E-Commerce Business Skills: Analysis of Ben's Fruit & Vegetables UKCBC

This report assesses the core business functions of Ben’s Fruit and Vegetables, a UK-based food retail organization, and evaluates the potential impact of introducing an e-commerce system. It explores the organization's aims and objectives, analyzes the risks and benefits of e-commerce adoption, and discusses the global impact on society. The report also investigates market potential, evaluates existing e-commerce systems used by competitors, and discusses the financial implications of implementing an e-commerce solution. Furthermore, it includes a proposed e-commerce solution designed to enhance Ben’s Fruit and Vegetables' business functions, considering factors like website design, order processing, and security.

BUSINESS SKILLS FOR
E-COMMERCE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
P1.1 Assess the core business functions of your selected organisation.......................................2
P1.2 Evaluate Ben’s fruit and vegetables business aims and show how they relate to their
stakeholders.................................................................................................................................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
P2.1 Analyse the impact, including the risks, of introducing an e-Commerce system to the
Ben’s fruit and vegetables...........................................................................................................6
2.2 Discuss the global impact of e-Commerce on society in relation to the organization..........8
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
P3.1 using appropriate research methodologies, Investigate market potential for an e-
Commerce opportunity................................................................................................................9
P3.2 Evaluate current e-Commerce systems in use by similar organisations (competitors).....11
P3.3 Discuss the financial implications of e-Commerce solution.............................................12
P3.4 Design an ecommerce solution to enhance the business functions of your chosen
organization...............................................................................................................................14
P3.5 Evaluate the suitability of the e-Commerce......................................................................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Current site map.............................................................................................................14
Figure 2: Site map for major pages................................................................................................15
Figure 3: Story board for order processing....................................................................................16
Figure 4: Authorization process.....................................................................................................16
Figure 5: Authentication process...................................................................................................17
Figure 6: Clearing and settlement..................................................................................................17

Introduction
Ecommerce means to use the internet as the online shop to reach the customers and sale the
products. It is being preferred in the era of digital technology to save the time and cost and
enhance the reach more number of customers. Report will discuss the core functions of the Ben’s
fruit and vegetable limited which is a growing food retail organization in London. The report will
also discuss the business aim and objectives of the organization to adopt the ecommerce system.
It will discuss how the ecommerce can be adopted in business operations with the consideration
of the risks and impacts on business and society. The report will also highlight the market
potentials with ecommerce, financial implications and current systems in use in other
organization. Also the design and suitability of the system will be discussed in context of the
organization.
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Task 1
P1.1 Assess the core business functions of your selected organisation
Ben’s fruit and vegetables is a Private Limited organization which is based in London, the UK
and provide health and fresh groceries products in the market. Ben’s fruit and vegetables sell
various types of products at the very wider range. The main functions of this organization are to
provide best and fresh quality of products such as- nuts and seeds, oils, jams, fruit juice, eggs,
honey and spices to their customers. As a fruit and vegetable organization there are different
types of core business functions which are covered and considered by them which are discussed
as below:
Major market: Vegetables and fruits are mainly produced by season, but the market always
requires these types of products. But sometimes these types of the organization who are dealing
in this sector are facing many issues regarding product availability. Ben’s fruit and vegetable
cover this by their core functions in which they match up with their customers demand by two
ways like- selling fresh products within a period of harvest and process the rest for meeting the
demand during the whole year (Core business functions of Ben’s fruits and vegetables, 2018). As
the technology improved in the market with the increased customer's income, so it becomes
easily to supply or provide best and fresh quality of products to them on a daily basis.
Fresh market: With the increased customer income, the demand for the fresh product is also
increased in the market. This will force these types of organization to sell or supply fresh
products throughout the year among their customers. So it becomes the core and major function
of Ben’s fruit and vegetables to provide quality of products to their customers. The organization
has some chain stores in the market, and they get connected with large retailers to buy or
purchase the products directly and then provide to their targeted customers in large or small
areas. The core function of this organization is to produce their marketing plan or strategy so that
they can promote their products and services to the customers.
Identify market demand: Ben’s fruit and vegetable core function are to identify or evaluate the
market trends and demand of their customers (Kurnia et al, 2015). Market research must be done
in respect of the marketing techniques so that they can identify whether other organizations are
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using traditional marketing or e-commerce for selling their products in the market between the
customers. With the help of this function, they can understand their customer buying decision
and behaviour when they are planning to buy these types of products.
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P1.2 Evaluate Ben’s fruit and vegetables business aims and show how they relate to their
stakeholders
Every organization including Ben’s fruit and vegetables have their individual and own aims and
objectives which they need to cover and achieve through various types of strategies. Aims and
objectives of the organization are related to improving health and nutrition outcomes from the
quality of products and services. Following are the aims and objectives of the organization:
Aims of Ben’s fruit and vegetables
They need to improve their product quality through which they can attract customers. The
organization aims to develop their position in the market by enhancing their quality of products.
Objectives of Ben’s fruit and vegetables
The objective is to improve health and nutrition outcomes of the vulnerable segments of
the entire population with the foods and products available which will increase the intake
of the fruits and vegetables.
Development of the food production systems that are based on the diversification of
agricultural and water conservation (Aims and objectives of Ben’s fruits and vegetables,
2018).
The objective is to increase the use of technology for the ply of products and services to
the customers in this competitive market.
There objective is to expand their market-oriented food supply in the market which will
increase their food supply standard between the customers.
Target market of the organization
Ben’s fruit and vegetables target mainly a group of individual whom which this organization
wants to sell their products and services. Target the market is the processes through which
organization can understand the market analysis to sell their food products. This will also involve
the middle as well as high income of the customers and all the age of people. Ben’s fruit and
vegetable organization target female or a housewife or working women who buy fruits and
vegetables for their family just to make them healthy. When Ben’s fruit and vegetable
organization understands target market, then they can easily create strategies and techniques for
achieving the expectations and loyalty of their customers (Cross et al, 2015).
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Some issues or threats faced by organization
There are many threats and issues faced by them which the enhancement in e-commerce in this
competitive market and this will affect the income and revenue structure of the organization. It is
important for an organization to make objectives for implementing e-commerce in their business.
Strong customers base and product quality are the main strengths of the organization.
Aims and objectives relate with the stakeholders
The organization has internal as well as external stakeholders who are related to the aims and
objectives of the organization. Customers are the main stakeholders of the organization, and they
are the major income source for them. Employees are also stakeholders of the organization, and
they are treated as the assets. Profit and revenue of the organization are based on the stakeholders
and their requirement which need to be satisfied by them (Sala et al, 2015). Market competition
is the biggest threat to the organization which they need to retain their employees and to attract
customers.
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Task 2
P2.1 Analyse the impact, including the risks, of introducing an e-Commerce system to the Ben’s
fruit and vegetables
E-commerce system associated risk
There are some of the advantages or benefits which are adopted by the e-commerce in this
organization, but still, there are several types of issues in the e-commerce which put bad impact
on the customer base. There are various types of challenges which are faced by the organization
and that will influence them to promote the utilization of e-commerce in their business
operations and functions:
Consumer’s location and address
Right location and address related to the customers are needed in the e-commerce. Due to wrong
information about the customers creates various types of issues and problems for the
organization (Turban et al, 2015). Sometimes appropriate location and address of the customers
will fail the e-commerce transactions which are created by the organization and its team. If e-
commerce sites create issues, then customers will get afraid to purchase online products and
services from Ben’s fruits and vegetables. If customers also provide wrong information to the
organization, then it will create problem while delivering the products.
Customer effective feedback
Effective feedback from the customer is required to be taken by the organization regarding e-
commerce, and if customers do not give a proper response to them, then it will affect their
business functions. If issues occur in the business, and its functions than customers will move
towards another fruit and vegetable brand that will reduce the development and growth of Ben’s
fruit and vegetables. If consumers are not satisfied with the services of the organization, then
they can to select another website to buy their valuable products and that will affect their profit
ratio (Fang et al, 2014).
E-commerce delivery system and impact of introducing e-commerce
Sales increase
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The organization enhances their business market by providing goods and services through online
which will increase the organizational sale, and this is beneficial for them also. They also
achieve many competitive benefits through e-commerce.
Overcome limitation of geographic
With the help of e-commerce websites they can offer and deliver their products and services to
their targeted customers, and this will increase their sales also (Li and Karahanna, 2015).
Transaction of e-commerce will be done in the entire world which will reduce the boundary
location for the organization.
E-commerce impact on the customers
With the help of e-commerce strategy, there are various types of positive impact that are created
by the organization on their customers. E-commerce online website can help customers to select
their choice of products with a variety of products. This type of service will attract customers,
and they maintain their loyalty to Ben’s fruits and vegetables.
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2.2 Discuss the global impact of e-Commerce on society in relation to the organization
Utilization of e-commerce strategy in the business will create some positive as well as negative
impact on the society in respect of Ben’s fruits and vegetables. Following are the global impact
of the e-commerce on the society in relation to the organization:
Positive global impact of the e-commerce on the social society
Product customization in the e-commerce sites is done as per the requirements, demands,
and needs of the customers.
With the help of e-commerce, platform organization can do direct marketing and
promotion of their goods and services which will attract customers. Through e-commerce
business can easily reach to the global market.
E-commerce sites provide flexibility in respect of the defect product change, but this is
quite difficult in the retail outlet which is one of the important positive impacts of e-
commerce on the society and business also (Miller et al, 2016).
These will also help to maintain and manage effective goodwill and brand image in this
competitive market. Customers can easily recognize the product of Ben’s Fruits and
Vegetables among other products.
Negative global impact of the e-commerce on the social society
Website hacking is one of the biggest issues which is faced by the organization when
they usages e-commerce platform. Hackers can steal the personal and confidential
information and details of the customers.
E-commerce offers less data or information to the customers about the products and
services due to which customers do not understand the actual condition of the product
and its quality (Qu et al, 2015).
All the promises done by the organization are cannot be fulfilled through e-commerce in
respect of the delivery duration and also charge extra amount for home delivery.
Customers cannot touch and feel the products in the e-commerce platform which will
sometimes disappoint the customers after receiving the product. In the e-commerce, a
guarantee of the product and its quality is also weak which will create a negative impact.
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Task 3
P3.1 using appropriate research methodologies, Investigate market potential for an e-Commerce
opportunity
Ben’s fruits and vegetables are the organization who sells fresh fruits and vegetables to their
customers. Groceries products are provided by the organization in the UK market and mainly in
the London. In the current time, the organization has an insufficient number of customers due to
which their sales per year are quite low. To achieve and investigate the market potential for an e-
commerce opportunity in respect of Ben’s fruits and vegetables, a team of the organization uses
various types of research methodologies in which secondary data collection is used.
With the help of secondary data collection or research method, an organization can identify the
records and past surveys of the customers regarding e-commerce success (Sriram et al, 2015).
Books, old records, past surveys, past customer feedbacks or magazines are considered for
researching e-commerce market potential. Following are the e-commerce market potentiality that
shows its opportunity in the market is investigated or evaluated by conducting secondary
research method:
Business investigation
Every organization has their first need to forecast their business so that they can use e-commerce
system that will help them to identify and understand the segmentation of the customers. With
the help of this, they can increase their revenue and income in this competitive market. For
working efficiency and to reduce the organizational efforts they can utilize automated operations.
Maintain strong customer base
Ben’s fruits and vegetable organization can influence and attract more customers with the use of
e-commerce technique in which they sell their fresh fruits and vegetables through online sites
(Sharma and Lijuan, 2014). The organization provides 24x7 services for online transactions
which will influence the customer to buy their products anytime and anywhere.
Sales
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