Question

List the key eBusiness enablers and technologies, prioritize them, and explain the significance of the top three with concrete supporting references

Answer 1

Factors that enabled eBusiness:

Web Traffic
A starting point to succeed in eCommerce is traffic to your website. Just as a brick-and-mortar store can't sell to non-existent customers, you can market and sell to online users who don't come to your site. This point helps emphasize the importance of marketing in the development of an online business. You have to include a marketing plan, a budget and a commitment to communicate with your targeted customers as part of your business development process.

User-Friendly Website
To make money online, you have to make it as easy for your customers to buy. Easy navigation, clear headers, correct spelling and a visually pleasing look all contribute to a site that people visit and stick around to explore. Links that take users to sales pages contribute to converting visitors into customers. You also want a clear shopping cart or buying process spelled out to get the sale when the customer is ready.

Build Reputation and Establish Credibility

Partly driven through your marketing, eCommerce success grows as you build a solid reputation and establish credibility. Small businesses with a proven brick-and-mortar store can often more easily convert to the Web with an established reputation. A secure website, which includes clear symbols of security commitments, is part of online credibility. Statements of commitment to guaranteed satisfaction can also put online shoppers at ease. Rapid responses to customer services inquiries and complaints help you build long-term relationships.

Clear Value Proposition

One mistake some e-businesses make is the assumption that the "if you build it, they will come" mantra applies to the Web. You can't just have a nice, tech-driven website and make money online. You also have to understand basic business facets involved in delivering an excellent value proposition. Knowledge of your targeted customers, a distinct product or service offering, an efficient distribution or delivery system, revenue optimization and cost controls and Web maintenance all contribute to customer-oriented value propositions.

These are the top factors that enable the eBusiness.

1 . Mobility:

The proliferation of mobile devices, apps and operating systems, has got almost every company considering how to they can take advantage of expanding mobile technology. The growing consumerization of IT and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend is bringing mobile devices and consumer apps into the enterprise, increasing workers’ productivity and enabling them to respond quickly to market changes and opportunities as they arise.

Mobility also lessens equipment costs and provides employees with a sense of employment and freedom with their increased access to information. As a result, workers are performing more tasks outside the office than ever before. According to the survey, 33 percent of business people spend 11 to 20 percent of their time working outside of the office, while 28 percent spend over 51 percent of their time.

2 . Direct Purchase through Social Media:
More and more “direct purchase” options are popping up on social media platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. In fact, Facebook is the source of 64% of social sales worldwide, while 93% of Pinterest users have bought something online in the last 6 months. Moreover, the medium is the source of 16% of all social sales as Pinterest’s rich pins functionality enables retailers to fully integrate their site, automatically synchronizing any change on the product’s page with the product’s “pin”. Clicking on the pin automatically takes the shopper to the product page, optimized to convert this prospect into a sale. J.Crew, GAP, and Nordstrom are only a few of the American retailers that quickly capitalized on this new trend.
On Instagram, integrated applications now make it possible to go from an Instagram picture directly to a product page. It drives even more traffic to a retailer's website when celebrities and/or influencers promote products.

3 . Beacon Technology :
Companies have started to offer mobile deals and greetings when someone walks into the store through beacon technology which works when consumers’ mobile devices keep searching for a beacon. Physical stores can implement physical beacons in the shops, so once someone walks in, their phone accepts the signal and provides something like a promotion. Marketers can configure their apps to activate messages as soon as certain conditions are met. If the user, for example, is within the beacon range for 3 seconds or 3 seconds after the user has left the beacon range, a marketing message can be triggered. Retailers like Sephora utilize beacon technology, which sends personalized promotions to users’ mobile device while simultaneously collecting consumer data. The beauty chain also has rolled out immersive apps that allow users to virtually try on products.

Beacons are truly versatile and have found wide-scale implementation from airports to retail stores to restaurants delivering marketing offers and product information. Other brands featuring beacons for marketing include Starbucks, Macy’s, Target, and Coco-Cola.

Hope it added value, thank you.