IMAT5211 E-Commerce: Future of Trade - A Detailed Management Report

This report explores the evolving landscape of e-commerce and its potential to reshape the future of trade. It begins by defining e-commerce and highlighting its growth, driven by advancements in internet technology. The report addresses the research question of whether e-commerce will become the dominant form of trading, employing both quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze market trends and consumer behavior. A management perspective is provided, emphasizing the need for companies like McDonald's to embrace e-commerce through migration plans and the development of online platforms. The report details the capabilities of e-commerce, such as real-time pricing, faster order placement, and integrated procurement systems. It also examines the positive and negative impacts of e-commerce, including wider audience reach, cost savings, increased competition, and reduced physical infrastructure requirements. The report concludes by highlighting the benefits of e-commerce, such as geographical freedom and lower operating costs, ultimately emphasizing the need for organizations to embrace online trading to maximize profits and ensure future growth. Desklib provides a platform to access this and similar solved assignments.

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E-Commerce
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E-Commerce
Introduction
E-Commerce is the business of buying and selling of goods and services conducted over
the internet (Ezeigbo, 2018). The products are purchased by the consumer online through a
website and perform payments through money transfers over different platforms such as PayPal
(Grefen, 2015. There are various platforms of e-commerce such as Amazon and Alibaba Group
that are in the online shop and still experiencing immense growth year after year. The
development of e-commerce is attributed to the development of the internet technology over the
years thus enabling more people to access it in a straightforward way (Alibaba Group and its
impact on the world's e-commerce: Insights about Alibaba group's effect on the economy and its
potential, 2017). The growth of this form of trading is threatening the development and existence
of traditional forms of trade such as stalls and malls since people no longer entirely dependent on
them for goods purchase as it was in the olden days (Seetharaman, Niranjan, Saravanan, &
Balaji, 2017). Therefore, e-commerce is a force to reckon with when it comes to modern forms
of trading.
Research Question and Methodology
Will e-commerce be the new form of trading in the future judging by the trends
happening in business today? The growth of e-commerce of the past few years is a heads up to
companies selling goods and services to consumers. The reason why most retail businesses are
failing is the presence of the e-business platforms, and the owners need to work towards making
their companies internet based to avoid going under (Cassidy, 2016). The research is very critical
in helping one understand the dynamics behind e-business by looking at how it operates. While

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investigating this field, it is of importance to obtain the proper research method so that the results
obtained are accurate.
The research question is handled by investigating the trends in e-business. The market
trends get analyzed with the help of using both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The
quantitative analysis helps in analyzing the e-commerce business type with the help of analytical
data and models of statistics. This method makes it possible for the numerical data collected get
an investigation, and proper conclusions later drawn from it. In the case of e-commerce,
quantitative analysis will help in analyzing the growth and profits made by inline platforms
compared to the retail shops and markets (Scherbaum & Shockley, 2015). The research question
gets answered by using this analysis since it provides a clear and distinct comparison between
the two forms of selling and buying of goods. In qualitative research, the question gets answered
by obtaining information from people who interact with the two forms of trading and get their
feedbacks by the use of interviews or questionnaires (Neergaard & Leitch, 2015). E-commerce
gets understood by such research and the reason why more people prefer this form of trade as
compared to the traditional way.
Management Report
E-commerce is set to change the way trading takes place eventually, and it is essential for
companies to embrace the online mode of buying and selling of goods. For example,
organizations using the internet to do business transactions can expound their consumer targets
since they can even trade with other business in very respectable and secure terms (Ruychev,
2018). McDonald’s is a restaurant with many different franchises all over the world. In as much
as it has attained global recognition and growth, the business has not established its online

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platform very well. The franchise needs to develop a migration plan that will enable it to move
from the standard ordering services and increase the e-commerce aspect in its trade (Kremez,
Frazer, Weaven, & Quach, 2019). Therefore, it is of importance that the senior manager look into
the e-business trend and decide on the decision to fully develop a significant Internet-based
platform for ordering food in the fast food restaurant.
There are several capabilities of online trading associated with e-commerce. E-commerce
works with real-time pricing whereby consumers can access the products and their prices in the
actual and current time, which is updated accordingly (Lee, 2016). This capability enables a
customer to acquire and purchase goods or products at their current price regardless of recent or
predicted future price. E-business allows consumers to make orders faster than placing them on
in person. This potential ensures that consumers save on time since they know what they want,
and placing the order online is just a matter of seconds (Khliupko, 2016). Another capability that
is brought about by developing a migration plan is that future stock is availed to enable people to
book them before they even start being sold. This early booking allows a business to be able to
sell even the excess orders available and save on the losses that may be brought about by unsold
products.
Invoicing is a capability brought about by e-commerce since it enables the system to save
the orders getting sold in its logs and also checking on the available stock thus making it easy for
the business manager to keep track of the resources for sale handy at a particular time (Stein,
2018). In the case of McDonald’s, the senior manager can see the meals sold and the remainders
after every sale made. This detailed invoicing is a power that is brought about by the online
exchange of goods and services. The integration of the procurement is an essential ability of e-
commerce unlike in traditional retail services since in this case; a company can provide

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customers with technical procurement systems that enable customers to transact large sums of
money in safe online environments. The e-commerce platforms available have the potentiality to
maneuver through the market no matter the condition at hand thus they have fewer limitations
when it comes to conducting trade, unlike the stalls and malls which are controlled a lot by
factors such as rainfall which may cause flooding leading to closure.
Impacts of Ecommerce
E-commerce has impacted business in positive and negative ways. The first positive
impact of using e-commerce for trading is that it is elementary for a company to reach a wider
audience at a little cost (Xu, Liu, Wang, & Stavrou, 2017. Therefore, the organization will save
more money on advertisements than in the conventional way of training (Sfetcu, 2015).
McDonald will get able to reach a wider variety of consumers by posting adverts on their
specific website of e-commerce, thus attracting more consumers in the long run. This cost-saving
move enables the organization to redirect such funds into other channels that will help in
improving the business eventually. The change in infrastructure expected as a result of this
exposure of the company to the internet trading is that the company may end up losing some
staff like the people in charge of marketing since these forms of an advertisement do not require
the use of a lot of people unlike in the traditional way of trade. Other resources that will be
needed for the company to go into full e-commerce mode is the designing of a good website
which may cost a little bit expensive but still crucial in the long run. McDonald’s will need to
finance the making of a stable and secure website that will enable its audience to access it
quickly and interact with it to make an order on a meal or drinks.

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E-commerce is bound to make the company fight off more competition from smaller
companies that get into the art of online trading immediately they start. The development and
growth of e-commerce as the brand new and best form of trading is bound to make McDonald
adjust to the changes the company will have to make sure that it has established a stable base in
the sector so that they will be able to make enough sales to avoid making losses from the internet
trading and end up being surpassed by a new and upcoming fast food enterprise (PK, 2017). The
infrastructure needed by the company to make sure that all this happens well is an IT department
in charge of controlling the McDonald’s website. The company needs to also invest in servers
that will handle the data for the whole franchise and enable invoicing and procurement more
comfortably and reliably. The foundation is expected to cost a lot because there needs to be new
staff for the roles of IT specialists and also purchasing of private servers for the franchise is
going to require a substantial amount of money. The swap of the company into a significant level
of e-commerce is meant to create more competition for industries dealing with the same products
as McDonald’s, and this environment is good for business because the restaurant will outdo itself
in a bid to outshine the other available competition and gain more audience or consumers.
The use of e-commerce leads to less requirement for physical infrastructure. Instead of
the company having several McDonald joints all over one town, the franchises need closure and
then only one McDonald per town or city where meals get prepared ready for transporting. The
infrastructure that the restaurant requires to execute this plan is the acquisition of more vehicles
used in shipping of the meals to the households or offices of the consumer. Therefore, the
company needs to hire much-trained personnel who will operate on the vehicles without causing
damage. It is clear that the presence of e-commerce in this modern world will lead to a more

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sophisticated kind of trade that more organizations need to start embracing before the full take-
over gets done.
Online exchange of goods and services has several significant advantages that come with
using internet platforms for trade. The first benefit that the company is expected to reap from is
geographical freedom. Since the companies are based online, there is no need for the franchise to
start in a very profitable place; thus, it just needs a single retail center from where the meals get
distributed. Basically, with e-commerce, the entire world is the market place since it connects
people in forms of trade. This benefit is measured by observing how retails need to have a proper
and strategic location of business for them to conduct their traditional form of trade. It gets seen
that online markets such as Amazon are taking over the world with their online based retails
when compared to the old businesses that have big malls and stalls.
The benefit of having a business in e-commerce is that the costs of running it are lower.
For example, the cost of running the McDonald's restaurant will eventually go very low because
the physical shops will have to close paving the way for the online form of trading. Marketing
and advertising will immensely reduce because on the internet there is the availability of many
cheap channels of advertisement that the franchise will take advantage of and use hence reducing
the cost needed to hire people for the job (Sreedhar, 2018). Also, with the closure of some
physical structures, the numbers of employees that will be needed to run the internet trade are
very few. This change in employees ensures that the company does not use a lot of money in
paying for inventory management and other roles performed in a physical stall. Cost is further
saved in the real estate sector since the e-commerce business does not require a prominent
physical location (Yadav, Kumar Trivedi, Kumar, & Rangnekar, 2018). This benefit is measured
by observing the costs that get cut down in the operation of the e-commerce business and

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comparing it with how much it used to cost to run the different stalls. With this investigation, one
is sure to find out that running a physical store is more expensive than when it is internet based.
Therefore, with all these costs cut down, the franchise is sure to maximize profits, thus leading to
the company growing and developing at rapid rates.
The e-commerce platform for an organization enables the customers to locate the
products and goods quicker. This advantage is essential because the customers will go directly to
the company's website and search for the meal they desire and order it without having to look all
over if there is a franchise that has that meal (Al-Hakim, 2016). The customers get satisfied with
this easy tracking of goods and are bound to come back again since the experience obtained the
previous time was terrific. Customer satisfaction is used to measure the advantage of having
quicker shopping means which is very beneficial as compared to traditional forms of retailing
that require the consumer to scout for the product he or she needs (Paravastu, Ramanujan, &
Ratnasingam, 2016). E-commerce also enables the company to gives more effective giveaways
such as deals and bargains. For example, McDonald's may provide the customers a free burger
every time one purchases a bucket of chicken. This marketing strategy is more likely to attract
consumers online that will make them order such a meal to get the discounted burger without
them even leaving their homes. Customers are expected to keep on looking for offers that the
business may offer in the future, thus forever keeping them on their toes and improving sales for
the company (Al-Hakim, 2016). Ratings will effectively measure the importance of e-commerce
concerning such benefits that come with the use of internet trading.
Websites have no opening hours or a time limitation to when they operate, and this is an
added advantage associated with online based businesses (Al-Hakim, 2016). This benefit enables
the company to be on and available for the customer at any different hours. The consumer can

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order his or her product at whatever time they want and be guaranteed to get service from the
platform. This advantage is sure to bring in extra customers even at odd hours, thus maximizing
on the profits the company gets. McDonald’s will tap into this benefit because it will get the
ability to serve its customers at any given time, thus increasing customer satisfaction. It is also a
proper way to make sure one retains customers who are loyal to the company due to the ability of
them purchasing whatever they want at any given time.
However, several risks come with online trading, such as online security (Dixit, 2016).
There are possible risks that are associated with the security of trading online, including credit
card fraud, hacking, data errors, and phishing (Nah & Tan, 2016). These threats may jeopardize
the business in the long run and cause losses in millions of pounds. To prevent this risk from
happening, the company should invest in a multilayered security platform for its online platform
and also requesting strong passwords from users (Rajagopal, & Behl, 2016). This risk is the main
threat that faces the platform for online trading.
Conclusion
E-commerce has provided the availability of fast and secure trading for customers
without them having to leave their houses or places of work. It is essential for the companies to
embrace this means of selling and those that are not using it to transform because, with the
growth and development of technology, e-business is set to take over as the only retail business
in the world due to its many conveniences to both the company and the consumer. E-commerce
has led to the growth of many brands, and with time, more will grow because organizations are
using the opportunity to trade with few limitations.

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