Companies and E-Business

« E-Business is all about speed, globalization, enhanced productivity, reaching new customers, and sharing knowledge across institutions for competitive advantage »

What is eBusiness ?

It’s using technology to improve your business processes. This includes managing internal processes such as human resources, financial and administration systems, as well as external processes such as sales and marketing, supply of goods and services, and customer relationships.

How companies use it ?

Nowadays, research shows that customers tend to purchase more online. We choose to analyse two main companies known for their use of E-Business : one is the premier E-Commerce company , the other is eBay. So based on the exemple of Amazon  and eBay (written below), we choose to imagine how «Green Companies » could include E-Business within their structure.

•  CASE STUDY 1 : AMAZON.COM

Since 1990, Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, selling over forty categories of goods. As consumers learned to replace physical distance with mouse clicks, Amazon created an E-Commerce and Internet technology (E-Business) platform that generates massive profit. . It has experienced great success.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos decide to develop the E-Business model with both product information and attractive design using highly professional photography and layouts that offers a user-friendly experience. He also displayed customer testimonials to give prospective buyers feedback on their items. In fact, it’s a powerful argument for customers wishing to purchase and help them making the right choice. It’s important that this product page conveys the benefits and features of the product.

•  CASE STUDY 2 : EBAY.COM

eBay is an online auction and shopping website in which individuals and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services created in 1995. It’s the world largest online marketplace. It position itself as an environmentally-friendly company, largely because it sells used products.

It’s aim is to connect willing buyers and sellers and make transactions possible using either a traditional price-setting structure or an auction type format. eBay’s business model not only generates revenue from the transactions between buyers and sellers, but also from payments through its third party payment system, PayPal.

 

Following Amazon and Ebay’s strategy, we set up 5 E-business key points to apply to « Green Companies » :

1. Let your customer help keep your website fresh : meaning allowing your customers to write their review and comments for exemple will help them having a second opinion about the product they’re going to purchase. It has a much bigger, behind-the-scenes benefit: It’s one of the most powerful methods of ensuring your website has a steady flow of fresh, unique, keyword content.

2. Win a long-tail key phrases : they bring in targeted traffic to your website, thereby boosting your conversion rates. It will also help your website appear in searches more general terms as your website gains more traffic and authority.

3. Make it easy to find things : keeping a website’s navigation simple is the single biggest thing you can do to make sure customers return. For exemple the « navigation bar » covers all of the categories and subcategories you’d need to find just about any product.

4. Personalize the experience in order to gain shoppers loyalty. It’s important to give the opportunity to the customer to personalize its product, give him suggestions based on previous orders and searches.

5. Anticipate customer’s questions : even if you have a customer service support via telephone, customer should be able to easily find the answer to the most common question of your website. Exemple the order and shipping confirmation email helps consumers trust in your company because it instill confidence.

To conclude, Amazon and eBay and Green companies are going to use E-business model differently regarding their mission statement. Amazon has some exclusive traits like its logistics and inventory capabilities whereas eBay is unique in its auction style retail offerings while the « Green Companies » are going to axe their mission towards customers awareness and visibility of their brand.