E-Commerce Essay free essay sample

Abstract Among the Orange County on-line florist markets, Soft Touch Flowers has launched its website in this growing industry. However, despite the high growth, the competition in Orange County is stiff as the main competitors such as Everyday Flowers, Vissers Florist, OC Flowers, Capri Flowers, etc†¦occupy the market. Therefore, Soft Touch Flowers needs better effective business strategies to stand up and be strong in this complicated competition from the existing on-line flower shops. The focus of this paper is to outline three main disadvantages which include website environment, market competitions and consumer’s demand which Soft Touch Flowers has experienced for the past year in its e-commerce business. To overcome this difficult time, especially in current economic crisis, recommendation to Soft Touch Flowers will also be discussed. Soft Touch Flowers A New Way to Success The high growth rate versus the tough competition of floral markets in Orange County leads to problem statement which is â€Å"How can Soft Touch Flowers successfully plan a marketing strategy for its own business? The purpose of this essay is to describe and analyze the three disadvantages that the business has experienced in the past year. The first disadvantage is website environment. It is the variable showing the attractiveness of the website to the customers. The more secure the site is, the better trust that clients put into the business. The fewer barriers in legal and culture, the higher the market’s attractiveness is. The reason for customer not to do an online purchase at Soft Touch Flowers website is lack of trust. When a customer has an experience with a seller who provides good service, that customer begins to trust the seller. When a customer has multiple good experiences with a seller, that customer feels loyal to the seller. Thus, the repetition of satisfactory service can build customer loyalty, which can prevent a customer from seeking alternative sellers who offer lower prices (Schneider, 2010). In many social interactions, where uncertainty and dependency is involved, trust plays an important role. Trust can be thought as a mental factor, which can implement as a mechanism to reduce the complexity of human behavior in situations where people have to ope with uncertainty or risk when ordering flowers from Soft Touch Flowers website. Trust issues need not only to be incorporated into the design, but also to the development, management of payment system and throughout the entire website. Due to lack of security, customer would hesitate to order flowers through Soft Touch Flowers as user does not see McAfee Secure or VeriSign as they normally appear on the homepage of the website to ensure the transactio n is not at risk and allow customers to feel safe using the website. Market competition is the second disadvantage that the business has faced. This is including advertising, product price and promotion elements. There was only certain amounts of flyers were printed and passed out in a small Vietnamese community in Little Saigon area. By only doing this, there were not many customers who actually went on the site and ordered the flowers. Moreover, it did not get all the attention of other communities in the entire Orange County. There was no advertising on weekend newspaper, local radio and TV stations. Soft Touch Flowers product price is more expensive than Capri Flowers. For instance, a Loving Memories Casket Spray costs $326. 9 at Soft Touch Flowers (Soft Touch Flowers, 2011) while it only costs $232. 95 at Capri Flowers (Capri Flowers, 2011) for a similar flower arrangement. Holiday sales have not been added to the website on a specific occasion when it comes. Eventually, just a matter of a computer click, customer will navigate to other sites and look for special promotion discounts. Customers’ demand is identifi ed as the third disfavor when it comes to Soft Touch Flowers. When sending flowers to anyone, the most important consideration other than freshness of flowers is the delivery on time. This aspect is also a key point to value the service of any online flower shop. Since the owner did not hire a delivery personal, she had to do both flower arrangement and delivery. Therefore, if the order was in Los Angeles area, she would not able to accommodate that. The result of this was lots of orders could not be placed due to distance too far away from Orange County. The business did not meet its expected revenue and faced a difficult time of losing potential clients. The excessive development of flowering industry is the inspiration of art. The aim of this essay was to describe and analyze the disadvantages of Soft Touch Flowers website in term of market environment, competition and consumer’s demand. The recommendation will provide a foundation to improve the construction of the site and to help bringing in more revenue by having a better marketing strategies planning. For the website environment and security, one major concern of any e-commerce business is website security. Generally, it is the objective of every site administrator to ensure that it is safe. In order to accomplish, Soft Touch Flowers must put strong security protection in place by signing up with VeriSign and McAfee for both payment system and appropriate access rights. Having VeriSign and McAfee on a website is excellent direction to show potential clients that the business is safe and secure for online transactions. VeriSign reports that 79 percent of shoppers from the United State understand their seal to be a sign of trust they are familiar with (eHow, 2011). The below Figure 1-1 illustrates the pricing comparison between several sellers for McAfee Total Protection 2011 with pricing range from $29. 7 to $79. 99 (PC Magazine, 2011). FIGURE 1-1 McAfee Total Protection 2011 site pcmag. com Orange County is favorable place for flower industry due to the excellent weather of California and the result in higher demand in affluent products. Nevertheless, due to high volume of on-line flower shops in Orange County, the newcomer to this market will definitely have to face a h igh competition. In order to survive, Soft Touch Flower will need to improve continuously to increase its customers as people are more and more exposed to wide variety of products and promotions. The key to success is to find the needs that really matter to customers. Soft Touch Flowers should find special flower designs that are unique and high quality with a reasonable pricing. Moreover, the company should emphasize on gift promotion as it is claimed to be the most effective way to appeal clients. Additionally, it is because word of mouth is important. Clients are not only satisfied with their purchase, but also talk about the service, products to their friends, colleagues and family. Product promotion is a good way to encourage sales, introduce or differentiate one business to another competitor. Post coupons on the website for customers to use when ordering flowers or offer merchandise for a percentage off. After realigning the website structure and applying new marketing strategies, Soft Touch Flower will surely make its way to success. Having a secure, attractive website indeed will benefit the business in many ways. Leverage all the advertising tips for e-commerce to bring Soft Touch Flowers to another whole new level and especially, meet the customers’ demand and desire in flowering industry and society. References Capri Flowers. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from http://www. capriflowersorange. com/orange-flowers/silken-serenity-casket-spray-372874p. asp? rcid=878point=1 eHow. Retrieved March 4, 2011, from http://www. ehow. com/how-does_4912041_company-obtain-verisign-secured-deal. html PC Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2011, from http://www. pcmag. com/shop/product/mcafee-total-protect/777800380 Schneider. (2010). Electronic Commerce. Soft Touch Flowers. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from http://www. softouchflowers. com/shop/product_info. php? products_id=202