Electronic Business Report: Retail Industry Analysis

This report provides an analysis of electronic business (e-business) operations within the retail industry, emphasizing the business-to-consumer (B2C) model. It examines the strategies of three major companies: Amazon, Best Buy, and Letstango. The report utilizes the 7C's framework (context, content, commerce, customization, community, communication, and connection) to evaluate the websites of these companies, comparing their strengths and weaknesses in areas such as user interface, content focus, commercial transactions, customization options, community features, site-to-user communication, and connection to other services. The analysis highlights the importance of a strong online presence, appealing website design, and effective marketing strategies in the competitive retail landscape. The report concludes with recommendations for Letstango, suggesting strategies to enhance their online offerings, such as incorporating free educational product promotions, gift guides, and affiliate programs to attract more customers and increase sales within the e-business model.

Running Head: ELECTRONIC BUSINESS 1
Electronic Business
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Electronic Business
The modern business operations have adopted the maximization of the use of the internet
in order to market and even sell their products to the consumers. The electronic business
promotes the exchange of goods and services through the maximum utilization of
communications and information technology. The e-business model that enhances the exchange
of goods and services between the business operators and the customers is the business to
consumer (B2C). This e-business model ensures that the exchange and the relationship between
the consumers and the business are in line with each of their needs. The companies which have
adopted this model are able to sell their products directly to the end users via the websites. The
customers get the access to the business website then they select a good that they wish to
purchase before placing an order. The business then delivers the ordered product to the end user
(Goworek & McGoldrick, 2015).
The industry of interest is the retail industry which involves the selling of goods and
services to the consumers through different channels of supply so as to enable the business to
acquire profits. This industry is known to be growing faster especially with the use of internet
which makes the online retail an essential business as it makes it easy to meet the needs of all the
different markets. The e-business in the retail business is more advantageous than the traditional
way of shopping which entails the malls. The business owners do not need to invest in a space so
that they may build a mall that customers may be able to access. The e-business makes it
convenient for the customers to access the website and make orders and then the products can be
easily delivered to the customers at the chosen destination. The retail industry uses the BC model

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which ensures all the consumer needs have been met as it also incorporates the information
communication and technology strategy.
The three companies selected in this industry to be reviewed include the Amazon, The
home depot and the Letstango.com which is based in the Middle East. The Amazon website is
http://www.amazon.com/ and the website for Best Buy is http://www.bestbuy.com/ while the one
for Letstango.com is http://www.letstango.com/. These three companies have been selected
because they have the possibility of enhancing faster growths in the online retail business by
making substantial profits from the same. The 7C’s include context, content, commerce,
customization, community, communication and connection (Brown et al, 2008). The websites
context includes a beautiful appearance for the best buy and an appealing customer interface
while Letstango has incorporated a nice visual color selection. Amazon has a functionality and a
color scheme as well as a nice font. The Best Buy and Amazon both have a good section
breakdown that enables the customer to easily access the products in order to place orders. In
terms of the content, the Amazon company has most of its text focused on the sales and
discounts while Letstango is focused on products marketing whereas the Best Buy website is
good at minimal prices in that the customers are called to save on every purchase they make.
The commercial transactions are most likely to be conducted by all the companies since
they deal with international sales and shipping. The customization in Amazon allows the users to
personalize the site for themselves in order for them to show their products to Amazon millions
of customers. The websites do not always grant its users the ability to be able to customize the
websites for their own benefit. They offer an account segment by which the user is to create an
account with the site in order to make business transactions. In terms of the community, the
sense of membership is depicted as well as the common interests shared among the users.

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Amazon and Lestango have ensured the feelings of membership to its members by including all
the category of products on the site so that every user may be able to access the products. The
shared interest in electronics is good at the Best Buy site as this makes up a community on its
own. The site to user communications is available on Letstango website whereby there is a live
chat portal at the bottom corner and the users are able to communicate with the site. The Amazon
website has a connection link to the Souq.com which is an Amazon company based in the
Middle East.
Based on the outlined analysis, Best Buy is considered to be having the weakest website
than this other sites. The retail industry is wide in its sells of goods and services and this means
the industry has high competition among the involved companies. A variety of products is
needed as much as a more technological appealing website that would attract customers into
purchasing the products. The online retail industry has to be appealing since the selling of goods
is made directly to the end user through the distribution channel. If Letstango has to provide the
educational products for free, they would opt to advertise this on the site since it’s a trusted
online retail that is known to be quickly growing as well. This way the site will attract more
consumers into viewing their products and even purchasing the same as much as they offer the
educational product for free. They may opt to include gift guides on the website or add affiliate
programs to help bring in more free educational products. This would be relevant since the site
promotes the sales of all the market segments (Armstrong et al, 2015).

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Reference
Brown, C. V., DeHayes, D. W., Hoffer, J. A., Martin, W. E., & Perkins, W. C. (2008). Managing
information technology. Prentice Hall Press.
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction.
Pearson Education.
Goworek, H., & McGoldrick, P. (2015). Retail marketing management: Principles and practice.
Pearson Higher Ed.
http://www.amazon.com/
http://www.bestbuy.com/
http://www.letstango.com/