The Benefits And Elements Of E-commerce For Small Business Owners

You have been asked to write a report to provide information on the subject of e-commerce.  The report is aimed at local small business owners, who have shown an interest in operating their business over the internet.

Your report should;

• Discuss the benefits of e-commerce, taking into account both the business and the consumer
  
  
• Identify and explain the elements that are essential to create a commercial website
  
  
• Explain the decisions and choices that the business owners will have to make when building the business site
  
  
• Identify key influences that the small business owner should be aware of with regards to the future development of e-commerce on a national and international basis.  

Ecommerce is the medium of purchasing and selling product through the internet. E-commerce helps in changing the traditional working of the enterprise. The business to business ecommerce is rapidly adopted by small growing industry for reducing the cost incurred on infrastructure and increasing the economic efficiency of the organization. The e-commerce acts as pillar of indicator for focusing on the importance of time.  “The concept of e-commerce brings transparency in the different modules of the business” (Franco, 2013). The emerging technologies of e-commerce are mobile commerce, supply chain management system, online transaction processing, internet marketing, inventory management system, electronic data interchange, and electronic funds transfer.

The e-commerce provides convenience to the customers to a large extent. The customers can do shopping, bank transaction, electricity bill, and detailed information of the product by sitting at home. The review of the product can also be done. The user is facilitated with different means of payment modes. The e-commerce is adopted as the global trends in businesses. The quality of the information system can be improved by utilizing the concept of e-commerce. The cost price of the raw material is reduced. The e-commerce provides the facility of carrying transaction between customers and business.” The inter-functions and intra-functions of the company are integrated through the medium of e-commerce” (Gaffar, 2012). The physical flow of product and inventory can be managed by using the technique of e-commerce. The sale of the business can be improved by using the tactics of e-commerce. The e-commerce is capable of driving more traffic, the product can be sell across the country, new customers can actively attracted towards the business, optimize the capabilities of the business, analyse and improving the customer satisfaction, the user is provided with different means of payment modes, multiple channels for sale, appropriate utilization of resources, and increases the growth and productivity of the business.

The essential elements which are required for creating the commercial websites are described in the table below:

The business owner should take the decision regarding infrastructure to support the flow of communication between customers and the business. The business operation should be performed for increasing the productivity of the organization. The functional areas of the business such as facilities, process, and equipment should be organized in such a way that the customer can easily get access with the enterprise. The owner of the business should take decision for upgrading the infrastructure of the business for the implementation of e-commerce into the working curriculum of the organization. E-commerce is the best choice for changing the business strategies and upgrading the business operations. So the first decision of the business owner should be regarding the infrastructure and the second domain should be cost reduction methods which can help in reducing the cost of the good sold and associated overhead expenses. The implementation of ecommerce brings high flexibility in the infrastructure of the business. The business owner should look for delivering high services to the customers by providing quick and responsive services, live chat support, and others. The ecommerce business is based on following infrastructure decisions which are stated below:

1. Marketing: Marketing is the key element for building the ecommerce infrastructure. The customers should easily found the website. The marketing efforts should be carried out for promoting the e-commerce website. “The social media is the good platform for promotion of the website through presentation, forms, publication, banners, offers, and others” (Kim, 2014). The marketing team of the business should develop the agenda for the design of the website, inclusion of social media platform, email services, merchandizing, advertising, creation of banner, and brochures, and others which can support the promotion of the website. “The management of in-house activities is the major challenge for the business owner and manager” (Barkley, 2014). It has been researched that the small organization skips the forum of marketing which limits the growth of the company.
2. Facilities: The business owner should take the competitive advantage to remain ahead of their competitors. “The new facilities should indulge in the website which makes it different from others” (Mustafa, 2013). The customers get attracted towards the facilities which help in increasing the profit and growth of the organization.
3. Customer service support: The online portal of the business provides the 24/7 customer supports. The customers are provided with high quality support. They can register their service through the medium of internet or by phone and get the door services within few hours. The email and live chat support system are some of the techniques of online support of services.
4. Information technology: The most crucial decision of the business owner is to decide the ecommerce which should be used by the company to fulfil the requirement of the company. The design of the website should be according to the requirement specification plan developed by the business owner. The key features of the website design are reliability, efficiency, availability, and integrity of the data.
5. Fulfilment: The focus should be given on managing the outsourcing of industry by developing relationship with suppliers. The flow of communication should be maintained between the suppliers for managing inventory and warehouse space of the company.
6. Finance and administration: The approval of the project will be done according to the budget of the website and the financial support of the company. “The administrative activities and in-house activities helps in managing the budget for the allocated activities” (Ivanov, 2012). The vendor payment and the payroll should be taken into consideration. The fundamentals of e-commerce help in reducing the overall cost and the maintenance cost of the business. It also helps in increasing the sale of the business. The consistency should be maintained in managing activities and the overall business strategies.
7. Human resources: It has been researched that the small scale business cut down their cost by avoiding the department of human resource management. The HR system is responsible for managing the recruiting process, activities related to compensation and compliance, and other in-house activities which help in increasing the flow of communication and operational capability of the organization.

The small business gets influenced by the e-commerce website because the ecommerce is capable of maintaining efficient customer relationship program which the traditional working of the small industry is facing problem. The business owners have realised the benefits of transforming their business to e-commerce. It has been researched that with the small investment maximum benefits can be earned by the organization such as customer relationship management, supplier-chain management system, development of review system to know thee good and the bad points of the company for future improvement, inventory management system, and many others. “The implementation of ecommerce brings high flexibility in the infrastructure of the business” (Adenwala, 2015).

Conclusion:

he e-commerce is adopted as the global trends in businesses. The quality of the information system can be improved by utilizing the concept of e-commerce. The online portal of the business provides the 24/7 customer supports.

References:

Adenwala, M. (2015). The impact of ecommerce on business performance (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.dypatil.edu/schools/management/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMPACT-OF-E-COMMERCE-ON-BUSINESS-PERFORMANCE-A-STUDY-WITH-RESPECT-TO-TRAVEL-INDUSTRY-Murtaza-Adenwala.pdf

Barkley, D. (2014). Case studies on e-commerce in small and medium sized industries (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3612/aaf74114281190677f51c135af283b202d20.pdf

Brychan, T. (2015). E-commerce adoption and small business in the global market place (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books?id=WzEpvL2AwI8C&pg=PA329&lpg=PA329&dq=research+paper+pdf+on+Small+business+and+'+e-commerce+website&source=bl&ots=Lr_KBD1WIG&sig=Yv-HsWU5n9TU-UFIhaPx3dJCSpE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTqpuMqpLUAhXFL48KHS4XCygQ6AEIYjAI#v=onepage&q=research%20paper%20pdf%20on%20Small%20business%20and%20'%20e-commerce%20website&f=false

Franco, D. (2013). Advantages and challenges to the e-commerce customers (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://granthaalayah.com/Articles/Vol4Iss3/02_IJRG16_SE03_02.pdf

Gaffar, A. (2012). E-commerce: A study on benefits and challenges in the emerging economy (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume16/3-Electronic-Commerce-A-Study.pdf

Ivanov, D. (2012). The impact of e-commerce on small size companies (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:538119/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Kim, Y. (2014). The impact of social influence in ecommerce decision making (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.site.uottawa.ca/~nelkadri/CSI5389/Papers/74-Impact%20of%20Social%20Influence%20in%20E-Commerce%20Decision%20Making.pdf

Mustafa, I. (2013). Determinants of ecommerce customer satisfaction (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.jecr.org/sites/default/files/12_1_p05.pdf

Nabeel, A. (2014). E-commerce in small and medium sized enterprise framework and issues (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books?id=wIxtL57mSBMC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=Small+business+get+influenced+towanrds+e-commerce+website&source=bl&ots=XJY2U4Ww6U&sig=qxNtxi3Av4D7kTYRY7neC07oxHk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinm4iQqJLUAhXGQI8KHbWyBmEQ6AEIUjAE#v=onepage&q=Small%20business%20get%20influenced%20towanrds%20e-commerce%20website&f=false

Shahriari, S. (2012). E-commerce and its impact on global trends of market (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://granthaalayah.com/Articles/Vol3Iss4/03_IJRG15_A04_63.pdf