Transforming Charles & Keith: A Detailed E-Commerce Business Plan

This report presents a comprehensive business plan for the transformation of Charles & Keith, a Singaporean retail company specializing in footwear and accessories, from a traditional brick-and-mortar store to an e-commerce platform. It outlines key business objectives, marketing strategies, and operational methods, including sales, supply chain, and payment options. The report analyzes the external business environment in Singapore using Porter's Five Forces and PESTEL analysis to assess market opportunities. It also proposes customer relationship management strategies to ensure a smooth transition and maintain customer loyalty in the online environment. The report highlights the advantages of an online platform, emphasizing a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce model, and recommends the Just-in-Time inventory method for efficient operations. Overall, the plan aims to leverage e-commerce to enhance brand presence, expand market reach, and improve profitability for Charles & Keith.

Running head: E-COMMERCE IN BUSINESS
E-Commerce in Business
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The primary objective of the given report is to design an effective business plan for the
transformation of a traditional store to an electronic commerce store. In this consideration the
organisation taken in this particular report is recognised as Charles and Keith retail chain
industry that is headquartered in the region of Singapore. This company is known to deal with
the fashion industry retail business and sales products related to accessories and footwear. In
the concern of designing the business plan the given report explains the different criteria the
business needs to follow in the concern of planning with the start-up of the online business.
Further, the report explains the advantages the online platform can provide to a business and
defines the different methods of operations for the business that includes the sales, marketing,
supply, delivery, and the payment method that the company would need in the online
business. Hereafter, the report defines the external environment of business prevailing in the
nation of Singapore with the help of Porter’s Five Forces as well as PESTEL analysis. While
considering this analysis the report comes to an investigation that the online business market
of Singapore would prove highly beneficial to the concerned organisation of Charles and
Keith. Finally, the report suggests the synergy of how can the company maintain an effective
customer relation management when transforming into an online business from a complete
traditional business.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Detailed Business Plan...............................................................................................................3
Consideration- No Physical Store..............................................................................................6
Sales, Marketing, Supply, Delivery, Inventory and Payment Methods.....................................7
PORTER’s Five Forces Analysis...............................................................................................9
PESTEL Analysis.....................................................................................................................11
Customer Relation Management..............................................................................................17
Conclusion................................................................................................................................18
References................................................................................................................................19

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Introduction
Charles and Keith is recognised as a Singaporean retail company that operates in the
sale of footwear and accessories (Marques 2015). It is known to be founded in the year of
1996 by Sir Charles Wong and Keith Wong. Headquartered in the region of Singapore, the
concerned retail chain company is recorded to spread its wings across the global footprint in
the regions of Asia, Middle East, Latin America, Europe as well as Africa (Kumar 2019).
Studies show that Charles and Keith have efficiently been expanded in the overseas regions
since the year of 1998 and this was the same time when the company was also ventured in the
region of Indonesia. By the end of 2015, the firm had been recorded to have a number of 40
traditional stores. Studies also show that the concerned organisation had been recorded to be
the first ever firm in the region of Singapore to open an online store in the year of 2004 and
allowed the company to offer its products in the synergy where the same did not have a limit
to only work at the mortar store. The same could sale its products worldwide through the
medium of electronic commerce. However, it was also investigated that due to the lack in the
research and development and proper implementation of plans and processes that would be
necessary for the effective expansion of a traditional store into online store, the online store
was declared to be closed (Botha 2018). In this connection, the given report is focused on
proposing a detailed plan business consideration that would help the organisation of Charles
and Keith to transform its traditional store into an online store.
Detailed Business Plan
As stated by Bradley (2016), a detail business plan is considered to be a strategically
written document that is known to describe the core business objectives an organisation needs
to follow and also learn the manner the set plans are to be achieved over a set span of time. In
this context, the given report is focused on specifying the detailed business plan that would

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help the retail chain industry of Charles and Keith to implement the effective expansion of its
online business store.
Set a description of the business
The concerned retail chain at the first place needs to set the plans and processes the
business needs to be carried upon. In this connection, the policies and procedures and the
blue print of the company needs to be determined before finalising the same.
Marketing of the business
As the connected customers to Charles and Keith are only known to its traditional
store, the customers and the end target market needs to be aware that the company is
expanding back with an electronic commerce store. In this context, the company effectively
needs to advertise about its new online market effectively so that the customers are well
known that they do not have to any more move physically to the stores.
Analysing the competitors
After the company have effectively advertised itself in the eyes of its target market,
the same needs to analyse its potential competitors and their strategies on a priority basis.
This would help the company to maintain theirs plans and processes in a strategic manner and
amend the same as per the needs to remain ahead of its peer competitors (Burke 2017).
Financial needs
The financial needs is determined to be one of the most crucial part in the decision-
making process of the detailed plan structure of a business (Maskell, Baggaley and Grasso
2017). This is because no business organisation would be able to make a stand without a
proper financial support. Therefore, the need of funding the business and the resources the
business would be funded from is the next deciding step for Charles and Keith. The financial

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resources can turn out to be the bank loan, crowd funding, and the personal funds of the
organisation. Precisely, as the concerned retail chain is to transform into an electronic
business, therefore, the company can effectively use all the financial resources of its
traditional store into the new online store.
Setting of the host name
As stated above in the report that the detailed plan of business is being set for the
transformation of Charles and Keith into an online business, therefore, the company is
accountable to create a personal website of its own. The necessary information regarding the
firm would be provided in this website and the online users all around the world would be
able to visit the same in the consideration of getting the information regarding the company
before purchasing the product from its electronic store.
Server
The company hereafter needs to create a server portal form the synergy of which the
interested customers would be able to purchase their desired products and services that is
offered by Charles and Keith through the medium of its online web portal.
Designing the website
After the web portal for the shopping needs of the customers is created, the company
would implicitly need to design the portal in the concern that the same is user-friendly. If the
customers will not be able to make effective use of the portal they will not be able to
purchase their desired products (Parker, Van Alstyne and Choudary 2016). In this context, the
shopping portal should be designed in a manner that the users can use the same with ease and
comfort.

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Consideration- No Physical Store
According to the viewpoint of Gee (2018), the customers and the end market at the
present date wishes to receive everything at their door step. In the present business market the
customers does not will to visit the shopping stores physically in the concern of purchasing
their desired goods and services. They wish that they are provided with the services where
they can order their choice of goods and services at any flexible time they are comfortable in
and then those products and services gets delivered to them at their door. In this context, the
concerned company of Charles and Keith should focus effectively on designing its online
store rather than expanding in the traditional form. The transformation of the traditional store
of Charles and Keith in the electronic commerce store will help the same to earn a better
amount of brand loyalty and competitive advantage in the updated form of business market
(Travis 2017). This, in turn, will help the company to achieve its primary goal of achieving
better profit-earnings ratio. In light of this, the importance of the online store can be
explained through the synergy of Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce business model.
Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce business model
The ideology of business to consumer business model states that the company sells its
offered products and services directly to its potential consumers (Laudon and Traver 2016).
There are no retailers, wholesalers or distributors that lies in between the selling process. The
customers are open to choose their own desired product available to them through the online
web portal and order the same at any point of time they are comfortable to. The website
portal is then recognised to send a notification to the organisation via the connected email.
Thus, the firm dispatches the concerned goods to the concerned customer as per the
mentioned details in the portal. Therefore, the process of direct online selling would take
place for the concerned organisation of Charles and Keith as well. This will help in saving the
time and efforts of both the company as well as the customers.

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Figure 1: Showing Business to Consumer Model for Charles and Keith
Sales, Marketing, Supply, Delivery, Inventory and Payment Methods
Sales Method
The sales method would include the synergy of the customers opting for purchasing a
product from the online web portal available to them and then the organisation dispatching
the product to their delivery partners.
Marketing Method
The marketing method would include the aspects of advertising the new online
organisation and the products as well as services offered by them through the help of digital
platform. The digital platform includes the fields of Twitter, LinkedIn as well as Facebook.
Supply Method
The supply method would include the synergy of getting the products being packed as
per the order of the customers and the same being dispatched to the connected delivery
partners. The delivery partners would check the delivery location and allot the delivery to the
nearby courier person delivering to the specified area.

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Delivery Method
The allocated delivery person would check-up with the availability of the customer
and set the delivery time feasible to both the courier person and the customer.
Inventory Method
As stated by Folinas, Fotiadis and Coudounaris (2017), the best available inventory
method to the online business organisations is the method of Just-in-Time. In light of this, the
concerned company of Charles and Keith can significantly make use of the Just-in-Time
inventory method for the effective sale of its products and services. This is because the Just-
in-Time inventory method would allow the company to ensure timely and cost-effective sales
and delivery of the products. This, in turn, would help the organisation gain better customer
loyalty and profit.
Payment Method
The methods of payment in the connection of the online business can be made
available to the customers through various diversified options (Hess et al. 2016). The same
are specified as below.
 Cash on Delivery.
 Debit card/Credit card payment.
 Google Pay.
 Pay tm UPI.
 Mobi Kwik.
The company can also offer discounts to the customers when they are ready to pay
online in order to ensure that they receive a fast payment and also there are less chances of
cancellation of the products (Tidd and Bessant 2018).

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PORTER’s Five Forces Analysis
The Porter’s five forces help in the proper understanding of the advantages and the
disadvantages that are faced by the given industry. The model assists the maintenance of the
varied profitability levels within the given organization. The porter’s five forces analysis of
the e-retail division of Charles and Keith is as discussed below.
Figure 2: Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
(Source: Created by Author)
Threats of new entrants
The threats of the new entrants in case of Charles and Keith is comparatively low.
This is observed due to the fact that the people tend to prefer buying products from the local
brands rather than from the various foreign brands that have been marketing their products in
the given markets (Sölvell 2015). The various foreign brands that have been active within the
territorial boundaries of Singapore need to follow the various rules and regulations that are
highlighted by the government talk bodies that are active within the territorial boundaries of
Singapore.

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Threats of substitution
The threats of substitution for Charles and Keith is observed to be low. This is due to
the fact that the concerned company does not market any other substitute products. The
industry thus helps the concerned clients to have access to the products that might hold the
interest of the concerned client (Aithal 2016). The company might further charge the clients
with high prices that bear an equivalence to the products that are manufactured by the other
companies.
Bargaining power of suppliers
The bargaining power of the suppliers of the company is considered to be low as the
company in discussion, Charles and Keith, tend to own a number of manufacturing units that
are responsible for the manufacture of the products that are marketed by the company. The
natural materials that are used for the given organization tend to be procured by the company
itself without the involvement of the agencies required for the purpose. The suppliers and the
factories responsible for the production and the supply of the products tend to demonstrate an
allegiance to the company thereby leading to the proper knowledge and the understanding of
the concerned company (Burns and Dewhurst 2016). Thus, it might be concluded that the
concerned suppliers are positioned low in power as compared to the company in discussion.
Bargaining power of buyers
The bargaining power of the buyers of the organization is observed to be high within
the Singaporean markets. This is due to the presence of the other various companies that have
been dealing in the fashion industry. This in turn leads to the greater amount of the choice in
terms of the services that are offered by the competitors in the given markets as well (Zhao et

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al. 2016). The number of clienteles within the given organization is highly important to the
company as it bears a direct linkage to the sales of the company as well.

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Industry rivalry
The industry of fashion retail within the Singaporean territories is observed to be high.
This is due to the presence of the high amount of the competition within the given markets
(Ge and Li 2019). There is observed a high rate of the customer attraction techniques that are
practiced by the competing companies thereby leading to the high rivalry within the industry
as well.
Thus, it might be inferred that the company might be advised to develop ventures in
the e-commerce areas in order to gain a better competitive advantage in the given market of
Singapore.
PESTEL Analysis
As opined by Pan, Chen and Zhan (2018), PESTEL analysis is a strategic tool for the
framework of a business that helps the marketers of the same to analyse as well as monitor
the macro-environmental factors (external) that creates a significant impact on the
transactions of a business organisation. In this connection, the given report is focused on
examining the PESTEL analysis of Singapore that would impact the working of Charles and
Keith as an online store.
Political Factors
Political Stability
The statistical data recorded last in the year of 2017 shows that the political stability
of Singapore is recorded to be significantly improving since the fiscal year of 2014
(Tremewan 2016). The data showed that the political stability of Singapore that lied only at a
point of 1.90 in the year of 2014 have effectively increased to 1.59 in the fiscal year of 2017.
With the help of the analysis of the speed of improvement of the political stability in

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Singapore it is expected that the stability would turn more effective in the upcoming years.
Therefore, the same would prove highly beneficial to the online business considerations of
Charles and Keith.
Figure 3: Showing Political Stability of Singapore
Economic Factors
Economic Growth
Considering the economic growth of the nation of Singapore in the consideration of
the online business market, it was analysed that there was a sudden downfall in the growth in
the fiscal year of 2015 as compared to that of 2014 (Van Den Berg 2016). However, the
continuous efforts of the government as well as the growing business opportunities in
Singapore the economic growth of the company started to improve since the year of 2016 and
the same continued in the year of 2017. In light of this, it is expected that the economic
growth of the nation of Singapore is to improve in the upcoming years as well and prove
beneficiary to the concerned organisation of Charles and Keith.

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Figure 4: Showing Economic Growth of Singapore
Social Factors
Employment Rate
Based on the recent recorded data in concern with the employment rate prevailing in
the region of Singapore, it is undermined that the same has significantly increased since the
fiscal year of 2017 (Yap and Gee 2015). Therefore, the organisation of Charles and Keith
have profound opportunities of employing talented and skilled employees to handle its online
business.

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Figure 5: Showing Employment Rate in Singapore
Technological Factors
Internet Users
Studies show that the technology in Singapore has been advancing in a significant
way since the fiscal year of 2014 (Eccles and Stroehle 2018). This statement can be proved
by stating that the internet users have increased from the percentage of 78.5 in the year of
2014 to a percentage of 84.2 in the year of 2017. This, in turn, would prove advantageous for
the online business of Charles and Keith as major number of population of Singapore would
effectively be active on the online platform.

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Figure 6: Showing the increase of Internet users in Singapore
Environmental Factors
Access to Electricity
Based on the past researches done in the synergy of Singapore it is examined that the
natural energy resources in the nation are sustained in an efficient manner and that is major
reason that the country has a stable availability of electricity since the chronicle year that lied
between 2006- 2016 (Jiang et al. 2017). This brings to an evidence that the nation would be
liable to stable electricity throughout the upcoming years. This would therefore prove to be a
strength to the online business of the concerned company because the access to internet
would need proper electricity along with it.

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Figure 7: Showing Access to Electricity in Singapore
Legal Factors
Theft Rate
Considering the legal factors of the nation of Singapore, it is recognised that the theft
rate in the country have shown a tremendous decrease since the year of 2010 (Cooter and
Ulen 2016). The theft rate which lied to a rate of 360 thefts per 100,000 people in the year of
2010 have decreased to 243 thefts per 100,000 people in the year of 2016. This synergy
proves that the rate of theft in Singapore will decrease profoundly in the upcoming years and
would prove to be a strength for the concerned business organisation of Charles and Keith in
the concern of feeling safe to work with the online delivery system.

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Figure 8: Showing decrease of Theft Rate in Singapore
Customer Relation Management
The concerned business organisation of Charles and Keith in the consideration of
building an effective reputation in the eyes of the customers as well as a healthy business
relationship with the customers would need to keep the requirements of the customers at one
and first place (Berkovi 2016). The complete process of online shopping should be made
smooth and easy as the sale of the products would not be done on a face-to-face basis. The
firm would have to provide with easy-to-use interface of the web portal, stored and
confidential details of personnel and cards and also being able to order the goods at one
simple click (Evans 2019). Moreover, with the growing time the company have to focus on
implementing innovative ways that would help the same in retaining the old customers and
attracting the new ones. As stated by Hair et al., (2015), the customers should be treated as
the real boss of the company and therefore there needs to be kept at the first priority of the
company in order to maintain significant customer relation management.

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Conclusion
Given the above research findings based on the e-commerce synergy in the business
of the retail industry of Charles and Keith, it can be seen that the company can effectively
transform its traditional store into an online one as the same would benefit the company
profoundly. When comparing the findings based on the Porter’s Five Forces Analysis and
PESTEL Analysis, it can be seen that the company have high chances of making better
profits with the help of a new online store than what the same earns through its traditional
stores. In light of this, the report concludes that the company should effectively plan to open
an online store based on the above illustrated pieces of evidences.

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