SWOT Analysis (eCommerce)

Strengths –    Time saving: Transaction through internet is very fast. It saves time by reducing physical movement. –    Cost effective: Elimination of long chain of middle man, decreasing need of having brick infrastructure and outsourcing logistic. –    Fast and accurate sharing and exchange of information among sellers and customers. –    A niche market	Weaknesses –    Security is the biggest challenge to ecommerce, especially the integrity of the payment process. –    Fake websites: Many fake websites are available on the Internet which promises secure dealing. These web sites can not only disgrace ecommerce but also bring bad name to ecommerce. –    Impossibility of physical examination –    Long delivery timing –    Lack of personal services
Opportunities –    High availability (24 hour and seven days a week) –    Wide business growth –    Ecommerce can be operated anywhere and anytime without any interruption. –    Increasing number of user: Daily number of internet users is increasing.	Threats –    Highly competitive industry, along with local competition, global competition also exists. –    No direct interaction between customer and the seller. –    Privacy concerns: Fears that information can be misused lead to spam email or identity fraud.

Ecommerce has become one of the most popular and fast-developing industries in today’s world. As more and more well-known brands opening up their online stores and new enterprises starting their online businesses, the ecommerce industry becomes highly competitive.

Under such circumstances, some small online businesses, such as DodoCase, managed to thrive in this market. When DodoCase first started, they were well aware of the competitive market they were entering. In the few short years they have been around, they have soared to become one of the most notable and respected iPad cases in the market. In fact, they won Shopify’s Build-a-Business Contest. DodoCase, a new entrant into the game, has achieved this feat and taken a large market share with a unique design, and well executed handmade manufacturing. It was all about quality in a market flooded with cheap plastic alternatives.

Moreover, some small online businesses improve their competitiveness by investing new products. It is troublesome for customers to choose one product among many similar ones. Meanwhile, to small online stores, selling hundreds of different products requires a lot of labor and costs too much to purchase the initial stock. MorningHead, a shower cap with an absorbent material inside. One just fill it with one cup of water, place it over his head and rub it around. Bed head is fixed and the customer can now style his hair. MorningHead solves a big pain point with a simple product, especially to guys with short hair who are in a rush in the morning. Most importantly, MorningHead is once size. Therefore, the online store holder of MorningHead does not have to pay for extra storage in his warehouse; customers are not likely getting wrong sizes and colors; time and money are saved and can be invested into better uses.

From my point of view, the ecommerce, a click business, is creating an entire new economy, which has a huge potential accompanied with loads of opportunities. As the daily number of internet users is increasing and more people today feel comfortable to shop online, small online businesses today could compete with global giant online retailers by creating the best customer experience through keeping up to date with technology, making good use of the cost effective online advertising, focusing on its own uniqueness without blindly comparing itself with others, staying innovative and always paying attention to customers’ needs.

In conclusion, ecommerce, a new shopping channel, has changed people’s daily lives. Surely more new enterprises and start-ups will join this game as the market gets more stable. With their own uniques and inventories, many small online businesses will continue to succeed in this competitive online market.

(445 words)

 

 

References:

1. https://www.abetterlemonadestand.com/what-to-sell-online/ Reverse Engineering The Perfect Ecommerce Product; Richard Lazazzera
2. 1st Picture : http://www.dodocase.com; Reverse Engineering The Perfect Ecommerce Product; Richard Lazazzera
3. 2nd Picture: http://www.morninghead.com/#video-2; Reverse Engineering The Perfect Ecommerce Product; Richard Lazazzera
4. http://www.ecommercefuel.com/effective-email-marketing-for-small-business/#whynotHow to Boost Sales 25% with Effective Email Marketing; Andrew Youderian
5. http://www.ecommercefuel.com/ecommerce-experts/  10 eCommerce Experts You Should Be Following; Andrew Youderian

6. http://www.ripublication.com/aeee_spl/aeeev4n6spl_19.pdf Analysis of E-Commerce; Ms Kiran Yadav and Dr. Divya Sharma
7. https://www.techinasia.com/talk/online-shopping-catching-women-india Online shopping is catching on among women in India

 

 

 

SWOT Analysis (UberEats)

Strength –  Fast delivery, customers get their food delivered within 10 minutes –  Flexibility in food delivery service from instant lunch or dinner deliveries for select dishes or full-menu options from restaurants. –  Separate driver base handling UberEats deliveries to avoid overlap with regular Uber drivers, while providing them the flexibility to switch between the two. –  Flat delivery fee and no hidden service charge ensures consistency and transparency in pricing.

Weakness –  Limited selection of restaurants that’s attributed to the company’s growth phase. –  Customers need to switch to Yelp to know about the restaurant’s reviews. –  Though BiteSquad’s website is heavy with text, one of the pros is the integration of Yelp to the restaurant listings. –  Uber Instant Delivery menu items are prepared in advance and stored in the drivers’ vehicles. Sometimes UberEats has few customers that drivers have to throw away food at day’s end.

Opportunity –  Operating in 19 cities worldwide –   Learn from other market players’ mistakes to innovate –  Allow customers to place orders a few days in advance. This would help in assessing the demand patterns for food from each restaurant. –  Provide customers the flexibility to get their meal delivered at their convenient time. BiteSquad allows customers to schedule delivery at a specific time.

Threat –  Competitive food delivery industry, UberEats is a new entrant, trying to get users to download yet another food-delivery app could be risky. –  Companies like Postmates are moving aggressively by developing partnerships with Starbucks, Chipotle.

( https://blogs.ubc.ca/yaelapt/)

This blog really catches my attention as it talks about an important part of people’s daily lives, which is food, and also addresses a problem that concerns people the most, the food delivery especially during rainy season.

UberEats, a new food delivery service offered by the globally-known transportation service company Uber, is flourishing in the competitive food delivery market.

In Yael’s blog, she has addressed some of the key reasons of UberEats’ success, such as Uber’s strong brand image and special values offered in its food delivery service. It is true that UberEats does have lower delivery rates and faster delivery speed than Postmates, Grubhub and other food delivery services.

However, to many customers, ordering food from UberEats used to be a limited experience. There were limited service area and food choices. No customization of food makes customers who cannot stand onions on their salad or other preferences frustrated. Even worse, being a part of the Uber app, makes it feel like a small side project of a company that’s staked its reputation on transporting humans, not sandwiches.

Once sliding over to UberEats, customers see little fork and knife icons, rather than the cars that are around them when they use Uber to get a ride somewhere.

The company pays extra attention on customer reviews and keeps upgrading its UberEats service. In March 2016, the company has broken a product out into its own standalone app and that limited-selection UberEats was gone. In its place is Uber’s GrubHub killer.

While the new UberEats allows instant lunch or dinner deliveries for select dishes or full-menu options from restaurants. Moreover, UberEats offered two different ways to order food. Customers could order food from any of the restaurants on the app or from one of the pre-set lunch options that Uber would deliver in within10 minutes. These new functions of the new UberEats app make food ordering more convenient for customers and satisfy a greater number of customers with various preferences and needs.

With my personal pleasant experience of using UberEats, I really wish UberEats could reach a larger crowd and bring convenience to more people. From my point of view, since most UberEats’ customers are tech-savvy, who own mobile devices or use social media. It is important that UberEats communicates its brand effectively to these tech-oriented customers. Thus, UberEats should spend most of its marketing budget on online marketing.

Fig 6. #of Facebook users who like the various brands.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well”, said a celebrated writer. With UberEATS you can now eat a dish from your favorite restaurant at the comfort of your home / workplace without stepping out! #UberEATS

 Fig 7 and 8. Sample social media posts

UberEats could develop its customer base by expanding its social media presence on different channels, such as Facebook and Instagram, and sending email newsletters monthly to share newly onboarded popular restaurants and special discounts. With the effectiveness of these marketing efforts, I believe that UberEats can attract more customers.

I’m ready to order!

 

(450 words)

 

References:

1) https://blogs.ubc.ca/yaelapt/

2) http://www.businessinsider.com/why-uber-launched-uber-eats-2016-3; Uber’s GrubHub killer is finally in the US — here’s the inside story on its big bet on food; Biz Carson

3) https://www.quora.com/How-popular-is-UberEats-in-London; How popular is UberEats in London?

4) http://www.businessinsider.com/ubereats-is-convenient-but-overpriced-2015-6 What it’s like to order a $15 burrito through Uber’s food delivery service;Alex Heath

5) http://qz.com/664552/uber-is-killing-off-its-instant-food-delivery-option-in-new-york-city/ Uber is killing off its instant food delivery option in New York City; Alison Griswold

6)https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68814480/UberEATS%20Market%20Analysis%202016.pdf Market Analysis 2016, Monisha Monikantarajan, July 2016