The assignment on opportunities and problems of social electronic commerce has been quite effective and useful to enrich my learning experience. It provides efficient knowledge about the concept of social electronic commerce and also the evolution of the concept from the traditional business processes of selling and buying goods. Globalization has led to the buying and selling of products and services to different parts of the world. This trading on an international scale has made the traditional approach of building physical stores to perform business transactions have become less popular and growth in the social electronic commerce businesses. This learning has helped me to gain insight of the ways in which the implementation of social e-commerce can help in leveraging the growth and profitability of the businesses. The learning experience is immensely useful as I can implement the ideas into business and ensure high profitability on account of easiness of performing trade overseas with the help of social e-commerce platforms. The learning experience is quite effective as I would be able to apply the gathered knowledge in by MBA career course as well as implement or make use of e-commerce platforms in my business. I have realized that the learning experience of the concept of social e-commerce is effective as well as useful for future prospective.
2. define how this learning process will be helpful to you
The process of learning about the major advantages and disadvantages of social e-commerce would be highly useful for my career growth as well as help me to start up a business and ensure its profitability by making the use of social e-commerce trading platforms. As I am a student of master’s in business administration, learning to research on businesses is of immense use to upgrade knowledge to score good marks in the semesters. This learning process would also help me to identify the risks which are associated with the implementation of social e-commerce techniques and mitigate those risks to ensure the growth and profitability of the business. The learning process would help me to attract more and more customers towards the products of my company in the future due to the easiness of buying of products online which would help in increasing the rate of sales of the products efficiently. The learning process can be helpful to conduct more and more research in the future more efficiently. The flaws that have been done while researching on this topic would be mitigated while I conduct the next research and it would be more effective and efficient.
3. explain objectively what happened in the learning process
It was a lengthy and time consuming learning process. The major part of the business research assignment was to gather large amount of data by the analysis of various kinds of information. I have researched various journals, articles, research studies and other online information sources to collect authentic and reliable data or information on the advantages and disadvantages of social electronic commerce. It has provided me an in-depth knowledge about the secondary research methods and the ways in which data can be collected precisely. While conducting the research I was able to understand that the research were required to be conducted following specific steps one after the other to ensure that appropriate results are obtained. The reading materials depicted the opinions of various scholars and researchers about the usefulness and the threats imposed by the social electronic commerce. Some of the researchers mentioned that using social e-commerce was efficiently necessary to compete in the changing and changing modern global environment. On the other hand others depicted that though it has various benefits, there were major drawbacks too. Hence, from this learning process I found that different individuals had different perceptions about the topic of discussion. Hence, a number of articles were reviewed to ensure that the information collected is true in nature. During the learning process I read that it is the quickest and easiest way to expand a business efficiently. These platforms have led to attract the local customers as well as the international customers easily. The hassle free purchasing and selling of products and services through online e-commerce platforms helped in increased rate of sales of the products and services of the companies (Turban et. al, 2015). It significantly offers a wide range of options to the customers to choose the products which suit them the most. From the articles I have also learnt that the information about the products and services of the companies are displayed efficiently on the e-commerce websites which increases the level of satisfaction of the customers immensely. However, the reading materials also depicts that the level of competition among the various brands are increased to great extent and there is a need to adopt effective business strategies to sustain in the highly competitive market (Niranjanamurthy et. al, 2013). The major drawback which I have realized on reading the learning materials was that making people aware of the availability of privacy and security policies which prevents the occurrence of forgery or threats during online transactions. Majority of the old people are unable to trust online activities and hence those customers cannot be attracted through e-commerce activities, which compel the companies to develop physical stores as well in line with trading online (Nanehkaran, 2013). The reviews ad feedbacks on the e-commerce platforms can be a threat to the companies which is a major disadvantage to e-commerce. A negative feedback on the e-commerce websites regarding the products or services of the company can adversely affect the reputation of the business as well as hamper the rate of sales of the products and services of the company. I have also observed through the journal articles and research studies that majority of the researchers have highlighted the fact of unauthorized or fake personnel (of the competitors) providing fake review on the e-commerce platforms. This reduces the rate of sales of the products and service of the company as well as the brand image is adversely impacted though the company provides good quality of products or services to their customers (Hajli, 2015).
4. Evaluate what you learn
According to my opinion the usage of e-commerce is not only helpful for the company to reach local, international and national customers easily but also helps in leveraging the rate of sales of the products and services of the company thereby increasing growth and profitability of the company. I have observed the management of the companies are required to ensure that they adopt efficient business tactics and strategies to overcome the threats imposed by trading through e-commerce platforms. As and when the risks are mitigated the companies would be ready to grab the immense opportunities of profitability and growth offered by the e-commerce platforms. Through the observations I have realized that there is a need to make the people aware of the easiness and convenience to buy products from via e-commerce platforms. It would help in attracting more and more customers including those who are afraid of purchasing online products or services.
5. Explain your learning process
While researching on the business research topic I had a feeling that it is the duty of companies to attract the customers who are afraid of purchasing online products. This means that the companies are required to offer special discounts and offers to different categories of people according to their alignment towards online purchases. From the research on the business topic I can conclude that depending on just one source of information increases the tendency of unreliable and unjustified statements. A reference to number of articles or other online sources can help in increasing the justification of statements or information that is gathered. I have also learnt that conduction of primary research like interacting with the business professionals who have already implemented e-commerce and are likely facing the advantages as well as drawbacks of e-commerce.
6. Explain Plan how this learning you will be applying
The most important thing that I have learnt through this learning process is the way of conducting research efficiently. I have gathered knowledge about researching on a topic before implementing the idea. The knowledge about the benefits and drawbacks of the social electronic commerce would help me to take part and sell the products of the company through e–commerce to ensure that a large number of potential customers across the globe can be attracted towards the products of the company. I would also align towards applying this idea of e-commerce to ensure that the customers are attracted within a short span of time. Hence, I can realize that the implementation of this knowledge about the opportunities and threats of e-commerce can help me to implement e-commerce for my business in an efficient manner and grab the opportunities as much as possible and combat the risks.
References
Nanehkaran, Y.A., 2013. An Introduction to electronic commerce. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 2(4), pp.190-193.
