Amazon: ECommerce Operations, Project Plan, And Risk Mitigation

About Amazon

Amazon is an electronic commerce website based in Seattle, Washington. Amazon previously sold only books. However, they now sell beauty products, make-up products, health and personal care items. They sell electronics goods as well. They offer lighting deals, offers and discounts to the customers. Both the individual retailers and the retailers use the Amazon platform to sell their products. Their delivery process is fast, smooth and convenient. They also initiated same day delivery. Moreover, Amazon has an excellent return policy. Amazon has the market all over the world, not limited to only Australia only. The report explains the ecommerce operations conducted by Amazon. The project report also elaborates the probable risks that Amazon faces and the methods by which they can mitigate those risks. 

WBS	Task Name	Duration	Start Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Finish
0	Amazon eCommerce Activity	239 days	Mon 02-04-18	Thu 28-02-19
1	Requirement Analysis	31 days	Mon 02-04-18	Mon 14-05-18
2	Amazon Website Design	125 days	Fri 04-05-18	Thu 25-10-18
3	Amazon Website Implementation	47 days	Fri 26-10-18	Mon 31-12-18
4	Amazon eCommerce Workings	11 days	Tue 01-01-19	Tue 15-01-19
5	Review of Customers	10 days	Fri 09-11-18	Thu 22-11-18
6	Employees Training	38 days	Tue 20-11-18	Thu 10-01-19
7	Maintenance of Amazon Website	14 days	Fri 11-01-19	Wed 30-01-19
8	Marketing	14 days	Thu 31-01-19	Tue 19-02-19
9	Project Closure	14 days	Mon 11-02-19	Thu 28-02-19

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Predecessors
Amazon eCommerce Activity	239 days	Mon 02-04-18	Thu 28-02-19
Requirement Analysis	31 days	Mon 02-04-18	Mon 14-05-18
Analysis of Project Stakeholders	7 days	Mon 02-04-18	Tue 10-04-18
Cost Benefit Analysis	10 days	Wed 11-04-18	Tue 24-04-18	2
Technical Analysis	10 days	Wed 11-04-18	Tue 24-04-18	2
Business Operations Analysis	7 days	Wed 25-04-18	Thu 03-05-18	2,3,4
Assess Project Risks	7 days	Fri 04-05-18	Mon 14-05-18	3,4,5
Amazon Website Design	125 days	Fri 04-05-18	Thu 25-10-18
Webpage Design Layout	5 days	Fri 04-05-18	Thu 10-05-18	4,5
Designing Homepage	20 days	Fri 11-05-18	Thu 07-06-18	8
Designing Database	30 days	Fri 08-06-18	Thu 19-07-18	8,9
Featuring Design	15 days	Fri 20-07-18	Thu 09-08-18	8,9,10
Module Design	15 days	Fri 10-08-18	Thu 30-08-18	11
Developing Payment Gateway	14 days	Fri 31-08-18	Wed 19-09-18	12
Developing Admin Control Panel	12 days	Fri 31-08-18	Mon 17-09-18	12
Listing Project Category	20 days	Fri 31-08-18	Thu 27-09-18	12
Detailed List of Items	20 days	Fri 28-09-18	Thu 25-10-18	15
Amazon Website Implementation	47 days	Fri 26-10-18	Mon 31-12-18
Website Domain and Hosting	10 days	Fri 26-10-18	Thu 08-11-18	16
Website Deploying	7 days	Fri 09-11-18	Mon 19-11-18	18
Website Testing	30 days	Tue 20-11-18	Mon 31-12-18	19
Amazon eCommerce Workings	11 days	Tue 01-01-19	Tue 15-01-19
Amazon Homepage	6 days	Tue 01-01-19	Tue 08-01-19
Catalogue	2 days	Tue 01-01-19	Wed 02-01-19
Product Image	2 days	Tue 01-01-19	Wed 02-01-19	20
Product Title	2 days	Tue 01-01-19	Wed 02-01-19	20
Product Details	4 days	Thu 03-01-19	Tue 08-01-19
Product Price	2 days	Thu 03-01-19	Fri 04-01-19	24,25
Product Description	2 days	Mon 07-01-19	Tue 08-01-19	24,25,27
Shopping Cart	5 days	Wed 09-01-19	Tue 15-01-19
Checkout	4 days	Wed 09-01-19	Mon 14-01-19
Customer Register	2 days	Wed 09-01-19	Thu 10-01-19	28
Customer Login	2 days	Fri 11-01-19	Mon 14-01-19	31
Payment Process	1 day	Tue 15-01-19	Tue 15-01-19
Bank Card Payment	1 day	Tue 15-01-19	Tue 15-01-19	28,32
Pay-On-Delivery	1 day	Tue 15-01-19	Tue 15-01-19	28,32
Review of Customers	10 days	Fri 09-11-18	Thu 22-11-18
Customers’ Ratings and Feedback	10 days	Fri 09-11-18	Thu 22-11-18	18
Questionnaire Survey to know the user-friendliness of Amazon website	10 days	Fri 09-11-18	Thu 22-11-18	18
Employees Training	38 days	Tue 20-11-18	Thu 10-01-19
Admin Staffs’ Training	10 days	Tue 20-11-18	Mon 03-12-18	18,19
Subordinates’ Training	14 days	Tue 04-12-18	Fri 21-12-18	40
Stakeholders’ Training	14 days	Mon 24-12-18	Thu 10-01-19	41
Maintenance of Amazon Website	14 days	Fri 11-01-19	Wed 30-01-19
Data Analysis	14 days	Fri 11-01-19	Wed 30-01-19	16,38,40,41,42,37
Marketing	14 days	Thu 31-01-19	Tue 19-02-19
Marketing via Social Media	7 days	Thu 31-01-19	Fri 08-02-19	44
Collaboration with Major Ecommerce sites and marketing	7 days	Mon 11-02-19	Tue 19-02-19	46
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)	7 days	Thu 31-01-19	Fri 08-02-19	44
Project Closure	14 days	Mon 11-02-19	Thu 28-02-19
Project Handover to Client	5 days	Mon 11-02-19	Fri 15-02-19	18,46
Client’s Agreement	5 days	Mon 18-02-19	Fri 22-02-19	50
Preparation of Documentation	4 days	Mon 25-02-19	Thu 28-02-19	51
Resource Release	3 days	Mon 25-02-19	Wed 27-02-19	51

IT Manager and the Director of Sales will participate in the interview. A set of questionnaires will be asked to the customers and the clients of Amazon. Their feedback will be recorded. Both the positive and the negative feedback of the customers will help them to conduct the business activities well. They can serve their customers well.   

The project plan contains the timeline schedule of the project activities related to the project. The Amazon ecommerce activity project plan explains the main deliverables like the requirement analysis, Amazon website design, Amazon website implementation, customers’ reviews, employees training, maintenance of the website and lastly the marketing of the products through Amazon website. The deliverables illustrate how Amazon designs the website and conduct the ecommerce activities (Zhang et al. 2015). The business clients and the users can get an overview how Amazon works. The users can acknowledge the project priorities. They can be to know the activities which Amazon conducts one after another.

The project plan illustrates the project deliverables in details. First of all, the project stakeholders are analysed. Then the cost-benefit analysis of the project is assessed. After that, the technical analysis and the risk analysis are conducted. After completion of the project requirements analysis, the website is designed. The database is setup and is incorporated into the website. The IT department and the software developers setup the website. The database developers setup the database. The sellers those who want to use Amazon to sell their items sell through Amazon website online. The interested customers purchase the items according to their choices. In the Amazon ecommerce website, all the products are listed. The website shows the product price and the product description. Amazon checks the stock availability and updates the website (Eissa, El-Sharkawi and Mokhtar 2016). If any customer wants to purchase any item which is not available, Amazon will alert him or her with the message that the product is currently available. If the product is available, the customer can add that item to the cart. The customers have the option to buy items through two payment modes, either by pay-per-delivery or by bank cards.

eCommerce Operations and Activities

The project plan also explains the three options by which Amazon carry out the marketing procedure. Amazon conducts marketing by Search Engine Optimisation and by collaborating with major ecommerce sites. However, the website has security flaws; the intruders can take advantage of that and can make the website vulnerable to use. 

• How do the sellers can sell their products in cheap, affordable and smart way via Amazon Website?
• What are the risks the users can face while shopping from Amazon Website?
• What are the security issues that are associatedwith the Amazon ecommerce operations?

1. ResearchThe research data for this report will be collectedin the form of questionnaires and interview. The Sales Director, as well as the IT Manager, will give their responses or feedback. The feedback will be collected from the customers and the sellers as well (Kumar and Qureshi 2017). Qualitative data analysis will be conducted for this project report. The data analysis help to acknowledge how the security issues related to Amazon ecommerce activities can be mitigated.  The sellers will be able to know how they can sell the products affordable and smartly such that both the sellers can earn more profits and can satisfy the customers.

The IT Manager will be asked the following questions-

• What are the challenges Amazon users will face while shopping?
• What are the cyber security issues associated with the Amazon ecommerce activities? How do the IT Team will manage the issues?

Director of Sales will be asked the following questions-

• How will the Sales Team enhance the productivity of the company?
• What will be strategies the Director will take to compete against the rivals? 

The customer first orders an item. Amazon receives the order and checks stock levels from the sellers. If the stock is not available, Amazon requests the customer to change the order or to choose different seller. If the stock is available, then Amazon packs the item and delivers it to the customer.

The ordering and shipping process of product items can be improvised. Amazon can create a section called Warehouse. The ordering process and the shipping process are carried out via Amazon Warehouse. Therefore, the Sales Representative Team of Amazon eCommerce can request the Warehouse to pack product item and then deliver it to the customer.

The researchers will forward the data analysis results to Amazon’s top management (CEO). The primary objective of the top management (CEO) is to analyse the risks the customers of Amazon are facing and mitigate them. The data analysis will assist Amazon to know the risks the users are facing.

The CEO must undertake suitable processes so that the customers can carry out online shopping on Amazon safe and securely without any hassle. The customers are always feared of online shopping. They worry whether they will get the right product or not. They are also concerned if they are not satisfied with the product they can return the product or not. Amazon should make deliver products on time. They should make the return policies smooth so they customers can trust Amazon. Amazon must reduce the revenues which the sellers pay them. The sellers can be able to reduce the prices of the products. Both the sellers and Amazon can increase the customer base and can earn huge profit. Also, Amazon must install an antivirus program, along with that they must implement a firewall. Amazon must update the antivirus program on a daily basis; it will facilitate both the users and the sellers.

The project scope includes the analysis of risks the sellers and the customers are currently dealing with. The project scope also includes the mitigation of all the risks related to product shipment, product delivery, and return policy and cybersecurity.

The top management is recommended to hire the skilled workforce who will follow the policies of Amazon and will work ethically and efficiently. The workforce must be able to serve customers well and must satisfy them. The CEO must conduct all their duties timely without any delay. The CEO will have to keep in mind the cybersecurity issues. It is his responsibility to assure safety and security of the database and the system. In this way, the customers and the employees can carry out the ecommerce activities safely, securely and efficiently without any hassle. 

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the above discourse that the top management by following the recommendations properly can solve the customers’ problems. Amazon can also mitigate the cybersecurity risks by installing an antivirus program. The fact-finding section showcases how the customers can purchase product items at an affordable price. The fact-finding section demonstrates the risks the customers face while conducting shopping via Amazon eCommerce website. The project report also prepares a project plan. The project plan contains the list of activities Amazon performs. 

References

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Vaidya, N. and Khachane, A.R., 2017, July. Recommender systems-the need of the ecommerce ERA. In Computing Methodologies and Communication (ICCMC), 2017 International Conference on (pp. 100-104). IEEE.

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