Research Proposal: E-commerce Influence on Retail Performance Study

This research proposal investigates the influence of e-commerce on organizational performance within the retail industry, using Amazon as a case study. It outlines the background of e-commerce and Amazon, the rationale for the research, its aim, research questions, and objectives. The proposal details the research methodology, including the research approach (deductive), research design (descriptive), and research methods (quantitative and qualitative). It discusses participant selection, validity and reliability of data, and data collection and analysis methods, including the use of questionnaires for primary data and secondary data from journals and publications. The proposal concludes that e-commerce is vital for improving retail performance and provides a time plan for the research.

CW1: Research proposal
The influence of E-commerce on organisational
performance in the retail industry
Case study (Amazon)

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background to research topic...........................................................................................................3
Background to Research Organization............................................................................................3
Research Rationale ..........................................................................................................................4
Research Aim...................................................................................................................................4
Research Questions ........................................................................................................................4
Research Objectives.........................................................................................................................4
Research Methodology ............................................................................................................5
Research Approach..........................................................................................................................5
Research Design ..............................................................................................................................5
Research Methods............................................................................................................................5
Participants.......................................................................................................................................6
Validity and reliability.....................................................................................................................6
Data collection and analysis.............................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
E-commerce is a basic concept that is related to the sales and purchase of goods and
services by use of computer networks that includes the Internet. Concerning
communication technology, it offers information, payment services and products by
application of telephones networks, electronic means and computer networks. The
emergence of electronic commerce has dramatically affected the effectiveness of the
organisation and they are getting a competitive advantage by the use of electronic
commerce applications. This research proposal includes the rationale, aim, objectives,
research questions and methodological aspects of the research along with a time plan.
Background to research topic
The introduction of e-commerce and its digital concepts have transformed the whole
meaning of retail. It is gradually helping the retail industry to enhance its performance
efficiently. This can be defined as a strategic move for all the companies in the specific
retail sector (Naidoo and Gasparatos, 2018). E-commerce by way of digitalization is
constantly helping in increasing the capabilities that will ultimately help in growing the
sales of the company (Jena, 2018). The organization performance is highly dependent
on what platform the business operations are being performed. Therefore, a perfect
combination of online and offline helps retail companies to attain strong growth.
Background to Research Organization
Amazon is an American multinational technology brand that is focussing on e-
commerce, digital streaming, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. It is one of the
big five brands along with Microsoft, apple, google and Facebook, it is also regarded as
the most influential cultural and economic forces of the world. It was started in July in
the year 1994 (Acker, 2017.). it started as an online Book market place but it has further
expanded its operations and functions towards various other product categories that
include software, electronics, apparel, food, toys, jewellery, furniture (Nurhadi and
Purnomo, 2018). In the year 2015, amazon surpassed Walmart being the most
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successful retailer across the United States by market capitalisation (Sadq, Sabir and
Saeed, 2018).
Research Rationale
Present research work is going to help in understanding the way e-commerce
possesses an influence on the overall organisation performance of the retail industry. It
is also helpful in the professional context as it will form the basis for future research
work in the segment of understanding the influence of e-commerce on the retail
industry. From the personal context, it will assist in the process of learning and the
development of new skill sets. The main reason for conducting this research work is to
analyse the influence of e-commerce on organisational performance in the retail
industry.
Research Aim
To analyse the influence of e-commerce on organisational performance in the
retail industry
Research Questions
1. What do you understand by the basic concept of e-commerce in retail sector
organisations?
2. What is the overall impact of e-commerce on organisational performance?
3. What are some of the challenges that are associated with using e-commerce
technology?
4. What are the suitable strategies to deal with the issues associated with using e-
commerce technology?
Research Objectives
1. To analyse the basic concept of e-commerce in retail sector organisations.
2. To evaluate the impact of e-commerce on the organisational performance.
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3. To recognize different difficulties that are related to using e-commerce
technology.
4. To make suitable recommendation to deal with the issues associated with using
e-commerce technology.
Literature review
concept of e-commerce in retail sector organisations
As per view points of chai (2020), E commerce is the related to buying 7 selling of
goods and services that is conducing of all the business transaction via online available
platforms only. E commerce is powered by Internet where customers can access online
store and then place orders for products and services. It is regarded as the electronic
exchange of products, information and services rather than between business &
customers (e-commerce, 2020).
Research Methodology
Research methodology is the technique or procedure that is to be adopted to collect
information concerning a particular research field. The main objective of research
methodology is to collect appropriate and authentic information that is related to the
study (Tagashira and Minami, 2019). There are different types of research
methodologies that can be used as per the needs of particular research work so that it
can help in the process of having a sufficient information base.
Research Approach
The research approach is defined as the process of collecting information
effectively (Luckin and Cukurova, 2019.). This approach is divided into two-part that
includes the inductive approach and deductive approach. The two approaches are very
helpful and facilitate the researcher in the process of collecting information. The two
approaches have to be defined with appropriate justification as per the needs of
research work. It includes:
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Research Design
Research design is the method, framework and technique that is to be selected by the
researcher to collect, evaluation and further use the information. Three types of
research design can be used in a particular research work that includes experimental,
descriptive and exploratory (Wagner Mainardes, de Almeida and de-Oliveira, 2019). In
the present research, the working researcher will be focussing on using of descriptive
research design that is based on analysing and describing the population and situation.
The main focus is on a collection of quantitative information as per pre-defined
objectives systematically and properly.
Research Methods
Research methods can be defined as the strategies or processes that are used to
collect the data for analysis. This will help in establishing a better understanding of the
concerned topic. The research method is also of various methods such as
observational, derived, experimental and simulation which can be used for different
objectives based on the research topic (Diamantidis and Chatzoglou, 2019). tehre will
be use of both quantitative and qualitative method analysis. Quantitative method will be
used for making analysis and evaluation of the numerical form of data on other hand
qualitative method will be adopted for making analysis of the theoretical form of
information.
Diamantidis, A.D. and Chatzoglou, P., 2019. Factors affecting employee performance: an
empirical approach. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.
Participants
To select the participant from whom the primary form of information will be selected it is
very important to identify the target segment of the population. It includes employees
who are presently working in amazon to understand their opinions. For this purpose,
sampling will be used that is divided into two methods that are probability sampling and
non-probability sampling.
Probability sampling: It is regarded as a method that helps researchers in the selection
of respondents without having the type of specific criteria. It helps in the selection of a
large number of respondents from the total population. Another method is non-
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probability sampling where there is the selection of participants without any type of
criteria or requirements. The sample size will include 40 respondents who are
employees presently working at different levels in the organisation.
Validity and reliability
To run a business, it is highly necessary and important that the data collected from a
respective source is valid as well as reliable. The two major sources from which the
collection of data is done are customers feedbacks and different online websites. The
data needs to be valid as well as reliable because the element of authenticity must exist
to achieve the desired results in the best possible way. This will majorly help in the
evaluation of the research conducted effectively. Therefore, maintaining consistency in
the data is highly important to achieve the research objectives (Chan and Idris, 2017).
Data collection and analysis
Data collection is a process of identification of the sources from where appropriate and
adequate data can be collected by the researcher in particular research work. It is
associated with using a relevant and accurate method of collecting information as per
defined outcomes. It is mainly divided into two parts that include primary data collection
methods and secondary data collection methods. In primary data collection, there is the
use of information from chosen sources. It is carried first time to have an accurate base
of information (Kremez and et. al., 2019). On another hand, in the case of secondary
data collection, there is a focus on the process of data collection that is from identified
or already existing sources. This information already exists and the researcher has to
focus on addressing the gaps that are part of published data. It includes a collection of
information from journal articles books, publications, magazines and other newspaper
sources.
In the present research work, there will be the use of both primary and secondary
sources of collecting information that is to be used by the researcher to have a sufficient
information base. In this process for primary information, a questionnaire will be used on
the other hand for collecting secondary sources of information already existing
information has to be used by the researcher. Data will be collected by asking of
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questions from the identified target segment of respondents. For this employees will be
asked to fill the questionnaire as per their individual view points.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that e-commerce is becoming an essential tool that will help in
improving the performance of the retail industry considerably. In context to Amazon,
being the biggest e-commerce business organization is excelling in the field of selling its
goods and services through the online platforms efficiently. Therefore, the effective tool
of e-commerce with the help of digitalization will help different companies in the retail
industry to earn huge profits with an impressive presence on the online portals. The
companies must understand being rigid on selling the products through offline stores
may provide good sales but the e-commerce platforms do have the capacity to increase
the sales and profitability levels dramatically. But It can be considered that e-commerce
is a highly strategic tool that plays an important role in providing a competitive
advantage amongst the existing competitors in the marketplace.
Time plan
The time plan for present research report is depicted by use if Gantt chart as mentioned
below:
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References
Kremez, Z., and et. al., (2019). Ecommerce structures for retail and service franchises:
Ecommerce implementation in mature franchise systems. Asia Pacific Journal
of Marketing and Logistics.
Wagner Mainardes, E., de Almeida, C. M. and de-Oliveira, M., (2019). e-Commerce: an
analysis of the factors that antecede purchase intentions in an emerging
market. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 31(5). pp.447-468.
Tagashira, T. and Minami, C., (2019). The effect of cross-channel integration on cost
efficiency. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 47. pp.68-83.
Nurhadi, N. and Purnomo, M., (2018). Predicting e-commerce adoption in small hotels:
the role of the technology-organisation-environment framework. International
Journal of Business Information Systems, 29(3). pp.324-341.
Jena, R. K., (2018). Prioritizing the barriers to higher and faster adoption of e-commerce
in India. New Zealand Journal of Applied Business Research, 16(2). pp.15-28.
Sadq, Z.M., Sabir, H.N. and Saeed, V.S.H., (2018). Analyzing the Amazon success
strategies. Journal of process management. New Technologies, 6(4).
Acker, A., (2017). Volkswagen in the Amazon: the tragedy of global development in
modern Brazil. Cambridge University Press.
Naidoo, M. and Gasparatos, A., (2018). Corporate environmental sustainability in the
retail sector: Drivers, strategies and performance measurement. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 203, pp.125-142.
Chan, L.L. and Idris, N., (2017). Validity and reliability of the instrument using
exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha. International Journal of
Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(10), pp.400-410.
Luckin, R. and Cukurova, M., (2019). Designing educational technologies in the age of
AI: A learning sciences‐driven approach. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 50(6), pp.2824-2838.
Online:
e-commerce, 2020 [online], Available
through<https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-commerce>
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