Information System for Managers: E-Commerce and Alibaba Case Study

This assignment delves into the realm of e-commerce, beginning with an analysis of click ads on a provided website, assessing their effectiveness in attracting attention and generating clicks. The student then evaluates three chosen e-commerce sites from both consumer and Web designer/IT manager perspectives, considering factors such as ease of navigation, enticement to buy, and potential improvements. The assignment further explores the case study of Alibaba, researching and analyzing its key characters, organizational facts, situational aspects, cause-and-effect relationships, organizational opportunities, and providing recommendations to the CEO. The student provides an overview of Alibaba's business model, its expansion, and the challenges it faces in different markets, particularly in the US. The analysis includes detailed assessments of consumer behavior, competitive landscapes, and strategic recommendations for Alibaba's growth and success.

Information System for Managers
Student Name: Student ID:
Unit Name: Unit ID:
Date Due: Professor Name:
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Week 4 Objectives – Enabling Business-to-Consumer Electronic
Commerce
Discussion Item 4.1: Go to the Website http://computertimes.com/onlineshopping/
Scroll through the click ads to assess their effectiveness.
1. Name the three ads that you feel will attract the most attention and get the most
clicks. Why do you feel this way about each one?
Answer: The three ads given below will attract most attention and get maximum clicks are given
below (Times, Retrieved on 7th February 2018).
Number 1 is Shop clearance sale, which is giving out maximum discount for kids dresses.
The second ad that will attract attention and generate clicks is intended for those who have pets.
This ad is offering huge discounts for pet related products.
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The third ad is for apparel for women which is providing 60% off for its products. This ad is
bound to generate large amounts of traffic from clicks.
2. After clicking on each of the three ads listed in item 1, assess each one of your three
chosen e-commerce sites from two viewpoints: first from that of a consumer (Is it
easy to navigate? Does it entice you to buy? Is it easy to buy?...), and then from that
of a Web designer/ IT manager (What could be changed to add value to the
consumer experience? How can the company benefit from consumers who don’t
by?...)
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Case 1-Company Name: Cookies
-Why you feel the click ad was effective: the ad was highly effective as it provided large
amounts of discounts. It is a shop clearance sale that will attract lot of user interest and also will
provide 90% off. The ad is very colorful and depicts sample of the product that users can expect
from the shop clearance sale.
-Assessment of the ad’s Web site from the consumer viewpoint: From consumer point of
view the website is highly interactive and attractive in nature. The website provides detailed
description regarding products that it sells. It offers high discounts on good quality products. It
offers transparent mechanism for purchase and sale of its products.
-Assessment of the ad’s Web site from the Web designer/IT manager viewpoint: The
website is quite detailed and makes use of graphics. Display is good and has all aspects of
Case 2-Company Name: 1-800-PetMeds
-Why you feel the click ad was effective: The ad was very effective as it attended to its target
user base.
-Assessment of the ad’s Web site from the consumer viewpoint: Consumers who has pets
will be attracted to this advertisement. the high discount offered from the well-known brand will
attract new as well as old users effectively through this advertisement.
-Assessment of the ad’s Web site from the Web designer/IT manager viewpoint: The
website is designed to meet its end user in best possible manner. The website communicates its
objectives well to its target customer group.
Case 3-Company Name: tidebuy
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-Why you feel the click ad was effective: The click ad was highly effective for female customer
group. It is a well-known brand that women prefers to purchase their clothing from. The brand is
offering huge discounts that is bound to attract potential customers towards it.
-Assessment of the ad’s Web site from the consumer viewpoint: Consumers will be attracted
to the discount that is being offered by the brand. They will browse through various products
available and then make their purchases accordingly.
-Assessment of the ad’s Web site from the Web designer/IT manager viewpoint: From point
of view of Web designer, this is a well-detailed graphically designed site well suited for its
viewers.
Weekly Objective: Analyze a large Internet-based company
Case Study-Alibaba 4.1 Using the Case Study Analysis Guidelines, research, analyze, and
discuss the key characters, organizational/situational facts, cause/effect, organizational
opportunities, and your recommendations to the CEO of Alibaba.
Answer: Alibaba is a Chinese multinational ecommerce company offering retail products,
technology and AI conglomerate (Qin, 2011). It was set up in the year 1999 with its headquarters
in Hangzhou, Zheijang, China. Its founder is Jack Ma and Peng Lei.
Key Characters: It caters to worldwide based operations offering E-commerce, online money
transfers, online auction hosting and mobile commerce. The company was formed by 18 people
in china in order to provided business to business market place in China. In the year 2000 the
Company established Gold supplier membership for Chinese exporters. It enlisted in Hong Kong
stock exchange in the year 2007, which helped raise US$1.5 billion. The end of second quarter
Alibaba formed the largest online B2B ecommerce company. Japan’s Softbank was one of the
first investors in the company (Wang, 2015). Later the company expanded into US becoming the
biggest IPO in the history of US.
Organizational Facts: Its online shopping services makes it one of the well-known internet
company. It is a Fortune company offering numerous products in sectors around the globe. Its
revenues amounts to US$23.82 billion and operating income is US$6.2 billion. It employs over
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50,092 employees globally. Key characteristics feature of the Company is its capability to cater
to unique retail products over the internet. Its most popular online retail market places comprises
of Taobao and Tmall. Key feature that is driving growth for the company is its capability to
innovate and provide products and features that are liked by retail consumers worldwide. It also
has capability to create unique value proposition for its customers by online ease of ordering and
easy delivery.
Situational Facts: There are various opportunities offered in the online business by which the
company can expand its scope of operations further. Instead of diverting into newer market
places, it can expand on its line of products. Currently the business has already expanded to
include wider range of products and product features. However, it can further expand its line of
products for greater penetration into world markets. It is already expanding on its current product
lines and incorporating various services in its product lines as well. Such additional features and
services will expand its business scope allowing to cater to more number of customers. The
Company is subjected to impacts from economic, political and social characteristics in its
business where it expands its operations. Organizational leaders and managers devices strategies
in order to overcome pertinent challenges faced by the Company in these market places in order
to overcome the same. In US the company is exposed to high levels of taxes and also from socio-
cultural impacts of it being a Chinese Corporation. Though the business has substantial number
of buyers and consumers yet in recent times it had faced major decline in sales from a group of
consumers, who wanted to ban Chinese products and their corporations in the US. the Company
has often been accused of reaping profits and sending them back to home country without any
positive impacts on host country. Though the Company employs a number of US origin
employees yet most of its strategies, policies and advancements are made by Chinese delegates
back in China. This has often created misunderstanding with employees in the US, who wants to
take credit for major technological developments within the Company. There is a stiff
competition amongst various online companies that offer retail products. High level of
competition amongst several companies makes it more difficult for companies to offer products
at higher prices and gain market share. This is one of the gravest situation that faces Alibaba in
US.
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Cause-Effect: Alibaba being a Chinese Corporation faced several hurdles while expanding its
business across US and other countries. Acceptance of the Company’s brand name inspite of
marketing endeavors and several promotions done by the Company has not been able to
penetrate the market. High presence of a number US based retailers makes share of Alibaba
particularly low. Therefore, primary challenges the Company faces in off-shore market is related
to being consumer attraction. There is a high percentage of gap between consumers purchasing
online through retailers as Wal-Mart as against those of Alibaba. However, there remains
tremendous amounts of opportunities in expanding operations in US by greater consumer
purchase behaviour.
Recommendations for Alibaba: Primary recommendations for includes to develop
advertisements and social media promotional tools by incorporating in consumer behaviour in
the US. Consumers in the US has varied preferences and choices as compared to those in China.
Such considerations needs to be accounted for while development of advertisements. This will
allow overcome challenges and explore new opportunities in US markets for generating greater
amounts of profits.
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Reference Lists
Chen, H. (2011). U.S. Patent Application No. 29/357. 401.
Jiuju, C. &. (2010). Research on the collaborative strategy of electronic commerce corporation:
The framework and case study. In Communication Systems, Networks and Applications
(ICCSNA), 2010 Second International Conference on. IEEE, 2, 177-180.
Liang, Y. T. (2015). Study on Service Oriented Real-Time Message Middleware. In Semantics,
Knowledge and Grids (SKG), 2015 11th International Conference on (pp. 207-211).
IEEE, 207-211.
Qin, W. A. (2011). Business Model Innovation Based on the Reconfiguration of Value Network
[J]. China Industrial Economics, 1, 009.
Times, C. (Retrieved on 7th February 2018). SAFE Shopping Sites.
http://computertimes.com/onlineshopping/.
Wang, K. C. (2015). Time and position spoofing with open source projects. Black Hat Europe,
148.
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