Sunday 22 February 2015
E-commerce: Doing Business on the Internet
As discussed in class, E-commerce refers to the buying and selling of goods and service, transferring of funds over a computer network, mainly the Internet. The transactions can be occurred between Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer to Consumer (C2C), Consumer to Business (C2B).
Benefits of E- commerce
1) Availability around the clock
2) Speed of access
3) Broader selection of goods and services
4) Accessibility
5) International reach
Limitations of E- commerce
1) Limited customer service
2) Not being able to physically touch and see product before purchase
3) Wait time for product shipping
Reading success stories of all the successful and popular websites, and how 'easy' it is to start one can tempt us to want to launch our own E-commerce website. However, there are a few dos and dont's when actually launching one that people may be unaware of.
1) Products that one intends to sell has to be something customers are looking for or basically in demand.
2) The Web has become a very big place.
3) Creating a Web Store with difference.
4) Increase Web presence.
5) Customer relationship management is important.
Redmart
Redmart is one of Singapore's prominent online grocery stores that was launched in 2011. It is an example of a Business to Consumer (B2C) site. As people in Singapore lead a very fast paced lifestyle, many have turned to Redmart as it has become a fast and convenient option, as their tag line suggests,
Redmart is able to capture many customers as they have a variety of 8,000 products. Thus, this gives many the benefit of not needing to go down to a supermarket to grab a particular product. The website is user friendly and customers are able to make payment online via credit card or Paypal or pay over the phone via Visa/Mastercard. Orders made are delivered to customers' doorsteps. By giving customer convenient and easy options, they are able to reach a wider range of customers.
Redmart's revenue has been growing by 20% every month and has expansion plans to countries in Southeast Asia.
LykeStore
Singtel launched a mobile commerce that turned into an e-commerce site Lyke which launched in December 2013. The mobile app featured lifestyle products ranging from bags, watches to accessories and gadgets. Users were able to browse through the app and pay for them in-app via Paypal or credit card. However, after one month of their launch, they were only 50-100 downloads, according to Google Play.
In 2014, the mobile app was no longer available. The products and merchants had shifted to an e-commerce store called LykeStore. They had given the website a whole different look and had different merchant and product managers that joined their website. They offered a wider range of brands on LykeStore such as Bellroy and Monofold. They had a committed sales and marketing team too. Basically, they had the qualities a successful E-commerce site would normally have. Unfortunately, they ceased operations in December 2014.
Reading success stories of all the successful and popular websites, and how 'easy' it is to start one can tempt us to want to launch our own E-commerce website. However, there are a few dos and dont's when actually launching one that people may be unaware of.
1) Products that one intends to sell has to be something customers are looking for or basically in demand.
2) The Web has become a very big place.
- People are not going to visit the website once it is created.
- One has to plan to market their website to bring awareness about their website among users.
- Targeting a particular group of customers can help.
3) Creating a Web Store with difference.
- Branding of the website is important.
- An attractive domain name can help.
4) Increase Web presence.
- Associate with other websites to get more publicity.
5) Customer relationship management is important.
- Have a lasting impression on customers so as to grasp a group of faithful customers.
Redmart
Redmart is one of Singapore's prominent online grocery stores that was launched in 2011. It is an example of a Business to Consumer (B2C) site. As people in Singapore lead a very fast paced lifestyle, many have turned to Redmart as it has become a fast and convenient option, as their tag line suggests,
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Redmart's revenue has been growing by 20% every month and has expansion plans to countries in Southeast Asia.
LykeStore
Singtel launched a mobile commerce that turned into an e-commerce site Lyke which launched in December 2013. The mobile app featured lifestyle products ranging from bags, watches to accessories and gadgets. Users were able to browse through the app and pay for them in-app via Paypal or credit card. However, after one month of their launch, they were only 50-100 downloads, according to Google Play.
In 2014, the mobile app was no longer available. The products and merchants had shifted to an e-commerce store called LykeStore. They had given the website a whole different look and had different merchant and product managers that joined their website. They offered a wider range of brands on LykeStore such as Bellroy and Monofold. They had a committed sales and marketing team too. Basically, they had the qualities a successful E-commerce site would normally have. Unfortunately, they ceased operations in December 2014.
Lykestore's advertisement was released one month before they ceased their operations.
Conclusion
Various E-commerce sites have fates either like Redmart or Lykestore. Today, many companies have moved to doing business on E-commerce sites and rely heavily on them for revenue. Creating awareness and marketing of their own E-commerce site is particularly important as there is competition from other different sites that exist today. If a company markets their site correctly, they may be as successful as Redmart. However, it is also possible that despite pushing all the right buttons, they may just not make it due to the fierce competition of other big names. LykeStore is a clear example. It probably did not make it due to the fact that there other well-established businesses that had a similar concept to what they aimed for. Similar concept companies include Zalora or Qoo10. These companies already have a faithful fan following. Thus, LykeStore was not able to capture their targeted customers.
Saturday 14 February 2015
Popularity of Social Media usage for Businesses
Many organizations have turned to social media to use it as a platform to market their products and services.
The question is why?
Many companies think that by utilizing social media, they are able to gain profits and recognition easily. However, they are companies today who in fact do not benefit much from social media as they do not know to utilize social media platforms effectively. However, Starbucks is one of the companies listed that has benefited from social media.
Case Study: Starbucks
Thanks to social media, companies like Starbucks are making loads of $$$$.
They are one of the earliest adopters of the use of social media and social commerce. They focus their branding on their homepage and on various social media websites such as:
The Starbucks Facebook page is their main social media platform and was created in 2008 and today has 38,107, 783 likes.
Success Formula for Facebook: created an online community where friends and fans share their comments, stories and news to everyone who loves Starbucks.
The Starbucks Twitter profile is not as large scale as their Facebook page and today has
7.2 million followers.
Success Formula for Twitter: Believe in reaching out and connecting with every follower rather than spamming with advertisements.
The Starbucks Instagram profile today has 3.8 million followers. They were one of the earliest adapters of Instagram.
Success Formula for Instagram: Amplifies a strong sense of its brand via its captivating visual content.
The Starbucks Pinterest profile today only has
177, 369 followers
Not so successful as compared to other social media platforms.
In the U.S. , Starbucks has taken over the popular social media platforms as shown in the picture below. They have made their presence known on every popular social media platform.
There are 6 reasons as to why Starbucks is successful:
1) Customer relationships
Starbucks focuses more on current relationships that they have with their customers instead of forming new ones. This ensures that Starbucks has a faithful fan following and brand supporters in the long run.
2) Going on to its customers
A photo is always regularly uploaded onto the various social media websites. It is shared on Instagram, posted on Facebook and tweeted on Twitter. Starbucks makes sure that all different kinds of audience have access to their posts which is crucial as it makes them have a lasting impression on the users on the various social media platforms.
3) Customer engagement
Starbucks believes in online engagement with their customers which in turn emphasizes on customer service. They listen and try to implement what their customers have to say.
4) Encourages sharing
Starbucks always has promotions, be it a festival, a holiday, free gifts or just their famous '1 for 1' promotions which has gathered a lot of attention on the different social media platforms. Many users have liked and shared their promotions which in turn creates more publicity for them.
5) My Starbucks idea
My Starbucks idea is an idea which does its business crowdsourcing. It encourages its customers to share their ideas that may lead to better products, improve customer service and more community involvement. Customers are able to view and discuss ideas with the Starbucks employees. It has a leaderboard which tracks customers whom are the most active in submitting ideas, comments and poll participation and is declared on social media platforms. This is turn creates more awareness about the Starbucks idea among users.
6) Experience Customization
Programs such as "Starbucks Rewards", personalized signature drinks and localized store experiences are some of the ways Starbucks provides unique and personalized experience to its customers. They encourage users to share their Starbucks experience on Instagram and Pinterest to be able to lure other users.
Conclusion
With many people owning various social media platforms and being hooked on them everyday, companies are definitely taking advantage. Companies like Starbucks are great examples that show the immense potential any form of company can have to make profits just through social media alone. Social media is definitely a tool that small companies can utilize effectively to expand their businesses. With many organizations already on social media, the techniques of doing business has changed immensely.
“Social media is not just an activity; it is an investment of valuable time and resources. Surround yourself with people who not just support you and stay with you, but inform your thinking about ways to WOW your online presence”
Sean Gardener
Saturday 7 February 2015
Social Media in India
With India's rapidly growing population, there are 243.2 million active internet users, making up 19% of the population. 8% of the population (106 million) are active social media users.
Facebook is India's top social network, with more than 100 million users in 2014, which makes it the second highest country after the U.S. 50% of its active users are people aged between 18-24. The users find features such as check ins, like button, statuses very interesting, thus, it has become more of a fad to have a Facebook account. It is predicted that by the end of 2015, India will have the highest number of Facebook users.
Google Plus is generally not a popular social media platform in the world. It tried to win users from Facebook but failed. Google Plus did not become as popular that it hoped to. Developing Countries like India and Brazil are the main supporters for Google Plus growth. India is again the second highest country after the U.S. that actively uses Google Plus.
Orkut was the oldest social networking platform that Indians used. Orkut was released in 2003 and was seen as the first network that could access to practically everyone on the network. It was the first social platform. It gave the first experience to create groups and share information. Orkut got derailed by Facebook due to the 'like' button and also because many Indian brands started marketing their products on Facebook. Orkut did not have a marketing friendly network.
Orkut officially closed on 30th September 2014 and most of its users became Facebook users.
Indian based social networking sites
BharatStudent.com is a social networking site for young Indians, particularly students living around the world. Users not only do social networking but, they are also able to get advice on school related matters. It is the most popular Indian based social networking site. It is popular among the young in India as users are able to link their accounts to their Facebook accounts. Users are able to access both accounts and get updates easily.
Dating websites are very popular and widely used among people in India. Shaadi.com is known as the best and most popular Indian networking site for dating. It has millions of users from India and other countries such as UK and U.S. It is one of the more trusted dating websites as there are many fake dating websites in India.