Written Report

on

BUSINESS SKILLS FOR E-COMMERCE

Prepared by

Md. Muminur Rahman

Student ID: 2013006412
HND in CSD

Assessed & Supervised by

Ms. Rukshana Akter

Faculty: School of IT
Prepared by Md. Muminur Rahman

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1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4
2. Aims of the Business.......................................................................................................... 4
2.1. Break-Even................................................................................................................. 4
2.2. Profit & Profit Maximization...................................................................................... 4
2.3. Survival ...................................................................................................................... 4
2.4. Relation to Other Businesses..................................................................................... 5
3. Functions ........................................................................................................................... 5
3.1. Administration ........................................................................................................... 5
3.2. Customer Service ....................................................................................................... 5
3.3. Finance ...................................................................................................................... 6
3.4. Human Resource ....................................................................................................... 7
3.5. ICT .............................................................................................................................. 7
3.6. Sales & Marketing...................................................................................................... 8
4. Stakeholders ...................................................................................................................... 8
4.1. Mr. Rahman (Owner)................................................................................................. 9
4.2. Employees ................................................................................................................. 9
4.3. Customers.................................................................................................................. 9
4.4. Government .............................................................................................................. 9
5. SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................... 9
5.1. Strengths ................................................................................................................... 9
5.2. Weakness ................................................................................................................ 10
5.3. Opportunities ......................................................................................................... 10
5.4. Threats .................................................................................................................... 10
6. PEST Analysis ................................................................................................................... 10
6.1. Political .................................................................................................................... 10
6.2. Economic ................................................................................................................. 10
6.3. Social........................................................................................................................ 10
6.4. Technological ........................................................................................................... 11
7. Impact of E-commerce .................................................................................................... 11
7.1. Benefits of E-commerce .......................................................................................... 11
7.2. Disadvantages of E-commerce ................................................................................ 11
8. Global Impact of E-commerce ......................................................................................... 12
9. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 13
10. Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 15

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1. Introduction
E-commerce, in full, electronic commerce, is maintaining business
relationships and selling information, services, and commodities by means of
computer telecommunications networks. (Zwass, 2013)

E-commerce has been discovered couple of years ago with huge things and it
was running successfully as well as right now. In Bangladesh, Government has an aim
is to improve the e-commerce business.

As a business analyst, I had to identify the aims, functions, stakeholders and

their relation to the e-commerce clothing business, started by Mr. Rahman. In my
work I tried to research in the aspect of Bangladesh. As a developing country the
customer behaviour, their mind and market opportunity differ from the other well
developed country.

2. Aims of the Business

In the beginning every business should determine their aims of business. A
business aim is the goal a business wants to achieve. When there is no aim there is
no gain. A primary aim for all business organisations is to add value and in the
private sector this involves making a profit. More strategic aims include expansion,
market leadership and brand building. In following lines we will try to determine the
aim of a private e-commerce clothing store.

2.1. Break-Even
The break-even represents the sales amount that is required to cover total
investment and costs. Total profit at the break-even point is zero. Although there is
no profit, no money is lost. The business goes for profit after break-even. The
business need some time to reach break even. This some time to reach break-even
varies from business to business based on nature.

2.2. Profit & Profit Maximization

After getting the break-even the business has to look for profit. As a private
business the aim should be making as much profit as possible. The company should
adjust influential factors such as production cost, sale, price and output level as a
way of reaching its profit goal. To achieve this aim we have to make a good business
plan, create great sales and customer experience.

2.3. Survival
Survival means a business that continues to do okay during tough times like
recessions or slumps caused by bad weather or events such as Foot and Mouth
disease. The business is still able to attract business, pay staff and pull in enough
profit.

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2.4. Relation to Other Businesses

Many businesses make their range broader providing new services from other
companies. For instance, PayPoint.com.bd is a Bangladeshi website that provides
customers to recharge mobile or internet modem balance through their website.
Now a customer can buy books published by Prothoma Prokashoni from their
website with low costs.

Many clothing stores in Bangladesh are very popular but they don’t have online
shopping service for customers. We have to make an agreement with them and sell
their products through our website. This will also allow us to establish our brand
through other established clothing brands.

3. Functions
Every business owner should determine the functions of his business before he
starts it. To properly business, and maximize the success every organization must
create a chart that includes the primary business functions. These functions also
have a great impact to achieving the aims of the business.

3.1. Administration
The administration function of a business is an important function that relates all
the function. The administrative staff includes the CEO, secretarial staff, manager
etc.

The administrative staffs oversee tasks that relate to the company. such as
negotiating and paying rent, ordering and managing office supplies and using
business licenses etc. Sometimes the administrative staffs have to manage
customers. Senior administrators may also monitor budgets and interview new staff
for their departments. (Ashe-Edmunds, n.d.)

Here is a summary of tasks that administrators carry out:

 Distributing mails
 Organizing, storing and retrieving the records
 Arranging meetings
 Preparing documents
 Making arrangements for visitors
 Making arrangements for events such as conferences and interviews
 Purchasing office stationary and equipment supply

3.2. Customer Service

There are some differences between traditional business and e-commerce
business. But there is no difference in customer service function. If customers don’t

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get satisfied the business will go down. So, customer service is an important function
for any business.

Today customer’s need is getting high. When people contact any business they
want to have a good, polite service. Some merchants provide multiple ways for a
customer to contact them and for them to contact a customer.

Our customer service tools can include toll-free phone numbers, Skype and other
Internet phone addresses, email addresses, instant messaging capabilities and more.
Live chat is another popular tool. Many e-commerce website post these
communication tools throughout their site and, more importantly, quickly respond
to questions and queries from customers. Like them we also have to make customer
service more friendly and fast.

As part of the customer service we have to train our employees to give our
customers a friendly impression.

Here are the summery of tasks that customer service department carry out:

 Answering customers about products and services

 Providing specialist information to meet the needs of customers
 Solving customer problems
 Analysing records of customer complaints to resolve problem areas
 Using feedback from customers to improve customer service
 Reshipping promptly if a package was failed to be delivered to the customer,
if it came damaged, or if it was missing parts

3.3. Finance
The finance department works to promote a business, do surveys to develop the
products and services and advertise the business. The traditional view of finance
specially focuses on being efficient and minimizing the risk. But today finance
department also focuses on intuitive and growth. (Griffin, n.d.)

The jobs that a finance department do are:

 Controlling expenditures and obligations (including operating expenses, debt,

payroll)
 Receipting and depositing all revenues
 Supervising the investment of wealth
 Accounting for all assets
 Internal and external reporting

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3.4. Human Resource

Responsibilities of Human Resource (HR) include recruitment, professional
development and training, health and safety environment for the staff at work
stations. The HR department will also maintain the leaves of employees and
manages their work distribution.
The key tasks of HR department are:
 Managing the leaves of employees
 Training up new employees
 Managing office stationeries
 Managing the vehicles

3.5. ICT
This department is responsible for maintenance of IT systems in an organization.
This is one of the most important departments in this business. The business will run
through internet and website. So, the IT department must make a good framework
to build the system.

As an e-commerce business it must have a website. The website should be

loaded fast with low internet speed, because most of the people in Bangladesh don’t
have high speed internet. If the website loads slowly then the customers don’t like to
browse website long time.

The website also must have a mobile version. The technology is getting easier to
use. Today people don’t want to wait for opening PC, then connecting to internet
and browsing websites. They feel more comfortable with handheld devices for web
browsing than with desktop computers. The mobile version of the website must
have the same services that the desktop website has. It is preferable to develop also
a mobile app for Android OS user as most of the people are now using Android OS
based mobile phone. This will also ensure loyalty to a website for purchasing due to
easiness to use.

Another very important thing for IT department is security issue. The website will
have many financial information. The IT department must provide secure system for
financial transaction that a customer can make transactions without any hesitation.

As an e-store the responsibilities of IT team is much bigger than another business

firm. The IT team should use the latest technology in their website. The newer
technology is more user friendly than old technology.

Here is a list of the key responsibilities of IT department:

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 Updating the website

 Fixing bugs of the websites
 Managing the security of customers
 Managing payment methods
 Taking feedbacks from customers to develop their website
 Updating the intranet

3.6. Sales & Marketing

The job of the department is looking for new fashion trends and customer needs.
They have to research the market and make new product plans. As a clothing store
the marketing department must have an eye to future trends and fashions.

The department also have to make some improvisation in their marketing

techniques that make customers more attracted to our business. For instance, Mr.
Porter is a men’s fashion retailer. The website also publishes The Journal, an online
magazine. It is a good example of useful marketing. You might think that it is just a
blog, but this online publication provides useful content that some site visitors
return for again and again simply for its insights on pop culture and style. (Roggio,
2014)

The job of this department will be to promote and market Mr. Rahman’s website
and products. It can be by arranging advertising campaigns, sponsoring different
fashion shows, wining and dining the buyers for various customer companies, setting
up promotions and anything else they can think of to persuade people to buy.

Here are the summery of the tasks of marketing department:

 Managing customer relationships

 Processing orders and payments
 Managing the marketing schedule
 Doing researches and monitoring customer needs
 Advertising and Promoting the business

4. Stakeholders
Stakeholder refers to a person or party that has interest or concern in an
organization. Stakeholders have a good impact in the aims and actions of the
business. Some examples of key stakeholders are employees, owner, government
etc. Stakeholders can be divided by three groups: Internal, Connected and External.

Internal stakeholders are individuals who reside inside the company and get
benefitted directly from their contributions to the growth of the company. (internal
stakeholders, n.d.)

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Connected stakeholders represent groups that are part of an organization’s

external forces and who regularly interact with the organization.

External Stakeholders people who are impacted by the company.

Here we will try to identify the stakeholders of the e-clothing store, their
relation to the aims and how are they related to the company.

4.1. Mr. Rahman (Owner)

Mr. Rahman is the owner of the business. He is internal stakeholder of the
business. He invests his wealth in this business. He looks for profit, maximize the
business and long term growth. He has a relation with profit aim.

4.2. Employees
Employees are the internal stakeholders. They work under the company and
maintain the business. They look for high payment, job security, promotions. The
company needs the employees to make profit, growth. That means the employees
are related to the growth and profit aim.

4.3. Customers
Customers are the external stakeholders. They look for good products with low
prices, good service and detail information. Company can improve their products
and services by surveying them. The company also gets profit from customer. They
relate with the aim of profit and survival.

4.4. Government
Government is an external stakeholder. Government is not the part of the business,
but we need their permission to run our business and obey their rules and
regulations. Either they ban our business licence. Government relates the aim of
survival.

5. SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a method to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats involved in a project or in a business. SWOT analysis helps an
organization to have a good insight about its current position in the industry. It
provides the organization a chance to improve its position in the market. Here, the
strength and weakness of Mr. Rahman’s e-clothing store as well as the opportunities
and threats are discussed:

5.1. Strengths
 As a e-commerce business it has a global market
 The website is fast and also have mobile view system

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5.2. Weakness
 The company is new. Many people even did not hear the name of the store.
The sales and marketing team should work on it.

5.3. Opportunities
 Ministry of Information and Communication and Planning Commission jointly
trying to implement the e-commerce in Bangladesh
 3G mobile network has been recently introduced in Bangladesh. 3G service is
faster than the EDGE system.

5.4. Threats
 Many other popular brands are opening their websites and buying cloths
through internet such as Aarong, Rang, etc. People have a trust on the old
popular companies. To decrease this threat, Mr. Rahman’s store will try to
grow the customer’s trust at first through viral marketing, reasonable pricing
without compromising product quality, fastest delivery scheme, and product
exchange offer within three days for any unsuitability, money back offer
within 5 days for supplying damaged goods, etc.
 The internet speed in Bangladesh is low. Many people don’t have any device
to connect the internet.

6. PEST Analysis
PEST analysis is a method to know about the external factors of a business. PEST
analysis means political, economic, social and technological analysis for a business. It
helps business realising the external environment that can affect the business.

6.1. Political
A political analysis should be taken before running our new clothing store.
Political factors include the political stability, tax regulations, trade restrictions or
policies etc.

6.2. Economic
We should analyse the external economic environments before running the
stores because it affects purchasing power of customers. The economic factors that
we should include in analysis are inflation rates and economic growth.

6.3. Social
Before starting the store we also have to analyse the social factors. Social factors
include demographic data, education and culture. These factors have a big effect on
customer’s choice and need.

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6.4. Technological
Technology is moving on continuously. We must also keep an eye on it. The
technological analysis helps us choosing new technology that is easier and cheaper
than the older technology.

7. Impact of E-commerce
There are many bad impacts in many good things. These impacts should be
discussed so that everyone can get the benefits without being impacted by the bad
things.

7.1. Benefits of E-commerce

The benefits of e-Commerce are many and many. Some of them include:

 24X7 operations: E-commerce can provide 24x7 services.

 Global reach: Through internet reaching global customers is relatively easy
on the net compared to the world of bricks. E-commerce system makes a
borderless marketplace.
 Operational cost saving: It is relatively cheaper to acquire new customers
over the net. Through innovative tools of push technology to retain
customers, loyalty with minimal investments. The e-commerce system
decreases the cost of making, processing etc.
 Easy to build: It is easy to build an e-commerce business relatively to
traditional business. Because it needs low costs. Traditional businesses have
some extra costs that are not necessary in e-commerce such as renting shop
and decorating it etc.
 Price Comparisons: Customers can compare the price of specific product by
visiting multiple different websites within a short time.
 Connects people: Now a rural man can also buy their needs through internet.
It enables him to enjoy products and services which would not be so easily
available to others.
 More choices for customers: Customers now have an international selection
of suppliers. Now they have a broader range of products.
 No intermediation: Using the net one can directly rich to the customers and
suppliers, cutting down the number of level, cutting down the costs.
 Improved customer service: It results in higher satisfaction and more sales.
(n.d.)

7.2. Disadvantages of E-commerce

There are also some disadvantages of e-commerce. Some of them include:

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 Lack of human interaction: There is no personal touch and social contact in

e-commerce. As people become more used to do their work through internet
they become introvert and loses the social skills.
 Rapidly changing technology: The technology is changing rapidly, so there is
a competition. Everyone is trying not to be left behind.
 Inability to experience the product before purchase: We can see and touch
the product that we need to buy in traditional purchasing system. But there is
no chance to experience the product before purchasing in e-commerce.
 Computing equipments are needed: Anyone who wants to buy through
internet must have a computer or gadget that enables him to access the
website.
 Security Issue: We use our debit/credit card information, address, email
address and many other personal information to buy e-commerce products.
Hackers can steal this information.
 Internet connection: Internet access is still not cheaper and is inconvenient
to use for many customers like one living in village. Users also have to pay for
internet connection. It is also a new cost.

8. Global Impact of E-commerce

The e-commerce system has an impact on our society. Many things and tradition
has been changed after the e-commerce was introduced. Some of them are good.
But there are also some bad impacts in e-for society. In following lines we discuss
some of them.

 Consumer impact: E-commerce system introduced a new world to the

consumers. Now they have a greater choice of goods at much lower price
than the local physical stores. It also enables the customer to buy
products throughout the world. Many products are not available in every
country. For instance, now we can buy a new model of Motorola mobile
staying in Bangladesh which is not available in Bangladesh. E-commerce
made it possible.
 24 hours shopping: Online shopping websites allows the customers to
buy at any time of the day. Most of physical shopping mall close their
stores at night. It also saves the time. Now people can buy when they are
travelling on train, bus or when they are on the bed before sleep.
 Challenge of new technology: E-commerce business is depended on the
internet. Every merchant wants that their customers enjoy the service
and leave the website with a great satisfaction. It can be possible the
website uses the latest technology. Latest technologies are always easier,
and faster than the old technologies. There are many costs associated

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with this and it is important to invest in this sector to offer the best online
services.
 Helpful for disable, aged people or children: It is difficult for disable or
aged people to go the shop and buy their needs. Children have to go
stores with their parents. But in e-commerce a child or a age man can buy
their needs easily.
 Security Issues: It is essential for an e-commerce website to obtain the
trust of customer. No one compromises on safety and security. Customer
trust plays an important role in terms of ensuring that the detail
information of the customer will be safe and that a secured payment
gateway is available there. The websites have to ensure the customer
that their information will be kept safe. The websites have to prevent
hackers to access the customer’s information.
 Greater competition: In e-commerce system, a company faces more
competition than the others. They should face many global companies
worldwide. So then they have to grab customers with cheaper prizes and
better services than other. (Admin, 2013)
 Lower overhead: E-commerce system needs low overhead. When we
open a shop, we have to decorate it. We have to pay monthly rent. We
have to pay the staffs. But in e-commerce business we need lower
overhead than the normal business. There are many processes that can
be cut off in e-commerce. An online store can run with fewer staff as all
processes are automated so no sales staffs are required.
 Jobs for society: E-commerce made some new job opportunities. But it
also spoiled many other job opportunities.
 Wrong information: When a seller sells their product in physical market
he sees the customer. So that he can verify the customer. But in virtual
stores, a man can buy what is illegal to buy for him providing wrong
information.

9. Conclusion
At the end of the report I have a few things to be said. As technology grows in
Bangladesh there are many opportunities for an e-commerce business in
Bangladesh. In my report I tried to highlight it in many areas.

There are also many side effects of e-commerce in our society. We must fix
these problems and make e-commerce more useful and friendly. Thanks to the
government of Bangladesh that they are working on it.

Mr. Rahman’s clothing has a great opportunity in the market. The e-

commerce sector in Bangladesh is currently developing. But he will face a great

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competition in worldwide business. The website has to attract foreign customers

as well as local customers So that the view of the business should be more
generous and follow international laws.

But we can face it by introducing the world our Bangladeshi local cultural
dresses. It would be a little step toward introduce our clothing to world. People
around the world can know our heritages and buy what they will like such as
Jamdani Saree, Khooddor cloths, Moslin Saree etc. It may open a global market
for local products.

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10. Bibliography
[Online], Available: http://www.mincom.gov.bd/e_comm.php [10 August 2014].

Admin (2013) Understand the impact of e-Commerce, 10 September, [Online], Available:

http://www.contentedwriter.com/understand-the-impact-of-e-commerce/ [3 August 2014].

Ashe-Edmunds, S. Primary Business Functions, [Online], Available:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/primary-business-functions-43477.html [3 August 2014].

Griffin, D. Role of Finance in a Business, [Online], Available:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/role-finance-business-290.html [5 August 2014].

internal stakeholders, [Online], Available:

http://www.investorwords.com/15517/internal_stakeholders.html [7 August 2014].

Khurana, A. What Is Ecommerce?, [Online], Available:

http://ecommerce.about.com/od/eCommerce-Basics/f/What-Is-Ecommerce.htm [4 August
2014].

Roggio, A. (2014) For 2014, What Is Ecommerce Marketing?, 20 February, [Online], Available:
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/64672-For-2014-What-Is-Ecommerce-
Marketing [3 July 2014].

Zwass, V. (2013) e-commerce, 20 March, [Online], Available:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/183748/e-commerce [4 August 2014].

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