Ebuzz Indian Flower Plaza[1]

8/4/2019 Ebuzz Indian Flower Plaza[1]

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INTRODUCTION

E-business has touched almost all aspects of life over past few decades through various forms.

Organizations have now started integrating E-business in their structural and operational

framework for enhancing their business performance, productivity, connectivity and usability of

their lines of products and services. We have increasingly seen that there is massive usage of

internet technologies in our daily activities like shopping, banking and other forms of leisure. It

was a time few years back when customers had to visit the financial institutions frequently for

their banking and related transactions and the processes used to take a long time. The same

situation exist no more as the customers have a flexibility of carrying out their financial

transactions on the click of a button at their home internet or visit a local ATM counter to

withdraw the money. E-business has been the cause of such a dramatic revolution in the

industry. There are millions of customers who now rely on their online banking transactions

which have evolved due to the continuous development of E-business.

Information Communication Technology (ICT) a key reason that can be attributed behind the

success of E-business is a process where the business of the organizations are supported with

the integration of communication technology and various information related applications.

Commerce can be described as the continuous exchange of data and business related

information between the suppliers, customers, service providers, business entities and other

stakeholders of the corporate world. E-business can be advocated as a process which signals

the integration of commerce and Information Communication Technology (Beynon-Davies P,

2004). Organizations generally design their E-business model which suits their day to day

business operations in the best possible manner. A general E-business model tries to conveyinformation on the products and services provided by the organization, flow of communication

and the pattern of revenue generation with the help of customers, suppliers and related

stakeholders. Most prominent E-business practices are based on business-to-business,

business-to-customer and customer-to-business transactions and the website selected for this

project will be no exception (Paul Timmers, 2000). India flower plaza is one of the leading

services firm which is actively involved in sending various types of gifts from different locations

in the world to various destinations in India and thus help in extending and sharing emotions

and feelings with the near and dear ones (http://www.indiaflowerplaza.com).

REVIEW FROM JOURNALS

Integrating E-business systems at the overall organizational level helps the firm work with their

customers and suppliers in a better manner as there is synchronization with the internal and

external source of data thus making the business flow a smooth and efficient process. E-

business derived its platform in 1996 when the internet teams and the marketing teams started

working together (Louis Gerstner). E-business works through new business strategies focusing


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different functional domains and revolving around the usage of electronic medium. E-business

model has to be well designed in a rational manner as it will help the firm in implementing their

online business strategies which can take care of entire business execution thus enabling the

organization to enhance, monitor and regulate their business performance. E-business has now

become critically important in the volatile and dynamic market environments due to thefollowing reasons:

During the process of designing and implementing E-business model for the firm,organization can understand the involvement of different business elements in a specific

business domain and the kind of relationships that should be established among all the

concerned stakeholders (Morecroft, 1994).

A well regulated and formulated E-business model helps the management to interpretthe functioning of the organization in a proper manner and is then able to communicate

and share the business and corporate strategies with the involved stakeholders in an

ideal manner (Fensel, 2001).

E-business helps the organizations in adopting change with ease as the platform ofdiscussion can be easily built up on concrete business ideologies. The management and

their expert business team can bring a radical change in the organization by working in

an incremental manner on the previously designed E-business model (Petrovic et al.,

2001).

E-business helps the organization in capturing the key performance indicators and thiscan be compared regularly against a standard scorecard. This will enable the firm in

understanding their financial performance and the flow of profitability (Norton et al.,

1992).

E-business system has always enabled the organization in enhancing their business values for

their customers and stakeholders and this is achieved through proper understanding in the

relationship between the business environment and its business capabilities (Petrovic et al.,

2001). A typical E-business system for an organization revolves around the idea provided in the

screen shot below:


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Branding efforts shown in the E-business systems of the organization bring the following

benefits:

Processes related to production: This involves with getting new demands from thecustomers and enhancing the relationships with the suppliers, customers and the

payment gateways which bring revenue to the firm.

Processes focused on customers: This includes the sales and marketing strategies thatbrings in new customers along with the retention of the old customers, support to the

customers and the payment process for the customers and the suppliers.

Internal management process: This comprises of processes such as sharing ofinformation, managing the knowledge hub, efficient resourcing, enhancing the

productivity of the sales team, bringing in new standard and uniform policies andtraining of resources (Lallana, Quimbo, Andam, etal, 1997).

Online branding has now become an integral part of E-business systems of an organization. This

has happened due to the rapid expansion of internet technologies over past few years and

firms have now started relying on internet to expand their business and get in touch with the

customers and the suppliers. There are some researchers and market analysts who do not put

much emphasis on online branding as they find that the customers are have enough knowledge

on the brands of products before they take the decision of purchase. Customers are not found

spending time on analyzing the brands before they opt for the service as they have a pre-

occupied thoughts about the related products of a particular brand. The truth can still not be

denied that organizations are increasingly adopting different types of E-business strategies and

business models to generate a strong impact of their brands (Rowley, J, 2004). One of the

simplest examples of the importance of online branding can be shown with the compelling logo

of McDonalds that is displayed on their website. The logo has been designed as such that it can

be easily remembered by all the customers for a considerable period of time. E-business


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advocates the usage of different online applications through the website that makes the

customers exercise their transactions with ease. Organizations increase their online branding

efforts by putting unique forms where customers are free to post their queries and feedback

related to services obtained. It is often seen that customers keep on visiting the website of a

particular firm if appropriate brand image is created with the help of E-business concepts(Vassilopoulos et. al. 2001). The level of e-branding signifies the degree of acceptance of E-

business in the working structure of the organization. Online branding can be considered as a

tool used in enhancing the performance of the organization if the following steps are

implemented (Mitchell, Lori, 2000):

The business strategy that have to be implemented at the online level should be formedafter careful analysis of the strengths of the organization and the area of business which

has to be strongly branded as that will mean increased business and profitability.

The consumers which have to be targeted have to be properly identified. Names and logo that have to be used on the website should designate appropriate

meanings.

Competitors analysis has to be done in a perfect manner. Advertisement has to be done in the best possible way and there should not be any

compromise on the brand values.

Spend analysis has to be done on the required branding efforts. The look and feel of the website should signal the business carried out by the firms and

should carry all the necessary information on the things that have been promised to

deliver to the end customers.

Accurate collaborations and partnerships should be evolved as that supplements thebranding efforts carried out by the organization.

Social networking is another important aspect of E-business systems. It is very important for the

people to know the value and quality of brand of products that are provided by an organization.

The general aspect of networking can be easily implemented with the help of getting connected

through some of the best social networking websites like facebook, linkedin, orkut and twitter.

Creating specific blogs for a group of customers is also equally important to make the online

business attractive. It becomes very easy for the customers to relate to their age group and can

easily know the feedback of products and services with the help of blogs and the social

networking sites. It is seen that branding strategies are based around on several e-commerce

initiated marketing actions and some of them to mention are the affiliate marketing, marketing

done through blogs and networking portals, viral marketing, permissive marketing and different

forms of customized marketing so that the E-business systems of the organization can be

executed and implemented in an efficient manner (K.C. Laudon and C.G Traver, 2009).

Knowledge management and customization have become an integral part of strong E-business


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models for any organization. The diagram drawn below gives an idea on how knowledge

management and different types of creativity in form of customization can transform the

traditional old business to a new world business based on the concepts of E-business (Yogesh

Malhotra, Ph.D, 2000):

EVALUATION OF THE CONSIDERED WEBSITE

Branding is the process in E-business where organization tries to improve the quality and

variety of products and services supplied to the end customers and this helps in the creation of

a strong brand image. Organizations are able to derive optimal business values out of their

branding efforts when there is no dilution in the quality of their products and services (Leslie de

Chernantony and Malcolm McDonald, 1992). Indiaflowerplaza will now be evaluated in the


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perspective of their E-business systems which will be branding, customizations and social

networking so that it becomes easier to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Customer perception: This is perhaps the most important part of the branding efforts for any

organization as a strong customer perception keeps them coming back to the firms website

and does a re-purchase and also helps the firm in creating an ideal brand image through good

words of mouth. A strong customer perception can be created by having a first look and feel of

the companys website. On analyzing the organization considered for this project, it is seen that

the company has a simple and eye catching logo in the form of a sunflower which means that

the main business of the company is to send all types of good and aromatic flowers as gifts to

the near and dear ones. Indiaflowerplaza provides a large range of flowers that can be send as

gifts to multiple and easily accessible locations in India. It is equally important for the customers

to have a nice experience before they end up having a strong perception about the company.

On further analysis it is found that the company has a separate link for the customers to blog

their experience as suggestions and testimonials. These links can be easily used as reference by

the new customers before they order their first purchase on the website of Indiaflowerplaza.

Value addition: This is another of the important initiative in the branding efforts of the

organization whose business revolves around E-business. Value addition can be measured with

the kind of extra services that can be provided along with the normal catalog of products.

Certain value additions can be done with services like delivering the order in accurate time,

allowing the customers to place customized orders and giving the customers new product and


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service offerings at a regular interval of time. On analyzing the website of Indiaflowerplaza it is

seen that all these value addition services are provided. They provide the delivery of the gift

products within a day of notice and customers end up giving positive review about their

experiences at the testimonial link available at the lower end of the website. The company has

also provided a specific link for providing customized orders to their customers. The screen shotprovided below gives an idea on the customization process of Indiaflowerplaza:

Sustainability of value addition: It is analyzed above that Indiaflowerplaza provides a variety of

value additive services along with the normal delivery of gift products. But it is more important

to create sustainability in the derived business values as that helps in the creation of a strong

brand image for the organization. Indiaflowerplaza has consistently expanded their business

locations in India which is evidence to their ability in creating sustainability to the business

values. The diagram provided below gives an idea on how well they are expanding their

business to various locations in India without compromising on the variety and quality of the

gift products:


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Customization: There is no doubt that Indiaflowerplaza has used a lot of customization in their

website so that they can achieve multiple business strategies and provide better service to the

end customers. The firm has been successful in designing accurate frame of pictures for all their

catalog of products. They have used the customization concepts and created different product

lines under Category. The firm has also included separate tabs for Special Offers and

Occasions so that the gift sending process becomes memorable for both the sender and

receiver. The screen shot provided below gives an idea on how Indiaflowerplaza has used

customization while providing services like gift combinations and gift hampers:


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Social networking: Nowadays social networking is considered to be an important E-business

practice as it helps the organizations in creating a brand image with the help of social

networking sites and blogs. It is earlier evaluated that customer perception is one of the critical

branding exercise for any company which adopts E-business systems at their operational and

structural framework. Organizations end up storing their long lists of customer feedback ondetailed blogs available on the website itself or on specific social groups for all the different age

groups of the customers and some the most prominent social websites are facebook, linkedin,

orkut and twitter. Indiaflowerplaza has done very little efforts on creating business strategies

that would enhance the social networking and thus help in strengthening the image of the

company at a local and international level. This can be a reason where the company is found to

be expanding the business only at the local level and not at an international platform. The

company has done a minimal effort by creating separate page which stores the testimonials of

some of the customers at a given period of time. However that does not reflect the opinions of

all the customers hailing to different age groups. The testimonial page can be shown in the

screen shot given below and that primarily consists of messages on good experiences

encountered by the customers:


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E-business model: There is different revenue model exercised while implementing E-business

systems for an organization and some of the important ones are as follows (K.C Laudon, C.G

Traver, 2009):

Sales revenue E-business model Affiliate revenue E-business model Subscription revenue E-business model Advertising revenue E-business model Transaction fee E-business model

Sales revenue model is one of the most common E-business model and the organizations

engage in direct sales to their customers with the help of e-commerce applications integrated

in their website. Some of the common examples in this category are Amazon and E-bay (K.C

Laudon, C.G Traver, 2009). On analyzing Indiaflowerplaza it is found that the firm is engaging in

sales revenue model to drive their E-business systems. The company is having a large range ofproducts across various categories and market segments and makes it available to the

customers when online or offline payments are done by them. The diagram provided below

shows the payment mode for any customer transaction:


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CONCLUSION

It can now be realized that Indiaflowerplaza has well integrated E-business systems at their

operational level. The company has evaluated their business planning and product offerings

before making a decision on what kind of E-business model have to be designed at the

architectural level (Petrovic et al., 2001). The transaction model of Indiaflowerplaza shows that

the existing business capabilities and the business processes are well integrated with E-businessconcepts such as customization and branding. There is still much of opportunity left for the

company to expand their base of the business at the national and international level. The

company has tried its best in differentiating itself from the local competitors by offering a large

range of gift products in each of the market segments. The company has tried venturing into

new forms of product offerings based around its original business strategy of delivering

beautiful and scented flowers. However the key disadvantage is that the firm has not worked

much on developing a sense of community for different groups of customers. The company has

tried to work on social networking part with the creation of a testimonial link where the good

experiences of the customers are shared. However this will not serve the purpose of enhancing

the brand image through a good word of mouth. Customers develop a strong loyalty to the

companys brand when they get a common and large platform to share their opinions after

availing the services. There is ample evidence of use of customization techniques and adoption

of sales revenue E-business model. Indiaflowerplaza has done a thorough research while

integrating E-business systems at the organizational level and that reflects in the growth of the

company over a short span of time.


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RECOMMENDATIONS

Product reviews: There should be a separate link on the product reviews so that thecustomers experiences on the variety of products offered by Indiaflowerplaza can be

shared.

Customer retention: Company should work on retaining the old customers throughvarious award and bonus schemes as this will create increased loyalty for all the groups

of customers.

Social networking: Indiaflowerplaza should create integration with various leadingsocial networking sites so that customers can segment themselves and blog their

suggestions and feedback. The company can also think on creation of chat rooms or

personalized windows that could enhance networking between all the stakeholders.

Performance history: This is another important aspect which holds values for all theconcerned stakeholders of the company and this is completely missing on the website.

Indiaflowerplaza should work on putting the financial performance on their website.

REFERENCES

1. Beynon-Davies P. (2004). E-Business. Palgrave, Basingstoke.2. Paul Timmers, (2000), Electronic Commerce - strategies & models for business-to-

business trading, pp.31, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

3. Who says elephants cant dance, Louis Gerstner, former CEO, IBM, 19964. Morecroft, J.D. (1994) Executive Knowledge, Models, and Learning. In Morecroft, J.D.;

and Sternman, J.D.(editors) Modeling for Learning Organizations, pp. 3-28, Portland :

Productivity Press.5. Fensel, D. (2001) Ontologies: Silver Bullet for Knowledge Management and Electronic

Commerce, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

6. Peterovic, O., Kittl, C., Teksten, R.D. (2001) Developing Business Models for eBusiness,International Conference on Electronic Commerce 2001, Vienna, October 31.

November 4.

7. Norton D., Kaplan, R. (1992) the balanced scorecard: measures that drive performance,Harvard Business review, 70 (1).

8. Lallana, Quimbo, Andam, 4. Cf. Ravi Kalakota and Andrew B. Whinston, ElectronicCommerce: A Managers Guide (USA: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1997), 19-20

9.

Rowley, J. (2004), Online branding: the case of McDonalds, British Food Journal, Vol. 106 No. 3, pp. 228-37, ISSN: 0007-070X.

10.VASSILOPOULOU, K., KEELING, K.A., MACAULAY, L.A. and MCGOLDRICK, P.J., 2001,Measuring purchasing intentions for Internet retail sites against usability attributes. In

Human Computer InteractionInteract 01, M. Hirose (Ed.), pp. 76 83 (Amsterdam:

IOS Press).

11.Mitchell, Lori. "Branding equals smart e-business." InfoWorld 22, no. 51 (December 18,2000): 47. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed May 17, 2010)


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12.E-commerce, business technology society 5th edition, K.C Lauden and C.G Traver, 200913.Information Strategy: The Executive's Journal, Yogesh Malhotra, vol. 16(4), Summer

2000, pp. 5-16

14.E-Commerce Business Technology Society, 5th Edition, 2009, K.C Laudon, C.G Traver15.

Ebuzz Indian Flower Plaza[1]

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