Taking DécorFurniture.com to the Next Level of E-Commerce

DecorFurniture. com will utilize an off the shelf CRM application in lieu of an ERP system. Customer Relationship Management applications will enhance the marketing, sales, and customer service aspect of DecorFurniture. com by handling the data about the company’s old and future customers. The CRM application will manage the call center function to be added to the company. This will help in reaching the goal of improving the company’s relationship with its customers.Proper training will be given to the agents, briefing them on the CRM application’s goal of improving relationships in order to ensure that the cost of the program will not have to balloon out of proportion before showing results. Business Processes Business Process Improvement is an essential part of Decor Furniture. There are numerous of individuals surfing the internet in this world of fast-paced technology. There is a need for Decor Furniture to keep up with the demands of these individuals, poten tial customers and old patrons. There is a need, therefore, for flexibility in changing the status quo of the e-business.Web design, marketing strategies, web services used, and other applications integrated in the company’s trade must be constantly reviewed for effectiveness in the business’ growth. The online community is a fast-changing thing and Decor Furniture must constantly keep up through the upgrading of software and mechanisms. Business processes constantly monitor workflows or the way the business’ transactions flow from the start to the end. XML will be used for the company’s site. This will help in keeping the web site flexible to change given the simplicity and universality of the code.It will be used as the language to connect the workflow processes involved. The use of Wf-XML will reduce integration costs. It will also be easier to â€Å"operate† as it can be handled by anyone who is XML literate. Decor Furniture will also make use of a language translating web service in order to provide its services in different languages online. This will help in the goal of reaching more individuals with the products it offers. Business Intelligence Planning and Funding As a start-up e-business stemming from an offline company with a small target of customers, Decor Furniture will not yet employ the use of business intelligence.However, it will target the integration of a business intelligence application when the company grows and its customers and sales increase. Waiting and not implementing a business intelligence application immediately will also give ample time for planning the program. Once the business has taken off and funds have increased through the company’s profits and through outside investors attracted through the company’s highly competent marketing strategies, business intelligence will be integrated.Because business intelligence will only be applied once the company is bigger and funds are en ough to sustain the program, OLAP will be an option for Decor Furniture. This is because OLAP is multidimensional and will give a wider array of choices with regard to the tasks that need to be accomplished by the system. Data mining will not be used because some studies have shown that such procedures, such as the Market Basket Analysis, are not effective. Customers may buy a certain product for different reasons not simply because of certain aspects of their identity available in the data to be mined.Assessing Decor Furniture as a Small Business Before the advent of the internet, furniture was viewed in a company’s showroom, ordered, and only then delivered to the customer’s residence or office. This process can be cut short, however, by allowing DecorFurniture. com to go online. The strategy to be applied will involve the creation of a company website which will not only serve as a brochure for the different products but which will also integrate a purchasing featur e where customers can order their products and pay via PayPal or other such B2C systems.This allows the company to reach more individuals than it usually would. Even individuals not living near Decor Furniture’s main stores would be able to view and opt to buy their products. Marketing Included in the strategy planning for Decor Furniture is its aspect as an online market. As stated above, Decor Furniture will be placed on the online market because this broadens its pool of customers. Marketing will include the use of online ads, electronically mailing potential customers, and having different kinds of advertising multimedia, such as commercials on YouTube for the promotion of the products.The company’s site will be made sure to have an attractive and welcoming template. Navigation around the site will be made easier with a site map and promos will be placed on the home page to attract the potential customers to continue on to the viewing of the products. Marketing pro grams will be outsourced. This is to reduce costs, via cheaper labor in the outsourcing companies, and to ensure that the newly started online market of Decor Furniture will be marketed expertly even from the start. Outsourcing may be stopped in the future once the company has gained ground on the World Wide Web. Legal Matters – Privacy, IPR and TaxAlong with the uncharted land of the web, many companies starting an e-business are unsure of the boundaries of their legal rights. Many customers are also afraid of violation of their own rights in purchasing over the internet. Privacy and stealing identity information keep customers on their guard. This will be avoided by including privacy policies or agreement terms on the site as well as by clear explanation of why certain information is being asked of the client. Proper paper work will be filed in the local government to ensure that taxation of the transactions done on the DecorFurniture. com site will be assured.This will ens ure that the e-business’ dealings are legal and accounted for. This is probably the most essential legal aspect the company faces because its main purpose for going online is to be able to establish more customers through an online market. The domain name, company logo and tag lines will be copyrighted as well to protect the company from imitations and posers. Management Issues An important management trend that is good to keep in mind when dealing with online business is outsourcing. Running an e-business entails paying attention to numerous details that aren’t part of what your business is really about.Advertisements, creation of web designs, writing of the site’s content are all things that will be outsource in DecorFurniture. com. Going online has given Decor Furniture access to the entire world as a pool for potential customers. Through international shipping, global service will be offered. Shipping insurance as well as local tax in the customer’s c ountry will not be part of the services available to the international customers. This will extend the possibilities for DecorFurniture. com and will take full advantage of its choice to go online.Conclusion Decor Furniture can maximize its online presence through the use of the various resources it can find available on the internet. Developing a strong presence online is essential in order to attract new customers and to spread the company’s name. Creating an impressive web site and coupling this with effective marketing strategies will help Decor Furniture become a household name when it comes to online purchasing. However, in order for the company to best have its customers keep coming back, it has to establish a good relationship with the.This can be established through CRM applications that will be integrated into the company. Eventual use of business intelligence applications, which will be capable of analyzing sales data, will also assist the company in getting to kno w better the customers and target audience for sales. Decor Furniture has a bright future ahead on the World Wide Web. Unlike many dot com businesses, it has a very good chance at becoming a stable success online. Through careful planning of business strategies and implementation of the same, this e-business will be booming in no time.There are many features of e-business that put it above offline businesses. Numerous aids and options are available to the online company and it can more easily reach a larger audience of individuals. However, there must be proper planning, implementation of these plans, and use of e-business strategies in order for success to be attained. Reference Vindevogel, B. , Van den Poel, Dirk, and Wets, Geert. â€Å"Why promotion strategies based on market basket analysis don’t work. † Expert Systems with Applications, 28 (1991): 583-590.