.blog

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

An Example of E-Commerce Success and Its Causes


NIKE

E-commerce – “a chance for consumers to contribute to the learning of how to better serve their needs."

The arrival of Internet has fundamentally changed the way people communicate and interact. Interpersonal communication has been replaced by a huge computerized network. Under this revolution, information can be exchanged instantly with the ease of a few key strokes.

In today’s business world, most of the companies rushed to develop their e-commerce strategies in order to maintain their competitive edge. Nike, one of the largest brand-name sports apparel company around the world, has made its right choice to conduct business in an e-commerce environment.

Previously, Nike.com has launched primarily to provide information to its consumers without the existence of e-commerce capabilities. Few years later, Nike officially stepped into e-commerce on February 11, 1999, when consumers can buy products on Nike.com.

The purpose of the move is to correspond Nike with the original purpose of Internet, exchange information. Therefore, Nike.com is not only a product-selling site, but also a communication and marketing effort. The provision of user friendly functionalities such as ease of purchase, speed, and navigation serves the rights for Nike to capture the growing number of online shoppers, who are a tempting source of untapped revenue for Nike under the formerly business strategy.

--Potential successful reasons and its causes of Nike--

1. Internet. Technological advancement offers to be a useful tool for Nike in increasing sales and reducing marketing cost. The existence of current website absolutely provided Nike with an intangible asset such as market research and consumer buying behaviors. Data collected from consumers enables the firm to analyze and monitor the buying behaviors of its consumers and thus produces innovative designs and improves its research capabilities.

2. Web appearance and user friendly functionalities. Nike has placed a great importance in developing their branding strategies on the net through web appearance and user friendly functionalities. This strategy becomes a vital tool in maximizing its market share and it is the most favorable web site with both high web site appearance and user friendly functionalities.

3. Secured website. Nike has attained a considerable competitive advantage due to its reputation for quality and innovation. Nike.com's value proposition is an easy to use web site that is highly interactive, secure as well as its reputation and brand image of their product.

4. Bricks and clicks. The adoption of bricks and clicks business model helps Nike to increase
sales, reduce cost, increase market research, applying competitive advantage, improving
customer service, promoting new products, and progress in addressing user concerns.

5. Customization. Currently, Nike’s store enables online consumers to design key elements of the shoes according to their preference. This program is the first time a company has offered such mass customization of footwear and it arose a lot of attention from its supporters.

In conclusion, Nike is one of the successful companies which leading sports apparel in dealing with e-commerce business model. As such, the firm has potentially secured greater amount of revenues from those online shoppers. With the ease of navigation and exclusion of sales tax in western countries, many users might prefer to purchase through internet rather than visit physical store. Therefore, the arising of e-commerce model aids Nike in gaining market shares and interests in today’s business environment.


~ References ~

posted by mei_huei at 0 Comments

Friday, January 23, 2009

Discuss how e-commerce can reduce cycle time, improve employees' empowerment and facilitate customer support

Electronic commerce consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Nowadays, uses of e-commerce have grown rapidly due to the spread of the Internet and it provides certain benefits and conveniences which will be discussed as follow.

Cycle time is the total time needed to move a unit of work from the beginning to the end of a physical process. In the aspect of e-commerce, cycle time refers to the amount of time where customer place an order and receiving the goods. E-procurement is one tool purchasing uses to reduce costs and improve cycle time. E-procurement is define as a business-to-business or business-to-consumer or business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies and services through the Internet as well as other information and networking systems. By applying e-procurement in the organization, it reduces cycle time by a direct system. For example, a suppler may have an agreement with a customer to automatically ship materials when the customer's stock level reaches a low point. It reduces not only the cycle time but also other costs like purchase cost as when transacting with a supplier electronically, suppliers are more likely to give discounts, because their own administration costs are less.

E-commerce also improves employees’ empowerment. Empowerment of employee simply means giving the employee authority to make decisions. In applying e-commerce in the organization, it allow employee to get access to internet to search for any information they need in order to support their decisions. Besides, employee can directly respond to the customer on any complaint or any customers' product information requests. As a result, company tends to give more power and flexibility to employee in conducting their work and it will increases employee’s job satisfaction as they will feel like part of the organization.

Lastly, e-commerce facilitates customer support by providing customer the opportunity to shop conveniently. It allows customer to search for any information regarding the product or services easily and place any of their complaint, or request for any further product information. For example, “Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)” is where customer may seek answers for their enquiries. Besides, company’s information is provided in the website and customer can call in to the customer service department or send e-mails to the company. As a result, it may improves company’s services and increase in sales as it convenient customers by getting the goods directly and it enhance customer support.


References

http://4ecom.blogspot.com/2008/06/discuss-how-e-commerce-can-reduce-cycle.html

http://loss1987.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-e-commerce-can-reduce-cycle-time.html

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:WWNyR9t4woQJ:emarketplace.lgaq.asn.au/lgaq/resources/e-Marketplace/e-procurement%2520Benefits.doc+e-procurement+reduce+cost&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=opera

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-procurement

http://milkmom.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-e-commerce-can-reduce-cycle-time_13.html

http://ecommercesite.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/reduction-of-cycle-time-improve-employees-empowerment-facilitate-customer-support-through-e-commerce/

posted by BerniceLau at 0 Comments

An Example of An E-Commerce failures and its causes



Kozmo.com was founded in 1997 by two young Wall Street professionals,Joseph Park and YongKang. Kozmo.com’s catalogue featured five main product categories which are entertainment, meals, grocery, drugstore and gift shop. In Kozmo.com, Snack Foods were undoubtedly their top seller. Later, when the company attempted to expand into sales of items such as video games and higher end electronics, they met with failure.

There are 3 clauses of its failure:
1. Kosmo’s main failure is with their customers occurred when they stopped catering to their main client base of middle class college-students. Indeed, Kozmo is frantically trying to ditch its college-student customers, who last year made up 76% of its business, in pursuit of those who will pay a premium to have thousands of items, from DVD players to cotton swabs.

2. Although Kozmo offered free delivery and charged competitive prices when it launched in New York. However the costs of delivery were still remain high.

3. Some analysts say Kozmo's business model only made sense in the context of a densely packed city such as New York. Vern Keenan, financial analyst with Keenan Vision, said the service had a chance to work in only a few other cities around the world, such as London,Stockholm or Paris. This seemed like a dumb idea from the beginning,"Keenan said. "This grew out of a New York City frame of mind and it simply didn't translate.

In conclusion, Kozmo.com was cool and convenient. Because we can order a wide variety of products, from movies to snack food, and get them delivered within an hour. It was the perfect antidote to a rainy night, but Kozmo learned too late that its primary attraction of free delivery was also its undoing. After expanding to seven cities, it was clear that it cost too much to deliver a DVD and a pack of gum.


References...

posted by HoOI fEN^fAnny^ at 0 Comments

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

About Lau Jia Tze

Hi guys! Welcome and thanks for dropping by! This is not the first time I blog, me myself has a own blog since 3 year ago. As usual, the very first thing blogger do is to introduce oneself and that’s why, I am here to introduce myself before me and my group members start off with our entries.


A photo of us
from left : Mei huei, me, ivy, hooi fen


A photo of myself

My name is Lau Jia Tze. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, I stay here and grew up here as well. I am 20 going on 21 this year on the 1st of August. I entered UTAR right after my SPM and I studied a year in Foundation in Arts before I proceed my degree in Accounting. I’m in middle among three siblings, an elder brother and a younger sister, and as the old-folks say child in the middle is always rebel and yes I am.

I love my family, especially my parents who look after me and support me in everything I do. Besides, I love my friends who are always there when I need someone to share my problems and lend me a hand.

I’m a very straight forward person, and I’m outgoing and easy to mix with. Unfortunately, people who first saw me always have a bad impression in me and “arrogant”, is what they always use to describe me but “never judge a book by its cover”!

Stated below are my hobbies and interests:
1. I love singing! I love singing since I was young and I went karaoke quite often with my bunch of friends. Besides, I have a private karaoke room in my house which is my bedroom. I love locking myself inside my room and sing as loud as I like with music on.

2. I love hanging out with my friends. I often hang out with them during night time where people called it as “yam cha” session.

3. I love shopping but not window shopping. Shopping is perhaps a common interest of all female especially when there is a mega sale.

4. Lastly, during my free time at home, I often surf the net to kill my time. My computer is somehow my best friend when I’m bored.

Websites that I visit the most are as follow:
1. www.friendster.com – it allows me to keep myself up-to-date with my friends’ current status and it is also a good place to find back all my long-lost friends.

2. www.facebook.com – it is a similar webpage as friendster but there is an additional feature that friendster doesn’t has which is we can play different kind of games in this website.

3. www.blogspot.com – website where people usually use to write down their diary or for business purpose like promoting company products or services.

4. www.youtube.com – this site allows us to search for various kinds of videos and mtv. It is a best place to watch online movies and of cause with a good network connection.

5. www.chinese.cari.com.my – this is a Malaysia Chinese forum. I spent my time most in this website.

Lastly, below are internet activities that I conduct frequently:
1. Online chatting with my friends and parents through windows live messenger. It is a easy way to contact with others without any additional cost incurred and its convenience as we can communicate with several people at the same time.

2. Update friendster and facebook like upload photos with the purpose of sharing with others.

3. Blogging. As mentioned, I have a blog to write down my personal diary.

4. Send and check emails. Besides windows live messenger, I did send mails to my friends especially those who seldom online and stay overseas. On the other hand, I often check forward mails sent by friends.

5. Download songs and movies. Although this is a discourage activity but still I prefer download songs and movie from the net than buying it.

posted by Ivy_low at 0 Comments

About Low Sweet Pink,Ivy


Hi, my friends!! Now is my turn to introduce myself.... By the way, thank you very much for viewing our blog.
My name is ivy. I was born in General Hospital, KL. I am 20 years of age and had both my primary and secondary education in KL. After i passed my SPM in Form 5, i proceed with my Foundation Course in PJ for one year. Then , i continue with my degree course in Accounting.

There are five members in my family. My parents, one younger sister, one younger brother and me. Of course, I'm the eldest sister in the family. As my parents are not always at home, it is my responsible to look after my sister and brother.

One of my favourite pastime is watching TV. I watch television whenever i have free time. I enjoy drama especially the Hong Kong drama movie. Besides that, i prefer to play SUDOKU when I'm boring. I am a systematic person, i like to plan before i conduct my work.


The top 5 websites that i visited the most are stated below which are :
1. www.google.com & www.yahoo.com~ These popular search engines help us a lot especially when doing our assignment and thesis. It allow us to search articles and journals. Other than that, it also provide us with updated information.
2. www.hotmail.com~ This website allow us to check mail and send mail.
3. www.friendster.com~ This website allow us to meet with new friends, searching for old friends and share photos & videos to friends.
4. www.youtube.com~ This website allow us to watch movie, search for special videos, news story, recent social events and other entertainment channel.
5. www.nciku.com~ It is a English and Chinese Learning Dictionaries. It help us to find out the meaning of a particular word. Furthermore, it also can search for pinyin results, examples and idioms.

Internet activities :
1. Have a conversation with friends
2. Send mail and check mail
3. Update friendster profile by uploading new images and videos
4. Play online games with friends
5. Downloading drama movies, favourite songs, and games
6. Online shopping- Purchase clothes, bags, health care products via Internet

posted by Ivy_low at 0 Comments

About Ng Mei Huei

Hi hi everybody…it’s Mei Huei here.
Welcoming and thanks for viewing our blog space…
I am a small little girl that comes from Klang, in the middle way of pursuing my Accounting course in UtAR.
By the way, it’s quite an interesting place to study and I have learned a lot here…
Apart from that, I have also met those funny and nice guys and girls here…
They make my life full of joyfulness ^o^ ~

This is the 1st time for me touching on blogger, so it’s really a fresh stuff for me,
And I hope that it will bring a good experience on it….

Most of the time I will visit the website such as www.google.com, it’s really an excellent helper while searching materials for assignment purpose.

Next will be www.msn.com, it allows me to chit chat with my friend in spite of day or night.

The third website is www.hotmail.com,it gives me the opportunity to share information with others.

Sometimes I will also visit the website of www.sogou.com to get the latest songs.

www.fashionhomez.com is also one of the website that I surf most during my spare time.

In short, the top 5 activities covered are:
i) searching materials or information needed
ii) downloading latest songs or movies
iii) chit chat with friends
iv) bring myself up-to-date about information posted
v) playing games

posted by Ivy_low at 0 Comments

Monday, January 19, 2009

About Goh Hooi Fen

Hello, welcome to view us~
My name is Hooi Fen, and I am 21 year old...I come from Klang, a nice and famous place with Bak Gut Teh, i think u have heard about it but have u try it? Well,now I am still in my process of degree course, however it will finish soon if there is favorably. And I am an active and talkative girl while having my time with my friends.

There are Top Websites I will visit to while I am online:
I will use http://www.hotmail.com/ to check my mail and any useful information. So during my free time I still will online to chit chat with my lovely friends, however some of them are studying at oversea so I will use msn or Skype to keep in touch with them.

Besides that I like to enjoy online shopping such as buy clothes and beg.
Normally I will access to http://www.qq-style.com/ and http://www.2youngfashion.com/ to search for clothes.

Furthermore I will access to http://www.suzy.my/ to search for begs. Those beg are very cheap and nice.

I also will log in to http://www.friendster.my/ to view my friends’ current situation and post some testimonials and comments to greet and wish people during special events and festival.

Naturalness, I will access to http://www.google.com/, the most famous search engine in this world to search any information regarding my homework and to gain any knowledge for updating myself.

5 Internet activities are as follow:
1. To search some internet knowledgeable information.
2. To keep in touch with friends and relatives.
3. To update myself about fashion.
4. To download my favorable songs and movies.
5. To play games while I am bored.

posted by Ivy_low at 0 Comments