E-commerce: Building, Security, and Business Strategies Report

This report delves into the multifaceted world of e-commerce, providing a comprehensive overview of building an online presence, essential business strategies, and critical security and payment systems. It begins by outlining the steps involved in establishing an e-commerce platform, from researching the latest technological advancements, such as mobile applications and virtual assistants, to developing promotional strategies and selecting a domain name. The report then explores the e-commerce infrastructure, including display, transition, and processing technologies, and emphasizes the importance of robust security measures, such as firewalls and VPNs, to protect customer data and prevent unauthorized access. Furthermore, it examines various payment options, including PayPal, Skrill, and bank transfers. Finally, the report discusses key e-business strategies, such as improving product quality, enhancing customer service, and eliminating intermediaries, and analyzes their impact on organizational processes and outcomes. The report also highlights the importance of adapting to new technologies and customer demands to ensure the long-term success of an e-commerce business. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering past papers and solved assignments for students.

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E-COMMERCE RETAILING AND SERVICES
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Building an E-commerce Presence
According to Kim and Peterson (2017), an e-commerce is a type of business, which enables
people to conduct business operations without using physical means rather over the internet.
Business activities are dynamic in nature, therefore, susceptible to changes from time to time.
Initially, people conducted business activities by exchanging goods and services especially
before introduction of monetary system (Oliveira et al 2017). Currently, many companies have
incorporated websites into their operations, thus e-commerce industry has enormously grown.
Steps of Building an E-commerce Presence
According to Shi, Li, X. and Li, H. (2017), the first step of building an e-commerce involves
conducting a research regarding recent technologies in e-business, for example:
 Introduction of mobile applications. Initially, customers accessed products of the
companies through links, which are referred to as Uniform Resource Locater (URL).
Through android programming, many companies have designed and developed mobile
applications in relation to e-commerce, thus making it easy for customer to view and
purchase products using their mobile phone by downloading and installing mobile
application. For instance, Amazon is one of the organizations that has developed a mobile
application for its services, therefore, enhancing smooth running of business operations
(Isaksson and Wennberg 2016).
 Introduction of Virtual Assistant. Initially, companies experienced low sales because
many people didn’t apprehend the entire process of buying or selling goods online.
However, introduction of virtual assistant has enhanced interaction between the company

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and its customers. Virtual assistant has enabled customers to give their suggestions and
ask questions about business activities or services offered by the company. Similarly, it
has enabled the company to respond to the questions asked in real-time basis (Hernandez
2016).
 Improved shipping activities. Shipping is one of the essential features of an e-commerce.
Initially, it took a long time for a company to deliver goods and services to customers.
However, shipping services have been improved, thus ensuring timely deliveries (Shi, Li,
X. and Li, H. 2017).
 E-business messenger applications. Many businesses are expected to be sending their
information about promotions and products through messaging applications, for example,
WhatsApp and Messenger. Currently, many e-businesses are using email to update its
customers regarding change in products and services offered by the company. The
change is expected to take effect in future since many people are using messaging
applications as compared to email (Allison 2017).
Other Steps involved:
 Writing a plan of an e-business. A plan may include the following; objectives of an e-
commerce, targeted customers and their needs. A good plan should put into consideration
future needs of the customers other than current needs. The plan forms a basis of
determining overall costs of an e-commerce. Besides, it can also determine maintenance
costs. Therefore, it is an important step in building of an e-commerce (Allison 2017).
 Identify products and services that will be offered to customers.
 Develop e-commerce promotional strategies, therefore, creating awareness of its
existence (Allison 2017).

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 Choose an e-commerce website domain name.
 Building an e-commerce website (Shi, Li, X. and Li, H. 2017).
References
Allison, J. (2017). E-COMMERCE AND THE NEWPAPER INDUSTRY: DETERMINANTS
TO FIRST-MOVERSHIP. Academy of Strategic Management Journal [online]. 16(1), pp.225-
243. Available from: http://www.mywebtools.us/Allison/Research.htm. [Accessed 22 August
2018].
Hernandez, S. (2016). A management research paper for Philippine Seven
Corporation (Doctoral dissertation, De La Salle University-Dasmariñas) [online]. Available
from: https://thesis.dlsud.edu.ph/4308/. [Accessed 22 August 2018]
Isaksson, D. and Wennberg, K. (2016). Digitalization and collective value creation.
In Bergström, A., & Wennberg, K. Machines, Jobs and equality. Technological Change and
Labor Markets in Europe. European Liberal Forum, Brussels, Belgium [online]. Available from:
http://fores.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/machines-jobs-and-equality.pdf [Accessed 22 August
2018].
Kim, Y. and Peterson, R. (2017). A Meta-analysis of Online Trust Relationships in E-
commerce. Journal of Interactive Marketing [online]. 38, pp.44-54. Available from:
http://iranarze.ir/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/E5575-IranArze.pdf. [Accessed 22 August 2018].
Oliveira, T., Alhinho, M., Rita, P. and Dhillon, G. (2017). Modelling and testing consumer trust
dimensions in e-commerce. Computers in Human Behavior [online]. 71, pp.153-164. Available
from: https://research.unl.pt/en/publications/modelling-and-testing-consumer-trust-dimensions-

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in-ecommerce(a7e6f7ad-285e-43b8-b82a-55393762e249)/export.html. [Accessed 22 August
2018].
Shi, Y., Li, X. and Li, H. (2017). A new method to assess infiltration rates in large shopping
centers. Building and Environment, 119, pp.140-152.
E-commerce Security and Payment System
E-business Infrastructure
According to Turban et al. (2017), it’s important to understand e-business infrastructure before
defining its security measures. E-commerce infrastructure is related to overall architecture of an
e-commerce platform such as software and hardware. It is essential as it determines
responsiveness of an e-commerce application. There are different e-business infrastructure
technologies, for example, Information display, transition and processing technologies (Rahman
2018). Display technologies consists of XML and web, while, transition technologies comprise
WAP and TCP. Finally, processing technologies includes IDSS and GPS. Therefore, better
security mechanisms should be deployed, thus ensuring security of e-commerce infrastructures
has been enhanced (Rahman 2018).
Payment and Security Systems
E-commerce security is associated with the process of protecting an e-commerce platform.
Security is the most essential element of an e-commerce website, for instance, poorly secured
website can scare away customers from purchasing products (Qiu and Li 2017). Besides,
customer’s credentials or information are very important, thus companies have deployed
different security techniques in their e-commerce websites. There are different security policies
underlying e-commerce websites such as privacy, which is concerned about ways on which

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customer’s data is used and secured against unauthorized access and cryptography, which is
associated with secret and public keys (Zhang, Liu and Wen 2018). Furthermore, some concepts
related to confidentiality and authentication are used in privacy. The following are some of the
ways on which companies protect their e-commerce websites: deployment of security protection
techniques such as firewall and VPN. A firewall is a firmware, which blocks some files and
documents from entering in an e-commerce website. Besides, it determines some traffics that can
enter in organization’s network, therefore, preventing virus and other malicious files from
entering in a network, thus enhancing smooth running of the website. On the other hand, VPN
enables a customer to access an e-commerce website from anywhere and with a lot of ease
(Zhang, Liu and Wen 2018).
Apart from security systems, there exists different payment methods in e-commerce. Payment is
not an independent entity rather dependent because it relies much on security (Kazan et al 2018).
Payment options are also vital since an e-commerce website cannot exist without payment
methods. Currently, the following are some common payment options: PayPal, Skrill and bank
transfers. PayPal is the most acceptable payment option, thus incorporated by many companies.
It’s used in many countries. Besides, it is also very secured. Basically, it requires an individual to
have an email account (Kazan et al 2018). Apart from an email account, it also requires one to
have a bank account. Customers can link their bank accounts to their PayPal accounts. Similarly,
opening a Skrill account also requires one to have an email account. Also, it is a common online
payment option but not widely used because it is insecure, thus not incorporated in many e-
commerce websites. The other method is bank transfer, which is also not commonly used. In this
payment option, a company or a customer must provide their account numbers on their e-
commerce websites (Kemper and Deufel 2018).

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References
Kazan, E., Tan, C.W., Lim, E.T., Sørensen, C. and Damsgaard, J. (2018). Disentangling digital
platform competition: The case of UK mobile payment platforms. Journal of Management
Information Systems [online]. 35(1), pp.180-219. Available from:
https://research.cbs.dk/en/.../disentangling-competition...platform.../export.html. [Accessed 22
August 2018].
Kemper, J. and Deufel, P. (2018). How the Purchase Situation Affects the Payment Method
Choice in E-Commerce. In Academy of Management Proceedings [online]. (Vol. 2018, No. 1, p.
11010). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. Available from:
https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/AMBPP.2018.11010abstract. [Accessed 22 August
2018].
Qiu, L. and Li, J. (2017). Covering the Monitoring Network: A Unified Framework to Protect E-
Commerce Security. Complexity, 2017 [online]. Available from:
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/complexity/2017/6254842/. [Accessed 22 August 2018].
Rahman, K.M. (2018). A Narrative Literature Review and E-Commerce Website
Research. arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.07833 [online]. Available from: https://arxiv.org › catchup.
[Accessed 22 August 2018].
Turban, E., Outland, J., King, D., Lee, J.K., Liang, T.P. and Turban, D.C. (2017). Electronic
commerce 2018: a managerial and social networks perspective. Springer.
Zhang, M., Liu, H. and Wen, J. (2018). E-Commerce Security Research in Big Data
Environment. International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems (IJEIS) [online]. 14(1),
pp.63-76. Available from: https://ideas.repec.org/s/igg/jeis00.html. [Accessed 22 August 2018].

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E-commerce Business Strategies
Currently, many businesses have incorporated an e-commerce website into their operations,
therefore, adopting better strategies is not an option because it can act as a competing tool. A
business strategy is concerned with different ways on which a company conducts its operations
aiming at achieving certain business objectives (Cui et al. 2017).
Impact of E-business Strategies on Organizational Processes and Outcomes
The following are some e-business strategies with their effects on organizational process and
outcomes:
Improving quality of products. E-commerce organizations keeps on improving quality of
products as a way of competing effectively with their competitors. The information about defect
products supplied to customers can be collected from responses of the customers in an e-
commerce website. Quality products can result in an increased number of customers, thus
maximizing profits. On the side of an organization, it can result in increased employees’
commitment aiming at producing quality products that can compete effectively in both local and
international markets (Khan and Uwemi 2018).
Enhancing customer service. Customers are one of the major stakeholders of a company,
therefore, a company must maintain good relationship with its customers. For instance, a
company cannot exist without customers. There are different ways on which a company can use
to maintain its customers, for example, providing all the services and products on real-time basis,
supplying quality products, lowering prices of products, giving out incentives and heeding to
customer’s demands, thus satisfying consumer needs. Better customer services not only maintain
existing customers but also attracts potential customers, and consequently, it can increase sales.

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Regarding an e-commerce company, better customer services can result in maintaining
employees (Gregory, Ngo and Karavdic 2017).
Eliminating intermediaries. There are some limitations and problems related to
intermediaries. Intermediaries can be resellers. For instance, intermediaries can result in
increased cost of end products. Therefore, elimination of intermediaries can help the company in
dealing with its customers directly, thus understanding all their needs. Hence, an e-business
company, which has eliminated intermediaries, has a great advantage (Rezaei, Wee and Valaei
2017).
Enhance perception of an e-business company. To compete effectively, a company expresses its
strengths to its customers rather than weaknesses. Therefore, this makes customers to believe
that products and services offered can solve their problems. Also, it ensures that a company
works towards achieving its objectives (Cassidy 2016).
Reduce time for delivering products to customers. Products ordered by customers should be
delivered very fast. On the side of customers, it results in customer satisfaction. On the side of
the company, it increases sales in a certain period. Also, it enables the company to incorporate
new technological advancements into its operations aiming at delivering products very fast.
Besides, new technological advancements ensure hassle-free running of organizational activities,
hence enabling the company to meet its objectives (Cassidy 2016).
Enhance organizational infrastructure. Infrastructure is concerned with general management of
an organization. Apart from general management, it is also associated with information systems.
Therefore, a company management has the responsibility of choosing better leaders basing on
their qualifications rather than considering less important factors such as race. Regarding

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information systems, companies incorporate recent technologies, which are compatible with their
software, thus ensuring smooth running of their application (Collins and Bardle 2018).
References
Cui, M., Pan, S.L., Newell, S. and Cui, L. (2017). Strategy, resource orchestration and e-
commerce enabled social innovation in Rural China. The Journal of Strategic Information
Systems [online]. 26(1), pp.3-21. Available from:
http://daneshyari.com/article/preview/4973076.pdf. [Accessed 22 August 2018].
Khan, H.U. and Uwemi, S. (2018). Possible impact of e-commerce strategies on the utilisation of
e-commerce in Nigeria. International Journal of Business Innovation and Research
[online]. 15(2), pp.231-246. Available from: https://scholar.google.co.kr/citations?
user=OAhv2GIAAAAJ&hl=en. [Accessed 22 August 2018].
Gregory, G.D., Ngo, L.V. and Karavdic, M. (2017). Developing e-commerce marketing
capabilities and efficiencies for enhanced performance in business-to-business export
ventures. Industrial Marketing Management [online]. Available from: http://tarjomefa.com/wp-
content/uploads/2018/01/TarjomeFa-F420-English.pdf. [Accessed 22 August 2018].
Collins, D.A. and Bardle, S. (2018). E-Commerce Strategies for London's Creative Sector.
Cassidy, A. (2016). A practical guide to planning for E-business success: how to E-enable your
enterprise. CRC Press [online]. Available from: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/19416/. [Accessed
22 August 2018].
Rezaei, S., Wee, C.H. and Valaei, N. (2017). Essential of Apps Marketing Implementation and
E-Commerce Strategies: Apps Users' Decision-Making Process. In Apps Management and E-

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Commerce Transactions in Real-Time [online]. pp. 141-158 IGI Global. Available from:
http://www.academia.edu/20117199/Apps_Management_and_E-
Commerce_Transactions_in_Real-Time. [Accessed 22 August 2018].
E-commerce Marketing and Advertising
E-commerce marketing and advertising can be perceived as one entity, though there exist some
differences (Gregory, Ngo and Karavdic 2017). Advertisement is an instance of marketing. Apart
from advertising, e-commerce marketing also consists of other business concepts related to
customer services, price and supply of products. E-commerce marketing can be defined as a
process of creating awareness about existence of an e-commerce website aiming at increasing
sales and number of customers (Kim and Peterson 2017).
E-commerce Marketing and Advertisement Tools
Currently, there are many online tools that can facilitate e-commerce marketing and
advertisement, for example, social media and e-mail (Jin, and Ryu 2018). The most common tool
that facilitates marketing and advertisement is social media. Social media can be defined as any
online platform that enables people to share information, for instance, common types of social
media includes: Facebook, telegram, YouTube, twitter, WhatsApp and LinkedIn. A company can
establish or start a social media group and share links to its customers (Jin, and Ryu 2018). It can
then share information about its products through social media groups. Apart from social media
groups, a company can also open a Facebook page for sharing information and creating
awareness regarding its products and services. Moreover, social media has enhanced visual
presentation of products through online platforms such as YouTube. Therefore, customers can
view actual applicability of products and services offered rather than theoretical presentation,

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therefore, increasing sales. The following are some of the reasons why social media platforms is
the most preferred advertisement and marketing tool: it is used by many people; therefore,
information can be accessed easily and at the same time, it is a very cheap method for
advertisement, it supports visual presentation of products through platforms such as YouTube
and requires less skills to start and maintain (Strauss and Frost 2016).
Apart from social media, e-mail is also another tool that can facilitate e-commerce marketing and
advertisement. E-mail marketing involves the process of sending messages directly to customers
especially regarding business products (Kozlenkova et al. 2017). An email address can be
displayed in an e-commerce website where customers can access it with a lot of ease and
subscribe so that they can receive messages instantly from the company. Customers can be
updated regularly regarding some important updates of change in quality of products and prices.
Apart from change in products, information about change in prices can also be sent to customers.
The following are some of the reasons why an email marketing is a significant tool; it enhances
automation of updates, it attracts new customers, therefore, increasing sales and awareness of an
existence of an e-commerce company (Kozlenkova et al. 2017).
Moreover, another tool for e-commerce marketing is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This
tool is mostly used in google search. This is also a very significant tool as it can enable a
potential customer to access easily information about services offered. However, this tool
requires a company to update its information regularly, therefore, ensuring that customers have
accessed latest information (Kelsey 2017).
Reference