E-Business Applications for Coles

This assignment examines the benefits and drawbacks of implementing an e-business strategy for Coles, a leading Australian supermarket chain. It explores the impact of factors such as customer convenience, security concerns, product quality, and language barriers on online purchasing decisions. The report analyzes relevant research and provides recommendations for Coles to effectively mitigate potential challenges and leverage the opportunities presented by e-commerce.

Running head: E-BUSINESS APPLICATION
E-Business Application
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Describing the store operations.......................................................................................................2
Key points of the journals................................................................................................................3
Recommendations............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
E-business is one of the most successful competitive business strategy used by the business
organizations for business expansion both nationally and internationally. This allows the
business organizations to attract customers and sustain in the competitive business market. As
commented by Barnes and Hunt (2013), depending solely on retail without using e-business is a
loss for the retailers. Therefore, it is essential for future retailers to involve significant roles both
physically and online. Reports suggest that online retail will reflect $1.2 million e-commerce
sales globally because this will offer convenience and competitive price for the customers
(Kurnia et al. 2015).
This report highlights the key points of journal articles that shed light on the significance
of e-business in respect to an Australian supermarket, Coles.
Describing the store operations
Coles is an Australian supermarket established in 1914, Melbourne. The supermarket
currently has more than 800 stores globally. The supermarket sells a wide range of products
starting from baby products to bakery, dairy, deli, fresh fruits and vegetables, gift cards, liquor,
meat and Coles mobile. The supermarket also sells special diets such as gluten-free products and
kosher considering the requirement of the customers (Coles.com.au, 2017). However, it is
important for the supermarket to introduce e-business for increasing the business in terms of
profit and business along with increasing the customer base.

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Key points of the journals
As mentioned by Niranjanamurthy (2013), e-business is defined as the buying and selling
of products or service over the internet. Using e-business will allow Coles to reach out to
customers in various locations. Therefore, the company can target customers in different parts of
the country. Additionally, the use of e-business will allow the customers of the supermarket to
shop according to their convenience. For example, the customers can shop any day and anytime.
Moreover, the opportunity of comparing and contrasting the products and services will influence
the customers’ interest and purchase decision. Apart from the advantages, implementation of e-
business has potential threats for the business and the customers. One such issue is the security
of the customers (Huang and Benyoucef 2013). At certain instances, the details of the cards used
by the customers are hacked resulting in debiting the money in the account. Due to lack of
appropriate security, the loss is imposed on both the customers and the retailers. As the
customers lose their money, they no longer facilitate using the online shopping service of the
retailers thereby, minimizing the customers.
According to AlGhamdi, Nguyen and Jones (2013), e-business is the most common
business strategy used by the retailers for business expansion. According to this article, e-
businesses provide a competitive advantage for the retailers thereby, allowing them to sustain in
the competitive market. The e-business strategy enhances the brand awareness and presence
among the target customers. As a result, the retailers are able to influence the purchase decision
of the customers by offering them wide range of services, products, and opportunities. On the
contrary, e-business for Coles can impose potential threats such as language barrier, lack of
product trial and the quality of the products for the customers.

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Recommendations
After identifying the potential threats of implementing e-business for Coles, the company needs
to respond appropriately for eradicating it. As commented by Zhang et al. (2012), the company
needs to add several layers in the payment gateways for making the transaction safe. Coles can
implement multi-layer data encryption technology thereby, ensuring security and privacy of the
financial information. This will minimize the risk of leakage of sensitive issues by reducing the
opportunities for the hackers for cracking passwords. Additionally, the company needs to update
their systems on a regular basis. Therefore, it will be a wise decision for Coles to remain updated
with the present security systems as the hackers continuously come up with new technologies for
breaching the information. Coles needs to have exchange offer for the customers so that if the
customers are unsatisfied with the quality of the product, they have the opportunity of
exchanging it without difficulties.
Conclusion
In this report, it can be concluded that e-business is one of the most successful business strategy
used the business organizations for business and customer expansion. The implementation of e-
business for Coles will allow them to offer the customers to shop conveniently regardless of time
and location. This will also save the customers the problem of visiting the stores physically,
standing in the queue for payment and bringing the products home. However, issues such as
security, privacy and quality of product hinder the customers’ decision of availing online
purchasing service. Coles can mitigate the challenges by implementing multi layered data
encryption technology along with exchange offer for facilitating the use of e business for the
target customers.

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References
AlGhamdi, R., Nguyen, A. and Jones, V., 2013. A Study of Influential Factors in the Adoption
and Diffusion of B2C E-Commerce.
Barnes, S. and Hunt, B. eds., 2013. E-commerce and v-business. Routledge.
Coles.com.au. (2017). All catalogues | Coles. [online] Available at:
https://www.coles.com.au/catalogues-and-specials/view-all-available-catalogues [Accessed 16
Sep. 2017].
Huang, Z. and Benyoucef, M., 2013. From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at
design features. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 12(4), pp.246-259.
Kurnia, S., Choudrie, J., Mahbubur, R.M. and Alzougool, B., 2015. E-commerce technology
adoption: A Malaysian grocery SME retail sector study. Journal of Business Research, 68(9),
pp.1906-1918.
Niranjanamurthy, M., Kavyashree, N., Jagannath, S. and Chahar, D., 2013. Analysis of e-
commerce and m-commerce: advantages, limitations and security issues. International Journal of
Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, 2(6).
Zhang, Y., Deng, X., Wei, D. and Deng, Y., 2012. Assessment of E-Commerce security using
AHP and evidential reasoning. Expert Systems with Applications, 39(3), pp.3611-3623.