Itech3301 E-Commerce Systems | Ballarat Assessment Answers

Case Study: Events Management

Ballarat Trade Fair Consultancy (BTFC) is an SME company based in Ballarat, Victoria, with a web-based operation that assists Australian companies in exhibitions at overseas trade fairs. BTFC arranges floor space at the trade fairs, as an agent for the trade fair managers. BTFC also assists companies in organising the construction of exhibition stands for the fairs, if required. BTFC provides further value-added services, for fees, to the exhibiting companies by arranging their travel and accommodation during fairs, organises marketing material for the trade fair (or for distribution to current and potential clients before a fair), and can arrange hospitality (food, drinks and staff) for the exhibitors to offer theirs visitors. BTFC also organises tickets for Australian-based visitors to the trade fairs and are paid a commission for each ticket sold.

BTFC is a small owner-operated business with capitalisation of $A200K, annual sales of $A100K (increasing at 10 percent per annum), and net profits of 40 percent of total sales. The owner, Ms Holt is university educated and has 20 years of industry experience. However, with ever-changing industry and global business environments, the future of BTFC is uncertain.

The main business activities of BTFC relate to marketing trade fairs to Australian businesses, organising details of contracts for exhibitors, selling visitor tickets for each trade fair and co-ordinating all these activities with the trade fair managers in Europe and South-East Asia. BTFC has a broad network of government, industry and business-level contacts and engage in extensive marketing campaigns (mainly by letters, brochures/flyers and phone calls, which are all time-consuming and expensive activities). All contracts must be signed by the management of the exhibiting companies and BTFC is responsible for ensuring all details are complete, correct, and sent to the overseas trade fair managers before deadlines. BTFC knows that many of their contacts and many of the businesses they target for marketing purposes are already online.

BTFC receive payment directly from the exhibitors: a deposit to exhibit at a Trade Fair is taken when a contract is made, and the balance of fees to exhibit and for other value-added services is paid before the fair begins. BTFC also receives direct payment of commissions from the trade fair managers for visitor tickets and exhibitor floor space sales.

To promote the business, BTFC also has some branded merchandise available for sale (e.g. mugs, mouse mats, key rings, etc.) and also sell merchandise relevant to each trade fair (caps, badges, pens, etc.), which are bought by BTFC from the trade fair managers for sale to the exhibitors.

BTFC has very close working relations with graphic designers, printers and mail-out companies, and with merchandising companies, who each support the marketing activities of BTFC. Supplier relations are all by word-of-mouth (which has led to some confusion and delivery of incorrect designs, printing or products), while exhibitor contracts are managed using traditional post, email and facsimile transmission of documents.

Ms Holt is keen to improve efficiency in marketing and communications, to expand ticket and merchandise sales, which are potentially very profitable for BTFC, and to improve relations with supply partners and exhibitors. To do this Ms Holt is considering the creation of new online channels for marketing, sales, and for improved communication and collaboration with exhibitors, trade fair managers and supply-chain partners.

You have been called upon as an Internet and management consultant. BTFC wants to know how e-business technologies could be used to improve the company’s operations. The company is keen to leave as much open as possible you have been told that it is a ‘clean sheet’ strategy but cannot consume more than half the profits of next year’s business. The owner, Ms Holt, needs a report from you with a specific brief, and a general design and functionality of a proposed e-business system.

Requirements

Your e-business proposal should address:

1. Clearly identified e-commerce business model(s)
   
   
2. How the e-commerce business will derive revenue (i.e. revenue models)
   
   
3. What network and communications infrastructure will be required
   
   
4. What applications (hardware and software) will be required to meet specific e-commerce business goals
   
   
5. How security issues will be addressed
   
   
6. How e-marketing requirements will be addressed
   
   
7. What choice of payment systems will be made
   
   
8. How privacy and other relevant ethical concerns will be addressed
   
   
9. How legal issues connected with e-commerce will be addressed
   
   
10. How customer service issues will be addressed
    
    
11. How the success of the proposed system will be measured (metrics, tools)
    
    
12. A mock-up proposal for an e-business system (e.g. a sample e-commerce web site)

Introduction

Ballarat Trade Fair Consultancy (BTFC) is a small and medium scale enterprise that is based out of Ballarat, Victoria. The company has web-based operations that are carried out to assist the Australian companies in exhibitions at the trade fairs. The company also arranges floor spaces, constructs the exhibition stands for the fair. There are certain value-added services that are also arranged and provided by the company, such as organization of marketing materials, travel & accommodation arrangements, and likewise. Organizing of the tickets is also done by the company and it receives commission in return. There are certain challenges that the company is currently facing in terms of marketing campaigns and activities. Ticket management, supplier relations, and selling of the branded merchandise are some other issues. Ms Holt is the owner of the company and the e-commerce capabilities need to be analysed for the organization.

E-Commerce Business Models

The e-commerce business models that shall be used and implemented for BTFC are Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) models.

B2C is the e-commerce model in which the e-commerce portal will be set up for the customers of the organization, such as the attendees of the trade fairs, buyers of the tickets, and supplier groups. The services will be set up on the e-commerce portal for ensuring that the customers are provided with the streamlined operations. B2B is the model that will be implemented for the entities as Australian companies interacting with BTFC for organizing the trade fair. In the B2B model, the business firms will be allowed to utilize the services (Chong, Tadjouddine, Shafaghi & Tan, 2011).

Deriving Revenues: E-Commerce Models

There will be functionalities implemented on the e-commerce portal that will allow the organization to derive the revenues. Pay-per-click model will be implemented and the company will earn revenues with every user access. The use of B2C and B2B models will allow the customers to purchase tickets from the portal which will enhance the commission earned by the company. The supplier relations of the vendors and suppliers will improve with the implementation of the B2B model which will lead to enhanced business for the company. This in turn will lead to an increase in the profits and revenues. The payment models will be integrated with the e-commerce portal to make sure that the users get to pay using online modes and methods (Pei, Xue, Li & Su, 2016).

Applications to Meet E-Commerce Business Goals

There will be applications that will be implemented to meet the e-commerce business goals.

• B2B and B2C Portals: There will be web applications and mobile application that will be developed and implemented for the customers and business groups. The application will allow the company to earn higher profits and revenues to meet the project aims and objectives.
  
  
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System: There will be CRM system implemented on the e-commerce portal to ensure that the customer relations are improved and maintained. The customer preferences and choices will be analysed and the customer-oriented business decisions and strategies will be made (Haas, 2002).
  
  
• Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) System: The supplier relations will be automated and maintained using SRM system. The supplier expectations and communication processes will be met and carried out using the application.
  
  
• Cloud-based Database & Data Analytics: There will be cloud-based platforms that will be used for the storage and handling of the e-commerce data and information. Automated data analysis will also be conducted for the efficient decision-making process.
  
  
• Social Media Integration: The social media channels will be integrated with the e-commerce portal to enhance the communication practices and mechanisms.

Security Issues

There will be several security issues that may be associated with the e-commerce portal and application developed and implemented for BTFC. There will be following controls integrated with the e-commerce application to address the issues.

• Anti-Malware & Anti-Denial Tools: There may be security attacks as malware attacks and denial of service attacks that may come up. The e-commerce portal and application will be integrated with the anti-malware and anti-denial tools to keep a track of the security deviations and issues.
  
  
• Use of encryption: The data sets on the e-commerce portal and application will be encrypted using the encryption portals. The cryptanalysis attacks will be avoided with the use of encryption with the communication protocols and passwords. The use of encryption protocols will ensure that the attackers do not succeed in accessing and capturing the data sets.
  
  
• Multi-fold Authentication & Advanced Access Control: The e-commerce applications and systems will be protected using multi-fold authentication scheme and the access control activities will be enhanced with the use of protocols as role-based and attribute-based access control. The use of Single Sign On and One Time Passwords will be done on the login screen of the applications (Gupta Madan, 2012).
  
  
• Network-based Security Controls: There will be use of network scanners, network monitors, network-based intrusion detection systems, network-based intrusion prevention systems, and network analytical tools for avoiding and preventing the network-based security attacks.

Addressing of E-Marketing Requirements

There will be e-marketing activities that will be carried out for making sure that the marketing tasks and processes are effectively conducted.

• Social Media Marketing: There shall be a social media marketing team that must be set up for the e-commerce portal and applications to carry out the marketing activities on the channels as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and likewise. The social media channels will be integrated with the e-commerce portal to enhance the communication practices and mechanisms. The announcement of an exhibition or a promotional offer will be shared on the social media channels by posting the information on the social media channels (Atwong, 2015).
  
  
• E-Mail Marketing: The use of e-mail marketing will be done by sending the promotional mails and notifications to the Australian companies, customer, and suppliers groups.
  
  
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): It will be necessary that the customer and supplier groups get to know about the e-commerce portal and the services & activities offered to them on the portal. The number of visits shall be counted and the automated tools shall be used to optimize the applications as per the expectations of the customers.
  
  
• Content Marketing: The Company may use different forms of content marketing activities using the press release, posting the content on the social media platforms, and other methods.

The use of these e-marketing activities will allow the company to reach out to increased number of users and customers.

Choice of Payment Systems

There are a variety of payment systems that shall be used and integrated on the e-commerce portal. These payments systems include the use of credit or debit cards. These cards shall be used to allow the users to pay online for the services that they acquire. The price for the tickets or the commission to the company will be made by the Australian companies and customers using their debit or credit cards.

There are several e-wallets that shall be integrated on the portal and the users shall be provided with the ability to make payments using these wallets. The customers may already have balance in their e-wallets which may be used to make the payments (Ying & Kuanhai, 2011).

The use of net banking shall also be allowed and provided as a method of payment. The use of the net banking method will allow the users to make payments for the services and tickets that they use and access from the portal.

Privacy & Ethical Concerns

There may be various privacy and ethical concerns that may come up for the customers and the organizations. The privacy concerns may be in the form of data breaches, data leakage issues, data manipulation issues, malware attacks, denial of service attacks, eavesdropping attacks, and likewise. The privacy and confidentiality of the data sets will be impacted as a result and it may have ethical implications as well. This is because the users and administrators of the e-commerce portal may pass on the information to the unauthorized entities.

The e-commerce portal and application shall be integrated with the anti-malware and anti-denial tools to keep a track of the privacy deviations and issues. The data sets on the e-commerce portal and application shall be encrypted using the encryption portals. The cryptanalysis attacks will be avoided with the use of encryption with the communication protocols and passwords. The use of encryption protocols will ensure that the attackers do not succeed in accessing and capturing the data sets. The e-commerce applications and systems shall be protected using multi-fold authentication scheme and the access control activities will be enhanced with the use of protocols as role-based and attribute-based access control. The use of Single Sign On and One Time Passwords will be done on the login screen of the applications. There shall be use of network scanners, network monitors, network-based intrusion detection systems, network-based intrusion prevention systems, and network analytical tools for avoiding and preventing the network-based security attacks.

Legal Issues

There may be various legal issues that may come up on the e-commerce portal. In order to address the legal issues, there shall be use of contracts and contractual processes that must be done. The contractual agreement shall have three primary elements as offer, acceptance, and consideration. Internet-based offers and acceptance shall be used to avoid the occurrence of the legal issues and trouble. Click-wrap and web-wrap acceptance shall be used in the case of customer contracts (Giannikis & Daskalopulu, 2011). The e-commerce portals shall also include warranty statement, disclaimer, and copyright information to avoid the occurrence of any legal issue.

Addressing of Customer Service Issues

The customer service issues on the e-commerce portal may be in terms of the customer queries and complaints. These issues shall be resolved by implementing customer service and support portal on the e-commerce platforms. There shall be use of customer feedback option that must be integrated on the portal and applications to allow the customers to interact with the executives of BTFC. There shall also be chat facility integrated to allow the customers to chat with the customer care executive and have response on their respective set(s) of queries.

The use of social media may also be done for customer service issues handling. There shall be a social media team that must be set up for the e-commerce portal and applications to carry out the customer support activities on the channels as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and likewise. The social media channels will be integrated with the e-commerce portal to enhance the communication practices and mechanisms.

Proposed System Interface

Main page

Events Page

About Page

Measurement of the Success of the Proposed System

The success of the proposed system shall be measured by obtaining the number of application visits and user traffic on the e-commerce portal and application. The customer feedback shall also be analysed to measure the success. The other measures include the tracking of Return on Investment (ROI), profits, and sale of tickets.

Conclusion

BTFC has web-based operations that are carried out to assist the Australian companies in exhibitions at the trade fairs. The company also arranges floor spaces, constructs the exhibition stands for the fair. Marketing, ticket management, supplier relations, and selling of the branded merchandise are some of the issues faced by the company. The use of B2C and B2B models will allow the customers to purchase tickets from the portal which will enhance the commission earned by the company. There will be several security issues that may be associated with the e-commerce portal and application developed and implemented for BTFC. These may be controlled using anti-malware tools, anti-denial tools, network security controls, encryption of the data sets, advanced access control, and multi-fold authentication. There will be e-marketing activities that will be carried out for making sure that the marketing tasks and processes are effectively conducted. These shall include social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, and SEO. There are a variety of payment systems that shall be used and integrated on the e-commerce portal. These payments systems include the use of credit or debit cards, e-wallets, and net banking. These cards shall be used to allow the users to pay online for the services that they acquire. In order to address the legal issues, there shall be use of contracts and contractual processes that must be done.

References

Atwong, C. (2015). A Social Media Practicum: An Action-Learning Approach to Social Media Marketing and Analytics. Marketing Education Review, 25(1), 27-31. doi: 10.1080/10528008.2015.999578

Chong, W., Tadjouddine, E., Shafaghi, M., & Tan, B. (2011). Automated Mechanism Design for B2B e-Commerce Models. International Journal Of Trade, Economics And Finance, 87-92. doi: 10.7763/ijtef.2011.v2.83

Giannikis, G., & Daskalopulu, A. (2011). Normative conflicts in electronic contracts. Electronic Commerce Research And Applications, 10(2), 247-267. doi: 10.1016/j.elerap.2010.09.005

Gupta, A., & Madan, P. (2012). Security Effect on B2B and B2C Operations using 3G M-Commerce. International Journal Of Computer Applications, 43(4), 1-5. doi: 10.5120/6088-8259

Haas, A. (2002). Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Controlling, 14(3), 189-190. doi: 10.15358/0935-0381-2002-3-189

Pei, Y., Xue, W., Li, D., & Su, Y. (2016). Models of Customer Experience for B2C E-Commerce Enterprises. Journal Of Electronic Commerce In Organizations, 14(1), 24-33. doi: 10.4018/jeco.2016010103

Ying, W., & Kuanhai, Z. (2011). Ontological Analysis for Online Payment Systems. Energy Procedia, 13, 9938-9946. doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2011.12.822

Ying, W., & Kuanhai, Z. (2011). Ontological Analysis for Online Payment Systems. Energy Procedia, 13, 9938-9946. doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2011.12.822