Introduction
It should be noted that before starting an e-business or an e-commerce project, various aspects should be considered. In addition, profound research on the market is required to understand whether the business idea is competitive enough. The purpose of this paper is to identify five primary factors to consider before starting an e-commerce business, explain the method and project approach as well as provide a plan for the future project.
Primary Factors
The first factor to be analyzed prior to creating a business in e-commerce is knowledge. It is crucial to determine whether more research on the market and future competitors is required (Turban, King, Lee, Liang, & Turban, 2012). It is of paramount importance to do the research prior to planning since it will be easier to make any strategic decisions when the team is well-informed on the subject. The second factor is planning as applied to e-commerce business registration.
In particular, any business should operate in compliance with state laws and regulations. For that reason, a business plan should be developed, and it should cover such significant areas as production and shipping costs, hosting expenses, and so on (Turban et al., 2012). The second factor intersects with the first one since it is necessary to conduct research on business regulations beforehand to eliminate the possibility of the law violation.
The third factor is registering a domain name from accredited registrars or domain resellers. It is important to determine the zones in which the name should be registered. The fourth aspect is choosing the appropriate web hosting service (Turban et al., 2012). To do it, the entrepreneur should know the requirements of the e-commerce project in regards to the type of website needed, level of security, and so on. The fifth factor is related to website improvement and launch. It is crucial to ensure the platform is mobile- and user-friendly (Phillips, 2016). Apart from that, landing and product pages should be optimized because it is one of the methods to deliver the value proposition to the customers.
Methodology
The methodology of the project will consist of eight phases, which are “begin, diagnose, develop, define, determine, design, deliver, discuss” (Cassidy, 2016, p. 43). The first five stages are related to project planning and development, while the next three phases imply project implementation and analysis of the results. Therefore, prior to launching the project, it is crucial to think through the purpose of the initiative, outline a plan, determine the main trends, identify the key stakeholders, and develop a value proposition (Cassidy, 2016).
After that, it will be possible to specify the business application architecture, deliver the strategy, and proceed with the project implementation. Importantly, this methodology allows returning back to the previous steps at any time to make the necessary improvements, which means that the work on the project will be ongoing.
Project Approach
A modified project approach will be employed to reach greater flexibility and efficiency. In particular, the elements of the waterfall and agile approaches will be combined so that the team will have an opportunity to communicate and collaborate, but every member will know their responsibilities (Cassidy, 2016). This way, the structure of the project will be clear, and the required documentation will be prepared based on the waterfall approach. Meanwhile, there will be enough flexibility during project planning, and two-way feedback will be ensured. It will be possible to move from one stage to another without observing a strict sequence. Moreover, such an approach will make it possible to manage the project with accurate timing and greater efficiency.
Project Plan
A general plan for the e-commerce project is as follows (the tasks and steps may be moved or altered depending on the requirements):
- The first meeting with the project team to discuss the aim, purpose, and objectives.
- I was agreeing on the project objectives with the team and receiving approval from the mentor.
- Pre-stage planning.
- A team meeting to discuss the progress made and future tasks;
- Requirement analysis (registration, payment gateway, integration, and so on) (Turban et al., 2012);
- Technical analysis (design, testing, delivery);
- Analysis of the key stakeholder groups (Cassidy, 2016);
- Analysis of risks;
- Planning the activities for the subgroups;
- Preparation of the budget;
- Cost-benefit analysis.
- E-commerce design and implementation.
- A team meeting to discuss the progress made and future tasks;
- Waterfall and agile approaches;
- Project delivery analysis;
- E-vision;
- Page design and layout (Cassidy, 2016);
- Admin control;
- Product backlog.
- Capacity building and support.
- A team meeting to discuss the progress made and future tasks;
- Stakeholder feedback;
- Marketing.
Concluding Points
It can be concluded that the knowledge of the market and its peculiarities is important for creating a successful project in e-commerce. The future project will be based on the application of the 8-phase methodology and a modified project approach, which will combine the elements of two different methods of developing and launching an e-business. This strategy will allow reaching greater flexibility while ensuring that all the requirements are met.
References
Cassidy, A. (2016). A practical guide to planning for e-business success: How to e-enable your enterprise. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Phillips, J. (2016). Ecommerce analytics: Analyze and improve the impact of your digital strategy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.
Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J. K., Liang, T.-P., & Turban, D. (2012). Electronic commerce 2012: Managerial and social networks perspectives (7th ed.). London, England: Pearson.