E- Commerce

MIDDLE EAST COLLEGE

E-COMMERCE

 College Entrepreneurs: 6 Business Ideas that Students Can Launch

Now is a good time for college bound students, or those already in college, to start a business. In fact, I almost consider it a must. There is no better way to promote your business other than having a good website. Use one of these ideas, some of these may work better than others, or may not work at all, but you have to choose wisely, which of these have more potential for a good website. So choose wisely.

In addition to reviewing the 06 ideas, take note quick tips for creating a business website success:

1.     Innovation is good but it can also be overrated. Don’t feel like you have to come up with the next Dell, Facebook, Microsoft or Google to launch.

2.     Take advantage of every possible resource and opportunity you can access that will improve your business.

6 start-up ideas:

1.     Travel Booking Website – Travel booking websites sell a range of travel products which include discounted flight and cruise tickets, and also travel packages. Most often, visitors will use your website to search discounted deals on hotels, accommodation and flight. All bookings are then handled and forwarded to the corresponding travel partner, while your website which is regarded as an affiliate earns in the form of per-click and per-booking earnings. Your profit grows with traffic.

2.     E-Book Author and Publisher – Due to the increase in digital reading devices, eBooks have become popular, and has had many authors capitalizing on eBook sales. Publishing an eBook has more benefits when compared to traditional printed books, especially as publishing costs are at the barest minimum, and there are no shipping costs. However, to succeed in this business you have to pick a niche that will make readers want to buy your book, it could be in areas such as self-helps, religion, fiction, or even poems.

3.     Automotive Parts and Accessories Business – The automotive parts and accessories retail segment offers a huge market due to the huge number of automobiles that ply the roads. Any entrepreneur venturing into this business will have carved out a share of the marker that will guarantee huge sales for themselves online. This business idea is also full of niches and sub-categories for any e-commerce entrepreneur to find a significant amount of opportunity to thrive in. All you would need is to find the niche that interests you and that which you have a knowledge or passion for; you could specialize in selling steering wheel covers, or in unique accessories for certain cars or models.

4.     Consumer Electronics and Accessories Business – This is one of the most popular categories in the ecommerce business in general. According to a researched report, consumer electronics sales grew about 13 percent during the holiday season. The truth about this business though is that it is a mass market already dominated by the big competing businesses, such as Amazon and the rest, and it might be hard going head-to-head with such businesses. However, the trick is in finding a unique niche by offering unique items that aren’t offered by the bigger retailers. You could go into selling used video games, GPS-enabled dog collars, or unique phone or tablet cases. The bottom line is if you think hard enough, you would always find a niche you would make money from.

5.     Jewelry and Accessories Business – As a new entrant in the jewelry e-commerce business, you could follow the theme of retailing hard-to-find or unique accessories which might include handmade jewelry from new and upcoming designers, vintage items found at auctions or private collections, or designs made from unique materials. You could also consider going into the niche of renting out your expensive jewelry for special occasions.

6.     Apparel and Accessories Business – This includes clothes, belts, ties, gloves and even hats, and is regarded as a broad category with a large significant number of opportunities for new businesses. You can offer unique or rare products that are not readily available in most of the competing stores online. Also, some apparel niches have few or weak competition. For example, you could go into business with team apparel suppliers, especially those that deal in uniforms for high school

students, or t-shirts. This is just one of the niches out of a thousand of others you as an entrepreneur can go into.

Selecting any business related to the business ideas given, analyze any one (that suits the best to the business) of the four e-commerce models, evaluate any model (choose ANY out of the following models) e-commerce organization on the following points:

o Web site’s design (appearance) o Revenue model

o Payment methods o Personalization o Customization

o  Global reach and propose relevant improvement solutions.

Provide the following information in the report:

1.     Description of the selected e-commerce organization.

2.     Advantages of e-commerce models towards the selected organization

3.     Analysis of the selected e-commerce based organization in terms of its web site design (Appearance), revenue model, personalization, customization and the global reach.

4.     Recommend solutions (3- 4 suggestions) to improve the selected e-commerce model for the selected organization.

5.     Conclusion.

6.     Reflection on the Research papers given.

ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES:

This assessment is designed to assess students’ ability to:

^§        Produce a concise critique of academic literature

^§       Demonstrate systematic understanding of the core concepts of business models and critical awareness of factors which give rise to the need for a more strategic approach to the models

^§        Conduct a critical appraisal of the organizational examples in relation to their business environment and apply the strategic concepts (tools and techniques) towards developing and formulating in-

depth analysis of situations that will generate effective internet decisions and strategies

^§        Apply a disciplined approach to the analysis of e-commerce models and their solutions in terms of appropriate strategy development

^§  Assess a range of contemporary developments in e-commerce and the application

^§    Draw appropriate conclusions to e-commerce -based issues in a creative manner

^§        Use of CU Harvard referencing style to cite and reference academic sources

^§        State the number of words used at the end of the assignment. You may include diagrams, figures, appendices etc.

ESSAY REQUIREMENTS

A written essay must be compiled in a suitable format that must incorporate the following:

A clear and concise outline of the e-commerce models using Rappa models on the web. Generation of conclusions that draw upon both theoretical and practical aspects

Use of appropriate terminology that will indicate a thorough understanding of E-Commerce

Suitable referencing of the materials used to support arguments put forward that will indicate competence in the academic issues discussed

Evidence to suggest a more in-depth understanding of the concepts and e-commerce business models being reviewed and their practical applications

Written content and structure that will demonstrate practical benefits being derived from the module, reading lists and research required for the assignment

A wide range of contemporary and authentic online and/or physical collection sources used and cited.

Full referencing of material and sources cited that incorporate the CU Harvard Referencing System.

Students are asked to provide at least 15 academic references.

DESCRIPTION OF TASKS

The mark allocation for the assignment will be as follows:

Task 1:

Submit a work proposal for this assignment by the end of week 6^th which must include:

Understanding of deliverables – a detail description of deliverables

General overview of proposed plan - initial understanding of solution to all tasks

Resources identified                                                                              

The work proposal must be submitted in a word file through the link available in Moodle.

TASK2: Description of the selected e-commerce based organization.      

Expectation: Description of the organization included the name, type of business, vision and mission and designing your own logo for the startup. The data and information provided by the selected organization are accurate and relevant.

TASK3: A two- three pages write up describing the advantages of electronic commerce towards the

selected organization.

Expectation: Six advantages of e-commerce for the chosen idea are described. The literature is well supported with 5 or more in- text referencing and in text citations.

TASK4: Analysis of the selected organization in terms of its web site design (appearance), revenue model,

payment methods, personalization, customization and global reach

Expectation: The analysis was comprehensive and covered 4 of the mentioned areas. The literature is well supported with 2 or more in- text referencing and in text citations.

TASK5: Reflection on Article 1.                                                               

Expectation: Carefully read the paper Ming‐Yen Teoh, W., Choy Chong, S., Lin, B. and Wei Chua, J. (2013)

"Factors Affecting Consumers’ Perception of Electronic Payment: An Empirical Analysis". Internet Research 23 (4), 465-485. Write a reflection on the significant relationship between benefit and consumers’ perception towards e-payment. The literature is well supported with 2 or more in- text referencing and in text citations.

TASK6: Reflection on Article 2.                                                               

Expectation: Carefully read the paper Stott, R., Stone, M. and Fae, J. (2016) "Business Models in the Business-To-Business and Business-To-Consumer Worlds – What Can Each World Learn From The Other?". Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 31 (8), 943-954. Write a reflection on the chosen organization in reference to the given article. The literature is well supported with 2 or more in- text referencing and in text citations.

TASK7: Format & referencing                                                                 

Expectation: Total compliance of the academic report writing format. At least 15 credible resources are required.

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