An example of an E-commerce failure and its causes

An example of an E-commerce failure and its causes Boo.com

E-commerce has gradually become part of our lives. However, in its path of development has a lot of failure experience from earlier period companies who adopted it. Now, I will interpret one of the examples of failure of e-commerce. That is Boo.com, which is a clothing e-retailer, was launched 3rd November 1999. Boo was the first company to launch e-commerce across in multiple countries from the day the company was formed. Indeed, the company will face a lot of challenges that cannot be foreseen. Besides financial situation, marketing and management strategies also contribute to its downfall.

DOWNFALL CAUSES:

1) Poor Web Design and Usability: Customers prefer simple and quick to use in browsing the dot.com. The “three-click rule” is a site design, which simply means that users should not need to click more than 3 times to find the information they seek. Customers sick of the overuse of technology.

2) Bad Planning: Bad planning in several areas of Boo.com’s strategy was the key of its downfall. Its Swedish founders were too ambitious in their business plan and wanted to dominate the market immediately. Indeed, the founders did not start with small business and then expanding slowly. Lack of “bricks and mortar” retailing experience lead to the failure of Boo.com.

3) Lack of Sound Financial Management: The cost Boo.com spent out of control due to lack of sound financial management. . The ‘Financial Times’ describes the pattern of spending from technology costs, through to employment benefits. They believe the biggest cost was the construction of Boo’s technology platform, which involved hefty programming for multi-currency sales and product delivery.

To be a successful e-commerce, the website needs to give the users pleasant experience, easy and convenient to purchase and speed of process. If fulfill the above criteria, you can won the customers’ heart.


References:

http://www.tnl.net/who/bibliography/what_I_learned_at_boo.com/

http://www.edigitalretail.com/Most_Famous_Dotcom_Failure.pdf

An example of e-commerce success and its causes

Today, Dell is one of the successful e-commerce companies. Dell is also considered as a market leader that gains competitive advantage with its effective e-commerce strategies.

Dell was the first company that used the direct marketing business model to sell PC directly to its customers. The selling of products directly through the internet without an intermediate is potentially cost saving. Furthermore, this direct model enables Dell to develop a thorough understanding of customer expectations which strengthens customer relationships and increases customer satisfaction and loyalty. It is undeniable that the direct-to-customer business model has contributed as the key success factor for Dell. Currently, this model has been operating in 13 regions such as Australia, Brunei, China, New Zealand, India and Malaysia.

In addition, Dell uses personalization and customization tools. For every major corporate customer, Dell creates a special Premier Page, which indicates all products covered under the purchasing contracts with that firm, as well as the special pricing under those contracts. This ensures that employees of that firm always get the right price for each purchase.

Moreover, Dell aims to meet exactly the needs of its customers by offering mass customized products. This enables Dell to know exactly what customers want and produces the products without experiencing wasteful resources in the production. Dell has integrated its e-commerce Web site with all back-office systems. When a customer orders a custom-configured PC, the integrated computer system will automatically transfer that information to the production system according to specifications. This further improves customer services.

As technology continues to develop and evolve, Dell has announced that it will utilize the simulation capabilities of Future Facilities’ 6SigmaDC as part of its data center consulting practice.

References:

1. http://www.freeonlineresearchpapers.com/summary-dell-computers
2. http://www.enotes.com/management-encyclopedia/electronic-commerce
3. http://www.grin.com/e-book/66929/key-factors-of-successful-e-commerce-what-hp-can-learn-from-dell
4. http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/press-releases/DellHelpsCustomersDesignDataCentersForEnergyEfficiencyAndPeakPerformance.aspx

A review on Real-World Case: Google is changing everything!

Initially, Google is known for its search engine and its related advertising tools. These days, it has utilized technology by delivering innovation in its system.

A quick look on Google’s activities

Google’s inventions enable information across the world accessible and organize. One of it is reinvention of spreadsheet as a Web-based application. Google Spreadsheets can be viewed by 10 users at once make it simple for users to enter and shares data. If there are any changes made by users, it will be saved promptly in Google’s computer servers. It is useful for small work teams in social situations or small businesses where can import or export data from Excel’s .xls format or open Comma Separated Value (.csv) format. In a nutshell, Google Spreadsheets have similar function with Microsoft Excel such as sort data and common spreadsheet formulas but it overtakes Excel for concurrently view by several users.

Next is Enterprise Search. It is a system that can be adapt to company’s intranet or website. It identifies and enables specific content across the enterprise to be indexed, searched, and displayed to authorized users. Enterprise Search is a sophisticated search engine that sneaks into database of company and index their content. Varieties of data are sort into different section to lighten analysis. As well, it can also be enhanced by integrate with other applications such as Cognos Go! Users can find further analyzed information and business events they craved for with ease by a simple keyword.

New Release!!

In addition, Google’s latest invention will be release on later year 2009, Google Wave! Google Wave a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web. With ‘wave’ participants can communicate, share and work together lively with any types of document such as video, maps and others besides text. It contains a playback mode enable rewind to previous conversations.

Some of the other Google’s applications are:


Picasa's logo & screen shot

Picasa - mainly for edit and organize photograph







G.Maps - search for maps of locations

G.Earth - view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3Dbuildings

G.Talk - chat online and internet call Trait leave voice mail







G.Chrome - new window browser

Trait !! enable private browsing








Adapt and adopted from:

Turban, E., King, D., McKay, J., Marshall, P., Lee, J., & Viehland, D. (2008). Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective 2008 (International Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Education International.

References :
http://earth.google.com/
http://picasa.google.com/
http://wave.google.com/
http://www.google.com/talk/
http://www.google.com/chrome

- The History & Evolution of E-commerce -

The History of E-commerce

History of e-commerce may date back to the invention of a very old idea of “selling and buying” through the Internet. E-commerce became achievable in 1991 when the Internet was opened to commercial use. Since that date thousands of businesses have taken up residence at web sites.

At the beginning, e-commerce is mainly facilitated by technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT), which gave an opportunity for users to exchange business information and do electronic transactions. Both technologies were introduced way back in the late 1970s and a lot has been changed during these four decades. In 1980s, the growing popularity of credit card, automated teller machines and telephonic banking had added one more success-story to the E-Commerce.

The Internet began to advance in popularity among the general public in 1994, but it took approximately 4 years to develop the security protocols such as HTTP and DSL, which allowed rapid access and a persistent connection to the Internet. In 2000, a great number of business companies in the United States and Western Europe represented their services in the World Wide Web. At this time, the definition of the e-commerce was changed. People defined the e-commerce as the process of purchasing of available goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic payment services.

Although the dot-com collapse in 2000 led to an unfortunate results and many of e-commerce companies closed down, the “brick and mortar” retailers recognized the advantages of e-commerce and began to add more capabilities to their web sites.

Nowadays, the 5 largest and most famous worldwide Internet retailers are Amazon, Dell, Staples, Office Depot and Hewlett Packard. According to statistics, the most popular categories of products sold in the World Wide Web are music, books, computers, office supplies and other consumer electronics.



History of ecommerce is a history of a new, virtual world that is evolving according to the customers’ needs. It is a world, which we are all building together brick by brick, laying a secure foundation for the future generations.

The Evolution of E-Commerce

Year
Event
1984
EDI, or electronic data interchange, was standardized through ASC X12. This guaranteed that companies would be able to complete transactions with one another reliably.

1992
Compuserve offers online retail products to its customers. This gives people the first chance to buy things off their computer.

1994
Netscape arrived. Providing users a simple browser to surf the Internet and a safe online transaction technology called Secure Sockets Layer.

1995
Two of the biggest names in e-commerce are launched:Amazon.com and eBay.com.

1998
DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, provides fast, always-on Internet service to subscribers across California. This prompts people to spend more time, and money, online.

1999
Retail spending over the Internet reaches $20 billion, according to Business.com.

2000
The U.S government extended the moratorium on Internet taxes until at least 2005.

Reference Links:

1. http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html
2. http://www.ecommercedevelopment-web.com/ecommerce-blog/62-history-of-e-commerce.html
3. http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/history-of-ecommerce-221634.html
4. http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/43711/Evolution_of_E_Commerce.htm