|
COMM1Q – Introduction
to E-Commerce: Assignment I
Analysis
of a Business to Consumer Framework: easyRentacar.com and
of a Business to Business Framework: B2bwine.com
Vassilios Parashos Kassapidis
MSc
Electronic Commerce
Report Keywords
Framework, Operations, Analysis, System description,
Business Goals, Infrastructures
Table of Contents
1.
Report Introduction
2.
Business-to-Customer Framework
2.1 EasyRentacar.com:
The site
2.2
Commercial goals
2.3 Site
network framework
2.4 Site
Critical appraisal
3.
Business-to-Business Framework
3.1 B2Bwine.com:
The site
3.2 Business
Infrastructure
3.3 Critical
appraisal
4.
References
1. Report Introduction
Electronic commerce is shopping on the Web,
but it is also much more - in transactions through the Internet,
intranets and extranets both between businesses and between businesses
and consumers. It enables businesses to reduce costs, reach a
global market and provide a higher level of customer service,
24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without heavy staff costs. It
blurs the lines between local and global markets. E-commerce propels
business in almost the same way that the railways revolutionised
distribution 100 years ago. (BCS, 1999)
One of the most important questions about
e-commerce is whether it is a real, lasting business phenomenon
or a passing fad. In the 4 years that the web has been used for
electronic commerce, we've witnessed both spectacular successes
like Amazon.com, and dismal failures like Nets, Inc. (Cohan, 2000)
the following report outlines structures of two well established
organisations on the net, and both have their real estate developed
through the web.
The well known easyrentacar.com as a business
to customers facility have became one of the first internet only
car hiring agents at very low prices. The other business-to-business
organisation, B2Bwine.com, is based in the US and aims to become
the premier business-to-business source of global industry news,
product information, e-commerce solutions, and brand-building
services for the international wine industry.
2. Business-to-Customer
Framework
www.easyrentacar.com
2.1 EasyRentacar.com:
The site
 The success of easyJet the European “no frills airline”
thrust the chairman of the easyGroup (easy.com) to create a new
“no frills” company based on the Internet and only, easyRentacar.com.
This company is based on the same concept with the airline and
offers car hire services in prices as low as 9 pounds sterling
per day. Based solely on the Internet, this service offers car
rental almost 16h/day including Sundays.
“At easyRentacar we have aspired to re-invent
the car hire industry which looked like the airline industry did
five years ago, a cosy fraternity that relied on the corporate
market. We are interested in people who pay out of their own pockets
and have therefore re-engineered the business. What this means
is that all bookings are made online, we offer one type of car
and we choose our sites with an eye to cost. As a result this
also means that we can offer customers brand new Mercedes cars
at best prices.” Stelios Haji-Ioannou - easyGroup chairman
2.2 Commercial goals
At easyRentacar we aim to offer you outstanding
value for money. To us value for money means a reliable service
at a low price. We achieve this by simplifying the product we
offer, and passing on the benefits to you in the form of lower
prices. (easyRentacar.com Website)
At easyRentacar.com the main objective is
the customer and the value for money rental. Based up on the same
strategies as with the sister airline company, easyJet, they offer
low cost services at a great deal of quality adequate to the budget
concern customer. The name and the branding that have been taken
strait from the airline gives the required boost to easyRentacar.com,
for a 16h/day business operations, with the use of a 24h/day web
site.
Furthermore with the use of a simple and fast
downloading times website easyRentacar.com aims to the user that
considers time and effort to complete a required task. Also chosen
carefully the locations of their outlets the company hits great
deals with customers from airports and train stations those require
an affordable and convenient way of transport.
At easyRentacar we have aspired to re-invent
the car hire industry, which looked like the airline industry
did five years ago, a cosy fraternity that relied on the corporate
market. We are interested in people who pay out of their own pockets
and have therefore re-engineered the business. (Stelios, 2001)
2.3 Site network framework
Considering the site been a customer service
oriented site, is certain that the content of it is based up on
the needs of the customer and the services provided. Logging on
to the site is easily identifiable the way the company works.
Other than the information presented through the site, it is divided
in to the following sections:
Online registration of the client: this section
of the site requires from the user to register him / her self
on to the system in order a booking of a car to be possible. On
the completion of this then a profile of the user is created on
the server and any transactions made within the system with the
user are logged in to the users profile. The site is highly cohesive
with the secure methods of transaction from the very early steps
while creating a booking or altering profile information. This
is obvious from the first moment of browsing since the option
for secure or non-secure transactions is available from the welcome
page.
Online car booking: this section is completed
after the required information is supplied to the system and also
when the registration phase has been completed. When payment is
successful by the client’s bank the system allocates a car to
the users profile on the desired dates. The allocation of the
car type is not decided by the system it self, is allocated by
the personnel on collection. Been a rental company with only one
type of car on each location this feature is not taken in consideration,
although the identifier of the rented car remains the registration
of the car.
Online Payment: On successful credit check
on the client’s method of payment, the booking is processed and
the car is allocated. This transaction is taking place in real
time and then the contract is issued. The customer will have to
produce the contract in paper and then presented signed on collection.
Online Booking Monitor: Provided that the
user is able to alter any features of the booking, a monitor is
provided to customer’s profile. Full history on booking and cars
allocated is available. Also online support is highly coupled
with this feature of the site.
Based on customer service and support the
integration on a customer support knowledge base in to the site
for 24h/day customer support indicates the excellent use of the
electronic commerce paradigm. This facility includes a database
with the most common customer queries and also an email facility
integrated to the customer’s browser. By triggering this facility
the central management is informed and required feedback is emailed
to the customer within 48 hours.
Customer Profile contains all the history
of activities under the name of the customer and it is highly
coupled with the support section of the web site. Full history
is also kept on customers support queries and booking made. Completed
rental periods are also amend the inventory of the profile and
the customer is informed by email for any supplementary charges
on to account.
The diagram in figure 2 outlines the operation
framework of the web site and the assumed technologies used to
create an operational environment. The site also incorporates
a pan European network to connect all the outlets under the same
web site. The use of intranets and virtual private networks are
a common use and even if it is not noticeable from the main site
the entire system is based on intranets connected together in
order to provide a fast and efficient service while allocation
cars to customers and supporting customers on their online requirements.
2.4 Site Critical
appraisal
During the last week of January 2000, European
budget airline EasyJet sold 61.7% of its nearly 90,000 seats on
the web. The entrepreneur behind that success story is aiming
to do the same in car rental business with EasyRentacar, an Internet-
only service that will be rolled out before the summer. (New York
Times, 2000)
The above statement can only secure the success
of the newborn car hire company. Based up on good usability structures
and on exceptional customer service, easyRentacar is most certain
that follows the steps of the sister company easyJet. Using trusted
service providers with almost 99.9% up time and fast page download
times gets the user strait to the point. The 3-clicks buy over
the web is well covered from this service. Minor refinements probably
required to be considered like the use of the knowledge base system
and the design of the welcome page from a designer’s point of
view. Nevertheless the systems is well structured and security
is a major concern for the company and that gives the confidence
to the user to proceed with any transactions. As shown from the
diagram in figure 2, the system is highly coupled with secure
layers in all areas and with the use of an exceptional business
model and the latest technology applied in electronic commerce
is one of the successes on the web.
3. Business-to-Business
Framework
www.b2bwine.com
3.1 B2Bwine.com: The
site
The use of intranets, extranets and the Internet a business-to-business
framework is formed. This gives the ability to retailers, suppliers
and other business operations specific departments to provide
a network of alliances. A more specific term to the above statement
is Supply Chain Management (SCM).
“B2Bwine.com’s mission is to provide real-time
information, interaction and e-commerce capabilities to wine buyers,
producers, importers and distributors throughout the world.”(B2bwine.com,
2001)
B2Bwine.com allows global wine buyers to stay
abreast of industry trends, research new product offerings, and
interact with suppliers throughout the world. B2Bwine.com’s online
catalogues allow producers, importers and distributors to showcase
products, receive qualified sales leads and respond to requests
for additional information and product samples. Qualified buyers
search the B2Bwine.com database for relevant product information
and contact producers to request product samples, additional information
and price quotes. (B2Bwine.com, 2001)
3.2 Business Infrastructure
As business-to-business sites have different
approaches this leads to the question: “What are the main elements
of this site that make it to be considered as a business to business
framework?” to answer this question it is necessary to consider
the user groups that are benefit of the site and not only the
users that browsing the site for any other reason.
Suppliers, distributors and other corporate
clients using their own intranets to perform their business operations;
thus the connection in between them is a business to business
framework that takes the advantage of virtual private networks
and the connectivity of those with the use of the Internet. B2bwine.com
is considered to be one of the links in the business-to-business
framework chain. In figures 4a and 4b the structure of the site
is outlined including usability methods. The main feature of the
b2bwine.com site is the search facility on a comprehensive wine
database that is been provided by the producers of wine and other
wine products. This couples highly the information given in the
registration process by producers and other corporate clients
with the site’s database. Furthermore other classes of users,
like distributors and Importers can have access to the database
and search for any desired type of wine by a list of predefined
criteria.
On a traditional business-to-business model
the supply chain can be performed by any means of communication
between the alliances performing operations. Moving to an e-business
model the use of extranets and intranets and/or communication
over the Internet in a global perspective is required. To be more
precise the business-to-business electronic commerce considers
the following characteristics:
·
Uses Extranets and the Internet.
Extranet = two or more Intranets connected
via Internet, Only enough information made available to allow
business, Often security attained using virtual private n/works
(VPN).
·
Cost of deploying networks has dramatically
fallen - by-product of Internet.
·
Transaction costs have been cut dramatically
- a driving force behind B2B adoption
(Comer, 2001)
From the above characteristics, implies that
supply chain management is the key for business-to-business frameworks.
This can be a network of alliances that can also perform as a
single company and converse with a number of intranets i.e. virtual
private networks if security is a serious concern. Figure 4b concentrates
on the operation of this alliance based on the service of b2bwine.com.
From the diagram is clear that certain operations are taking place
over the Internet and communication between key vendors is performed
with the use of the b2bwine.com web site.
3.3 Critical appraisal
With a rather simple design b2bwine.com does
not get any design awards. Therefore the site offers exactly the
services that it is designed for. It is obvious from the initial
page that the users of the site are experienced users on the wine
market and when they browsing through they are looking for something
specific. Based on a rather simple technology model offers the
basic communication between alliances and gets easily other companies
from the area to be also a part of a community with great deal
of information.
B2Bwine.com is currently developing strategic
partnerships with importers, distributors, and retailers in the
United States, Europe and Asia. B2Bwine.com expects to leverage
its relationships with producers, distributors and importers to
provide value-added marketing services that create additional
consumer demand for products. (B2bwine.com, 2001)
Covering the most aspects of a business-to-business
approach, B2Bwine.com will provide a suite of e-commerce solutions
that enable buyers, importers, distributors and wineries to transact
more efficiently and securely. B2Bwine.com’s negotiation platform
will allow trading partners to privately and securely negotiate
price, volume and payment terms.
Considering the wine market as an agricultural
area, where many large organisations can be found that have not
intergraded their systems electronically with any form of Internet
or intranet, is certain that b2bwine.com is one of the leaders
in this market.
4. References
1.
(Cohan 2000) Peter S. Cohan, “e-Profit high pay off
strategies for capturing the E-Commerce Edge”, American Management
Association (AMACOM) 2000
2.
(BCS, 2000) The Computer Bulletin "E-business
is not easy business” The British Computer Society, January
2000
3.
(easyRentacar.com, 2001) easyRentacar.com Web
Site at: www.easyrentacar.com
Last Accessed: 30/04/2001
4.
(Stelios, 2001) easyRentacar.com Web Site
at: www.easyrentacar.com Last Accessed: 30/04/2001
5.
(New York Times, 2000) New York Times Article: “Airline Wants to Take Web All the Way by Bruno
Giussani”
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/cyber/eurobytes/08eurobytes.html
last accessed: 30/04/2001
6.
(B2bwine.com, 2001) B2Bwine.com web site at www.b2bwine.com Last Accessed: 30/04/2001
7.
(Comer, 2001) Peter Comer “Introduction to Electronic Commerce
Module Lecture Notes”, Sunderland University
|
