E-commerce Business Success Factors

This assignment explores the critical elements required for a successful e-commerce venture. It examines various aspects such as target market understanding, effective business models, marketing strategies, website design, logistics operations, customer service delivery, and the importance of building a competent team. The analysis emphasizes the strategic approach needed to establish a thriving online business in today's competitive landscape.

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Running Head: e- Strategic Management
e- Strategic Management
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e- Strategic Management
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Ecommerce represents rapid business potential for future investors with the ever changing
technological world. The extent to which technology has brought the world into one global
village has necessitated shift of attention to ecommerce to bring shopping services more closely
to the buyers. The world is rapidly changing and so are the marketing trends the world over.
Therefore, this plan seeks to highlight the approach taken by shopeasy.com online shopping
platform to advance their business. It involves the organization’s business value, market strategy,
and human resources constitution and values.

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e- Strategic Management
Introduction
The rapid advancement in technology in recent times has led to shrinking of the world
into a small global village. It is amazing how technology has brought the world together and how
businesses have advanced to produce, disseminate and sell goods world over with the aid of
technology. The world of business has evolved into an ecommerce stage whereby, markets are
no longer going to exist physically but rather, on the internet, and this is what is referred to as the
ecommerce business (Gao).
Ecommerce refers to the business process of buying goods and selling goods over the
internet. It is a new emerging business trend in the contemporary world (SMC Digital).
Businesses have gone online which enables potential customers to buy whatever they need and
have the products delivered to them after the payments. Ecommerce as a form of business saves
time, and reduces the hectic processes of having to walk to the market place to buy goods.
Therefore, in this case, my online ecommerce business is shopeasy.com. It is a startup
online market place that will aim at providing all the online shopping solutions from electronic
appliances to kitchen appliances and clothing products among others. Electronic commerce
entails different models (Menon, 2014), and as an entrepreneur, understanding a model that fits
your business is the most significant factor in this field. Hence, shopeasy.com will employ the
merchant ecommerce model which specifically entails sellers and buyers meeting over the web
to transact business. It is a basically employing the old retail model mode into ecommerce,
enabling people to buy goods and services over the internet. While ecommerce has numerous
characteristics that differentiate it from the traditional commerce, online ordering of goods and
logistics support is one of the primary characteristics that differentiate it from the rest.

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e- Strategic Management
Value Proposition
The starting of the shopeasy.com is motivated by the fact that there has been a huge
market gap in the online business sector. People and potential customers like engaging in time-
saving business processes as well as favourable prices on top of their priority list (Vu, 2013). The
online platform seeks to address the need for customers to access products they deem rare to find
and improve seller-buyer relationship which boosts the trust of the buyer towards the seller.
Increased relations between the business and the customers will in return lead to increased
positive review feedback in regard to the services offered by shopeasy.com.
First and foremost, the business seeks to address the factor of time. In traditional
commerce, the buyers spend considerable amount of time walking around shop after shop,
market after market or mall after mall looking for the specific products they want to purchase.
But with this platform, it will be much easier with the availability of the products just a click
away from the customers’ computers at home (Goldmanis, Hortacsu, Syverson, & Emre, 2009).
Most buyers prefer having what they need from home or a place they deem be comfortable.
The shopeasy.com site will offer a wide range of services and products to the online
buyers. These will include electronic appliances, ranging from computers to kitchen equipments
and entertainment gadgets. Other products such as clothing will be made available in different
fashions among other numerous products. The ecommerce business platform will further add
product review and rating section to enable the customers express their opinion about the product
they acquire (Bobbala & Murugan, 2008). Most importantly, shopeasy.com will offer product
delivery services for its customers. Logistics services including shipping of products from
overseas suppliers will add gloss to this dynamic business venture really worth trying.

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e- Strategic Management
Market Opportunity
The shopeasy.com ecommerce business dynamic range of operations intends to satisfy a
variety of consumers. But since it is an online business platform, segmentation and target of the
individual groups of potential customers is a significant process. It narrows down on which
particular group of people a business will address their needs depending on their demand of
goods and services on the platform. Having a target market for your goods as a seller expands
selling options and eliminates aimless sales (Lee, Ze, Chen, & Fan). Hence, shopeasy.com will
target particular groups of people, including the young adults and the middle class.
The young adults exhibit greater confidence in use of technology. They are versatile and
dynamic and willing to try out new technological trends, hence their suitability to ecommerce
platforms such shopeasy.com is inevitable. Having a vibrant target market such as the young
adults will be an added advantage to the business, as they enhance the activeness through their
constant inquiries, product reviews and service feedbacks that will aid the business in a self-
check analysis for rectifications and service improvements (Mahadevan, 2000). On the other
hand, the middle class population is a crucial target for most businesses. They comprise the
largest groups of consumers in most global economies and they are the huge spenders. The
middle class is characterized by overspending on new products in the market; therefore, having
them as a target market will surely boost the business performance and potential.
The main advantage about the young adults and the middle class market segments is that
they make the majority of buyers for most businesses. They are the largest consumers which will
make shopeasy.com have a wide network of buyers. With the use of the internet making it easy
to access the online platform, the market size is predicted to have unlimited size.

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e- Strategic Management
Cost Structure and Revenue Model
It is important to note that the primary objective of most business ventures is generation
of revenue which results in profits and shopeasy.com is not excluded. The success of an
ecommerce business relies heavily on the type of revenue model(s) adopted, depending on what
the business want to achieve (UnLtd). The cost structure involves the total business expenditure
used in the running of the business. The shopeasy.com online platform will look forward to
utilizing more than one revenue model, i.e. the merchant model, and the advertising model.
The venture will earns its revenues majorly on the sales of goods and services through the
online shopping, which will make up of the 80% percent revenue source. However, the
additional revenue sources which will be gained from logistics and postage services offered by
the platform will count. In addition, shopeasy.com will provide an open advertising space for
various willing advertisers, and all these activities will provide a good source of income. With a
starting annual budget set at $50 million, shopeasy.com will harness all the available possible
avenues to generate an estimated $80 million in revenues, which represents a $30 million net
profit annually and a sustained near $100 million dollars in a three years period.
Given the market gap which conspicuously is visible in ecommerce, shopeasy.com stands
to reap big. In a technological age whereby almost every individual is relying on the technology
to solve their problems, then online shopping will become one of the most utilized forms of
buying and selling products and services. Increased demands of online products has increased in
recent years, a circumstance that will signal the start of a competition era, which will mean that
only the best survives. But the prospects of huge business returns on investments projected from
ecommerce epitomizes the financial viability of the venture.

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e- Strategic Management
Market Strategy
Any business venture understands the importance of creating awareness about its
existence to its customers. Promotional practices are very significant in advancing the marketing
agenda of the firm through. It is, therefore important to create an advertising campaign that
would generate traffic towards your website and your products. The shopeasy.com start up
budget includes the marketing budget to cater for promotional activities. While the traditional
commerce employs the normal traditional marketing strategy of 4Ps (Frolova, 2014), ecommerce
can easily advertise itself. It important to note however, that 4Ps can still be used.
The shopeasy.com venture will rely on the online promotion of its activities including use
of social media to promote the business. The most top effective social media sites includes
Facebook, twitter, Instagram and Google plus. They are the most populous in terms of users. The
business will intensify its marketing through social sites to reach its followers. The constant
running of promoted ads and even a possibility of mainstream media such as the television ads
and the radio advertising will boost the presence of the shopeasy.com business activities (Nimble
Division). Furthermore, shopeasy.com will create a mobile app that enables easier and direct
access to the shopping platform without having to visit the website from a browser.
The online shopping platform will employ promotional tactics such as reduction of prices
through discounts, frequent limited offers on most sought after products, free delivery of the
fully paid products as well as effective customer service towards the customers by providing an
outstanding support from the communications team towards the clients. For the review and
tracking of the business performance, customer feedbacks and activities will determine what
course of action is necessary to improve the services of the platform.

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e- Strategic Management
Human Resources
The prosperity of a business is enhanced by the team that propels it (Pal), and that is why
having the right workforce is fundamental for the growth of the business (Hussain & Ahmad,
2012). In terms of requirements on what type of the organizational team is required to power the
performance of the platform, shopeasy.com will require a strong team guided by highest level of
cooperation. With cooperation and coordination then it gets easier for task coordination, which
results in best customer service delivery to the clients (Tubey, Rotich, & Kurgat, 2015). The
expansion and growth of the activities within the organization will lead to an increased
workforce to spearhead the operations and selecting the right team will be very important.
The communications team to provide online support is necessary; the same applies to the
technical team which oversees the efficient and smooth running of the platform’s website.
Furthermore, regional managers will be required to provide physical contact with the customers
in case they have a question they cannot address online through the firm’s website. The
organization will also require the logistics team who will deal directly with the delivery of
purchased goods to the right buyers after payments are completed. The top management, all the
stakeholders, the suppliers and business partners should also understand the organizational
values and goals in provision of quality services that customers appreciate.
Conclusively, ecommerce business is taking over the modern world, and it is becoming
easier to have all your shopping needs sorted out online via an efficient website trading. But the
success of ecommerce business venture requires a well strategized approach as well; from
understanding your target market to the models an entrepreneur wishes to employ in his/her
business practices. The business potential exhibited indicates a bright future in ecommerce.

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e- Strategic Management
References
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Frolova, S. (2014). The Role Of Advertising In Promoting A Product . Thesis: Centria
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Gao, J. (n.d.). Introduction to E-Commerce. Computer Information & Systems Engineering .
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Hussain, M., & Ahmad, M. (2012). Mostly Discussed Research areas in Human Resource
Management (HRM) – A Literature Review . International Journal of Economics and
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Lee, C.-S., Ze, Y., Chen, Y. G., & Fan, Y.-H. (n.d.). Structure and Components of E-Commerce
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Nimble Division. (n.d.). The Importance of Marketing Strategy. Marketing Strattegy: The
Foundation Of Your Brand , 2-10.
Pal, K. (n.d.). Management Concepts and Organizational Behaviour . MC-101, 2-720.

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SMC Digital. (n.d.). Ecommerce Marketing Plan . A Marketing Plan Template by SMC .
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