In: Operations Management
Q2. Read the paragraph and answer the following (write it down on a paper)
"A bottled water company want to change how they are selling their product by the traditional method. They want from their customers to have the option to buy from them directly instead of buying their products through Supermarkets or grocery stores".
- What are the options the company can take to allow customers to buy directly from them?
- How can they create a value to attract more customers to buy directly from them?
- Is there any advantage of using Technological factors to achieve their goal?
Business to consumer (B2C) model facilitates sale of goods and services between companies and consumers regarded as the end-users. Direct selling mode involves people buying goods from online retail sites simply regarded as online versions of department stores that sell products from manufacturers directly to consumers.
With the rise of mobile, social and cloud technologies consumer expectations have continued to increase wherein nowadays they expect a more seamless experience. For many organizations attending enhanced customer experience is the most novel way of gaining a competitive advantage which eventually would facilitate attracting and preserving more customers.
Manufacturers selling directly to consumer model eventually do provide an opportunity to companies effectively build their brand relationships among their customers. Furthermore companies are expected to efficiently apply a more holistic understanding of their consumer needs and accordingly provide with cost effective and quality products and services.
Manufacturers selling direct to consumers would eventually need a more comprehensive digital strategy. Furthermore companies need to correctly select the most appropriate platform which can facilitate their e-commerce operations and capable of supporting their B2C sales channel. It should be powerful enough to function effectively and flexible enough to customize as per company’s needs such as order fulfillment and tracking, payment security, customer service management, sales and marketing activities tracking etc.
Companies intending to create brand recognition and awareness for their B2C sales channels eventually would need to ensure that they constantly indulge into producing quality diverse contents. Normally companies intending to boost their B2C marketing tool can start with regular blog posts and articles which in due course would help in demonstrating their industry authority, inform customers and improve their search engine ranking.
B2C marketing plan should be to invest in social media so that company can connect with their customers and consequently supplement with other advertising efforts. Furthermore social media marketing has rapidly emerged as one of the most important online tactics for today’s brands as it evidently facilitates companies to effectively converse with their consumers in a complex environment in much more efficient manner.
Information technology do facilitates promoting innovation in business through application of smarter apps, improved data storage, faster processing and wider information distribution system. Furthermore helps business function in more efficient manner and overall enhance product value, quality and productivity. Innovation through information technology has facilitated business improve their online shopping efficiency and experience.
Good business decisions are based upon solid market research which eventually can be conducted through online surveys to get customer feedback by using tools like Microsoft CRM dynamics and Google analytics. Information technology with improved internet marketing tools can provide with much more accurate informations which eventually can be utilized for tracking target audiences, discovering their needs and building a marketing campaign to persuade them to directly buy company goods and services.