Internet, E-Business and Online Retail: A Case Study of Asos UK

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Asos, a UK-based online fashion retailer, and its utilization of internet technologies and e-business strategies. It covers various aspects including the e-business environment, benefits and barriers of online presence, security and legislative issues, and modes of communication. The report also delves into internet technologies like HTML, client-server architecture, intranets, and extranets, highlighting their role in Asos's success. Furthermore, it examines different e-business models for revenue generation, future developments, key elements of web design, and website usability concerns. The analysis emphasizes Asos's effective use of online platforms to expand its market reach, enhance brand image, and improve customer satisfaction, while also addressing the challenges and considerations associated with maintaining a successful e-business.

INTERNET AND E - BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Description of environment in which e-business is conducted and type of business
transaction ..................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Benefits and barrier of business considering Online Presence.............................................4
1.3 Security and Legislative issues faced by the E-business organisation..................................5
1.4 The modes of communication in Asos..................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Explaining Internet Technologies and their role in making E-business successful..............6
2.2 Main features of HTML ......................................................................................................7
2.3 Analysing functions of client servers and
browsers and the role of the search engine................................................................................8
2.4 Evaluate the use of intranets and extranets in business communication aspects. Focusing
on how they have developed security and efficiency in business communication by
using intranet and extranet.........................................................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Different e-business models that can be used to generate revenue for a business..............10
3.2 Analysing each model in terms of its capacity to generate revenue...................................10
3.3 Future developments in e-business models and how they could be useful to Asos............11
TASK 4 .........................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Key elements of good web design structure ......................................................................11
4.2 Impact of Good Web-site on E-business.............................................................................12
4.3 Issue of concerns related to Web site usability...................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERECES.................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
In the today world having an online presence is very essential for any E-business
organisation. Asos is an online fashion retailer based in UK. Internet plays an vital role in the E-
commerce and the purpose report has discussed the various kinds of business environment in E-
commerce, benefits and barriers for an E-commerce company, Security and Legislative issues
related to such organisation, modes of communication for E-business organisation(Christiansen,
2011). This report also state the internet technologies, features of HTML, analysing the function
Client-Server architecture, report provide the description of Extranet and Intranet. Analysing
different e-business models that can be used to generate revenue for a business, making report on
future development. Key elements and Impacts of web-design also the Issue of concerns related
to Web site usability.
TASK 1
1.1 Description of environment in which e-business is conducted and type of business transaction
E-business has a large implication on every business unit around the world. It give a
platform to every type of business to conduct there operation without investing much. Following
are different kind of business transaction that could be conducted through e-commerce:
Business to Business: In this type of business transaction, wholesalers can place a order
from Asos website as Asos sells product with there own brand name. B2B hold relationship with
distributors, suppliers, wholesaler and retailers.
Business to Consumer: In this type of business transaction, the business directly sells it
products to the final consumer. Asos primarily focuses on this business transaction where
customer can make a direct purchase from the website(Corley, Jourdan and Ingram, 2013). This
require lot of investment in promotion and advertising to attract the customer.
Customer-to-Customer: In this type of business transaction, the customer of one
website can sell goods and services or make an interaction with/to the another customer of the
website. Prime example of C2C is Ebay, Skype etc.
Customer-to-Business: In this type, the customer of the website can make interaction
wih the businesses by providing the feedback. The main assets of such organisation is the data
and feedback provided by the customers of such organisation(Fagerstrøm and Ghinea, 2010).

1.2 Benefits and barrier of business considering Online Presence
Asos is a global online retailer which has its operations in many countries. It sells products under
its own name along with many other brands. It primarily focus on the B2C type of business
transaction. There are different benefits of such model for the company for its future growth:
 Using this model, Asos can expand its operations in other emerging economy such as
India, China etc. with a minimum investment. Though it ships its product to over 140
countries but having a dedicated websites will increase its market share.
 Online presence will help the company in increasing its revenue without increasing the
production cost(Fawzy and Dworski, 2010)
 The brand of the company can be enhanced with the use online platform.
 It makes the interaction with the customer easy which will in-turn makes customer-
support simple.
Following can be stated as the drawbacks of the Online presence of the business:
 The primary issue of online presence is that in-case of shipment outside the country there
may be some political and legislative barriers due to which expansion is not that simple.
 Setting up of E-commerce website is not a cheap job as it requires lot of consultation with
the experts such as web designers, data analyst etc.
 There is very less entry barrier which can create competition for the business easily.
1.3 Security and Legislative issues faced by the E-business organisation
Every E-business organisation has to face many security and legislative issues. Following
are such issues faced by the E-business organisation like Asos:
Computer virus: An computer virus is program which is designed to make the computer
unresponsive. Any virus can hit the server of the server of the computer. For any E-commerce
website the data of its customer is very important but there is a constant threat that such data will
be stolen with the affect of such virus(Gangeshwer, 2013)
Hacking: An unauthorised access of the critical data by any alien person is known as hacking.
The website of Asos can be hacked by the any person or its competitors which may create a
negative brand image for the enterprise.
Physical threats: The disk and server in which all the vital information has be stored can be
stolen. Which will create a huge data and financial lose to the business.

UK Electronic Communications Act: This Act states that an electronic signature shall be
allowable in evidence in court of law in relation to any inquiry as to the authenticity of the
communication with which the signature is associated(Gautam, 2012).
The Data Protection Act: This act controls how your personal information is utilized by
organisations, businesses or the government.
1.4 The modes of communication in Asos
Communication is plays a essential role in the success of every business organisation. It
has a special impact on the businesses having online presence. Hence, Asos has to use effective
communication techniques in order to achieve there overall objectives(Heller, 2010). Following
are the effective mode of communication:
Chat support:This mode of communication plays an effective role in online businesses. With the
help of such communication mode business can interact with its customers. Chat support is very
effective in providing customer support. It also help to increase the sales.
Phone support: This is another major mode which can help to increase the customer satisfaction
level. Various issues in the online buying which faced by the customer such as return products,
not meet the customer requirement and other queries. This support is more relevant to those
customer who are not comfortable in writing during Chat.
E-mail: This is another concept which can be used by the company. This is plays a important role
to verify customer identification, informing about order and products and tracing the good for the
customer convenience.
TASK 2
2.1 Explaining Internet Technologies and their role in making E-business successful.
Internet is interconnected machine network that uses specific protocols to make a
connection between them. Internet is form of computer network which helps in establishing
connection between two or more computers by using routers and servers. Internet was first
invented in 1960 by defence department of US so that critical information can be sent from east
coast to west coast over computer in case of any war. When the computers are connected through
internet they share data such as text, graphics, voice, video etc. Every computer in the network
has its own specific IP address and each computer is connected through internet can be identified

.To give name to those IP address an special computer is used known as DNS(Domain name
server). The domain name of ASOS which is an online retailer is “www.asos.com” .
After the privatization of internet in 1990's, internet has been used extensively by the
private organisation to increase there customer-base. Following are the various ways by which
internet plays a key role in the E-Business and hence helped Asos gained huge market share:
 Internet helps to develop new customer-base and raise the relationship with existing
clients.
 The setting up of E-business is less expensive than conventional business as no physical
store are required.
 The brand image of E-business organisation is superior as they are able to communicate
with there customer in a better way.
 The E- business can communicate directly with there customer, thus providing better
customer satisfaction.
 The E-business organisation can increase there sales and customer- base quickly because
they have a reach to lot of people
2.2 Main features of HTML
The full-form of HTML is Hyper text markup language which is used to create web
pages. With the use of HTML images, texts and other objects can be embedded in the web page
which help to make the web page more creative. Worldwide web was created to open the HTML
files. The HTML documents are transmitted to the browser by using a special protocol known as
Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP). Every HTML code has 4 building blocks HTML, Head,
Body, Title as shown in the image below -

Following are the features of HTML:
 Context menu can be created in the HTML document.
 The canvas feature of HTML allows to add images, drawing and graphs on the web
pages.
 Audio and Videos are embedded in the web documents using the HTML.
 Key word search can be added by the use of Title function of HTML
 URL can be provided to the file using Base function of HTML.
 The user can also provide links of another URLs, text and background as per the
requirement by using the Body part of the HTML code.
 Meta function in HTML is used to provide the short description about the webpage.
2.3 Analysing functions of client servers and
browsers and the role of the search engine.
Servers are the powerful computer systems which are used to manage another small
computer systems and other devices such as disk drives, printers, network components connected
to the server. Whereas, client are the workstation which are connected to the servers and they
uses the resources provided by the server example files, other connected devices,
processors(Hung and et. al., 2012). Client servers computing can be defined as the relationship
between two or more computers where one computer can act as an client and another computer
act as an server. This form of computing is used to carry off the functions of resources more
efficiently and effectively. The network between client and server can be established with the
help of network or internet.
Illustration 1: HTML code format

Browsers can be defined as the program which assist in presenting and exploring content on the
world wide web. Internet Explorer, Google chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox etc. are some
examples of web browsers. Following can be function of web browser:
 All the resources, files presented on the internet can be located with the help of browser.
 Web Browser provide the facility to open the URLs.
 It provide the important functions such as forward, back and restore.
 Favourite pages of the user can be bookmarked in the browser.
 User can store password of the various website in the Browser itself
Search engine is the website which allows the user to navigate different files present in the
internet. Google is the biggest search engine. Bing, yahoo are also the examples of search
engine. Search engine plays a very important role in the marketing of E-commerce website by
using the Search Engine Optimisation technique(Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). Asos has
used this technique very well making it the most searched online retailer in UK.
2.4 Evaluate the use of intranets and extranets in business communication aspects. Focusing on
how they have developed security and efficiency in business communication by
using intranet and extranet.
The private networks of computers within the organisation is called intranet. It helps to
create a better communication model with the company. Intranet has its own server and firewall.
On the other hand Extranet is the network within the organisation which is established using the
internet and helps the company in communicating with the outsiders
Benefits of Intranet Benefits of Extranet
Intranet focuses on easy communication
within an organization.
Employees can communicate using chat, e-
mail or blogs.
Improved quality of customer satisfaction.
Real-time sharing of information Paperwork is reduced as customer are easily
reachable through extranet.
Devices with different Business effectiveness can be improved.

architecture can be connected through
Intranet.
Information shared on intranet can only be
accessed within an
organization, hence there is nearly zero
chance of being stealing any data of the
company.
Information can be delivered to the outside
party on time.
TASK 3
3.1 Different e-business models that can be used to generate revenue for a business
There are many models that a E-business organisation can use in order to earn revenue
by supporting sale of a product. These models help Asos to sustain in the market and expand
their businesses in to various countries. These e-business models as given below:
Advertising: Advertising plays a very crucial role in generating revenue for the organisation in
which the E-commerce company provide platform to other brands to market there products. This
is free of charge for the customer by company charges from the
advertisers(MichaelidouSiamagka and Christodoulides, 2011).
Affiliate marketing: It is the fastest growing E-business model which is used for revenue
generation. It is a commission based model where an individual can provide the link to purchase
any product on his personal blogs. Youtubers now-a-days uses such model to earn money.
Subscription model: In this type of model E-business organisation can provide subscription
services which allows person to access a content, join a community and acquire a ongoing
service for a pre-decided fee (Nezamabad, 2011).
3.2 Analysing each model in terms of its capacity to generate revenue
Search Engine: It is tool which can be used as a advertising platform. Apart from the search
engine there are many other services which offer revenue generation such as drop box, Gmail
etc. the main source of revenue generation for any Search Engine is the advertising.
Retailing: This is a B2B business model where E-commerce company can sell there products to
the physical store retailers. Asos sells products in its own name so it can tie up with other
physical retailers to sell its products(Roberts and Zahay., 2012).

Social Media companies: Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. provide
a platform for such E-commerce companies to promote themselves and pay sum of fee to them..
3.3 Future developments in e-business models and how they could be useful to Asos
E-business is the fastest growing industry due to increase in its user-base. UK has approx 92%
population are use internet which can provide a good future growth opportunities for Asos. The
growth in internet user is constant. Along with this there are other countries where amount of
internet users are rapidly increasing specially in the Asian countries such as India, China,
Malaysia. Asos can increase its presences in such countries while on the other hand there are
large number of customers which still prefer personal buying which Asos is providing. Hence, it
is essential for the organisation such as Asos to provide proper customer-support to the customer
and adequately advertising to increase its Revenue and profitability(Shaw and et. al., 2012).
TASK 4
4.1 Key elements of good web design structure
Website of the organisation is its identity on the internet. The internet-user can make an
idea of the company by looking at the website of that company. The ideal website should be
unique and build the brand for the enterprise. Asos is an online fashion retailing company it has a
very interactive website which makes is very easy for the user of the discover products as per
there requirement( ShihChen and Chen, 2013). Following are the essential elements of a good
web design:
 The content of the website should be relevant.
 The web design should be such that it is easy to go through by the user.
 Website should provide some customizing effects i.e. user can be able to create
watchlist, user can save there billing data in the website.
 The web design will be able to modified which makes it simple for the user.
 The website should not use any jargon so that language used in the website should be
easily understandable by the user of the website(Chong and Lin, 2013).
 An effective web design should provide the proper detail of contact information of the
owner of the website.
 The website should be friendly to the mobile phones as many people are using mobile
phone to access data on Internet.

4.2 Impact of Good Web-site on E-business
A great website has the power to establish a relationship with the target market and how
the prospective customer view the business. First impressions is the last impression, and great
website design helps to make the first impression for the business. Following are the effects of
great website:
Establish presence of Web helps the organisation to increase its revenue by increasing the
reach
A great website solidifies the business, builds trust, and gives the prospective customers
confidence to make a purchasing decision.
An Effective Website engages its visitors.
A good website is the perfect means to help the company in accomplishing its goal by
putting more focus on marketing.
Support to customers can be provided by the Company through its website by providing
information related to the business on the website.
Put together will lead to one result: an increase in business sales and operating profit.
Building a website with a clear-cut goal and plan of action will assist the organisation to increase
its leads and sales, ultimately helps in business growth. Website is a valuable marketing tool for
any enterprise. Thus, Asos has focuses on all the aspects of good websites which help the
company to attract large traffic.
4.3 Issue of concerns related to Web site usability
Following are the most obvious usability issues which be faced by any E-business organisation:
 Size of the Browser is the main issue faced while the usability of the website. The
website should be automatically adjusted with the screen size of the user of the website.
 Some times it is important for the website to gather information of the user so a simple,
three line form on every page of the site consists of First Name. Last Name. Email
Address. Which is easily visible and it’s so brief that filling it out won’t break off the
user’s experience.
 Avoid overloading each page with irrelevant data like rotating testimonials, banners etc.
 Many sites has large, multilayer, thousand page and the user looses course of where they
are and how to go back to something else.

 The website should be compatible with all the major browsers such as Google chrome,
Mozilla Firefox, Bing, Safari etc.
CONCLUSION
The above report discuss about the Asos, it also state that Internet plays a crucial role in the E-
commerce and the aim of this report is to discuss the various forms of business environment in
E-commerce, advantages and disadvantages for an E-commerce organisation, issues related to
security and legislation, modes of communication in an E-business organisation. This report also
describe about the internet technologies, characteristic of HTML, examine the function Client-
Server, report provide the description of Extranet and Intranet and its benefits. Studying different
e-business models that can be utilised to generate income for a business, making document on
future development. Key elements along with Impacts of web-design as well as Issue of concerns
related to Web site usability.