Impact of E-Commerce.

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E-Commerce                Rob Dransfield

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Contents


Introduction

E-Commerce has made a huge impact in society today, where retailers are now increasingly adopting a multi-channel approach to reach their customers.

Rayport and Jaworski defined E-Commerce as;

“…technology-mediated exchanges between parties (individuals, organisations, or both) as well as the electronically based intra – or inter-organisational activities that facilitate such exchanges.”

                                                                        [J. Rayport 2001]

On the whole, E-Commerce refers to transactions involved with selling products to an organisations’ customers – electronically. i.e) via the web.

Throughout this report – I will be looking and evaluating Woolworths official Web site. This is available on  .

Woolworths have engaged in E-Commerce since 1996 and have found it to be extremely successful and a great marketing tool.

There are many benefits which e-commerce organisations can take advantage of. I have outlined these below:

  • New sales channels to customers in all parts of the globe.
  • Provide detailed product information, technical support.
  • Open all day and everyday.
  • Facilitate fast and flexible responses to market opportunities.

Customers can now make more informed decisions because of the rich product information available. The Web site can automatically tell customers whether particular items are in stock – reducing costs.

Impact of E-Commerce

A key impact e-commerce for Woolworths has been on customer service through the development of their web site. Where e-commerce:

  • Enables a wider product range to be offered than can be held in-store.
  • Enables online ordering, payment and tracking.
  • Improving service provisions - leading to better stock management.
  • Provide customers with rich information about products.
  • Opportunities for Woolworths to widen their customer base

Although there are many advantages of engaging in e-commerce, there are also some key barriers to overcome. I have highlighted these below:

  • The need to ‘touch and feel’ the products before purchase.
  • No personal contact
  • Expense of getting popular servers, etc.
  • Must advertise site – to let customers know about it.
  • Buyers must pay for shipping and wait for delivery.
  • Cannot easily return item or get support.

Objectives of the Web Site

There are certain elements required to perform online e-commerce and Woolworths are mainly seeking to:

  • Promote their Web site presence
  • Have an online catalogue or store
  • Have the capability to receive payments
  • Be able to deliver the products
  • Create brand awareness
  • Find new customers
  • Supply better services to existing customers
  • Accessible – (Please refer to Appendix A – to see the different channels Woolworths provide for customers.)

I have realised that Web site promotion is very important. Woolworths need to advertise and promote their business, so that customers will either come to their store or view their site.

I consider Woolworths to have a clean, professional looking Web site.

I have developed a criterion below – which customers may use to decide whether Woolworths Web site is a good one.

Fig 1 – Features of a good Web site

I will now list the features of a bad Web site;

 

Join now!

Figure 2 – Features of a bad Web site

Usability

I think the most important fact that e-commerce companies have to remember – is that a Web site is a self service product – meaning that there is no customer service representative to help guide the user through the site. If Web designers learn this, then they can take into account the ease-of-use and the importance of functionality.

There are many sites such as  and  which don’t even acknowledge these issues – despite the vital strategic importance of user experience to the success of a Web site.

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