Introduction to E-Commerce - Coursework Example

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE INTRODUCTION The process of conducting commercial transactions over the internet is called E-Commerce. The businesses are extensively adapting to this practice because it is cost effective. With the use of e-commerce accessibility of the businesses increase dramatically (Delone & Mclean, 2004). The shift in the global economic paradigm has provided the businesses and customers to participate at the electronic marketplace. E-commerce facilitates the businesses with various diverse activities such as electronic trading, online digital delivery, fund transfers, commercial transactions, procurement, marketing etc. This saves time of the customers and eases accessibility of the businesses 24/7. Advancements in the data transmission technologies provide businesses with realizing new business opportunities (Carroll, 1999). In this report a discussion will be presented based on real life cases and business examples which will show the relative importance of e-commerce. The cases discussed will portray inducement of innovative and creative features to the websites for attracting more customers and exploring new business opportunities. The case of “The Royal Automobile Club” and “Cabela’s” will be discussed in this report. These are two businesses which expanded their operations through e-commerce. Enhancement of the web portals increased the sustainability of the businesses. The new platform anchored by the businesses provided the customers with a world class shopping experience. This enhanced the domain of retail selling of the businesses at a whole new level. This report will emphasize on assessing the findings and analyzing the benefits which the businesses have availed through this practice. MAIN FINDINGS The findings in this section have been supported by applying two cases which have elaborately been placed in the appendix. The first case is of Cabela’s which is a retail store business which supplies fishing, hunting and camping equipment. Cabela’s has several physical stores located and it is engaging with e-commerce for providing ease of accessibility to different customers and at the same time enhance the existing customer base (Micros, 2013). Similarly, the other case of the Royal Automobile Club shows that to facilitate its existing members the business has initiated entering in the e-commerce business. This gives the club members flexibility of reserving the restaurant and rooms at the club in the easiest possible manner (Micros, 2012). Both the cases are adopting e-commerce but the purpose and customers of both the businesses are different. E-COMMERCE FEATURES AND THEIR SUCCESS The e-commerce portals of the businesses are considered as significant revenue drivers for the businesses. The retailers have accepted the fact that development of online stores has become very critical for the business. The new advancements in technology suggest sophisticated application of the businesses in the e-commerce segment which can appropriately cater the current and future needs of the businesses. The businesses need to consider the practices which they need to adopt for the development and establishment of the e-commerce practices (Burt & Sparks, 2003). E-commerce activities have become subject of attention for the marketers of the business. Most of the professional think that promoting businesses online is more profitable rather than traditional promotional practices. The factors which are associated with the benefits of e-commerce businesses are (Zwass, 2003): 1. Enhanced efficiency: Due to ease of access 24/7 the businesses can acquire a huge customer base. This promotes the business and also increases operational rotation of the business. 2. Automation of business practice: Physical presence is not required. This reduces the cost and gives the potential customers time to do background search on the product. 3. Transformation of traditional practices: This practice is different from the traditional methods. Cost saving, customer services and accessibility are the features which the businesses can avail. 4. Wider customer base: Anyone from anywhere can access the online portals at anytime they desire. 5. Decrease in operating cost: The businesses which have online portals don’t require physical setups. The fixed cost of managing a dedicated workforce also reduces with initiation of the online portals. 6. Educating the customers: Using the online platform educates the customers. This gives them time to survey the products before making final purchase decision. 7. Competitive advantage: Going online increases the opportunities for the businesses. This gives them a competitive edge which benefits them in the long run. The challenges which the businesses, engaging with the e-commerce practices, have to face are meeting up with the technological requirements, managerial challenges and business challenges. The list of challenges which the businesses have to face is presented below (Fellenstein & Wood, 2000): 1. Meeting up with the security needs 2. Website management issues such as software’s and infrastructure 3. Management of integration and ensuring availability of inventory 4. Organizational issues and challenges 5. Cater the requirements of the customers in the most appropriate manner 6. Overcoming the legal issues The success factors which are associated with e-commerce requires that the businesses appropriately address the following aspects (Schafer, Konstan, & Riedl, 2001): 1. Providing a secure mode of transactions to the customers 2. Enhance functionality of the businesses 3. Appropriate integration of websites 4. Availability of resources and infrastructure 5. Appropriate leadership which aligns the workforce to the organizational goals and objectives 6. Offer personalized customer services to the customers of the business. All these factors which have been discussed above show the benefits, the challenges and the success factors of the business which are associated with implementation of e-commerce. TIME REQUIRED FOR INTEGRATING E-COMMERCE TO THE BUSINESS The application of the plan varies with the nature of the business. Different businesses require different resource. If example of the cases is taken then it can be observed that Cabela’s is aiming expansion of its business to a much larger customer audience where as the Royal Automobile Club is aiming to facilitate a small segment of audience which are mostly its subscribers. The services which both the businesses intend to provide to their customers by going online are also different. This makes the businesses design and innovate practices and design creative methods for enhancing the businesses. A realistic approach of integrating e-commerce system requires that the business functions take care of certain factors. The businesses must adopt an architecture which is aligned to the nature of the business. It must connect appropriately to the systems of the existing business. It is essential that the businesses understand the technological, managerial and business directions which are essential for operating the businesses (Ansari, Kohavi, Mason, & Zheng, 2001). (OFG, 2012) Below is the chart which clearly shows the operations functionality of an e-commerce system of a business. This method is cost effective, requires lesser resources and it enhances the accessibility of the businesses. (Optistage, 2013) Applying e-commerce to the business facilitates various functions of the business. These functions of the businesses are product management, order management, inventory management, catalog management, loyalty management, search services, personalization services, payment services, campaign management, user management, MIS reports and data analytics, cross selling and up selling etc. All these function can be accomplished with integrating electronic commerce to the business. Applying e-commerce methods have become a necessity for the business and this significantly benefits the growth of the organization. New tradition of business requires that several challenges are faced by the organization. All these business challenges are appropriately resolved with the application of e-commerce (Delone & Mclean, 2004). INNOVATION AND CREATIVENESS IN E-COMMERCE WEBSITES In an article published in Forbes magazine it was observed that e-commerce innovation is a very common practice which is adopted by retailers across the globe (Techonomy, 2012). In U.S. alone the retailer are making double digit profits. By the year 2015 the businesses are expected to realize a market of $300 billion (Techonomy, 2012). The new features which depict innovation and creation is optimization. Market leaders like Etsy and Fab.com suggest that flash sales, social recommendations and advertorial targeting etc. are the measures which are being incorporated to the websites (Techonomy, 2012). The increased market movements are the shifts which take the businesses towards creative commerce. Creative commerce is a practice which has pushed the retailers into adapting methods which promote the business. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS SUMMARIES From the discussion which has been placed above it is very clear that e-commerce will eventually become essential for businesses to sustain in the industry. Evidence of these facts can be applied on the two case studies discussed in this report. It is clear that requirements of both the businesses differed when they wished to utilize e-commerce. Cabela’s is a retailer and the product range which they offer to their retailers is also very extensive. The online website which the business must maintain must be properly maintained. Integration of the ERP practice is essential for maintaining an appropriate record of the inventory. The website requires being interactive so that the visitors can view the products which the business is offering. There must be more product pages and a comparative tool must be offered for comparing similar products with differing attributes. Providing all these facilities is essential for the success of the business (Micros, 2013). The overall ecommerce process of Cabela’s is presented in the image below: The Royal Automobile Club is targeting a niche segment which comprises mainly of its existing members. The purpose of initiating e-commerce was to facilitate the existing customers and provide them a platform using which they could easily reserve the facilities of the club. This requires that the club manages the availability and accommodations available and updating it constantly online (Micros, 2012). Comparing both the cases and relating it to the discussions in the above section it is clear that different businesses have different requirements of e-commerce. This requires them to design the websites accordingly to the need and the audience on which are aiming to target. Both the companies discussed in the cases have taken support from MICROS. It is a business which provides e-commerce solutions to various companies. It assesses their existing position and integrates them in the e-commerce industry (Micros, 2013; 2012). DISCUSSIONS The businesses are aware of the potential benefits which the e-commerce businesses may realize. The benefits, challenges and the success factors of the businesses which arise during the electronic trading process are that business efficiency, competitive advantage and automation processes are directly connected with increasing the business turnover. Technological costs and lack of awareness of managing the system are the challenges which the businesses face (Kuzic, Fisher, & Scollary, 2002). New features introduced to e-commerce include call to action practice of marketing. It is a practice which creates an urge to the customer to read on further (Wix, 2013). This action leads the reader to the promotional message. An advertisement message which lacks the aspect of call to action is considered as incomplete and ineffective. There are several other features which can be sued by e-commerce websites to attract more customers, such as discount coupons, social sharing buttons, etc. All these methods are ways using which the businesses very frequently use for promoting and marketing their businesses (Laudon & Traver, 2007). JUSTIFICATIONS The application of new features is essential for managing creativity and innovation at the same time. This competitive era of business requires that new methods are adopted for promoting the business. Same is the case for e-commerce. It requires constant updating and being aware of new trends. Competition amongst the businesses is never ending. This generates constant need for creativity and innovation in ways of promoting the business. E-commerce facility is a cost effective promotional activity which connects the business to new customers. All these significant factors have forced the businesses to adapt to the changing situation for expanding the profitability and success of their business (Laudon & Traver, 2007). LIST OF REFERENCES Ansari, S., Kohavi, R., Mason, L., & Zheng, Z. (2001). Integrating e-commerce and data mining: Architecture and challenges. In Data Mining, 2001. ICDM 2001, Proceedings IEEE International Conference on (pp. 27-34). IEEE. Burt, S., & Sparks, L. (2003). E-commerce and the retail process: a review. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 275-286. Carroll, J. (1999). Improvising for innovation: reaping the benefits of ecommerce. Deakin University School of Information Systems. Delone, W. H., & Mclean, E. R. (2004). Measuring e-commerce success: applying the DeLone & McLean information systems success model.International Journal of Electronic Commerce, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 31-47 Fellenstein, C., & Wood, R. (2000). Exploring E-commerce, Global E-business, and E-societies. Prentice Hall PTR. Kuzic, J., Fisher, J., & Scollary, A. (2002). Electronic Commerce Benefits, Challenges And Success Factors In The Australian Banking And Finance Industry. Available from http://ifiptc8.org/asp/aspecis/20020067.pdf [Accessed 6 November 2013] Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2007). E-commerce. Pearson Prentice Hall. Micros. (2012). The Royal Automobile Club: first class service driven by Micros. Available from https://www.google.com.pk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.micros-systems.co.uk%2Fen-gb%2FSolutions%2FTravel-Business%2F~%2Fmedia%2FFiles%2Fmicros-fidelio%2FCase%2520Studies%2FUK%2FRoyal-Automobile-Club.ashx&ei=Kpt8UuGmNsjb7Aa3-YDwAQ&usg=AFQjCNEmQe2XmxwKCM4NDSZb3gnCfJaohQ&sig2=sIkPLBrWYa-HmBepUoPe_g&bvm=bv.56146854,d.ZGU [Accessed 6 November 2013] Micros. (2013). Ecommerce- Cabelas case study. Available from http://www.micros-retail.co.uk/media/471027/cabelas-case-study.pdf [Accessed 6 November 2013] OFG. (2012). Ecommerce integration. Available from http://www.osf-global.com/assets/uploaded_files/ecommerce-integration-tips-traps-presentation.pdf [Accessed 6 November 2013] Optisage. (2013). E-business solutions. http://www.optisage.com/ebusiness-solutions-detail.aspx?mid=3&pid=1 [Accessed 6 November 2013] Schafer, J. B., Konstan, J. A., & Riedl, J. (2001). E-commerce recommendation applications. In Applications of Data Mining to Electronic Commerce (pp. 115-153). Springer US. Techonomy. (2012). The next wave of e-commerce innovation. Forbes. Available from http://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2012/06/11/the-next-wave-of-e-commerce-innovation/ [Accessed 6 November 2013] Wix. (2013). Building an eCommerce website? Check out the newest features. Avaialble from http://www.wix.com/blog/2013/06/building-ecommerce-website/ [Accessed 6 November 2013] Zwass, V. (2003). Electronic commerce and organizational innovation: aspects and opportunities. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, vol. 7, pp. 7-38. APPENDIX CASE 1: CABELA’S Cabela’s is a renowned retailer and marketer of hunting, fishing, and camping products. It is an outdoor merchandiser with business operations spread widely. The business realized the need of providing online shopping facilities to its customers and hence it took measures for refreshing its existing web portal. The purpose of this measure was solely to improve the customer traffic and increase accessibility of the customers. The new design of the web portal provided a world class shopping experience to the customers. The improved website provided elaborate details of the products and made searching for products lot easier for the customers. CASE 2: THE ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB The Royal Automobile Club was formed in 1897. It takes pride in acknowledging the fact that it has more than 17,000 members. The club initiated its online web portal for availing technological advancements. With this philosophy the club launched its online room and restaurant booking facility. This allowed the members to update their account detail on the web. This practice enhances the customer engagement which significantly benefited the entire organizations business practices. Read More