E-Business For Konga.com Case Study

Companies Operations

Discuss about the E-Business for Konga.com Case Study.

The rapid change of technology has previously led to stiff competition for many companies. Most businesses and corporations are trying to employ new modern ways and techniques to become more efficient and effective for improved productivity and customer's satisfaction (Cordella, Martin, & Smithson, 2011). New inventions and innovations such as machines, equipment, and new marketing strategies as well as advertising are being brought up to most of the businesses. Recently the emerging of the internet has made many companies go online from transactions, marketing, and advertising and even as an ideal medium for communication with its customers from all over the world (Durbhakula & Kim, 2011). The rise of many social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube have made it easy and less costly for most companies to take their business online. Therefore this report will use the case study of Kogan.com, a company involved in E-business. Through the report the paper looks deeper into company operations, its E-commerce security strategies, marketing and how its benefits from carrying its business online.Kogan.com is a good example of an E-business company from Australia is which has entirely gained popularity and customers in the Australian market through online transactions and selling of its products and services. 

Kogan.com being one of the largest E-business in Australia operates through the sale of groceries, home appliances, and electronics by selling them direct to the customer through Kogan.com platform (Smart Company, 2015). Kogan.com also ships goods from the companies Hong Kong manufacturers to customers all over the world.

The Success of the company E-business strategy will majorly depend on the company to apply it efficiently and effectively (Chen & Holsapple , 2013). The ease of use of the Kong.com E-commerce sites is based on the various aspects. First, accurate product description; Kogan.com has very well described each of the products thus making it easy to use the site as one can get details of each item very well outlined. Second, fast loading; most customers' talk of online shopping being slow in loading but Kogan.com has taken it among themselves to ensure fast loading of the information in their site thus making it simpler to shop. Third, Clear policies; most e-businesses leave it among the customers to trust the quality of their products which is at times difficult to do. Kogan.com has taken it among themselves to win the confidence of clients by giving them policies on warranties and return product exchanges (Zappone, 2010). Fourth, coherent checkout whereby for it to be effective in the business site the kogan.com have made it easy for customers to carry out transactions flawlessly when ordering. They also give customers ability to log in using various social media and receive the information posted in the past.

The Ease of use of the E-commerce Sites

The business environment factors especially technology are always prone to change thus requiring the companies to review their E-commerce operations frequently (Al-Qirim, 2007). According to Galve-Górriz & Gargallo Castel (2010) if the company does not ignore its ever changing environment it may find itself operating with the outdated technology, and hence it will be kicked out of the industry.Kogan.com has maintained a forum that allows both buying and selling of goods online. Kogan.com E-business has completely changed the lifestyle of many for reducing time spent and money traveling to the market by coming up with two applications. The web application and the mobile app. The web application is an application that is readily available to the customer through the internet. The web application is very convenient and efficient to use and also maintain as generally; everything runs within the Internet browser thus no software is installed. All the data is secured and saved in the cloud where accessible through any device. As for the mobile app, it is a software application developed for use in small devices such as the smartphone that are wireless computing devices. The mobile app has brought incredible growth in the customer care and business operations. Kogan.com can reach their customers at ease through building their business apps.

Marketing is a critical aspect of any organization in the E-business (El-Gohary, 2010).  Through E-commerce, Kogan.com has been able to come up with the various marketing strategies: For example through investment in mobile; Kogan.com has offered available mobile services such as product details and delivery status to remain competitive in the business.

1. Content to build stickiness; Kogan.com has created books and discs that are handed over to people containing their details to enable the customers to know the site to get them on and the goods that they sell.
2. Online shopping; Kogan.com has created a platform where the customers can shop online and have the goods delivered to them on the term that they have to pay for the goods first.

• Business electronic data exchanges; Kogan.com fully participates in the exchange of business documents such as invoices and purchase orders in a standard electronic format with its partner.

1. Involved in online marketplaces; Kogan.com is fully active in the online marketplaces in the customer to customer conversation or business to customer communication as they can offer assistance where needed and answer questions asked.
2. Kogan.com has come up with original content giving them more credit to their customers. The content found on the website cannot be found anywhere else or from other related online buying and selling companies because it is original.
3. Furthermore, Kogan.com has gone to the extent of reaching their customers in their local languages. English is not necessarily a language that is used by everyone, therefore, using local languages reaches a large population in Australia, and the rest of it is beyond the borders customers.

Application of supply chain in the E-commerce business helps the company to outperform its competitors by establishing a robust competitive advantage (Cegarra-Navarro, & Martínez-Conesa, 2007). Kogan.com has put multiple distribution points such as the internet clients expect faster delivery of the goods therefore by implementing many distribution points’ means they can access to the customer without strain (Oluwafemi, 2012). Other factors that Kongan.com has used E-commerce supply chain strategy are as discussed below:

1. IKogan.com has considered being close to the customers for it helps save the outbound freight. The closer or nearness you are to clients, the less spent when it comes to delivering goods to them.
2. Kogan.com has implemented that it is a good supply chain strategy for capitalizing on the disambiguation of different channels and meet what the customers are expecting whether direct to consumer or retail provided multichannel retailers develop the infrastructure.

• Kogan.com has also strategized that as the direct to customer base highly increases; it should create a platform for increasing liquidation opportunities. 

The implementation of the E-commerce comes across with security issues which might affect the online transactions of solid preventive mechanisms have not been put in place (O’Raghallaigh, 2015). Konga.com value the importance of online security and thus it has come up with the following strategies:

Kogan.com has put individuals on the ground as their ear of the vulnerability of their systems. Having done this, Kogan.com can get the information fast and thus able to improve their security detail.

1. Inventory management; knowing that the devices come with inbuilt network and computing ability, Kogan.com has put tracking devices on the to find out where they are and the person responsible for them so that just in case of any security breach, they can track the device down and identify the individual responsible.

• The Vendor governance; Kogan.com has built a way to assess practices of manufacturers and implementers in the supply chain to get some transparency which helps know the level of risk they might introduce.

E-Business Applications Currently used

Information technology created by most internet developers’ experts in Kogan.com have employed efficient internet architecture strategies (Gundan, 2015). The strategies employed in the business include the advertising and promotions on the internet, selling and buying, electronic communications and security safety strategies of their esteemed customers. The software developers have also included website developments as well as operational data that allows customer improvements.

Kogan.com have also included open internet architecture which allows easy channeling of information from customers. Intellectual property issues have also been dealt with the Kogan.com software developers for the easy, smooth running of the E-business.

The structural changes that may also arise the website can be easily tackled by the IT panel efficiently without having to affect customers. They ensure compliance with the legal rights the clients.

In the E-business, the merchants have to make their work flawless whereby; their site is easily accessible. E-business should be put distribution points closer to their customers to ensure fast delivery. The business should guarantee a quality of their products by putting across policies such as warranties. The security detail of E-business should be at its maximum to avoid the security breach. The business should be aware of the possible threats and be able to rectify them fastest possible. The applications of the E-business should be compatible with devices such as smartphones to ensure a broad range of people can access it. Last but not least, E-business should engage in the online marketing places so as to answer the questions by customers and get to advertise themselves. 

Conclusion.

E-business is one of the best things that has happened in the world of business. People can save time and money as the goods are efficiently delivered right to their doors step. Despite companies having stalls, they should also consider starting E-business for they can access too many people through shipping of goods to them. 

References

Al-Qirim, N. (2007).T he adoption and diffusion of e-commerce in developing countries: The case of NGO in Jordan. Information Technology for Development, 13(2), 107-131.

Cegarra-Navarro, J. G., & Martínez-Conesa, E. A. (2007). E-business through knowledge management in Spanish telecommunications companies. International Journal of Manpower, 28(7), 298 – 314.

Chen, L., & Holsapple , C. W. (2013). E-Business Adoption Research: State of the Art. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 14(3), 261-286.

Cordella, A., Martin, A., & Smithson, M. S. (2011). Management and innovation of e-business. London: University of London.

Durbhakula, V. V., & Kim, D. J. (2011). E-business for Nations: A Study of National Level Business Adoption Factors Using Country Characteristics-Business-Technology-Government Framework. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 6(3), 1-12.

El-Gohary, H. (2010). E-Marketing - A Literature Review from a Small Businesses perspective. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 1(1), 214-244.

Galve-Górriz, C., & Gargallo Castel, A. (2010). The relationship between human resources and information and communication technologies: Spanish firm-level evidence. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 5(1), 11-24.

Gundan, F. (2015, January 7). Im Shagaya: On Building The Next Big Thing, Konga, Africa's Version Of Alibaba - Part One. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com: https://www.forbes.com/sites/faraigundan/2015/01/07/sim-shagaya-on-building-the-next-big-thing-konga-africas-version-of-alibaba-part-one/#599c713b1e63

O’Raghallaigh, E. (2015, June 8). Security Issues in E-Commerce. Retrieved from https://digitalstrategy: https://digitalstrategy.ie/security-issues-in-e-commerce/

Oluwafemi, B. (2012, August 11). How Konga Is Killing It With 24-hour Delivery. Retrieved from https://techloy.com: https://techloy.com/2012/08/11/konga-is-killing-it-with-24-hour-delivery/

Smart Company. (2015, March 22). Australia’s top 20 online retailers: 2015. Retrieved from smartcompany.com.au: https://www.smartcompany.com.au/marketing/online-sales/46163-australia-s-top-20-online-retailers-for-2015/

Zappone, C. (2010, December 3). Online serves up a storm for retailers. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com: https://www.smh.com.au/business/online-serves-up-a-storm-for-retailers-20101203-18jdr.html