Ecommerce Growth in Globalisation

Introduction

In the recent era of globalisation, the ecommerce industry and online activities is growing rapidly for digitalisation of the business where all the people in the tercet years try to be updated through online activities where they can be updated with latest news and information through online searching (Nandonde, 2019). The aim of the study to analyse the online business growth opportunities through PESTLE and SWOT analysis through which it is possible to acknowledge the internal and external business environment as well as develop effective strategic planning for establishing the online business sustainably.

PESTLE Analysis of online business

PESTLE analysis is one of the effective analytical process to evaluate the external market condition of the business where the political forces, economic stability of the market, social development, technological advancement, legal framework and environmental sustainability are contributing in achieving organisational success (Onwutalobi, 2016; Onyusheva, and Seenalasataporn, 2018). In the recent years, the growth in online business in enhancing at a rapid rate where majority of the customers are preferring to make effective purchase decision through online sites. In this context, the San Jose is a California based organisation, having 31,500 employees and the company is successful in generating $14 billon revenue. The leader of the company is influenced by Pierre Omidyar, who is the chairman of eBay which is a successful online platform for achieving success by retaining huge numbers of customers in the UK for expanding the online and e-commerce business activities. In this regard, the aim of the company is to create new venture for online business where it can achieve success by creating online shopping application through which the customers can place their orders for quality goods and services. In order to make the business successful in the online business field, it is necessary for the leader to analyse the external market of the UK so that it is possible to understand the strengths and opportunities of the online business in the market. through the PESTE analysis, it is possible for the organisational leader to acknowledge the market structure and the forces of doing online business in the market such as political stability and social development, economic growth of the country, technological upgradation, environmental activities ad legal rules that contribute in doing the business strategically (Szolnoki, Thach, and Kolb, 2016).

Political Stability:

The political stability of the UK promotes business growth where all the organisations focus on expanding their business operational activities across the UK. The government of the UK is cooperative and supporting the e-commerce industry for enhancing their online business activities. Government support and cooperation of expanding the business further influence the entrepreneurs to expand the business through e-commerce business. Stability in the political environment in this regard can be considered as positive factor that contributes in developing the online business for the company the San Jose.

Economic growth:

Rapid growth of the developing countries as well as growth in e-commerce business in the UK further influence the entrepreneur to develop new venture of online business where they can strengths n their customers base strategically. In this regard, the national Income of the UK is increasing rapidly as per the figure below. There is continuous rise in the National Income of the country which indicates that there is positive income growth in the UK which helps in developing online business.

In addition to these, the economic condition is also developed as the disposable income of the people living in the UK is also increasing rapidly. As per the figure below, it can be stated that, the disposable income of the households is increasing and there is steady growth which enhances the numbers of buyers through online activities.

Economic stability including rapid growth of disposable income and national income of the country are contributing factors to develop the new venture for the San Jose.

Social development:

Social development is subjected to education, high literacy rate and changing preferences towards online activities. The number of shoppers through online activities is increasing in the UK which can be illustrated through the figure below.

The numbers of shoppers through e-commerce is rising year by year due to changing in the preferences of the customers as well as int he recent years, the rate of online searching among the people is increasing rapidly for which it will be advantageous for developing the new venture.

Technological advancement:

Rising in mobile device usage and rising competition in the technological innovation and creativity as well as development of the money transfer application are contributing factors in developing the online business of the San Jose.

Legal framework:

As per the legal framework, rising e-commerce regulations, improving regularity support for the globalisation of the markets as well as improving regulatory support for international transportation by protecting the customers are effective for developing the new venture.

Environmental sustainability:

Raising awareness of environmental conservation, increasing availability of renewable resource utilisation and business sustainability trend are also positive factors that influence the business to develop new venture of online business (McDermott, and Payvision, 2015).

SWOT Analysis

Through SWOT analysis, it is possible for the organisation to assess the own strengths and weaknesses as well as acknowledge future market opportunities and upcoming threats so that it is easy for the company to develop appropriate strategic planning for future so that it can utilise the market opportunities and minimise threats for sustainable business development (Sisodia, 2016). The SWOT analysis of the company can be represented further,

The strengths of developing the new venture for the online business are such as strong brand, high number of employees, efficiency of the staff members, effective region of operations and high effectiveness of the service which contribute positively in developing the venture. There are 31,500 employees who are efficient to handle the business operational activities. The technological development and innovation are helpful for the business to establish the new venture with proper patent and copyright. Brand reputation and high customer trend towards the online shopping are considered as market opportunities where the business can establish the online activities in the market and strengthen their customers base across the UK market. The weaknesses for the company are such as limited emphasise on innovation and creativity, high investment for technological upgradation, limited flexibility in the market, limited business model for start-up business for the new venture which needs to be mitigated for developing the new venture. The business needs to provide proper fund through sponsorship and financial investment to develop the new venture of online business as well as develop proper business model so that it is possible to establish the business in the market for securing future sustainable development.

The opportunities such as high market growth, income stability and social development further increase the online purchase activities of the customers which helps the business to expand their operational activities across the UK by retaining more clients for their goods and services. The copyright and patent of the company are also effective to develop the business. The legal framework for developing the e-commerce business such as new GDPR framework through General Data Protection Regulation 2018, Consumer Right Act 2015, UK E-commerce Laws 2010, Data Protection Act 1998, E-commerce shipping and delivery policy, Customer privacy rules, E-commerce refund policy, Consumer protection legislations are effective for the company the San Jose to develop the venture of online business safety. however, the Changing needs and preferences of the customers, Consumer Right Act 2015, Consumer protection legislations can be considered as threats as the customer sometime utilise the rules and legislative structure in a negative firm to get new products (Blazquez et al., 2019). The company needs to utilise the market opportunities by implementing effective strategic planning and using the organisational strengths so that it is possible to mitigate the future market threats and stabilising the operational activities of the new venture of online business sustainability in the UK market.

Online business strategy

In order to develop the new venture of the San Jose, it is necessary for the company to target three major industry of the UK economy which contributes positively in the country and it is effective for the company to strengthen their customer’s base by retaining the local customers as well as the potential buyers in the market for achieving success by ensuring establishment of the business in the UK market. The three sectors are such as electronic media, fashion and food and personal care which are contributing higher amount in the UK economy and hereby, it is beneficial for the company to target these three sectors for developing the new venture of online business and target the customers for making effective purchase decision.

Retail fashion:

It is effective for the organisation to target the retail fashion industry as there is high growth in the retail clothing and fashion industry and it further influence the business to expand their business by retaining the customers across the UK. It would be beneficial for the organisation to retain the customers who love fashionable clothing and accessories and as per the figure, it can be stated that, the growth is sustainable, and it is expected to grow in upcoming years.

It indicates that, developing online business venture through developing website of the company as well as creating mobile application for the mobile users is effective so that the customers can choose fashionable clothing as per their choice and preferences. Through developing the mobile application and company website, it is possible to display the quality clothing and designer accessories so that the customers can choose. Apart from this, it is necessary for the company to set affordable price so that it can retain the customers in the locality.

Electronics and media:

As per the figure below, it can be shown that, there is high contribution of the electronics and media in the UK economy, where high growth is the purchase of electronic and media through online shopping further influence the company to develop effective online business for selling the updated electronics and media. It would be advantageous for the organisation to target the customers for selling innovative electronics device as well as media. This further helps to strengthen the customer base of the organisation.

In order to strengthen the customer base by operating in the electronic and media industry, it is necessary for the company to develop attractive mobile application and company’s website where the customers can place their orders and apart from that, sponsorship of the companies such as apple would also be effective for establishing the business in the electronics and media industry of the UK.

Food industry:

The restaurants in the UK focus on e-commerce activities for home delivery so that the customers can place their orders and get the food within effective time through online activities. As per the figure, below, there is high growth in the food and drink e-commerce revenue and order volume where int he recent years, the customers prefer online food delivery activities by placing their orders according to their needs and preferences.

In this regard, there are some food delivery applications such as uber eats, Zomato, Faasos and Food panda which are working efficiently to deliver the foods from the restaurants to the customers. In this regard, joint venture with the food delivery application business as well as direct sponsorship with the restaurants in the UK would be effective for the business to develop new venture in the food and drink industry of the UK and strengthen their customer’s base. There are several differences in doing business through online activities in the three sectors such as food and beverages, electronics and media and fashion, where all the sectors are projected to high growth and major contribution int he national income of the country UK. The customer’s needs and preferences towards online activities is also changing towards quality products and services at affordable price and thus it is necessary for the organisation to develop new venture that would be effective to meet the customer’s demand in the UK by delivering quality product and services at affordable price. This is important for establishing the business and strengthening the customer’s base for long run by retaining the local customers and potential buyers so that they can make effective purchase decision for the products and services available in the new online business venture. In addition to these, the sectors are different from each other where diversity on products and services available in each of the sectors need to be managed by the new venture where it is necessary to develop new content for attracting the audience across the UK as well as increase product variety and ensuring availability of the products so that the customer’s expectations can be met properly. In the clothing sector, the organisation needs to focus on fabric of the clothing, fashionable outfit and design of the clothing to retain the customers, but under the electronics and media industry, it needs to concern about the latest technology and product innovation to retain the customers in the market. Ion the other hand, for food industry, the organisation needs to be concerned about the variety of food available and taste of the food so that it would be possible to meet the customer’s taste and preferences (Razak, and Vattikoti, 2018). The safety and security of the customers also needs to be maintained in each of the three sectors to strengthen their customers base and make the business successful by developing effective company’s website as well as mobile application for the new online business venture.

Human resource policies:

It is necessary for the new venture of the company San Jose. To develop effective human resource policies and practice so that it is posisbel for the organisation to manage the employees in the workplace fir future. Managing human resource policies and practice is beneficial for the new venture to retain the efficient staff members and enhance the performance of the organisation through developing the new online business ventures. It needs efficient staff, technicians and managers to handle the online activities so that the business can be established successfully (Noe et al., 2017). Through managing the human resource management policies and practices, it is also possible for the new venture to satisfy the employees and create values for them by providing monetary and non-monetary rewards to all the staff members so that they can met their expectations in the organisation. Apart from that, enhancing performance of the employees, encouraging the and leading them towards achieving success are the benefits of implementing effective human resource management policies and practice in the organisation so that the organisational success can be achieved in future. The policies of Health and Safety at Workplace 1974 and Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 are effective to be implemented so that the employees can feel safe and secured in working in the organisation. In this context the leaders and the managers are concerned about creating values for the employees and manage their safety by providing insurance, accidental compensation and performnace related pay that are effective to retain the employees for long run. on the other hand, emergency exit, fire extinguisher and CCTV camera need to be implemented for maintaining the safety and security of the employees in the organisation. In addition to these, it is necessary to implement the diversity and equality policies and practices for treating al, the employees fairly and enhancing cultural diversity in the workplace. in this regard, implementing Equality Act 2010 and non-discriminatory policies and guidelines are effective to treat wall the employees equally at the workplace irrespective of their cultural diversity, age gender and ethnicity. Additionally, the practice of managing transparency and accountability are also effective for the company to develop new venture through improving cooperation and communication with all the employees and retaining hem for long run to achieve organisational success.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, suitable external and internal business environment are contributing to develop the new online business venture with proper strategic planning where it is possible for the organisation to strengthen their customers base across the UK, where the company’s website and mobile application can promote the products and services and attract more potential buyers int he market. The human resource management policies are effective for the new venture to retain technical experts and efficient staff members for making the business successful as well as the policies of GDPR 2018 and consumer protection legislation enhance the performance of the online business through managing data protection, refund policy and safe money transfer for online purchase.

Reference List

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