Retail Store Major
Project title: AnE-Commerce Strategy for Expanding the Scale of Operations at The Retail Store
Project Manager (yourself): Student’s Name
The Retail Store is a business which provides retail services to clients in different states within the U.S. The firm recorded sales of $3.2 million against its must objective of $5 million. The Retail Store has 30 employees and provides more than 2,500 quality products from established American manufacturers. The organization needs to consider a business expansion strategy which entails adopting an e-commerce platform for retail services. The Retail Store requires an e-commerce strategy for expanding its scale of operations by venturing into more markets and targeting new clients.
Modern retail organizations are adopting e-commerce platforms to sell their products. For instance, Amazon and Alibaba have accumulated high record sales on products sold over their e-commerce platforms in both the U.S. and China respectively (Kurnia, et al. 2015). The Retail Store needs to consider an e-commerce platform to meet all of its “Must” objectives. Adopting an e-commerce platform bridges a vital business gap among existing retail stores which provide their services and products in a physical store.
An e-commerce platform would enable the retail store to achieve record sales of at least $5 million in revenues. Moreover, it is through an e-commerce strategy that The Retail Store will take part in its main objective of fostering social and economic progress in low-income communities. The e-commerce platform will also enable The Retail Store to expand its core offerings on products by 10% in a stipulated timeframe of 2 years.
Adopting an e-commerce strategy is a project which will transform the operational services of The Retail Store. The firm will benefit from large savings acquired from cost-effective processes and operations embedded in the system. For instance, an e-commerce platform will reduce revenue losses by integrating its order placement process with a stable and genuine online payment module (Kurnia, et al. 2015). Developing an e-commerce platform will require services of a software developer whose charges will depend on the scope of the project. The project will be completed within 10-12 weeks as guided by a Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). The Retail Store will implement this strategy using a Pilot Implementation process which does not interfere with the firm’s ongoing business operations.
The project will undergo an intensive user gathering process which collects requirements from The Retail Store. Resources required at this level will include; questionnaires and survey documents. Telephone records and minutes from meetings will supplement the resources required at this phase of the project. A team of developers and representatives of The Retail Service will interpret the requirements and come up with an effective SDLC framework (Kurnia, et al. 2015). The developers will, henceforth, interact with representatives of The Retail Store while developing the e-commerce platforms. Computer resources required to complete the project will include; an operational computer and a smartphone, a software development kit, and implementation software such as XAMP and Chrome browser. Designers and developers will work collaboratively with other stakeholders to code, test and implement the system within The Retail Store’s premises.
Online identity verification is a risk which will impact the project adversely. The project might fail to meet its projected sales due to poor online identification among clients. In essence, appealing to online buyers is a factor which will determine the success of The Retail Store. Upon successful implementation, the e-commerce project might suffer negative impacts of poor customer contact. Traditionally, the organization has been offering products and retail services physically. Face-to-face communication is not catered for in an e-commerce platform and this might affect the firm’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM). An Omni-channel is an effective strategy in which call centers assume all responsibilities entailing CRM.
Reference
Kurnia, S., Choudrie, J., Mahbubur, R. M., & Alzougool, B. (2015). E-commerce technology adoption: A Malaysian grocery SME retail sector study. Journal of Business Research, 68(9), 1906-1918.