The Business Skills For E Commerce

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Indentify the areas that ecommerce covers and assess the suitability to e-commerce of different products by analyzing its impact on the product. (3.5)(M1)

Consider: E-commerce used in various fields in today’s scenario. In what areas is E-commerce well suited and how are those areas affected by E-commerce.

Understanding E-Commerce

With the revolution of technology, customer expects most of the things to be executed real time at their door step. With the ever demanding expectation where rapidity of customer requirement has to be supplemented with worth supply, businesses have started implementing e-commerce as a means to expand their commerce through promoting existing offerings, conducting protected selling transactions online in the most cost effective behavior, leading to reduced consumer visits to their stores (Subudhi, 2012).

In recent context, E-commerce has proved successful because it offers significant advantages to both consumers and retailer. It is defined as the exchange of service which takes place in the World Wide Web (WWW) with the help of digital technology (Schniederjans and Cao, 2002).  A wide variety of business transactions are conducted through online, such as electronic funds transfer, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange, stock management systems, and automatic data collection systems. Thus, the explanation of ecommerce in modern times entail that a transaction is termed as electronic commerce if it typically uses the WWW at least at any stage in the transaction's cycle, which means ecommerce can cover a wider range of technologies (Mohapatra, 2013).

Types of E-Commerce

Advancement and improved new digital technology’s, mixed with businesses and consumers of such technologies enhance e-commerce. Similar to digital technology’s, e-commerce cannot accomplish its goal in single step. As to business and consumers, e-commerce of different category and levels imply different opportunities. In terms of transactions categories, e-commerce can be further divided into the following part (Qin, 2009):

Business-to-Business (B2B)

Business-to-Government (B2G)

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) 

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

Government-to-Business (G2B)

Government-to- Consumer (G2C)

Within these wide categories, there are a number of distinctions in the way the models are executed. Many traditional brick and motar retailers such as Barnes and Nobel retailers are now e-tailers with a web storefront. These combined brick and motor/online businesses are also known as brick-and-click companies (Kurtz and Boon, 2009).

Area and Products Suitable for E-Commerce

Not all products are appropriate for selling and promoting in the internet. According to an Ernst and Young study, the mostly computer related products (40%), books (20%), travel (16%), clothing (10%), recorded music (6%), subscriptions (6%), gifts (5%) and investments (4%) are popular purchased online (Maravilla, .n.d.). Such types of retailing is mostly applicable to the products that are fairly simple and do not require immediate assistance from other educated staff. Thus, grocery retailing is perfectly suited to e-commerce, whereas customers generally need to try on outfits prior purchasing (QFINANCE, 2012). Normally, it is not easy to make online sales of complicated products and services that need a large amount of guidance or input from the retailer.

Conclusion

These days, many consumers choose to buy goods online for their ease, cost and choices of good made available online. But still numerous consumers avoid online shopping because of privacy and security and also due to inability to try and experience goods. Several new contents and mitigating features are being implemented by online business companies to solve these issues. It is predicted that E-commerce will expand into important method of reaching consumers, providing services, and better operations of business (Manzoor, 2010).

Though, there is no general evidence concerning the increment rate of E-commerce, the time structure for E-commerce to suit a considerable part of the economy, and the business section that will grow the best ever. Overall, the development of E-commerce will move into the near future. Even though, the failure of some individual businesses and program, the total amount of E-commerce is projected to rise.

Task 2

Find out the ways in which your departmental store would be able to use e-commerce to increase profitability and enhance the range of products and services it offers to its consumers. (3.2)(D3)

Consider: The key is to have a clear thinking and be logical with your ideas about the possible opportunities and that the suggestions are achievable.

Implementation E-commerce

E-commerce in retail sector

Role of ICT

Supply Chain Management

E-Commerce in Retail Sector

Retail sector is regarded as one of the most rapidly developing areas within the distribution channel structure (Kitchen and Proctor 2001). Within it lie various firms like departmental stores and supermarket offering a range of retail goods and services including grocery items, food products, clothing, footwear, household products and delivery services and many more. Moreover, there is a diversity of retail stores varying from small, particular shops to big retail chains offering an enormous collection of products and services (Lusch, et al. 1990).

Nowadays, non-store retailing has been growing interest where shopping is done without visiting retail outlets. Similarly there is another increasing trend of adopting latest technology into the development of retail body and in the implementation of retail operations. For example, E-commerce is making its existence felt noticeably within the retail sectors around the globe (Rosenbloom, 1981).

Role of ICT

In the era of information, the substitute method has become consumer initiate and controlled. Sellers and their trade representatives wait until consumers encourage them to participate in the exchange. ICT business plays a significant role in the constantly increasing implementation of the internet for education, health, retail, government and e-commerce. One of the most important aspects of internet to have emerged in recent times is e-commerce. E-commerce is the cutting edge and refrain of the century for businesses now (Tallo, 2007). As a means of modern trade methodology, e-commerce deals with the requirements of industry, association, business and consumers to reduce cost while improving the value of goods and services, along with the speed of delivering services. Nowadays, conducting business through WWW is no longer an alternative but an absolute need for the success of corporation.

Like others, consideration should be given to how ICT is beneficially useful to the basis groups above in categorize to support, maintain and deliver the approach. Its purpose is essential to them all. It constrains improvement, achieves invention efficiencies, and is essential to plan (Thompson, 2013).

Supply Chain Management and Retailing

Presently many business companies attempt to change the behavior of doing their business to find out different new approaches to attract consumers (Curtis and Giamanco, 2010). Traditional retail industry suffered due to internationalization of retailing trend also because of fast and competent operational design and innovative technologies.

Retailing is the final step in a SCM. According to Plazibat and Brajevic (2009), Supply chain is a set of associations that shifts products from the point of manufacture to the point of utilization. Effective management of supply chain results considerable savings and better consumer satisfaction. Retailing is accountable for understanding most of the consumer demands with available quantities of supplements produced by manufactures.

SCM is to regard as the only strategically imperative trader in the value chain. It is important for retailers to have close relations with other important functions of supply chain to perform their role in supply chain (Steyn, 2010). Businesses in the retail sector resort to SCM to oppose the increasing doubt and difficulty of the trade place and competitive condition to decrease record in the whole value chain.

Well-organized managing of retailers supply chain must maintain the fulfillment of end-users necessities. Retailers work at the point next to consumers consequently are in best place to respond the query when, where and how consumers want particular products. SCM in retail sector is a challenge to execute and perform (Holmberg 2000).

Impact on Product and Services

The choice of goods is well known to consumers and they will not buy the products which are not familiar to them (PETERINDIA, 2000). In the physical department stores, consumer can spot test many products such as cosmetics, cloths, footwear, etc. for clear understanding of the products and for purchasing.

Likewise, many brands provide on the spot services and teach variety of practical technology to consumers and gets immediate feedback from them which is difficult to get from internet shopping experience (RESOURCES ALIBABA, 2010).

This is the main reason why online department store will face difficulties to succeed at first. Moreover owners with traditional marketing are immature, non-standard and are full of misunderstandings about e-commerce (HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, 2011).Similarly of strategic position of sellers it is difficult to use e-commerce model of marketing as it will create discrimination in prices and its store sales will be impacted.

Therefore, in order to merchandise the store online, department stores should pay attention to e-commerce and its strategies. They have to form an atmosphere for consumers to do online shopping’s and regulate information about their stores in markets (GOV.UK, 2012). Also the stores in the supply chain should offer a large variety of products to guarantee that shopping through online can be a better consumer selection and purchase of products as chance to form a higher spending.

Providing discount, promoting special items, integration, gift, reward points and other means to attract consumers in the form of continual, regular, large-volume purchases, and by giving a range of member extra services and payback, enhance consumer stickiness and achieved good results by stores (THE ECONOMIST, .n.d.) .

Department stores to online business still have many advantages, but to acquire it, management need to give attention to disruption. Then only the online store can be as simple as the original replica to the internet store.

Conclusion

E-commerce can be a very rewarding scheme to stores if used suitably, but also it is necessary to understand that we cannot make money immediately. It is very significant to do a lot of research, get feedback from consumers through online ad, and make decisions on details obtained from researching ecommerce strategies (NETWORKSOLUTIONS, 2013). Although the rapid growth in online shopping, but the Internet cannot be entirely substitute by the store.