Assessment task 1

E-business project plan

Project purpose

The purpose of the Exotic Bags Company is to reach the highest number of customers at the right time so that profitability and sales of the exotic bags can increase. This plan also helps in getting realistic regarding the timeline, budget, and capabilities and staying this way during the business. It also outlines the organization and its goals. An E-commerce plan is prepared to analyze the competitors and industry and the resources required to execute the plan (Wynn, & Olayinka, 2021).

Aim and objective

Some of the aims and objectives of the Exotic Bags Company are-

1) In the Southeast Asian market launch the products in the launch first phase.

2) The organization aims to target the young audience around 18 years to 25 years which are more sustainable for the exotic and modern designs.

3) With an online presence fight parallel imports and also gain a competitive advantage.

4) based on the low-cost and fast delivery system develop a business model and also eliminate the Stuckist.

5) Add the different options like B2C and B2B distribution models (Wynn, & Olayinka, 2021).

Competitor analysis

It is also referred to as competitive analysis. It is the process to identify the competitors in the industry and research the different strategies of marketing.

In the market, there are two main competitors of the Exotic Bags Company which are identified are-

1) Gucci- it is an Italian organization that retails and produces handbags and other goods which are made of leather with worldwide 425 stores.

2) Louis Vuitton- is the organization that was founded in 1987. It retails and produces handbags, luggage, and other good made with leather with worldwide 390 stores.

Both organizations can give the thought competition to the Exotic Bags Company. These both brands are highly luxurious and well-known brands. These brands can be considered the direct competitors of Exotic Bags Company. Their logo is recognizable and their global presence is stronger than Exotic Bags’. Although both allow the customer to personalize their bags, their products are subject to counterfeiting, which might lead customers to choose an alternative that is more affordable, trendy, high-quality, and fashionable (Eltweri, et al., 2020).

Value chain analysis

It means each activity will be evaluated in a value chain of the Exotic Bags Company to understand where improvements can be made. It allows the organization to examine the activities & find a suitable competitive analysis.

External and internal analyses (SWOT)

Strengths 1) The company has the financial capacity to invest. 2) Good brand recognition 3) Customers are loyal to the organization. 4) Good product positing 5) Products are of affordable and good quality 6) Development teams & internal design	Weakness 1) Lack of economic factors knowledge in exporting to various markets. 2) Lack of international contacts
Opportunities 1) To the southeast Asian market expanding deeper. 2) In order not to be an obsolete knock on technology.	Threats 1) Increase in the competition. 2) Prone the counterfeits. 3) In the market, there is intense competition which retailing similar products. 4) Changes in the government rules and regulations. 5) Changing the preferences of the customers (Pio Leonardo Cavaliere, et al., 2020).

Competitive analysis B2B and B2B models and perceived benefits

Most e-commerce engages in the transaction of B2B where products are purchased by the online retailers from the wholesalers. The Exotic Bags Company can also be the manufacturer of wholesales but it must implement the minimum purchase order. It can also become an advantage for the Exotic Bags Company as it will be having bulk orders constantly which it needs to send to distributors at once instead of sending 100 orders to 100 customers (Sun, et al., 2020).

A drawback of this strategy is that Exotic Bags Company won’t be able to control the price set by their distributor. Additionally, without adequate packing or customer shipping and handling by its distributors, Exotic Bags Company may develop a negative reputation. Additionally, the acquisition process will take longer than it would for B2C, which is slower and generates less money, because of the danger of losing distributors if they discover new improvements or are undercut by rivals.

B2C is another common way that can be used by the Exotic Bags Company. This organization can directly sell to the customers. The advantage of this is that the Exotic Bags Company can expand anytime to any location.

There is also one disadvantage of B2C analysis is that the transaction can be made only 1 at a time and rarely there are repeat orders. So there will be no bulk orders which can affect the revenue of the organization (Cegielski, et al., 2020).

Proposed e‐business model

There are two proposed e-business models:

1) B2B

2) B2C

Marketing strategies

1) There is a need to do promotion through social media. It will help to attract customers.

2) Make improvements in the orders continuously. It will help to keep current and new customers.

3) Regular feedback from customers. It will help to know their needs and wants (Cristofaro, 2020).

Potential risks (e‐business implementation)

There are some of the potential risks-

1) Data and cyber risk

2) Customers loyalty

3) Unauthorized access etc.

Estimated costs for implementation

For implementation, the estimated cost is $ 500k.

Legal, and ethical issues in online marketing and exports

Some of the ethical and legal issues in online marketing and exports are-

1) Privacy of consumers

2) Copyright infringement

3) Personal information security

4) On ethical websites, advertisements can be done.

Exotic Bags Company is created exclusively and designed originally. It must also make sure that it must comply with the business trademark, copyright, and patent registration. It helps in protecting the intellectual property and it makes sure that the organization is not infrigitaion the intellectual property of different organizations (Cristofaro, 2020).

Assessment Task 2

Background

Sarah Conner is a fashion designer and she has very much interest in all fashion accessories she has opened her business named Exotic bags in Sydney, NSW. In the initial two years, the business has mainly fought very tough competition from some developed brands, also parallel consequences in imports and internet discount shops for establishing her entire products in the prominent stores of retail with the distinct approaches and objectives (Ferrell, et al., 2018).

Aims and objectives

The objectives and aims of Exotic Bags are given below:

1. To launch all products in the market of Southeast Asia in the initial stage of the launch
2. Target mainly young generation population between 18 to 25 years that are further appropriate for exotic and modern designs
3. To fight from consequences of imports and collect competitive benefits with the online existence
4. To develop the business model mainly based on low-cost and fast systems of delivery, excluding Stuckists
5. To develop options for B2C and B2B models of distribution (Ferrell, et al., 2018).

Available technology and e-business platforms

Technology permits businesses for expanding efficiently and quickly. With technology in business, the organization could target a wider base of consumers and develop to greater levels and enhance communication. Exotic bags have the technologies like management system of inventory, electronic data interchange, processing of the online transaction, internet marketing, and management of supply chain, electronic funds transfer and mobile commerce.  Also, Exotic Bags used some of the latest technologies like artificial intelligence, ambient commerce, and augmented reality in their business. Exotic bags operate its online business on the e-business platforms like Woolworths, Coles, Amazon, and eBay Australia (Aaker & Moorman, 2017).

Online shop requirements

Exotic Bags has some requirements to operate its business effectively on online platforms and these requirements are given below:

1. They need the service of web-hosting as it provides any amenities needed for maintaining, storing and launching its business website mainly on the internet and these should be secure, stable and also fast.
2. They also need cyber safety and security as it is a major concern mainly for entire users of the internet, consumer is required to feel secure and safe before particularly filing in their specific cards.
3. Exotic Bags needs stability in their business as it is very crucial for the online retail stores to be mainly live for the entire time except it is on maintenance.
4. Exotic bags need to have a consumer-friendly design on the website.
5. They also need robust systems of operations.
6. They also need to have clear pages to put the information about the brand (Aaker & Moorman, 2017).

Proposed e-business design

Exotic Bags should consider many aspects while creating the design of e-business. It includes the satisfaction of the consumer, the organization’s structure, and the product distribution, selling mode, process of integration, the process of decision assistance, processes of trading, services of networking, and efficiencies in cost through platforms of e-business. The e-business design of Exotic Bags must be able to define disruptive and new options for the sales model. It must ensure every component of the business structure fits the preferred experience of the consumer or not. It should also design experiments for testing assumptions of crucial business structures. It should also include the targeted audience, features of products, and elements of design and should concern consumer demands (Murphie & Potts, 2017).

B2B and B2C sections/ modules

The module of B2B permits Exotic Bags to provide enduring discounts to all its consumers previously selected by the organization. B2B mainly refers to the business that is mainly conducted specifically between organizations instead of between the individual and the organization. Finished goods then could be sold to people through transactions of business-to-consumer. In the situation of communication, B2B mainly refers to those methods through which the workers from distinct organizations could connect through platforms of social media. In the context of B2C, Exotic Bags sells its products directly to the customers who are mainly the end-users of its services and products (Murphie & Potts, 2017).

Pricing, discounts and online promotions

The price structure of Exotic Bags is mainly based on the products it sells and on which platforms the particular is being sold is also considered in the structure of pricing. If there is direct selling, then the price is efficient but if the product is being sold using an online platform then some extra is added and tax also. Also, Exotic bags put a 10% discount on some products and also put various attractive offers on festivals and special occasions. Exotic Bags do their promotions mainly through social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, etc. and also by paid advertisements on television, newspapers, articles, magazines, etc. (Broadbent, 2013).

Compatible platforms and reasons – technical and expert requirements

Exotic Bags has various expert and technical requirements to grow its business operations and earn a large number of profits. They need to hire some technical experts and specialists in this situation and also other requirements like the software of shipping, backups of the site, security of the site, plan or hosting upgrades needs to be considered so that it could achieve its objectives and goals effectively. Reliable systems of management for order and inventory save time for all manual activities and also help in running online stores with full confidence. For inventories, the website of e-commerce could handle stocks and various warehouses also set import all catalogs and information of consumer.

Meanwhile, for management of order, it could create and print slips of packing and invoices send email notifications of order and also help in tracking every order very easily.

Perceived benefits and competitive advantages – transitioning to e-commerce

Electronic transactions of sales make it very easy for Exotic Bags to provide their goods without any restriction of time and distance, where innovation and efficiency of time have been mainly recognizing as important bases of competitive advantage (Broadbent, 2013).

Target market and value-chain structure

The main targeted audience of Exotic Bags is the young generation people with the age group of 18 to 25 that are further suitable for exotic and modern design. The value-chain structure of Exotic bags is mainly online retailing but they also got a warehouse to store their inventory of products (Griffin, 2021).

Perceived organizational changes

Exotic Bags considered some changes to attract more numbers of consumers and these are given below:

1. Better training for staff
2. Effective procedures and policies
3. Better quality of services and products
4. Changes in working culture (Griffin, 2021).
5. Changes in strategies of marketing of the particular organization.
6. Changes in personnel
7. Changes in action plan and operational plan of the organization
8. Changes in technological requirements

Strategies for implementation

The strategies for implementation of organizational changes are:

1. Incentives will be proposed
2. Values of culture will be redefined
3. Authorities will be empowered to take effective decisions (Whyte, 2013).

Policy Documents

1. Information Management Policy – All information regarding business will be kept confidential. It enables enterprises for tracking and controlling things such as how long the content is mainly retained or what particular actions could significantly take mainly with that content. It could assist organizations accurately comply with governmental or legal regulations, or they could simply impose internal processes of business.
2. Quality Policy – The quality of the products should be better and effective. Exotic Bags will provide better quality for their consumer means they could rely on the products offered by the brand to consistently meet their requirements and specifications.
3. User terms and conditions – These should be mentioned in the policies. Various policies are mentioned in these terms and conditions and these mainly for using the official website of the organization.
4. Customer Refund Policy – If the consumer is not satisfied with the product the organization should refund the consumer (Whyte, 2013). It could mainly describe that in what particular situations consumer could return items that they have bought from the e-commerce store of the organization and whether the store will compensate them or not.

Assessment Task 3

Part A

Role-Play

Business Manager – Good morning!

Stakeholders – Good morning!

Business Manager – How are you?

Stakeholders – I am all good, what about you?

Business Manager – I am also fine. I want you to go through the presentation that I am presenting to you that involves the comparative analysis of the competitive stores, strengths and weakness of Exotic Bags. I have also proposed the design of e-business.

Stakeholders – Okay, we will consider this and let you know soon.

Business Manager – Thank you! Here is the presentation given:

Presentation

Stakeholders – I have gone through your presentation and I felt you need to make some changes in the design of e-business platforms, as I think it is not very much attractive. It should be made attractive so that consumer can easily reach to us.

Business Manager – Okay, Sir I will consider your feedback and will make some changes in the design of e-business platform.

Part B

Role-play

E-business developer- hello sir good morning

Manager- Hello, good morning, what happened?

E-business developer- I wanted to discuss the new online business model. I have prepared some policies and guidelines for the stakeholders within the value chain and I wanted to know that is there any need to make the changes.

Manager- okay tell me.

E-business Developer-I has prepared the information management policy, quality policy, users terms and conditions, and customer refund policy. I have already emailed you this.

Manager- yes, I have checked that and there is a need to add some of the requirements that there must be regular communication and timely reporting.

E-business developer- okay sir. Some of the legal and ethical issues are identified which we need to resolve like the confidentially of the stakeholders and professional competence.

Manager- makes sure it resolves these issues as soon as possible. There is also a need to provide training to the employees so that they can be well aware of the changes.

E-business developer- okay sure sir. There is also a need to set the KPIs for monitoring the performance of the e-business.

Manager- you can set some of the KPIs increase in sales, profit increase, retention rate of clients, and traffic. It will help to track the performance of the business. What you are doing for continuous improvement?

E-business developer-for continuous improvement regular feedback will be taken from the customers and surveys will be conducted. There will be proper planning done before executing the plan.

Manager- okay nice. Just keep me updated.

E-business developer- sure sir. Thank you 

Part C

Report

Introduction

A meeting was conducted with the manager to discuss the new online business model for the organization. In the report, some of the changes done in the model are discussed.

Brief

In the new business model, two models have been discussed first one is business to the business model and business to consumer model. The model which is more suitable for the Exotic Bags Company is the business of business model. In this model, there is an exchange of services, products, or information between the businesses instead of doing with direct consumers. There are some advantages of B2B model are better sales, reduced cost, personalization, more stability in the market, and mobile commerce (Escondrillas, et al., 2021).

Some of the changes which will be done as per the feedback received:

• There must be regular communication within the organization and timely reporting of the changes and plans is important.
• Training will be provided to the employee about the changes.
• Improvements will be done in the confidentially of the stakeholders and professional competence.
• Some of the KPIs were set as an increase in sales, profit increase, the retention rate of clients, and traffic.
• regular feedback will be taken from the customers and surveys will be conducted.
• Proper planning will be done before executing the plan (Lomas, et al., 2021).

References

Aaker, D. A., & Moorman, C. (2017). Strategic market management. John Wiley & Sons.

Broadbent, D. E. (2013). Perception and communication. Elsevier.

Cristofaro, M. (2020). E-business evolution: an analysis of mobile applications’ business models. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 32(1), 88-103.

Eltweri, A., Faccia, A., Roxana Moþteanu, N., Sawan, N., & Pio Leonardo Cavaliere, L. (2020, December). The Role of Risk Management in Auditing E-Business. In 2020 The 4th International Conference on Software and e-Business (pp. 39-44).

Ferrell, O. C., Hirt, G. A., & Ferrell, L. (2018). M: Business (p. 384). McGraw-Hill Education.

Griffin, R. W. (2021). Management. Cengage Learning.

Lomas, L. Q., Elordi, A. G., Escondrillas, A. A., & De, D. L. D. I. G. (2021, September). A systematic literature review of artificial intelligence in fashion retail B2C. In 2021 6th International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech) (pp. 01-06). IEEE.

Murphie, A., & Potts, J. (2017). Culture and technology. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Sun, S., Hall, D. J., & Cegielski, C. G. (2020). Organizational intention to adopt big data in the B2B context: An integrated view. Industrial Marketing Management, 86, 109-121.

Whyte, W. H. (2013). The organization man. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Wynn, M., & Olayinka, O. (2021). E-business strategy in developing countries: A framework and checklist for the small business sector. Sustainability, 13(13), 7356.