Business Skills in E-Commerce

Assignment Brief
BTEC Level 4-5 HNC/HND Diploma (QCF)
To be filled by the
Learner
Name of the
Learner :
Edexcel No : Centre No : Batch:

Date of Submission :
Unit Assessment
Information
: HND Diploma in Computing and Systems
Qualification Development
: Unit 1Business Skills for E
Unit Code & Title commerce
Assessment Title & Nos : E-commerce Consultancy Report for Ocean

Market (pvt) Limited
Learning outcomes and grading opportunities:

LO 01: Understand the structure and aims of business organizations
Learning
Outcomes LO1.1 LO1.2
LO 02: Understand the impact of e-Commerce
Learning
Outcomes LO2.1 LO2.2
LO 03: Be able to design e-Commerce solutions
Learning LO3.
Outcomes LO3.1 LO3.2 LO3.3 LO3.4 5
Merit and Distinction

Descriptor
M2. M3. D1. D2. D2. D3.
M1.3 3 3 1 1 3 5
Assess : Miss. Dinithi Internal Examiner (IE) : Miss.

or Roshani Shahana Nadarajah
Date Date
Reviewed : of IE :
Date Date
Issued : Due :
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Assignment Brief
Retail Industry is a highly growing industry in the Sri Lankan Business Environment where
Ocean Market (pvt) Limited is holding a fair share of it and is operating as an in-store Super
Market business of retail items specially focusing on textiles, cosmetics, accessories,
computer accessories, baby items, stationery items and a variety of food products.
Due to the high growth of the E-business in the industry, the management of Ocean Market
understand that their customers are giving up on them and move to other competitors due to
the unavailability of e-commerce facility in the organisation.
Therefore they decided to get their customers back in and develop their business which
matches the present context of electronic business.
Assume that you have been hired by Ocean Market (pvt) Limited as an E-commerce
Consultant to provide an e-commerce solution to achieve higher business results. Therefore,
you are required to write a professional management consultancy report addressing the
aspects mentioned below with relevant judgments wherever it is appropriate by critically
evaluating the context.
Chapter 1 Organization Profile
1.1 Core Business Functions of the Organization

Provide your understanding on the nature of Ocean Market (pvt) Ltd by
assessing its core business functions (LO 1.1)
1.2 Evaluation of Business aims and Stakeholders

Evaluate the selected organizations business aims by showing how
those aims would relate to different stakeholders internal and
external (LO 1.2) (M1.3)
Chapter 2 Background of e-Commerce and its impact to the

Society
2.1 The Impact of e-Commerce to an Organization and Society

Provide the background of e-commerce and functionality and analyze
the impact of e commerce by evaluating its benefits and the risks while
discussing how introducing an e-Commerce system to an organization
would provide better business outcomes. (LO 2.1)
2.2 Global Impact of e-Commerce on society

Discuss the global impact of e-Commerce on society by taking different
examples with appropriate references (LO 2.2)
Note: Your overall chapter must reflect the background of e commerce

and its wider impact to the society through a range of sources of
information with appropriate references. Please avoid using unreliable
data sources such as wikis, answer web sites, blogs etc. (M2.3)
Chapter 3 Market Potential and Different e-Commerce Solutions
3.1. Market Potential of e commerce

Investigate market potential of Ocean Market (pvt) Ltd for an e-Commerce
opportunity (LO3.1)
3.2. Different e-Commerce Systems in the World

Critically evaluate few e-Commerce systems currently in use by
organizations realistically for similar purposes (LO 3.2) (e.g. you can
provide screen shots of such systems in your appendices)
Note: While critically evaluating e-commerce systems currently in use for

similar business purposes in the world, you must justify the market
potential for an e commerce solution for the selected organization through
an effective SWOT and PESTEL analysis while synthesizing your own ideas
in to an effective conclusion on why this organization must select e-
commerce solutions. (D1.1)
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Chapter 4 Proposed e-Commerce solution
4.1. Proposed e-Commerce solution

Based on the above justification on the market potential and the varieties
of e-commerce solutions available in the world design, propose a best fit e
commerce solution for Ocean Market (pvt) Ltd to achieve their business
advantage. (LO 3.4)
4.2. Capitalizing an E commerce solution

You must discuss the financial implications of the above proposed e-
Commerce solution (LO 3.3)
4.3. Feasibility of the E-commerce solution

Critically evaluate the suitability of the above proposed e-Commerce
solution to Ocean Market (pvt) Ltd based on different feasibility criteria.
(LO 3.5)
Note: The above proposed e commerce solution must be creative

and innovative in terms of applicability to the organization that you
have selected. (D3.5)
Your overall report must be word processed within 2000-2500 words,

created by using Times New Roman font (12-body, 14-sub headings, 16-
headings, 18-titles) with 1.5 line spacing, justified, uniform while written in
report writing using appropriate Harvard referencing (both in text citations
and end text reference list) wherever appropriate. It must contain
appropriate Executive Summary, Table of Contents, Body, Conclusion,
References and Appendices in accurate page numbers. The report must be
printed single sided and bound along with the completed assignment brief
on the top as the cover page. (M3.3)
You must manage your study and submit the report within the assigned
time duration (D2.3)
You must demonstrate your autonomy/independence through the report
by crafting an individual documentation. (D 2.1)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................................viii
CONTENT OF THE FIGURES.................................................................................................x
ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................................................................xi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................................xii
1.1 Core Business Functions of the Organization.....................................................................13
1.1.1 Procurement............................................................................................................13
1.1.2 Sales........................................................................................................................14
1.1.3 Finance Function..........................................................................................................15
1.1.4 Marketing Function......................................................................................................16
1.1.5 Logistics.......................................................................................................................17
1.1.6 Information Technology (IT) Function........................................................................18
1.2 Evaluation of Business aims and Stakeholders...................................................................19
1.2.1 Business Aims of OM..................................................................................................19
1.2.2 Relation of Business Aims to the Stakeholders...........................................................20
2.1 The Impact of e-Commerce to an Organization and Society..............................................22
2.1.1 Background of e-commerce.........................................................................................22
2.1.2 Functionality of e-commerce.......................................................................................23
2.1.3 Impact of e-commerce on Business and Society.........................................................25
2.2 Global Impact of e-Commerce on society..........................................................................28
2.2.1 Positive Impacts of e-commerce on society.................................................................28
2.2.2 Negative Impact of e-commerce on Society................................................................30
3.1 Market Potential (MP) of e-commerce...............................................................................33
Nilshan Devinda Business Skills for e-Commerce - Unit No: 01 8

3.1.1 Analyzing of data to investigate the Market Potential.................................................34
3.1.2 Conclusion for Ocean Market......................................................................................36
3.2 Different e-commerce systems in the world.......................................................................37
3.2.1 Classification According to Types of Goods Sold.......................................................37
3.2.2 Classification According to the Nature of Participants................................................38
4.1 Proposed e-Commerce solution..........................................................................................40
4.1.1 Selecting a Suitable System.........................................................................................40
4.1.2 Designing the System..................................................................................................41
4.2 Capitalizing an E-commerce solution.................................................................................50
4.3 Feasibility of the E-commerce solution..............................................................................53
4.3.1 Technological Feasibility.............................................................................................53
4.3.2 Economic Feasibility...................................................................................................54
4.3.3 Legal Feasibility...........................................................................................................55
4.3.4 Operational Feasibility.................................................................................................56
4.3.5 Schedule Feasibility.....................................................................................................58
Conclusion................................................................................................................................59
Appendices................................................................................................................................60
Appendix A: e-Commerce system of Urbanladder.com.......................................................60
Appendix B: e-commerce system of Kobobooks.com.........................................................61
Appendix C: e-Commerce system of Odel...........................................................................62
Appendix D: e-Commerce system for Keells Super.............................................................63
Appendix E: e-Commerce system of Lanka Tronics............................................................64
Appendix F: Other features of OceanMarket.com................................................................65
Appendix G: Management of Work......................................................................................68
References.................................................................................................................................70

Bibliography.............................................................................................................................77

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Functions of finance department.................................................................................15

Table 2 : Application of the Marketing mix to the OM............................................................16
Table 3: How aims affect objectives.........................................................................................19
Table 4: SMART characteristics of a goal................................................................................19
Table 5: Relating business aims to stakeholders.......................................................................21
Table 6: Major players in Srilankan e-commerce industry.......................................................22
Table 7: Functions of an e-Commerce solution........................................................................23
Table 8 : Comparison of benefits and risks for properties of e-commerce for an organization25
Table 9: Comparison of benefits and risks in e-commerce properties for consumers..............27
Table 10: Positive impacts of e-commerce on society..............................................................28
Table 11: Benefits of e-commerce in Health care industry.......................................................29
Table 12: Negative impacts of e-commerce on society............................................................30
Table 13: Analysis for MP for an e-commerce solution...........................................................33
Table 14: PESTLE analysis for Ocean Market.........................................................................35
Table 15: SWOT analysis for Ocean Market............................................................................36
Table 16: Classification by goods sold.....................................................................................37
Table 17: Categories of B2B model..........................................................................................39
Table 18: Criteria's to be checked when implementing an e-commerce system.......................40
Table 19: Tabs in the system.....................................................................................................42
Table 20: Features of the store..................................................................................................43
Table 21: Features on selected products...................................................................................45
Table 22: Features of the shopping cart....................................................................................47
Table 23: Features of the footer................................................................................................49
Table 24: Sources of funds........................................................................................................50
Table 25: Rejected options for funding.....................................................................................52
Table 26: Process requirements of the proposed System..........................................................53
Table 27: Cost-Benefit Analysis of the solution.......................................................................54
Table 28: Legal feasibility of the solution................................................................................56
Table 29: Operational feasibility of the solution.......................................................................57

Table 30: Proving the deadlines are reasonable........................................................................58
CONTENT OF THE FIGURES

Figure 1: Objectives of Procurement........................................................................................13
Figure 2: Sales Cycle Management..........................................................................................14
Figure 3: Supply Chain Flow....................................................................................................17
Figure 4: IT Services.................................................................................................................18
Figure 5: Stakeholders of the company....................................................................................20
Figure 6: Comparison of e-Commerce to in-store metrics.......................................................32
Figure 7: Process of a B2B e-Commerce System.....................................................................38
Figure 8: Homepage of OceanMarket.com...............................................................................41
Figure 9: Store of OceanMarket.com........................................................................................43
Figure 10: A sub-category of OceanMarket.com......................................................................44
Figure 11: A product on OceanMarket.com..............................................................................45
Figure 12: Shopping cart of OceanMarket.com........................................................................47
Figure 13: Guest details form...................................................................................................48
Figure 14: Payment method......................................................................................................48
Figure 15: Footer of OceanMarket.com....................................................................................49
ABBREVIATIONS

OM: Ocean Market
IT: Information Technology
SL: Sri Lanka
US: United States
PESTLE: Political Economical Social Technological Legal Environmental
SWOT: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
B2B: Business to Business
B2C: Business to Consumer
C2C: Consumer to Consumer
MP: Market Potential
SSL: Secure Sockets Layer
CA: Certificate Authority
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
TELOS: Technological Economical Legal Operational Schedule
USP: Unique Selling Proposition

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is a generalization of the research done for assessing the feasibility and applicability
of an e-commerce solution for Ocean Market Pvt Ltd. The aim of this report is to analyze,
compare, and evaluate the best fit solution for Ocean Market to help them hold its potential
customers by means of e-commerce. The report describes key areas of e-commerce, and business
aspects giving detailed information on the nature of e-commerce and its impact.
The analysis done for investigating the market potential of Ocean Market and the feasibility
criterias in chapter 4 of this report shows that such a system is viable and is capable of achieving
the aim of this report by providing positive results that promotes the proposed solution. The
report goes further up to show that, while such e-commerce systems could help the company on
their business problem, there is a wider impact from e-commerce to the society. But, it proves
that the majority of the impact is positive for the society, customers, and for the business.
However, the outcomes of the business depends on the design and features of the system that this
report promotes, so the final parts of this report addresses the features and functionalities of the
proposed solution to meet the business needs.

Chapter 1: Profile for the Organization
1.1 Core Business Functions of the Organization
1.1.1 Procurement
Procurement function in an organization is associated with the process of buying materials,

goods and services needed to run a business (Esoft 2015: p.17). Procurement consider many
other aspects as shown in the process below.
Understand Business Requirements
At the right price

From the right source
At the right specification
Buy Products and
Services In the right quantity
For delivery at the right time
To the right internal customer
Figure 1: Objectives of Procurement

Source: Authors work adopted from Handfield (2011).

1.1.2 Sales
The main objective of the sales department would be to apply strategies to sell the products that
was purchased for resale, and maximize the profit for the company (Chand 2015) as shown in the
diagram below.
Figure 2: Sales Cycle Management

Source: Pipedrive (2015)

1.1.3 Finance Function
The duty of financial department is to manage finance activities (Jasmith 2011). The table 1
below explains 5 of the functions that must be carried in Ocean Market (OM).
Table 1: Functions of finance department
Function Description
The finance department must estimate the capital that would be required
Estimation of
for the company for maximizing its profit.
capital
Things like future programs, expected costs and policies should be taken
requirements
into consideration in the estimation process.
Determination of The capital structure is the companys debt-to-equity ratio. Therefore, the
capital finance function must analyze short-term and long-term debt equity.
composition
When in times the company requires additional funds, the financial
department must decide which action to take out of various options such
as:
Choice of sources
Issuing of shares and debentures
of funds
Loans to be taken
Public deposits to be withdrawn

Investment of The investment of funds to profitable ventures is the decision of the
funds finance manager which enables the company to acquire regular returns.
The finance function also deals with management of cash in paying of

Management of salaries, expenditures, bills and etc. So the financial managers take
cash critical decisions on situations where the company is at risk to maintain a
good cash flow to the company.
Source: Authors work adopted from Management Study Guide (2015).

1.1.4 Marketing Function
Marketing activities help create demand for the companys products and services [by making
them aware to the people] (Snedaker 2013: p.246). The major concerns of marketing are
referred to as the four Ps of marketing as demonstrated by the table 2 below, while applying
them to OM.
Table 2 : Application of the Marketing mix to the OM
Function Description
Ocean Market has a range of products from textiles to accessories to

Product food. The products of the company must be extremely important when
marketing, and having a variety of products makes it easy for them.
As Ocean Market sells retail items, their prices are in a low range,
Price
however, the less the price, the easy it is to market the product.
The place where the company sells the product has a high impact on the
sales. Ocean Market sells its product in a brick and mortar store,
Place however, they will also make it brick and click in the near future. This
also involves placement of the correct product at the correct place in the
store.
Even the best products would not be purchased if Ocean Market does not
promote their products so that the people will get to know about the
Promotion
products. When, where, how, to whom the product is marketed must be
considered when promoting the product.
Source: Authors work adopted from Chianis (2013).

1.1.5 Logistics
Logistics is part of the supply chain management that controls forward and reverse flow of
products between the points of origin to destination in OM (Transfreight 2009) as illustrated in
the following diagram.
Figure 3: Supply Chain Flow

Source: Logistic World (2010).

1.1.6 Information Technology (IT) Function
IT department manages the computers, networks, and other technical areas of business. They are
responsible for the architecture, hardware, software, and networking of computers in OM. Some
of the services of IT are illustrated in the diagram below.
Figure 4: IT Services
Source: Basu (2011).

1.2 Evaluation of Business aims and Stakeholders
1.2.1 Business Aims of OM
Any organization has a mission which states its purpose, this purpose is the future goal of the
organization which will also be the aim of it (Riley 2015). A typical aim of a retail store such as
OM would be to add value, expand their business by increasing their product range and
employee base. These business aims are achieved by setting business objectives which are
reached once business plans work in day to day activities (Business Case Studies 2015). As an
example, the table below shows how an aim of adding value to OM would affect other sub-
objectives of the company.
Table 3: How aims affect objectives

Aim of Ocean Market Adding Value to the company
Annual income to be increased by 20% by 2017 to
Main Objective
achieve an annual income above the usual value.
Increasing product price, range, and market stores
Plans for achieving the objective and assigning sub-objectives and plans to each
department.
Source: Authors work.
Joseph (2015) mentions that the objectives involved are mainly about profitability, retention,
efficiency, and growth of the company. Whichever the objectives set, they all must exhibit
certain characteristics known as SMART described in the table below.
Table 4: SMART characteristics of a goal

Characteristi
Description
c
The objective set must be specific which means adding more detail to the
Specific general idea to provide exact information on what, when, and how things
should be done.
Table 4 (Continuation)

The objective or goal must contain measurable values such as numbers, so that
Measurable
the progress can be monitored easily.
The objective should not exceed the limit where reality lets it to achieve, it
Achievable
should always be realistic and practically achievable.
Goals have to be relevant based on the business climate. The goal will not align
Relevant with other goals of the company if its not relevant, and will lead the company
astray.
Time The goal should always state its beginning and end, so that the plans can be
Oriented carried out to achieve that goal within the given time frame.
Source: Authors work adopted from Wayne State University (2015).
1.2.2 Relation of Business Aims to the Stakeholders
A stakeholder is any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the
organizations objectives (Freeman 1984: p.46). So when a business sets up new objectives,
those objectives should benefit all the stakeholders of the business as long as it benefits the
company. Some examples of internal and external stakeholders have been provided in image
below.
Figure 5: Stakeholders of the company

Source: Grimsley (2015).
The table below shows how the aims and objectives of OM would relate to the stakeholders in
each department. The table also proves that the aims of the company affect its stakeholders by
altering their benefits and activities they should perform.

Table 5: Relating business aims to stakeholders
Department
Objective Relation to Stakeholders
Involved
External stakeholders such as shareholders of the company
directly relates to this objective as their profit depends on
Sales &
Increase how the objective is achieved.
Marketing
sales quota The internal stakeholders such as the sales and marketing
departments
staff will be affected directly as their tasks are related to
increasing the sales.
Increase Marketing Staff of the marketing department who are internal
customer department stakeholders, must apply more strategies to ensure an
renewal rate increased customer renewal rate each year.
Administration Having more partners reflects performance and

Sign channel department achievement, so its the duty of the administration to
partners choose what channel partners they are going to join hands
with.
Administration Launching new services will help to add value to the
& Finance company supporting the main objective widely. The
departments administration must take decisions on what services
Launch new
should be launched, and must communicate with the
service
finance department to ensure the company could afford the
solution. Customers who are external stakeholders, also
contribute in this work by giving their feedback.
Source: Authors work adopted from Statuspath (2015).
Chapter 2 Background of e-Commerce and its impact to the

Society
2.1 The Impact of e-Commerce to an Organization and Society

2.1.1 Background of e-commerce
Both developing and developed countries have barriers in implementing e-businesses, but while
developed countries have facilities to overcome those barriers, developing countries like Sri
Lanka (SL) must deal with issues such as trust, security, supplying personal information,
computer literacy, language, awareness and accessibility (Ceylontoday 2013). Together with the
front runners such as Wow.lk and Takas.lk, SL now has about 20-30 e-businesses in the industry
(Team YS 2013). However, these local e-commerce portals falls into three categories as
described in the following table.
Table 6: Major players in Srilankan e-commerce industry

Type of Business Description
These players only focus one narrow vertical such as clothes,
Niche Players
accessories, etc. Findmyfare.com is an example of such a business.
These players offers a variety of products without focusing on one type.
Large Players
Anything.lk is an example of such a player.
These companies have properties from both e-tailers and mortar
Bricks and Clicks
companies to leverage the benefits from both (Towson University 2015).
Source: Authors work adopted from Echelon (2015).
2.1.2 Functionality of e-commerce
An e-commerce solution must contain special options that lets its users to make a purchase
online. The e-commerce solution provides functionality to all of the functions that are listed in
the table below.
Table 7: Functions of an e-Commerce solution

Function of e- Description
commerce

solution
The users of an e-commerce site must first register in order to proceed with
purchasing by providing necessary information.
Registration
Registration is the first main function that an e-commerce solution must
facilitate.
An e-commerce site must provide the user with his basket, also referred to as
Basket a shopping cart that lets the user to add products and make payments for all
the products selected at once.
The e-commerce site must provide a good payment method that lets the user
to enter their credit card details and make the payment to purchase their
Payment products.
This system must let a bank or other payment service to carry out the process
that verifies and facilitates the payments.
Product Product management is the main thing that an e-commerce solution must
Management provide functionality to, and must provide features required for product
placement, order fulfilment and so on.
This feature defines the product via a set of standard fields provided in the
points below.
Product code
Category
Subcategory

Product name
Description
Image
Sizes available
Price
Pieces in stock
The e-commerce solution must be able to gather information from the
registration database, from the basket, delivery information, and verification
data and summarize them to a form identified by a number (order number).
Each form includes information as shown in the points below.
Order List of products purchased

Management User information
Details of place of delivery
Delivery time information
Payment information
The e-commerce solution must provide back office functions such as enabling
to search and sort orders by:
Listing Orders Customer
and Customer
Order status
Details
Date
Payment
Source: Authors work adopted from Engitel (2014).

2.1.3 Impact of e-commerce on Business and Society
Introducing an e-commerce solution to a business or organization will both positively and

negatively affect all its stakeholders. The table below shows the analysis done to compare the
impact of e-commerce by evaluating the risks and benefits of e-commerce to an organization
such as OM.
Table 8 : Comparison of benefits and risks for properties of e-commerce for an organization
Property of e-
Benefits / Business Outcomes Risks
commerce
The e-commerce solution can help the The ability to supply for the
company reach customers from around the demand decreases as the
Global Market
world that helps it to increase revenue thereby market expands and will
Place
allowing it to be expanded and deliver a wide result in stock controlling
range of products to its customers. problems.
Setting up a virtual store doesnt cost much The company will have to
when compared to a traditional store. The e- risk their business on a third
commerce solution sets the company free from party who provides server
Low start and
hiring and maintaining a physical warehouse facilities, or they would
running costs
where the company could reduce the price of have to afford their own
their items in turn. server and maintenance
cost.
An e-commerce solution always results in Even though the transaction

automation of all the possible processes of the took place at the exact time
organization such as transaction handling. This that the customer wants, he
enables customers to receive a constant service will not get it delivered the
at any time and any day they want it to be. time he wants due to
24/7 Trading
external factors. For
example, if the customer
receives it by post, and
orders at night, hell have to
wait till the next morning or
so to receive his product.

An e-commerce solution not only creates a
virtual market, but also tracks all the business
transactions and product purchases that lets the
Analytics
company to analyze these data to find out
hidden trends and buying patterns of its
customers, and to promote more related
products in the future.
Source: Wills (2014).
In the other hand, the consequences e-commerce solutions will result in altering the risks and
benefits of the consumers too. This impact is analyzed by evaluating the risks associated for the
benefits they get in the following table.
Table 9: Comparison of benefits and risks in e-commerce properties for consumers

Property of e-
Benefits Risks
commerce
User Convenience The ability of the user to The user will not be able to touch or
navigate, compare, and to pay perceive the product before
online gives him the impression purchasing and has an increased
of trust and quality on both the chance of returning it due to less
products and on the satisfaction.
organization.
The user is also able to find

more consistent information on
all the products, having a rich

idea of the product being
purchased.
Some customers feel Customers often feel like talking to
uncomfortable when they were personnel from the organization
being watched when choosing a concerning their products or any
Lack of Human product in a physical store. The related matter. Absence of this option
Contact e-commerce solution resolves creates a major drawback for the
that problem and lets the user to organization leading from less
choose, compare and even learn customer satisfaction.
about the product in their own
pace.
The e-commerce solution can Customers are reluctant in giving
make sure that any details of its their payment details when
customers are not leaked by purchasing, due to the lack of trust
Security
taking many security measures. they have for the organization. This is
one of the major issues that an e-
commerce solution must respond to.
Source: Tina (n.d).
2.2 Global Impact of e-Commerce on society
Jaspalsingh8 (2015) mentions that the impact of e-commerce on society could be divided into
two categories as positive impacts and negative impacts as described on the topics followed.
2.2.1 Positive Impacts of e-commerce on society
Patterson and Wilson (2000) cited by Raj (2009: p.91) mentions that, as ecommerce improves
the quality and flow of information and communication, there is a good reason to expect that the
e-commerce will have positive impact on the society. Some of such positive impacts have been
described in the table 10 below.

Table 10: Positive impacts of e-commerce on society
Impact Description
The number of students learning e-commerce is increasing drastically and is
not limited to the U.S. While clearly mentioning that Hong Kong
governments education and Manpower Bureau believes that there will be a
Jobs for Society
shortage of 56, 000 IT professionals in 10 years time (Werthner and Bichler
2012: p.179), it is evident that the possibilities for employment will increase
worldwide.
Smarta (2009) points out the highs and lows of a new business describing the
challenges and business experience as highs and the setbacks and stress as the
lows. It states that whatever the lows, its always rewarding with
achievement. Lime Canvas (2013) mentions the advantages of e-commerce
Helpful for new
such as 24/7 service and low running costs would help the business become
Business more productive and make the reward even greater.
For example, Casey and Morgan found MixedMade which is a company that
started selling hot sauce to people, and makes $ 170,000 within a year using
the help of e-commerce (Schreiber 2015).
The Australian Human Rights Commission of the government of Australia

presented a report from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission which describes the benefits of e-commerce to the disables and
aged people.
In the report, its author Tay (2000) summarizes the benefits of e-commerce
Helpful for
for disables and aged people claiming that internet and other electronic
Disables and
document accessibility let such people reduce the impact of transport and
Aged People
building access barriers, and allow deaf people, people who cannot read
English, and people who cannot turn pages to access the information they
need.
The report further states that services of e-commerce such as bill payment
could be used by disables and aged people.

Health
Electronic commerce solutions such as health care applications plays a vital role in the
health care industry, giving benefits to patients as described in the table below.
Table 11: Benefits of e-commerce in Health care industry

Benefit Description
The satisfaction level of patients increases as their perception of
Increased Patient wait times decreases and when they are using an online waiting
Satisfaction service offered to them to wait at the comfort of their own
homes.
Patients can experience a service beyond a hospitals traditional
Increased Service service area as they can receive services even if they dont
Area belong to that particular geographic area, through the online
waiting services.
The e-commerce solution lets the administrators of the hospital
Reduced Crowding to manage staff to increase their efficiency and schedule
in Hospitals treatments so that the patients can experience less crowding in
waiting rooms.
Appropriate follow-up appointments can be scheduled to

Readmissions
Emergency room patients prior to discharge using online waiting
Prevention and
services. This results in increase of compliance and prevent
Patient Quality
readmissions.
Source: Authors work adopted from Steele (n.d).
2.2.2 Negative Impact of e-commerce on Society
(Karake-Shalhoub and Qasimi 2007: p.55) shows out that e-commerce would have significant
consequences on social structures of the country as its growth has made changes in the social,
economic, and political fabrics of societies all over the world that leads to the conclusion that it
constitutes to a number of threats with wide ranging negative implications across numerous areas

of society. Such negative impacts of e-commerce to the society have been described in the table
below.
Table 12: Negative impacts of e-commerce on society

Impact of e-
Description
commerce
Basu (2013: p.191) shows that the rich and educated have the best access to
internet making a digital divide among the people and high income consumers
Digital Divide
shop online more than low income consumers.
Those facts proves that e-commerce has an effect on the digital divide.
Cook (2015) mentions that department stores and mega-malls were main places
that people could meet, socialize and shop.
Reduced
This kind of shopping used to be family treats and eventually evolved more
Opportunities
into trips to the shops.
to be Socialized
The growth of e-commerce will thus eliminate such experiences as online
shopping cannot provide such reminisce.
Bristol (2001) shows that e-commerce results in expansion of import and

export markets by increasing the import and export of traditional goods and
services, thereby contributing to increase the tax and tariff revenues of such
Tax products.
On the other hand, states cannot compel e-tailers to collect taxes, that makes it
unfair for the bricks and mortar companies which will worsen their situation
and the related people (Efairness 2015).
Threat for brick and mortar companies

In the United States (US) alone, the e-commerce growth rate is 20 per cent a year (Morrison
2014), and [f]or traditional bricks and mortar companies this has been a common threat for
retailers selling products such as books and financial services (Pearson Education India 2008:

p.219). The following diagram illustrates some of the differences between e-commerce and brick
and mortar companies.
Figure 6: Comparison of e-Commerce to in-store metrics

Source: Nomi (2015).

Chapter 3 Market Potential and Different e-Commerce
Solutions
3.1 Market Potential (MP) of e-commerce
An e-commerce solution for OM is another business idea for the company, and therefore it must
be checked for feasibility by performing a series of analysis that helps determine whether it is
profitable to be implemented. The government of Australia shows how this series of analyses
must be presented as illustrated below in table 13.
Table 13: Analysis for MP for an e-commerce solution
Analysis Type Description
Market Analysis Ocean Market is a company that focus on a wide market where it can sell
textiles to accessories to cosmetics and computer items to baby items to
food. So this wider market helps the company to grow up with time. But
there are certain other factors that need to be analyzed to explain the
market of Ocean Market.
Demand Analysis
All the products that Ocean Market sells has an increasing demand in Sri
Lanka, because those products are either consumed or be outdated within a
certain period time after purchase.
Supply Analysis
Ocean Market is a retailer and will only sell products to the consumers
where products are sold in few amounts, only to satisfy the needs of the
consumers. So Ocean market will be able to meet the demands without
being short of its stocks.
Relationship Analysis
Ocean Market is a company that buys the products in wholesale from its

suppliers and always keep good relationship with them to pull forward in
the business.
Ocean Market has a very few number of competitors who have an e-

commerce solution, because this technique is used by relatively less
Competitive
number of companies in Sri Lanka compared to other countries.
Advantage
The wider range of products that Ocean Market has, and the ability to
Analysis
deliver them to any location in the island could be really an advantage over
others.
As of 2015, the Sri Lankan retail market stands at approximately US$ 7
billion calculated with the household expenditure index (Pathmalal 2013),
where Ocean Market holds a fair share. Operating as a retailer for years
Financial
and having a fair share of that industry, Ocean Market is financially
Feasibility
capable of moving for, and handling an e-commerce site for it.
Analysis
However, it should forecast its sales and its financial situation in the future
and decide whether the e-commerce solution will result in increasing
profitability to the company.
Source: Authors work adopted from Small Business Development Corporation (2015).
3.1.1 Analyzing of data to investigate the Market Potential
The potential of OM for moving to an e-commerce solution could not just be measured without
analyzing its capabilities and its environment. Therefore a Political Economical Social
Technological Legal Environmental (PESTLE) analysis must be carried out to make things more
transparent and make decisions based on that. The following table shows the PESTLE analysis
which have been carried out to investigate the MP of OM in SL for an e-commerce solution.

Table 14: PESTLE analysis for Ocean Market
In Sri Lanka, there are no political issue for the retail industry as they always
try to encourage such business.
Political However, when moving to e-commerce, Ocean Market must face problems
such as the loss of popular payment methods such as PayPal due to political
agitations that would worsen its plight.
Sri Lankans have less buying power relative to other countries due to low
living standards and cost of living in Sri Lanka. Also the differences between
Economical
the Sri Lankan rupee and other currencies in the world, have a major impact
when going for an e-commerce solution.
Ocean Market must track any trends in the society, and must have plans
Social which considers various events and festivals in Sri Lanka and be updated on
what the society really cares about.
Sri Lanka is urbanizing, and shows growth in the number of people having
access to the internet. People are welcoming new technologies more faster
Technological
making Ocean Market to consider an innovative idea using the technologies
available.
The legal factors such as rules, regulations and acts concerning retail business
in Sri Lanka will apply to Ocean Market in common. Also when Ocean
Legal Market introduce something new such as the e-commerce facility for its
customers, it should make sure that their solution meets with the legal
constraints of Sri Lanka.
The Geographics, weather, population and so many factors affect a business
in Sri Lanka.
Environmental
Ocean Market must be able to adapt and make changes to be more stable with
the environment of Sri Lanka.

Berry (2015) shows that business strategies could be developed by analyzing the Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the company. So it is expedient to do a
SWOT analysis after the PESTLE analysis is performed. The table below shows the SWOT
analysis done for OM to make its MP visible even clearer and simpler than a PESTLE analysis.
Table 15: SWOT analysis for Ocean Market

Strengths Weaknesses
Has a variety of products. No e-commerce facility given

to its customers still.
Has acquired a growing
market. Not popular enough to attract
customers.
Has earned reputation and
build a good image of the Not able to provide island wide
company. coverage with the limited
number of stores.
Opportunities Threats
Ability to move to an e-commerce Upcoming and existing

solution. competitors.
Ability to increase product range. Some other competitors give e-

commerce facility.
Ability to provide island wide
coverage in the future. Ability of the competitors to catch
the market and turn customers.
3.1.2 Conclusion for Ocean Market
The analysis for the MP of OM supports the conclusion that an e-commerce system for OM is
feasible and essential. According to the technological field of the PESTLE analysis, it is easy to
provide services to Sri Lankans, and OM can target that emerging market. It is obvious that the
solution can alter the SWOT analysis done to OM in a more beneficial and productive manner.

3.2 Different e-commerce systems in the world
Electronic commerce systems could be classified into two categories, as type of goods sold and
nature of participants as described in the following topics. However, it could be classified into
other categories as well.
3.2.1 Classification According to Types of Goods Sold
The table below explains 3 types of e-commerce systems which are classified according to the
types of goods sold.
Table 16: Classification by goods sold
Classification Type Description
E-commerce systems that aims at selling physical goods such as

books, accessories, cosmetics and similar items comes under this
category.
Physical Goods
An example is Urbanladder.com which sells online furniture and
decorations, the e-commerce system of Urbanladder.com has been
included in the Appendix A.
E-commerce solutions that enable people to buy digital products
such as music, documents, eBooks, software and similar products
Digital Goods belongs to this category.
Kobobooks.com is an example of such a seller which sells e-books.

Its e-commerce system has been provided in the Appendix B
The e-commerce systems used by banks and similar organizations
Services that sell services to the people can be categorized as systems that
aims to sell services.
Source: Khurana (2015).
3.2.2 Classification According to the Nature of Participants

This type of classification is based on the nature of the market relationship in which the e-
commerce systems play different roles accordingly. There are many classifications under this
topic but a few major classifications have been described below.
Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce systems

This is the most common type of e-commerce system based on market relationship and is
used by many organizations in SL. This model enables direct sales to consumers
interacting them online through the e-commerce system (Malik 2010). The appendices C,
D, & E shows such e-commerce systems of Odel, Keells Super, & Lankatronics
respectively.
Business to Business (B2B) e-commerce systems

This e-commerce model focus on selling products to other businesses, thereby making a
B2B market relationship online (Arline 2015). The figure below shows how this process
is done in more detail.
Figure 7: Process of a B2B e-Commerce System

Source: Tutorials Point (2015).

However, this e-commerce model could be further classified into two more categories as
demonstrated in the table below. Both serves the same function while the number of parties
involved varies.
Table 17: Categories of B2B model
B2B E-commerce
Description
model
This e-commerce system is a straightforward and direct model
where companies have their own B2B models to enable
One-to-many customers to purchase their products.
In this e-commerce model, many companies makes a closed

network or a public market place model in which many
Many-to-many
suppliers can join it. This extensive market place is
administered by a third-party with a recognized name.
Source: Kaplan (2015).
Consumer to Consumer (C2C) e-commerce systems

As the name suggests, this model of e-commerce deals within customers where the
customers are both buyers as well as sellers, so [w]hile the main actors in C2C
commerce are buyers and sellers, the presence of trusted intermediaries is required to
provide infrastructure for C2C e-commerce activities (In 2008: p.1). Amazon, eBay and
similar companies are examples of such intermediaries that provides an infrastructure for
C2C activities.
Chapter 4 Proposed e-commerce Solution

4.1 Proposed e-Commerce solution
4.1.1 Selecting a Suitable System
Based on the conclusion in chapter 3.1 of this report, a B2C model has been proposed. The
proposed system will upgrade OM to a brick and click company. The domain name is set as
Ocean Market.com. Other criterias to be checked when implementing a system like this as
shown in table 18 are considered.
Table 18: Criteria's to be checked when implementing an e-commerce system

Criterion Description
The design of the website is the thing that attracts and provides the
Responsive Design authenticity to its users. This design must fit whatever the device the
user views it.
Regular customers might create accounts and get the benefits such as
Support Guest fast purchasing, but guest checkout must be there for users who
Checkouts place a one-time order or those who does not like to create an
account.
Allowing the users to search for the stuff they need is essential,
Site Search features like auto-completion of what the users type helps them
reach fast for what they want.
It is essential that the site is supporting Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
which will be offered by a Certificate Authority (CA) (Bennett
Security
2013). This ensures that any sensitive data transferred to and from
the site is encrypted and is secure.
Site Performance The site must be fast enough so that its users will not be
uncomfortable with it. To ensure fast loading, the following things

can be done.
Combining the JavaScripts or CSS files to single files.

Compressing images so that they are less in size.
Use caching to reduce time spent for the transfer of data
between the web server and the database server.
Also Osterhout (2014) claims that best practices for Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) such as proper architecture of the site consisting
the elements such as the structure of the commerce catalogue helps
the search engine understand the relevance of the keywords to the
contents, increasing the efficiency of search function.
Source: Authors work adopted from McDavid (2014).
4.1.2 Designing the System
The following figure illustrates the homepage of OceanMarket.com.
Figure 8: Homepage of OceanMarket.com

A beautiful header that attracts the user is provided consistently at every page of the site. It
contains the name of company, and a simple message that motivates the user to buy its products.
The header also provides all the tabs in the system, those tabs are explained in the table below.
Table 19: Tabs in the system
Tab Description
This is the page where the user lands once he entered the site, and
Homepage contains some benefits that the user can receive through the site as
shown on figure 8.
This is the place where the user is presented with a catalogue of
various products of the company from which he can view and buy
Store
the products he want. More on this tab will be presented on table
20.
This tab lets the user learn and have an idea about the company and
About its history, its boastings and pride. This tab therefore opens the
page that reflects the image of the company over the years.
This tab allows the user to become a member by enabling him to
Register enter his details as required. This feature lets that user to make fast
purchases in the future.
Registered users are allowed to login using this tab, all other users
Login
are allowed to use the page as a guest.
This tab appears at the upper right corner of the header which lets
the user to identify it without confusion. The cart tab also shows
how many items the user has added to it, so that the user can know
Shopping Cart
it without the need to click the tab.
This tab lets the user to view the items he has added to the cart, the
total amount he must pay and the option for checkout.
Store
The following image shows the store of Ocean Market.com.

Figure 9: Store of OceanMarket.com
The store of OceanMarket.com has many features that lets the user easily purchase its products
as explained in the table below.
Table 20: Features of the store

Feature Description
The storefront as shown in figure 9 is the page that the user sees as he
Storefront presses the store tab. This page shows some of the top brands and products
that the company sells.
Search function on the store tab lets the user search any type of product
Search
that he wants and access it within seconds.
Categories The store tab presents the user with a category list that enable him to look
at the various products of the company by clicking the related category.
Some of the categories OceanMarket.com presents are Textiles, Cosmetics,

Accessories, Baby Items, and so on.
Sub-Categories lets the user to further refine the category he has chosen
and allows him to view exactly what he was looking for. As an example,
Sub-Categories
the figure 10 shows the sub-category Textiles> Shirts which displays
only the shirts from the Textile category.
Figure 10: A sub-category of OceanMarket.com

The following image shows how the user can deal with individual products as he shops. The
table 21 followed will explain the features in that image.

Figure 11: A product on OceanMarket.com
Table 21: Features on selected products

Feature Description
The above figure 11 proves that each product has its own path, and
the path is displayed for the user to know which side of the system
Navigation Pane
he currently views. He can also simply click any link in the
navigation pane to the visit the corresponding section.
Every product displays its product name which allows the user to
Product Name easily remember or choose the product. In the example in figure 11
above, the product name is Formal Shirt.
Every product has its own description which allows the user to
Product Description learn about the product or get an idea on what he is going to
purchase.
The image of the product is the thing that attracts the user and
provide him the ability to make judgments so that he can consider
Product Image
buying what he likes. There are multiple images which appears
when the user hovers the mouse over it.
Product Price The product price is a main detail that should be presented

correctly, it is by which the user sometimes compare products
within the store.
The user can state how much from a product he wants by
Quantity
numbering the quantity text box as shown in figure 11 above.
Add to cart button lets the user to add the product to the cart and
buy all the products added to cart at once without buying one by
Add to Cart one. Once that button is pressed, the cart tab shows the number of
products added to it. It also pops-up a side window indicating the
products added and the sub-total, as shown in figure 11 above.
If the user likes the product being viewed and want to let his
friends know about it, he can share the product on his social media
Social Media Sharing
channels. The above figure 11 proves that this can be done for
Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Shopping Cart
The image below shows the shopping cart of OceanMarket.com, table 22 will explain the
features of that shopping cart.
Figure 12: Shopping cart of OceanMarket.com

Table 22: Features of the shopping cart

Feature Description
This button lets the user purchase all the products in the shopping
cart at once. Pressing that button will carry the user to a page where
Checkout
details of the user are collected, or if the user is registered, he will be
redirected to a payment processor.
The user can remove any product from the shopping cart as he wish
Delete Items
using the small cross button displayed on each product on the list.
This button lets the user leave the shopping cart and allows to shop
Continue Shopping
for more.
The user can press the shipping info or return policy buttons to
View Policies calculate shipping costs or to view return policy that pops-up once
the buttons are pressed.
The following diagram shows the form that the user needs to fill once the checkout button has
been pressed for users using the system as a guest.
Figure 13: Guest details form

When all the required fields of the above form has been filled, the user will be redirected to
Global Payments to complete the transaction as shown in the image below.

Figure 14: Payment method
Besides all these features of this site, its footer gives a variety of options for the user, and helps
in building trust from the user. The image below shows the footer of OceanMarket.com, its
features are explained in table 23.
Figure 15: Footer of OceanMarket.com


Table 23: Features of the footer
Feature Description
The footer lists a set of popular social media sites that the user can
Social Media
click on to like the page on the corresponding social media site and
Connectivity
to stay connected on new arrivals and updates.
The footer provides the user with a textbox to enter his e-mail
E-mail Subscription address which allows him to subscribe for the monthly newsletter
from Ocean Market.
The bottom right corner of the footer contains a list of payment
Payment Methods methods such as VISA, AMEX, and so on, which ocean market
accepts payments from.
The bottom of the footer also provides the copyright information of

Copyright Information
OceanMarket.com.
Along with other information such as shipping & Delivery, Privacy
Terms and Conditions and Security, Returns information, the footer allows the user to
view the Terms and Conditions of Ocean Market.
The footer also provides the user to view the contact information,
Contact Question and Answer page, together with the option to provide
feedback.
This link which appears on the left side of the footer lets the user
About us know about Ocean Market, where its department stores are located,
and allows to read the Ocean Market magazine online.
Other details and features of this solution can be found under Appendix F.
4.2 Capitalizing an E-commerce solution

Ocean Market has a lot of options when funding for its e-commerce solution, and the correct
source must be selected for reducing the risks associated. The following table explains some of
such sources from which Ocean Market can receive its funds.
Table 24: Sources of funds

Source Description
Ocean Market has the option to fund for itself using the money
Personal Savings it has saved over the years, however the company cannot risk
all of its savings at once for an unpredictable solution.
A business loan is the only type of loan that can be received

Bank Loans from a bank to an organization, therefore Ocean Market has that
as a second option.
Many finance companies provide loans just like banks, they can
Finance Companies take higher risks when giving commercial loans but their rates
and fees are higher than that of banks.
Venture capitalists are ready to invest their money on the
Venture Capitalists solution, only if the solution is going to be so much successful,
because they will get a massive return if it works.
Angels are people who provide funds in return of a proposition
Angels
of the company equity.
If the solution is about to benefit the public, grants can be
Grants considered receiving. These are most often received for non-
profit organizations.
Source: Scorerochester (n.d).
Ocean Market can go for a bank loan as it had made many business transactions over the years
that would allow the bank to trust the company and provide the necessary facility. However, the
company must show that they are investing their part too, for getting the bank loan. This will
reduce the amount hired from the bank, decreasing the interest which should be paid.

Considering these facts, the funding is done by personal investment and a bank loan which funds
the required amount. This dual funding reduces the risks faced by the company by decreasing the
amount of money hired from the bank.
There are certain reasons for not choosing the other options which Ocean Market had. The table
below describes why such sources of funds have not been chosen.
Table 25: Rejected options for funding

Option Reason for not Selecting
Credit cards are not a good option specially for an organization such
as Ocean Market because its interest rates and costs on the card will
Credit Card debt
build very quickly and can be detrimental to a business owner
according Taylor (2015).
The table 24 above mentioned that finance companies have much
Finance Companies higher rates of interests than banks and therefore have been not
selected, as the bank can offer a much better deal to the solution.
As mentioned in table 24 above, venture capitalists consider whether
the solution will be successful, however the problem is that Ocean
Venture Capitalists
Market must provide them with a massive income once the solution
works.
UK Business Angels Association (2014) states that angels normally
Angels takes shares from the business and will seek to have return on their
investment for 3-8 years. So that is not a good deal for Ocean Market.
The Government of UK (2015) says that a grant can only cover a part
of the project, and its application process is time consuming. It further
Grants
states that theres a lot of competition for grants, cutting that option
out for Ocean Market.
The Lowa State University (2013) describes a different method known as leasing. According to
Trisha (2014) leasing is when the lessor provides the lessee an asset and the right to use it against
a periodical payment. So Ocean Market cannot take that option, because instead of periodical

payments it needs instant funding for its solution. Therefore self-financing and bank loan is the
best option for Ocean Market.
4.3 Feasibility of the E-commerce solution
The Technological, Economical, Legal, Operational, Schedule (TELOS) feasibility criterias are
discussed under following topics because they offer a simple way to consider most important
issues on feasibility as pointed out by Rudy (2014).
4.3.1 Technological Feasibility
Alhanati (2012) shows that the technological requirements for completing the project
successfully can be revealed by understanding the information and process requirements, as
outlined in the table below.
Table 26: Process requirements of the proposed System

Process Technological Requirements
The proposed solution is an e-commerce system on a website, and
therefore must be hosted in order to make the site accessible for the
public.
Web Hosting Hosting can be done in several ways, either by using a home server, or a
web based hosting service. Either option has its costs and benefits. While
maintaining a home server increases the risk, a web based hosting service
is the preferred choice.
Data Storing The e-commerce solution will have to record all the sales, transactions,
and many other details which requires a huge amount of storage space.
So a data center is required to store such data it produces. As there are
risks associated with on-premise data centers, the off-premise cloud data
centers can be useful in such a case.
As Angeles (2013) shows, that cloud storage can provide more security

and other benefits, cloud based data centers could be used for the
solution. The cloud space required can be purchased for an additional
cost from the web hosting service.
The e-commerce system takes information about the place of delivery

when a customer purchases something from it, then it can place that item
under orders section of the nearest branch where the delivery is about to
Back-Office happen.
Function So every branch of Ocean Market must have access to the internet to
view the orders that appear in the system. Therefore networking facilities
such as LAN systems comprised of devices such as routers, hubs, and
PCs must be present within every branch.
4.3.2 Economic Feasibility
The economic feasibility of the solution can be determined by a cost-benefit analysis as shown in
table 27, however Decision Analyst (2015) shows that a demand forecast is also essential to
predict economic patterns.
Table 27: Cost-Benefit Analysis of the solution

Process Costs Benefits
Ocean Market must When developed, the e-commerce solution can
capitalize the solution increase reputation of the company, provide
by funds received by services to its customers, get the company back
Capitalizing the
a bank loan and to track where the world market is moving, by
Solution
personal investment helping to keep its potential customers as well
as described in as attracting new customers.
chapter 4.2.

Ocean Market must The e-commerce system can over the years
spend on maintaining keep the regular flow of customers and increase
the system, such as sales dramatically that would otherwise be
for future unable to do.
advancements. It
Maintaining the e- In relation to the annual costs it takes, it can
must also pay an
Commerce System contribute in generating vast amounts of profit
annual payment to
for the company.
the web hosting
company for its
services and for
storage.
The intellectual Once the rights are privileged, the company has
property rights of the the chance and opportunity to build its image
system should be online through the proposed e-commerce
taken so that none solution because of its uniqueness.
Preserving the other is able to
When customers trust begins to grow on the
Solution duplicate or use the
solution, it is then that the intangible benefits of
original work. This
having an unique system appear.
process involves
payment to the Sri
Lankan government.
4.3.3 Legal Feasibility
There are many laws and policies in Sri Lanka, the table below demonstrates that the proposed
solution have no conflict with those laws making it legally feasible.
Intellectual Property Rights

Table 28: Legal feasibility of the solution
Legal Constraints Effect on the Solution
Copyrights are rights given by law to the creators for their literacy and
artistic works. These economic and moral rights must be considered to
check whether the solution have violate those laws which are published
Copyrights
in gazette numbers; 1415/18 of 10th October 2005.
The domain name and other names on the proposed solution currently
comply with those laws making any names used feasible.
Trademarks, Service marks, certification marks, and collective marks
are the types of marks present.
Marks The solution uses the same original trademark of Ocean Market and is
viable to be used when checked against the intellectual property Act no:
36 0f 2003 under sections 103 and 104.
Patents protect inventions and provide the benefits of the invention only
Patents to the inventor. The proposed solution does not violate this law because
such a system havent received a patent within the last 20 years.
Source: Government of Sri Lanka (n.d).
4.3.4 Operational Feasibility
Heathcoat (2003: p.212) shows that operational feasibility is checking whether the current work
practices and procedures of a company are adequate for the new system. It is also feasible if the
employees can work with it easily. The following table demonstrates the solutions operational
feasibility.

Table 29: Operational feasibility of the solution
Criterion Description
In order for the solution to be operationally feasible, ideas about the
solution are taken from the employees of the company. This can be
Process
done easily in the systems investigation phase of the e-commerce
solution.
The process suggestions are then analyzed to look whether some
parties are affected when dealing with the system. Evaluation of
Evaluation
those suggestions is an easy task that could be done in the system
design phase.
The development of the e-commerce solution does not involve
Implementation employees from Ocean Market and therefore their work will never
be affected during that phase.
The solution is feasible if Ocean Market can use the newly
introduced system with less efforts. Any required strategies could be
Strategies applied as required in those situations.
As the proposed solution provides all the functionality they need,

Ocean Market can easily handle it.
The solution is also considered to be operationally feasible if the
employees require less time to adapt to the new changes. This
adaptation process can be monitored to determine whether additional
Adapt and Review changes must be made.
Because the solution is designed to be simple to use, it will take less

time for Ocean Market to adapt to it, however, review process is
carried out.
Source: Users work adopted from Scheid (2013).
4.3.5 Schedule Feasibility

The solution is feasible schedule wise if it is delivered on time. Arnette (2014) shows that it is
used to visualize the processes of the project to ensure on-time delivery, therefore it is also
feasible if its deadlines are reasonable. The following table discusses some phases to prove that
the schedule for developing the proposed solution is reasonable.
Table 30: Proving the deadlines are reasonable

Phase Description
At this stage, the requirements of the proposed system are
System
collected through different types of techniques. Once all the
Analysis/Investigation
required data are collected, they are analyzed.
After analysis, the e-commerce system is designed to meet all the
System Design requirements and functionalities required, by a set of designers
involved in the project team.
Once the design phase completes, the e-commerce system is
actually implemented. This phase requires a considerable time
Implementation
period because actual development such as coding is done on this
phase.
Upon successful completion of the implementation, the e-
Integration and Testing commerce system is tested for errors, bugs, and interoperability.
The system is also checked for security issues in this phase.
In this phase, the e-commerce system is setup and runs actual
business. This is the final part of the development of the solution.
Installation
Although maintenance and future improvements takes place after
this, they are not part of the schedule.
Source: Authors work adopted from Kay (2002).
Conclusion
From all the analysis done to investigate the market potential of Ocean Market, including the
market analysis, competitive advantage analysis, financial feasibility analysis, PESTLE analysis
and SWOT analysis which shows positive results, the main advantage lies in the current situation

of e-commerce in Sri Lanka, because there are only a very little number of competitors for
Ocean Market that has an e-commerce solution. However more competitors on the future can be
expected, therefore, identifying their Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and promoting such, to
face those threats are recommended.
The solution proposed is the best fit for Ocean Market, because its a B2C model which falls
under the category of physical goods seller while making the company a Brick and Click
organization.
The solution is full of functionality, Security and is feasible under all TELOS feasibility studies,
however, what the customers sees is the design, products and the payment options. Selection of a
popular and trusted payment service such as Global Payments will increase customer trust, while
the user friendly design will attract new customers to provide Ocean Market full of tangible and
in-tangible benefits by achieving better business outcomes.
Appendices
Appendix A: e-Commerce system of Urbanladder.com

Urban ladder is an online furniture and decoration seller who allows its customers to choose,
buy, their products as well as allowing them to get it delivered to their homes, and have it
installed. The following image shows its homepage as of August 29, 2015.
Apart from the various categories they offer, the major points to be noted on this page is that they
provide:
A hotline number
An email address
The ability to search products
The ability to sign up or login as a member
The ability to shop as a guest
The ability to add items to the cart
They let customers pay using payu biz, and accept credit and debit cards as well as net banking
facilities. Urban ladder also accepts cash on delivery.
Appendix B: e-commerce system of Kobobooks.com
Kobobooks.com is an online e-book seller which offers a variety of eBooks ready for purchasing.
The e-commerce system of Kobobooks.com is shown in the screenshot below.

Kobobooks.com allows its users to search its content in 9 different languages including English
while enabling to manually locate the books using the categories and its catalogue which
includes the Todays Top 50 EBooks at the top. The solution even extends for mobile experience
through its kobo app for phones and tablets. Apart from those features, it provides the following
functionalities to its users.
The ability to sign up and login as a member, or login using Facebook or Google plus
accounts.
Shopping cart functionality.
Help section.
Ability to add books to cart without login.
Appendix C: e-Commerce system of Odel

Odel is the Sri Lankas first retail department store, and has acquired its online presence as
Odel.lk allowing its customers to purchase its range of products online. As any other examples,
Odel.lk has got its unique and professional interface as illustrated in the screenshot below.
This e-commerce system allows its users to choose from a wide array of its products categorized
as Women, Men, Kids, and so on. It also allows to choose products by brand then filter results by
size, color, and price. The site lets its users to connect with them via popular social media
channels as well as enabling them to read the Odel magazine online.
They gives the ability to change currency type, register, login or use it as a guest, use shopping
cart, send and redeem gift vouchers, sort items by price, limit the number of results appear per
page, calculate shipping costs, save items in the saved items list, and offer international delivery.
The payments are handled by Global Payments Asia Pacific which is a joint venture of Global
Payments and HSBC.
Appendix D: e-Commerce system for Keells Super

Keells Super is a popular company in Sri Lanka specially focusing on food items. Its e-
Commerce solution brings its customers a new experience through Keellssuper.com and allows
easy purchasing of its various food products. The following screenshot demonstrates how its
homepage reflects the companys red theme color.
As any other solution, this site lets its customers to register, login, search, view, add to cart, and
pay to purchase anything online in its wide span of food products. The site aids the help of
Global Payments to facilitate the transactions and allows payments via MasterCard, Visa, and
American Express. The office and home delivery of products is a major point to be noted in this
site.
Appendix E: e-Commerce system of Lanka Tronics

Lanka Tronics is an electronic items seller in Sri Lanka, and is available online through
lankatronics.com site. It is one of the popular electronics seller in the country. Its homepage is as
shown in the screenshot below.
This site lets its users to choose from a multitude of various electronic items classified by brand,
size and many other variables. It allows to add items to cart, register, login or use as guest. The
solution allows users to change the currency from LKR to USD and allows to pay via bank
account, credit card, PayPal, and Dialog eZ cash. The payment using credit cards is powered by
2checkout.com. The users can also choose to collect their items from their stores, or get them
delivered to their homes using post or courier service.
Appendix F: Other features of OceanMarket.com

Appendix F1: Multi-Platform Support
The solution presented on chapter 4 is not only for PCs, but works well with tablets, and
smartphones. As an example, the following image shows how the same homepage of
OceanMarket.com is seen on a mobile device.
All the features of the Desktop version are included in the mobile version making the solution
suits any type of device.
Appendix F2: Back Office of OceanMarket.com

The solution for Ocean Market not only serves the customers, but also the administrators and site
managers who need to keep track of the things going on online. The back office functionality of
the solution makes their work easier by tracking every detail they want. The following images
shows some of the back office features of OceanMarket.com.

The images above shows how the solution lets the administrator to manage emails, members,
orders and view the sales as well as the stats per week. Back office functions like this is so much
essential for a company to become success in their work.

Appendix G: Management of Work
Appendix G1: Gantt chart
Gantt chart

Appendix G2: Self-Criticism
Self-Criticism
Understanding the real meaning of what the individual chapters and topics of the assignment
expect is sometimes equivocal, but other than that, the poor knowledge regarding the structure of
a report and the format of a professional document has become major barriers in creating this
report. The inconsistent availability of formats and structures of the same referencing style
within different institutions and colleges also caused further confusion.
Inefficient time management during the preparation of this report leads to sluggish attainment
which affects how the report is been made. Going through materials thoroughly to help build the
report with increased accuracy might have benefited in understanding the content well, and how
the report presents them, however such practices lead to further delay which triggers peer
pressure that further affects the final stages of work.
However, all these problems were faced with responsibility while learning how such things could
be dealt in the future. Improved skills in understanding, realizing, and dealing as well as time
managing gained from this work will benefit in the future to be more efficient in all the above
mentioned areas.

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Assignment Brief

BTEC Level 4-5 HNC/HND Diploma (QCF)

Edexcel No : Centre No : Batch:

Assessment Title & Nos : E-commerce Consultancy Report for Ocean

Learning outcomes and grading opportunities:

Merit and Distinction

Assess : Miss. Dinithi Internal Examiner (IE) : Miss.

1.1 Core Business Functions of the Organization

1.2 Evaluation of Business aims and Stakeholders

Chapter 2 Background of e-Commerce and its impact to the

2.1 The Impact of e-Commerce to an Organization and Society

2.2 Global Impact of e-Commerce on society

Note: Your overall chapter must reflect the background of e commerce

Chapter 3 Market Potential and Different e-Commerce Solutions

3.1. Market Potential of e commerce

3.2. Different e-Commerce Systems in the World

Note: While critically evaluating e-commerce systems currently in use for

4.1. Proposed e-Commerce solution

4.2. Capitalizing an E commerce solution

4.3. Feasibility of the E-commerce solution

Note: The above proposed e commerce solution must be creative

Your overall report must be word processed within 2000-2500 words,

CONTENT OF THE FIGURES.................................................................................................x

1.1 Core Business Functions of the Organization.....................................................................13

1.1.3 Finance Function..........................................................................................................15

1.1.4 Marketing Function......................................................................................................16

1.1.6 Information Technology (IT) Function........................................................................18

1.2 Evaluation of Business aims and Stakeholders...................................................................19

1.2.1 Business Aims of OM..................................................................................................19

1.2.2 Relation of Business Aims to the Stakeholders...........................................................20

2.1 The Impact of e-Commerce to an Organization and Society..............................................22

2.1.1 Background of e-commerce.........................................................................................22

2.1.2 Functionality of e-commerce.......................................................................................23

2.1.3 Impact of e-commerce on Business and Society.........................................................25

2.2 Global Impact of e-Commerce on society..........................................................................28

2.2.1 Positive Impacts of e-commerce on society.................................................................28

2.2.2 Negative Impact of e-commerce on Society................................................................30

3.1 Market Potential (MP) of e-commerce...............................................................................33

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3.1.2 Conclusion for Ocean Market......................................................................................36

3.2 Different e-commerce systems in the world.......................................................................37

3.2.1 Classification According to Types of Goods Sold.......................................................37

3.2.2 Classification According to the Nature of Participants................................................38

4.1 Proposed e-Commerce solution..........................................................................................40

4.1.1 Selecting a Suitable System.........................................................................................40

4.1.2 Designing the System..................................................................................................41

4.2 Capitalizing an E-commerce solution.................................................................................50

4.3 Feasibility of the E-commerce solution..............................................................................53

4.3.1 Technological Feasibility.............................................................................................53

4.3.2 Economic Feasibility...................................................................................................54

4.3.3 Legal Feasibility...........................................................................................................55

4.3.4 Operational Feasibility.................................................................................................56

4.3.5 Schedule Feasibility.....................................................................................................58

Appendix A: e-Commerce system of Urbanladder.com.......................................................60

Appendix B: e-commerce system of Kobobooks.com.........................................................61

Appendix C: e-Commerce system of Odel...........................................................................62

Appendix D: e-Commerce system for Keells Super.............................................................63

Appendix E: e-Commerce system of Lanka Tronics............................................................64

Appendix F: Other features of OceanMarket.com................................................................65

Appendix G: Management of Work......................................................................................68

Nilshan Devinda Business Skills for e-Commerce - Unit No: 01 9

Nilshan Devinda Business Skills for e-Commerce - Unit No: 01 10

Table 1: Functions of finance department.................................................................................15

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