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over the internet without an intermediary service. An online shop, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, online store or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks or. The process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When a business buys from another business it is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. The largest online retailing corporations in the present world are ebay and amazon.com both based in the USA. One of the first known Web purchases took place in 1994. It was a pepperoni pizza with mushrooms and extra cheese from Pizza Hut, a somewhat appropriate purchase for the early days of the Internet. When Amazon came on the scene not long after, selling books online was a curious idea. The timeline below highlights the emergence and evolution of online shopping year by year:
1990 Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser.
1991 Internet is Commercialized.National Science Foundation releases its grip on the Internet
1994 One of the first products to be sold on line was a pepperoni and mushroom with extra cheese by PizzaHut.
1995 Ebay, Dell and Amazon.com, the future 3 Giants of online shopping were Founded
1998 Paypal starts the first mode of paying online. Yahoo stores are launched Zappos.com the first only online store is launched
1999 onwards an explosion is created with google.com, social networking sites nowadays nothing is offlimits for selling online.
Retail trade is one of the traditional businesses of Bangladesh. Its expansion is keeping pace with population growth and changes in consumption patterns, which are consistent with the growth of the economy. Of the retail trade, the newest type is the superstores which have only began appearing around the year 2000. Since then, their expansion has been rapid. This expansion has not been structurally organized, because, until recently, retailing had never been perceived as an industry, but rather as an individual or family business entity with a very limited scope of organized expansion. Little to no market information is available on the retail sector, but secondary sources indicate that the size of the food retail sector in Bangladesh could be US$12-14 billion, and the number of retail grocery shops could be around 1 million. Retail is one of the biggest sources of employment (12 percent), and it contributed 13 percent (wholesale and retail trading) to Bangladeshs GDP in 2001/02.The annual turnover of the superstores now stands at around Tk 15.0 billion (1500 crore), according to Bangladesh Supermarket Owners Association (BSOA).
consumption comes from these outlets). They usually procure their products from importers or distributors for imported items, and from distributors or suppliers for the local products. Organized sector retailers normally maintain established supply lines (drawing from establishments with storage capacity) for imported products, and access both established and casual supply lines (once-in-a-while suppliers with no storage) for local products. Depending on the size of the outlets, they engage 200 to 400 distributors or sub-distributors (dealers) for consistent availability of their commodities. Most importers source their goods in mixed containers from the country of origins or from consolidators in Dubai or Singapore, except those that arrive in high volumes, like fresh fruits.
In 2008, BroadBand and Wimax internet services were first introduced in Bangladesh which improved speed, penetration and user experience. With the inauguration of 3g network services in Dhaka city in 2013 the internet experience got a new edge. An influx of e-business sites opened up
Retailers should design simple ordering and fulfillment procedures that are convenient to consumers and focus on the needs of different segments. Special possibilities and built-in capabilities of the web are not fully utilized, and the value added compared to the conventional form of shopping has to be obvious for a consumer. The elements of Internet shopping experience and the success at all stages in shopping process is
important. There are problems of transactions, security, locating products, quality and technical problems which need to be solved by Internet retailers. Convenience and saving time are the primary reasons for buying groceries online. The customers have complained on the selection of items, mistakes in orders, slowness, and cost of service, not to be able to use coupons, information online and how it is presented. However, the customers are quite satisfied with their online grocery shopping experiences, especially mothers with young children and those with physical disabilities. Consumers expect personal service at a reasonable cost with timely delivery and few out-of-stocks and misspeak.
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73% 27% 25000 or below 27% <25 20% 2600040000 22% 26-35 56% Business executive 10% 4100059000 17% 36-45 4% Mid level managers 8% 6000089000 13% 46 and above 3% Top level Managers 3% Governme nt 3% Home maker 1% Self employed 4% Others 90000120000 12% >12000 0 10%
Age
Occupation
Student
percentage
53%
17%
The survey revealed that while 99% of the respondents use internet regularly only 34% had purchased products online. 59% of the respondents said that they would prefer purchasing their necessary household items online and of the 41% who said that they did not prefer purchasing online around 40% stated that it was because they preferred to examine the products physically and about 15% said that it was because they did not feel secured about sharing their credit card details online as illustrated in the following graphs.
Access to internet
No 3%
Yes 97%
Yes 58%
Yes 30%
No 70%
Feasibility Analysis
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Our neighboring country India with Internet penetration rate of 7.8% has already started implementing the concept of online shopping in some of their metropolitan cities. Online shopping is solely dependent on Internet. It is predicted that the number of Internet user will increase even higher in Bangladesh in coming few years. The economic growth is one of the factors that play a great role in switching the shopping behavior in the cities. The per capita income level has increased over the past few years in the middle class people. This also changed their shopping behavior. This can be seen by the success of the superstore chain in the city areas in Bangladesh. With this view and also from the user density in the urban areas, it is reasonable to go for the idea of online shopping. Bangladesh has already started some e commerce business. But they are not solely online shopping. While if we look at the percentage spending in online shopping of India, we can see from the following chart is that around 41% of the internet users want to spend less
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than 5% of their total monthly spending? 33% of the online users want to spend around 6-10%, and around 19% of the Internet users want to spend around 11-25% of their total monthly income. (Source: online shopping trend report). Among these people, most people want to buy books, cosmetics, clothing/accessories/shoes and groceries). From Bangladeshs perspective this may vary.
For this reason we conducted a survey among a sample of the population. This sample of population has Internet connectivity at their home and they mostly live in the urban areas. Our main objective of the survey was to see whether it is feasible to launch this online superstore shopping in the urban areas of Bangladesh. One of the drawbacks of online shopping in Bangladesh is the use of credit card. There is no online money transaction system with the credit cards. This makes the payment options even narrow. So, the other alternatives to this needed to be implemented.
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The mobile market in Bangladesh has increased over the past few years. One of the ways to solve this online money transaction is the use of mobile money transfer. Currently there are bKash, Surecash and many other ways to transfer money via mobile. If the mobile banking becomes popular, the payment problem can be solved. Since we are assuming the density of mobile user is very high in urban areas, it will be a very feasible idea to use this as a payment method. There will be few other payment methods that will be discussed later.
SWOT analysis
SWOT is a common method of analyzing market environment. It helps in measuring the companys resources to the environment in which the company is operating. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths and weaknesses measure the internal environmental factors as the opportunities and threats are external factors. STRENGTH An Online Store will be able to offer all-consuming goods with a reasonable price due to the fact that the good comes straight from the whole seller, to the consumer. Cost efficiency and customer service play a key role in this organization. Also there is the new concept of selling products using IP camera which was never done before. The hasslefree, time saving, high quality, variety, flexibility are the key strength of this business.
Weakness
We are a new comer in the Online Store business and the situations are unknown to us. It is not easy for a company to start completely a new business especially when the idea of the business is also new. In order to overcome this business would have to undertake very aggressive promotions initially and create strong a strong mage of trust with its customers and suppliers.
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Opportunity
There is a good opportunity to grow as a company in this fairly new market of Online Store in Bangladesh. As an online store the possibilities to expand are endless. In addition, the economic situation is getting better all the time and it is changing consumer behavior and consumption patterns. People are willing to pay more to avoid going physically to the store. The idea of online shopping is gaining acceptance which gives this business a considerable advantage.
Threat
The competition of other Online Stores is always a threat. As this is a new concept introduced to the country there will be many unknown barriers. There is always the threat of new entrants who enter the market.
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A business model can be described by looking at a set of nine building blocks. To get a good picture of my business model I should describe: Key resources: The key resources on which our business model is built. Key activities: The most important activities performed to implement our business model. Revenue streams: The streams through which we earn our revenues from our customers for value creating and customer facing activities.
Partner network: The partners and suppliers we work with. Cost structure: The costs we incur to run our business model. Customer segments: Our groups of customers with distinct characteristics. Value proposition: The bundles of products and services that satisfy our customer segments needs Channels: The channels through which we communicate with our customers and through which we offer our value propositions.
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Key activities
The key activities of operations are as follows o To receive orders from customers online. o To deliver accurate products to respective customers in nominal time. o To receive payment. o To maintain the supply of the store on a regular basis. o To keep the financial transactions updated.
Operational Activity
The activities of the business have been organized in a diagrammatic representation as shown by the figure below. The transactions of the business model start when a customer places an order; the information being input is sent to the server where it is processed. The processed data is sent to two places to the customer as an order code and as an order transcript to the manager at the respective warehouse. The manager takes this order transcript and processes this order. Once the order is processed, the data again fed back to the server where control checks are carried out. If any negative feedback is received from the control checks, the order processing step is repeated. If the feedback is positive, the delivery of the processed order is sent to the customer. Once the deliver reaches the customer, the order code needs to be fed in and this automatically updates the server with details of payment, inventory, and customer preferences and so on.
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The customer relationship management (CRM) system will help manage customer relationships and improve customer satisfaction and hence customer retention. CRM systems capture and integrate customer data, analyses the data, and distributes these data to customer touch points across the enterprise (e.g. the storefront and delivery of products). The supply chain management (SCM) systems coordinate business processes to speed information, product, and fund flowing up and down a supply chain. SCM systems reduce time, redundant efforts, and minimize inventory costs. The Power Chain Suite have been studied as a successful SCM system software that has cut down inventory costs of existing companies. The knowledge management systems collect relevant knowledge and make it available wherever and whenever it is needed. This helps to support business processes and manage decisions. The use of these ERP systems would without a doubt benefit the business as the organization wide coordination would maximize efficiencies and retain customers. However, the challenges of ERP must be mentioned. Management and training of employee and bearing the costs of such softwares are the two main challenges that need to be taken into consideration.
Partner Network
Partners and Suppliers to work with
Bank
o The primary source of financing, banks will also be partners in facilitating customer payments
Telecom Companies
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o These will not only facilitate customer payments but will also act as promotional partners and access points for the business.
Logistic Companies o Courier companies with already established logistic systems may be used
as partners for making deliveries.
Managerial Plan
The managerial functions are as follows
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above mentioned functions and organize the business so that it can open up within 6 months of the formation of the committee.
1. Staffing
o Decide how many people will the business require in its primary phase, secondary phase
2. Planning
Each department will prepare relevant plans for required resources to start the business.
3. Implementing
Each department will work to implement plans for example Finance- work to accumulate necessary financial resources through bank loans and other modes. Marketing- develop STP plans, Value proposition, branding and promotions and research and development Operation & IT- Organize business processes such as purchase, inventory management, delivery process, Decide on the required Information technology needed and establish it for the business HR- Design recruitment plans, Organization code of conduct, compensation and benefits plans, training and motivation plans amongst others
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Financial Plan
The financial plan section is the section that determines whether or not the business idea is viable, and is a key component in determining whether or not the business plan is going to be able to attract any investment for the business idea. Basically, the financial plan section of the business plan consists of three financial statements, the income statement, the cash flow projection and the balance sheet and a brief explanation/analysis of these three statements.
In this case the business expenses are broken into two categories; the startup expenses and the operating expenses. All the costs of getting the business up and running go into the startup expenses category. In the context of a startup online superstore the startup expenses may include: Business registration fees, licensing and permits Starting inventory Rent deposits Down payments on property Down payments on equipment Payments for software and database
Operating expenses are the costs of keeping the business running. In the context of a startup online superstore the operating expenses may include:
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Salaries Rent or mortgage payments Telecommunications Utilities Purchase of inventory Storage Distribution Promotion Loan payments Office supplies Maintenance
Cost Structure
The expenses for this business for the first 1 years, of which the first half of year 1 is the setup time and the remainder is the initial operation period has been roughly projected as follows:
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Revenue Stream
Sales revenue is the only source of business for the first few years and revenues will be received through the following ways: Cash Credit card and Debit Card Payment through SMS Scratch Card Click Card Check Postal Money Order Wire Transfer M-wallet
Customers will be given maximum flexibility of payments so that they can choose the most convenient one.
Technical Support
Information technologies that can be used to provide superior and unique services to the customers have to be identified as an ongoing process. The following technical innovations have been identified to part of the initial setup for this business. To ensure Customer Transaction Security o HTTPS o MD6 Message-Digest Algorithm
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For routing o OSPF: Open Shortest Path First o Cisco 2951 Integrated Services
Network o All stores are connected to central server with Linux OS Delivery: o Delivery confirmatory equipment
Customer experience optimization o IP Camera- providing 24/7 live video of the warehouse/ storage facilities with high image resolution, mobility within the IP network.
Marketing Plan
Target Market
We try to figure out our target market by looking for the answers to the following four questions. Which customer needs and wants are currently not being satisfied by competitive offerings? From our survey we found out that, most of the customers dont have regular superstores where they shop regularly, so if they are provided with some convenient option they would switch easily. They use Internet regularly hence, it is very clear that, if there were options of online shopping, they may shop online regularly too. Online shopping may reduce daily workload and may give more free time to the customers.
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How desired benefits and choice criteria vary among potential customers and how to identify the resulting segments by demographic variables such as age, sex, lifestyle, or some other characteristics?
We have seen from the customers that, mostly young people use Internet regularly. Due to the lack of infrastructural support elsewhere the online shopping business will be limited to urban areas only. So, based on the data, the products assortment and catalogue will be designed according to the taste and preference for this specific segment of customers. Which segments to target, and which offerings and marketing programs appeal most to customers in those segments?
The young people and urban people are the main targeted customers and since the concept is online shopping, the marketing programs will be focused on this. A further market research needs to be conducted to formulate the product assortment and brand preferences of the targeted segment. Social networks will be used as a marketing tool for promoting the business.
How to position the service to differentiate it from competitors offerings and give the firm a sustainable competitive advantage?
The idea is new to this country. If the payment method can be made smooth, it can be easily differentiated from the existing competitors like the superstore chains.
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Value proposition
The objective of our value proposition will be to Earn credibility among customers Gain customer faith in e-commerce Provide substantial alternative to existing physical shopping
The value proposition will offer the following All the purchasing process will be done online. Online orders will be received 24X7. But the delivery of the products will be done within the delivery time (8.00 am to 12.00 am) Delivery cost will be nominal to nil depending on the amount of purchase and distance from the store. Quality and quantity of goods will be ensured to the highest level with the guarantee of replacing. Variety of products and brands will be available to choose arbitrarily.
Keeping in mind with the value proposition a possible name for the online superstore is suggested as e-shop.com with a domain name of www.e-shop.com and a slogan was developed Changing the way you shop.
Channels
The mode of communications with the target customers Online advertisements on social networking websites and online newspapers. Advertisements on printed newspapers.
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Printed flyers and brochures. Digital billboards Advertisements on local periphery. Business promotion through SMS. Road Show. Internet Search Engine Brand endorsement (Celebrity endorsement, Common man/ User Testimonial, Expert endorsement)
The intention is to reach the target customers by these modes of communication so that all the potential customers are aware of this prospective business. Out of these modes, the most efficient and cost effective ones will be given priority.
In order to retain the different types of customers the following steps will be taken: Loyal customers will be honored with membership. These types of customers want individual attention and that demands polite and respectful responses from supplier. Discount customers will be treated with good importance as they also promote distinguished part of profit into business.
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Handling Impulsive customers is a challenge as they are not particularly looking for a product and want the supplier to display all the useful products they have in their tally in front of them so that they can buy what they like from that display. These customers will be treated accordingly as there is high probability that these customers could be a responsible for high percentage of selling. Need based customers will be treated positively by showing them ways and reasons to switch to other similar products and brands and initiating them to buy these. Wandering Customers are least profitable customers as sometimes they are not sure what to buy. To grab such customers they will be properly informed about the various positive features of the products so that they develop a sense of interest. The process of this business is such that internet plays the key role of the business model. In Bangladesh, the socio-economic condition is such that only the upper middle class and above have regular access to internet. Urban people of Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet have been selected as main customers because of high internet penetration and higher standards of living compared to the rest of the country. A distinct offer will be proposed to the customers. The services will be prompt and hassle free. All the needs will be fulfilled with the help of just a few clicks. This will emancipate the customers from moving around the busy cities of Bangladesh. Both time and money will be saved for the customers.
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PESTEL analysis gives a larger picture of the macro-environment, in which the company is operating. The analysis helps the company to prepare itself for changes in the future by taking a glance at the changing factors in the business environment. These issues will have an effect on the decision- making in a company or in this case, the decisions concerning this business plan. The PESTEL model will help by categorizing the macroenvironment in to political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors. By analyzing the results of each of the factors, this analysis provides also the information on which of these factors has the most effect on this type of a company.
Political
Government stability: In Bangladesh the government and political situation is very unstable which has some direct effects to some extent in our proposed business.
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Taxation policy: For both B2B and B2C the value added tax (VAT) is 15%. VAT is applicable for all items (except some of the unprocessed agricultural products) & thirty five listed services. VAT is leviable at the time of supply of goods and services. Turnover tax @ 2 per cent is leviable where turnover amount is less than 1.5 million taka. Tax returns are to be submitted on monthly or quarterly basis.
Economical
Inflation: Inflation rate is 9.93% in April 2012. The reason for the rise was mainly for the rise of the food prices. The consumer price index is 270.68. GDP total: $170.00 bn, GDP per capita: $784, Total exports: $16.20, Total imports: $23.74 bn, Total FDI: $0.913 bn, and Forex reserves: $13.700 bn. All data are taken for 2011-2012 fiscal year. This high rate of inflation poses problems for an online store because this means that prices will tend to fluctuate and maycause loss of sales or disgruntled customers.
Social
As we have a constant growth on population and our country has growing economy there is a huge potential of online superstore. There are some activities going on social
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networking sites which are providing online product to some extent. We have a total of 5,501,609 people who have internet access. They are potential buyer of online superstore which indicates a huge market of this business Bangladeshi people are getting busier day by day. The time to go to shop for shopping is getting difficult for people like corporate executives. In the metropolitan cities, which are considered in this business model, the corporate executives and other job holder people are more inclined to shop online rather than going there physically, which provides the potential of a huge market.
Technological
Internet: Bangladesh is one of the emerging countries in Internet usage in the world. The number of IP addresses is proportionate to the number of people. The usage of the Internet has spread through the country and the number of Internet attacks and viruses, is quite low.
Environmental
In Bangladesh we have natural disasters occurring almost every year. In the past, the submarine cable which is the back bone of internet connectivity in this country was cut down due to natural disasters. As Bangladesh is connected with only one submarine cable, if it gets cut down then the entire country is disconnected from the world. We have limited connectivity through VSAT but on rainy days even that would not provide a solution. Hence natural disasters will have a tendency to cause major disruptions to online shopping.
Legal
There are no legal issues for online shopping till now. Online Stores will be regulated with the laws of normal local stores. As the legal infrastructure to stop online fraud and cybercrimes is yet to be developed both the business of online stores and its customers will face risks of being exposed to such incidents.
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Conclusion
With a burgeoning tech savvy population and rising income in urban areas, e -business as whole is here to stay at Bangladesh. This research looked into the feasibility of online business and its need in Bangladesh commerce, the survey report showed something really interesting; even through people do have reservation about shopping online a large population is willing to adapt. With a proper business model and right strategy online shopping can create its niche in initial stages, then catching on as the business get credibility. For that to happen many major issues are to be addressed; like security and customers trust. With constant upgrading of technologies and proper management; it is not that far, that most people would be doing business online, redefine conventional way of shopping altogether.
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Reference
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