Hc3152 E-Business Applications - Restaurant Assessment Answers

As part of your individual assignment, you are required to develop a report based on the following article and video:

1. ‘The future of the retail store – what does online mean for bricks and mortar?’
2. ‘Future of retail in Australia’ Available: https://home.kpmg.com/au/en/home/insights/2018/04/bernard-salt-next-5-years-retail- future-australia.html [accessed: 21 July 2018]

The instructions to complete your assignment are as follow:

2. Briefly describe the current operation of your selected retail.

Answer

E-Business Applications

Introduction

According to Jing (2014, p. 79), the restaurant industry transforming through radical changes that have been influenced by technology, and various companies such as McDonalds to adopt the transformations. McDonalds is one of the largest fast food retailers, dealing with different types of products. Over the past years, retail businesses, including McDonalds have been focusing on moving from being motor and brick focused to emphasizing on online business (Varinder 2016, p. 78). Although the article, Marc asserts that there are numerous advantages of being brick and motor, such as allowing customers to have interactions when they visit the stores, retails shops that have ventured on e-business have reported various advantages, although some of them have not been able to adapt to this strategy due to various reasons.

Body

Currently, McDonalds operates in different countries and has established different platforms that enable it to conduct its E-commerce business. Through the introduction of these platforms, the company has reported various advantages such as reducing operational costs and succeeding in some of the key factors such as the supply chain.

Just like the video asserts, the usage of smartphones has been gaining popularity and therefore consumers have shifted their interest from their physical buying to ordering them through online platforms (Stephen 2012, p. 97). Being one of the companies that are focused on identifying changes in consumer perception and implementing strategies that can address those changes, McDonalds is striving to ensure that while allowing the consumers to visit the stores for purchases, it also gives opportunity to those who like engaging in online business.

According to Liang & Clyde (2013, p. 68), one of the areas where McDonalds has realized success through the use of online platforms is its marketing. Apart from using E-business to allow the customers to view products and their prices, this company has also been using its E-commerce strategy to advertise its current and new products. This factor has enabled this company to enhance the popularity of its products without incurring huge costs.

According to Peng & Yijun (2014, p. 56), the company’s most recent adoption into tech is delivery. With high demand for E-business due to high adoption of smartphones and internet, the company has realized that most some of its consumers prefer goods being delivered to them and has therefore introduced a new platform known as UberEats. According to Paromita & Joel (2016, p. 24), delivery helps in attracting new consumers to the company and brings back those who may have changed their loyalty. This is also termed as a strategy to ensure the company wins over consumers who seek convenience in an increasingly fast-paced world.

Doug, in the article, affirms that everything in retail is changing and mobile is termed the primary accelerant on the fire of this change. Due to the great increase in the use of cell phones in most of the areas where McDonalds operates, the company has realized that there is an opportunity for increasing the flow of its products through E-business. The company has also noticed that its competitors have realized this opportunity, and most of them have embraced the use of E-business in their operations to ensure they expand their market share.

In its operations, this company has been focusing on establishing various digital innovations to ensure that its consumers get the best experience. To make ordering process simpler, it has introduced a mobile application with different innovative geo-fencing capabilities that help in determining when the consumer is approaching the restaurant, a strategy aimed at ensuring the customer finds the food as fresh as possible.  The application also allows mobile payments and lets the clients to get their food without having to queue or wasting their time at the drive-through.

Hyma (2015, p. 22) asserts that this company has been enhancing its customer experience through the use of McDonald’s delivery with uberEats. Since the establishment of this strategy, the company has enhanced convenience for its customers and is also transforming McDonald’s experience. Through the ease of the UnberEats app, its customers enjoy their favorite McDonald’s foods being delivered to them as they enjoy greater choice, control as well as personalization.

As E-business continues to transform the retail sector, McDonald is finding this business operation strategy as one which can assist it to expand its market share because it assists it to target customers in different locations to not only attain their favorite goods but also to know some of the important things concerning the company. Although marc, from the article, affirms that Mortar and brick strategy promotes customer socialization when they visit the stores, the use of E-business has helped in putting the company closer to its customers because it allows not only ordering and delivery of products but also encourages communications.

Although this company is greatly focusing on the use of E-commerce in its operations, there are various things that have come along with this strategy. For example, in most cases, customers have complained of being delivered food which is not fresh or one which is contaminated. This has significantly affected this business strategy because it has made it to lose its loyal customers. Mahesh (2010, p. 214) affirms that customers like being associated with organizations which give them full satisfaction, and also ones which care about their health. This means that when they get products or services which do not satisfy them, they can purchase the products from alternative companies.

Although the video affirms that the widespread acceptance of smartphones have made people to adopt online purchase, the skills and knowledge in the usage of these gadgets vary from one person to the other and therefore introduction of various applications has made various consumers to be left out. This means that although the company wants to thrive in E-commerce while still encouraging physical buying, its brick and motor strategy will still remain essential to the company.

According to Hussein (2010, p. 57), one of the disadvantages of E-business is that it puts organizations to the threat of cybercrime. While the company finds various advantages of using various online platforms to conduct its business, it poses a threat to the organization in the fact that the transactions can be hacked and make the company to lose a lot of money.

Recommendations and conclusion

To thrive in E-business, this company should come up with proper ways of targeting its customers. From the nature of its operations using this strategy, it appears that the company does not fully understand some of the key factors that differentiate its customers (Yessica 2012, p. 57). For example, it does not consider that people have various skills in the use of technologically related devices. For it to succeed, it should come up with proper ways of ensuring those with high and low skills in the use of E-commerce are benefited.

It is also essential for this company to ensure that it implements strong security measures in its online platforms (Stephen 2012, p. 96). This is because when operations go online, a company becomes prone to hackers who can interfere with various processes which can make the organization to lose a lot of money. Some of the measures which McDonalds should consider, in this case, include, ensuring the online platforms are developed by professionals and regularly monitored to ensure everything works in the right manner. It is also essential to ensure that the customers use strong usernames and password to ensure that their accounts cannot be used by third parties in case they misplace or loss their gadgets.

In some incidences using E-business can be frustrating especially when the customers are not able to log in due to technical glitches. For this company to avoid such frustrations, it is essential to ensure that the platforms are maintained and regularly monitored to ensure nothing can prevent the customers from accessing whatever they require. Considering this aspect is essential because according to Edward (2010, p. 68), customers like being associated with organizations which give them good experience, and therefore if they are not able to get what they require because of something which should have been prevented by the company from happening, they can shift their loyalty to alternative organizations.

Despite of many conveniences which McDonalds have realized through the use of E-business, there are various things that this platform cannot do, like for instance, there are some of the products in its line of production which cannot be bought online (Yessica 2012, p. 54). Therefore, while valuing it in its operations, it is important not to underrate its brick and motor strategy because it helps in covering some of the things that the online strategy cannot do.

From marc’s assertions from the article, physical purchase promotes social interactions of consumers and therefore makes them to revisit the stores from time to time. Being a company that deals with fast food products, some of the consumers prefer taking the meals from the stores than having them delivered to their homes (Varinder & Brij 2012, p. 57). This means that it is important to use E-business as an alternative for those who like ordering the products and not an option of replacing its brick and motor strategy

From this analysis, it is clear that McDonalds has been valuing E-business in its operations because of various benefits such as increased sales and delivering the products at the consumers’ convenience. With the increased usage of smartphones, the demand for online ordering and delivery of products has increased and therefore this has created an opportunity for retail stores such as McDonalds to use E-commerce in their operations

Although this company has realized various advantages through the use of E-business in its operations, there are various things that it needs to consider to ensure it fully benefits from this strategy. For example, it needs to come up with proper targeting to ensure the strategy benefits both those with skills and those who lack proper knowledge in the use of technology related gadgets. The company should also ensure that its online platforms are equipped with proper security measures to ensure third parties cannot access confidential information.

References

Achyut, T 2016, Keep Calm and Carry On: A Crisis Communication Study of Cadbury and McDonalds, Management & Marketing, vol. 11 no.1, pp.76-98.

Edward, CT 2010, Adopting E-Business in Small and Medium Enterprise, Communications of the IIMA, vol. 10. No. 2, pp. 67-98.

Hussein, F 2010, A Fuzzy Logic Based Decision Support System for Business Situation Assessment and E-Business Models Selection, Communications of the IIMA, vol. 10 no. 4, pp. 54-76.

Hyma, G 2015,  A Preliminary Study of First-Mover Advantage among E-Commerce Companies in India,  IUP Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 21-32

Jing, W 2014, Opportunities and Challenges of International E-Commerce in the Pilot Areas of China.  International Journal of Marketing Studies, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 78-80

Liang, C & Clyde, HW 2013,  E-Business Adoption Research: State of the Art,  Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 67-89.

Mahesh, G 2010,  The Enabling Role of E-Business Technologies in Strategic Operations Management,  Journal of International Technology and Information Management, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 213-232.

Paromita, B & Joel, M 2016, Analyzing Digital Collections Entrances: What Gets Used and Why It Matters.  Information Technology and Libraries, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 23-25

Peng, Z & Yijun, XR 2014, How Investors Value Industrial Policies for E-Business Firms in Emerging Markets, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, pp. 56-78.

Stephen, EB 2012,  The Legal Environment of Romanian E-Commerce: A Critical Analysis and Recommendations for Improvement,  Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, vol.7 no. 4, pp. 90-99

Varinder, S & Brij, MS 2012, Enhancement of Commitment in the Export Management Company Supplier Relationship through E-Business, Indian Journal of Economics and Business, vol. 112, 46-78.

Yessica, H 2012,  E-Business Models as a Tool to Increase México Small and Medium Size Enterprises' Sales,  Global Journal of Business Research, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 52-69.