You have the task of developing an e-commerce business plan and prototype for the client described in the case study below. Your planning document must meet the needs of the client and you may not...

Ecommerce: Business Plan 1
E-Commerce Business Plan
Ecommerce: Business Plan 2
Executive Summary:
With the change in the technology, 1990’s brought transformation in the way consumer
purchases goods and performs different banking transactions. With the advent of World Wide
Web, the individuals have started indulging in different kind of shopping as well as banking
transaction with the use of the internet.
The consumers today have a strong preference to shop online as it provides lot of convenience to
the consumers; with this the company is also able to attain competitive edge as well as simply
their operations. The old brick and mortar stores have also opened an online platform where
they can sell the products online. With this their reach and base of the company increases.
In this paper, we will focus on building an e-commerce business plan for Kids Designed craft
cards.
Introduction: Overview of the company
Kids Designed Craft Cards (KDCC) has been selling quality handmade craft cards, specialised
paper and other accessories for making gift cards for many years. The SME company is based in
Springmount, Victoria, with a shop front retailing their wide selection of products. KDCC now
has more than 10,000 styles of cards available. The owner believes this is the largest range
available in the world.
The company has recently launched mail order marketing system which has helped the business
to expand its reach particularly to Australia and New Zealand. The system is working fine, but
has several drawbacks like the arrival of the catalogue via post and then ordering the desired
product by phone, fax or email. With this the company was able to have the sales of $1200000
which was an increase of 20% as compared to the previous year. The company also attained the
net profit of 12%.
With this it can be inferred that the company has the potential to grow and establish strong
relationship with the customers. The company can also have the overseas market with which the
company will be able to enhance its sales and increase its market. For this it is important for the
company to have online sales and marketing of the company. Thus an ecommerce proposal can
Ecommerce: Business Plan 3
be used for expanding the business.
To help this business successfully translate to the net, the first step would be finding a reliable e-
commerce hosting provider. For this the company can use Cloud Hosting since it offers SEO
solutions that allow online business to be found quickly in popular search engines like Google
and Bing.
The most popular type of website is a brochure type website that contains some solid content
about the product and why people should buy from you. By publishing this site and promoting
gently would help generate decent traffic levels. Since products and pricing play a huge role in
the success of any drop shipping e-business, the company needs to make sure that their site
offers competitive pricing and niche products
Mission Statement
To provide customized and compelling value proposition to the consumers with a strong focus
on providing huge variety of quality handmade craft cards, specialised paper and other
accessories for making gift cards to its target consumers. Apart from this the company will also
have a strong focus on high level of customization and customer service.
Industry
With the increase focus on the innovation and research, the ecommerce industry is increasing
with an incredible speed. Some indigenous Internet businesses may have a competitive
advantage due to new technologies and business paradigms. With the increase focus on
globalization, businesses are focusing on adopting e-retailing to attract mass market. KDCC will
face tough competition from the established e-commerce websites like Amazon.com, e-bay.
There is an increased need of regulation in the ecommerce business along with the focus on
continuous innovation.
Regulation of electronic commerce and the Internet is slowly evolving. As businesses flock to
the Internet and as private citizens, including children, increasingly use the Internet, its
environment is facing scrutiny by government agencies, consumer groups, and business
coalitions. Depending on the issue, some groups want lawmakers to intervene, imposing and
Ecommerce: Business Plan 4
enforcing “laws of the land.” On other issues, the very same group can vehemently oppose any
legislative acts and prefer self-regulation. For those issues in which intervention is desired, the
problem is to decide what law for what land in this global environment. Each country has three
categories of Internet users to serve:
 Government and law enforcement agencies.
 Businesses.
 Private citizens.
The primary issues faced by these three groups are
 Encryption key escrow regulation.
 Privacy rights of citizens.
 Inappropriate web linking practices and protection of copyrighted material.
 Domain name disputes.
 Tax policies.
 Electronic agreements.
 Content responsibility of online auctions.
It is important for the company to balance the needs of the three user groups (which are not
always homogenous) on these issues proves to be a daunting task. Add to the equation that the
Internet is global and involves a multitude of very different cultures and governments that clash
on many of these issues, and the legal environment of the Internet can appear untetherable.
Despite the overwhelming nature of the legal environment, legal disputes are arising and
bringing attention to specific issues, and case law is slowly beginning to set precedents.
Governments are enacting worldwide Internet legislation, and industry consortiums are
proposing self-regulatory programs.
Ecommerce: Business Plan 5
Business Goals and Objectives
The main goal and objective of KDCC is to expand its reach as...