Analyzing E-commerce Strategies for Driving Business Success

This research report investigates the impact of e-commerce on business success through primary and secondary research methods. The primary research involved interviews with stakeholders, business owners, employees, and customers in the e-commerce industry to gather insights on the role of e-commerce in business development and operations. Secondary research consisted of reviewing academic journals and articles to understand different perspectives on e-commerce and its advantages. The report explores how e-commerce helps businesses reach new customers, improve brand image, reduce operational costs, and implement effective marketing strategies. Ethical considerations were maintained throughout the research process, ensuring participant anonymity and academic integrity. Data analysis from the interviews reveals the perceived benefits of e-commerce, including increased profits, improved marketing, and enhanced customer engagement. The report concludes by highlighting the growing importance of e-commerce and its potential to drive business growth and profitability.

RESEARCH PROJECT PART 2

CONTENTS
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................................2
DATA COLLECTION...................................................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................................4
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS......................................................................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................................8
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...........................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................................10
TASK 4........................................................................................................................................................11
REPORT..................................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................17
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TASK 2
DATA COLLECTION
This research consists of primary and secondary research. In this report, the method for
conducting primary research is interview process (Hewson and Stewart, 2016). Interview with
stakeholders, business owners, employees, and the customers associated with the E-commerce
business is done to gather information related to E-commerce and business success. In this
research, five questions were asked to the industry related persons. The overall data is
collected by asking these five questions to thirty individuals that are associated with E-
commerce retail industry. In this report, the conclusions based upon of the answers of the
participants of the research are presented. The primary research helped to find the impact of E-
commerce on the business development process, it also helped to find the impact of E-
commerce in recent times on the business operations.
The secondary research has been conducted by studying different journals and articles
published on the topic of E-Commerce. The secondary research was done by studying the
abstract of forty journals and articles that are written by scholars on this topic. Out of the forty
journals, twenty researches were selected for detail study on the topic E-commerce and how it
helps to drive the business success (Taylor, et al., 2015). The secondary research helped to
perceive the finding of scholars on this topic. It also helped to understand E-commerce and its
advantages to business in detail, in addition to this it also helped to explore the link between
the different researches conducted by the researchers on the E-commerce.
The advantage of primary research is that the details are collected personally and the findings
are directly related to the topic of research (Taylor, et al., 2015). The primary research also
helps to undertake help of relevant data related to the subject and the findings of the primary
research are new. This helps to make sure that the research more relevant and beneficial. The
disadvantages of primary research are that data is collected from a limited group of participates
which is likely to affect the quality of research. The primary research is subject to incomplete
information provided by the sources of research. The merits of secondary research are that the
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availability of data and information is easy for the researcher (Flick, 2015). In addition to this, it
helps to add new information and knowledge to the research. The findings of the secondary
research are less likely to be false as they are the conclusion derived from the research of
scholars on the subject (Flick, 2015). The demerits of secondary research are that the
information may not be very relevant to the research that is been conducted. The secondary
research is also time dependent as the period in which the research conducted is older and the
recent changes in the subject may affect the final conclusion on the topic.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
How E-commerce drives business to the success?
According to Turban, et al. (2018), E-commerce is a process in which the activity of buying and
selling of goods done with use electronic media. The electronic media in E-commerce are online
shops and mobile application; this acts as a platform for buyers and sellers to perform trade
actions. Zang, et al. (2011), added that the E-commerce has been successful in adding new
dimensions in the business-to-customer trade. Through E-commerce, many customers have
found it easy to the make the purchase of the business they like. This has helped the business
to add new customers that are beyond the geographical boundaries of business. This
independence has helped the companies to reach a larger number of the customer at less cost,
as the cost of setting and maintaining a new physical shop is observed to be higher than that of
E-commerce. This helps the business to become successful and it improves the profit of the
business.
Laudon and Traver (2013), added that E-commerce also helps the companies to improve the
profit by enhancing the quality of service that the companies provide to the customers. This is
because the E-commerce stores are is available for the customer throughout the day. In
addition to this, the customers can request about the services of the business even during
holidays. This has helped to improve the relationship between the business and the customers
and improved profits for the business.
Ghobakhloo, et al. (2011), added that the overall cost of business operation that has been
observed to reduce with the use of E-commerce. The operational cost of business is depended
on several factors such as human resource cost, rental cost and maintenance cost of the
business. This costs are low for the E-commerce business thus it helps to improve the overall
profitably for the business. In addition to this, the long-term cost is also less for E-commerce,
which improves the profit form the business.
Oglive, et al. (2016), suggested that certain customer engagement strategies of E-commerce
help improve the profits for the business. The customers are likely to purchase more products
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as they get customised suggestion with digital platforms. In addition to this, the E-commerce
provides facilities for coupons and discount vouchers. This helps to improve the profits for the
business. E-commerce the customer gets relevant information about the products and service
of the business easily; this feature improves the customer engagement.
Zilincan, (2015), added that the E-commerce advertisement is more influential and help to
reach the target audience. The use of social media advertisement and search engine
optimisation are relatively less costly than the conventional marketing methods. Lewis, et al.,
(2015) added that the overall effect of having an E-commerce business helps to improve the
profits of the business by reducing the cost of the advertisement.
Park, et al. (2015), added that the brand image of the company improves with the use of E-
commerce platform. Park, et al. (2015), also said that having an online store for business help to
support the impulse buying marketing strategy. These strategies have been used by many
global brands to achieve excellent sales in short interval of time. Duttagupta and Southworth
(2016), added that having an E-commerce store could provide add-on feature such as flash
sales. This feature helps to get global attention for the business and improve the profitability of
the business. This strategy that is delivered through online stores has helped many businesses
for proper inventory management, as they can offer discounts to sell products that are adding
inventory cost for the business.
Kian Chong, et al. (2010), added that having an E-commerce store for business add an
advantage to facilitate business-to-business relationships. With the help of E-commerce store,
the business can get bigger orders to form a small and large business that is globally present.
This helps to improve the profit for the business. The advantage of having an E-commerce store
is very relevant to maintain the business contracts as all the data is saved and managed
effectively through a computer system (Turban, et al. 2018). Due to this, the cost of
maintenance of data reduces significantly for the business. This improves the profits for the
business.
Stavrulaki, et al. (2010), suggested that use of make to order strategy is very profitable for
business, as it helps to reduce the inventory cost and storage maintenance cost of products
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significantly. With E-commerce, business companies can implement the strategy of make to
order. They can get this advantage as they can process the requirement for the products after
they receive the order form the customer. This feature is very profitable for industry such as
machinery and luxury products. Make to order as well as other relevant business strategies are
easy to implement with the use of E-commerce, as the business gets orders to form the
customers through the product catalogue that is displayed on the website.
Wang, et al. (2016), suggested that the E-commerce business has been successful to attain
customer trust throughout the world. This is because they provide the customer with various
facilities such as the return of delivered products, cash on delivery and customised customer
support. This trust has helped many businesses operating through E-commerce to get more
customers and improve their profits.
Chaffey, (2015), added that the management of E-commerce is easy and faster for the business.
This effective business management has helped many businesses to expand the reach of their
business. Along with this, it has also helped the business to save cost that is engaged in the
management of the business. Both of these factors have helped to improve the profits for the
business. Chaffey, (2015), also added that the E-commerce business is growing with a rapid
phase globally, now more and more customer is engaged in business activity through E-
commerce business and the scope of it is also expanding rapidly (Kirby-Hawkins, et al. 2018).
This improvement in the scope of E-commerce business will help the business that is lined with
it to grow and improve theirs profitably.
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ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
To conduct this research in an ethical manner some standards that are required to consider are
as follows:
 Individuals who have participated in the research have not been exposed to any kind of
risk (Recker, 2012)
 The individuals who have participated in the research well told and aware about the
objectives of the research, no information was kept hidden with them (Flick, 2015)
 No Intellectual property right has been violated during accomplishment of this project.
 All the privacy and confidentiality was maintained during this assignment and best care
have been taking that no violation of privacy or confidentiality is conducted during the
research work (Recker, 2012)
 To maintain the effectiveness of the research the objective level has been maintained
 The findings and the conclusions of the research are solely for academic purpose
 The finding of the research will not be used for commercial purpose (Recker, 2012)
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TASK 3
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Interview method was used to conduct the primary research related to the topic “How E-
commerce drives business success”. In this interview, six questions were asked of the
participants. The question was asked of the business owners, employees and the other persons
associated with E-commerce were as follows:
 How has E-commerce helped to develop your business?
 Why did you decide to come into E-commerce business?
 Has E-commerce business helped you to improve profits?
 How has E-commerce helped you in the marketing of your business?
 How has E-commerce helped your business by cross-selling and upselling of your
business products?
The first question that was asked of the participants in the interview was "How has E-commerce
helped to develop your business?” Most of the participants answer positively to the question by
telling that through E-commerce they were able to reach new customers. This has helped them
to improve the profits of the business by improving sales. In addition to this participates also
added that though E-commerce the brand image of their business has grown, which have
helped them to appeal to new customers. In addition to this participates also said that the
through E-commerce they are able to take orders to form the customers at any time. This has
also been an important factor to improve the business profitability. The second question that
was asked of the participants was “Why did you decide to come into E-commerce business?” In
response to this, question participants answered that they saw the potential of improving
profits earned from the business by entering into E-commerce (Turban, et al., 2018). Some of
the participants also told that it was the call of the time and to address the completion they
entered into E-commerce. Some of the participants also answered that they had customers,
which required their business services, but could not come to the shop due to distance. To
addresser this issue they stated an E-commerce solution, which enables provided logistics
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support to their business and improve the income of the business. The third question that was
asked to participants was “Has E-commerce business helped you to improve profits?" the
response to this question was a combination of opinions. Many participants said that an initial
phase the cost of establishment and marketing of their E-commerce was high and the response
they got slow from the market. Many of the participants told that the payback time for the E-
commerce for their business was higher than they accepted. In addition to this, participants
told that after the initial phase of the launch was completed, the revenue they earned from E-
commerce improved and they were able to generate profits. Some of the participants told that
during the peak time of their business, the profits they earned from E-commerce was much
higher than the conventional method (Chaffey, 2015). In response to the fourth question “How
has E-commerce helped you in the marketing of your business?” most of the participants were
positive about the support they got in marketing form E-commerce. They told that they were
able to reach the number of customers and even the native customers were able to know
about their business. They also told that the marketing through E-commerce is more
convenient and the impact of it positive for the business. The participants also added that
through internet traffic concentration on the E-commerce they have, they were able to collect
more customer database. This database helped them to upsell and cross-sell their products,
which improve the profits for the business. In response to the fifth question that was “How has
E-commerce helped your business by cross-selling and upselling of your business products?”
participants told that with the help of E-commerce store they were able to suggest the
customers regarding the products that they have easily. The participants also added that the
smart options on the E-commerce portal that helped the customer to find the right product
according to his needs helped to impose the profits of the business by upselling and cross-
selling of products. Participants also told that E-commerce facility provided them with a
customer database, this database supported to improve the business as it helped to make it
easy to communicate with them and cross-sell the products. In addition to this, they were also
able to identify regular customers and the participants were able to offer them discounts on
products and services. This helped to improve the revenue collection of the business and
improve the profits (Chaffey, 2015).
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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
From the above research, it can be concluded that E-commerce has many positive impacts on
the business success. It is recommended to the business to initiate the E-commerce facility as it
helps to improve the profits. The E-commerce facility helps the business owners to get to the
new customer that is beyond the geographical reach of the shop and ensure safe and secure
business with them. The E-commerce is also recommended to the business because it helps the
business to improve the brand image. Through E-commerce facility, the retail business can look
trustful and it helps to give a positive image to customers (Kim and Peterson, 2017). It is
recommended to the business owners to initiate E-commerce because it helps them to take
orders of their business irrespective of time, which helps to improve the incomes for the
company.
It can be concluded from the above research that E-commerce help to improve the revenues of
the business. In addition to this, the E-commerce facility helps the business to up-sell and cross-
sell their products (Scarborough, 2016). Through E-commerce, the business can take orders
from the customer irrespective of their location and the management of the business is easy
through the portal. E-commerce also helps the business in marketing and customer support, as
the business can run the marketing campaign online for the E-commerce. The initial phase of
the E-commerce may not be profitable for the business, as the information about it does not
reach to larger customers easily. Due to it, the business may not be able to earn profits from
the starting.
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TASK 4
REPORT
SECTION CONTENT
Title page Title: E-commerce and how it drives business success
Student name/student number
Course/subject
Date due
Table of contents Abstract
Introduction
Methodology
• Data collection methods
• Literature review
• Ethical deliberation
Data analysis using the Interview method
Conclusions and recommendations
Abstract E-commerce is a practice of in which the business translation is
conducted with the help of electronic media. With the
development of internet and the computer facilities E-commerce
business have been adopted by many businesses worldwide
(Turban, et al., 2018). The E-commerce business is safe and secure
and it is easy to manage than the conventional business. The E-
commerce businesses are also less costly to maintain and install. E-
commerce also provides an advantage to reach new customers and
help the business to display the catalogue of products and service
they have with ease (Scarborough, 2016). Due to all this advantage,
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