BUSI 323 Assignment 4: Mountain Equipment Co-op Website Analysis

This report analyzes the Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) website and e-commerce strategy, addressing key questions outlined in the assignment brief. It explores how different market segments should influence the website and e-commerce approach, emphasizing the importance of segmentation for personalization. The report compares the costs of an e-commerce strategy versus a brick-and-mortar store, highlighting the lower costs associated with online platforms. It also discusses factors to consider when choosing between these two investment models, such as the type of business, target market, and product type. Furthermore, the report examines supply chain management concerns MEC must overcome, such as cost control, and suggests brick-and-click integration strategies, focusing on inventory synchronization using a single Point-of-Sale (POS) system. Finally, it assesses the reasonableness of the cost-benefit analysis.

Running head: MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT CO-OP
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Mountain Equipment Co-op
Institution
Student
Date

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BUSI 323 – Assignment #4
Mountain Equipment Co-op
How should the different market segments affect the website and ecommerce strategy?
Before creating this website, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) should have figured out who
they are building it for and their archetypes so that they can communicate with them properly. In
order to learn more about the targeted audiences, MEC can use segmentation to personalize their
experience. Segmentation refers to the dividing of audience into subgroups based on a certain
behavior or characteristic. This process has no end and MEC can slice and dice their website in
any way but the best market segments will be stable, unique, and huge enough for the Company
to implement their ecommerce strategies in them. The market segmentation is supposed to be
unique to MEC’s audience types and goals and so they should avoid a one-size-fits all
segmentation plan (Myerson, 2015). However, it may start their motor and get their thinking
about target personas and ecommerce strategies that can be used to reach them.
Would start-up costs for an ecommerce strategy necessarily be lower than opening an
additional bricks-and-mortar store?
Unlike bricks-and-mortar store, an ecommerce strategy tends to carry far lower costs. While
setting up a bricks-and-motor store, the company will be required to pay rent and hire a big
number of employees to conduct business. Besides, brick-and-store will be bound by location
and it will cost the corporation a lot of resources in its endeavor to go global. Conversely,
because ecommerce is conducted online, the organization will be in a better position since it will
incur few or no resources to market to the global customers. Advertising and other forms of sales

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promotion will be carried out at much lesser costs online than when using the traditional bricks-
and-motor stores (Trites, & Boritz, 2012).
What factors would you consider in deciding between investments in a bricks-and-mortar
store versus an online only store?
In deciding between investing in bricks-and-mortar stores versus an online only store, there are
some factors worth considering. These include the type of business, the targeted market, scope of
market segmentations, and the type of product to be sold. Some form of business, particularly
those that provide services such as writing, coaching, graphic design, and voice over services are
most suitably conducted through an online store only. The types of businesses which deal with
tangible products, on the other hand, need a brick-and-motor store for convenience purpose.
Also, if a company is targeting the Millennials, an online store would be more effective than a
bricks-and-mortar since these are young people who spend most of their times online. If the
market segments are spread or have a wide scope, they can easily be reached by establishing a
strong online presence (Rajagopal, 2013).
What supply chain management concerns must MEC overcome?
MEC should try as much as possible to overcome the issue of cost control. Operating costs are
under extreme pressure following the ever-increasing fuel/energy costs, emergence of new
regulations, rising commodity prices, huge number of global clients, new technology, and rising
labor rates (Xu, & Gursoy, 2015). The key way MEC can overcome challenges caused by these
factors is not necessary about data analytics rather business intelligence. It is all about use of the
available information to make the soundest decisions.

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What types of integration between bricks and clicks would you suggest in terms of supply-
chain management?
Brick-and-Click is a form of business wherein an organization runs both an offline store (the
bricks) and an online store (the clicks) and integrates the two into one retail strategy. Integration
of offline and online sales catalogues is the primary problem of successfully operating a brick-
and-click store. In particular, inventory should be stored in sync to prevent underselling or
overselling. If a single inventory is obtained, a non-available product might be unintentionally
sold, but if separate inventories are utilized, an available product might unnecessarily be stored
in stock. Generally, use of a single Point-of-Sale (POS) system for both offline/online
components of the store is the best solution (Pakroo, 2018). It needs to be a real-time and an
automated system which synchronizes inventory across every channel if it is to simplify and
streamline accounting procedures.
Does the cost-benefit analysis appear reasonable?
Yes. The cost-benefit analysis appears reasonable because it can successfully compare the total
expenditures of a project/programme with its benefits by use of a common metric (commonly
monetary units). It enables the determination of the total benefits or cost associated with the
programme (Johansson, & Kriström, 2018).

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References
Myerson, P. A. (2015). Supply chain and logistics management made easy: methods and
applications for planning, operations, integration, control and improvement, and network
design. Pearson education.
Trites, G., & Boritz, J. E. (2012). EBusiness: A Canadian Perspective for a Networked World.
Pearson Education Canada.
Rajagopal, (2013). Marketing decision making and the management of pricing : successful
business tools. Hershey PA Business Science Reference
Xu, X., & Gursoy, D. (2015). A conceptual framework of sustainable hospitality supply chain
management. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 24(3), 229-259.
Pakroo, P. (2018). The small business start-up kit: A step-by-step legal guide. Nolo.
Johansson, P. O., & Kriström, B. (2018). Cost-benefit analysis. Cambridge University Press.