e-commerce business plan

E-Commerce Business Plan 1

E-Commerce Business Plan

By

Mercutio Goins

MGM310-1204B-06: E-Business

December 25, 2012

Colorado Technical University



1.0 Executive Summary (E-Commerce infrastructure and goal achievement)

1.1 Mission (E-Commerce ethics in online business)

2.0 Marketing Vision (Positioning the e-commerce business with sound concepts)

2.1 E-Business Models

2.2 Purpose (Objectives)

3.0 Products and Services

3.1 Description of Product

3.2 Competitive Edge

3.3 Business to Business Technology

4.0 Market Summary Analysis and Industry Analysis

4.1 Marketplace Segmentation

4.1.1 Chart market Analysis (Pie, Table)

5.0 Strategy and Execution

5.1 Applications of B2B

5.2 Advertising Campaign (E-Commerce outlets through social media)

6.0 Website Plan Summary

6.1 Website Marketing Strategy


6.2 Developing the Website Necessities

7.0 Open and Overly Secure Environment

7.1 Open and Insecure Environment

7.2 Overly Secure Environment

7.3 Customers Protection Laws

8.0 Conclusion



1.0 Executive Summary

Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) is the transferring of goods or services over the

Internet in exchange for other goods, services, or currency. It is the sales facet of

electronic business (e-business) which has very little limitations outside of a brick and

mortar. Two aspects of e-businesses are business to consumer (B2C) and business to

business (B2B). Business to consumer is the selling of goods or services directly to the

consumer and business to business is the selling of goods or services to other businesses

(amberleamoore.com). To have a successful e-business there are a couple of methods that

the business must consider first. (1) They must know their target market and by knowing

this they have a competitive advantage that allows them to have an edge on the

competitors. (2) They must also know their value chain which is a series of transactions

between all participants that influences the final product. The value chain is a place

where the businesses need to be in order to identify the needs of its target market. By

identifying the target market the e-business can bring forth a plan and use a combination

of methods such as a portal that sends potential clients to the business and a transaction

fee revenue model that enables the customer to pay for the product or service.

1.1 Mission

The mission of an e-commerce business is to offer a dependable way of doing

business through today’s technology by targeting the expected market through

websites over the internet by offering reliable product and services.

2.0 Marketing Vision

With the changing trends in today’s society and the way people shop and businesses do

business each organization must be a step ahead of the competition. E-Commerce offers


companies in any industry, regardless of the product or service, a way of conducting

business safely over the internet. An e-commerce business can position itself in the

marketplace to be known as a brand that offers excellent services and products to

consumers and other businesses which can be achieved through a number of outlets and

strategic planning.

2.1 E-Business Models

Business to Business (B2B) is the selling goods or services from one

business to the next business.

Business to Consumer B2C) is the selling of goods or services from a

business to the consumer.

Consumer to Consumer (C2C) is the selling of goods or services from on

consumer to the next consumer.

Consumer to Business (C2B) is the selling of goods or services from a

consumer to a business.

2.2 Purpose (Objectives)

E-Commerce took doing business and online shopping over the internet to another

level by being aware of the latest technology, devices and security. The purpose

of e-commerce is to take advantage of the technology that exist by making

transactions and online shopping more reliable, reasonable, and profitable for

businesses.

3.0 Products and Services


Businesses and consumers are not limited in any form of doing business when it comes to

selling their products online. The product can be anything that is tangible or edible and it

can range from household goods to the food in the refrigerator.

3.1 Description of Product

Online businesses can give detail descriptions of the product as well as having a

virtual picture of the product for its customers to view. Therefore, it saves the

company money from keeping the product warehoused inside a brick and mortar.

The service that is offered through e-commerce is also described in detail so that

the customers know exactly what they are expecting to receive.

3.2 Competitive Edge

Companies that use the internet have a competitive edge on other businesses

because they can use different types of outlets to reach potential customers.

Using e-commerce also give the company an advantage of the competition

because they can keep track of who is browsing their sites, who is buying their

products/services, what demographics is making the purchases and also the

average amount of money is being spent on their services and products.

The Primary weakness of new e-commerce businesses is that they are new and

they have to focus on their target market by generating awareness for their

business through advertising and they have to position themselves in the market to

generate sales. E-commerce marketing strategy is crucial when it comes to the

success of their business.


3.3 Business to Business Technology

There are several models to B2B technologies that apply to e-commerce such as

the advertising revenue model, portal, content provider, affiliate revenue model,

and subscription revenue model

The advertising revenue model is used as pop-ups, videos, banners, and

other forms of advertisement ads on websites that generates traffic flow to

help generate income for a business (E-Commerce, 2012).

A portal is a search engine website that offers its visitor quick access to

information of interest.

Content Provider is basically a content writer’s website that offers

information ranging from news and weather information to entertainment

and job guides.

Affiliate revenue model is a strategic partnership between merchants that

share ads on each other’s website to generate traffic flow and sales.

The subscription revenue model is a content provider’s website that offers

exclusive content to paid subscribers such as Netflix.

4.0 Market Summary Analysis

The primary target market for e-commerce businesses is only limited to the amount of

people who have access to the internet. According to Pongdom.com, that number is 2.3

billion and rising every second.

4.1 Marketplace Segmentation and Industry Analysis


Every second there are nearly eight new internet users added worldwide and

according to some measures it is a third of the people in the world who uses the

internet which means the market is barely tapped since there are about 7 billion

people that live on earth. This gives us a total of 2.3 billion people who uses the

internet.

4.1.1 Chart market Analysis (Pie, Table)

6.9

2.3

Internet Usersusers are in billions

People on the plannetInternet users

5.0 Strategy and Execution

Utilize the brand-name power of the business

Strategically placed ads on internet sites that is associated with the business

Add the businesses products to other sites

E-mail advertisement

SEM (search engine marketing)

Buying advertising space


Bidding on keywords that are significant to the business

SEO (search engine optimization)

Not advertising

Uses key words to position itself

5.1 Applications of B2B

Sales are reliant upon the awareness of the e-commerce business within the target

market and it is based on driving business to the company’s website.

The service provider supply both free and web-based services such as apps.

The application service provider is a company that develops and improves

those apps, software, and data storage capabilities that is made available to

businesses and subscribers.

Private industrial network accommodates members of a specific industry or

profession and they use a combination of different business models of e-

commerce.

A transaction fee revenue model brokers transactions between two parties

for a fee such as Paypal.

Differentiation is a clever marketing strategy that position businesses in the

market to generate a greater volume of sales or web traffic.

5.2 Advertising Campaign (E-Commerce outlets through social media)

E-Commerce advertising is very important to the success and failure of the

company and the advertising revenue model is the framework for monetizing

advertisements which comes in different forms:


Pop-ups

Banners

Light boxes

Text

Video, etc.

6.0 Website Plan Summary

E-commerce businesses must create and maintain their websites to suit their business

needs. It can start out as simple text and image-based that will highlight their services or

products and then it could redirect them to their Ebay account until their site is up and

fully running.

6.1 Website Marketing Strategy

The businesses website should provide information about the company and their

products and services as well as processing the company orders. This can be done

with an “about us” link or tab on the main page. The company’s logo should be

eye catching and easy to remember so that the customer cannot only find them but

also suggest them to other people.

6.2 Developing the Website Necessities

The website, depending on the type of business can have different types of tab

buttons to showcase the businesses qualities such as the following:

Home tab

Membership tab


Career Center tab

Privacy Policy tab

Security Policy tab

7.0 Open and Insecure Environment

7.1 Owning an Internet business and supplying a way for customers to buy the

businesses’ product definitely shrinks the cost of doing business around the board.

Hosting a website is a lot cheaper than having to pay employees, rent and utilities

just as a virtual storefront is not as expensive as operating a brick and mortar.

Operating a business online has its advantages when it comes to selling product

and the company must provide a way for consumers to buy the product. An open

e commerce environment gateway page typically increases the transaction

procedure for the reason that the page is not encrypted (smallbusiness.chron.com

2012). Although the page is not encrypted, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will

translate into sales. The down side to using an open environment e commerce

business is that it can be easily hacked and the business’s personal information,

users or customer’s information can be stolen. Since the site is open and insecure

that leaves it open to be accessed by anyone when it is not encrypted.

7.2 Overly Secure Environment

Just as a physical brick and mortar business needs protection with locks, alarms,

and bolts it is equally important to protect a business that has an online presence.

Although sellers have a choice of operating their e commerce business in either a

secure or insecure environment, they see advantages to creating a secure Website


for their cyber portals that is open for business 24/7. In today’s information age,

the customer who is buying an item online want it right away and they want to

complete the transaction in as little as one step. They effortlessly want to

complete the transaction with a sense of security. Customers who shop online

will not buy off an insecure website because they fear that their personal

information can be taken and used in other places which will ruin their credit and

also empty their bank account.

7.3 Customers Protection Laws

In conclusion, e commerce businesses can analyze their customers by location,

through their purchases, name, and address with ease when they buy products

from their website. This information is protected under certain laws like the Right

of Privacy Act and the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act. These Acts were established to

protect individuals from fraud and identity theft. The Right of Privacy act

protected the customers’ the ability to determine what kind of information about

themselves can be used such as their name, email, and demographic info

(law.cornell.edu, 2012).

The Gramm-Leach Bliley Act helped establish the guidelines for the customer’s

personal financial information and the financial institutions are mandated to

provide a privacy policy to customers about the information that is being collected

and how that information is being used (law.cornell.edu, 2012). There are

numerous acts and laws that guard the customer’s rights to privacy and all

businesses as well as e commerce businesses are obligated under the law to

safeguard those customers from fraud and identity theft.


8.0 Conclusion

To have a successful e-business there are a couple of methods that the business must

consider first. (1) They must know their target market and by knowing this they have a

competitive advantage that allows them to have an edge on the competitors. (2) They

must also know their value chain which is a series of transactions between all participants

that influences the final product. The value chain is a place where the businesses need to

be in order to identify the needs of its target market. By identifying the target market the

e-business can bring forth a plan and use a combination of methods such as a portal that

sends potential clients to the business and a transaction fee revenue model that enables

the customer to pay for the product or service.

References

Amberlea Moore, My Life…My Studies…My Rants…My Family…, retrieved on

November 21, 2012 from amberleamoore.com


E-Commerce (2012). Editorial Board (eBook). Schaumburg, IL: Words of Wisdom, LLC.

Chron, Small Business, Advantages and Disadvantages of Doing E-Commerce Business in an

Insecure Environment (2012) by Laurie J. Benner, Demand Media, retrieved on

December 10, 2012 from smallbusiness.chron.com

Cornell University Law School, Legal Information Institute (LII), Personal Information,

Right of: Access to Personal Information, retrieved on December 10, 2012

from law.cornell.edu

e-commerce business plan

Documents

sends potential clients

subscription revenue model

affiliate revenue model

advertising revenue model

commerce business plan

content provider

0 marketing vision

personal information