With operating physical stores being crazily expensive these days, more and more businesses become participants in the lucrative trade of e-commerce. Surprisingly, companies such as Frank & Oak, a previously online-only clothing company,went in the opposite direction and opened six physical stores in Canada recently¹. Here comes the question: what factors determine the structure of operations a company should use? Which model benefits businesses more – online or offline?

As a business moves from one stage to another, the priority of accomplishing certain tasks changes. Frank & Oak, for example, launched it in 2012 to sell clothes to young males. Being new to the market, the company needs to attract customers immediately and to grow its customer base. Since Frank & Oaks mainly targets middle-
income young males, online sales will be the optimal choices. 40% of American men aged 18 to 34 said they would “ideally buy everything online,” compared to only 33% of women². It is evident that online stores are at much lower risk of losing customers to bricks-and-mortar stores. Moreover, reducing overheads and marketing costs are crucial to the survival and growth of a start-up, which can be easily achieved through online operation.

Now as the company has successfully amassed 1.6 million online members in North America, the top tasks are shifted from maximizing profits to forming brand culture and building customer loyalty. The add-on of physical stores can make this happen. As the CEO Song says, “A physical space is real life. It’s not the world seen through a screen…the real community creates a deeper engagement that’s not just rational, but emotional³.”

In my opinion, the structure of operations should be determined by the stage a company is going through and the short-term goals it has. Combining physical and digital stores and gaining benefits from both models are the future trend.

 

 

Works Cited

1. Online retailers open physical stores to boost business
2. A Lot Of Men Would Rather Do All Their Shopping Online
3. How Frank & Oak brings a personal touch to digital retail
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The topic of workplace ethics has become increasingly important in the business world. Not only do low-income workers in developing countries suffer from poor working conditions, highly-compensated employees also experience difficult times. For example, working in immensely competitive environments causes stress-related health problems. It is necessary for the companies to create safe, less-stressful working environments; neglecting workers’ safety and health is indeed unethical.

                         There have been numerical examples of Chinese laborers who work for big firms being “maltreated”. One of the famous instances is that, in 2014, Chinese workers who worked for Bell and Apple were “exposed to toxic chemicals” and “given only twenty-minute initial training”¹. Under the surface, the big companies exploited developing countries’needs for having their fast-growing population employed and treated the workers “the way they wanted to”. As they said, “our suppliers must live up to the toughest standards if they want to keep doing business with Apple.” It is evident that their immoral demands severely infringe on workers’ rights.

 

It is indicated in “Evaluating Amazon’s Workplace Ethics”² that Amazon has failed to embrace workplace ethics as well. The staff’s psychological and physical health isn’t taken into consideration throughout the company’s development. Intense competitions among employees, which boost profits for the fast-growing industry, force workers to work hard without considering their health. Amazon is responsible for controlling its over-competitive working environment as well as reducing conflicting demands on employees. In fact, workers become less creative and less efficient under excessive pressure, which can lead to bigger loss of the company.

As I see it, workplace ethics play a tremendously important role in business growth. The protection of workers’ fundamental rights goes along with profit-making in today’s industry.

 

Works Cited

1. Apple and Dell supplier in China ‘neglects staff safety’
2. Evaluating Amazon’s Workplace Ethics
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