E-Commerce Business Models And Concepts - Essay Example

? E-COMMERCE BUSINESS MODELS AND CONCEPTS by Introduction In the current business world, e commerce is considered a great alternative to traditional trading for companies and organisations looking to get a bigger market share. However, most of the e commerce website today have a short life span, and end up being ineffective due to a number of reasons. Due to this, they end up not meeting the set objectives and being ineffective. The core reason of this is poor development, and the fact that most of these sites do not meet minimum software quality requirements. As the business world becomes more competitive, website firmly hold the position of one of the most crucial tools a company must possess in order to maintain a competitive advantage. Armed with an e-commerce site companies become more flexible, and are able to adjust accordingly with market dynamics. It is evident that many companies now realize the importance of websites as a tool to gain market share and improve sales. This paper is intended to highlight the essential parts of quality e commerce sites, and through the identification of current market trends show the best concepts applicable in a successful online store. Business Background http://www.horchow.com/: The Horchow management structure consists of activities such as the allocation of tasks, supervision and coordination, which are directed towards the accomplishment of the aims of the company. The company structure mainly participates in the accomplishment of the company goals this is because the company has several dedicated employees whose main agenda is to assist the company to achieve his company's goals. Most flourishing companies like unique home decor, Paul Michael Company, Bensons would not have reached the places they are without their websites (Plumley & Wyrostek, 2011). Horchow has several supervisor is in each and every department, this ensures the employees work up to the required standard. This contributes to the making of designing high quality decor products because the management has catered everything governing the employees work. The company uses various business models to make it distinct from other companies. The business models also help to describe the organizational architecture of capture mechanisms, delivery which are employed by the company's enterprise. The company has applied business models such as, collecting intelligence, user generated content, and improving the available systems. It also uses transport services such as airline and private courier services to ensure their products are available all over the continent. The goals of the business are primarily marketing the products on sale and making sure they increase their profits though online sale and delivery. The company also seeks to be capable of running consumer satisfaction surveys so as to assist they gauge their progress. Finally, the ultimate goal is to ensure that the company becomes a reputable and among the most respected and successful in this field of business The website will, therefore, be designed so as to make sure the company achieves most of its goals in the most efficient way possible. The website will become a partial platform for the marketing department. This is because many people nowadays depend on the internet for many things, making it an easier place to access customers. The products will be marketed by posting them on the website and giving information on the latest home decors awaiting release and those already in the market. In order to enhance marketing, company will have to alias with the most visited websites and have accounts in social platforms such as Facebook, linked in, twitter and MySpace among others. Secondly the company will should be able to give customers the ability to purchase items and request them to get delivered to supported locations. The products shall be priced ant the availability of a customer to purchase the items collectively using a virtual card. This will allow them to shop for many products easily. The third aspect of this website is customer support. This will be implemented through the creation on the FAQs section, including live customer care support though chart or voice calls via Skype. This will help the improve customer experience because they will be capable to do have choices about the products they purchase, hence improve the company’s reputation. The final part of the website will be the ability to run consumer satisfaction surveys on the website. This will be done by first examining the counter of customers who have signed up to the company’s website. The second method is through the website daily count of the number of individuals who search, or visit the website. The final method is through consumer satisfaction rating through the 1/10 gauge after buying products and the comments that are left on the website. The comments will give provide to the company information to the company on which the customers feel ought to be changed. The company deals with sales of computers and their hardware, making it belong to one of the most competitive business field. It will have to find its ways through already established home decor companies like BOMBAY and Bensons. However, these are not the prime competitors the company’s major competitors sell almost the same items. In this case, we will analyse the general features that the websites of these companies are composed of. The first feature is the menu submenu organization that when highlighted, either drop down or move sideways. These make it easier for the customer to navigate around products. The second property that they harbour is graphics properties. These are crucial in attracting the consumer to the website. The other properties that most decor sales companies have are product specification details, reviews, and gallery and YouTube videos where applicable. This gives consumers more information about products. The products are usually priced in $ since it is the most commonly used trade currencies. In this area, we define all the things that the person is using the website will be able to do. On the website, a user will be able to view the product specifications and their prices. They will also be able to review them and or comment on their performance and durability. The user will also be able to purchase the products using flexible payment methods such as credit cards and online transactions such as PayPal, Payza, Pioneer and other online money transfer service provider (Shelly, Napier & Rivers, 2009). The customers will be able to hyperlink to the social platforms like Facebook and twitter through their accounts. There will also be access to the company’s information and history. The user will also be able to initiate an active video chat via Skype and a massage chart supported by the company. Finally, the company will be able to view marketed products in the company. The other new feature that will be added to the company is the ability of the user to place bids on selected products allowing them to buy products at selected prices. E commerce website quality The website will have to be marketed in order to make sure people are aware about it. This will be done through social media. The other way is through advertising on common website company such as Google, yahoo and other product sales website. It is also important for the company to partner with computer manufacturers such as Apple, Dell, HP. ASUS and Acer so as to endorse them as official and preferred dealer of their products. To retain customers, there will be videos on products, downloads in the form of pdf explaining on product specifications and social media categories in their accounts (Lawrence & Tavakol, 2007). Conclusion Websites have become a common platform for business transactions in the world today. This in turn brings up a challenge in terms of security, and it for this reason that security tops the preference list in featers of a good e commerce website. Security in this aspect not only protects customers’ interests, but also manages data and protects businesses from fraud. It is, therefore, crucial for each and every company to have an e store, and make sure that it is built according to the set standards (Brown, 2006). In this case, the website will serve the company as intended because it will increase market share and profits. References Plumley, G., & Wyrostek, W. E. (2011). Website design and development:. Indianapolis, IND: Wiley Pub. Brown, D. M. (2006). Communicating design: Developing web site documentation for design and planning. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press. Lawrence, D., & Tavakol, S. (2007). Balanced website design: optimizing aesthetics, usability and purpose. New York: Springer. Shelly, G. B., Napier, H. A., & Rivers, O. N. (2009). Web design: Introductory concepts and techniques. Boston, Mass: Course Technology. Teixeira, J. (2010). Your Google game plan for success: Increasing your web presence with Google AdWords, Analytics and Website Optimizer. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley. Read More