E-Commerce Business Skills: A Case Study of Ben's Fruit and Vegetables

This report examines the core business functions of Ben's Fruit and Vegetables, a London-based food retailer, and evaluates the potential impact of implementing an e-commerce system. It analyzes the risks and benefits of e-commerce, investigates market potential, and evaluates current e-commerce systems used by competitors. The report concludes with a detailed design for an e-commerce solution tailored to Ben's Fruit and Vegetables, considering factors like user interface, navigation, security, and legislative compliance.

BUSINESS SKILLS FOR
E-COMMERCE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
P1.1 Assess the core business functions of your selected organisation.......................................2
P1.2 Evaluate Ben’s fruit and vegetables business aims and show how they relate to their
stakeholders.................................................................................................................................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
P2.1 Analyse the impact, including the risks, of introducing an e-Commerce system to the
Ben’s fruit and vegetables...........................................................................................................6
2.2 Discuss the global impact of e-Commerce on society in relation to the organization..........8
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
P3.1 using appropriate research methodologies, Investigate market potential for an e-
Commerce opportunity................................................................................................................9
P3.2 Evaluate current e-Commerce systems in use by similar organisations (competitors).....11
P3.3 Discuss the financial implications of e-Commerce solution.............................................12
P3.4 Design an ecommerce solution to enhance the business functions of your chosen
organization...............................................................................................................................14
P3.5 Evaluate the suitability of the e-Commerce......................................................................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Current site map.............................................................................................................14
Figure 2: Site map for major pages................................................................................................15
Figure 3: Story board for order processing....................................................................................16
Figure 4: Authorization process.....................................................................................................16
Figure 5: Authentication process...................................................................................................17
Figure 6: Clearing and settlement..................................................................................................17

Introduction
Ecommerce means to use the internet as the online shop to reach the customers and sale the
products. It is being preferred in the era of digital technology to save the time and cost and
enhance the reach more number of customers. Report will discuss the core functions of the Ben’s
fruit and vegetable limited which is a growing food retail organization in London. The report will
also discuss the business aim and objectives of the organization to adopt the ecommerce system.
It will discuss how the ecommerce can be adopted in business operations with the consideration
of the risks and impacts on business and society. The report will also highlight the market
potentials with ecommerce, financial implications and current systems in use in other
organization. Also the design and suitability of the system will be discussed in context of the
organization.
1

Task 1
P1.1 Assess the core business functions of your selected organisation
Ben’s fruit and vegetables is a Private Limited organization which is based in London, the UK
and provide health and fresh groceries products in the market. Ben’s fruit and vegetables sell
various types of products at the very wider range. The main functions of this organization are to
provide best and fresh quality of products such as- nuts and seeds, oils, jams, fruit juice, eggs,
honey and spices to their customers. As a fruit and vegetable organization there are different
types of core business functions which are covered and considered by them which are discussed
as below:
Major market: Vegetables and fruits are mainly produced by season, but the market always
requires these types of products. But sometimes these types of the organization who are dealing
in this sector are facing many issues regarding product availability. Ben’s fruit and vegetable
cover this by their core functions in which they match up with their customers demand by two
ways like- selling fresh products within a period of harvest and process the rest for meeting the
demand during the whole year (Core business functions of Ben’s fruits and vegetables, 2018). As
the technology improved in the market with the increased customer's income, so it becomes
easily to supply or provide best and fresh quality of products to them on a daily basis.
Fresh market: With the increased customer income, the demand for the fresh product is also
increased in the market. This will force these types of organization to sell or supply fresh
products throughout the year among their customers. So it becomes the core and major function
of Ben’s fruit and vegetables to provide quality of products to their customers. The organization
has some chain stores in the market, and they get connected with large retailers to buy or
purchase the products directly and then provide to their targeted customers in large or small
areas. The core function of this organization is to produce their marketing plan or strategy so that
they can promote their products and services to the customers.
Identify market demand: Ben’s fruit and vegetable core function are to identify or evaluate the
market trends and demand of their customers (Kurnia et al, 2015). Market research must be done
in respect of the marketing techniques so that they can identify whether other organizations are
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using traditional marketing or e-commerce for selling their products in the market between the
customers. With the help of this function, they can understand their customer buying decision
and behaviour when they are planning to buy these types of products.
3

P1.2 Evaluate Ben’s fruit and vegetables business aims and show how they relate to their
stakeholders
Every organization including Ben’s fruit and vegetables have their individual and own aims and
objectives which they need to cover and achieve through various types of strategies. Aims and
objectives of the organization are related to improving health and nutrition outcomes from the
quality of products and services. Following are the aims and objectives of the organization:
Aims of Ben’s fruit and vegetables
They need to improve their product quality through which they can attract customers. The
organization aims to develop their position in the market by enhancing their quality of products.
Objectives of Ben’s fruit and vegetables
The objective is to improve health and nutrition outcomes of the vulnerable segments of
the entire population with the foods and products available which will increase the intake
of the fruits and vegetables.
Development of the food production systems that are based on the diversification of
agricultural and water conservation (Aims and objectives of Ben’s fruits and vegetables,
2018).
The objective is to increase the use of technology for the ply of products and services to
the customers in this competitive market.
There objective is to expand their market-oriented food supply in the market which will
increase their food supply standard between the customers.
Target market of the organization
Ben’s fruit and vegetables target mainly a group of individual whom which this organization
wants to sell their products and services. Target the market is the processes through which
organization can understand the market analysis to sell their food products. This will also involve
the middle as well as high income of the customers and all the age of people. Ben’s fruit and
vegetable organization target female or a housewife or working women who buy fruits and
vegetables for their family just to make them healthy. When Ben’s fruit and vegetable
organization understands target market, then they can easily create strategies and techniques for
achieving the expectations and loyalty of their customers (Cross et al, 2015).
4

Some issues or threats faced by organization
There are many threats and issues faced by them which the enhancement in e-commerce in this
competitive market and this will affect the income and revenue structure of the organization. It is
important for an organization to make objectives for implementing e-commerce in their business.
Strong customers base and product quality are the main strengths of the organization.
Aims and objectives relate with the stakeholders
The organization has internal as well as external stakeholders who are related to the aims and
objectives of the organization. Customers are the main stakeholders of the organization, and they
are the major income source for them. Employees are also stakeholders of the organization, and
they are treated as the assets. Profit and revenue of the organization are based on the stakeholders
and their requirement which need to be satisfied by them (Sala et al, 2015). Market competition
is the biggest threat to the organization which they need to retain their employees and to attract
customers.
5

Task 2
P2.1 Analyse the impact, including the risks, of introducing an e-Commerce system to the Ben’s
fruit and vegetables
E-commerce system associated risk
There are some of the advantages or benefits which are adopted by the e-commerce in this
organization, but still, there are several types of issues in the e-commerce which put bad impact
on the customer base. There are various types of challenges which are faced by the organization
and that will influence them to promote the utilization of e-commerce in their business
operations and functions:
Consumer’s location and address
Right location and address related to the customers are needed in the e-commerce. Due to wrong
information about the customers creates various types of issues and problems for the
organization (Turban et al, 2015). Sometimes appropriate location and address of the customers
will fail the e-commerce transactions which are created by the organization and its team. If e-
commerce sites create issues, then customers will get afraid to purchase online products and
services from Ben’s fruits and vegetables. If customers also provide wrong information to the
organization, then it will create problem while delivering the products.
Customer effective feedback
Effective feedback from the customer is required to be taken by the organization regarding e-
commerce, and if customers do not give a proper response to them, then it will affect their
business functions. If issues occur in the business, and its functions than customers will move
towards another fruit and vegetable brand that will reduce the development and growth of Ben’s
fruit and vegetables. If consumers are not satisfied with the services of the organization, then
they can to select another website to buy their valuable products and that will affect their profit
ratio (Fang et al, 2014).
E-commerce delivery system and impact of introducing e-commerce
Sales increase
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The organization enhances their business market by providing goods and services through online
which will increase the organizational sale, and this is beneficial for them also. They also
achieve many competitive benefits through e-commerce.
Overcome limitation of geographic
With the help of e-commerce websites they can offer and deliver their products and services to
their targeted customers, and this will increase their sales also (Li and Karahanna, 2015).
Transaction of e-commerce will be done in the entire world which will reduce the boundary
location for the organization.
E-commerce impact on the customers
With the help of e-commerce strategy, there are various types of positive impact that are created
by the organization on their customers. E-commerce online website can help customers to select
their choice of products with a variety of products. This type of service will attract customers,
and they maintain their loyalty to Ben’s fruits and vegetables.
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2.2 Discuss the global impact of e-Commerce on society in relation to the organization
Utilization of e-commerce strategy in the business will create some positive as well as negative
impact on the society in respect of Ben’s fruits and vegetables. Following are the global impact
of the e-commerce on the society in relation to the organization:
Positive global impact of the e-commerce on the social society
Product customization in the e-commerce sites is done as per the requirements, demands,
and needs of the customers.
With the help of e-commerce, platform organization can do direct marketing and
promotion of their goods and services which will attract customers. Through e-commerce
business can easily reach to the global market.
E-commerce sites provide flexibility in respect of the defect product change, but this is
quite difficult in the retail outlet which is one of the important positive impacts of e-
commerce on the society and business also (Miller et al, 2016).
These will also help to maintain and manage effective goodwill and brand image in this
competitive market. Customers can easily recognize the product of Ben’s Fruits and
Vegetables among other products.
Negative global impact of the e-commerce on the social society
Website hacking is one of the biggest issues which is faced by the organization when
they usages e-commerce platform. Hackers can steal the personal and confidential
information and details of the customers.
E-commerce offers less data or information to the customers about the products and
services due to which customers do not understand the actual condition of the product
and its quality (Qu et al, 2015).
All the promises done by the organization are cannot be fulfilled through e-commerce in
respect of the delivery duration and also charge extra amount for home delivery.
Customers cannot touch and feel the products in the e-commerce platform which will
sometimes disappoint the customers after receiving the product. In the e-commerce, a
guarantee of the product and its quality is also weak which will create a negative impact.
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Task 3
P3.1 using appropriate research methodologies, Investigate market potential for an e-Commerce
opportunity
Ben’s fruits and vegetables are the organization who sells fresh fruits and vegetables to their
customers. Groceries products are provided by the organization in the UK market and mainly in
the London. In the current time, the organization has an insufficient number of customers due to
which their sales per year are quite low. To achieve and investigate the market potential for an e-
commerce opportunity in respect of Ben’s fruits and vegetables, a team of the organization uses
various types of research methodologies in which secondary data collection is used.
With the help of secondary data collection or research method, an organization can identify the
records and past surveys of the customers regarding e-commerce success (Sriram et al, 2015).
Books, old records, past surveys, past customer feedbacks or magazines are considered for
researching e-commerce market potential. Following are the e-commerce market potentiality that
shows its opportunity in the market is investigated or evaluated by conducting secondary
research method:
Business investigation
Every organization has their first need to forecast their business so that they can use e-commerce
system that will help them to identify and understand the segmentation of the customers. With
the help of this, they can increase their revenue and income in this competitive market. For
working efficiency and to reduce the organizational efforts they can utilize automated operations.
Maintain strong customer base
Ben’s fruits and vegetable organization can influence and attract more customers with the use of
e-commerce technique in which they sell their fresh fruits and vegetables through online sites
(Sharma and Lijuan, 2014). The organization provides 24x7 services for online transactions
which will influence the customer to buy their products anytime and anywhere.
Sales
9

With the help of e-commerce, this organization can easily attract their targeted customers so that
they can buy their products and services among all other brands. The organization can easily
reach to their targeted customers with the online platform because there are no limitations and
boundaries which can stop organization to get connected with the customers. To enhance the
sales and revenue they can use marketing strategies so that they can reach directly to them.
Digital payment process
E-commerce platform used by the organization will also provide digital payment facility or
services to their customers. This will save operational cost in the business functions which may
occur due to processing cost and payment collection (Gregory et al, 2017). Refund process also
become with the use of e-commerce because this will provide a digital system for payment.
With the implementation of e-commerce strategy by Ben’s fruits and vegetables they can
improve their revenue and sales or profit which will lead them towards high growth and
development. Set targets and objectives are also achieved and attained by the organization which
will provide strength to them in product selling.
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P3.2 Evaluate current e-Commerce systems in use by similar organisations (competitors)
There are various types of the organization who are using e-commerce system to increase their
productivity and sales in this competitive market. ASDA is one of the biggest competitive
organizations of Ben’s fruit and vegetables, and they use online selling technique to increase
their sales by selling their products and services. ASDA is the biggest and leading supermarket
which is based in the UK and also provides grocery products to the customers. E-commerce
system is used by ASDA to attract their customers, and this will be identified by using the
following type of factors:
System for payment
Under the e-commerce system, ASDA provides online and digital payment system to their
customers through whom they can avoid cash transactions and cash on delivery issues (Kim and
Peterson, 2017). This type of payment system will attract the customers because customers will
get more choice while selecting products and services. The organization accepts various types of
carts and banking services for payment.
Services provided to the customers
Under the e-commerce system, all the services provided by the ASDA to their customers are
very effective and efficient. These types of effective services provided by ASDA to customers
will influence them to maintain their long-term relationship with this organization, and this will
increase the sales of ASDA. With the help of online mail, customers can provide their feedback
to the organization regarding their services and quality of the product (Li and Karahanna, 2015).
A team of ASDA can consider the issues and queries of the customers, and according to this,
they can resolve their issues.
Website interface
ASDA website interface is very effective because it is easy to use cart system, browser all
categories and use modes of payment. Entire interface of the e-commerce system is very efficient
to attract more customers who are beneficial for ASDA as well as for customers. This e-
commerce system is very effective to sell and buy the products and also to attract the customers.
This will also provide more and more product and quality choice to the customers so that they
can select best among all brands.
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P3.3 Discuss the financial implications of e-Commerce solution
Ben’s fruits and vegetables need to consider the e-commerce implementation because of
enhancing their functions so that they can focus on the cost in which following requirements are
included:
Sales cost
The organization can reduce sales cost after implementation of e-commerce which is one of the
main positive impacts of e-commerce implications. Selling cost of products and the third-party
cost is reduced by the organization which will help them to enhance their growth and
development in the market. With the direct sale, the organizational cost can be reduced, and this
will help them to manage their overtime also.
Start-up capital cost
There are some costs which are invested by the organization during e-commerce start-up such as-
hosting cost, designing cost and visibility cost (Leeflang et al, 2014). Hosting cost will be done
by the organization from their machines and server for the reliability and high security. Website
designing also requires high investment, but this will provide high security which is beneficial
for this organization. Ben’s fruits and vegetables have invested in some of the search engines so
that they can easily reach to the customers and that will provide wider product selection category
to the customers. Online stores provide more visibility of the search engine.
Security cost
When every organization implements e-commerce system, they require high security to secure
their customer's details and organization information. Due to ensuring the information to their
customers, security cost is needed to be invested by them in the e-commerce system. In the e-
commerce system, security is necessary to reduce the impact of risk in the system and manage
the loyalty of the customers (Turban et al, 2018).
Hardware and software maintenance cost
Machines on which e-commerce sites are used are the hardware and the internal processor or
version used are the software which is required to be updated ion timely basis. It is essential for
the organization and its team to upgrade the system and its software with the new version so that
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they can use new updated features. For this type require the high cost to be invested in updating
hardware and software, but this is beneficial for them as well as for their customers.
13

P3.4 Design an ecommerce solution to enhance the business functions of your chosen
organization
E-commerce design of the website has main consideration on the user interface, navigation
system, hierarchical model, sitemap, storyboards and payment system interface. Therefore the
components considered for the website of the organization are given below:
Navigation system: The organization has to use the effective navigation system to meet the easy
browsing related needs of the customers. For example, the desktop version can contain a wide
and well categorised navigation bar with sticky behaviour. Also the mobile version of website
can use the flexible and popup like navigation to save the content space. Also properly
categorised links are required to assist the users for browsing (Huang and Benyoucef, 2013).
Hierarchical model: E-commerce website can be based on the hierarchical model in which
products can be classified within grid whereas the online shop, payment system, about us and
contact pages can be properly arranged in the hierarchical manner. For example, the articles can
be classified in the blog section whereas news can be put under news links. It helps to understand
the website for users.
Sitemap: It can be defined as the list of links or the pages on the website. Sitemap of the website
is given below in which all the potential links are shown those are visible to the users. It helps to
establish the link management and easy browsing on the website.
Figure 1: Current site map
14

Figure 2: Site map for major pages
Storyboard: It is used to illustrate the sequence of the pages those are used to accomplish the
specific requirements. It is useful to engage the non-technical users in the website and
understand the process for order completion or payment system (Kamoun and Halaweh, 2012).
For example, below is the storyboard for the website visit and order processing.
Search on Google: Ben’s Food
and Vegetables
Click on link or visit
bensfruitveg.com
Select the product category
Select prodduct and add to cart Review cart Feed details for shipping
15
FruitVegetablesGroceriesRawReadymadeFreshFruitproductsVegetablesCartMyordersMywishlistPendingordersSigninorregisterSigninRegister

Feed details for payment Processing orders Confirmation
Figure 3: Story board for order processing
Payment system: From the variety of the payment gateway system, the organization can use the
PayPal as the payment system which has options to pay from the card, collect on cash on
delivery and pay through the net banking options. It has vast support for the various types of the
cards and ensures that the transaction is secure and fast.
Figure 4: Authorization process
16

Figure 5: Authentication process
Figure 6: Clearing and settlement
17

P3.5 Evaluate the suitability of the e-Commerce
Ecommerce system design for the organization can be evaluated on the basis of the following
factors those are crucial for the organization to meet the goal as well as customer expectation:
Site performance: The home page of the website has faster loading time which helps to engage
the customers on the website. A longer wait time for the loading can demote the users and they
might leave the website. Average loading time of the main pages is less than 6 seconds.
Site appearance: The site has user friendly interface for mobile and desktops. Also it has proper
use of the space on the screen to present the products and services in the clear and well arranged
manner (Mohapatra, 2013). Theme and images are very clear and related to the organizational
activities. Overall site appearance is responsive and attractive to meet the browsing and shopping
related demands of the customers.
Costing and time: However, cost and time required to complete the ecommerce is reduced with
the use of woo-commerce and other ecommerce platforms those are directly integrated on the
website. In same manner, the cost is saved with the backend support services and faster
integration of the payment system. It has helped to save the cost and time with automation for the
design and maintenance.
Site security: Security certificates and encryptions are used on the site to enhance the security of
the website. The transactions on the site are protected with encryption to enhance the site
security. Policies for the digital certificates, strong password on the user accounts and alternative
but effective authentication systems are used to manage the security for the financial as well as
information protection (Nilashi et al, 2015).
Legislative suitability: The website has notification for the cookies whereas clear policies and
terms for the password and other personal information management so that user can review and
understand the rights. The website is also designed with the consideration of the local legislative
frameworks to avoid the conflicts and enhance the suitability among the users.
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Conclusion
E-commerce system or strategy used in the business help them to enhance their business in this
competitive market because, in the current time, online services have established their essential
places in the market. While considering this factor, this report has suggested Ben’s fruits and
vegetable organization to use or implement e-commerce system in their business so that they can
reduce operational cost or processing cost also. With the help of this report it has been concluded
that as per the aims and objectives of the organization, use of e-commerce system become
essential for them. Apart from this, this report has also discussed that there are some of the issues
which may be faced by the organization while using e-commerce such as- lack of product
quality, associated risk, etc. With the help of secondary research method, there are various types
of positive points regarding e-commerce are also discussed. This report also has design e-
commerce solution for this organization.
19

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