group 10 section e scm final project

8/12/2019 Group 10 Section E SCM Final Project

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Contents

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................2

REVOLUTION RETAIL: KEY FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS ........................................................................................3

CREATE A SURVEY TO UNDERSTAND THE PRACTICES AND SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES FACED BY

ECOMMERCE COMPANIES IN INDIA ......................................................................................................................7

Introduction: ............................................................................................................................................................7

Areas of Focus: .......................................................................................................................................................8

Survey Creation: .................................................................................................................................................. 10

SURVEY TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLE AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT FOR E-RETAIL COMPANIES SELLING

MULTIPLE PRODUCTS SUCH AS BOOKS, APPARELS AND ELECTRONICS. ................................................. 15

Hypothesis: .......................................................................................................................................................... 15

Questionnaire ....................................................................................................................................................... 16

ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................................ 20

Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................... 21

CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................................... 22

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................................ 23


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INTRODUCTION

Retail is the sale of goods and services from individuals or businesses to the end-user. Retailers are part

of an integrated system called the supply chain. A retailer purchases goods or products in large

quantities from manufacturers directly or through a wholesale, and then sells smaller quantities to the

consumer for a profit. Retailing can be done in either fixed locations like stores or markets, door-to-door or by delivery. Retailing includes subordinated services, such as delivery. The term "retailer" is

also applied where a service provider services the needs of a large number of individuals, such as a

public. Shops may be on residential streets, streets with few or no houses or in a shopping mall.

Shopping streets may be for pedestrians only. Sometimes a shopping street has a partial or full roof to

protect customers from precipitation. The new technological revolution has taken retailing into a

completely new space, online retailing. Online retailing is a type of electronic commerce used for

business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions and mail order which are forms of non-shop retailing.

Once a particular product has been found on the website of the seller, most online retailers use

shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust quantities,

like filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a conventional store. A "checkout" process follows in

which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary. Some stores allow consumers to

sign up for a permanent online account so that some or all of this information only needs to be entered

once. The consumer often receives an e-mail confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less

sophisticated stores may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their orders, though credit card

numbers should never be accepted by e-mail, for security.

This document involves a brief analysis of the report Revolution Retail by Kevin OMarah, Head of

Faculty, SCM World. The analysis is followed by a survey to understand the practices and supply chain

challenges faced by ecommerce companies in India and a survey of existing and potential customers

who buy using ecommerce sites and suggest possible areas of improvement for ecommerce companies

with special focus on products like books, apparels and electronics.


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REVOLUTION RETAIL: KEY FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS

This report is based on a research that was carried out to understand todays customer value chain and

the future as seen by the retailers with respect to e-commerce and multi-channel customer

satisfaction.

Fundamental Forces of change

The transition from general store to super markets to television and finally to e-commerce and multi-

channel indicates higher operating efficiency in the value chain as the retail medium becomes more

advanced. In this process it is essential to understand the different roles played by physical stores and

e-commerce sites. The two have varying cost structures and also call for competitive and marketing

strategies on different lines. For instance, physical stores aim at humanized, tactile benefits while the

e-commerce medium differentiates itself by catering to price sensitivities and enhancing assortment

for better product complementarity. Both require different supply chain capabilities to sustain their

competitiveness.

This report studies various retailer concerns such as impact of e-commerce on physical stores, store

associate and shopper behavior, the future structure of retail organizations and how to manage the

changes in this sector. A survey carried as a part of this research revealed that 74% of retailers

expected the store to still be important in the e-commerce era however, its role in the value chain will

change.

Important Store functions in the future

The relative importance of physical stores with respect to e-commerce in future points towards the

changing role of stores in the buying process. For instance store may act as a showcase for certain

electronic items that a consumer may land up buying online. For other categories like perishables and

apparels stores may play yet different roles. In case of perishables like grocery, stores may act as

warehouses for online order fulfillment (eg. Tesco). On the other hand the charm of trying on a fashion

garment helps sustain the growth of garment stores. Playing so many roles requires flexibilities which

might prove to be a costly affair. The key to success lies in making strategic choices regarding what role

the store will play and how e-commerce might complement its objectives.

Multi-channel functions

The two key e-commerce enabled functions that future stores may need to fulfill are buy-online-

pickup-in-store and buy-online-ship-from-store. While both these capabilities are expected to be

common across various formats, the latter is significantly less certain as a requirement of the e-

commerce enabled retail future. Interestingly, 70 % of the respondents believe that pick-up in store is

essential. As retailers looking the e-commerce enabled future expect additional duties at the stores,

managing these new processes will be challenging for them. This will further call for enhanced role of


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associates to match the demands of better informed customers with the capabilities of the supply

chain. This will mean better training and tool improvements without which retailers will not be

competitive. A smart associate with in-stock inventory access and lots of knowledge will become very

useful to the shopper.

Another element of the retail revolution will include job elimination at check out and elimination of

floor staff. However, the importance of human capital in e-commerce future cant be ignored.Although, labor skill requirements will be decreased due to automation, many retailers feel that e-

commerce will up-skill rather than de-skill the work. The skills required may change in two ways: either

intensive sales support or more intensive logistics. Depending upon the format (apparel, grocery etc.)

one skill may be more important than the other.

Another aspect of the e-commerce enabled retail future is expectation of labor cost. As human capital

gains importance, pays will rise. But, head-count reductions will offset higher wages. In other words,

there will be fewer, more expensive associates in the stores.

The future e-commerce enabled shopper will enter the store better informed (owing to onlineresearch). The scope of 4 Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) will become wider with variables such

as express shipping vs. slow shipping, bulk order vs. single item orders, sale price vs. regular price and

even discounts for survey participation. As rightly quoted in the article, the Google enabled customer

can quickly map out a series of options along their personal demand curve before spending. Shoppers

are willing to entertain offers catering to their product choice, price preference, availability and

convenience. However, the art of balancing demand supply will call for more than just impressive

assortment that is in-stock. There will be implications on sourcing, product design, and store layout

and supply chain. One key insight is the supply chain implications of this finding. Customers making

bulk orders at lower prices hold inventory for you. Those willing to wait for slow delivery allow you to

ship in full truck loads or an optimized route. Some customers might narrow their selection

requirements, which limits the SKUs that you must carry, thus making your operations leaner and in-

stock performance. These things will lead to significant opportunities of upstream supply chain savings.

Brand power constitutes another area of concern. Direct selling to customers has become more

prevalent through business formats of the likes of Amazon, or through third party entities like Digital

River. Vertical integration by manufacturers/retailers is a cause of worry. Does e-commerce favour the

manufacturer or the retailer? This is a rather important debate. Data suggest that retailers expect their

ability to impress customers to decline in the e-commerce future. They see the emergence of e-

commerce as an accelerator to brand building that favours manufacturers. Direct-to-customershopping forms a link between the manufacturer and the shoppers, thus obviating the presence of the

retailer.

However, opinions regarding the importance of e-commerce in the retail future varies across formats.

While grocery format is positive about the e-commerce future, apparel retailers foresee an opposite

effect on their businesses.


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Organisational changes driven by e-commerce

With the onset of the retail revolution, organizations will have to demonstrate certain degree of

transformation. One aspect could be improvement in the integration between store and the supply

chain. Improved visibility of inventory to the customer as well as to the DC will help improve overall

service. Customers will expect supply chain information that will guide them towards a profitable

configuration. Offering details of product, packaging and delivery cost, financing terms and servicecontracts may be too much of a compromise for the supply chain, but this is the direction in which the

future retail is heading.

Surprisingly enough, most retailers expect the lines of difference between e-commerce supply chain

and in-store supply chain to disappear. The evolution of a unified supply chain approach has caused

growth in various retail sectors, with the delivery of consistent prices across both e-commerce and

store channels. The supply chain operations are becoming leaner as redundancy in inventory and

operational expenses are being trimmed. Retail encompasses sequential process flows merchandise

decisions through supply chain and into the store, and e-commerce tightens all these processes, thus

compressing the calendar driven retail value chain. As cycle times shorten, there will be better

information sharing across the process. This in turn will help improve decision making relating to

volumes, assortment and pricing.

The convergence of operational roles tosses the question of which of the three functional players

should lead the game. Responses say that merchandising was best qualified for the same. Supply chain

and store operations were ranked second and third respectively. Cutting the data collected by the type

of format, grocery and apparel retailers gave store operations and supply chain precedence over

merchandising. The apparel retailers did express their anxiety owing to the increased complexity of

customer fulfillment in an e-commerce enabled future.

Managing Change

The key question raised with regard to change management in the retail future was whether a

common strategy should be followed across functions or each function should be allowed to grow at

its own pace. As different kinds of surveys revealed conflicting results, there was uncertainty over who

should lead a converged strategy. This could be owing to the immaturity of the traditional value chain

roles that do not have a clear strategy for the future. There is a need for e-commerce to be seen from a

short term perspective rather than a long term problem.

In this regard, retailers are hopeful that technology can come to their succor. As technology enhancesthe information flow across processes, it might make complex decision making possible within tighter

time frames. Majority (about 68%) of the respondents felt the idea of using technology to this effect

credible, as against a much smaller percentage of retailers who still believe that technology cannot

replace human skills. Most retailers are looking forward to using technological advancements in

handling data and interpreting it in real time.


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The revolution is slated to bring about a chance in the metrics of success in the sector. While

traditional retailers used the metric same-store-sales-growth as a suitable metric, a large number of

respondents felt that a new metric-same-shopper-sales-growth would be more appropriate in this

context. An even larger percentage believes that some new metrics which are yet unidentified may

prove to be more accurate in gauging success in an e-commerce enabled future.

Conclusion

This research primarily indicates that meeting the challenges and opportunities of the revolution retail

will mean both- better pricing as well as satisfying in-store experience. Serious strategic implications

are to be witnessed by stores as well as the supply chains that serve them.

Finally, it has been suggested that in order to handle the retail revolution, retailers should:

Understand the consumer better, not just the shopper. Use loyalty cards, kiosks and web storesto answer questions about what problems the consumers are trying to solve when they think of

a particular retailers brand.

Empower their associates to solve problems better. Retail success is defined by the lifetimesales given to a customer. So for enhancing customer relationships, associates should be paid

better as well as trained better, and in turn can be hired in fewer numbers.

Use the store as a supply chain asset. Traditionally, stores were considered to be the end of thesupply chain. But ecommerce will force retailers to believe that the store marks the start of the

supply chain. Hence, the assets of the store can be used to lean out logistics and cause

customers to work with the retailer.

Organize for value chain success, not just sales volume. As the supply chain becomes morelinear, volatility and information silos increase. Retail revolution will require retailers to manage

the trade-off between selling and delivery more effectively. Not ignore information technology. With the burgeoning popularity of ecommerce comes a

data deluge, which can be managed only with better information technology. Therefore, it is

imperative that retailers handle IT better and make more informed investments in IT.

Finally, it has been said that revolution retail will enable a renaissance for many retailers, while for

many, it will mean the end.


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CREATE A SURVEY TO UNDERSTAND THE PRACTICES AND SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES

FACED BY ECOMMERCE COMPANIES IN INDIA

Introduction:

A paper by WANG Jin-fu and ZHANG Ai-xiang describes the relationship between strategic context and

supply chain decisions. The premise is that supply chain decisions must be evaluated in a strategiccontext based on the answers to the following three points:

1. The desired strategic position of the firm2. The supply chain capabilities the firm needs to fulfill its strategy.3. The structure to fulfill those desired supply chain capabilities.

The goal is to create alignment between the desired strategic position of the firm and the capabilities

of supply chain processes used to satisfy customer needs (Porter 1996).

The desired strategic position can be expressed in terms of a priority ranking on the needs of the

customer segments that are targeted by the firm. Typical dimensions of customer needs that may be

targeted by a supply chain include timeliness, quality of service, accessibility, availability,

customizability, and price. There exists a tradeoff between the level at which a set of customer needs is

targeted and the cost incurred by the supply chain in meeting these needs, decision regarding which

are tackled by using efficient frontiers.

The efficient frontier represents the lowest cost of delivering a given level of a customer need using

the best available supply chain processes. Each point on the frontier corresponds to a particular supply

chain structure, employing the best available technologies, managerial policies, and inputs to deliverthe desired level of a customer need at lowest cost. As such, the efficient frontier constitutes the state

of best practices at a given point in time (Porter 1996). It also shows the inherent trade-offs that a firm

must consider when selecting its strategic position given limitations in process technology and policies.

A strategic fit between the firms objective and the supply chain hence becomes crucial for success.

We look at the e-commerce retailers in India and specifically the Apparel segment. Some of the major

retailers in e-commerce space are Fashionandyou, Myntra, Inkfruit, yebhi.com ,Jabong, Flipkart,

Hushbaby, babyoye, letsbuy, Sanpdeal, dealsandyou, homeshop18, infibeam, rediffshopping, , zoomin,

20north, 99labels, ebay, indiangiftingportal, magazinemall, naaptol, fernsnpetals, caratlane, timtara,

watchkart, bagskart, jewelkart etc. There has been a high splurge in the number of e-tailers in the last

few years and hence, the space is quite cluttered.

With booming e-commerce, several key themes emerged:

1. A shift from a push to a pull to a demand-driven supply chain


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2. Customers gaining more power in the marketing channel3. An enhanced role for information systems to gain better control of the supply chain4. The elimination of unnecessary inventory in the supply chain5. A focus on core capabilities and increased outsourcing of noncore activities to specialists

To understand the best practices and supply chain challenges from the supply chain perspective, we

can assess the supply chain from the perspective of the firm or the perspective of the customer. Wedivide the entire supply chain in the following areas:

Areas of Focus:

Sourcing/ Vendor Management:

Each of the manufacturer or distributor has their own individual and perhaps, not easily integrable

systems of packing, logistics, billing and measurement. Reconciliation of all of them is not impossible

but is a very cumbersome task. The e-commerce firm does not maintain inventory for all the items

available on the website. Difficulties arise when a customer order has to be sources from multiple

vendors and needs to be collated and then send.

Moreover, the retailer has to deal with quality issues, since the product comes back to him and it is his

brand that gets affected.

Inventory Management:

Decisions related to centralization or non-centralization of inventory also plays a crucial in determine

how well can the firm meet the customer demand. It is also important to asses whether it will be

beneficial to cross-serve markets by different warehouses if the inventory has a decentralized or

regional system.

Distribution networks & Transportation:

Deciding on an optimal network design, analyzing which category of products to be drop shipped and

which items to be kept in inventory is crucial. Such decisions also affect the lead time required to fulfill

an order.

The delivery time is of utmost importance. In India, it is difficult to find and address because of lack of

properly standardized "physical postal address system".

All of this is important as it plays directly into the overall customer experience of ecommerce.

Companies like Flipkart are working around the issues in the logistics industry by setting up their own

logistics

Reverse Logistics: Reverse logistics is another function of distribution management. Faster product

obsolescence and more generous warranties have escalated the number of returns. Reverse logistics

not only encompasses damaged or returned goods but also products designed for remanufacture

hazardous materials, and reusable packaging.


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Loss or damage in transit is also one the concerns for the supply chain.

Some of the logistics challenges also assess the highly fragmented trucking industry, which carries most

of the business-related transportation within India. The fragmented nature of the industry makes it

hard for companies to manage the large number of carriers required to handle the shipment volumes.

Although outsourcing of logistic activities to 3PL providers seems to be increasing, the organized 3 PL

players are very limited in India. The situation is further compounded by Indias poor infrastructure

facilities. India has one of worlds largest road networks, yet less than half of the roads are paved. The

national highways account for less than 2% of the total road network, but carry 40% of traffic.

Order fulfillment

Rising customer expectations and short fulfilment deadlines call for effective planning that needs

coordination and information sharing amongst all the players of the supply chain.

To generate a practicable plan, all supply chain constraints should be considered simultaneously by the

fulfilment- planning process. These include transportation constraints such as truck capacity (use of

FTL/LTL) and weight, use of alternate modes (Air, water, pipeline) and availability of downstream

resources such as loading/unloading docks.

The process also may include packing, document preparation, customs brokerage, and inventory and

warehouse management. One of the most important innovations here is the integration of distribution

with transportation planning and scheduling through a comprehensive supply chain

Other factors which are needed for customer satisfaction are On-time delivery, tracking of orders,

providing after-sales support and a forum to address their complaints. It is also very important to

assess those complaints and put mechanism to improve those service areas.

The above parameters help us to look at the supply chain from the point of supply chain reliability and

flexibility.

Supply Chain Reliability

Reliability is a measure of service quality and mainly depends upon the consistency of the supply chain

to be able to deliver the right product to the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity and in

the right condition. On-time delivery is one of the important customer certain metric. This determines

whether a perfect delivery has taken place or not and it acts as measure of customer service level.

Supply Chain Flexibility

Flexibility can measure a system's ability to accommodate volume and schedule fluctuations from

suppliers, manufacturers and customers. Indeed flexibility is vital to the success of the supply chain,

since the supply chain exists in an uncertain environment. 'To understand the alertness of the supply

chain in responding to market place changes, Supply chain response time metric can be used.


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Survey Creation:

This survey needs to be filled out by the supply chain team members of e-commerce firms. The data

will be used only at aggregate level.

Key for certain terms used in the survey:

Does not Exist Functionality not presentFunctional Functionality exists at basic level

Competitive Some advanced functionality exists within capability

Advanced Almost all advanced functionality is offered

Best in Class Leading practices and all advanced functionality within a capability is

offered

E-commerce firm specific parameters

Sourcing/Vendor Management related

1. How many vendors does your firm deals with?


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4. If no, what competency, in your opinion makes your vendor management effective?

5. What would you say about the functionality of performance metrics to evaluate yoursuppliers on an on-going basis?o Does not Existo Functionalo Competitiveo Advancedo Best in Class

If it exists, what are the parameters?

6. Is your sourcing process cost-effective?o Yeso No

7. Any specific practice that makes it so (either cost effective or non-effective)

Inventory Management Related

8. Is your inventory centralized?o Yeso No

Any specific thoughts on the decision of making it centralized or decentralized?

9. If decentralized, do you use cross warehouse supplies to meet demand in market areas notcovered by that warehouse?

o Yeso No

10. Do you use drop shipping for any items?


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o Yeso NoCategory of Items: ____________________________________

11. What are issues that you most frequently face in inventory management?

Distribution Network and Transportation

12. What is the distribution methodology that you use?o Warehousing to distribution drop points, then milk runso Warehouse to customer directlyo Use of 3PLo Any other ______________________________

13. What would you say about the optimality of your network design?o Does not Existo Functionalo Competitiveo Advancedo

Best in Class

14. What improvements, if any, are you planning to undertake?

15. How do you handle the reverse logistics for return goods?

16. Any issues peculiar to the reverse logistic handling?

17. Is loss or damage in transit an issue for you?o Yeso No

18. Any specific steps taken to handle this issue?


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Customer specific parameters

19. What are your usual service levels?_________________

20. What percentage of your orders are not delivered on time?______________________

21. Do you provide order tracking/ order status services to your customer, once the order hasbeen placed?

_________________

22. Are there issues coordinating with multiple vendors for a customer order of differentproducts?

o Yeso No

If yes, what kind of issues do you face?

23. What would say about providing after-sales support to your customer?o Does not Existo Functionalo Competitiveo Advancedo Best in Class

If yes, what forms?

Call us option Chat with us option Email option Any other ______________________

24. Most of the customer complaints that you receive are related to the areas of Mismatch between expected product and delivered product


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Quality of product Delayed deliveries Payment issues Refund issues Difficult to return items25. Any other issues you face in the supply chain that we have not captured?


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SURVEY TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLE AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT FOR E-RETAIL COMPANIES

SELLING MULTIPLE PRODUCTS SUCH AS BOOKS, APPARELS AND ELECTRONICS.

The prime focus of any firm is to manage the attitude, trust and satisfaction of both its existing and

prospective customers.

The customer retention is an important factor which can be linked to overall growth and profitability of

a firm

The methodology followed here is

1. Hypothesis2. Administration of Questionnaire (75 respondents)3. Analysis of the Result4. Recommendation based on the results

We developed various hypotheses to test which factors are of importance to the customers.

Hypothesis:

HYPOTHESIS

H1 UI and UX (User Interface experience) has a positive

impact on customer satisfaction

H2 The quality of layout has a positive impact on trust of

the customer

H3 Advertisements on 3rd

party websites trigger purchase

of a productH4 Reduced Search time leads to more product searches

by the same customer during one unique session

H5 Reduced number of steps to complete the purchase

leads to higher customer satisfaction

H6 The Quality of Information has an impact on

willingness to purchase

H7 Customers believe in the testimonials by existing and

trusted buyers

H8 Use of Higher Security while payment transaction leadsto a feeling of safety with the customer

H9 Use of past history website to recommend products on

advertisements leads to sense of intrusion to privacy

H10 Positive impact of Recommended Products on

ecommerce websites


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H11 Processing Time post purchase has an impact on

customer satisfaction

H12 Online order tracking gives a feeling of Safety of the

product

H13 Ease of Access to customer care has a positive impact

on customer satisfaction

H14 The lower Price Level of Products has a positive impact

on customer satisfaction

H15 Large Product assortment has a positive effect on

customer satisfaction

H16 Packaging of the product has direct impact on

Perceived Quality of Service by the E-Retail Chain

H17 Instance of product not matching the exact

specification as shown in the website lead to negative

impact on trust on the retailer

H18 Delays in shipping have a negative impact on

willingness of customer to purchase any products from

the retailer

Questionnaire

Age *

Less than 20 20-30 31-40 40 and above

Gender *

Male Female

Layout of Homepage

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important

Select a value from a range of 1,Not

Important, to 10,Very Important,.

Very

Important


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Fast Loading time of the webpage

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Recommended Search based on your past history *

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Fast Search Utility

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Adaptive search

this feature prompts you while you are typing

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



VeryImportant

Less number of steps to confirm an order

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Secured Payment Portals

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important


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Low Order Processing Time

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Ease of Access and Clarity in Response from Customer Care

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Online Order Tracking services

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Packaging of the product parcel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Variety of Different Categories of Products available

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Large number of alternate products available

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

On time Delivery of Products


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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Intimation of Delivery through call or email a day prior to actual delivery

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Delivery by Retailer Themselves and not from a third party ( Courier services)

Do you feel that its safer that person delivering the product should an employee of the retail chain

where you ordered from

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important



Very

Important

Product Matching the specification that you had ordered

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not Important

Select a value from a range of 1,NotImportant, to 10,Very Important,.

Very

Important

Your opinion on advertisements in third party websites based on your past history

Helpful Irrelevant I feel they are intruding my privacy

Do you trust the testimonials by Trusted Buyers and others on the e-commerce website

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No

Select a value from a range of 1,No,

to 10,Trustworthy,.

Trustworthy


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ANALYSIS

Rank Factor

Total

Score

Scaled out

of 10 Weights

1 Secured Payment Portals 701 9.34666667 0.0644894

2

Product Matching the specification

that was ordered 686 9.14666667 0.0631095

3 Fast Search Utility 656 8.74666667 0.0603496

4 On time Delivery 648 8.64 0.0596136

5 Fast Loading time of the webpage 647 8.62666667 0.0595216

6

Ease of Access and Clarity in

Response from Customer Care 645 8.6 0.0593376

7 Layout of Homepage 641 8.54666667 0.0589696

8 Variety of similar Products available 639 8.52 0.05878569 Low Order Processing Time 637 8.49333333 0.0586017

10 Online Order Tracking services 627 8.36 0.0576817

11

Intimation of Delivery through call or

email a day prior to actual delivery 610 8.13333333 0.0561178

12 Packaging of the product parcel 594 7.92 0.0546458

13 Alternate products available 574 7.65333333 0.0528059

14

Lesser number of steps to confirm

an order 568 7.57333333 0.052253915 Adaptive search 552 7.36 0.050782

16

Recommendations based on search

history 546 7.28 0.05023

17 Trust on User Testimonials 487 6.49333333 0.0448022

18

Delivery by Retailer Themselves and

not from a third party ( Courier

services) 412 5.49333333 0.0379025

TOTAL 144.933333

The responses of the survey can be foundhere.
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/CUSTOMER%20RESPONSE%20and%20Analysis%20Pramesh.xlsxhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/CUSTOMER%20RESPONSE%20and%20Analysis%20Pramesh.xlsxhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/CUSTOMER%20RESPONSE%20and%20Analysis%20Pramesh.xlsxhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/CUSTOMER%20RESPONSE%20and%20Analysis%20Pramesh.xlsx


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Recommendations

1. Security:

Use of Trusted Payment Portal users noted that they linked trust with

1. Verisign logo

2. The Lock Logo

3. Https which shows that the page is secured

Firms can use this to add more security features and take measures to ensure that the customers feel

it is safe to transact with the retailers

2. Product should match all the specifications and described features and attributes such as shades

of color and size

Customers want the same product that has been ordered which matches the description which is

shown on the retailers webpage

Customers feel that sometimes the product given has lesser or different features or specifications such

as size or color shade (apparels) when compared to what was shown on the webpage

3. Faster Search Utility and Adaptive Search

Users want a faster search engine which should have adaptive search functionality which results in

lessor time in finding the product

4. On Time Delivery

Users want the product to be delivered on the promised date.

As there is a high relation with a customers perception and trust on the retail firm ,which will directly

impact the Repurchase intention

5. Real time Online Order Tracking services

Users want to know where their product is and the quality of information given here directly impactsthe perception on quality of retailer.

6. Low Order Processing Time

Customers want shorter order processing time , and the product to be shipped as soon as possible.

7. Intimation of Delivery through call or email a day prior to actual delivery


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Customers feel that this gives them independence to negotiate the timing or enables them to know

when to be available so that they can receive the delivery.

8. Packaging of the Delivery

Users link the level of packaging directly the level of safety and quality measures followed by the

retailers to ensure that the product reaches safely to the customers.

9. Delivery of Product either by representative of retailer or a reputed delivery firm

Customers want the product to be delivered by a reputed company and link this to the safety of the

product and quality of the standards adopted by the e-retailer.

10.Lesser Number of steps to confirm an order

Customers want the least number of steps or clicks through which they can confirm their order and

reach the a page which clearly specfies the following

1. Date of Delivery2. Transaction Id and Timestamp3. Billed amount4. Tracking Link and other details

CONCLUSION

While Internet retail sales have increased tremendously in the past decade, they still represent a

relatively small share of total retail sales. There are many retail firms that do not transact over the

Internet yet. Understanding the drivers and barriers of e-commerce adoption has become increasingly

important in the current day business. Better insight into entry determinants can help companies in

improving their strategies and coping with the impact of new entry. Therefore, awareness of the

industry evolutionary dynamics is important both for new entrants and incumbents. The focal

contention is that while the entry to the Internet channel of early adopters might have been driven by

the pursuit of strategic opportunities, for the majority of retailers, external influences played a key role

in the adoption decision.

As this particular segment is still in its maturing stage, continuous improvement and innovation holds

the key. A flawless platform for purchase is what the organizations are striving for. The easier the

platform is, more the customer is attracted towards this particular channel of retailing.


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REFERENCES

1. B.S. Sahay and Arun K. Gupta, The Supply Chain Critical Link to E-Commerce Success: An IndianScenario, Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective 2001 5: 74

2. WANG Jin-fu, ZHANG Ai-xiang, 2009 Second International Symposium on Electronic Commerceand Security, E-Commerce in the Textile and Apparel Supply chain management: Framework

and Case study

3. Darin Buelow, Raman Nath, Mohan Ram Akella. 2009. Optimizing the supply chain in India,Promise and peril , Deliotte

4. Toral Mehta, Hewlett-Packard Company, E-commerce and Supply Chain Management: Fittingthe Pieces Together

5. Kavita, Dr. U.S.Pandey, E-Commerce Implementation, Problems, Solutions and Popularity inManaging Supply Chain: A Comparative Analysis of Different Top 10 Indian E-Commerce

Companies

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