Ecommerce Case Study

In order to begin E-commerce for the Cuckoo Games would be required to have an Internet Service Provider or more commonly referred to as an ISP. An internet service provider is a company that provides individuals and other companies access to the Internet and other related services. These services could include Web site building and virtual hosting. The reason that an internet service provider is required is because they have the equipment and the telecommunication line access required to have a point-of-presence on the Internet for the particular area. A point of presence is an access point from a particular area to the internet.

The larger ISPs have their own high-speed leased lines so that they are less dependent on the telecommunication providers and can provide better service to their customers. The internet service provider will enable Cuckoo Games to connect to the internet and open them up to a number of other opportunities such as an online website, online payment methods and ultimately selling their products online through E-Commerce. It is essential for Cuckoo Games to have a sufficient computer network with a specification that will be able to cope with working online.

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This may mean that Cuckoo Games will need to purchase more equipment or improve existing equipment. In order for Cuckoo Games to benefit from E-Commerce they must have a few essential pieces of hardware and software. For example it will be essential for Cuckoo Games to have a Printer and could be beneficial if this also integrated Fax and photocopying facilities. A printer will be essential for the company as they will be required to print out invoices and receipts if necessary in order to attach to the products when they are being dispatched.

The use of fax and photocopying facilities will enable them to receive information through fax enabling them to have a hard copy of the information. The ability to photocopy will allow the company to copy and information that they may need to keep, this could also be useful for customer service. I would ensure that Cuckoo Games was equipped with a modern printer with both a fax and photocopying function in order to help within the running of the business and providing invoices etc. for the customer. It will be essential that Cuckoo Games have a computer or computers that will be able to handle the tasks required by the company.

This may include holding all stock figures, process online orders, dealing with customer queries and giving real time support to customers. It is essential that the Cuckoo computers have sufficient Memory in order to store all the information necessary. It is also essential that the computers processor is quick enough to handle all of the information and tasks that will be necessary in the company. I would recommend that Cuckoo Games use an i7 processor; this will give them a great ability to multitask and will give them more than enough power to cope with peak times.

It will be necessary for Cuckoo Games to use a variety of software such as Microsoft word, Microsoft excel and many more. These will be essential for the company as they will be used in order to keep track of stock and can be used in order to produce invoices. Although this software can be expensive to purchase it will be extremely useful and despite their being a large number of variations and updates it is not completely necessary to upgrade at every stage as although the newer version may have some extra features an older version will do a sufficient job aswell.

In order for Cuckoo Games to make the most of E-Commerce it is essential that they have a website that looks professional, easy to use and is eye catching and grabs your attention. Although having a professionally made website can be expensive to have produced but Cuckoo Games will greatly benefit from a professional website rather than a cheaper alternative. If Cuckoo Games were to choose a cheaper alternative when having a website created it may mean that the website does not include as many features, for example scroll bars, moving images, hover over features.

This will cause the website to become plain and boring making it hard for the customer to keep their attention on it. The website must keep the customers attention and at the same time encourage them to continue exploring further into the products and listings. By having an eye catching and user friendly website it can help to encourage customers to perhaps purchase more than they intended or to return to the website in the future. Websites can be either a liquid layout or a static layout. A liquid website is when the size of the website adjusts to the resolution on the viewer’s screen ensuring that it is always ‘full screen’.

A static layout for a website will make the website remain the same size regardless of screen resolution. A benefit of a static layout for a website is that a fixed width layout allows the designer to build pages that will look identical no matter who is looking at them. They also ensure that elements such as images will not overpower text on smaller monitors, because the width of the entire page will include those elements. The scan length will not be impacted on large segments of text, no matter how wide the Web browser is.

Although there are a number of benefits for static websites there are also a number of drawbacks, these include; Fixed width layouts can cause horizontal scrolling in smaller browser windows. And most people don't like to scroll horizontally. They can also result in large expanses of whitespace in larger monitors, resulting in a lot of unused space and more scrolling vertically than might otherwise be necessary. Fixed width layouts don't handle customer changes to font sizes very well. For small increases in the font size, they can be okay, but for larger increases, the layout can become compromised.

There are a number of benefits for using liquid layouts as opposed to a static layout. A liquid width layout expands and contracts to fill the available space, this means that All available real estate is used, allowing the designer to display more content on larger monitors, but still remain viable on smaller displays. Liquid layouts also provide consistency in relative widths, allowing a page to respond more dynamically to customer-imposed restrictions like larger font sizes. Although there are a number of benefits to having a liquid layout there are also a number of drawbacks to this.

Liquid layouts allow for very little precise control over the width of the various elements of the page. They can result in columns of text that are either too wide to comfortably scan, or on smaller browsers too small for the words to show up clearly. Liquid layouts can have problems when a fixed width element, such as an image, is placed inside a liquid column. If the column is rendered without enough space for the image, some browsers will increase the column width, disregarding the designer's instructions, while other browsers will cause overlaps in text and images to achieve the correct percentages.

I would encourage Cuckoo Games to use a static website layout, this would eliminate any potential image problems for any customers and will ensure that the website can be viewed successfully by anyone on any type of computer. Although by using a static layout you may loose some space that could have been used to place images or information the ability to view the website from any console outweighs the opportunity to have more information or images on the website. In order to have E-Commerce it is essential that Cuckoo Games established a payment system for online orders.

This will be a large part of integrating your business to the internet. The most popular payment system is PayPal. PayPal is used because it stores and safeguards your card and bank details, enabling you to pay online without entering your sensitive financial information every time you shop. This allows the customer to speed through checkout in just a few clicks, PayPal takes the payment from your card or bank directly, and your payment details are never shared on the internet. PayPal advertise themselves as 3 things: It's safer: Shop at thousands of websites without sharing your financial details.

It's faster: With no need to type in your card details, you can check out in a few clicks. It's easier: All you need is an email address and password to pay online. Although there are a large number of benefits for using PayPal and that PayPal are an already highly trusted payment method worldwide there are still a number of drawbacks for Cuckoo Games by using this. Although PayPal make things easier for both the customer and the company they charge a 6% fee for doing so. Although this does not sound high when applied to a single sale, this 6% over every and any sale will accumulate overtime and take a large chunk of any money of the sales.

A lot of business use this when they first start up as it is less stress and worry when starting up an online business and once they become confident enough they then edge away from it and become independent. Cuckoo Games should use PayPal in the beginning in order to ease stress and worry and also to gain customer trust. By using PayPal in the beginning customers will feel safe as PayPal has already built up a substantial trust with customers who shop online. This will also bring credibility to Cuckoo Games website.

Once Cuckoo Games has been established online for a period of time and feel confident enough they should then begin to establish their own payment system should it be their own arrangement with a bank or a service similar to PayPal. If Cuckoo Games decide to begin using their own payment system such as their using a bank it is important to keep in mind that there will be a monthly fee from the bank in order to have the debit machine available to them. Although this fee will usually equate to a small fraction of the total sales for that month.

Using a bank to have a payment system may result in other fees if payments are rejected or sent back. Cuckoos Games must also think about international postage and how they can ensure or minimise any damages and loses etc. In order to post on an international level they must also consider the compatibility of the games allowing for the different types used in other countries. For example in the UK we use ‘Pal’ for video games were as in the USA for example they use ‘NTCS’. This may limit the number of games available to ship international or could result in Cuckoo needing to stock an international range of stock.

In order to ship internationally Cuckoo will need to not only wrap their products in suitable packaging in order to preserve the game they may have to be bubble wrapped and in sealed brown paper envelopes in order to keep the contents sealed. It may also be an idea for Cuckoo to have a free return post address in order to help customers with returns. This may also backfire that customers are more encouraged to return products that they may not have before. Cuckoo will also need a method for dealing with returned items that have been damaged or the wrong items sent.

This will be a vital part of the company and must be operated effectively in order to avoid fraud attempts. Why E-commerce? A major benefit of ecommerce is that you are not do not suffer from geographical limitations. With a stand alone store you are limited to the number of products you can display and the number of which you can stock at any one time. With ecommerce this is not the case as you are able to advertise as many products as you wish at no extra cost. This will benefit cuckoo games as they will be able to advertise more products than they can currently at their store.

This will also allow cuckoo games to stock more of a particular products that may be extremely popular such as the latest games or accessories. Using ecommerce cuckoo games will also be able to gain new customers that may have never heard of the company before simply by the use of search engines. It is vital that cuckoo games have a good ‘search engine visibility’ so they are returned as an option when a potential customers makes a search that could be related to them. The costs to selling through ecommerce are relatively low in comparison to those of running a high street store in a number of ways such as the advertising and marketing.

In order to advertise and market a store can cost thousands and for a small store such as cuckoo games this is completely unachievable, however advertising for ecommerce is relatively low cost and effective with the use of social media and search engine traffic. The number of staff needed in order to operate an ecommerce website is significantly less than in a high street store. This will give cuckoo games the opportunity to increase sales whilst keeping costs low. A benefit for ecommerce is that the customer is able to find a product they are looking for quicker than they may be able to if they were to purchase it in a high street store.

This also helps to eliminate the travel cost to the customer as they are able to browse the catalogue virtually. Not only is the customer able to find the product faster but it makes it easier for cuckoo games to promote offer they have available and any special deals that are currently running helping to encourage multi buys and return customers. Although there are a large number of benefits to ecommerce there are also a number of drawbacks that must also be taken into account for cuckoo games.

To begin with ecommerce lacks the personal touch that a number of people still prefer to have today. The personal touch may be a number of things such as a simple greeting when entering the store or building a relationship with the store staff. With ecommerce the customer does not receive this and it may discourage them to use the ecommerce. Another downside to ecommerce for cuckoo games could be that there is a delay for receiving the goods for the customer. A customer using ecommerce will have to wait for he product to be dispatched and posted to them.

Many people interested in computer games will not want to wait to receive their product and may be encouraged to use other company’s meaning cuckoo games will loose custom. Shopping through ecommerce does not allow the customer to experience the product before purchasing it. In the majority of game stores there are consoles set up with the latest games in order for the customers to try and encourage them to purchase. By using ecommerce in cuckoo games it will unable to encourage customers to purchase new line products in the same way they are able to in store.

There is always the element of authenticity for customers when browsing websites online as there is very little regulation on who can and cannot set up a website and use ecommerce for illegal activities. This may effect cuckoo games as they are a new company with little or no internet credibility. This may encourage customers to shop elsewhere and loose cuckoo business. Customers who may not purchase goods regularly online may be worried about security and stick to the mainstream and well known websites despite price and offers simply to ensure security.

A major benefit of ecommerce is that you are not do not suffer from geographical limitations. With a stand alone store you are limited to the number of products you can display and the number of which you can stock at any one time. With ecommerce this is not the case as you are able to advertise as many products as you wish at no extra cost. This will benefit cuckoo games as they will be able to advertise more products than they can currently at their store. This will also allow cuckoo games to stock more of a particular products that may be extremely popular such as the latest games or accessories.

Using ecommerce cuckoo games will also be able to gain new customers that may have never heard of the company before simply by the use of search engines. It is vital that cuckoo games have a good ‘search engine visibility’ so they are returned as an option when a potential customers makes a search that could be related to them. The costs to selling through ecommerce are relatively low in comparison to those of running a high street store in a number of ways such as the advertising and marketing.

In order to advertise and market a store can cost thousands and for a small store such as cuckoo games this is completely unachievable, however advertising for ecommerce is relatively low cost and effective with the use of social media and search engine traffic. The number of staff needed in order to operate an ecommerce website is significantly less than in a high street store. This will give cuckoo games the opportunity to increase sales whilst keeping costs low. A benefit for ecommerce is that the customer is able to find a product they are looking for quicker than they may be able to if they were to purchase it in a high street store.

This also helps to eliminate the travel cost to the customer as they are able to browse the catalogue virtually. Not only is the customer able to find the product faster but it makes it easier for cuckoo games to promote offer they have available and any special deals that are currently running helping to encourage multi buys and return customers. Although there are a large number of benefits to ecommerce there are also a number of drawbacks that must also be taken into account for cuckoo games.

To begin with ecommerce lacks the personal touch that a number of people still prefer to have today. The personal touch may be a number of things such as a simple greeting when entering the store or building a relationship with the store staff. With ecommerce the customer does not receive this and it may discourage them to use the ecommerce. Another downside to ecommerce for cuckoo games could be that there is a delay for receiving the goods for the customer. A customer using ecommerce will have to wait for he product to be dispatched and posted to them.

Many people interested in computer games will not want to wait to receive their product and may be encouraged to use other company’s meaning cuckoo games will loose custom. Shopping through ecommerce does not allow the customer to experience the product before purchasing it. In the majority of game stores there are consoles set up with the latest games in order for the customers to try and encourage them to purchase. By using ecommerce in cuckoo games it will unable to encourage customers to purchase new line products in the same way they are able to in store.

There is always the element of authenticity for customers when browsing websites online as there is very little regulation on who can and cannot set up a website and use ecommerce for illegal activities. This may effect cuckoo games as they are a new company with little or no internet credibility. This may encourage customers to shop elsewhere and loose cuckoo business. Customers who may not purchase goods regularly online may be worried about security and stick to the mainstream and well known websites despite price and offers simply to ensure security.

Without question E-Commerce has been a positive introduction for many people providing jobs for people and made shopping easier and more convenient. Although e-commerce has been beneficial to a large number of people the biggest problem e-commerce has is that the buyer and seller do not know or see each other resulting in e-commerce potentially being dangerous. The most obvious thing about e-commerce is the scam side on the part of both the buyer and the seller. The ability to hide behind a computer screen seems to invoke the criminal side of people.

The thought of the other person being hundreds of miles away on the other side of the world and never going to see them seems to encourage buyers to use fake credit cards and fraudulent information. Many people claim the product has not been delivered or that it is damaged knowing it is cheaper for the company to send a replacement product rather than to have the “broken/damaged” product returned to them. Cuckoo games will have to be extremely aware of this and be prepared with a procedure to deal with these claims.

It may be beneficial for cuckoo games to establish a name for having the products returned if such claims are made which may encourage potential frauds from attempting these scams. On the switch side seller have found a number of ways to take customers money without the intention to ever send a product or to send a product far below the standards of the one the customer is expecting. This is not helped as feedback is very easy to fake and can lure the customer into false sense of security. Although this is a general problem for e-commerce this will not be applicable to cuckoo games as they have no intention of defrauding their customers.

However it may be important to consider support in order to reassure their customers encase of delay in delivery such as postage strikes or problems. Even if both the buyer and seller act with integrity there are a number of other issues that may arise and cause problems. For example, when buying goods online a cred or debit card must be used and thus the customer is entrusting the company to keep their information safe. If a company did not keep the customers information safe it my result in the data being lost or hacked resulting in the customers information being used without their knowledge.

This will result in a loss of sales for the company as it is unlikely the customer will return after their information has been stolen. It will be essential for cuckoo games to keep the information their customer trust them with safe, not only to help the customer returning but also to help build a better reputation for the company. Cuckoo games will need to be aware of potential DOS attacks that will aim to take their website down In order to prevent customers from being able to purchase their goods. There may also be jokesters who will hack a website just to prove they can.

Cuckoo games must ensure that their security is advanced enough to stop this and keep their website up. Cuckoo games must be aware that at any point the bank or another financial institute that process the payments for the company. They can have they accounts frozen, locked or even terminated without any prior notice for a number of reasons such as a high level of chargebacks, unacceptable sales to return ratios, having a lot of customer complaints or violating the terms and conditions of their contract.

This may be a problem for cuckoo games if they do not monitor their sales and returns efficiently or provide a service that satisfies the customer. Another problem that cuckoo games could be faced with is that employees who have been brought in to run or manage the website may not actually know what they are doing but have been sourced from forums or classified sites who appear to have a good portfolio but may be talking themselves up or may not have any experience in this particular area. Cuckoo games must ensure that any extra employees that are hired are either experienced in this exact line of work or have suitable qualifications.

This is because the company is putting their entire website in their hands, there are a lot of fraudulent profiles that have alternative motives for getting jobs running and managing websites for a number of reasons such as to steal customer information, to add destructive or explicit material and have the ability to take the website down at any time. Another problem that cuckoo games may have is with downloadable or digital content such as game extension packs or membership etc. This is because it is possible for hackers and thieves to navigate themselves around servers in order to get the content without paying.

Another problem is that one person may download the content and openly share it with friends or post it openly on the web. It will be essential for cuckoo games to ensure that they have suitable security and legislation in order to protect any of their digital or downloadable content perhaps with the use of generated passwords or a limited number of licences. Trading online has a number of knock on effects such as high street stores closing. With the introduction of e-commerce high street stores are beginning to close and the number of shops in a given city or town has fallen.

This is because it is much cheaper for a company to sell their goods online in comparison to the costs of having a high street store. For example in order to have and maintain a high street store the company must pay a number of things such as rent, wages, utility bills, cleaning costs and transportation costs for bringing in new and replenishing stock. This is a huge amount in comparison to what is required to sell their goods via e-commerce. The total price for selling up a website can be as little as ? 5000 to have a fully functional and active website were a the cost to set up a high street store can be as much as 10times this or more.

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