Assignment Brief Overview
Parcel2Go.com: Online Business of the Year 2010 Award Honoured at Fast Growth Business
“Parcel2Go.com is one of the largest parcel delivery companies in the UK, operating through passing on the savings of long term contracts and bulk space purchases with established couriers to offer small to medium enterprises a cost-effective courier service. The judges were impressed with the consistently strong growth firm, with revenues now up to £9m-a-year. Chief executive and founder Fil Adams-Mercer has grown the business into Britain’s biggest independent online parcel delivery” (Source https://www.growingbusiness.co.uk/online-business-of-the-year.html. Accessed 23 May 2010). Website www.parcel2go.com
• Understand the impact of e-commerce (Learning Outcome 2)
• Analyse both the business and consumer impact, including risks of introducing the e-Commerce system by a company like Parcel2Go.com.
• Drawing on the case study of Parcel2Go.com, discuss the global impact (advantages and disadvantages) of e-Commerce on society.
• Be able to design e-commerce solutions (Learning Outcome 3)
• Explain how you would investigate market potential of an e-Commerce opportunity for a company like Parcel2Go.com.
• Using an appropriate evaluation criterion, evaluate the e-Commerce system of Parcel2Go.com.
• Discuss the financial implications (advantages and disadvantages) of the e-Commerce solution of Parcel2Go.com.
• Discuss what technical, security, financial (payments) and legal aspects you would consider in designing an e-Commerce solution for a business like Parcel2Go.com.
• Evaluate the e-Commerce solution of a company like Parcel2Go.com. You should consider the requirements of both the front end users (e.g. usability, confidentiality, site search, ability to order, etc.) and back end users (e.g. security, adherence to legal frameworks, etc.).
Parcel2go.com is an online service that helps that people to compare the price of the parcel delivery services that are available in different corners of the world. On the website itself, the user can just enter the details of the parcel, from where to where the parcel needs to go and also the weight of the parcel. Accordingly, different parcel delivery services that can provide the services that the user requires will be seen. Accordingly, the user can choose one of the services that they like due to the price and also the pick-up and drop services that are available. The business claims that they can provide parcel delivery services at a most affordable service that one can think about. The users can get services at a very cheap price. The users can trust the customer and looking at the customer base, it can be seen that most of the sellers on Amazon and Ebay also prefer to use this service rather than that of any other service.
The technology used in Parcel2go.com is the strength of the business. The website is directly linked with the service providers and hence, the user can be rest assured that their pick-up request or drop off request has reached the concerned courier service. Parcel2go.com’s responsibility doesn’t end with providing quotes and linking between the customer and also the service provider, they have a customer care service in place. Rather than that of going to the service provider for any problem, the customer can get in touch with Parcel2go.com. This reduces the hectic process.
Different set of services are provided by Parcel2go.com. Few of the services that are provided by Parcel2go.com are as follows: –
First and foremost, Parcel2go.com will help the customer to find parcel delivery service that can offer best of service at an affordable price. The user can choose the service depending on the needs and requirements.
Parcel2go.com also has a customer care service. If the user is trying to reach the parcel delivery service provider through Parcel2go.com then they help the customer in any type of customer queries.
The aims of Parcel2go.com are different than that of the other parcel delivering services. Few of the aims and the impact on the stakeholders are as follows: –
Parcel2go.com wants the customers to get all the details regarding parcel delivery at one place. Any customer can get all the details regarding the parcel service in this website. The customers can compare the price and also the speed of delivery. Accordingly, the customer can choose the service.
Parcel2go.com believes in keeping the details of their customers with themselves. A customer can track the parcel details through Parcel2go.com if they have sent the parcel through this website. This reduces the burden on the parcel delivery company and at the customer can also get the data that they require immediately as they don’t need to get in with the actual parcel delivery service.
There are various advantages as well as disadvantages associated with the impact of e-commerce on Parcel2go.com. Few of the advantages and the disadvantages and it is discussed below.
With the help of ecommerce solution, parcel2go.com is able to reach a wider market. Without the presence of ecommerce solution, the business will be able to furnish only nationally but that is not the case now with parcel2go.com. Parcel2go.com is a smaller company but it is able to complete with larger companies. In fact, with the help of ecommerce, parcel2go.com has got a chance to work with businesses like Amazon and ebay. Parcel2go.com need not make much investment in staffing and this is one of the reasons due to which most of the companies today are opting for parcel2go.com solutions rather than that of manual systems. Ecommerce solution can be accessible at all point of time and this allows the customers to get the information that they require at any point of time.
Like advantages, there are disadvantages too. Not only parcel2go.com but there is plenty of similar companies. Due to the presence of ecommerce, the competition is very stiff and all the similar companies will be operating at international level. Ecommerce solution is not cheap in price and hence, the management will have to be ready so that they can make investments. Every additional feature requires an investment so this needs to be considered by businesses, before they opt for ecommerce solutions. Most of the customers will be comfortable only when they get a chance to meet personnel in person. Due to this reason, all the customers will not opt for parcel2go.com (Mindtools n.d.).
Just like the business, the customers of parcel2go.com will have to deal with advantages as well as disadvantages. Few of the advantages and disadvantages, due to the usage of ecommerce solution, for parcel2go.com are discussed below.
Customers can just get all the information that they require at any point of time. If the customer wants some important information regarding the parcel delivery service, in the mid-night, then they can get this from the parcel2go.com website. If the customer wants to collect information about various service providers then they will have to invest at least a day’s time but this time is saved when they are opting for an ecommerce solution like parcel2go.com.
Ecommerce solution can create a lot of problems to the customers so that needs to be well understood by the customers. Few of customers of parcel2go.com feels insecure about the money transaction that the make. Customers enter their debit card and credit card details so there are very high chances that it might be misused by some unwanted source. If the customer is going to use parcel2go.com then they will be concerned about privacy. If a customer shares their email information then there are high chances that it can be used for marketing. Apart from that, to avail the service of parcel2go.com, the customer will have to make payment so the customer may be concerned about the quality and standard of service that they may receive.
Ecommerce solution of parcel2go.com creates an impact globally. Few of the impact of ecommerce solution on the society are discussed below.
The job market is impacted a lot due to the implementation of ecommerce solution. In the absence of ecommerce solutions, most of the people use to walk in the store so there were employment opportunities for sales executives, cashier and other position but with the introduction of ecommerce solutions, openings like software developer, software tester, data entry operator have come into existence.
Frauds are creating a great impact on the society. Every now and then, online frauds are heard of and this is due to ecommerce solutions. The ecommerce solutions are putting in efforts to ensure that the transactions are safe and confidential but it is highly impossible to stop all the frauds.
The small retailers in the market are forced to shut down due to the growing ecommerce solutions. The brick and mortar retailers will have to pay for the physical space but that is not the case with online retailers. Online retailers are able to offer very high discount to the customers and hence, the customers are rushing to online retail stores over the physical stores that are available in different localities.
Talking about parcel2go.com, it can be said that the number of people who have opted for this business is more than that of people who stick to individual parcel delivery services. Only few courier services are associated with parcel2go.com. Due to this, other parcel delivery services are affected (Slideshare 2012).
Market potential of ecommerce opportunity
Before the management of parcel2go.com decides to go ahead with an ecommerce solution, they need to decide on few things so that they have an ecommerce website that will be liked by the end user and at the same time, it will be considered to be appropriate by back end developers as well.
First and foremost, parcelto2.com needs to understand their current position. This will help the management to understand the current ecommerce solution and its impact on the strategies of the organization. The current ecommerce solution will help the management to understand the direction in which they need to move further.
The management needs to decide where the organization wants to go. Parcel2go.com should try to understand the expectations of customer. The new ecommerce solution should be in sync with the requirements of the customer. The management should compare the current position and also the future expectations from the ecommerce solution that they are having.
Lastly, the management should understand if they are ready to take this at this point of time. Parcel2go is completely dependent on ecommerce solutions for the growth of their business and hence, they will have to ensure if the customers will accept the new ecommerce solution that will be implemented. Parcel2go.com should also consider the investment that they will have to make and also the money that the management is having so that there is no shortage of funds. In case of shortage of funds, the management will have to stop the implementation of new ecommerce solution, half way (Insite n.d.).
Parcel2go.com has achieved business awards because of the ecommerce solution that they have in place. Evaluating the ecommerce solution will help the business to understand the further improvements that can be done to the existing ecommerce solution.
Parcel2go.com has a very light weighted website and hence, it takes less time to load. This website is capable enough to take loads. During the festive season, a lot of small eBay and Amazon dealers will be using this so this traffic can be handled by the existing ecommerce solution.
Parcel2.go.com clearly talks about the services that they provide. Any person will visit this website to check on the price of parcels that they are willing to deliver. This is well known by the management and hence, the first page of the website allows the customer to check the price of the parcel that they can send.
Talking about the weaknesses, parcel2go.com doesn’t have a search box in their website. It is very important to have search box so that the customer can direct get the particular information that they are looking for rather than searching on the complete website for a small bit of information.
Parcel2go.com has strong reporting tools as this allows the back-end developer to understand the behavior of the user who visits the website. Tracking the behavior of the user will allow the developer to make further changes that will make things easy for the user.
Ecommerce solution of parcel2go.com creates an impact globally. Few of the impact of ecommerce solution on the society are discussed below.
The job market is impacted a lot due to the implementation of ecommerce solution. In the absence of ecommerce solutions, most of the people use to walk in the store so there were employment opportunities for sales executives, cashier and other position but with the introduction of ecommerce solutions, openings like software developer, software tester, data entry operator have come into existence.
Frauds are creating a great impact on the society. Every now and then, online frauds are heard of and this is due to ecommerce solutions. The ecommerce solutions are putting in efforts to ensure that the transactions are safe and confidential but it is highly impossible to stop all the frauds.
The small retailers in the market are forced to shut down due to the growing ecommerce solutions. The brick and mortar retailers will have to pay for the physical space but that is not the case with online retailers. Online retailers are able to offer very high discount to the customers and hence, the customers are rushing to online retail stores over the physical stores that are available in different localities.
Talking about parcel2go.com, it can be said that the number of people who have opted for this business is more than that of people who stick to individual parcel delivery services. Only few courier services are associated with parcel2go.com. Due to this, other parcel delivery services are affected (Slideshare 2012).
While ecommerce solution is being designed for a business, certain aspects needs to be considered so that the business requirements can be met by the ecommerce solution that is implemented. Few of the considerations on various aspects are discussed below.
First and foremost, the technical aspects of the ecommerce solution need to be considered. Most of the management may not be aware of the technical aspects and in such a situation, the management should hire a technical person who can co-ordinate with the team or organization that is into website development. Few of the technologies are open source while others are paid. If the ecommerce solution can be designed on a free website then the cost of development would be less. While for developing websites on technologies like Dot Net and Java would be expensive. If the website will include financial transactions heavily then it is better to go ahead with technologies like Dot Net and Java.
Security aspect of the ecommerce solution needs to be considered otherwise there are very high possibilities that the confidential data about the customer is misused. Authentication is one of the simple ways by which the ecommerce solution will allow the customer only to visit their account only. There are very high chances that the authentication through password may be misused and hence, authorization comes into picture. Authorization will ensure that only the customer can login into their account. Hiding the encryption can also be undertaken so that the entered password will not be seen by someone who is standing next to the user.
The management should decide on the payment that they are willing to do for an ecommerce solution and the organization should have money in buffer. Due to shortage of funds, the management should not compromise on the quality of the website as this can be very risky. The selection of technology will also create an impact on the money that they are paying (Grabowski 2012).
Apart from the technical, security and financial aspects, the management also needs to consider the legal aspect of setting up a website. The legal aspect starts with the domain name. The management should ensure that a particular domain name which is not chosen by any other business will have to be chosen. Once they have chosen a domain name, it should be registered so that none of them can copy the same name in the near future. Apart from that, every time a new user enrolls in the website. The management will have to understand that they are entering into a legal contract with them. It is the responsibility of the organization to ensure that all the terms of the contract is followed.
The front end users requirement from an ecommerce solution will be different than that of a backend user. It is the responsibility of the management to ensure that the requirements of both the users are fulfilled. Few of the requirements of the backend users and frontend users are discussed below.
The frontend users will look for website that is user-friendly. The user will expect to see all the information that they require at a glimpse rather than that of searching the whole website to find the information that they require. At the same time, the frontend users want all the data that they provide to be confidential. The personal data provided in the website can be misused by marketers so that needs to be safeguarded along with the financial data.
The backend users will look for easy management. The backend users would like to have a system wherein they can update the information that they require immediately without following a long process. At the same time, they will look for a system wherein they can download the customer orders with ease (Gosafeonline 2011).
Conclusion
Parcel2go.com is an ecommerce which has been well thought. A lot of people are confused regarding the parcel delivery service that they can use because of the cost associated with it. Parcelgo.com allows the customer to check on the best price and service that they can get from the various parcel delivery services. The technology used in Parcel2go.com is the strength of the business. The website is directly linked with the service providers and hence, the user can be rest assured that their pick-up request or drop off request has reached the concerned courier service. Parcel2go.com has strong reporting tools as this allows the back-end developer to understand the behavior of the user who visits the website.
References
Gosafeonline, 2011, A Quick Look on Managing E-Commerce Risk and Fraud, Retrieved on 3rd April, 2015 https://www.gosafeonline.sg/a_quick_look_on_managing_e_commerce_risk_and_fraud
Grabowski, P, 2012, How to Develop a Value Proposition in eCommerce, Retrieved on 3rd April, 2015, https://ecommerceinsiders.com/develop-proposition-ecommerce-543/
Insite, Key Stakeholders in B2B E-Commerce Success, Retrieved on 3rd April, 2015, https://www.info.insitesoft.com/Insite-Software-Blog/bid/83334/Key-Stakeholders-in-B2B-E-Commerce-Success
Mindtools, Porter’s Five Forces, Retrieved on 3rd April, 2015, https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm
Slideshare, 2012, Ecommerce in 2012, Retrieved on 31nst December, 2013, https://www.slideshare.net/AnnaPietka/e-commerce-new-business-models-14291829#btnNext
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