Tesco E-marketing Analysis - Case Study Example

E marketing (TESCO) Table of Contents Introduction 3 Developments in the role of ICT 3 Emerging digital economy and ICT 5 Use of ICT in Tesco 6 Impact of ICT on Tesco 7 Critical evaluation 8 Advantages 8 Disadvantages 9 Recommendations 9 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction Leading companies around the world are trying to capitalize on the opportunities created due to the globalization and implementation of modern and advanced technology in the business practices (Szirmai, Naude and Goedhuys, 2011, p.212). A leading global business cannot be imagined without the use of technology. After the Second World War the demand of people about several products has increased. In order to survive in competitive market, several companies started to implement new and unique ideas in business. Slowly and gradually the competitive business environment has changed. Now people have more option for a particular product. For the purpose of the study the retail organization Tesco has been selected. Tesco is one of the leading retails in UK market. The company has adopted several services of ICT in order to maintain the leading position in competitive market (Nigel, 2009, p.199). As day by day the demand for comfort and luxury is increasing, Tesco has stated to do internet marketing and online selling to satisfy the customers comfort level. The study will reveal the role of ICT in the business development of organizations. Moreover, the study will critically evaluate the role of ICT in the business practices of Tesco. Then the research work will identify several advantages and disadvantages of the usage of ICT in Tesco. After the findings, the study will give some recommendation plans to the future problems. Finally the study ends with a conclusion. Developments in the role of ICT Implementation of ICT can improve the current scenario of global economy and society. According to many philosopher and author, the major reason of poverty is seclusion from the rest of the community. The knowledge about accessing mobile network and internet may help the poor people to access medical services, banking and markets. As in every developed countries government has implemented free treatment for the poor people, due to lack of knowledge people are not getting the benefits. Lack of communication between people is one of the key reasons behind the unsuccessful story of a country’s development. Now the government and many global organizations are taking initiatives like implementing ICT services and the mobile networks in remote areas (Potok, 2006, p.223). If people are not aware about the outside world, then it is difficult for a country to grow. In a society communities like farmers, grosser, teachers, barbers and carpenters need to have access to the mobile network and internet. For these reasons, ICT should be implemented in different firms and areas. In terms of business the global leading companies can increase their productivity and improve their business performances by implementing the service of ICT. Moreover, it reduces several operational time and cost. The effective logistic and supply chain is one of the examples of using ICT in a business. Moreover, ICT works as a major engine of growth. Moreover, information and communication technology creates job creation. In near future ICT is going to be an important enabler that will help the service and manufacturing sector. Using ICT might enhance the agriculture production in several agriculture dependent countries. Moreover, the core competency of leading organizations may be increased in competitive global market. Tesco has evidenced significant growth after using ICT in their organization. The impact and the evaluation of using ICT are discussed in the later part of the study. The advanced application of information technology should simplify the management and operation of a particular organization. Almost more than six billion people in worldwide are enabled with the access of ICT. Therefore, some serious environmental issues have come up. Environment pollution is taking place due to havoc using of the IT applications. The systems should allow the effective recycling of mobile services and laptops. Access to ICT also has critical considerations around the effect of cellular networks, infrastructure, telephone switching equipment and satellite based equipments. Emerging digital economy and ICT Over the past years developed economy like US economy has evidenced a significant growth. After the industrial revolution when the industry market became competitive enough, the leading companies have used the digital media in order to market their product and services (Caprio, 2012, p.46). Slowly and gradually different global companies have applied the digital media marketing with the help of advanced technology. The developing economies are trying to implement several advanced digital technology in order to increase their competitive advantages (Tsai, 2003, p.33). In the emerging global digital economy, ICT has influenced several competitive industries to grow. As ICT provides several automotive services like PDA, Internet broadband and many more into business, the operational time and cost both get reduced. The new trend; information and communication technology as one of the important driver of emerging digital economy is being come up. It is essential for the productivity of every developed and developing country, improved social well-being and global competitiveness. In developing countries like Australia, the enrollment number of ICT has decreased by 38 percent. It is a critical factor. Moreover, in several European countries the number has been decreased. These are the critical factors because adoption of ICT in business increases the ability to response to the global competitive opportunities. Use of ICT in Tesco Tesco uses several services of ICT in their business. There are three major functions of using information and communication technology in Tesco is described below. ICT creates the internet website for Tesco, which provides the online shopping facility for people. It is the first key feature of ITC in Tesco. Therefore, the online shopping has become easy for the customers of Tesco. The online shopping facility helps the customers to consume their valuable time. Moreover, people can avoid a huge crowd in Tesco outlets by online shopping. Introduction of PDA by ICT in Tesco is the second important feature. The service is implemented mainly for the outlet employees of Tesco. If the customers unable to find any product or item, the PDA service helps them to find it. Outlet staffs can show the products to customers by typing the name of particular items or products. Therefore, the effective customer service strategy has created a strong brand image in the competitive retail market in UK. Moreover, PDA service helps to find the appropriate shelf and row of the particular products. It helps the customers to find the products comfortably. For the betterment of logistic and supply chain ICT has created the navigation system for Tesco. It is the third important feature that has been created by ICT for Tesco. If the truck drivers cannot find the address of the customers in order to deliver the order of expensive consumer durable goods, the navigation system helps to find the address (Rogers, 2006, p.169). The service is quite effective and very much reliable. Impact of ICT on Tesco The usage of the services of Tesco that are provided by ICT has greatly impacted on the business performance of Tesco (Cooper and Burke, 2002, p.307). If the company did not adopt the services, they cannot efficiently operate in the competitive market. The services of ICT have made the life easier for the employees. The automation process of several services like PDA has efficiently increased the customer base. If Tesco did not use the ITC, then they had to give effective training to the employees in order to provide efficient customer service. Though using the services of ICT is quite expensive enough, ICT saves huge capital of Tesco. Moreover, Tesco has able to advance their outlet security by implementation of Digital video and CCTV camera. These services are provided by ICT only. The testing of electronic self edge of the price labels of products has reduced huge operational time and cost in order to be competitive in global market. The advanced technology of ICT has incorporates services like Self-service check out. It allows people to scan the shopped products and the bill of those products. In terms of e-marketing, ICT is used to create the website of Tesco. The company offers the online shopping facilities to the customers (Leedy and Ormrod, 2012, p.171). Tesco used to launch several wide ranges of products according to the list and similarities. The creativity of website influences people to do online purchasing. Moreover, as the online purchasing consume time and cost of people; Tesco has effectively segmented their target market by using the services of ICT. The implementation of Navigation system has made the logistic and supply chain management of Tesco quite efficient. In a gist application like PDA service, offering effective online shopping facilities to customers, implementation of navigation system has increase4d the core competency of Tesco in the competitive market. Critical evaluation In order to evaluate the performance and contribution of ICT in Tesco, firstly several advantages and disadvantages need to be found out. Advantages The customers of Tesco can by the products through the company website. ICT has created the website for Tesco for the purpose of providing online shopping facilities to its customers (Combe, 2012, p.382). This facility actually has brought the customers close to the brand. People can get benefited by online shopping as they do not have to do physical shopping in huge crowd. Just a click on the items can bring them to the customers. People can use credit cards for shopping. The online payment facility that has been provided by ICT in Tesco has benefited the customers. Therefore, people do not need to carry money for the purpose of shopping. Only the swapping of credit cards or the online payment facility can complete the purchase process of consumers. Implementation of navigation system in logistic and supply chain management is the key feature of ICT. By the service Tesco has made their supply chain quite efficient. Implementation of PDA service and location label of products has increased the core competency of Tesco. The service is beneficial because it helps the customers to find a product from a row and shelf instantly. Customers have to face limited trouble in order to find a product by the PDA service (Longley, 2005, p.113). Disadvantages As there are several advantages of using ICT, on the other side Tesco might have several disadvantages too. If any problem occurs in the system or main hub and the company cannot run the process immediately; Tesco may have to face huge loss in business for that particular day. Moreover, it can create a negative brand image in customer’s mind. Another disadvantage may occur due to technical problem. If the website gets crashed due to hardware problems in systems, people will not able to purchase products. Moreover, the most critical factor will be taken place if online payment gets hampered. Therefore, it is quite risky to maintain the process. Last but not the least, using ICT in Tesco is very expensive. It increases the operational cost of Tesco. It is evidenced that, in order to use the services of ICT; Tesco pays almost 3,000,000 Euros every year (Doyle, 2002, p.170). Recommendations Implementation of ICT may create several technological problems in business practices of Tesco. In order to avoid the technological problem in server or in the systems Tesco needs to monitor the following aspects. Now-a-days Tesco is totally dependent on ICT. Therefore, ICT team needs to establish the communication system with the help of data processing. As Tesco pays a huge amount, it is the duty of ICT to take care all these things. The effective data processing will reduce the chance of system and website crash (Stimpson, 2001, p.122). Moreover, Tesco needs to keep a good backup system in computers. The data processing system is effective but not safe enough. In a critical system crash the storage data may be lost. Therefore, Tesco always needs to keep multi-redundant backup files and the files should be copied. Tesco need to employ password protected server and data protected protocols in order to protect the data from the terminals. Moreover, in order to stop online hacking off the security password of Client’s debit and credit cards; Tesco needs to secure the socket locker of the website (Surhone, 2010, p.72). The enhanced and specialized security and robustness will easily stop online hacking. Conclusion Tesco is one of the leading retail companies in UK’s competitive market. In order to increase the competitive advantages Tesco has used ICT in their business. Tesco has achieved several advantages by the implementation of ICT’s services (Dave, 2008, p.447). The company has successfully offered the online shopping facilities to its customers. Moreover the unique navigation strategy of ICT has increased the logistic and supply chain efficiency of Tesco. The online payment, PDA service has satisfied the comfort level of the customers of Tesco. There are several disadvantages too, which may affect the business practices of Tesco (Butler, 2008, p.116). As the company has implemented e-marketing strategy, major technical problem like website or system crash can hamper the whole system. As it is an online process the failure of system may close down all the operation. It may create a negative brand image of Tesco in customer’s mind. Implementation of ICT has several advantages and it is required for successful global operations. Tesco need to review and monitor all the problem statements that may occur due to the in adequate implementation of ICT. ICT is a unique innovation of technology. A unique business strategy always draws a success story of a company. References Butler, S., 2008. Erewhon. Maryland: Wild Site Press. Caprio, G., 2012. The Evidence and Impact of Fionancial Globalization. Waltham: Academic Press. Combe, C., 2012. 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Information Technology and Business Process Reengineering: New Perspectives and Strategies. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. Cooper, C., and Burke, R., 2002. The New World of Work: Challenges and Opportunities. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More