes the online travel companies, online retail, consumer’s electronic companies, the financial transaction services, the shipping companies and the E-commerce software business companies that provide the User interface as well as the web analytics. Companies that will become losers include the traditional retails, the traditional travel agencies and the direct retail marketing. Metric parameters Various challenges exist in handling of the web analytics, particularly in the performance of the e-commerce other than just being considered as a source of information for the basic measures. This needs to be very well augmented for the new generation frame work through the use of more accurate and precise web analytics to promote the high predictability of e-commerce (Tullis & Albert, 2008). Understanding the cause and effect as well as assessing the activities associated with the cause to their performance will provide the best way of carrying out the cross multiple dimensions. This involves putting into considerations the web analytics tools such as the number of visitors that have visited the site, the key words that were used to enter into the sites, the number of sessions that were abandoned, and the number of the purchases that were made and the geographic location of the clients (Davis 2006). A wealth of information obtained that can be of great value in determining the business decisions for the client’s satisfaction. The information obtained impacts heavily on the management of products and the technology for applications. For example, the product related web analytics can be launched. This includes such information as the items per order, products per order and number of the cross-sell products purchased. The branding of the products can be varied to suit the client’s choices because this is the only way they can be tracked down by the products description they use to search. This is good for the management and as well the technological advancements in the design for branding (Sterne, 2002). The financial metrics can also be applied which will be the rich source of the metrics for the revenue and profitability. This can either come from the web analytics system or from the back end systems. This will provide answers to such like the revenue per orders, the average order value. The totals sales volume will be recorded and the profits as well can be determined as the most useful parameter in the business management. Finally, the customer metrics will provide the feed back to the measure of the customer satisfaction (Plaza 2009). This is collected using the survey and the feed backs that is provide by the customers. This can be used for the determination of the customer satisfaction score. Hence, the web analytics is an important tool as it goes beyond the web analytics to measure the true position and impacts of your E- commerce (Charlesworth, 2009). Companies will need to make good ranking of the metrics, a task that will appear to be tedious. This therefore calls for the production of good and very valuable content for the clients to read by ensuring that the product lists or the catalogue list goes beyond the products and the categories. It has been seen as good practice to attach e-links to stores of the websites of those companies in the e-commerce services which is integrated as typically free software. This calls for much attentions of managers’ participation in the forums that gives the clients an idea of the good practices. Sustainable e-commerce must ensure that proper managements and use of advanced technology is promoted to provide their clients with the best service. It is relevant to argue that the more the money flows into the company, the more the organization grows and the more the profits are accrued by the business (Fadden, 2005). For better services, it is now becoming a requirement for businesses to as well provide free shipping for the clients especially during the holidays. It has been discovered that the top 100 companies in the E-commerce offer the free shipping for their clients around the holidays. This has also been extended to the product catalogue. This is what creates the preferences of clients when doing budget to consider shopping in certain companies and not the others, and hence contributing to the differences in the competition in the e-business. “The free shipping motivates the clients.” It is one of the largest determining factors. Practically, the web analytics provides the traffic data to those companies in the e-commerce to enable them know how to manage their business and make ideas of when to add incentive on the business to attract the clients in the business. Free shipping will encourage the frequent purchases of the goods (Quinn, 2006). Competitive analysis Web analytics promotes thorough evaluation of the competitors and the potential substitutes. It is important in understanding the e-commerce company’s main strength and weaknesses in comparison to their competitors as well as potential substitutes. This is very essential particularly for the e-marketing. This can be done using two mechanisms of evaluations, the heuristic evaluation which is the comparison of the usability of the people who access your sites and the developers which are the key company’s online assets which need to be compared to that of others offering the same services in the industry. Assessing of the unmet needs of the customers Understanding of the customers’ interests and focusing on the company’s products line is significant in learning how the customers behave, what they want, and their expectations of the company. This assessment can be done easily by including the standard marketing strategy methodology, and the customer interviews which may include the testing of usability. This will as well help to identify the existing barriers that may hinder the accomplishment of the web analytics. For instance, the ethnographic characteristics in their environment which can be obtained through observations and use of the ethnographic research tools” (Center for Digital Strategies, 2003). The web analytics is also the tool to go as a source of the information. This will involve the analytical CRM which incorporates all the customers’ information. This has an objective putting the homogeneous analytics across one or different groups. A multi channel analysis examines different information such as the trend of the purchases or the service by assessing different channels. This is how the web analytics proves to be an essential tool in the business management and the growth of the organization. It can be boosted further by the statistical surveys which are done by the collection of the customer’s feedback especially from a very large population. Web analytics expresses the variability of the information within the population, and thus enabling in the segmentation of the populations into group demographics based on the affinity of the marketing methodology (Davenport, 2006). Technological understanding of the impact of Web Analytics on E-Commerce Internet browser technologies as well as the tracking technologies are used to search for the accurate information. Thus, limiting the habit of people hacking in the other person’s accounts or e-commerce confidential sites as it breaks the codes of ethics between the business and the consumer. Through the use of web analytics software run by the legal team, therefore, IT business practices on the integrity of the data collected, its use and policy of the digitally collected data is enhanced (Croll and Sean, 2009). Measuring the effectiveness of Email Campaign Research indicates that it is important for the email marketing to work in collaboration with the existing web analytics solution. As a result, most of the important email metrics are web metrics which are tied back to certain email campaigns. Today, various email messages are delivered through the call to action feature which often drive most email recipients back to the e-commerce websites visited before. Although such activities can easily be measured through the use of web analytics tools, the ability to tie them back to the visitor’s email becomes equally important. Significant email metrics include the Click-through rate (CTR) ratios. They are also referred to as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which shows whether or not changes within them directly impact the e-business. Through segmenting scenes and customers, administrators of e-commerce can create new and focused messages that enhance email performance as well as improve metrics such as the open and click-through rates (Web Analytic Association 2010). E-Marketing measurement and Optimization of mobile devices It is has been reported that about 7% of the total e-commerce website traffic is as a result of using mobile devices for e-marketing in the UK. Therefore, most retailers have noticed their online visitors from mobiles, thus transacting with them even in situations where there is no specific marketing efforts made to encourage the transaction. Apple devices account for over 80% of the total mobile traffic on the UK e-commerce sites, hence, largely drive e-businesses. The rest include Nokia, Blackberry and Android, an indication that majority of the e-retailers are increasingly opting for the development of Apple iOS only through their mobile applications as illustrated below (Plaza 2009) Therefore, mobile concerns where the users may be as well as their ability to effectively interact with the e-retailer’s brand and proposition at the right time. Although majority of the people are accessible to the web from their workplace and home locations, it is not always true with their own work email address. However, web analytic has provided data that indicates the email responsiveness as being extremely high originating from the use of mobile devices. It is also evident from the above graph that the percentage of revenue generated from the mobile is greater out of the office as well as from the traditional physical store in hours (Vicky 2010). Recommendation The web analytics companies need to come up with effective business plans which are documented strategies for the business management and investments. The business ethics need to be in line with the legal codes of country and allow for the free association of the working principles for the good of the business. E-businesses must always integrate the good codes of the ethic in the business for the success of the business. Effective metrics of the business should be the ones that are captured through the web analytics system of the company for the interpretation and decision making. Good management incorporated with the best technology for serving the clients is what should be given more emphasis the best marketing of the company’s products. Bibliography Bradley, N (2007) Marketing Research. Tools and Techniques. Oxford: Oxford University. Center for Digital Strategies. (2003) Enabling a customer focused Organization: Thought leadership summit on Digital strategies. Center for Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business and Cisco Systems. Charlesworth, A. (2009) Internet marketing: a practical approach. US: Butterworth-Heinemann. Croll, A & Sean, P. (2009) Complete Web Monitoring. Beijing: O’Reilly Publishers. Davenport, J. (2006) Competing on Analytics, Harvard Business Review. Davis, J. (2006) Marketing Metrics: How to create Accountable Marketing plans that really work. Asia: John Wiley & Sons. Fadden, M. (2005) Optimizing the online Business channels with web analytics. Tactical Uses of Web Analytics. Web Analytics Association. Farris, P. Bendle, N.T. Pfeifer, P.E. Reibstein, D.J. (2009) Key Marketing Metrics The 50+ Metrics Every Manager needs to know. London: Prentice Hall. Kohavi, R. Mason, L. & Zheng, Z. (2004) Lessons and Challenges from Mining Retail e-commerce data to appear in machine learning journal, special issue on data mining lessons learned. Quinn (2006) Ready for the digital future? pg. 30-31, Supply Chain Management Review. Plaza, B. (2009) Monitoring web traffic source effectiveness with Google Analytics: An experiment with time series. Aslib Proceedings, 61(5): 474–482. Lenskold, J. (2003) Marketing ROI: how to plan, Measure and Optimise strategies for Profit. London: McGraw Hill. Sterne, J. (2002) Web metrics, Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success, London: John Wiley and Sons. Tullis, T & Albert, B. (2008) Measuring the User Experience. Collecting, Analyzing and Presenting Usability Metrics. Burlington MA: Morgan Kaufmann, Elsevier. Vicky, B., (2010) Marketing measurement and Optimization: Mobile Marketing for E-commerce: Insight Into Real Data. Retrieved on 23 February 2012 from. Web Analytic Association (2010) Measuring Marketing Campaigns Online. Retrieved on 23 February 2012 from, Read More