Unit 45 - E-Commerce & Strategy

Unit 45 – E-Commerce
and Strategy
(Assessment 2)

INTRODUCTION
E-commerce and its strategies are referred to and relates to the buying and selling of
goods by using virtual means and tools. That means e-commerce is a business activity which is
conducted online on virtual platforms with minimal physical interactions with external parties or
even customers (Riku and Setyohadi, 2017). The e-commerce strategy is a useful and effective
for organisations as it helps in increasing revenues of the entity and enable them to attract,
engage and retain wider range of consumers or buyers. The chosen small book shop which is
chosen for the assignment with one outlet is London Review Bookshop. The shop was founded
and inaugurated in 2003 a thriving bookshop which was intended to reflect the ethos of the
literary publication. The report will be covering different aspects of e-commerce and the focus
will be placed on developing an designing a strong and effective e-commerce strategy for the
chosen organisation. Moreover, the present report will be placing huge focus on the
implementation of the develop plans and solutions by using technology and virtual means.
MAIN BODY
Discuss the strategies for an E-commerce solution that would satisfy the company.
E-commerce is a plan or a process of conducting business transactions and activities by
suing virtual platforms and means. By using e-commerce strategies and processes entities can
ensure and enjoy the increasing employee engagement, higher revenues and most importantly
increasing efficiency and effectively of overall performances. Some of the e-commerce solutions
which are applicable to London Review Bookshop and to its processes are as follows: Defining of sales cycle- A crucial and critical aspect relates to an organisation and its
processes is of determining and identification of its sales cycle. A company's sales cycle
involves engagement of effective marketing for e-commerce and other business
transactions. Hence, in regards to London Review Bookshop it is considered to be a
strong and essential factor to determine its sales cycle and develop potential as well as
significant types of e-commerce strategies which leads the shop towards successful
results (Tran and et. al, 2016). Checkout process- The website or the virtual platform through which the entity engages
in sales and purchasing transactions with their customers needs to have a strong value
adding checkout processes. It is the responsibility of the firm to have a proper checkout

process on their websites offering unique curated experiences to customers using e-
commerce to facilitate the business transactions. For London Review Bookshop, the
requirement is to help the readers and buyers with creating an integrated experience. This
can be achieved by a significant checkout process and system as the customers will be
experiencing a good services and support from the start then they will be able to make
their purchases easily. It is also helpful in inducing sales and profits of the company as
the buyers are retained and sustained for longer (Lee and Hageman, 2018). Display of shipping costs- Online business and sales involves certain amount of shipping
cost which have to be paid by the customers on their orders for making deliveries. Hence,
the strategy of showcasing the shipping cost on the total purchase is a strong policy to
implement. By using the process London Review Bookshop will be able to ensure
transparency of the company with the customers and enabling them to know the total cost
they will be incurring on their purchase. Further, another feature can be added where the
packing and the manner in the books is going to be shipped to the end buyer can be
displayed to the customers. Displaying forms of payments accepted- The payment options and form which are
available to the customers is another strategy which has to be placed at higher concerning
level. The entity is required to showcase the manner in which buyers can pay for their
purchase and if they will be comfortable in making payments through prescribed
platforms (MOHAMAD and et. al , 2018). In context with London Review Bookshop it
is important and suggested to the shop that the payment options which has been accepted
should be displayed. This would be very helpful to know that the customer gets to know
more about the various payment types and are fully informed as well as pure transparency
is maintained where the buyer can make decisions according to their comfort zone and
which will be resulting in better effectiveness and efficiency.
 Updating the website- Website and the platform used for conducting e-commerce needs
to be regularly updated. This phenomena plays a significant role in e-commerce strategy
of an organisation where new information, offers, prices, list of new books and many
other related data needs to be updated. London Review Bookshop is highly recommended
to do so and update their website quite continuously and made more communicable
which will be beneficial to attract the customers and make them willing to purchase more

products and services provided by firm thereby level of the earnings can be increased and
total profit margin can be strengthen is the biggest benefit which will be enjoyed.
Analyse and evaluate the resources that will be required with the suggested solution for the
company's E-commerce strategy.
The resource information which is required and essential to be presented before
construction of e-commerce website and solutions are like size of a firm, type of a firm, base of a
customer, products and services needs to be considered. Also the use of Physical, Human,
Financial and Intellectual Resources has to be made in most critical and effectual manner so that
a firm is able to create an effective strategy for e-commerce. Hence, London Review Bookshop
is recommended for confirmation all known resources are measured by it before starting to
make out strategies for an e-commerce. This would help it in implementing strategies of e-
commerce and attainment of the goals and predetermined goals(Hanna, 2016).
Provide a detailed step by step plan of necessary actions to implement the solution and e-
commerce strategy noted.
The key concern and element which adds value in increasing sales and incrementing revenue
generation in regards to e-commerce business is transparency of the business with its customers
of its products and services. Hence, Right and Accurate Product Description is a major concern
for the London Review Bookshop. The accuracy of product and service description enable the
user or the buyer the preferred amount of trust and reliability with the information provided and
enable the organisation to attain their objectives by increasing sales and revenue units. Thus the
e-commerce strategy or the plan will be designed to improve the product description on the
website and the virtual platforms of London Review Bookshop. The e-commerce solution will be
helping the firm a lot in achievement of goals and objectives and ultimate targets (Hamidi and
Moradi, 2017). The website needs to be changes and made more and more interactive. A whole
process will be followed in steps and phases to accomplish the purpose. The plan with
appropriate steps is as follows: Using website builder- The options in e-commerce business are varied in numbers and in
types as well. These options are available to the organisations for making effective use by
integrating them in their business and working for accomplishing objectives. The London
Review Bookshop can make the use of the e-commerce platforms for showcasing and
presenting their offerings that is products and services. The platform being used will be

showcasing the products that are books and other service which the London Review
Bookshop is willing to offer in the best informed manner with the focus of gaining trust
and belief of potential future customers and loyal book readers and collectors. Testing of tool- The e-commerce website of the organisation needs to be tested for
gaining higher level of assurance of its effectual working and appropriateness and thus,
the businesses have to test the website with certain tools available which is known as trial
run. Therefore, the bookshop London Review Bookshop have to make sure that the
website is critically tested and evaluated with the tool which would be very helpful in
ensuring that the company's website is effective enough to attract the targetted audiences
and becoming accessible to those people who change into the shop's loyal customers.
While testing the website it is important to ensure that right product description is made
and properly exhibited through the website (Shao and et. al., 2016). Buying the right plan- The relevance for buying the right plan is directly linked with the
success of e-commerce business of London Review Bookshop. Thus, for the entity it is
vital that is select to the correct strategy either it is complementary or chargeable for its
products and services as well as for its e-commerce business and related transactions.
While making selection of the plan a key aspect which is evaluated is with the plan the
product description is rightly placed.
1. Registering for a domain name- A domain name for every e-commerce business is
different and every company has a right to develop their particular domain name which is
used by it exclusively. Therefore, London Review Bookshop also need to have a separate
domain name and it is more important to get on record with a domain name which can be
very helpful for it in building its brand image differently or uniquely in the eye of clients. Picking a website template- A website is designed but requires a basic template or a
blueprint. It is the responsibility of the company to make sure that a website template is
available with it while designing and developing its website. London Review Bookshop
needs a right website template that will either framed or purchased by it in which all the
desired features are added by customisation phenomena that are essential to fulfill the
needs and requirements of the customer effectively and efficiently. Adding of the products- The website is useful and only become functional when all
required information and most specifically information about the product and service

offering with their prices is added once the website template which has been customized
and finalized by the company. London Review Bookshop will be making the same
arrangement by adding the product and services which it wants to sell on e-commerce
website and adds all the preferred and needed information like type, categories, cost for
customers, added value and many other. The website designed needs to be in most
simplified form and structure which is highly accessible and understandable by users. Payment methods- Once the website template is established and the respective feature
with information of products and services offered are entered a key feature which is
essential to be placed is information about the payment option and methods available to
buyer can be used to make purchases and payment of their costs related to their choices.
London Review Bookshop can make use of Payment methods like Debit Cards, Credit
Cards, net banking and many other virtual payment services being facilitated can be used
so that the customers are able to make the payment very easily (Ramdansyah and Taufik,
2017). Shipping settings- The shipping process is part of supply chain and sales cycle of a e-
commerce business. It is the requirement for the organizations that ways of shipment
should be well informed to the customers for their products and keep them informed
about those channels and mediums. The steps and fee for the shipment must be clear on
customers end for shipping and taxes and which customer is going to bear in against of
the product. London Review Bookshop has to look after this while creating an e-
commerce solution and their website so that they the ordered products can be send to the
customers in an effective and efficient manner.
 Testing- The online platform and the e-commerce solution which is designed and needs
to be implemented have to be tested first and it can be done easily. London Review
Bookshop that have developed online platform must be to carry out experiment before it
can be launched. This process will help the company to find out problems and issues with
it so that they are resolved timely before the use on customer's end and making sure that
the business transactions and purposes for which they have been established are properly
being conducted.

Undertake a detailed SWOT analysis for the e-commerce strategy outlined.
SWOT is a framework which is used for identifying and determining the internal
strengths and weaknesses of a respective topic or the concerned area and also to seek information
about the external opportunities and threats present in regards to it. The SWOT analysis of the e-
commerce strategy designed for London Review Bookshop is as follows:
Strengths Weaknesses
 Availability is a major strength which
is offered by the E-commerce website
to London Review Bookshop as they
are available for the customers 24/7
which provide a facility that they can
purchase any product at any point of
time and the revenues of entity
automatically increases.
 Global access is another strength
which is being developed by London
Review Bookshop by implementation
of E-commerce as the platform provide
access around the world to its
customers that they can purchase any
product sitting at one location.
 Consumer mindset is a huge concern
and creates a weakness as through e-
commerce transactions the mindset of
certain consumers is still prefer buying
the goods from online platforms and it
becomes difficult for company to
understand others perspectives as well
when they are not directly being in
contact (Janjevic, Winkenbach and
Merchán, 2019).
 The cost of developing e-commerce
website with customised features and
unique templates is very high which is
increase the expenditure for London
Review Bookshop.
Opportunities Threats
 Market reach and expansion is the
first opportunity provided by E-
commerce websites to London Review
Bookshop.
 Technological advancement is another
opportunity of E-commerce website as
it benefit a lot to London Review
Bookshop from the technologies.
 The competition which is currently in
the market is very high in regards to e-
commerce business and transaction
which is a huge threat.
 Digital frauds is another threat which
leads to negative popularity of the
resource and business practice and
affects the business of the entity.

Discuss, differentiate and evaluate the different types of e-commerce payments systems that are
available as part of an overall e-commerce strategy and solution.
Technologies have upgraded and revolution in the industry have taken place. Thus, the
different payments systems allow a easy way to drive the success for the of e-commerce
platform. The payments systems like Debit Card, Credit Card, Net Banking etc. are very
important to be considered and used by London Review Bookshop in order to offer option to
customers for making payments and reducing the chaos that take place at the stores while
waiting in long lines(Wątróbski and et. al, 2017)
Provide a critical appraisal of the overall e-commerce solution outlined in the report.
The e-commerce website or platform which has been developed by the company is highly
beneficial and useful which can help the brand to be more and more interactive and integrate
with the needs and requirements of customers in order to make them happy and keeping them
satisfied. Through e-commerce transactions the management of London Review Bookshop need
to confirm that they have the correct design for their e-commerce platform and working in a
correct way so that the customers are attracted with its accessibility, ease to understand and
helpful in making their purchases while buying their preferred books for reading and adding in
their collection (Wątróbski and et. al, 2017).
Evaluate the factors that will be considered essential for a successful strategy.
Once an e-commerce strategy and website is designed and established some of the factors
which will be contributing to its success are critical for business to understand and know. Hence
these factors are discussed in the section below in context of London Review Bookshop and it
new e-commerce strategy. Proper Planning- A key success factor for a business on every stage is their planning
processes and effectiveness of their plans. Hence, the first success factor is strong and
competitive e-commerce strategy development. The firm London Review Bookshop have
to be very critical and cautious while establishing their plans for entering the e-commerce
business world. Also, the plans have to be achievable and measurable in order to seek
appropriate steps while working (Zhu and et. al., 2016).

 Technological Selection- In order to implement the e-commerce solution choosing of
correct technologies is very crucial . The expenditure on technology and the other
aligned factors are critical and needs to be considered by the management and business
owners of London Review Bookshop. The entity has the necessity that the e-commerce
website it takes up a technology like Website Builder which would help London Review
Bookshop in launching the website successfully and in the most significant manner
(Chun, 2019).
 Appropriate Knowledge of Customer Requirements and needs- Another success factor
attached with effective e-commerce strategy and design of business transactions is
knowledge about customers and their requirements. A key concern for business is to
successfully satisfy customers and keep them happy while serving them. Hence, the
success of a e-commerce business in such competitive environment with the small size
like London Review Bookshop is dependent and highly responsible on identification of
customer needs (Yang, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the mentioned report it is summarised that e-commerce is an interesting platform
which offers and renders higher profitability and productivity to business by making it more
accessible in wider market and to larger customer base. E-commerce strategy needs to be very
effective and prepared with utmost criticality and creativity by adding all required features
which determines company's success.

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