Eessõna
Antud äriplaani eesmärgiks on saada ülevaade elektroonilise kaubanduse trendidest Eesti autonduses ja vastavalt saadud tulemustele uudse elektroonilise lahenduse genereerimine koos sinna juurde kuuluva äriplaaniga.
Uuring on jaotatud neljaks
põhimõtteliseks osaks
Esimeses osas annab autor ülevaate elektroonilise kaubanduse trendidest, elektroonilistest mudelitest, interneti ostjate käitumisest ja elektronilise kaubanduse tulevikust.
Teine osa antud uurimusest sisaldab turuuuringut, milles olulise tähtsusega on nii majanduslikud kui ka tehnoloogilised faktorid. Antakse ülevaade nii autonduse turust kui tehnoloogia arengust.
Kolmas osa keskendud valitud tehnoloogilise lahenduse, interneti kaupluse, kirjeldamisele.
Neljandas osas koostab autor äriplaani interneti kaupluse käivitamiseks.
Antud uurimistöö põhitulemused on järgmised:
- Eesti autokaubanduses ei ole antud äriplaanis pakutavat lahendust veel keegi teostanud.
- Elektrooniline kaubandus on tõusuteel vaatamata ajutistele tagasilöökidele.
- Autotarvikute elektrooniline müük on Eestis veel vähe populaarne.
- Potentsiaalne turusegment on tehnoloogiliselt valmis pakutavat teenust tarbima
- Elektroniline kaubandus on olulisel määral efektiivsem kui traditsiooniline kaubandus.
- Eesti pindala, rahvaarv ja oma keel on unikaalsed eelised efektiivse interneti kaupluse töös hoidmiseks.
Tänaseks hetkeks ei ole Eestis autonduses veel elektroonilisi lahendusi mis pakuks lõpptarbijale soodsaid hindu ning mugavat lahendust, kuid mõne aja möödudes sunnib konkurents ettevõtteid selliseid lahendusi otsima.
Uurimistöö on koostatud inglis keelsena, kuna ka enamus erialast kirjandust on inglise keeles.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3. DEFINITION OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
3.1. Electronic commerce segments
3.1.1.
B2B: Business-to-business
3.1.2.
B2C: Business-to-consumer
3.2.1.
Advantages and benefits of shopping
3.2.2.
Disadvantages and risks of online shopping
3.3. Technologies of e-commerce
3.3.1.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
3.3.5.
Electronic Data Exchange
3.4. The future of electronic commerce
4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE IN
ESTONIAN AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS.
4.1.2.
Sector Structure Overview
4.1.3.
Estonian Distribution Sector in International Context
4.1.4. New
Car Distribution Infrastructure.
4.1.6.
Smaller Dealers and Dealers Groups
4.1.7.
Service and Spare-parts Companies
4.2. The evaluation of Car Web Sites in Estonia
4.3. The evaluation of B2B Sites in Estonian
automotive business
4.4. The analyze of web-stores in Estonia
5.1. Architecture of e-store infosystem
5.1.2. Order
processing database
5.2. Web site design requirements
6. www.autoosad.ee BUSINESS PLAN
6.17.3.
Projected First-Year Budget for www.autoosad.ee
Today, a
great number of companies are using the Internet as an outlet to promote their
products and services. To increase business competitiveness, electronic
commerce, or e-commerce, is used as a new strategy within many business
sectors. Many companies believe that electronic commerce can improve efficiency in finding and
interacting with customers, in communicating with trading partners, and in
developing new products and markets. The Internet, as the prototype of the
global information infrastructure today, is an ideal environment for E-commerce.
It can be primarily used to reduce communication and publishing costs, as well
as offering an inexpensive, flexible, and efficient way for businesses to trade
and communicate with each other. Electronic commerce on the Internet can also improve company’s innovation,
production, sales, and service. Although electronic
commerce has already
been implemented in many countries and the Internet has been used to improve
efficiency and effectiveness in today’s business environment, many businesses
in
The last
decade has seen tremendous growth in the World Wide Web (WWW) and electronic
commerce, which now
offers organizations and consumers a unique channel to deliver and purchase goods
and services. E-commerce is popularly classified as B2B (business to business),
B2C (business to consumer) and C2C (consumer to consumer). Business model of
B2B is currently the fastest growing segment of e-commerce it makes more
efficient the flow of goods and services across organizations. This efficiency
is typically increased using standards for electronic data exchange, automating
certain processes across organizations and providing direct database access to
external organizations, usually via the WWW. B2C e-commerce consists broadly of
providing consumers uninterrupted access to an organization’s goods and
services, with minimal geographical boundaries. Creating a virtual shop
www.autoosad.ee, consisting of components such as shopping carts, catalogues,
and electronic payment mechanisms, usually does this. C2C e-commerce consists
of providing distribution channels for consumers to sell goods and services to
each other. Typical examples of this include auction sites, where users can
auction items to each other, and consumer rating services, where consumers can
share information about goods and services with each other. The ubiquity of the
WWW has also enabled changes in several aspects of traditional commerce. First,
the barriers to entry for setting up a virtual business are considerably lower
than for setting up a typical “brick-and-mortar” establishment. Second,
geographical barriers are considerably reduced, providing sellers access to a
larger customer base. Third, unique pricing mechanisms such as “name your own
price,” (e.g., www.osta.ee) and asynchronous auctions
are now possible. Fourth, aggregation of demand by several individual buyers is
now possible, leading to better negotiation of prices on behalf of these
buyers. Fifth, search engines and rating sites provided aggregated information
to the buyer about the different sellers of a particular good or service. It is
widely accepted that all of these changes have enabled efficiencies and the
creation of value. The purposes of this study are to determine the significant
roles and current status of e-commerce on the Internet in Estonian automotive
business and to identify the important factors and existing problems for
developing e-commerce over the Internet.
The aim of the research is to develop a greater
understanding of the Estonian automotive business supply chain, business
process and markets, and to identify suitable electronic commerce applications
for the industry.
And the
primary purpose of this work is to highlight areas of research in the
construction of e-commerce application. Work does not look at lower level
issues such as communication protocols or security mechanisms, though these are
certainly large areas of research. Instead we focus on e-commerce application construction.
While study does not claim to be exhaustive, our goal is to be as comprehensive
as possible in covering different aspects of e-commerce application
construction starting from market research to our business plan.
3. DEFINITION OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
There is
no generally agreed definition of "electronic commerce". The term is
generally used to refer to trade (which may encompass publicity, information,
ordering, delivery and even consumption) via electronic networks, and in
particular, via the Internet. The lack of a uniform definition of electronic
commerce makes it a phenomenon that is particularly difficult to assess
statistically in global terms. Two indicators that are often used for this
purpose are the number of Internet hosts and the number of secure servers in a
given country. A surveys made in
Electronic commerce is more than a new way of selling and buying products
or services on the Internet. It's about putting together the right
infrastructure to meet customers' needs.
The simplest definition of electronic commerce is when something of
value has been electronically exchanged for a good or service. Electronic data
interchange is a simplest form of electronic commerce, as is a Web catalog or
an electronic auction. Most importantly, electronic commerce offers elegant,
effective ways to manage supply chains and manufacturing and distribution
processes while linking partners, making it easier for customers to do
business.
Other
simple definition of electronic commerce is a virtual marketplace for buying
and selling online. The full definition of Electronic commerce is defined as an
emerging concept that describes the process of buying and selling or exchanging
of products, services, and information via computer networks including the
Internet.
Electronic
commerce is also defined as the use of information and telecommunication
technology to automate business transactions and workflow; the facilitation of
the purchase and sale of goods or services; the delivery of data, goods or
services, computer network payment through telephone lines and other
communication modes; and providing quality services and products to satisfy
customers, both business and consumer, while reducing service cost and
expediting delivery. The electronic marketing structure has been classified as
business-oriented (B2B) and consumer-oriented (B2C). The most significant share
of e-commerce takes place between businesses ("B2B") and involves
typically large online transactions of industrial parts and components; these
transactions account for between 70 and 80 per cent of all electronic sales.
Business-to-consumer e-commerce (B2C) has the second-largest share, and covers
retail activity conducted over the Internet. Less significant (in terms of
volume) types of e-commerce are "C2C" - where consumers trade
directly between themselves -e.g. via auction sites, and "C2B", where
consumers drive the commercial process (e.g. airlines competing to give
travelers the most competitive prices for tickets).
Electronic commerce is also the application of communication and
information sharing technologies among trading partners to the pursuit of
business objectives. E-Commerce can be defined as a modern way of business that
addresses the needs of organizations, merchants, and consumers to cut costs
while improving the quality of goods and services and increasing the speed of
service delivery. E-commerce is associated with the buying and selling of
information, products and services via computer networks. Key element of
e-commerce is information processing. The effects of e-commerce are already
appearing in all areas of business, from customer service to new product design.
It facilitates new types of information based business processes for reaching
and interacting with customers – online advertising and marketing, online-order
taking and on-line customer service etc. It can also reduce costs in managing
orders and interacting with a wide range of suppliers and trading partners,
areas that typically add significant overhead to the cost of products and
services. Also E-commerce enables the formation of new types of
information-based products such as interactive games, electronic books, and
information-on demand that can be very profitable for content providers and
useful for consumers. Virtual enterprises are business arrangements in which
trading partners separated by geography and expertise are able to engage in
complex joint business activities, as if they were a single enterprise. One
example would be true supply chain integration, where planning and forecast
data are transmitted quickly and accurately throughout a multi-tier supply
chain. Another example would be non-competing suppliers with a common customer
using electronic commerce to allow that customer to do "one stop
shopping" with the assurance that a single phone call will bring the right
materials to the right location at the right time.
3.1. Electronic commerce segments
There are
at least six different models of e-business:
- Business-to-business (B2B)
- Business-to-customer (B2C)
- Business-to-employee (B2E)
- Business-to-government (B2G)
- Customer-to-customer (C2C) (i.e. consumers’
auctions)
- Consumer-to-business (C2B) (i.e. reverse
auction sites)
Very
often, the terms e-business and e-commerce are used interchangeably. E-business
focuses on the overall business-to-business and business-to-consumer activities
as well as a company’s internal Intranets. E-commerce, however, applies to the
business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) selling of products
and services via the Internet. Some companies conduct business in only one of
these areas, while others will be active in all three.
3.1.1. B2B: Business-to-business
Business-to-business,
or B2B, refers to the interactions between companies, their suppliers, business
partners, and customers. B2B web sites must be able to handle a variety of
activities, including but not limited to customer service, wholesale and retail
inquiries, and overall real-time links between supply chain partners.
3.1.2. B2C: Business-to-consumer
The
e-business segment known as business-to-consumer, or B2C, applies to activities
surrounding the providing of information, products, and support to the general
public, current, and potential customers. Like B2B sites, they too must deal
with many customer-oriented activities, but typically handle larger numbers of
users, often in the hundreds of thousands, and in some instances, millions.
Difference between B2C and B2B e-commerce are
that the customers are different
— B2B (business-to-business) customers are other companies while B2C
customers are individuals. Overall, B2C transactions are more complex and have
higher security needs (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Classification of Electronic Commerce models
There is no question that reports on the growth and future potential
value of Electronic Commerce activities vary widely. Much of the confusion is
shown by the popular press, which, in most cases, reaches for a bottom line
number with little regard for the methodology behind the number. Predicted
estimates of the value of Electronic Commerce transactions in world between
2000-2002 vary from a low of 23 billion to a high of 150 billion USD. The
numbers all come from respected research firms. How can they be so far apart?
The firms argue that simply publishing a bottom line number while failing to
explain the methodology of the study results in both confusion and a misreading
of the trends of the paradigm.
My point is that the numbers can be very misleading; the simple fact is
that the market is huge and growing (Figure 2) at an ever-accelerating rate.
Percentage of internet
Usage among population
Between 17-74
Figure 2:
Use of Internet in
Estonian on-line shopping during the past Christmas season exceeded even
the most optimistic forecasts substantially (see figure 3). The simple strategy
is not to be left behind. Electronic Commerce is a fact of life and companies
of all sizes must play or pay. Motivated use of electronic commerce can create
companies that would never have been viable 5 years ago. Amazon.com is the
poster child of Internet commerce.
EEK
Figure 3: Estonian e-business
turnover 2002/2003
3.2.1. Advantages and benefits of shopping
The main
advantages of shopping on the Internet related to perceived convenience –
avoiding the need to travel, speed, the ease of comparing prices and home
delivery.
Advantages:
No travel
involved
Faster
Easier
Goods are
delivered
Can
compare prices easily
More
choice of products
Cheaper
Find out
about new products
More
choice of shops
Dislike
shopping
Interesting
3.2.2. Disadvantages and risks of online shopping
Consumers
are alert to the possible risks and disadvantages of e-commerce. Security risks
are widely raised by people in the discussion groups, particularly the
potential for fraud, disreputable traders, and the existence of hackers. These
fears are often based on hearsay.
Other
disadvantages include the inconvenience, for example when browsing takes too
long, when there are problems with the lines or the Internet service provider
(ISP), when things go wrong or when the transaction does not live up to claims
or expectations. The impersonal and remote nature of online business is also
cited as a disadvantage of e-commerce. The perceived advantages have to be
balanced against the downside of using the Internet.
When
clients cannot touch and physically assess goods is the main disadvantage.
Concerns about releasing bank details and the possibility of fraudulent
suppliers are also widespread
Main
disadvantages are:
Cannot
touch goods
Releasing
banking details
Not
trustful supplier
Releasing
personal information
No
personal contact
Unknown
supplier
Not
everybody has access to Internet
May be
hidden charges
Delivery
problems
Limited
amount of information available
Difficult
to use
3.3. Technologies of e-commerce
While many technologies can fit within the definition of
"Electronic commerce," the most important are:
- Electronic data interchange (EDI)
- Electronic mail
- Internet
- World Wide
Web
- Product
data exchange
- Electronic
forms
3.3.1. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
EDI is the computer-to-computer exchange of structured business information
in a standard electronic format. Information stored on one computer is
translated by software programs into standard EDI format for transmission to
one or more trading partners. The trading partners’ computers, in turn,
translate the information using software programs into a form they can
understand.
Messages composed by an individual and sent in digital form to other
recipients via the Internet.
The Internet is a decentralized global network of millions of diverse
computers and computer networks. These networks can all "talk" to
each other because they have agreed to use a common communications protocol
called TCP/IP. The Internet is a tool for communications between people and
businesses. The network is growing very, very fast and as more and more people
are gaining access to the Internet, it is becoming more and more useful.
The World Wide Web is a collection of documents written and encoded with
the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). With the aid of a relatively small piece
of software (called a "browser"), a user can ask for these documents
and display them on the user’s local computer, although the document can be on
a computer on a totally different network elsewhere in the world. HTML
documents (or "pages," as they are called) can contain many different
kinds of information such as text, pictures, video, sound, and pointers, which
take users immediately to other web pages. Because Web pages are continually
available through the Internet, these pointers may call up pages from anywhere
in the world. It is this ability to jump from site to site that gave rise to
the term "World Wide Web." Browsing the Web (or "surfing the
Net") can be a fascinating activity, especially to people new to the
Internet. The World Wide Web is by far the most heavily used application on the
Internet.
3.3.5. Electronic Data Exchange
Product data refers to any data that is needed to describe a product or
service. Sometimes that data is in graphical form, as in the case of pictures,
drawings and CAD files. In other cases the data may be character based (numbers
and letters), as in the case of specifications, bills of material,
manufacturing instructions, engineering change notices and test results.
Product data exchange differs from other types of business
communications in two important ways. First, because graphics are involved
users must contend with large computer files and with problems of compatibility
between software applications. (The difficulty of exchanging CAD files from one
system to another is legendary.) Second, version control very quickly gets very
complicated. Product designs, even late in the development cycle, are subject
to a great deal of change, and because manufacturing processes are involved,
even small product changes can have major consequences for getting a product
into production.
Electronic
forms are a technology that combines the familiarity of paper forms with the
power of storing information in digital form. Imagine an ordinary paper form, a
piece of paper with lines, boxes, check-off lists, and places for signatures.
To the user an electronic form is simply a digital analogue of such a paper
form, an image, which looks like a form but which appears on a computer screen
and is filled out via mouse, and keyboard. Behind the screen, however, lie
numerous functions that paper and pencil cannot provide. Those extra functions
come about because the data from electronic forms are captured in digital form,
thus allowing storage in data bases, automatic information routing, and
integration into other applications.
3.4. The future of electronic commerce
Many
people conclude that the impact of electronic commerce on our life will be as
much as, and possibly more than, that of the Industrial Revolution. The
Internet will get much more integrated into the average consumer’s life. People
will spend more time online, and the Internet will gradually just from the PC
to wireless devices and television.
Consumers
will be more experienced and comfortable using the Internet for transacting
commerce. Security, privacy protection, and trust will be much higher, and more
support services will simplify the transaction process. Legal issues will be
clarified, and more and more products and services will be online at reduced
prices. Electronic commerce is still a new frontier and the future of
electronic commerce is unlimited expect by the limitations of our imaginations.
Electronic
Commerce (or Electronic Business) is a phrase that means many things to many
people and agreement on a standard definition can be hard to find. It is fair
to say that the vast majority of traditional business transactions can be
readily adapted to electronic media.
On the other hand Electronic Commerce is open, spontaneous, and
relatively inexpensive to implement. It is scalable and flexible. Thus it has
become much more than an improved version of EDI. Because of the development of
the personal computer, networking technology, the growth of the Internet and
the development of HTML and the World Wide Web, a whole new set of capabilities
and services have evolved in the still very early days of the Digital Age.
Electronic Commerce includes, among other things, e-mail, customer service,
on-line research, and interactive consumer participation in business
transactions.
Electronic
commerce is an innovative force that will liberate industries and people from
the limitations placed by physical elements, time and space on traditional economic
activities.
4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE IN ESTONIAN
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS.
Automotive retailing and services (excluding fuel) in
the
4.1.2. Sector Structure Overview
The majority of the 13000 new car sales (2002) are sold
by car dealers, who operate 70 sales outlets.
The motor trade also retails around 15000 used cars
each year, to a total value of 2 billion EEK. Around 10% of used car units (but
a higher proportion in terms of value) are sold by dealers, the remainder
(mostly small) used car traders.
The Estonian after-market, covering routine
maintenance, mechanical and body repairs, parts and accessory sales, has an
estimated annual value of 750 million EEK. This is also spread across a large
number of mainly small businesses.
Also relevant to the car distribution sector – but not
always counted as directly part of it – are the several businesses providing
finance, insurance and other services.
4.1.3. Estonian Distribution Sector in International
Context
The car distribution sector in the
- A very large leasing sector – nearly 50% of new cars
are sold as leased cars.
- A large used car market – 9 out of 10
- In
- A higher population of new car dealers, for the size
of the market, compared with countries such as
4.1.4. New Car Distribution Infrastructure
There are over 40 major brands of new cars on sale in
Nominal dealer gross margins (the difference between
wholesale and recommended retail prices) have been steadily reduced in recent
years and are now typically 5-10%. Actual gross margins retained by dealers are
more like 5% after discounts but including manufacturers’ bonuses. Most
Estonian dealer new car sales departments (including finance commissions) make
a small loss after all relevant overheads are taken into account. Most Estonian
dealers therefore rely on used cars and after-sales to generate profits.
The independent after-sales sector in
Retention of service business by new car dealers
declines rapidly after the expiry of the standard warranty, which has extended
to 3 years for many makes.
Critical to the functioning of the after-market is the
supply chain for replacement parts. The complexity of part numbers, even for a
single car brand, means that repairers should aim to hold minimal stocks of all
except the most fast moving parts. New car dealers ordering parts on the
manufacturer are increasingly using daily (or more frequent) deliveries.
Independent parts wholesalers also hold a significant share of the market.
The accident and repair sector (body shops) is heavily
influenced by their dominant customers, the insurance companies. Here, speed of
repair approval is an additional factor in addition to parts supply and cost
control in a sector where margins are very tight.
Across
4.1.6. Smaller Dealers and Dealers Groups
The level of e-commerce readiness among the
smaller groups and smaller dealers is very low, even when it comes to B2C
activity. Only 70% of dealers have web sites. Dealers, considering their
traditional key role to be to sell within their territory (in which view they
have been encouraged by their manufacturers), have often seen the development
of e-commerce as an additional cost rather than a benefit.
4.1.7. Service and Spare-parts Companies
Due to its size spare parts sector in Estonian
automotive business is most significant. Electronic commerce readiness is at a
reasonable stage, with both wholesalers and independents looking at the implications
for both service and parts facilities, on B2B level.
No one dealer, including the larger groups, is
able to offer on-line service booking as yet: the back-office processes are not
in place to facilitate such an offering. Parts companies, however, are
successfully making the on-line transition. Parts on-line ordering, payment and
return procedures are commonplace to improve customer visibility and response
times.
4.2. The evaluation of Car Web Sites in
The increasing use of Internet, the media
channel with 300 000 users in
From technological point the possibilities of
marketing in Internet may be divided into 2 main channels: mailbox & web
pages.
The advertisements arriving into the mailboxes
(e-mails and news) are relatively modest compared to web marketing – which may
be the one that Estonian car-sellers consider Internet marketing. All main
Estonian car-sellers and car brands are presented in Internet.
Studied websites:
|
http://www.amservauto.ee/ |
|
|
http://www.ascar.ee/ |
Opel |
|
http://www.auto.ee/itaaliaauto/ |
Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia |
|
http://www.bmw.ee/ |
BMW |
|
http://www.chrysler.ee/ |
Chrysler |
|
http://www.daewoo.pleione.ee/ |
Daewoo |
|
http://www.esmaauto.ee/ |
Mazda |
|
http://www.ford.ee/ |
Ford |
|
http://www.helkama-auto.ee/mitsubishi/ |
Mitsubishi |
|
http://www.helkama-auto.ee/skoda/ |
Skoda |
|
http://www.honda.ee/ |
Honda |
|
http://www.hyundai.ee/ |
Hyundai |
|
http://www.japauto.ee/ |
Seat, Suzuki |
|
http://www.kia.ee/ |
KIA |
|
http://www.kommest.ee/ |
Peugeot |
|
http://www.lada.ee/ |
Lada |
|
http://www.mercedes-benz.ee/ |
Mercedes Benz |
|
http://www.nissan.ee/ |
Nissan |
|
http://www.renault.ee/ |
Renault |
|
http://www.revalauto.ee/ |
Audi |
|
http://www.saksa-auto.ee/ |
Volkswagen |
|
http://www.subaru.ee/ |
Subaru |
|
http://www.veho.ee/citroen/ |
Citroen |
|
http://www.vikingmotors.ee/jaguar/ |
Jaguar |
|
http://www.vikingmotors.ee/saab/ |
Saab |
|
http://www.volvo.ee/ |
Volvo |
As evaluating the Estonian car retailers we
used following criteria in 10-point scale (see table 1.)
XXX
Table 1:
Evaluation conclusions.
Design – what kind of artistic design is used?
Speed – the speed of connection and how fast is
web site for user.
Simplicity to use – how easy it is to find the
useful information, how logically the site is built (understandable).
Information – can the user find answer to every
question, that can arise during searching for information and car-buying
process (news, leasing opportunities, technical data etc.)
Dynamical solutions – if the web master has
used every possible mean of programming to make using the web page more
comfortable and interesting (for example price-calculator and views from
different angle).
Prices – are all useful prices brought out.
Promotion – how different means of marketing
are used (for example special offerings, bargains, campaigns, and best selling
arguments.
As our analysis show the biggest amount of car
retailers have built their web-pages whit quite cheap resources trying to fit
in too much information about company and prices of products.
Although most of the web pages are with quite
stylish design and with logical construction, are most of them difficult for
the ordinary users. One of the reasons may be that sometimes they are to slow,
the users has to wait too long for the useful information and pictures and they
may quit searching.
Sometimes Estonian web-masters do not know how
to most efficiently use the possibilities of making the site more dynamical and
more creative.
During the research we found more dynamical and
interesting solutions as:
Completing (putting together) the cars
according to the self-chosen engine, additional equipment, color etc.
By just one click optional color changes
Some web pages as retailers of xxx, xxx, xxx
and xxxx have used the possibilities of Internet
better than other. We liked the amount of dynamical solutions, informativeness, using of marketing opportunities. They
have brought out best offerings at the moment, additional values of new models,
best selling arguments. These web pages are also updated frequently
But sometimes the speed of displaying is too
slow. In general the pictures are too small and do not bring out the best
features and differences of different brands. It would be nice to see besides
outlook also photo from inside, different parts, from several viewpoints etc.
It will make the page more interesting attractive and gives the better picture
of the whole car. Now the costumer has to go to the shop to get right picture.
The pages of xxx, xxx and xxx were the worst,
these showed only the car prices, different engines and additional equipment.
These pages looked like the price-lists with pictures. And these pages were
done several years ago and not updated much since then. It seems that these
retailers do not think Internet as significant marketing tool
As we compare the result of our subjective
study with the top-10 list of Estonian car selling companies (see attachment 2)
we can see that there are not great differences. Only two brands were different
and did not fit in the two top 10-s.
Different strategies of retailers were seen also
from their web pages. These who are focusing on campaigns and promotion find to
use the same style in their homepages also. These, who want to stress their
image, put more attention to the design and attractiveness of their web pages.
List of Estonian most sold cars in 2002.
|
Peugeot |
|
|
|
Volkswagen |
|
Nissan |
|
Mazda |
|
Citroën |
|
Honda |
|
Lada |
|
Opel |
|
Ford |
|
Suzuki |
|
Hyundai |
|
Renault |
|
Mercedes-Benz |
|
Kia |
|
Volvo |
|
Seat |
|
BMW |
|
Chrysler |
|
Audi |
|
Fiat |
|
Skoda |
|
Mitsubishi |
|
Subaru |
|
Daewoo |
A survey of US e-shoppers intending to buy a car was
made in 2000 (Source: Friedman Swift Associates 2000). Its focus was to find
out what car buyers wanted on a dealer web site:
%
Price 92
Pictures of cars 75
Options available 79
On-line trade-in value calculation 60
On-line deposit 42
On-line credit application 44
MRSP/dealer invoice comparison 76
List of used cars in stock by model 64
List of new cars in stock by model 73
Inventory 79
Financing pre-qualification 46
Extended warranty 59
Another major finding from the study concerned dealer
response times to customer enquiries:
Acceptable Response (%) Experienced Response (%)
Less than 1 hour 13 9
Less than 6 hours 17 16
Less than 1 day 52 31
Less than 2 days 12 12
Over 2 days 6 14
Never 0 19
4.3. The evaluation of B2B Sites in Estonian
automotive business
The development
of B2B sites in Estonian automotive business can be explained by three main
targets; cut transaction costs, improve efficiency, and expand trading
horizons. Examples of automotive business in the B2B e-commerce are described in the following table. The features
describe what has been observed by browsing through the websites.
Table: 1 Automotive Companies using B2B web sites
|
Automotive
Companies using B2B e-commerce |
||||||||
|
Company and web site |
Features |
|||||||
|
Online stock situation |
Resellers net price |
Information about other stocks |
Transport options |
Login password |
Optional products offering |
Online ordering |
Ordering history |
|
|
XXX |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
XXX |
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
|
XXX |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
XXXX |
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
X |
|
XXX |
X |
|
|
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
XXX |
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
|
XXX |
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
|
XXX |
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
|
XXX |
X |
|
|
|
X |
|
||
|
XXX |
Opening his new site |
|||||||
|
XXX |
Site closed due the change of owner |
|||||||
These web
sites are having significant impact on business-to-business operations because
they provide a more-efficient and cost-effective means of conducting trade.
These sites automate and streamline multiple steps of the buying process. For example,
buyers can save significant time and money on simplified product searches
through content-rich online catalogues. Automated transactions save on
communication and people costs, and result in fewer ordering errors not
surprisingly, however, these and other benefits are fast becoming mere
prerequisites for competition.
Another
factor underlies the escalating importance of B2B sites - the economy-wide
shift toward competition among commerce chains. Commerce chains (integrated
networks of companies that collectively bring products and services to market)
are replacing individual companies as the optimal unit of competition.
The most
successful B2B sites are expanding their capabilities from the ability to make
transactions and support to encompass a myriad of value-added services.
Companies
also must assemble and integrate the optimal mix of value-added services. This
mix should be defined by what is most compelling to buyers and sellers, based
on industry-specific or product-specific factors: content, community, logistics
support, and credit all assume different levels of criticality in different
verticals. The value and valuation of B2B sites will be set by the breadth,
relevance, and seamless integration of their services.
Whether
participating in, building, or buying a B2B web site, companies must remember
that technology is actually the easy part. Disciplined yet creative business
planning will be required to select and leverage internet market opportunities,
and as B2B sites continue to evolve, they will change the nature of
competition, challenge the boundaries of individual companies, and redefine the
rules of business-to-business commerce.
4.4. The analyze of web-stores in
Web-stores allow people to seek and purchase cars or
car spare parts through specific web sites.
B2C electronic commerce is more about retail activity
on the web where activities such as online shopping are common. In order to be
more competitive against the increasingly popular B2B sites, B2C sites must
take big step to become also so popular.
There are only two companies in
But even they do not have proper online catalogue or
any price visible in their page.
They do not offer also other features such as online
ordering or payment transactions.
These types of sites do not sell directly to
the consumer; they are just additional promotion for their outlet.
Also some regular shops are having query form
in their web sites
http://www.XXX.ee
http://www.XXX.ee
but turnover via these sites are not worth to
mention.
Electronic
commerce on the Internet offers tremendous market potential for today’s
businesses in business-to-customer transactions. It is mostly customer-oriented
because companies want to satisfy customer needs. Although most of the
attention and activity in e-commerce on the Internet has been in
business-to-business transactions, but in the future an increasingly large part
of the market will involve business-to-customer transactions.
Business-to-consumer electronic commerce may
bring significant benefits to consumers and industry. Risks for conducting
transactions on the network remain. Technologies are being developed and tested
to improve the environment for transactions over the Internet. Technological
development is not sufficient, however.
Some companies observed that there are very few
success stories which can be used to demonstrate the benefits of this new
medium.
This view is affected the acceptance of
electronic business.
The actual rate of e-commerce adoption across
the sector can be described as slow to progressive. Most companies have not
made the giant leap into e-commerce, believing that the uncertainty in the
current market makes it difficult to make investments in technology and systems
which are outdated practically as soon as they are installed and rolled out.
Those companies which have decided to take a
lead have taken an evolutionary approach towards e-commerce adoption.
Instead, most parties have opted for incremental
change – building e-business systems which connect to existing legacy systems
such as Fast Text Protocol (FTP) and EDI. This has worked well to date with
much of e-commerce activity focusing on B2C initiatives.
Many companies are purposely opting to be
laggards as opposed to pioneers but, as the sector moves slowly towards
focusing on B2B closed for public systems and processes, the need to implement
the latest technology will become ever greater.
This chapter is intended to give a general technical and functional
overview of the online web store implemented as part of this work. Next chapter
deals with the architectural overview of the product.
5.1. Architecture of e-store infosystem
The
www.autoosad.ee e-commerce system is designed to provide affordable, flexible
and extensible e-commerce solutions for selling car spare parts via internet.
System uses Microsoft’s Active Server Pages (ASP) written using the VBScript
scripting language. The ASP scripts are hosted on Microsoft’ s Internet
Information Server (IIS) and the ASP scripting engine included with the Windows
NT/Windows 2000 Server platform. A Data Source Name (DSN) that can be
configured on the IIS web application server provides database connectivity via
Open Database Connectivity standards (ODBC).
User Interface and
navigation
http response http
request
Application Logic Administrative Interface
Database Payment
Module
Architecture of infosysteme
Database is a collection of information organized so that
computer program can quickly select desired pieces of data. Database can be
named as an electronic filing system.
Application
maintains persistent data in database tables, organized according to the
functional areas of the application. Next figures illustrate the database
schemas. The application uses this database schema to maintain user information
and track orders for products. Thus, there are three areas for which data must
be maintained: product, order information and user information.
The car
information, product information, product category information and transport
fees represent the business’s product catalog. Also each product has an
associated entry in the inventory table that represents availability for that
product.
In
administrative database the account table maintains customer information, one
record per customer, with information such as customer name, e-mail, phone
number, and customer address. Finally, there is an order and shopping chart
tables for information such as bill-to address, total price of the order and
transportation. The orders table is linked to counter and payers tables. Each
item in an order is stored in a separate record on order table, which contains
the quantity ordered and price and also there is indicated total transport
cost. Also there is separate database for storing queries information.
5.2. Web site design requirements
Site design is an important element for
consumer satisfaction. Design and simplicity of use can enhance or ruin the
experience of buying or browsing online.
Other issue
concerning design is download time: An appropriate
image is able to communicate a great deal of information to viewers in a few
seconds. Some companies have even incorporated sound, video, and animation into
their web sites to attract the attention of viewers. However, these elements
are also the primary obstacle to rapid Internet access. To achieve greater
download speed, some users turn off the graphic capability of their browser.
This unique option gives new challenges to marketers. First, consumers have an
unprecedented level of control over the style and content of marketing messages
presented on the page. Second, if consumers chose to view a Web page in its
entirety, they may encounter a seemingly endless wait. These two challenges
cannot be ignored while developing web sites for marketing purposes. What web
designers are striving to find out is the equilibrium of the number of graphic
and other peripheral information elements and the degree of annoyance of
waiting, which is highly qualitative rather than quantitative and influenced by
a large number of factors.
5.3. Functionality model
The
www.autoosad.ee e-commerce system provides the base functionality needed for a
successful e-commerce model as well as additional features
This
model represents every element that is needed to allow a customer to search and
view detailed information about a automotive products, add items to a virtual
shopping cart, make decisions about and payment type, have their order
processed and then receive confirmation, both visually and through email, that
their order was completed successfully.
Search for products
Costumer
can use the included search functionality of www.autoosad.ee to allow searching
for catalog items by category or simply browsing full list of products for his/her
car. A customer can also click on a link to get details about a particular
product (picture/manufacturers home page).
Add products to the Shopping Cart
As a
customer is shopping on a www.autoosad.ee web store, they can add products to
their virtual shopping cart along with a quantity they need. This data is
persisted in the www.autoosad.ee database so that when the customer is ready to
check out, the contents of their cart can be retrieved, totaled and presented
to them for payment options.
For identification of costumer system is using
cookies. Netscape 3.0
or Microsoft’s Net Explorer 3.0 has what is called a “cookie function”. This
function registers user. When user is shopping the cookie function stores
information about purchases.
Clear purchase process
Unlike
many other online shops, www.autoosad.ee purchasing process is very
straightforward. It consists of free steps, each clearly outlined and begins
once all the items have been placed in the shopping cart. The first step is for
the customer to select product from dynamic catalogue. During the second step
the customer have to add selected item to the shopping cart. In the third step
the customers identify themselves and chooses the payment method. Different
options are proposed, so that everybody can find a suitable. At any point it is
possible to change any information already entered what products are in the
shopping cart, and even cancel the order.
E-marketing
To the
system is included also option for sending promotional mail to all customers
contained within the web store’s customer database.
Eesti Post real time shipping rates
www.autoosad.ee
provides a server side calculation of shipping rates. All products have their
personal weight and total weight is also identified in shopping chart for
calculating actual transport cost directly to costumers
home or place he/she can choose from any part of
Inventory updating
www.autoosad.ee
automatically updates the inventory to reflect the available stock availability
from the suppliers.
The
system was tested for both functionality and performance. The functional
testing focused naturally on verifying the correctness of the system and that
it is constructed according to specification. The goal of the performance
testing was to verify the adequate throughput of the system and to identify the
possible bottlenecks and inefficiencies of the system.
6. www.autoosad.ee BUSINESS PLAN
As individual providing an innovative idea to enter
the electronic business industry, I propose to open a car spare parts business
called www.autoosad.ee. The purpose of this business plan is to work out proper
e-commerce solution and offer customers possibility to buy wide range of car
spare parts from Estonian internet environment and get in 3 years 0,5% market
share.
To gain a better understanding of business idea, there have included a
brief overview in the following segments: services provided, company, and
products.
The market analysis conducted here is based
primarily on secondary resources found through research. To better show the
results of this analysis, the information has been divided into the following
segments: Target Market, Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Promotion.
www.autoosad.ee will have high quality suppliers that will supply the
different types of car spare parts. Each supplier will be responsible for
supplying the requested amount needed, which will be arranged through the
logistic chain of www.autoosad.ee.
www.autoosad.ee will have specific products available from each of the
supplier.
The staff at www.autoosad.ee will mainly consist of, IT technician and
customer service person.
Being an e-business, the www.autoosad.ee website is the main contact
this business will have with its customers. The www.autoosad.ee site will be
visually attractive and present its products in an organized and easy to
navigate manner that makes it simple for customers to use.
www.autoosad.ee will offer its customers a
variety of high quality car spare parts at a low cost. The company will
specialize in:
Body parts
Car electric equipment
Brake parts, exhaust systems
Shock absorbers
Steering parts
Transmission parts
Engine parts
Fuel and air supply systems,
Batteries
Heating systems
Car accessories
6.2.
Our mission is to offer an exceptional service to both wholesalers and
consumers. This will allow wholesalers to obtain more revenue than by selling
to a traditional retailer. This will also allow consumers to purchase high
quality car spare parts at a lower cost with quicker delivery time.
www.autoosad.ee aims at providing a superior
service by offering a large attractive variety of high quality car spare parts
at a lower than retail cost. We intend to attract and keep new customers by
promising a prompt delivery of car spare parts, which will be made possible
through agreements made with wholesalers.
www.autoosad.ee will provide benefits for both its
customers and contracted wholesalers. Customers will be able to purchase
quality car spare parts from reputable manufacturers, at a lower cost than at
retail stores. The wholesalers will benefit because they will gain a new group
of targeted customers, which will increase their sales and revenues. They will
also receive more revenue per product than they would through retailers.
www.autoosad.ee is an e-business that offers
its customers a unique service. It is the first online car spare parts website
that provides a service of quick delivery to its prospective customers.
www.autoosad.ee is also unique in the aspect that customers can check current
inventory totals in a safe and protected manner. Our company is distinctive
from others because of the short, one to two day delivery time, which is
unmatched by other car spare parts stores.
To gain a better understanding of company, here is included a brief overview
in the following three segments: services provided, ownership, and location.
www.autoosad.ee will be providing a direct service to its customers. The
company will not own the car spare parts; instead the car spare parts offered
on our site will be contracted with the wholesalers to be featured on our site.
The wholesalers will store and retain ownership of the demanded products until
the time of purchase by the consumer. www.autoosad.ee will be responsible for
delivery.
6.6.2. Osaühing (Limited Liability Company).
www.autoosad.ee will be an osaühing (OÜ). This
was chosen due to www.autoosad.ee’s staffing
structure, current funding situation, and limited capital. It is needed also for getting domain name autoosad.ee
www.autoosad.ee will operate from virtual office at sales persons home.
The market analysis we conducted is based
primarily on secondary resources found through research. To better show the
results of this analysis, the information has been divided into the following
segments: Target Market, Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Promotion.
In 2002, there were approximately 300000 cars
owners in
The car spare parts business over the Internet
has possibility to grow rapidly. As sales boom, more e-businesses jump at the
opportunity to receive a portion of those revenues. These companies could be
seen as our competitors even they differ from our website in that our business
focuses on providing a service, rather than a product. www.autoosad.ee is a
service, which forms a marketplace for car spare parts that customers are
interested in buying.
Our focus on the prompt delivery and low priced
car spare parts makes our service extremely valuable and is our main competitive
advantage. Other companies that sell spare parts give a five to seven day
delivery time. With our real-time updates of availability of our goods, we can
guarantee an impressive one to two day delivery for every product found on our
website. Because of our unique relationship with our suppliers, we will be able
to offer everyday low prices for the consumers as well as increased revenue for
the suppliers.
In the first year of operation, www.autoosad.ee can not allow big
investments to advertising. But ww.autoosad.ee must
establish its name within the market and to promote the business to its
selected target market. As 80% of internet user will find their target pages
via search engines it will be also our main cannel.
Next years the advertising expenditures increase accordingly to our
turnover.
In the next years www.autoosad.ee will prove
to the contracted suppliers that the products will sell and that there is a
market for them. www.autoosad.ee will accomplish this through extensive
advertising in specific magazines and selected television programs.
www.autoosad.ee also realizes that there is a large market interested in the
car spare parts business. The car spare parts industry has approximate total
revenue of about 800 million, which is another reason to believe that these
products will sell.
Spending for advertising is one aspect that we cannot afford to
minimize. This promotion process is vital for the success of www.autoosad.ee.
www.autoosad.ee has allocated roughly 100000
EEK for Internet advertisement for the next year. This amount will be adjusted
in each following year according to the results of the previous year.
www.autoosad.ee will be located on all of the major search engines, and can be
found by typing in certain key words. www.autoosad.ee would most likely place
banners, or have links on related automotive sites. By browsing these sites use
will be able to click on the banner or link and visit www.autoosad.ee’s
homepage.
In the virtual
e-economy a powerful brand is essential. Something that a business plan is not
likely to acknowledge is the fact that a recognizable domain name
(www.autoosad.ee) can set the business apart from the competition. However, an
early domain name and trade mark registration is essential to build a solid
brand.
From a
branding perspective, domain names and trade marks serve a similar purpose:
providing a personal identity. A business plan that misses these nuances is a
short-sighted one as these issues are as key to the success of the company as
its operational activities.
www.autoosad.ee will have high quality
suppliers that will supply the different types of car spare parts. Each
supplier will be responsible for producing the requested amount needed, which
will be arranged through the sales person of www.autoosad.ee. The following are
the wholesalers www.autoosad.ee will also contract with:
Helvar Merca AS http://www.helvarmerca.ee
Arwidson Balti AS http://www.arwidson.ee
Balti Autoosade AS http://www.autoparts.ee
AS Balti Laager http://www.baltilaager.ee
AS Salome http://www.automaailm.ee
S.V. Ärigrupi OÜ http://www.lakiauto.ee/
HTS Auto AS http://www.aave.ee
AS Automeister http://www.automeister.ee
AS Rekrol http://www.rekrol.ee
Atoy Eesti AS http://www.atoy.ee
OÜ Remonde http://www.automarket.ee
The staff at www.autoosad.ee will mainly consist of free lanced IT
technician, and customer service associate. Listed below is a projected
breakdown of www.autoosad.ee's staffing for the first
three years.
In the first year, the founders will be
performing many tasks that do not relate to upper management. Founders will be
the managing partner and will be responsible for the overall running of the
business. Later www.autoosad.ee will hire one salesperson to help in logistics
works. One free lanced IT technical analyst will be hired to perform all
technical problems and updates. In order to assure that the company is starting
to structure the business correctly, a Human resource consulting firm will be
hired to help with the business. In addition, a book keeping will be outsourced
to deal with all legal issues when starting a new business.
The structure of the second year will rely on
the amount of revenue www.autoosad.ee will receive. If the amount is adequate
for expansion, the entire staffing structure will be re-constructed. Founders
will be appointed as managing director. The new departments may consist of
Human Resources, Sales, Technical, Marketing/Advertisement, and Finance. In
each of the departments, there will be a minimum of two employees. One of the
employees in each department will be as a sales assistant. They must also have
a focus in the department they are hired in. A department may have more than
two employees depending on the tasks that need to be accomplished.
In the third year www.autoosad.ee will hire a
managing director to assist in the running of the business. If there is a
substantial amount of expansion, new departments will be added to the business.
New experienced personnel will be hired to fulfill these positions. Additional
employees will be hired as needed.
Customer Service will be the only part-time position available at
www.autoosad.ee. One customer service person will be hired to answers phone
calls and any basic questions a customer might have. He/her will direct any
questions they cannot answer to the suppliers.
Since there are many different product groups, customer service must be
highly trained. www.autoosad.ee does not expect many complaints, due unique
database they have. With expansion of the business there will be new customer
service personnel as needed.
Being an e-business, the www.autoosad.ee website is the main contact
this business will have with its customers. The www.autoosad.ee site will be
visually attractive, present its products in an organized, and easy to navigate
manner that makes it simple for customers to use.
A webdesign firm will be outsourced to design
the website. It will be maintained by an IT technician.
The site will use a secure ordering system to ensure the privacy of the
customers. Payment will be made by use of major banks in
www.autoosad.ee will offer its customers a
variety of high quality car spare parts at a low cost. www.autoosad.ee will
specialize in all main car spare parts groups (see list upper).
One aspect that separates www.autoosad.ee from
its competitors is its delivery time. The products will be shipped to the
customers by Eesti Post within a one to two day
period. www.autoosad.ee will be able to provide this prompt delivery because
the products are already in one of supplier’s warehouse and ready to be shipped
upon ordering.
www.autoosad.ee will offer its customers a one year
guarantee. If for some reason the customer is unsatisfied with his or her
product, they may ship it back to the wholesaler at no cost. A new item will
then be sent to the respected customer within a one to two day period after the
wholesaler receives the returned goods.
Annual revenue will be gathered only through the sales of car spare
parts. This main total for revenue consists of the number of purchases multiplied
by the average price (projected at 234244 EEK) multiplied by commission (30
percent).
As there is contracts with suppliers where average payment term is 30
days from date of invoice and also there is made pre payment from costumer side
there and www.autoosad.ee is not
going to keep any stock in his location in first year it is very sure that www.autoosad.ee is not going to have any
loss. Based on exceptions www.autoosad.ee will realistically obtain 234244 EEK
in revenue the first year alone. Depending upon how quick success comes for the
company, our revenues can vary very widely. For further pessimistic and
optimistic revenue views for the first four years see budget tables.
The second year revenue will be based on an increase of units is sold.
It may be sold approximately two times more than first year. Given these
approximations, www.autoosad.ee will acquire about 316230 in revenue, which is
an increase in revenue of 26 percent.
By the third year, name www.autoosad.ee will be widely known and it will
have more suppliers (also manufacturers) to contract through. In this year www.autoosad.ee
will achieve revenue of around 426910. This projects an increase in revenue
growth of 26 percent.
By the fourth year, name www.autoosad.ee will be widely known and it
will have more suppliers (also manufacturers) to contract through. In this year
www.autoosad.ee will achieve revenue of around 576329. This projects an
increase in revenue growth of 26 percent.
Business plan will predict
following sales for first year (in EEK)
and in figures
|
Month |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
|
Monthly sales |
35000 |
40250 |
46288 |
53231 |
61215 |
70398 |
80957 |
93101 |
107066 |
123126 |
141595 |
162834 |
As we can see, sales will rise monthly
about 13%
Predicted sales for next 4 years are:
|
Year |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Year Sales |
1015058 |
1370329 |
1849944 |
2497424 |
In every year sales will rise approximately 26%
All sales prognosis are made in basis of following data:
Number of internet connections will rise about 20% annually
GDP will grow about 5% annually
Car spare parts sale will rise about 7% annually
6.17.3. Projected First-Year Budget for www.autoosad.ee
Start-up Costs (in Estonian kroons)
|
Furniture/appliances (desks,
tables, misc.) |
10000 |
|
Installations (for utilities, computers, etc.) |
2000 |
|
Equipment (printer, copier,
scanner/fax, etc.) |
10000 |
|
Web Site: Designer |
15000 |
|
Legal: Negotiation, Contract, Misc. Costs |
5000 |
|
Misc. Start-Up Costs: (search engine, etc.) |
10000 |
|
|
|
|
Total Start-Up Costs: |
52000 |
On-going Costs:
(monthly)
|
|
|
|
Year1 |
Year 2 |
|
|
Computer leasing |
|
500 |
|
|
|
|
Copy machine and printer |
|
300 |
|
|
|
|
Server rent |
|
200 |
|
|
|
|
Utilities, Phone |
|
2000 |
|
|
|
|
Internet connection |
|
500 |
|
|
|
|
|
total |
3500 |
42000 |
|
|
|
Salaries: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sales person |
|
|
|
172800 |
|
|
IT specialist |
|
6000 |
72000 |
72000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
244800 |
total |
|
Advertising: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Web |
|
4500 |
54000 |
|
|
|
Magazines |
|
2000 |
24000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
78000 |
total |
|
|
Transport expenses |
|
1500 |
18000 |
|
|
|
Legal expenses: |
|
500 |
6000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total On-going Costs (Monthly): |
|
18000 |
|
|
|
|
|
(Yearly): |
216000 |
|
|
|
First-Year Revenue
|
Sales: Commission (30% of purchases) |
234 244 |
|
Total Revenue: |
234 244 |
|
Total On-going Costs: |
216 000 |
|
Total Start-Up Costs: +
|
52 000 |
|
Total First-Year Costs: |
268 000 |
|
First-Year Loss: |
-33 756 |
Projected Future Budget for www.autoosad.ee
|
|
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
|
Costs: |
|
|
|
|
|
Utilities: |
42000 |
46200 |
50820 |
55902 |
|
Salaries: |
72000 |
244800 |
269280 |
296208 |
|
Advertisement: |
78000 |
93600 |
112320 |
134784 |
|
Transport expenses |
18000 |
21600 |
25920 |
31104 |
|
Legal Expenses: |
6000 |
6500 |
7000 |
7500 |
|
Start-up costs: |
52000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Total Costs: |
268000 |
412700 |
465340 |
525498 |
|
Increase in Costs: |
|
35% |
11% |
11% |
|
|
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
|
Revenues: |
|
|
|
|
|
Sales |
1015058 |
1370329 |
1849944 |
2497424 |
|
Commission (30%) |
234244 |
316230 |
426910 |
576329 |
|
Increase in Rev: |
|
26% |
26% |
26% |
|
Net Profit/Loss: |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
|
Total Revenue: |
234244 |
316230 |
426910 |
576329 |
|
Start-up Costs: |
52000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
On-going Expenses: |
216000 |
412700 |
465340 |
525498 |
|
Net Loss: |
-33756 |
-96470 |
-38430 |
50831 |
|
Decrease in Losses: |
|
-65% |
60% |
Making profit |
www.autoosad.ee will provide its customers with high quality car spare
parts at a low price, and in a short amount of time. This service provides an exclusive
competitive advantage that is needed in this market. This business plan has
outlined the goals of www.autoosad.ee, as well as its organization, staffing,
growth potential, and financial feasibility. The primary obstacle to starting
www.autoosad.ee is the capital needed for the start-up expenses and
advertising.
The aim of this study was to investigate the situation and trends of the
Estonian automotive Web site market.
And main purpose was to implement proper electronic solution for the
industry together with the business plan.
This work is divided in four main sections.
First, the
Electronic Commerce definitions are analyzed and classified, to arrive to the
final definition allowing to see the real value of the Electronic Commerce. Overview
of business-to-business, business-to-consumer Electronic Commerce and the
traditional value chain is given. Main conclusion was that Electronic commerce
is an innovative force that will liberate industries and people from the
limitations placed by physical elements, time and space on traditional economic
activities.
After that short overview of the situation in Estonian automotive market
is given, in order to show how different sectors are developed and how the Estonian
situation compares to that of other developed countries. In this chapter there
is also examined the future of Electronic Commerce. Main conclusions of this
section is that most of the attention and activity in e-commerce on the
Internet has been in business-to-business transactions, but in the future an
increasingly large part of the market will involve business-to-customer
transactions.
The third chapter as the main goal of the study is implementation of
virtual store solution with use of theory presented in previous sections.
Actual electronic store solution is shown in practice. This chapter is intended
to give a general technical and functional overview of the online web store
implemented as part of this work. This chapter also deals with the architectural
overview of the product.
The fourth chapter is the www.autoosad.ee
Business Plan.
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