E-commerce Growth in Saudi Arabia

This assignment delves into the burgeoning e-commerce sector in Saudi Arabia. It examines various research studies that highlight the factors driving e-commerce adoption among both consumers and businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The analysis encompasses customer behavior, risk perceptions, website usability, and the influence of social commerce. Furthermore, the assignment addresses key challenges hindering e-commerce growth in Saudi Arabia, such as security threats and implementation difficulties.

Running head: E-COMMERCE & MARKETING
E-commerce &Marketing
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The report discusses about an E-commerce business in Saudi Arabia. There is description of the
product and services offered by the company, the business vision and statement of the company
mentioned in the report. The report also explains the business processes adopted by the E-
commerce along with a SWOT analysis. The report also gives pictorial representation of E-
commerce website design along a draft. The report also describes about the e-commerce system
functionality. There are also mentions of the suitable hardware and software necessary for
running the website. Further, the report also describes the security issues of the E-commerce
website and necessary solutions and recommendations for avoiding it.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
1. E-commerce Business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.............................................................4
a. Introduction about Business.....................................................................................................4
b. Product and Type of Services..................................................................................................4
c. Business Statement..................................................................................................................5
d. Business Vision.......................................................................................................................5
2. Explaining the Business E-commerce Processes.........................................................................5
3. Applying SWOT Analysis to the Business..................................................................................6
4. Determining the E-commerce Website Design...........................................................................8
a. How it will look Like in Terms of Design and Format............................................................8
5. E-commerce System Functionality..............................................................................................9
a. The Product Menu....................................................................................................................9
b. The Contact Button..................................................................................................................9
6. Suitable Software and Hardware Needed and Why?...................................................................9
a. Type of Functionality Needed in Website...............................................................................9
b. What type of hardware needed? Do you need a server or it will be in the cloud?................10
7. Identifying Security Issues and How to Avoid It......................................................................11
a. Type of Security.....................................................................................................................11
To whom or to what...................................................................................................................11

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b. Potential Threats to the Website............................................................................................11
c. Recommendation...................................................................................................................12
8. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................12
References:....................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The report gives a brief overview of an E-commerce business in Saudi Arabia. In this
context, there is description of the product and services offered by the company, the business
vision and statement of the company. There is also an explanation of the E-commerce business
processes adopted by the company along with a SWOT analysis. The report also has a pictorial
representation of E-commerce website design along with a brief description. There is also an
explanation of e-commerce system functionality in the report. The report also mentions the
suitable hardware and software necessary for running the website. Further, the report also
mentions about the security issues of an E-commerce website and the means adopted in order to
avoid it.
1. E-commerce Business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
a. Introduction about Business
The retail market in Saudi Arabia is experiencing a boom because of the overwhelming
young population. Therefore, E-commerce has been the biggest bet in capturing the fashion
market with increasing number of players trying to explore new opportunities (Alshehri, Drew,
and Alfarraj 2012). The new e commerce business that can have profound scope Saudi Arabia
known as Qua Roda that specifically focus on selling fashion apparels.
b. Product and Type of Services
The business will mainly deal with fashion and accessories. Presently since there is a
shortage of capital, therefore there is a segregation of the launch into four different categories
(Bahaddad, AlGhamdi and Houghton 2012). The company also plans to expand its products to

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men and children provided they find a steady market amongst the females. With the expansion,
the company also plans to start building a catalog.
c. Business Statement
The company focuses on helping people in getting the maximum value for the money
spent through the delivery of high quality fashion products. The e commerce company serves as
a one-stop destination of fashion for women where they can find everything at one go (Schmidt
and Cohen 2013). Thus, the company tries to simplify the effort that women have to put in while
choosing a dress or apparel.
d. Business Vision
The e commerce company focuses on presenting collections that are not only high end
but also represent latest designs. Therefore, the company tries to provide materials that are worth
the money paid by the customers. Each garment is a representation of the best solution provided
by the company. Further, the company also has the largest collection of women fashion and
apparel and plans to expand its products to men, babies and children along with a collection of
beauty products (Bahaddad, Houghton and Drew 2013). Therefore, the company moves forward
with the vision of becoming one of well-known company in the e commerce arena.
2. Explaining the Business E-commerce Processes
Whether one is buying at a store or making online purchase, everything revolves around
transaction that represents the basic exchange of money for services and goods (Al-Somali,
Gholami, and Clegg 2013). However, in a real world store, one is able to check out the product
before handing out the cash but online purchase allows one to check out and do a trial only when

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the product arrives home. The retailer apart from processing transactions also needs to check out
whether the specifications for the products mentioned by the customers are available in the stock
of the company before the delivery done to the mentioned address (Brosdahl and Almousa
2013). Thus, e commerce business has to deals with three different systems that include a web
server, a database and a dispatch system. The web server deals with managing the process
transactions and online storefront. On the other hand, the database system is able to keep a track
of all the items in the stock and the dispatch system linked to a warehouse that helps in locating a
particular good and ensures its dispatch to buyer as early as possible (Alqahtani, Al-Badi, and
Mayhew 2012).
The above-mentioned processes are however important in running the e commerce
company. However, many people successfully run the small-scale online business without
complicating the dispatch system or databases (Alqahtani and Wamba 2012). In such cases,
businesses simply have a website where they promote their business. Through the website, they
also take orders, manage stock control and ensure dispatch.
3. Applying SWOT Analysis to the Business
The SWOT analysis of the E commerce Business is as follows:
Strength
The new commerce company to open its doors in Saudi Arabia plans to provide cheaper
and faster shipping compared to other e commerce business existing in the country. The
company also provides niche products where people get a worth for their money (Alshehri Drew
and Alfarraj 2012). The company also seeks to be a one stop shopping destination of fashion

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apparel for women. However, Ecommerce Company is at an advantageous position due to its
structure since there is no operational cost involved.
Weakness
Cost is an important factor in an E commerce business and always creates a headache.
This is because there are times when shipping of heavy, bulky and perishable goods can be quite
expensive. There are also security concerns, as most people feel reluctant in using their credit
cards (Al-Somali, Gholami and Clegg 2013). This is a platform where customers only have to
decide by seeing the look of the product that might sometimes make them apprehensive about
quality issues while ordering the products.
Opportunities
E commerce is a business that changes on an everyday basis. The improvements in
shopping carts software can create a smoother, quicker and customer friendly shopping
experience for the E commerce business. There are also facilities for live chat that can improve
customer service. Big data analytics also provide act as an opportunity for e commerce
companies as it helps them to understand preferences of the customers (Al-Maghrabi and Dennis
2012). The E commerce can also make their promotions on various social media websites
thereby making ensuring low cost promotions.
Threats
The E commerce business must always look for broader shifts in the industry that might
affect its growth that includes regulatory and legal changes. E commerce companies also face a
constant threat of low barriers for entry.

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4. Determining the E-commerce Website Design
Figure: Website Design of E commerce Business
Source: By Author
a. How it will look Like in Terms of Design and Format
The website design of an E commerce company is an important factor in determining the
failure or success of the business. Thus, the E commerce website is attractive but at the same
time usable, reliable and secure. Further, the site is easily navigable to the clients without
creation of any kind of confusion there is a separate section for describing the home page,
fashion items for women, accessories, bags, about us and contact us. On the top right site there is
a cart added where people can choose and add the items they want to buy (Bahaddad, Houghton,
and Drew 2013). However, on the top left hand side there is a section called my account where

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customers can create their account and make payments accordingly. There are also options for
payments via PayPal that helps in faster processing due to its in built credit card processing
features for handling transactions (Makki and Chang, 2014)
Therefore, setting an online store is a task in itself because to run the business one has to
build a dedicated website from scratch. There business also needs to develop a dedicated
merchant system that will be responsible for processing transactions.
5. E-commerce System Functionality
a. The Product Menu
The product menu is the main portion of the e commerce website that provides details
about each product of the company. The products segregated under various headings like women
dress, women shoes, and women bags and accessories (Goh et.al 2013). One stoke at each of
these headings gives detail about the available options of the various products in various color,
sizes and styles.
b. The Contact Button
The contact button of the E commerce website will not only have the location and the contact
details of the company but it will also provide social media links which will enable the customers
in finding the products of the company in various social media platforms like Facebook and
Instagram(Ariyani and Mandiri 2015).

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6. Suitable Software and Hardware Needed and Why?
a. Type of Functionality Needed in Website
The system adopted for management of a company’s client interactions refers to Client
Relationship Management (CRM) system. The CRM solution for an E commerce company
designed specifically keeping in mind the sales. This is because the CRM platform forms the
basis of determining information related to customers that includes interests, shopping habits and
shipping preferences (Huang and Benyoucef 2013). Thus, an efficient CRM system is able to
determine a clear journey map of the customers thereby allowing the business to come up with
marketing strategies meant for increasing sales. Therefore, CRM solution of an e commerce
company helps them to not only store, organize and gather but also analyze information about
the customers of the company.
b. What type of hardware needed? Do you need a server or it will be in the cloud?
The hardware required for an E commerce business includes a keyboard, mouse, CPU
(tower), modem, network card and a VOIP phone and handset that enable making calls over the
internet (Niranjanamurthy et. al 2013).
The CRM software used by the e commerce company is Salesforce, the world’s largest
CRM software provider. The software ensures efficient and unique CRM facilities known as
Salesforce IQ (Turban et.al 2015). This software used for its unique facilities more so if the
business grows in size then business can immediately get it upgraded to Salesforce sales cloud
CRM with the help of artificial intelligence.

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7. Identifying Security Issues and How to Avoid It
a. Type of Security
To whom or to what
Thus, in E commerce business safety is of utmost importance to the online retailers as well as the
customers. The type of security required for securing for E commerce website includes(Laudon
and Traver 2013):
 Upgrading the hosting process
 Making use of secure HTTPS hosting
 Keeping the software updated
 Basic level security to the administrator
 Performing regular backups
 By avoiding storage of sensitive data
 By Using Fraud Prevention Geo location software
 By Using Hacker Protection Software
 Creating a Security Manual
 Through the usage of a content delivery network
b. Potential Threats to the Website
Either the threats for an e commerce business can be technical or business related. The situations
that can lead to potential threats to the website are as follows (Matbouli and Gao 2012):
 When the number of orders catered in a day is huge as it involves high operational cost.
 Situations where delivery is not accepted also poses a threat in terms of higher cost.
 Attempt of the Hackers in stealing steal information or disrupting the site

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 When the server that contains customer information is lost or stolen
 There may be presence of impostors who can mirror the ecommerce site with the purpose
of stealing customer money
 With the presence of huge number of products, making clear distinction between fake
products becomes difficult.
 People may misuse the money of the investor
c. Recommendation
The recommendations are as follows:
 By avoiding hosting of multiple sites within the main E commerce site
 Regular patching of the systems
 Performing Penetration Test that will enable protecting the site from the hackers
 Installing a web application firewall
8. Conclusion:
The report concludes by giving recommending means on maintaining a secured website.
There is also a mention of the type of securities undertaken for an e commerce website and the
potential threats. The report also discusses about the suitable hardware and software used by the
e commerce company in running its business. There is also discussion about the E commerce
functionality in context of the product button and contact details of the company. There is also a
pictorial representation of the E- commerce website along with a draft provided in the report.
The report also does a SWOT analysis along with a brief description of the business, its
statement and vision.

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