Small businesses in commodity driven industries will also do this to specifically drive down the cost per transaction and pool purchasing power to gain an advantage in negotiating with suppliers (Salcedo, Henry, Rubio, 2003). All of these actual benefits are completely different than the much-hyped and promoted benefits of e-commerce being frictionless commerce throughout a supply chain, greater revenue growth at lower transaction costs, and ease and speed of generating customer loyalty, all contributing to skyrocketing profitability of an enterprise (Romano, 2009)
The digital revolution: The world at the click of a button. International Trade Forum, (3), 22-25. (Rosener, McAveney, 2006) Rosener, J
Small businesses enter e-commerce thinking the big pay-off will be increased top-line revenue growth and greater transaction efficiencies (Molla, Heeks, 2007). Small businesses in commodity driven industries will also do this to specifically drive down the cost per transaction and pool purchasing power to gain an advantage in negotiating with suppliers (Salcedo, Henry, Rubio, 2003)
, This consistent with the more pragmatic and practical studies of e-commerce adoption in emerging nations that show e-commerce system development and implementation will teach a business more about itself than it had never considered prior to the implementation (Alemayehu, Heeks, 2007). The process of creating an e-commerce strategy including the process and system integration, coordination of product and services catalogues, redefining and clarification of pricing, and the ability to define expediting processes for service and service recovery of negative customer events all force a business to grow faster than it had anticipated (Standing, Benson, 2000)
One of the most powerful aspects of having a unified, enterprise-wide e-commerce platform supporting a services business is the ability to make every interaction with a customer (and student) count, contributing to greater growth (Goldberg, Sifonis, 1998). Creating a highly efficient enterprise begins by integrating legacy, 3rd party, financial, operational, customer and student-facing systems around a common set of objectives and metrics (Barsauskas, Sarapovas, Cvilikas, 2008)
The value of e-commerce platforms and technologies is in unifying diverse business models and making them more centered on and responsive to customers' needs (Chung-Shing, 2001). The greater the integration and cohesive experience delivered by an e-commerce system the greater the level of trust customers have in the services promised and products sold (Beatty, Reay, Dick, Miller, 2011)
From the strategic aspects of integrating e-commerce platforms into each departments' information systems, to the support for the many suppliers an online university relies on an e-commerce platform just have the ability to support a wide variation in business models and processes. The value of e-commerce platforms and technologies is in unifying diverse business models and making them more centered on and responsive to customers' needs (Chung-Shing, 2001)
As the university's core business model is providing students with the most efficient means possible to get to their educational goals, the underlying e-commerce systems must integrate the diverse back-office and customer-facing systems so real-time analytics and data can be quickly shared. One of the most powerful aspects of having a unified, enterprise-wide e-commerce platform supporting a services business is the ability to make every interaction with a customer (and student) count, contributing to greater growth (Goldberg, Sifonis, 1998)
This is the core foundation of any successful e-commerce business model, despite what many believe based on what they see on the veneer or surface. It is the real-time integration of these diverse systems and processes that leads to greater cost reductions, higher levels of efficiencies and greater customer satisfaction as a result (Kumar, Petersen, 2006)
The true test of any e-commerce system is the ability to orchestrate the many complex processes and systems to a unified, consistent experience to faculty, staff and most important, students. Advanced e-commerce systems have included a series of decision engines or logic workflows that expedite the most common processes throughout their platforms and websites (Nabi, 2005)
The intent of this analysis is to define strategies for improving both individual and organizational learning by using e-commerce. The ability to tailor individualized learning programs to students, a technique called scaffolding, is enabled with the latest generation of e-commerce technologies (Najjar, 2008)
These front-end interfaces must be designed to ensure a very high level of adoption on the part of faculty, staff and students. The more attuned the design of these interfaces are to real-time collaboration and communication, the higher the overall level of performance attained based on the use of e-commerce systems (Shin-Ping, 2008)
The more attuned the design of these interfaces are to real-time collaboration and communication, the higher the overall level of performance attained based on the use of e-commerce systems (Shin-Ping, 2008). The usability aspects of any e-commerce system are one of the most critical success factors in ensuring each segment of customers or students find it useful and trust the features and applications included (Van Slyke, Belanger, Johnson, Hightower, 2010)
" Companies like Overstock do a great deal of business on the internet, and in order to be successful they have to understand the value of what they are doing and how to relate to the customers and potential customers they want to attract. It is not just about having good prices or good products, because customers need to enjoy their shopping experience, feel safe providing their personal information to the site, and be able to easily and conveniently shop for their items and pay for what they decide to buy (Chaudhury & Kuilboer, 2002)
With that in mind, Overstock will be examined here in terms of those specific issues, in order to determine how the company functions and what, if anything needs to be changed about the way they do business. Website Design The website design of an e-commerce business is very important (Laudon & Guercio Traver, 2014; Nissanoff, 2006)
When they are put off by the way a website looks, they may decide to find a different company. Even if a business offers good deals or has the merchandise a person is looking for, that person is not necessarily going to shop there if he or she feels uncomfortable regarding the look of the site (Miller, 2002)
Website Design The website design of an e-commerce business is very important (Laudon & Guercio Traver, 2014; Nissanoff, 2006). If the company does not provide what the customer is looking for in the way of products and how to find them, that customer will generally shop elsewhere (Nissanoff, 2006)
They will never reduce the time it takes to deliver goods physically, for example. But since the information flow in supply chains is typically linear, fragmented, and inaccurate, they can make a vast difference in this area" (Agrawal & Pak 2001)
"Dennice a Wilson, vice president of supply chain solutions for FedEx Express in Asia Pacific, says the two major reasons for embracing a "supply chain solution" for most companies is to achieve a reduction in cycle time and a reduction in costs across the chain. She says that the supply chain management costs of best-in-class companies (top 20 per cent performers) as a percentage of revenue ranges from three to five per cent, versus median companies' eight to 11 per cent" (Smith 2003)
Using software from firms such as Ariba or Trade'ex, an enterprise establishes a corporate purchasing hub that integrates the company intranet with the ERP system, explained Daniel Aegerter, Trade'ex's CEO. Generally, this is done to handle so-called "indirect procurement" - the goods and services that support the company's operations" (Krapf 1999)