E-Business Scope and Strategies: An Analysis of Ocado.com Operations

This report comprehensively analyzes the scope of internet and e-businesses, with a specific focus on Ocado.com. It begins by exploring the environment in which e-business is conducted, including political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors, alongside major types of business transactions like B2C and B2B. The report then delves into the benefits and barriers of online businesses, security and legislative issues faced by e-commerce, and modes of communication used by Ocado.com. Furthermore, it examines the importance of the internet in organizational success, HTML features, client-server models, and the roles of browsers and search engines. The report also discusses various e-business models for revenue generation, analyzing their potential and future development. Key elements of web design, website usability issues, and the use of intranets and extranets for business communication within Ocado.com are also evaluated, providing a complete overview of the e-business landscape.

THE SCOPE OF INTERNET
AND E-BUSINESSES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Environment where e- business is conducted and major types of business transactions. ....1
1.2 Benefits and barriers to online businesses. ..........................................................................2
1.3 Evaluate the security and legislative issues faced by E- commerce. ...................................3
1.4 Modes of communication in Ocado.com and the ways by which it can be applied. ..........3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Importance of internet and its use in making the organisation successful............................4
2.2 Main features of HTML. ......................................................................................................4
2.3 Evaluate the client server, browser and the main role of search engine. .............................5
2.4 Use of intranets and extranets businesses communication in Ocado.com. ..........................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Various models of e- business and the ways by which it can be used for generating
revenue. ......................................................................................................................................5
3.2 Analysis of e- business models in terms of revenue generating ability. ..............................6
3.3 E- business models in terms of its future development. .......................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
4.1 Key elements of good structure of web design and element that will best suit to the
company......................................................................................................................................6
4.2 Major impact of a well designed websites............................................................................7
4.3 Issues on website usability and the major improvements in e- businesses. .........................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9
.........................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In the era of technology, it has become very easy to maintain and conduct all the business
operations. This includes the use of internet and its scope is vital for all all online companies. E-
commerce is one of the major medium of buying and selling of gods. Its implication can only be
done with the help of internet. That is why, the concept of internet marketing plays a major role
in order to ensure the smooth running of e- commerce (Turban, King and Viehland, 2010). As
far as this report is concern about, Ocado.com is one of the top most online grocers. It was
established in 2000 and now it is the pioneers in U.K for delivering grocery services and hence
they are considered as the most popular online super market. Main mission of this online
company is to make the online shopping experience more easy for the customers. This report will
enable to know the various environment in which e- business is conducted. This will also make a
clear understanding of benefits and barriers to internet business.
TASK 1
1.1 Environment where e- business is conducted and major types of business transactions.
Environment of E- business can be divided into the following given points in respect of
Ocado.com -
Political- It is essential for the company to follow regulations in order to conduct online
business. There are some political rules upon which the company have to rely.
Economic- In the U.K, online companies are doing great and contributing maximum to
the national income and GDP. They are responsible for providing a sustainability to the market.
Social- E- commerce has changed the face of society (Schafer, Konstan and Riedl,
2010). This is because now a days, people are more interested in buying online. This saves their
time.
Technological- It is important for E- commerce to be updated with several new
technologies. This will help them to be more fast in delivering the products and services on the
basis of online.
Legal- All the operations over internet marketing must be legally accepted. There should
not be any operations which is abiding the laws of online marketing.
Environmental- Online companies need to focus upon those activities with the help of
which environment can be saved. There should not be any harm to the environment.
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Given below are the major types of business transactions :
Business to consumer- Its the most common type of online business where business sells
products and services to the customers. Example- Amazon, Flip kart
Business to business- Its a commerce between a business and other business over online
Customers to customers- In this, there is a buying and selling of goods between
customers over internet.
Customers to business- Its a transaction between customers and business.
1.2 Benefits and barriers to online businesses.
Benefits of online business:
It provides a more easy platform of buying and selling of product and services- This
can be considered as the most important ways by which the benefit of internet marketing can be
calculated (Corbitt, Thanasankit and Yi, 2010). Online marketing is the easiest way of selling
and buying of products and services.
It saves time of both seller and the consumers- Online marketing is the process where
commerce can be done with the help of few clicks. Process of marketing over internet has
become easy. This will result in saving the time of customers and sellers as well.
Fastest platform of commerce- All the process over online marketing is very fast. Thus
in this fast moving world, people prefer fast services and thus e- commerce is in much demand.
Barriers to online businesses
Data security- This is so far the most critical barrier which is being faced by the online
companies. It is important for the mentioned company to make sure that the data of customers
can be disclosed.
Privacy- All the transactions of e- commerce must be safe in nature (Corbitt,
Thanasankit and Yi, 2010). There has to be privacy in whatsoever activities going on over online
businesses.
Trust – It is essential for a customer to trust the online companies. This could be possible
only when consumers can fully rely over internet marketing.
A part from this, sometimes there are also some linguistic problems that have been seen
over internet marketing.
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1.3 Evaluate the security and legislative issues faced by E- commerce.
Its a well known fact that security and legislation affects the customers as well as
business in the following given ways:
Lack of privacy- This is so far the most important factor which is responsible for creating
the legislative and security issue over internet marketing. There is lack of privacy between
business and the consumer and that is why people mostly do not prefer internet marketing. It is
essential for the mentioned company to overcome these issues in order to successfully run their
business. People needs to be more secure about any online purchasing. This can be done through
following some major technology which can ensure the data safety of customers.
Impact of virus and hackers- Due to the fear of hackers, people do not want to get into
any online transaction (Awad, 2010). Viruses are also result in affecting the online buying
pattern of consumers. Mentioned company have to ensure that websites can not be hacked by
any person and thus the chances of virus attack can also be reduced.
1.4 Modes of communication in Ocado.com and the ways by which it can be applied.
There has to be some major medium of communication on the basis of which activities
over internet can be done. One of the major mode of communication that is present for
Ocado.com is electronic data interchange. This can be defined as the way by data and which
business documents can be exchanged. Other major modes of electronic communication can be
represented as follows:
Video calls- This is the second most widely used mode of online communication which
can be represented by having a face to face interaction over the phone of computers. Both audio
and visuals are available in this type of communication mode.
E- mails- This can be represented by sending mails over internet (Gefen, 2011). This is
the most common platform where an online company can interact with their potential customers.
Information about various offers and coupons can be directly send to customers via e- mails.
This is the most convenient way of sending information to the customers.
Instant messaging, text messaging, social networking sites- Online marketing can use
other modes of communication as well. Instant messaging, social networking sites and text
messaging are some of those medium.
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TASK 2
2.1 Importance of internet and its use in making the organisation successful.
As it has already been conveyed that internet is one of the major invention of technology.
It has develop such platform where people can work in a more fast environment (Barnes and
Vidgen, 2012s). This may also refers as the virtual platform where any kind of business
operation can take place. Importance of internet can be considered as the way by which most of
the people are going online for the purpose interaction and even for the business context. It has
made several other task of human and business activities more easier. Internet plays a vital role
in online marketing. In other words, without proper use of internet, an online business can not be
conducted. It is the key for the success of any business. Its use is vital in context of e- commerce.
This is because all the business operation of internet marketing is online. That is why, it is
essential for the mentioned company like Ocado.com to make proper use of net. A part from e-
commerce, internet is now being used by retail sectors as well. This is because it has made all the
business processes more easy.
HTML is the major component of internet. It can be better defined as the major web
language. It plays a major role in order to facilitates the all online services to the customers. It is
required to use HTML by the user in order to work on the internet. This can be further defined as
the language which is used for the purpose of creating several web pages. It has mainly two
section that is head and body (Turban, Lee and Turban, 2010). The main purpose of head is to
provide information about the web pages and on the other side, body is made for the purpose of
containing some publishing data.
Given below are the major key tags used in web pages-
<html>
<body>
a part from HTML, there is another web language known as XML. Difference between these two
can be recognised as presentation. HTML is meant for only human readable but XML can be
human as well as machine readable.
It is considered as the fastest way of receiving large files from one computer to another
computer. There is no need to complete various operations to obtain entire file or file transferred.
FTP servers required user to login with the username and password therefore it is secure and
safe. With the help of FTP the owner of any organisation can easily send information and
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guidelines to their employees and their employees also able to give information and feedback on
the same server.
2.3 Evaluate the client server, browser and the main role of search engine.
Client server model- It can be defined as a computer system where central sever gives all
possible data to networked workstation. It is important to facilitates smooth process of internet
that is why, it is important to make proper use of client server.
Browser- Is is so far the most important element upon which the internet works. It
provides a platform where the user can use internet (Corbitt, Thanasankit and Yi, 2010). There
are different browsers with the help of which surfers can get the most desirable information
without spending too much of their time.
Role of search engine- There are various search engine with the help of which all the
internet users can get what they want from the internet. One of the most famous search engine is
Google. It provides a platform where users can get best internet results.
2.4 Use of intranets and extranets businesses communication in Ocado.com.
These are the two most important elements of online communication. Intranet can be
defined as the way by which company can establish efficient network communication within the
range of the company. On the other side, extranet as its name suggest is used for the purpose of
network communication with the external stakeholders such as customers, suppliers and business
partners (Schafer, Konstan and Riedl, 2011). It is essential for Ocado.com to use these tools of
business communication in order to perform their online activities more effectively. There are
various merit and demerits of these tools of business communication. They are used for solving
various purposes of the company.
Internet:
Advantages:
 Through internet the people can send and receive information across matrix of computer
system. The people can send messages using email service for both business and personal
purpose.
 It provides the facility to make online purchase at bargain price without visiting to the
physical store.
 The people can collect information about new job opening and facilitate the people to
apply online for jobs.
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Disadvantages:
The internet is not free of cost. It is expensive ton install and manage .
It makes physical distance between the loved ones as they prefer sending messages online.
Too many online vendors confuse the customers that from which internet site they need to
purchase the product.
Intranet: Advantages:
Intranet offering work[place productivity which help the user to find and observe information
very fast.
Intranet allows the business companies to share information to employees according to their
needs and requirements.
Disadvantage:
One of the major problem occur using intranet is the risk of security and privacy to the corporate
information resource.
It reduces the face to face interaction between employees which lead to im- personalization of
the enterprise.
Client server advantages:
 It helps in storing files at one place which help the company to find files easily.
 It helps in recovering of lost data in more effective and efficient manner.
 By upgrading the server the change can be made easily and also helps in adding new
resources and systems in order to make necessary changes.
TASK 3
3.1 Various models of e- business and the ways by which it can be used for generating revenue.
There are various models of e- business with the help of which company can calculate
their revenues. Given below are the major models of e- business that can be further used for
estimating the revenue of the company:
E- distributor model- This kind of model is used for delivering online products and
services. Example can be DVD downloads and online audio (Laudon and Traver, 2013). This is
so far the most useful model of E- business. This is because here direct selling and purchasing of
products involves via internet.
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E- procurement- This model basically holds the idea where customers are allowed to
buy products in a bulk amount . These products are further discounted. This method also attract
so many surfers in order to buy products in bulk amount.
Auction model- In this type of model both the seller and the bidder meets at a same
platform and offers different dynamic prices of products. This type of model is not used by each
companies. There are some specific purposes for which this model is being used.
Exchange model- One of the major example of this kind of revenue model can be
ChemConnect.
3.2 Analysis of e- business models in terms of revenue generating ability.
In order to estimate the revenue generating ability of the e- business model, it has been
found that different models are used by different online companies (Gefen, 2011). This is
because the choice of e- business model depends upon the objective of the company. Revenue
can be generated by using right kind of e- business model in the right company. E- procurement
is the widely used model result in generating high amount of revenue for the company. This is
because here customers are free to shop large amount of products and services at a very
discounted price.
In this way it can be concluded that all the models are capable of producing revenues for
the online companies.
3.3 E- business models in terms of its future development.
The era of technology having a large influence on E- business approach and provide a consistent
growth to their operation in the longer run, Specially, the development of smartphones changes
the face of business and which is very crucial for the enterprise. Each and
This will make the face of marketing more attractive and fast for the customers.
People will get best products and services within less period of time over internet.
TASK 4
4.1 Key elements of good structure of web design and element that will best suit to the company.
Given below are the major elements of a good website structure:
Page should be well organised- This is the core practice of making a good structure of
web site. It is essential for the online company to make a well organised page in order to attract
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maximum number of surfers (Turban, King and Viehland, 2010). An organised page includes
systematic arrangement of content, pics and other informatory objects.
Easily downloadable pages of web- It is essential for online marketers to make sure
that their page can be easily downloadable. This will make the viewer more attracted towards the
website.
Colour combination must be catchy to eyes- It is required to use such combination of
colour which can be easily read by the people. There should not be any bright colour which gives
difficulty to the surfers to read the content (Schultze and Orlikowski, 2010). Thus, it is important
for every web site maker to use more attractive colours for making their websites.
No irrelevant content- There should not be any irrelevant content over the website. This
is because it create confusion in the mind of the people who are surfing the websites. If there are
so many confusing statement made on the websites then this will lead to create frustration and
irritation among surfers. That is why it is required by the company to make such website which
are having all relevant content.
Proper use of pictures and diagrams- It is important for the online companies to make
such websites with the help of they can attract maximum number of customers. This will lead to
make the company more popular in the market. The use of proper pictures and diagrams on
websites makes it more attractive for the surfers.
4.2 Major impact of a well designed websites.
Making good website is one of the key factor of any online business. That is why,
Ocado.com has also use some element with the help of which they can make their site more
attractive in front of viewers. Given below are the major impact of well designed websites:
It will attract more number of viewers- One of the major impact of having good
designed websites is that it will attract more number of viewers (Krol, 2010). The core objective
of every online companies is to increase the number of subscribers. This will lead to maximize
their popularity and market shares as well.
Particular online company will get good rank over internet marketing- If online
companies are doing great and attracting more customers day by day that means the company
will place at the top most rank of online companies.
Profitability of company will increase- If there will be more number of subscriber then
this will lead to earn maximum number of profit and market share to the online company. It is
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one of the major goal of every company to achieve profit in order to expand their business in the
market.
4.3 Issues on website usability and the major improvements in e- businesses.
This is the concern of each and every single online companies to make such websites
which can be easily surfed. There can be many issues in website usability such as:
Complexity in reaching to the websites- This is most critical issues being faced in terms
of website usability. There are websites which is very hard to find (Miller and Slater, 2011). That
is why, it become a complex process for the customers to reach to the website.
More buffering times- There are sites which takes so much of time in disclosing the
content. This will automatically make the customer to switch to some other site. That is why, it
must be ensured by the mentioned company to reduce the issues in usability of websites by
minimizing the loading or buffering time of the websites.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above mentioned report it can be concluded that internet is the backbone
of e- commerce. This has made the process of buying and selling of goods more virtual and fast
in nature. There are various models of e- commerce that can be used by the company on the basis
of their objective. There are also some benefits as well barriers to internet marketing. It is
important for each online companies to follow some basic policies. This will make their online
operations more authentic in nature. Both intranet and extranet are used by the mentioned
company in order to communicate within and outside the company. There are various features of
the websites that can attract a number of surfers. This makes the surfers more attractive towards
the websites.
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REFERENCES
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Schultze, U. and Orlikowski, W.J., 2010. A practice perspective on technology-mediated
network relations: The use of Internet-based self-serve technologies. Information
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Turban, E., King, D and Viehland, D., 2010. Electronic commerce: A managerial perspective
2002. Prentice Hall: ISBN 0, 13(975285), p.4.
O'Leary, D.E., 2010. Enterprise resource planning systems: systems, life cycle, electronic
commerce, and risk. Cambridge university press.
Gefen, D., 2011. E-commerce: the role of familiarity and trust. Omega, 28(6), pp.725-737.
Laudon, K.C. and Traver, C.G., 2013. E-commerce. Pearson.
Schafer, J.B., Konstan, J.A. and Riedl, J., 2010. E-commerce recommendation applications. In
Applications of data mining to electronic commerce (pp. 115-153). Springer US.
Corbitt, B.J., Thanasankit, T. and Yi, H., 2010. Trust and e-commerce: a study of consumer
perceptions. Electronic commerce research and applications, 2(3), pp.203-215.
Turban, E., Lee, J.K and Turban, D., 2010. Electronic commerce 2010. Prentice Hall Press.
Barnes, S.J. and Vidgen, R.T., 2012. An integrative approach to the assessment of e-commerce
quality. J. Electron. Commerce Res., 3(3), pp.114-127.
Gefen, D., 2011. Customer loyalty in e-commerce. Journal of the association for information
systems, 3(1), p.2.
Awad, E.M., 2010. Electronic commerce: From vision to fulfillment.
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