Unit 29 The Internet and E-Business Solution

Programme	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 29 The Internet and E-Business
QFC Level	Level 4
Unit Code	J/601/1109

Introduction:

This internet & e-business explains the importance of E-business and it also discusses the benefits of online business over bricks and mortar business model. Significance of technology increases in every area so it is important for business to deal with its customers online and become techno friendly. This report helps in learning different e- business model and their future development. This report also explains briefly the advantages of good website design structure with the example of Amazon’s website design. This report also covers the security and legal issues arise in e- business.

Task 1

1.1 e-Business Solution

“Fool R Us” is a small company operating in UK market and deals in Clown costumes. They follow Brick and Mortar business style and now certain issues are arises between the company and its suppliers and the company is unable to contact with its customers face to face. As a MIS (Managing Information system) officer of “Fools R Us” for the survival of the company I suggest them to adopt E- business model(Du & Qi, 2014).
In the technology world those businesses follows traditional business model and supply their product or services physically they only captured a limited market and face problems related with suppliers, employee cost, and start up and overhead cost etc. But these problems can be sorted out if company adopt modern business model and offers products or services online. Option of E-business solution is available to the company. E- Business means deal customers through online presence. Online business can be done at any time, any place and in any currency and language. Internet & E- business solutions  enjoys benefits like  lower start up cost, no issues regarding place of business and online marketing tools. Internet is used as a distribution channel in the online business (Du & Qi, 2014).

1.2 Benefits and Barriers to the businesses having online presence.

The most important benefit of the e- business is that there is no supplier chain present between business and customers. So, there will no chance of issues with suppliers. If the company is having strong online presence than it builds business credibility. Presently people are techno friendly and the internet is the key source for them to know about any product or services so online business helps in creating new customers for the company because online services provided by business are easy to use by the customers. Use of online business presence is also benefited for the company in reference to its marketing strategy. Company can advertise its product or service by using online marketing tools and this will also help in attract the customers. Online business helps the company in capturing the international market so that company can offer its product to its target customers in all over the world. Company can offers its product through creating own website, social media page or an e- commerce platform (Kolic, et. al., 2014).
Yet E- business offers many benefits to the small company but business also faces some barriers in adopting this option. Many small business are not aware about the benefit of the online presence of the businesses. Beside this small business thinks that they are more comfortable with the traditional business model and they are reluctant to take initiatives and do business online. Small businesses can face problem related with infrastructure facilities like availability of internet system, proper and efficient supply of electricity etc. There can be lack of trained manpower to the small organisations. Small organisations also not afford the high salary demand of professionals. Security issues related with money transaction is one of the barriers faced by the company (Kolic, et. al., 2014).

1.3 Security Issues related with E-Business:

Organisations which adopts E- business model may face many security issues. In E- business transactions organisation cannot verify the customers or party physically and they cannot obtain evidence related with date, time and place when the contract was made. So, there will be chance of fraudulent activity. Use of encryption codes, digital certification and laws on electronic signatures etc are the options available to face these security issues (Nurse & Sinclair, 2010).

                                              

1.4 Mode of communication available to an E-business:

In traditional business Model Company can only sell its product or services physically and making face to face contact with customers to evaluate customer’s demand. But in e-business many communication modes are available with the company for communicating with its customers. These modes are cost effective and easy to use. Company can contact with its customers and suppliers with the use of E-mail, social media and website. Company offers its product or services through its own website. Website can also used for marketing of product or services. Customers also shares views about the product or services of the company so that company can make improvement in that. Electronic mail is the mode of communication. E-mail is used for marketing and survey analysis by the company. Company can also inform about the upcoming discounts and other offers to customers through e-mail. E-mail save the company’s printing and mailing cost. Company can sale its product through the use of social media. Company can sale their product by using graphics and images on the social media site. These communication modes help in the development and growth of business (Nurse & Sinclair, 2010).

1.5 Internet technologies and their use in E-Business:

Internet is a global computer network providing all kinds of information and communication facilities. Information technology is an integral part of e-business. Internet is a powerful marketing and communication tool used by the business organisation.  E-mail, website and social media and search engines are the commonly used information technologies in e- business (Wu & Yang, 2011). The success of the e- business is depending upon the internet's which are as follows:

• Internet helps in making strong relationship with clients;
• Internet helps in knowing customer demand;
• It cut the overhead cost of the company;
• It  increases efficiency of the business;
• It increases profit margin of the company;
• It helps in introducing new product or services at lower cost;
• It increases domestic and international market shares of the company;
• It increases customer satisfaction; (Wu & Yang, 2011)
• It helps in gaining competitive advantage over rivals;
• Organisation can do business without presenting physically in any supermarket or store.

1.6 Functions of client server and browser and role of search engine:

Client server is group of many computer networks where a client communicates with the server via internet. E-mail, World Wide Web and network printing are the example of client server model. This model is used in the E- business also where client (customers) can access the resources like product or service of server (organisation). There is a inter process communication between client and server where client and server exchange information in request and response messaging pattern. Client and server must have common language to communicate. There is only a central host (server) who serves all the requirement of its client. Client server saves time and money of the organisation because server can solve quarries of different clients at one place without doing extra efforts. Client server is simple to set up and take less time to trouble shoot. Web browser is a software application used in retrieving, transverse and display the information on World Wide Web. Information includes web pages, images, videos and other files. Browser is connected with web server and client and provides information on server which is requested by the client. Internet explorer, Google chrome, Firefox etc is most commonly used web browser. Search engine is a programme which is designed to search the information in correspond to keywords or characters specified by the user. Google, yahoo, bingo are mostly used for searching information. Search engine shows a mix of web pages, images and other types of files in a sequence.web browser and search engines works on client server model. Organisations serve their customer online using web browser and search engine. Search engine provides visibility to the organisation and higher visibility will increase customer faith towards organisation this ultimately effects demand and supply of the organisation. It is an economic tool used for advertisement purpose also by the organisations (Sumak, et. al., 2012).

1.7 The use of intranets and extranets within business communication:

Every organisation required intranet and extranet communication for the development and growth of the business organisation. Intranet comprises computer network controlled and reserved for a single organisation. Extranet is also comprises computer network which provides controlled access to authorized customers, vendors, partners or others outside the organisation (García-Díez, et. al., 2014). Both intranet and extranet are important for the business in any industry. The uses of intranet and extranet includes:

• It made the communication simple;
• It arrange day to day activity and make repetitive tasks easy to complete;
• It improves communication within the organisation between employees;
• It increases employee engagement in work.
• Employees can share information easily across the board;
• Extranet helps in communicating customers, vendors and partners easily;
• Extranet helps in discussions regarding prevailing market conditions;
• It provides access to the information related with policy, benefits and company updates.
• It centralizes the company data and converts into single database (García-Díez, et. al., 2014).

1.8 The main elements of HTML:

HTML stands for Hyper Text Mark up Language. It is the standard language use to create web pages. It uses mark up to describe the structure of web page. HTML elements are the building block of HTML pages these elements are represented by tags. HTML is made up of roots and tags (Brzozowska & Bubel, 2015).
HTML Example:
< DOC TYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title> e business</title>
</ head>
<body>
<h1> types of e business</h1>
<p> there are different type of e business like B2B and C2C. </p>
</body>
</html>
Explanation: < DOC TYPE html> it is the opening of HTML document it defines that this document to be HTML 5. <html> this is the root element of and HTML page, <head> this contains information about the document. <title> e business</title> this specifies title for the document. After the title <body> this element includes page content, <h1> is used to define large heading. <p> this is used to define paragraph (Alkazemi, et. al., 2012).
Thus the HTML code consist tags covered in angle bracket.
Thus, “Fools R Us” should adopt e- business option because it provides many benefits like increase in market area, increase in customers demand with the use of search engine and web browser. Transform bricks and mortar business model into online business model Help Company in its survival (Alkazemi, et. al., 2012).

Task 2)

Amazon is a product distributor which provides its services to customers through website. Its website has many key features like editorial and customer review, manufacturer product information, secure payment system, browsing, searching on Amazon website as well as internet etc. Amazon is regularly trying to generate more income by adopting e- business model and good web structure (Cherif & Grant, 2014).

2.1.a)  the different e-business models that Amazon utilizes to be successful.

E- Business models are the approaches used by the organisation for making profitable business on the internet. There are many e- business models available which can be used by organisation to generate revenue like B2B, B2C, C2C, C2B, G2B, and B2G. Options Amazon may adopt:

• Business to Business (B2B): In this model manufacturer or supplier of goods sell its product to intermediate buyer and then who sells the product to the final customer. Amazon deal in many categories of goods of different brands so it adopt B2B business model through this it enters into agreement with different business organisations. Amazon functions as intermediary between the business and their customers and sale the product to final customers (Cherif & Grant, 2014).
• Consumer to Business (C2B): In this model consumer approaches business organisations with the help of websites. Consumer makes approach only those organisations which fulfil their requirement within a given budget. Amazon also adopts this e-business model in order to serve their consumers. Amazon offers heavy discount to their consumers in order to increase its business. Amazon also provides facilities like product reviews, online recommendation list, wish list and buying guide etc.

These business models are called re-intermediation internet business model through which web companies like Amazon link customers to suppliers and also provide services like search facilities and product evaluation (Deepa & saharkar, 2014).

2.1.b) Analyse each model in terms of its capacity to generate revenue:

Each business model has its own capacity to generate revenue. It depends on the number of business connection and customer connections available to the company. Amazon adopt B2B and C2B business model to generate revenue (Bak, 2016).
Business – to- Business model (B2B): Amazon is a web link company deals in many products of different brands. In order to generate more revenue Amazon has to increase its service criteria. Amazon should establish new links with other suppliers and provide wide range of similar goods to its customers. Amazon should also increase its profit margin which it receives from the suppliers of product.
Consumer-to-Business model (C2B): Amazon creates feature –rich contents for its customers which includes product review, online recommendation list, wish list and buying guides etc. As information received from these facilities Amazon may bring new products for its customer and make available the high range of product to its customers. This will also help the company in generating high amount of profit (Bak, 2016).
Through both the business model Amazon can enhance its capacity of generating profit. For B2B model it will have to establish relations with new supplier and increase its profit ratio and in case of C2B it may provide different branded products to its consumer at reasonable rate and as it satisfies its customers it can increase its revenue (Bak, 2016).

2.2c) future developments in e-business:

E- Business provides many facilities than traditional business models. It makes easy to shop for the consumers by providing them a wide range of products without actually having them in their stores (Argoneto & Renna, 2010).

• Besides all these advantages they need to customize their sites as per the customer’s requirements which are differing from nation to nation.
•  Now consumer like one stop for shopping so e business organisation shall try to provide wide range of products and services.
• The website of the e- business organisations should be user friendly so it can be used by every consumer (Argoneto & Renna, 2010).
• E- Business should adopt the features which allow consumers to compare the products of different brands.
• E- Business organisation should update their technology so that consumer transect with them through wireless devices. 
• E- Business organisation should change its strategies and start providing location based services to their customers by enabling mobile commerce.
• Organisations try to enable transmission of data, video and voice through a single network (Vera-Villarroel, et. al., 2013).

E- Business is totally dependent on technology. An E- Business organisation only survive in the industry only when it updates its technology time to time and offer consumers something new.

2.2) The key elements of good web design structure

A good website design structure should include following key elements:

• Attractive and meaningful visuals: Logo design of a website should be self defining. Just by looking at the logo it should become clear as to what is the website about. The font size used should be normal i.e. neither too small nor too large but of an easily readable size. Colour usage should be relevant and meaningful.
• Mobile friendly: In the era of smart phone everyone has a quick access to the internet and people prefer to use their smart phones most often for checking various websites as they are quite handy therefore a website should be such that its contents are easily viewed using mobiles (Stoica, et. al., 2013).
• Credibility: A good website should always mention contact details of persons concerned for resolving queries, address and details of its office and branches, by employing soft spoken and friendly staff having good communication skills.
• Easy navigation: Navigation over a page for retrieval of relevant information must be taken care of. It must be simple, easy to see and use and should be free of clutter due to making it more attractive and fancy (Stoica, et. al., 2013).
• Call to action: It is a set of words that makes the visitors to take an immediate action while viewing the website. Some creativity or fanciness can be shown in this regard using words that induces the visitor to take a prompt action.
• Content: The content stated in the website should not be misleading or vague. It should be relevant to the visitors and must provide an answer to their needs.
• Background videos: Videos can be added in the background explaining what the website has to offer to its visitors which will help the visitor understanding the crust of the website without reading the entire contents on the website.
• Larger product images: Large images grab visitor’s attention. Thus he is directly able to relate with the product he wants (Stoica, et. al., 2013).
• Product reviews: Large number of customers buy products based on their reviews hence features like product reviews will be more convincing for them.
• Recommendations: When a customer buys a product, products of same lineage or quality or of the same category if shown in the recommendation feature would help the customer choose the product wisely and he will have multiple choices for the same.
• Wish list or cart: Having the add to cart feature enables the customers to add the product in cart. It is helpful when a customer is buying a product, multiple choices can be kept in the cart and finally the product to be purchased can be chosen.
• Conversion rates: Globally customers access a website which results in differential currency rates, thus having currency conversion feature on the website would enable the customers to determine and analyse prices in their currency (Stoica, et. al., 2013).

2.3) issues concerning website usability:

Website usability means website should be user friendly so that visitors can visit the website easily. All the information provided on the website should be stated in clear and concise way. All the items should be placed in appropriate area. But sometimes issues are arises concerning with website usability. These are as follow:

• Font Size of Hyperlink: Sometimes hyperlinks are designed in such font and formats which cannot be used by the visitors easily. So, hyperlinks should be designed in such format which is easy to click. Sufficient clickable area should be designed for the hyperlinks.
• Proper use of pagination: It is not possible to show all the services and saleable products on a single web page. Designer should use the pagination so that similar products of different brands can be shown easily. Pagination should not be used for blog articles because they cover large area of the web page and increase page view and too many items on web page will slow the download and process (Stoica, et. al., 2013).
• Title of the web page: Designer should not use duplicate page titles in while creating webpage. Duplicate webpage cannot provide clear information regarding the content of page to the visitors. Title of the page should be clear so that visitors can identify the relevance of the webpage with information they need.
• Content of the website: Sometime websites are having good content but they cannot be used by visitors because of lack of presentation of content on the website. Content should have large fonts and contrast colours with some images and icon. These all give more visual pull to the visitors (Bak, 2016).
• Recommendation area: For increasing the website usability website designer should provide a recommendation area for the visitors where they can write their ideas which they want from the designer. It increase user engagement and build loyal customers.
• Use of search engine: Website should provide a facility to visitors to search content on the website. But many websites do not provide this kind of facilities to their users.
• Registration: Some website requires registration from users before they see the content or information available on it. Sometime this arise barrier to the users and they cannot use website efficiently. Sometimes the registration forms are too long that users spend lots of their time in registration only (Bak, 2016).
• Allocation of information: website designer should ensure that all the information are allocated at the right place on the web page and avoid overload of information on the website.
• Browser Compatibility: Sometimes issues arise in the use of website that website cannot open on internet explorer or Firefox. Website should have compatibility with every browser. User can visit the website with the help of every web browser.

These issues should not present with the website if website having usability without issues than the user will be satisfied and not frustrated. They will like to use the website product and this will increase trust of the users into the website product (Bak, 2016).

Conclusion:

Report on E-business solution gives detailed information regarding E- business solution, benefit with the new business model, and security and legal issues available in e-business model. This report also explains the role of internet technology in e-business and brief introduction of search engine, client and server model and web browser along with elements of HTML. This report describes the key elements of website design structure and website usability.

References

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