An Analysis of Internet and E-Business Strategies and Revenue Models

This report provides a comprehensive overview of internet and e-business, examining various facets of online business operations. It begins by exploring the e-business environment, including micro and macro factors, and delves into different types of e-business transactions. The report then analyzes the benefits and barriers of conducting online business, as well as security and legislative issues. It also explains different modes of communication available to e-businesses and their applications. Furthermore, the report discusses internet technologies, HTML features, client-server models, and the role of search engines. It evaluates the use of Extranet and Intranet within business communications and describes different e-business revenue models, comparing their benefits and challenges. Finally, it addresses future developments in e-business revenue models, website design structure, the impact of a well-designed website, and issues concerning website usability, providing a well-rounded perspective on the subject.

INTERNET AND E-BUSINESS

Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................4
Task 1....................................................................................................................................................4
1.1. Environment of e-business and various types of E business transactions...............................4
1.2. Benefits and barriers to a business for conducting online business..........................................5
1.3 . Assessing the security and legislative issues ..........................................................................6
1.4. Explaining the different modes of communication available to an e-business and their
applications......................................................................................................................................6
Task 2....................................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Explaining internet technologies and their importance.............................................................7
2.2 Explaining main features of HTML ..........................................................................................7
2.3 functions of client server models and browser and role of search engines................................8
2.4 Evaluating the use of Extranet and Intranet within business communications..........................9
Task 3..................................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Describing how different e-business revenue models can be used to generate revenues for
business..........................................................................................................................................10
3.2 Comparing two revenue models by assessing their benefits and challenges and analyzing
each model in terms of its revenue-generating capacity................................................................10
3.3 Future developments in e-business revenue models................................................................11
Task 4..................................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Using and applying key elements of a better website design structure...................................11
4.2 Impact of a well-designed website on an e-business...............................................................12
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................13
References..........................................................................................................................................14

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Client server model........................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Electronic business can be defined as an application of information and communication
technology which supports business activities like selling and buying of products and services along
with processing of payments between customers and firm through internet. However, internet is one
of the essential methods which provides lot of communication and information facilities by using
standard protocols (Roberts and Zahay, 2012). Fortnum and Mason (F and M) is a UK based
organization which sells various types of gifts like chocolates and outstanding wines in all over the
world. The present file describes the scope of electronic business. Further, it explains internet
technologies and their importance. At last, it defines the use of different e-business models. In
addition to this, it also represents key elements of website design structure.
TASK 1
1.1. Environment of e-business and various types of E business transactions
Macro and micro environment factors help in developing proper strategy and plans for the
expansion of e business.
Micro factors
Suppliers- As per the case study, F and M organization manages effective relationship in order to
purchase raw materials properly and make smooth transactions with its vendors in order to achieve
goals.
Customers- Management of the company also conducts market research to know opinion and
suggestion of consumers in the market.
Competitors - F and M firm also monitors market strategies of its rivals which helps in making
better e-business plans in order to achieve its objectives within national and global market (Atuma,
2011).
Macro factors
Political and legal factors- According to the case, these factors help in establishing stores of F and
M in the national market. Generally, taxes, tariffs and legal policies of UK and Dubai also support
organization to increase its business.
Technological factors- These factors support F and M enterprise to start and manage E business
operations in Dubai and United kingdom (Fritz, 2013). Generally, both the countries provide

effective facilities like internet and other communication services.
Types of E business transactions
 Business to business transactions- These type of activities occur between two business
organisations in order purchase and sell the goods and services. For example, F and M
purchases raw material like chocolates from its suppliers.
 Business to consumer transactions- In this transactions, corporation sells its products and
services directly to the consumers (Christiansen, 2011). For example, F and M firm also
sells chocolates and wines to its customers in the e-market.
1.2. Benefits and barriers to a business for conducting online business
There are many benefits and barriers for conducting online business in the market.
Benefits to conduct online business
Increase in volume of sales- Online business helps in increasing sales of F and M by increasing
consumer base in the existing market.
Reduced transactions cost- This business contributes an effective role for company to decrease the
unnecessary cost like paper cost (Kriemadis, Terzoudis and Kartakoullis, 2010).
Improved capacity of distribution channels- Management of F and M can also improve their
transportation activities by providing more efforts like expansion of logistic channels and
contacting with more logistics suppliers.
E-business helps in solving the queries of consumers by increasing the level of communication
through using mails and mobiles phones. This process provides flexibility to the customers in the
United Kingdom (Smith, 2010).
Barriers to E business
Generally, exiting infrastructure of information technology does not compatible due to more
complexities in its network which is creating problems for the organisation.
E-business industry also feels issues in managing e-operations due to shortage of IT experts which
produces problems for F and M company.
There is also barrier for this sector due to occurrence of rapid changes in work practices which

leads employee’s resistance in the firm (Brennan and et. al., 2010). In addition to this, security
threats like hacking is also increased as compare to previous years which is also creating issues for
the management of F and M organisation.
1.3 Assessing the security and legislative issues
Management of F and M organisation has faced many security and legislative issues in the
United Kingdom.
 Security issues- Organisation has suffered with many issues like hacking, malicious code
and phishing in the nation (Teixeira, 2007). For example, these problems increase work load
on technical employees and affect online transactions in the firm. In addition to this,
security problems destroy valuable data of the organisation and enhance the chances of
staling important data.
 Legislative issues- According to the case, government laws create so many complexities to
manage E-business operations in the United Kingdom. For example, government of UK
oblige IT companies to follow standard protocols which increases the huge expenditure of F
and M organisation.
Government of UK also takes many steps to reduce these issues in the nation. Generally,
they compel firms to use IPV 6 security, firewall and proper IT instruments in order to reduce the
hacking and phishing issues. For example, these things are also decreasing the chances of stealing
personal information of Bank (Barlow, 2011). This way, government of UK is reducing security
issues in the country. In addition to this, professional bodies make cyber laws to reduce these
complexities. However, advanced changes in software and hardware are so costly for F and M
enterprise but such steps are necessary to decrease security threats.
1.4. Explaining the different modes of communication available to an e-business and their
applications
As per the case study, there are many modes of communication which are available for E
business. It is stated in below paragraph.
 EDI (Electronic data interchange) - It is used for transferring important documents from one
computer to another within or outside the organisation by following standards to reduce the
human intervention (Barutcu, 2011). For example, F and M also utilizes this application to
dispatch purchase and selling bills from one location to another.
 VOIP (Voice over internet protocol) - It is a method for the transmission of video files and
multimedia sessions over IP address. For example, F and M also uses this application to
send video messages to other employees which provides reliability to manage e-business

operations effectively.
 Video conferencing- This process is also used for video chatting among the staff members in
the organisation (Kriemadis, Terzoudis and Kartakoullis, 2010). For example, management
of F and M enterprise considers this application to take specific type of decision by
conducting online video conferencing.
 Social media- Companies also utilize this communication medium to promote and give
general message to its consumers. For example, F and M firm uses Facebook and twitter to
advertise its products in the market (Camusio, 2011).
TASK 2
2.1 Explaining internet technologies and their importance
There are many internet technologies which help F and M to perform E-business
successfully in the market. These are as follows:
 Websites- As per the case study, this internet technology is used to represent different types
of products like wines and chocolates for the selection of gifts. It is also valuable for
management of F and M to manage various activities like purchasing and buying of goods.
 Data centres- It is centralised data repository for the storage of various types of data and
information which is important for F and M to manage their E business operations
effectively (Roberts and Zahay, 2012).
 Cloud computing- In this method, management of organisation can store its data on third
party remote server. It is important for F and M as it provides the facility to share resources
and data through remote server.
 Packet switching- It is a digital networking communication method that accumulates all the
transmitted data into suitable blocks which are called packets. These packets are sent
through medium to another user. It is valuable for F and M to dispatch data from one place
to another.
2.2 Explaining main features of HTML
HTML is a web programming tool which is used to design web pages of F and M because
web browsers are able to read HTML data. There are many features of Hypertext mark-up language.
<html>...</html> - It is utilized for opening as well as closing the HTML documents.
<head>...</head> - This feature is used to create head type in HTML.
< title>..........</title> - It is used to produce title in this language.

<body>...........</body> This feature is utilized for creating body such text="#(hexadecimal color
code)" set the color of plain text (Barlow, 2011).
<meta> It also provides an effective facility to F and M in order to justify meta content like self-
referential data and information of document.
2.3 functions of client server models and browser and role of search engines
There are many functions of client server models and browsers along with the role of search
engines. Functions of Client server model
(Source: Christiansen, 2011)
Client–server model is a distributed application structure that divides tasks or workloads
between the servers and clients. Client initiates communication in order to take resources in the
system. Clients and servers interact through computer network with the help of hardware system.
Server runs one or more programs which share their resources with clients as per the demand
(Christiansen, 2011). In addition to this, following model is also used in printing World Wide Web
and many other applications in the organisation.
Advantages of client server model
 Client server architecture helps in data sharing with contribution of structured query
languages which aid in managing business operations of the F and M firm.
 It also provides reliability to share resources on the different platforms in the organization.
 Every client provides authorization to assess the full information by logging into server with
the help of user name and password (Sparrow, 2016).
Illustration 1: Client server model

Disadvantages
 Due to higher overload on the server, many clients have to wait to access its information
which creates complexities for them.
 If, sever fails then all clients cannot assess the information which produces problem for the
clients to complete its operations (Advantages and Disadvantages of the Client Server
Methodology, 2016).
Functions of browsers
The main function of browser in F and M is to get information from the resources for clients
and enable them to see the data of firm. This procedure initiates when user inputs Uniform resource
locator address like http:// www.google.com then URI begins with Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
(HTTP).
Role of search engines
Search engine contributes an effective role for F and M to increase its sales. Organization
pays search engine enterprises like MSN, Google and Yahoo to prioritize its website in top ten list
for purchasing its products in the Europe. This process also helps in increasing its profit in the
electronic market (Roberts and Zahay, 2012).
Applicability for firm
Client server is also useful for F and M to represent all the products to clients which aids in
enhancing its sales in the electronic market. It also helps in managing other operations of company
like purchasing and selling of product through internet.
2.4 Evaluating the use of Extranet and Intranet within business communications
There many use of Extranet and Intranet within F and M organisation.
 Use of Intranet– As per the Barutcu (2011), Intranet is used to fulfill electronic
communication needs in the firm. In addition to this, there are many specific features where
staff members can access same files at same time as well as offline web content that can be
measured for its functionality before getting it activated (Barutcu, 2011). According to
Roberts and Zahay (2012), Intranet is also utilized for office events, staff changes, work
schedule and new products of F and M (Roberts and Zahay, 2012). However, it creates more
security issues like unauthorized access and data overload which create more problems for
the organization.
 Use of Extra nets- As per the Camusio (2011), Extranet connects multiple intranets together
in the firm. The main use of this extranet is to give help to different companies for

combining project and data sharing which provides huge reliability to F and M to manage its
e-operations. In addition to this, it enables firm to link with consumers (Camusio, 2011).
Fritz (2013), has stated that it is so costly for the corporation and it also reduces face to face
contact with consumers (Fritz, 2013).
TASK 3
3.1 Describing how different e-business revenue models can be used to generate revenues for
business.
There are many e-business revenue models which help F and M to generate more revenues
in the E business.
 Affiliate marketing- It enables firm to earn revenue by marketing products for the sale on
website. For example, client refers a gift to another clients and suggest them to purchase
products. This way consumer can make many affiliate account and directly link to the F and
M website (Kriemadis Terzoudis and Kartakoullis, 2010). Organization also provides some
percentage of sales to the consumers. This model can also contribute effectively for firm to
increase its revenue.
 Online advertising- It is a good revenue model for F and M. In this process, company buys
advertising space on its website and gives a designed ad. Further, Firm also pays other
online sites on the behalf of promoting their messages and products. Online advertising
consists of pay-per-click and pay-per-view approaches (Christiansen, 2011). For example, F
and M can also pay money to its consumer to promote its products online by using these
methods.
 Transaction fees- Generally, company charges some amount of fee on the behalf of
marketing of consumer products like mobile. For example, E bay retail organization also
uses this type of model to generate more revenue in the electronic market.
3.2 Comparing two revenue models by assessing their benefits and challenges along with analyzing
each model in terms of its revenue-generating capacity
Affiliate marketing
Management of F and M can get more consumers without applying more marketing efforts.
In addition to this, organization can increase their sales with the help of using this method in the
electronic market. On the other side, sometimes, firm promises to pay good percentage of sales and
after that, firm pays less commission which creates problems for clients in the market (Smith,
2010). It reduces the revenue of F and M in the e- business sector.
Online advertisement

This method provides effective information about the products of F and M that helps to
increase its sales in the market. As a result, firm generates high revenues in the electronic market. It
also contributes effectively for firm to make effective relationship with consumers which helps in
increasing profit of F and M (Roberts and Zahay, 2012). However, due to use of traditional
advertising skills, firm cannot generate effective revenues from consumers.
On the basis of comparison, F and M can select online advertising method. This method can
help in generating good revenue in the electronic market.
3.3 Future developments in e-business revenue models
There are many future developments in e-business revenues models which can help
organization to generate effective revenues in the electronic market.
 For future development in affiliate marketing, management of F and M explains about their
strategies and practices to the consumers with the help of Social media. This thing can help
to increase its sales in the market (Fritz, 2013). For example, Google uses this marketing to
enhance its revenue-generating capacity and market share in the electronic market.
 F and M can use current online advertising methods to promote their advertisements which
can help to increase success level in the market. As a result, organization can increase profit
by selling more products (Barutcu, 2011). For example, Amazon utilizes online advertising
to increase its sales in order to enhance its revenue.
 Transaction fee revenue model is also used by many organizations to increase its profit.
Further, corporation also takes less charges as comparison of before in the market. For
example, E bay takes few transaction fee to promote consumer product online which also
increases its sales by providing electronic money to its consumers in the e bay account for
more shopping. This process directly enhances the revenue of E bay in the United Kingdom.
TASK 4
4.1 Using and applying key elements of a better website design structure
As per the case study, there are many key elements of better website design structure of the
organization. Some of them are described in below points.
 Good visual design- Website of F and M is effective which shows its products in a better
way. This element also contributes an optimistic role to increase sales in the electronic
market of UK (Barlow, 2011).
 Relevant content- Management of the organization adds relevant content regarding their
products and services which provides huge reliability for consumers to purchase its
commodities. Further, F and M does not add unnecessary details which creates illusion

regarding buying of any product.
 Easy to navigate- Management of the corporation adds easy features which provides
reliability to access the website in an appropriate manner. In addition to this, it attracts
consumers to visit the site again (Camusio, 2011).
 Mobile Site- F and M provides better facilities to its consumers in the nation. In addition to
this, many consumers can easily assess the website from mobile devices like smart phones
and tablets.
4.2 Impact of a well-designed website on an e-business.
There are three key elements which help website in providing positive impact of it on the e-
business. These three elements are content, user experience and visual presentation. There are
various benefits of a well-designed website on the e-business of F&M, which are as follows.
 The effective logo, profile and visual language of the website create a memorable
impression on the users as compare to the other normal websites (Karimov, Brengman and
Van Hove, 2011).
 The focus of e-business is on the number of visitors who browse their sites. A well-designed
website with the proper focus and availability of informative content make people to browse
it more and to stay with the page for long time.
 Proper information in an effective and user friendly manner results to invite more customers
on the website of F&M which leads to more sign-ups, purchasing and other activities. This
will result to increase the sales and popularity of website (10 benefits of quality web design,
2016).
 Better quality of the website results to improve the financial performance of e-business.
4.3 Issues concerning website usability
There are various issues which affect the usability of website and these are as follows.
 Poor site navigation: A site should have proper navigation bars with simple and easy access.
Poor site navigation irritates users and due to this, they do not like to visit those sites. Lack
of proper navigation buttons confuses customers and makes website difficult to access
which impact negatively on the image of e-business among the users (Kuo and Chen, 2011).
 Poor readability: A well designed website should have proper and strong content which
needs to be easy to read and understand. Use of non-contrasting colours results to create
reading problem. Similarly, high contrasting colours are also make it difficult to read and
understand. There should be proper font size and collection of colours should be impressing.