Impact of E-commerce on Traditional Businesses: A Technological Solution

Final Paper
Introduction
This paper discusses about the impact of e-commerce websites and the support that these
websites would provide to the different traditional businesses. The report discusses about the
various kinds of business processes that should be followed by the concerned business to shift
towards the e-commerce platform. The paper would also put focus on the different kinds of
privacy concerns that are in relation to the online platforms (Turban et al., 2017). The report also
discusses about the two different kinds of technologies that would be able to support the business
and thus be able to expand the business.
Problem Statement
This report focuses on the problem that is faced by the business owner in choosing a
particular technology during the shift of the brick-and-mortar business to an e-commerce
platform. The primary problem of concern is in relation to the different forms of security and
consumer privacy that should be protected internally. In the present form, the business has a
basic website that has a list of their products and the customers could just be able to purchase
items from their retail store (Hartono et al., 2014). The problem is that the business owner thinks
that they are left behind in the highly competitive market and thus are thinking of a shift to the e-
commerce platform.
Two Technologies
The technologies that would be put together within the present business are Social
Computing and Wireless, Mobile Computing and Mobile Commerce. These technologies would
be able to suffice to the needs of the business and could also serve the customers in an efficient
manner.

Business Requirements
Objectives
The main objective of the brick-and-mortar business is to generate new form of revenue
based on the impacts made by e-commerce platforms. The owner of the business is deciding to
streamline the processes of the business based on integrating the traditional business model with
the new e-commerce platform. The project is based on making use of the latest technologies that
would be able to support the business based on choosing of their e-commerce platform. The
business should also review the privacy and security issues in relation to the e-business platform.
Project Description
The primary purpose of the project is to choose the proper technological platform that
would be able to support the current business model of the business. Based on the final
achievable state of the project, there are certain aspects that should be addressed:
 Based on achieving the objectives of the business, it could be suggested that the business
should make use of the technologies that would be able to suit as per the needs of the
business. These technologies would also serve the purposes of supporting the privacy and
security concerns in relation to the e-business platform of the business.
 The desired results that are expected at the completion of the project is that the different
processes of the business should be streamlined. This would also include the integration
of the business within the online platform, manage the inventory and also facilitate
different other kinds of processes within the business.
 With the latest shifts in technology and consideration of increasing the revenue of the
business, it has been seen by the business owner to shift their business to the new online
platform. This would not only increase the revenue of the business but would also put

forward new areas to showcase their business to other customers. This would help in
gaining a wide customer base unlike their competitors.
Technology Requirements
Based on the requirements of the business, the shift to a technological platform would
need the basic form of technological requirements. These includes a proper web server, server
software, web based tools such as HTML text editors and CMS systems. The e-commerce
platform for the business would also include a database system, networking systems, suitable
browser compatibility, ports and domain names (Nica, 2015).
Competitors and Technology
Technology One – Social Computing
The company selected in this part of the report is Zappos. The company is based on an
online shoe and cloth retailer. It is primarily based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company was
founded by Nick Swinmurn and the original website was launched under the name of the domain
name of Shoesite.com. The company was one of the early adopter of the social media computing
technology. They have made use of different social media platforms such as Twitter and
YouTube in order to attract their customers. Zappos is also making use of social media platforms
in order to collect comments from their employees and customers. Customers mostly tweet their
feedback about their purchases made from the website (Baghdadi, 2013). Zappos disrupts the
process of management by inserting themselves into the minds of the customers. They post the
feedbacks of the customers on their webpage and thus adopts a wide form of transparency for
other customers.
Technology Two – Wireless, mobile computing and mobile commerce