UNDERSTADING E-BUSINESS
What is E-Business?
E-Business and E-commerce are often used interchangeably. The difference lies
in the integration and end user. E-business is the conduct of business on the
Internet, not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and
collaborating with business partners. E-commerce is considered more of a
presentation layer dealing with getting the message out to the consumer, along
with means to create an ordering interface. E-business is concerned with the
total internetworking of organizational systems for the purpose of producing
totally automated business commercial processes.
Steps of E-business Development Process
There are five phases in the development process of establishing an E-Business.
The E-Business Plan Workbook will walk you through the five phases and steps
in developing your E-Business.
Five Phases of E-Business
Phase I: Opportunity Analysis
Phase II: Website Development
Phase III : E-Marketing Program
Phase IV: Implementation
Phase V: Expansion/E-Commerce
Phase I: E-Business Opportunity Analysis
The purpose of Phase I in the E-business development process is to assess how
ready your organization is for E-business. You will conduct an analysis on the
potential benefits your E-biz will bring to your organization as well as the investment
required.
The necessity of your E-business may stem from the customers who want you to
have a Web presence or from the competitors who do their businesses online. In
any case, you need to conduct a customer/competitor analysis to find out your
customers’ needs and wants and determine the market readiness for your Ebusiness.
Phase I is the strategic planning stage of your E-business development
process. This phase prepares you for further development of your E-business plan
by positioning your E-business successfully with competitive advantages.
Step 1. Assess Your E-Business Readiness
· Find out reasons for establishing an E-business
· Conduct a cost/benefit analysis
Step 2. Identify a Unique E-Business Opportunity
· Conduct a market analysis for your E-business
· Find out online customer needs
· Decide if your product or service is a good fit for the Web
· Check out your online competition
· Review traditional business/marketing plans for your E-business fit
· Develop your E-business concept
Step3. Prepare a Unique Selling Proposition
· Identify online customers for your E-business
· Find out your competitive advantages
· Identify Critical Success Factors for your E-business
· Select a domain name for your business
The necessity of your E-business may stem from the customers who want you to have a Web presence or from the competitors who do their businesses online. In any case, you need to conduct a market/customer/competitor analysis 1) to determine your target online customers and competitors 2) to identify your customers’ needs and wants 3) to find out your competitive advantages. This opportunity analysis will bring to you a unique selling proposition that prepares you for further development of your E-business plan by positioning your E-business successfully.
1. Analyzing Internet Market
The Internet is a tremendous source of secondary data for market planning.
It also has the ability to conduct primary market research online through Web surveys, online focus group, experiments, and more.
www.cyberatlas.com provides a variety of Internet market statistics, including size, demographics, geographics, market research, and growth.
Other resources: www.activemedia.com, www.commerce.net, www.dataquest.com,
www.findsvp.com, www.forrester.com, www.frost.com, www.isoc.org, www.mids.org,
www.asiresearch.com, www.nielsenmedia.com, www.ora.com
2. Analyzing Internet Customers
Segmenting Internet customers help you to decide where unmet online customer needs reside and who should be your target customers. Also, understanding online customer decision processes may help you generate new ideas about how to meet your customers’ needs.
www.forrester.com – Technographics: segmenting consumers according to motivation, desire, and ability to invest in technology, i.e., fast forward, new age nurturer, mouse potatoes, techno-strivers, hand shakers
Other resources: www.future.sri.com, www.ad-up.com, www.geocities.yahoo.com,
www.thirdage.com, www.snowball.com, www.demographic.com,
3. Customer Needs and Wants Online
· Convenience
· Costs
· Choice
· Customization
· Interactive Communication
· Control
PHASE II: WEB SITE DEVELOPMENT
Phase II is the technology side of your E-business development process. In this
phase, you will determine what kind of Web presence you want to have and how
to develop your Web site, e.g., in-house or outsourcing. Also, you will select an
Internet Service Provider (ISP ) for your E-business and develop actual Web
content based upon the goals of your Web site.
Step1. Determine Web Site Type & E-Business Model
· Determine financial needs and secure your resources
· Determine type of Web site for your E-business
· Decide on the E-business models such as information sharing/corporate
site/E-commerce site (direct selling or intermediaries)
· Forecast revenue for advertising, referral, or sales
Step2. Decide on How to Construct Your Web Site
· Review various options of in-house and outsourcing Web site development
· Review different types of Web hosting services
· Select an Internet Service Provider
· Estimate developments costs
Step3. Develop Content for your Web site
· Specify goals of your Web site
· Determine what content to include in your Web site
· Edit your content to ensure a Web-friendly style
· Contact your ISP for hard ware advice on having your pages designed
In this phase, you will determine what type of Web site you want to have
and how to develop your Web site, e.g., in-house or outsourcing. Also, you
will select an Internet Service Provider (ISP ) for your E-business and
develop actual Web content based upon the goals of your Web site.
1. Determine Type of Web site
“How big of an E-business commitment does your firm want to make?”
The type of your Web site should be determined by goals, budget of your
Website, and nature of your business.
· Option 1: You can simply participate in Internet forums (discussion groups
located on commercial online services), news groups (Internet version of
forums), BBS (Bulletin board systems are specialized online services that
center on a specific topic or group) or web communities
· Option 2: You can create an electronic presence online by buying a space on
a commercial online service
· Option 3: You can have your own Web site for informational purposes such
as a corporate Web site
· Option 4: You can build an E-commerce site which allows you to sell online
2. Determine major revenue sources for your E-business.
(You may generate multiple revenue streams.)
· You may generate revenues by selling advertising to other firms. The product
is ad space on a Web site e.g., all the major portals such as AOL , Yahoo,
· Direct selling: You may manufacture products and sell directly to the
consumer or business customer
· Intermediaries: You may be a broker, agent, or an E-tailier
PHASE III : E-MARKETING PROGRAM
Once you complete Phase II of the development process, Phase III is the planning stage of your E-marketing programs. You will develop pricing, distribution and promotion strategies adapted to your E-business, including online advertising and search engine strategies. Developing your Internet marketing goals and strategies before your actual Web site development will allow you to check how well your Web site can serve the goals of your E-marketing programs, before you actually make long-term financial commitment.
Please complete the Phase III workbook pages as completely as possible as you will use this information to move through the implementation of your eMarketing
Program in Phase IV.
Step 1. Clarify your E-Marketing Objectives & Develop Strategies
· Develop E-Marketing objectives and show how the use of Web will strengthen
your existing business
· Develop product, price, promotion and distribution strategies adapted to your EMarketing
plan
· Develop time line chart showing E-marketing activities alongside traditional
marketing activities and necessary costs
Step2. Develop an Evaluation System
· Review the various measurement options for your E-marketing objectives and
budget
· Rate each option for its relevance to your current needs
· Download or install a shareware program that measures Web traffic or
· Hire an outside agency to design a customer package that meets your evaluation
needs
PHASE IV: IMPLEMENTATION
In Phase IV, you will implement your E-business by building, testing and registering
your Web site as well as executing various E-marketing programs from Phase III . If
you are selling on-line, you should also set up a shopping cart program, an account
payment system and tools for online customer service.
Step1. Develop a Detailed Budget
· Review your traditional business budget
· Estimate E-business costs
Step2. Construct Web Site
· Design the structure of Web site
· Generate Web site
· Arrange for Hosting and post pages to site
o Register the domain name
o Test pages, links, and scripts to assure a well run Web site
· Publish the URL and list with search engines
· Maintain your Web site
Step3. Execute E-Marketing Programs
· Implement E-marketing strategies
· Set up an account payment system and a shopping cart program, if you sell
online
· Deliver products/services/information efficiently
· Provide excellence service to your customers
· Measure Internet marketing results in a timely manner
PHASE V: eCommerce/Expansion
Phase V is the expansion stage of your E-business development process. You may expand your current E-business by upgrading your Web site to a higher level, or just simply by enhancing your current E-marketing programs.
· Execute enhanced E-business marketing programs
· Move to a higher level of E-business by adding new features to your Web site
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