Introduction

In the current era of competition and rivalry, e-commerce has gained importance as

one of the critical tools for attaining competitive edge. It is a major source of exploring new

markets, interacting with consumers, communicating with partners and particularly enhan-

cing the sales of business. E-commerce has two perspectives as business to business (B2B)

and business to customer (B2C). The success or failure of implementation of every perspect-

ive depends on the certain critical success factors. It is necessary for the store to focus on

these factors because they might influence the success or failure of deployment of e-com-

merce within the store. For maximizing the efficiency and productivity of the store, Tesco is

utilizing e-commerce for strengthening their business; organic food segment has been fo-

cused for conducting business strategies however type of applications is different in terms of

features and deployment.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

TASK 2

2.1

Tesco is the biggest retailer of UK. All most all the business nowadays have an online

operation for providing facilities to the customers. Companies need to have a reliable model

of e-commerce in order to provide good services to the customers. E-commerce means a

financial action which is done through online (wisegeek,n.d). It cover various business

activities such as investing, banking, rental and retail shopping.

According to the Tesco (2013) data, the sales of Tesco decline in 2010/11 which further

reduce in 2011/12 in comparison to 2009/10 while it seen a slight increase in 2012/13 by

0.3% which is expected to increase further. Seeing such fluctuation in the sales, the

management of Tesco felt to give more emphasis on the e-commerce and felt that they need

to focus on the online operation as it helps to reduce the operating cost and increase the

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margin of profit. The ability of internet have allowed the online business to use the resource

of their rivals for becoming cybernetic trade. With the help of e-commerce, the staff and

consumer can easily access to the business and its various aspect of business cycle. Hence, to

be effective and remain ahead from the rivals, constant innovation is necessary in the area of

electronic business and the way they present themselves through e-platform.

2.2

In other words, e-commerce means doing the business through Web where it is just the matter

of one click or flick of your finger or mouse and you are the owner of anything is a second.

Following are the benefit of an e-commerce to an organisation

Doing the business through web is not limited by geographical boundaries. Which

means that the Tesco can sales their products to the customer anywhere in the world

in an cost effective way which it might not be possible through the in store sale.

The other benefit of an e-commerce is it helps to reduce the transaction cost of a

Tesco. Through e-commerce, the Tesco will save the cost of staff that they might need

to deal with the customers, shoeing goods to the customer time and again, taking or-

der etc. All this can be easily managed automatically through online sales.

Through e-commerce, it helps the customer to compare the prices of various stores in-

stantly, allowing the customer to add, deleted and even go back to the same point

where you have started which a customer finds more convenient. Hence, this might

help to increase the sale of a Tesco.

The other benefit of an e-commerce is, web business can be easily combined with the

day to day business run and can provided more information to the customer than be-

fore. For example, if some customer order a product through online form Tesco, they

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can easily track their stage of order and progress at any time which a customer finds

more convenient.

Similarly, through e-commerce it provides an organisation such as Tesco a platform

to advertise their products and services frequently at a lower cost.

2.3

An e-strategy plan for the Tesco has been created which is explained as under:

1. Allow the customers to place an order through online.

2. Help the consumers by providing online service calls as well as allowing the customer

to purchase the products through telecalling.

3. Creating monthly e-magazine that comprises all the hard work of Tesco and its mar-

keting.

4. Flow the newsletter to the visitor of the website, future customer, and recent custom-

ers and inspire them to buy the magazine.

5. Create an e-portal based on the preference, desire and tastes of each customers.

The general strategy of Tesco is to cut the cost and expand its share in the market compatibly.

Market share can be expand by boosting the sales over gainful methods for that the Tesco

should indorse more online purchasing and selling despite selling them over the counter and

in the store

2.4

For an e-commerce website to be created various communications is needed among which

software, hardware and communication technology are the important one. In the first place

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they need the database where they can kept their information and data. . Depending on how

much data they need to host they can use different package such as Peoplesoft or SAP R/3. It

is recommended to access the networks and email directories from firewalls, but keeping in

mind the safety of information, the last option is recommended. Besides that, Internet

Domain Name Service (DNS) is another important things they need which is basically an

internet directory service which main function is to uniquely identify the entity over an

internet. In the technical language it takes a shape of IP address that is associated with the

website name such as the www.Tesco.com. Moreover, preparation for groupware for e-

commerce and the expansion of an appliance are the further technical requirements. The set

of technologies are included in the groupware which helps to build the canals for e-commerce

and then at last the application development.

3.

3.1

Funding: Funding is essential for an implementation of an e-strategy. As the in fracture and

equipment’s needs for the implementation of an e-strategy are expensive. It might be more

costly to an organisation. Hence, proper discussion should be done with the top level manage-

ment regarding the finance of an e-strategy plan (Investopedia, n. d). .

Human Resources: E-strategy implementation is complicated as it requires some technical

knowledge which a lay man might not understand. Hence, for an organisation to implement

an e-strategy effectively, they required a skilled and technical people who has got knowledge

or experience in this area.

Physical Resources: Financing an e-strategy and having a skilled human resource for it

won’t be enough for an implementation of an e-strategy. They are useless if an organisation

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do not have proper physical resources to implement an e-strategy. Computers, software,

database and application resources are some of the physical resources.

3.2

Task 1week 2weeks 3week

s

4weeks 5weeks

1. Define the aims and purpose                    

2. Practical prerequisite decision making                    

3. Pre-installation of software                    

4. Blue pattern of website                    

5. Blue print confirmation                    

6. Connecting hardware systems                    

7. Other business data arrangement                    

8. Hardware installation

9. Directory development

10. Locating them and design of website

11. Analysing end-users

3.3

An-commerce application is already exist in the organisation. So basically the task includes

the renovation of system. System is renovated so that it will be able to handle the inventory

management proficiently and provide service without any intervention and frustrating the

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customers (Chau, 2003). New system will be able to deal with more data and operation which

needs tough technical infrastructure.

4.

4.1

Implication of an e-strategy can be done as under:

(1)   Planning: The planning phase includes all the necessity for the proper execution of an e-

strategy. This can be more divided into architecture and design. In terms of architecture is

concern website should be user-friendly where a customer can easily search the pages. Where

as in terms of design is concern, the website should be attractive and grungy looking website

will discourage the customer visiting the website and searching the page.

(2)   Execution: Under this stage all the planned ideas will be executed effectively to achieve

the desire outcomes. The next step is execution where all the planned ideas will be

implemented properly to achieve the desire result.

(3)   Control:

E-commerce is gaining the popularity quickly in the current situation as it has made the way

of doing the business easy and simple for an organisation like Tesco. On the other side of it,

customers are getting worried about their personal information being misused by others

through using the e-service.

4.2

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E-commerce mainly rely on the continue accessibility of an internet. In the case of downtime,

it will reduce the turnover hence, it is important to examine it regularly. For this, 24 hours

customer services is important. Similarly, customer helpdesk, process and billing system

should be easily available to the customer and must function effectively without any

intervention. Hence, the website should be function properly every time as the online shopper

hate for waiting for long time to shop a product. The customer will not purchase the product

in case of low efficiency. Hence it is important to have a necessary monitoring tools. Speed

of an internet can be managed depending on the flow of present and prior traffic. Similarly, it

is important to focus on the checkout as well as non-functioning checkout might decrease the

sales. Hence, online monitor is important. There are various areas which an organization

needs to monitor such as site security, risk functionality, customer behavior, and

infrastructure (Slywotzk, 2000).

4.3

Online business has been able to develop a common platform for an organization to a

customer’s no matter where they exist. Through online, the customer can purchase and sale

the product at their own pace and time. This has helped the organisation to achieve a

competitive edge. With the help of e-commerce, an organization will be able to reduce to the

overhead cost as everything is done through online as compare to in-store sales where staffs

are needed to explain the customer’s about the products. On the other hand, communication is

becoming a barrier nowadays which can be easily being eliminated with the help of e-

commerce as everything is available online. In the words of Levy (2009), e-commerce helps

the organization to enhance the efficiency, manage and flexibility. Similarly, through e-

commerce, an organization can easily manage their stocks, revise prices of their products and

effective control on their processing their orders and inventory.

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