Approaches For Generating And Evaluating Products

Working with the team

Discuss about the Approaches for generating and evaluating the product.

The aim of the team is to present the e-commerce strategy for Apparel Brands Pty Ltd with an initial budget of $30,000 in order to sustain in the competitive market by expanding the business, increasing the customer base thereby, generating more revenue. 

The objective is to develop an online store and maximize their market share.

The e-commerce venture is a new expansion for Apparel Brands Pty Ltd in order to maximise their market share and become a trendsetter for the Australian market. As commented by Urde and Koch (2014), targeting the group of customers allows the business organizations to decide the population to whom products will be sold. For Apparel Brand Pty Ltd, the target customers for the e-commerce venture will be university and office goers along with the children and kids. These target customers were selected because the Australian population is largely dominated by international students and employees that require casual clothing for attending university and work. Based on the target market income, the company aim towards implementing penetration pricing strategy. Initially, the price of the clothing will range $15-$20 but will be increased later. The benefits of the products include cotton material, average priced and the customers will also be able to customize their clothing products.

The target market is defined as the people, to whom the business organizations sell their maximum product thereby, ensuring business expansion and revenue or profit generation (Lei & Moon, 2015). The business organizations tend to develop products based on the needs, demands, expectations and financial situation of the target customers. Targeting a particular group and manufacturing products from them for selling is a marketing approach to maximising sales by increasing the customer base. Thus, Apparel Brand Pty Ltd has selected the individuals attending universities and regular offices are the target customers. The characteristics of the target customers include causal, comfortable, trendy yet professional clothing that is easy to wear and carry daily. The characteristics of the target customers include casual and trendy that can combat the latest clothing trend globally along with providing an opportunity of using trendy clothing. The target customer desires to be casually trendy at affordable prices and high quality (Marchi et al., 2014). 

Adequate information is the key that determines the success of the business organizations. Thus, it is essential for the business organizations to gather required and relevant information before setting up a new venture. Apparel Brand Pty Ltd has been selling their products in the Australian market since 1901. The company is aware of the demands and expectation of the customers about clothing over the years.  However, in order to set up the e-commerce venture, Apparel Brand Pty Ltd needs to collect relevant information about the present Australian market by analysing the Australian market and determining the need for the business venture. This can be done by conducting surveys and interviewing the population. Additionally, relevant information can also be gathered by conducting an internal and external analysis of organization and the business environment (Akpoyomare, Adeosun & Ganiyu, 2013).

Determining value proposition

There are potential risks and challenges associated while initiating a new venture. This is because there are previously existing competitors that are well established and play to their strengths. Thus, consulting with an expertise provides an opportunity to assess the potential risks and mitigate them. One of the benefits of consulting other expertise includes identifying the potential risks and being prepared. Additionally, the consultants will also help the team in developing strategies for mitigating and resolving the risks. On the other hand, consulting an expert also provides an opportunity for the team to stop unnecessary financial expenses due to lack of in-depth planning. Moreover, consulting an expert will also allow the team members to gather relevant and adequate knowledge about the industry and new business venture and develop business strategies accordingly. Consulting an expert also emphasizes in improving the quality of products and services that will be offered by the company in the new venture to the target customers (Bjomer, 2013). 

Apparel Brand Pty Ltd needs to analyse and evaluate potential steps that are essential for setting up e-commerce venture. E-commerce provides an opportunity for the business organizations to conduct business electronically on the internet. As Apparel Brand Pty Ltd in new to the e-commerce venture, it is essential for them to undertake appropriate steps for setting up the business. Firstly, Apparel Brand Pty Ltd needs to design user-friendly official design. This will provide an opportunity for the customers to access the products and relevant information on the website easily and without any technical issues (Ozturk, Joiner & Cavusgil, 2015). On the other hand, Apparel Brand Pty Ltd needs to ensure effective payment gateway system. This is because of e-commerce influences transaction electronically that needs security. Thus, Apparel Brand Pty Ltd needs to ensure effective and tight payment gateway and security in order to prevent the leakage of customer information. Additionally, it is also important for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd to develop appropriate web search engines, as this will lead the target customers to their products directly by mitigating hindrances (Sarker & Begum, 2013).

Apparel Brand Pty Ltd will be highly benefitted by venturing into e-commerce. This is because the company will be able to communicate with the customers directly thereby, saving the intermediate cost of suppliers and retailers. Moreover, the company will also be able to the customers' demand and expectations better and develop business strategies accordingly (Khan, 2013). On the other hand, establishing e-commerce will also provide an opportunity for convenient shopping for the target customers of Apparel Brand Pty Ltd. As a result, the company will be able to provide an exquisite shopping experience to the customers thereby, maximizing their customer base. Thus, customer maximization will help in increment of market share for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd. This is because the company will be able to develop their own brands and products and sell to the target customers directly as well as reduces distribution cost for the company thereby, increasing the profit margins (Chowdhury, 2013). 

Determining the target market

It is essential for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd to determine the cost of the new e-commerce, as it provides an opportunity for the company to plan their resources wisely and accordingly. Apparel Brand Pty Ltd needs to be aware initially in the e-commerce venture. This will help in determining the average cost that is required for setting up the e-commerce venture successfully (Winston & Weinstein, 2016). Additionally, Apparel Brand Pty Ltd can also evaluate and analyse the costing of the other clothing online companies and strategise their cost. This allows the business organizations to implement changes that are feasible for their business. E-commerce for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd tend to involve limitation in packages, transaction fees, annual revenue limitation, set up fee, storage allowance, and support fees. Additionally, Apparel Brand Pty Ltd also needs to determine the material cost that is essential for setting up the e-commerce clothing business.

After determining the value proposition and target market for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd e-commerce venture, it is essential for the team to ensure mutual coordination in order to achieve the goals. Additionally, the team members need to strike a balance among them by sharing ideas and risks. The aforementioned qualities among the team members will help in proper functioning of the team members by building trust and relationship among them. However, the team members have failed to meet the organizational and team goals. For instance, the team members have failed to complete jobs within the deadline (Jennings & Stahl-Wert, 2016). Thus, it is essential for the management team of Apparel Brand Pty Ltd to ensure that the team members achieve their tasks within the deadline and sustain in the competitive market.

The team encountered some issues while achieving the goal of setting up an online business that provides an opportunity for the customers to customize their own t-shirt that hindered the progress of the team progress. Nevertheless, the team was able to cope up with the encountered issues partially and completely. The major issue identified by the team was deadline issue. As commented by Parolia et al., (2015), it is essential for the business organization to complete the task within the deadline for meeting up the customer expectation and compete in the market. Thus, the team needs to ensure that they complete their job roles and responsibilities within the time in order to ensure successful e-commerce venture. 

The deadline issue identified by the team members is a major issue identified by the team members that need to be resolved effectively for successful e-commerce venture by Apparel Brand Pty Ltd. The managers of Apparel Brand Pty Ltd need to develop strategies for overcoming the identified issues and guiding them towards success. Firstly, the managers need to help the team members in clarifying their job roles and responsibilities. Having a clear idea will help the team members to work without being confused (Deshpande et al., 2013). After, having a clear idea of the goal, the team members can create short-term goals and break down their tasks. This will help the team members to complete the short-term goals with easy steps. Thus, achieving the short-term goals will motivate the team members and push them to work harder to achieve the ultimate goal (Wegner & Teubel, 2014). Additionally, the managers can ensure a daily follow-up from the team members in order to keep track of the work that has been completed and work that needs to be completed.

Gathering relevant information for setting up venture

It is essential to have an agenda of the meeting, as this helps in providing a brief overview of the topic of discussion and allows the people attending the meeting to come prepared. As mentioned by Jeston and Nelis (2014), having a meeting agenda helps in formulating strategies in order to mitigate the currently identified issues. Having an agenda for the meeting provides an opportunity for the team members to share their issues and develop strategies for overcoming them. Thus, the deadline issue needs to be the agenda of the meeting that will help in understanding the main reason for deadline miss by the team members. Moreover, having a meeting agenda highlights a more comprehensive manner of resolving issues and planning better for achieving the organizational goals and objectives. The team members are able to share their ideas and viewpoints in relation to the meeting agenda for resolving the issues (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016).

The current deadline issue encountered by Apparel Brand Pty Ltd is a threat for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd, as the organization is unable to achieve the goal of setting up the e-commerce within the estimated time. The issue is increasing as the team members are lacking coordination and cooperation among them that is hampering those achieving tasks within a deadline. The team members working on setting the e-commerce for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd needs to complete tasks within the deadline, as it is essential for the company to establish them in the Australian market and sustain success. Taking notes of the solutions of the identified issues will help the team members to consider them while working and completing tasks within the deadline (Drucker, 2017).

Motivation is significant in encouraging the team members to work effectively and achieve their goals. As commented by Tseng and Yeh (2013), individuals can be motivated by both monetary and non-monetary factors. For example, the feedback provided by the managers to the individual team members upon fulfilling their roles and responsibilities helps in encouraging the team members to perform even better. The team members develop the urge to perform better by completing their tasks within deadline due to the encouraging feedback received from the managers.

Asking questions while attending meetings highlights active participation from the team members. It is considered as one of the active learning methods in the professional career (Mayer et al., 2013). Asking questions while attending meetings provides an opportunity for each of the individuals to share their ideas as well as clarify their doubts. The experience gathered in the team meeting allows the team members to acquire knowledge for mitigating their individual drawbacks and methods of mitigating them. On the other hand, asking questions in team meeting also enables the individual team members to improve their existing knowledge (Bens, 2017). Thus, the team members associated with launching the e-commerce for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd can improve their existing knowledge by actively participating in the team meeting and ask questions.

Consulting benefits from other expertise

Issues are evident while working as a part of a team, as it consists of different individuals with their significant individuality. Thus, it is essential for the managers to mitigate the issues that team members identify while working together. The managers can use a theoretical framework such as Belbin’s team roles for mitigating team issues. Using this model will provide an opportunity to divide the tasks to the team members according to their strengths and mitigate the issues. In this case, the roles are divided to the team members according to their ability to perform them. As a result, it is easier to understand the attitude of the team members and work together (Batenburg, Van Walbeek & In Der Maur, 2013).

Ineffective performance is the major issue identified by the team members responsible for opening the e-commerce for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd. Ineffective performance of the team members prohibited them in achieving tasks within deadline thereby, hampering the initiation of the e-commerce start-up. Upon identification, it is necessary to mitigate the issue. This can be done by providing regular training to the team members and deriving the best out of them. Training the team members will make them able to perform their task on time and achieve them successfully (Kwon, Clarke & Wodak, 2014).

The identified issue can be resolved by ensuring verbal communication among the team members. This will help in building coordination among the team members and share their ideas. For example, giving a particular topic and asking the team members to share their opinions and viewpoints. Arranging some debates will provide an opportunity for the team members to ensure coordination and effective communication thereby, improving their verbal and non-verbal communication (Schymanski et al., 2014).

It is evident that working together as a team gives rise to issues, as individuals with distinctive personality and characteristics form a team. Thus, it is essential for the managers to resolving performance related issues within the team. After analysing the current situation of Apparel Brand Pty Ltd, coordination among the team members is a most prevalent issue that is hampering them in achieving the organizational goals and achievements. Lack of coordination among the team members affects the organizational performance thereby, hampering the sales and productivity of the organization (Barun et al., 2013). Lack of coordination among the team members starting the e-commerce for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd is hampering the start-up of the online venture and affecting the market share of the brand in the Australian market.

Steps for setting e-commerce venture

It is essential for the managers to improve the performance of the team in order to enhance the organizational performance. Thus, advice from the managers can help the team members to improve their performance. The managers can motivate the team members that will help in engaging them and make them dedicated towards their job roles and responsibilities. Additionally, daily communication between the team members and the managers allows the individuals to be on track and remain focused. Effective communication between the managers and the team members also provides an opportunity for the individual team members to clarify their doubts and get appropriate guidance thereby, ensuring employee efficiency (Gong et al., 2013).

Apart from the manager, the team members also need to have the willingness to identify their drawbacks and work towards improving them. As commented by Schippers, Homan and Knippenberg (2013), the individuals must not afraid to delegate. Being afraid prevents the team members from clarifying their doubts thereby, hampering their efficiency. Thus, delegating without being afraid provides an opportunity for the team members to improve their coordination. Additionally, it is essential for the team members to remain focused in order to improve their efficiency. On the other hand, the team members also need to consider the suggestions from the managers, as they have a better understanding of their capabilities and abilities. The team members also need to attend training sessions regularly in order to improve their efficiency.

Information provided by the team members about the managers	Yes
What was the information? The candidates regarding the managers provided information. From the information provided by the managers highlighted that the managers wanted to establish a team that ensures mutual support and cooperation. Successful development of a team that highlights mutual coordination and support will allow the team member to achieve organizational goals and objectives. This will help in building trust and support among the team members and provide support to each other. Additionally, development of a team that highlights mutual support will also enable the team members to have each other’s back. The individual team members can use their strengths to complete the given tasks and mitigate the impact of the weakness of other team members without any potential conflicts.
Did the candidate help you to achieve goals by overcoming issues with achieving activities on performance plan?	Yes
Describe how: Training and development sessions are suggested in overcoming the identified issues. Training and development will provide an opportunity for the team members to identify their weakness and work on it or improvement. Training and development sessions will teach the team members to work together by ensuring effective coordination. The training and development session will act as a learning session of the team members in which the individuals have an opportunity clarify their doubts and improve them. On the other hand, effective communication among the team members will also provide an opportunity for the team members to improve them. Thus, effective communication will help in ensuring establishing respect, relationship and trust among the team members.

Table 1: Strategies for resolving issues in team performance

(Source: Author)

Communication is the key that determines success by ensuring coordination and cooperation. As commented by Walczak et al., (2014), effective communication ensures the clear flow of information within the business organizations and the individuals. This provides an opportunity for the team members to be on the same page by ensuring that each individual has clear idea of individual progress and other’s progress. In spite of being simple, it is difficult to maintain effective communication, as the associated individuals might lack interest. Both verbal and non-verbal communication can be used as open communication between the managers and the employees. This will ensure the clear flow of information thereby, allowing the managers and the individual team members to track the progress and status of the organizational goals and objectives.

Open communication can be ensured by incorporating the use of information technology. The use of information technology will provide an opportunity for maintaining effective open communication by ensuring virus free exchange of emails and electronic communication (Guzzi et al., 2013). The managers need to motivate the team members to use electronic communication between various departments associated with e-commerce start-up for Apparel Brand Pty Ltd. This will help in keeping official records of the communication thereby, keeping track of the progress of work. Moreover, effective open communication can also be established through information technology between the managers and the team members. The use of official portals can also be used by the business organizations to ensure effective open communication.

Determining benefits to Apparel Brands

Group behaviour plays a significant role in building proper understanding among the team members. The cooperative behaviour of the team members helps in creating bonding and support among each other by effective leadership skills. Effective cooperation among the team members helps in delegating tasks and combat with the existing risks equally. The team performance gradually evolves by effective cooperation and coordination. This will provide an opportunity for the team members to use individual strengths and cover the weakness of the individuals thereby ensuring effective team performance. Due to each other support and cooperation, achieving the team objectives and goals become easy. Thus, performance evolution helps in improving the individual performance and achieves organizational goals and objectives successfully (Wiegand, 2013).

Continuously monitoring the performance of the team members is one of the correct actions that can be undertaken by the business organizations (Bovee, Thill & Raina, 2016). This will provide an opportunity for the managers to analyse the performance of the team members and identify their loopholes. As a result, the managers can help the team members to improve the individual issues and convert it to their strength.

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