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,
 |
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.