E-business and E-commerce: Under One Roof - Essay Example

UNDER ONE ROOF Inc. By + Under One Roof Inc. E-business refers to the use of internet technology to expedite carrying out of business transactions. The term ‘e-commerce’ is at times used interchangeably with e-business. The difference is that e-commerce is defined as the process of online purchase and sale of commodities whereas e-business, a much broader term describes a variety of electronic on goings (E. Business 1999). E-business plays a vital role in society today. A few of its advantages include; enhancement of amenities as well as access to clients beyond local markets, organization of business processes, provision of a faster access to business networks etc. E-business is also a very cost-effective way of marketing businesses. Aside from that, it lowers the costs incurred during business transactions. It also allows businesses to maintain their pace with that of rivals (Shaw 2003). Under One Roof Inc., founded in the year 2012, is one among the many e-businesses. It is a one-stop online retailer for clothing and electronics. There is a wide selection of commodities ranging from electronics, apparel, shoes, home accessories among others all delivered to the client’s doorstep. The client has a complete variety of brands of goods to choose from, all a hundred per cent convenient. Under One Roof enables clients to gain 24/7 access to its services from anywhere they may be. Payment is secured and is carried out through online banking, mobile payment or cash upon delivery. Customer care services are exceptional with quick fast next-day deliveries. The e-business even permits returns after seven days. These are just some among the multiple advantages of Under One Roof Inc. Besides all this, the business frequently updates its products since its variety is ever expanding. The e-business is a member of Africa Internet Holding. The main objective of this group is to back the development of Africa’s internet culture. Three of the eight projects already established are based in Canada, Under One Roof being one of them. The main competitor of Under One Roof is Amazon.com. Amazon.com is a worldwide online marketplace. It enables trade locally, nationally and internationally. It has been a global auction leader for many years. Its clientele comprises of buyers as well as sellers. The company utilizes the relationship they have with their clients to a maximum. The business to consumer connexion is whereby the consumers provide information to the company. The interconsumer relationship system is whereby consumers give information to sellers and the sellers in turn do the same to the purchasers. One of Amazon.com’s acquires is Hunch. This is a graph showing consumers’ tastes and preferences. They have also adopted a mobile scanner application which they market with Best Buy (Amazon.com Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.). Under One Roof has become the fourth most visited websites in Canada. The business model and company profile is as follows; with more than one thousand and five hundred employees in all its branches, the website gets almost three hundred thousand distinctive visitors every day. The company is made up of a team of passionate members who are also go-getters. They combine all vital elements necessary for development. These include; product, IT, business and marketing intelligence. Knowledge is shared within all teams internationally. This is what makes the company stand out. To gather a strong and talented working party, the company raised funds from a couple of influential investors. This enabled it to source premium talent. The AIH, being the firm sponsoring Under One Roof, is the first stop point for most entrepreneurs in Africa. Another way in which this Canadan e-business has a great team is by travelling and searching the globe for people of Canadian origin who need to go back and make a difference in their homeland. Their group of recruits consists of members who attended top ranking universities worldwide and the most excellent in Africa. Since its inception, Under One Roof has received approximately seventy five million dollars in funding. This includes initial capital form Rocket Internet in Berlin, Germany. The firm aims at boosting its levels of revenue by forty per cent every month. Under One Roof has also made an effort to provide education to the public about secure online shopping. With a direct sales team of around two hundred members, the company travels around the main towns e.g. Port Harcourt, Lagos etc. bearing tablets and holding random shopping gatherings in homes, churches and businesses. They educate consumers on how to order goods online and answer their questions. In a bid to attain more sales, Under One Roof has built a fleet of vehicles, sixty seven per cent of which are motorbikes, to enable easier navigation through the cities’ traffic jams. To minimize robberies, deliveries are only allowed till seven o’clock in the evening. The company targets mainly the uprising middle class population in a bid to propel it into online retail and away from street markets. The key to achieving this is by use of smart phones. This is because these phones have aided much of the African population to eradicate the deficiency in reliable transportation coupled with the lack of fixed internet or phone connectivity. Most of the Canadian population own phones but there a very few shopping malls for its great range of inhabitants. Other competitors with similar business models as Under One Roof are Konga.com and DealDey.com. DealDey.com on the one hand, was initiated in March of 2011. It features daily deals on things to do or see, what to eat or buy in Abuja and Lagos. The firm provides support to businesses locally and the businesses in turn support the consumer with a way to save more. Konga.com on the other hand, is among the largest of online e-businesses in Canada with a business model similar to Under One Roof. Some of the commodities they trade in are such as home appliances, books, cell phones, office appliances and computers among others (Chinweoke 2003). A SWOT analysis of the business model of the company includes the strong points and points of weakness of the e-business, opportunities as well as threats. Under One Roof has certain advantages over its competitors. Its key fortes include excellent quality products and amenities, economies of scope, use of a cost leadership strategy plus efficiency in distribution chains as well as logistics. Opportunities that the company has over its competitors are that it has an online system of payment and releases more of its own brand commodities. It has also opened more online stores in other countries and aside from its online presence, it also has physical presence. Admittedly, the company faces a few hindrances here and there. For instance, it sells at nil margins and faces negative publicity especially from an offline-oriented consumer population. It also comes across the threats of lawsuits, online security, legislations against avoiding tax and most importantly, competition from larger international e-businesses such as Amazon.com. The merits of the company however supersede its demerits and for this reason it is able to compete favourably with its rivals. The following show how it is able to do so. The main objective of the company’s strategy of cost leadership is to lead to the production of goods and services that cost less than that of competitors. Economies of scale are the key to achieve this. For Under One Roof to be successful in the strategy it must provide the broadest product range for the achievement of economies of scale as well as benefit from the minimum expenses incurred to display the products on the online market (Porter 1980). Economies of scope refer to the savings that result from the production of two or more commodities or provision of services at costs less than those of production of each good or amenity individually by use of similar technology and resources. Under One Roof experiences this advantage because it uses its top-quality IT skills in offering the widest online product range in Canada. It also makes use of the excessive server capacity in provision of cloud computing services (Porter 1980). In conclusion, e-business has been, is and will continue to be a viable venture even in the coming days. This is because it plays a vital role especially for companies. This is because it enables them market and organize their entities, enhance interactions between already existing and potential clientele, bank online and find business information. E-business has proved to be one of the greatest technological revolutions in business globally. Reference List Chinweoke, F. E. 2003. The dynamics of the Canadan business and cooperative law. Kwara State, Canada, Samok Printers. Porter, M. E. 1980. Competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York, Free Press. Shaw, M. 2003. E-business management integration of Web technologies with business models. Boston, Kluwer Academic. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=78455. Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form ‘E. Business,’ 1999. London (Vigilant House, 120 Wilton Rd., London SW1V 1JZ), Crimson Pub. ‘Amazon.com, Inc. SWOT Analysis,’ n.d. Business Source Complete. Munster, Data monitor Plc. http://proxy.library.carleton.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/direct.asp?db=bth&jid=%22DPA%22&scope=site&site=bsi. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More