E-Commerce Business Model

E-Commerce Model for the Sites

The e-commerce business model that has been chosen for one of these sites is Business to Business Model (B2B). B2B is the e-commerce model in which an e-application, such as a website or a mobile application is designed to allow one company to avail the services provided by the other company (Cullen and Webster 2007). The second company is deisgned on the basis of the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) model. According to this e-commerce model, a business unit provides services, products, and solutions to the consumers using web-based portals, such as websites, web applications, mobile applications, etc. (Singh 2002).

Business to Business (B2B) model is followed and is implemented on the web site of the Azure Group. The group has managed to serve the needs and requirements of the Australian and international companies. The services that are provided to the business firms are listed in the categories as Tax & Accounting, Strategy & Advisory, Wealth, Invest, Tech Business, Private & Family Business, and International (Azuregroup 2018).

The website of the Azure Group provides a mechanism to allow the other business companies to contact the business executives of Azure Group through the Contact Us page and place their respective queries through the site.

BDO Australia follows the B2C e-commerce model as it lists out the services that it provides to the consumers on the website in the categories as audit and assurance, tax, advisory, and business services. The sub-services and sub-categories under each of these four service categories are also listed and the specific details of these categories and services can be accessed from the site (Bdo 2018).

The website also provides a mechanism to allow the consumers to contact the business executives through the Contact Us page and place their respective queries through the site.

The primary goal of the website is to serve the complex financial needs of other business firms in the categories as Tax & Accounting, Strategy & Advisory, Wealth, Invest, Tech Business, Private & Family Business, and International. The company also aspires to provide the financial services and solution securely.

The aim of the website is to earn maximum customer satisfaction and engagement rate by providing rich user experience.  

The primary goal of the website is to provide financial services and solution details to the consumers in the categories as audit and assurance, tax, advisory, and business services.

The website also aims to enhance its visual appeal and provide rich user experience to the users.

Sr. No	Attribute	Rating on Scale of 5 1 – Very Poor 2 – Poor 3 – Inapplicable 4 – Good 5 – Very Good	Comment(s)
1	Relation of website URL to the Business Name	5	https://www.azuregroup.com.au/
2	Ease of finding the website on the search engines	5	Can be easily founded
3	Availability of the organizational information on the site	4	Organization history, culture, values, partners, team, alumni, etc. is included. Mission statement is missing
4	Appropriateness of requirements to provide a user’s (personal or sensitive) information	5	Not publically accessible
5	Reassurance on information security	4	Use of security protocols and preservation of Intellectual Property Rights
6	Fostering of user trust in the organization	4	Detailed organization information with the option to subscribe to newsletters and contact the organization in case of any query
7	Addressing of legal issues	4	Legal & Privacy Information – Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and the option to the users to submit their legal query – Right to Information
8	Accessibility Needs of the Users	4	Accessible on web and mobile platforms
9	Addressing of Language or Cultural Needs of the Users	2	No option to change language
10	Product Information	5	Detailed product information is included
11	Customisation on the site	1	No option to customize on the site
12	Personalization	1	No option to personalize on the site
13	Channels for User services/support	4	Email, phone, and social media. Absence of an online chat service
14	Ease of finding information	1	Absence of search functionality
15	Readability of the information	4	Text is easily readable
16	Ease of Navigation	4	Smooth navigation
17	Website Aesthetics	4	Consistent layout and use of good color tone and scheme
18	Fostering of community among the users	3	Not applicable
19	Loading of the Website in to the browser	4	Quick loading of the site
20	Platform-independence	4	Can be accessed on web and mobile platforms
21	Payment Options	3	Not applicable
22	Delivery Options	3	Not Applicable

Sr. No	Attribute	Rating on Scale of 5 1 – Very Poor 2 – Poor 3 – Inapplicable 4 – Good 5 – Very Good	Comment(s)
1	Relation of website URL to the Business Name	5	https://www.azuregroup.com.au/
2	Ease of finding the website on the search engines	5	Can be easily founded
3	Availability of the organizational information on the site	5	Detailed organizational information on the company history, clients, leadership team, offices, people and values
4	Appropriateness of requirements to provide a user’s (personal or sensitive) information	5	Not publically accessible
5	Reassurance on information security	4	Use of security protocols and preservation of Intellectual Property Rights
6	Fostering of user trust in the organization	5	Detailed organization information with the option to subscribe to newsletters and contact the organization in case of any query. The user can also select the enquiry type for quicker resolution
7	Addressing of legal issues	4	Legal & Privacy Information – Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and the option to the users to submit their legal query – Right to Information
8	Accessibility Needs of the Users	4	Accessible on web and mobile platforms
9	Addressing of Language or Cultural Needs of the Users	2	No option to change language
10	Product Information	5	Detailed product information is included
11	Customisation on the site	4	The users can switch to high contrast mode on the site
12	Personalization	4	The users can switch to high contrast mode on the site
13	Channels for User services/support	4	Email, phone, and social media. Request for Proposal (RFP) can be submitted and job alerts can be set up
14	Ease of finding information	5	Search functionality is implemented on the site. Sorting and filtration options are also included
15	Readability of the information	4	Text is easily readable
16	Ease of Navigation	4	Smooth navigation
17	Website Aesthetics	4	Consistent layout and use of good color tone and scheme
18	Fostering of community among the users	3	Not applicable
19	Loading of the Website in to the browser	4	Quick loading of the site
20	Platform-independence	4	Can be accessed on web and mobile platforms
21	Payment Options	3	Not applicable
22	Delivery Options	3	Not Applicable

The domain of both the sites is the same as these have been designed to offer financial accounting services in the Australian market. There are also similarities in the user experience and design of the website on the following attributes.

• Relation of website URL to the Business Name
• Ease of finding the website on the search engines
• Appropriateness of requirements to provide a user’s (personal or sensitive) information
• Reassurance on information security
• Addressing of legal issues
• Accessibility Needs of the Users
• Addressing of Language or Cultural Needs of the Users
• Product Information
• Channels for User services/support
• Readability of the information
• Ease of Navigation
• Website Aesthetics
• Fostering of community among the users
• Loading of the Website in to the browser
• Platform-independence
• Payment Options
• Delivery Options

There are however certain elements that distinguish the two websites from each other. The primary factor is the availability of the organization information on the site. The users expect a website of a company to include detailed information about the organization right on the site to prevent the users to look through the other sources for information identification. Organization history, culture, values, partners, team, alumni, etc. is included on the website of Azure Group while the mission statement is missing (Kimball 2013). The website that is designed for BDO Australia includes detailed organizational information on the company history, clients, leadership team, offices, people and values, along with global network.

Principal Business Goal(s)

Right to Information is included in the legal and privacy policies section of BDO Australia which is missing on the website of Azure Group. The users may want to ask and enquire the business executives on the legal policies and regulatory standards that the company uses. Such information can be easily accessed and obtained on the website of BDO Australia.

There are certain customization and personalization options that a user seeks on the e-commerce sites. Azure Group does not offer the users with any such options of customization and personalization; however, switching to the high contrast mode is provided on the site of BDO Australia. This feature would lead to the enhancement of user experience of the users in the latter case (Becker 2015).

Another major point of difference in the two sites is search functionality. It is one of the basic functionalities that shall be present on the sites to allow the users to search for specific product or service through the site. This basic functionality is not included on the website of Azure Group. However, BDO Australia provides the search functionality to the users to allow them to search for specific contents and information on the site. The search functionality that is implemented also allows the users to reset, sort, and filter the search results (Rosen and Purinton 2004).

The website that is designed for BDO Australia is likely to be more successful than the site implemented for the Azure Group. This is because of the points of differences that have been described in the section above. The two sites differ from each other in terms of availability of organizational information, search functionality, customization, personalization, and fostering of user trust in the organization.

These extra features provided by BDO Australia will lead to the enhancement in the user experience and visual appeal of the site. The users will be able to connect better and hence, the probable success rate of the site of BDO Australia is higher than the Azure Group. Also, the social media integration present in case of the site of BDO Australia is better than the Azure Group. The users are active on the social media platforms and expect stronger social media integration levels on the site.

As a result, it has been evaluated and assessed that the website of BDO Australia will be more successful as compared to Azure Group.

References

Azuregroup. 2018. “Business, Financial, Outsourced Accounting Services In Sydney, Australia”. Azuregroup.Com.Au. https://www.azuregroup.com.au/.

Bdo. 2018. “BDO Australia”. Bdo.Com.Au. https://www.bdo.com.au/en-au/home.

Becker, Danielle A. 2015. “Best Practices Of Library Mobile Website Design: A Literature Review”. College & Undergraduate Libraries 22 (2): 167-187. doi:10.1080/10691316.2014.877736.

Cullen, Andrea J., and Margaret Webster. 2007. “A Model Of B2B Eâ€ÂCommerce, Based On Connectivity And Purpose”. International Journal Of Operations & Production Management 27 (2): 205-225. doi:10.1108/01443570710720621.

Kimball, Miles A. 2013. “Visual Design Principles: An Empirical Study Of Design Lore”. Journal Of Technical Writing And Communication 43 (1): 3-41. doi:10.2190/tw.43.1.b.

Rosen, Deborah E., and Elizabeth Purinton. 2004. “Website Design”. Journal Of Business Research 57 (7): 787-794. doi:10.1016/s0148-2963(02)00353-3.

Singh, Mohini. 2002. “Eâ€ÂServices And Their Role In B2C Eâ€ÂCommerce”. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal 12 (6): 434-446. doi:10.1108/09604520210451911