HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

E-COMMERCE MIDTERM ASSIGNMENT:

PUT IT IN

LECTURER: PHAM THI MONG LANH

GROUP MEMBERS:

Nguyen Tien Bach 16DH491094 Tran Thuy Lieu 16DH491084

Tran Khanh Dung 16DH491264 Ly Uyen Na 16DH491076

Tang Thuy Han 16DH491077 Pham Thi Thuy Tien 16DH491270

Le Song Hoai Le 16DH491068 Pham Vo Thi My Thu 16DH491041

NOVEMBER 2019
Table of content

I. THE FEATURES YOU WOULD PROPOSE TO INCORPORATE IN THE

WEBSITE AND HOW THESE FEATURES CAN BENEFIT THE BUSINESS ........... 2

II. HOW THE E-COMMERCE CAN BE USED TO MARKET

THE PRODUCTS. .............................................................................................................. 13

III. THE IMPACT OF THE E-COMMERCE TO THE FIRM ..................................... 16

IV. CHALLENGES OUR COMPANY MUST CONSIDER AND

V. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 27

Page 1 of 27
I. THE FEATURES YOU WOULD PROPOSE TO INCORPORATE IN THE

WEBSITE AND HOW THESE FEATURES CAN BENEFIT THE BUSINESS

Sales website is considered as an online business stall, an online intermediary between

customers and businesses. The benefits that the website will brings to the company are not

small. An effective sales website not only helps the company reach more potential customers

and increase sales but also increases our market competitiveness and brand positioning.

However, to fully exploit the benefits of a website, we need to make sure that when creating,

the website will include all these following important features.

The first core feature is that the aesthetics of the website should be guaranteed. Aesthetics is

the leading factor that customers and partners see when accessing the website. The aesthetics

of a website is a crucial factor in determining whether it will attract the customers; inspire

them to continue surfing, discovering and staying on the website longer or not. Therefore, in

order for a website to be more perfect in the eyes of consumers, it must be highly aesthetic

and have eye-catching interface. Besides, the aesthetics of the store also show the

professionalism and respect of customers of the brand. Hence, we need to pay special attention

to this, especially for a company that is dealing in fashion items like us.

To improve the aesthetics while drafting the look of the website, you should focus on

the main factors such as:

Page 2 of 27
1. The main color of the website must match the color of the company logo to

increase brand awareness to the customers. According to statistics, 80% of

consumers believe that color improves brand awareness ("Thiết kế Logo: Màu

sắc nói lên điều gì về Thương hiệu của bạn?", 2017). Therefore, make sure that

one of the main colors of the logo in use will be the main color of the website,

the green color. This is the color that symbolizes nature and the environment,

which is also the core of the company's operation direction, producing eco-

friendly canvas bags.

Put It In logo

2. Photos and videos of the product need to be clear, high-resolution and optimized

for page loading. Customers who shop online often care a lot about the material

of a canvas bag and what it will look like when worn. Ensuring the images

posted on the website are of good quality and can be enlarged so that customers

can visualize and refer to the product more easily. Thereby it will also really

help solve customer anxiety, increase the rate they decide to buy the product as

well as increase the company's sales.

Page 3 of 27
 Good quality and can be enlarged image so that customers can visualize and

refer to the product more easily

3. When choosing a font for the entire website, we should choose a font that is not

too picky and annoying to read. Choose the basic fonts, font size large enough

to create a professional look and will increase the reputation of the brand.

The second important feature that a company should not neglect when creating a website is

its layout. Similar to products arrangement in store, the website layout arrangement needs to

ensure that customers will find the product they are looking for conveniently and quickly.

If visitors have to surf a website with a cluttered, unreasonable layout that makes users spend

a lot of time on searching and cumbersome activities at checkout, the rate that they will leave

the page to rival websites are very high and the opportunity to sell our products will be lost.

Therefore, the website should be designed with a simple, clear and convenient layout. An

effective website layout will be divided into 3 parts from top to bottom that are:

1. Header (header): Header usually includes logo, brand, menus.

Page 4 of 27
 2. Content (page content): The content of the page will be the largest part on the

website and will be the part where you convey all ideas and information about

goods to customers.

3. Footer (footer): At the bottom this will be the place where you put contact

information including "address, phone number, email, etc"

Besides, things to keep in mind when designing a website layout to create the best interaction

with users include:

1. Sliders are usually designed in the Header or the head of the content including

many images, videos in a frame with navigation buttons or automatic programming

to create different effects. Slider is very useful in attracting the attention of users

and keeping them on our website when slider has quality and eye-catching images,

videos. Normally, you can leave promotions, coupons to excite customers and get

them noticed.

Sliders with navigation buttons

Page 5 of 27
2. When designing a sales website, you need to pay attention to the shopping cart.

Shopping cart will help customers update the products that they have chosen to

buy and choose a reasonable payment method. Besides, the shopping cart also has

the role of storing the items that customers prefer but not purchased immediately,

this can help them easily buy it the next time without having to search for the item

again. The shopping cart is usually placed in the upper right corner of the header

and shows the number of items in the cart so that customers can see them easily.

Shopping cart with the number of items in the upper right corner of the header

3. Search box: A place to help customers find the fastest they need on our website

as quickly and conveniently as possible. Customers can search for keywords

related to the products they are looking for in this frame to find the best product

they want to buy without spending too much time. It can be said that this tool is

the key to whether your website works effectively or not.

Page 6 of 27
 Search box can help customer to find out what they need in the quickest way

The most striking feature is that content, which is the less part focused on designing a sales

website but it is a decisive factor for the long-term development of the website later. Some

notions show that “content is king”. Indeed, a website with clear and reasonable content will

make our company outperform other competitors in terms of search page position, which will

attract customers. Before the website is put into operation, business need to update the basic

content of the website such as product information, prices, product images,... or useful content

to advise users how to choose and to use it to suit your needs. Moreover, to ensure that our

company's website always attracts customers, it must be updated regularly and not stealing

ideas from other sites.

In addition, Put It In goal is to go global, especially

in Asia markets first such as Thailand, Singapore, and

South Korea, company’s website is able to integrate

using multiple languages so that customers can know

and find out information easily on it.

Page 7 of 27
After preparing the basic content of a website, there will be created based on it according to

the following modules:

1. Home

The homepage will usually include our business name, logo or slogan (if any) and some

of the most popular featured such as products, the new ones or promotions. This page

gives an overview of company's online store.

2. Product

Page 8 of 27
This page will provide details about the products that company sells or offers. Products

will be divided into specific categories in toolbar. This way makes it easy for you to

find the type of product that customers are looking for without having to click through

all the information on the website. Each product will include the name and price. When

customers click on each product, it will automatically lead to another page which

includes basic information such as color, material as well as detailed description of the

item. Besides, there will be more detailed picture of that product for customers to

choose.

Products will be divided into specific categories in toolbar

Page 9 of 27
3. Introduction

This page helps customers better understand the company as well as update the news

about related events and products. Content will include listing members of the

organization, partners or can add customer reviews to create trust. Sometimes our

company will write practical short articles as to why it is best to use company’s

products. Those articles will often highlight the company's mission to produce eco-

friendly fabric bags that will attract customers more interested in the canvas bag.

News about of us

Page 10 of 27
4. Contact

This is a simple page that includes our address, email, hotline phone number, hours of

work and links to other social networking accounts such as facebook, instagram. On

the other hand, customers can leave their contact information so that our company can

consult by phone as needed.

5. Instruction

This site will show the viewer about the shipping policies, delivery and payment

policies or the purchase and sale-related regimes. These guide help customers know

what to do when they shop online without relying on employees.

Page 11 of 27
Last but not least, the final feature to create a complete website is technical. Some researches

show that 76% customers prefer to use a simple or easier website than a complex one.

Moreover, according to a survey, transactions on mobile phone account for 50% of online

purchase. We should find out if our website is suitable for smartphones, tablets or not because

nowadays most consumers want to what they need faster then they use these devices to search

for products and services, not merely personal computer or laptop. On the other hand, some

website widgets can help increase the company's sales. For example, Put It In will create login

accounts for users, create shopping carts, add a search function and product classification in

accordance with user requirements, support online users with chat tool directly on the website.

This feature is the key to help the company not only have many customers but also create

customer loyalty.

Page 12 of 27
II. HOW THE E-COMMERCE CAN BE USED TO MARKET THE PRODUCTS.

1. Social media reveal our products to the world

We have conducted our E-commerce marketing plan through many different channels. We

opened page account on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr under the name

“PUTITIN”. The response of the internet platform quite quick and high. We consider social

media as an extremely powerful tool because we get the most response from them. It is also

the place we keep in touch with our customer. Each page has a distinguish role. For Facebook

we attract customer who keen on the content of the posts and Facebook is as well as the most

interactive platform we have.

Within one week of establishing the

PUTITIN page, we gained over 500

followers and reach many audiences and each post reaches more than one hundred of

Page 13 of 27
Facebook users. The most approaching post in our Facebook page have a pretty decent content

about daily life routine. Other platforms’ efficiency is performing fine but not as good as the

Facebook channel. Therefore, we use social media to make announcement about our products.

In the all the social media channels we let our followers know about available products and as

well as about the upcoming projects this act can attract online users. In Facebook they have a

tool helping us to analyze the interaction of the post, and then base on the statistic we will find

out which is the most attractive product in the market and pushing advertising. Our team try

our best to make the page look as vivid as possible we believe that is the one visual strategy

to keep the audience coming back for us. That is the reason why we only post pictures and

videos only. Other than that using them to engage with our customer with the mindset of

environmental orientated, letting them know how we concern about the habitat. Beside boing

business we can show how can we helpful for the environment state.

2. E-mail marketing keep customers in the circle

E-mail Marketing is another method we have used to market our product. We tried to collect

as much email from the purchasers as possible this means that we have a private channel for

the customer. Somehow, this action initially might be the first stage to build an ecosystem for

the firm and the consumers. Sending the email more frequently is going to be the future plan

we conduct to start off the approaching phase. It will be easier to launch something new when

we know which is the potential market. With E-mail marketing, low cost and saving time is

considered to be the priority act to do for the new project. Moreover, we are able to push

number of visitors for social media platforms by linking these address in the footer of the

Email. The display of the email is vital for the decision on whether they will open it or not, it

Page 14 of 27
just an adjustable factor, the consumer might have a thought of “they look nice, let give it a

try”.

Here are some scheduled design that our team have laid out:

Page 15 of 27
 III. THE IMPACT OF THE E-COMMERCE TO THE FIRM

1. Overview of the impact of the Ecommerce to business

In general, the major method in which E-commerce will be influence the economy, is its

impact on inflation and productivity. The continued development of electronic commerce can

also lead to falling pressure on inflation through increased cost savings, competition, and

changes in sellers’ pricing behavior.

Electronic commerce which is synonymous with electronic commerce and involves the

exchange of goods and services through electronic support is the role of E-commerce in

business. The number of electronic businesses has upswinged greatly since the Internet was

set up.

Today, in all aspects of our daily lives, the Internet has become an undivided part of our lives,

as it has a versatile impact on our social activities. Every day, going to the bank to make cash

transactions or withdraw money or go to the market to buy things and essential commodities

is now quite difficult since there is no time, the human being has become too busy in his work.

Therefore, on these circumstances, online purchases have become an increasingly integral part

of our society, exceeding $ 200 billion in sales only in 2010.

The Internet economy is flourishing. E-commerce sales are developing by leaps and bounds

at a rate from 20% to 25% every year, marking a far-reaching change in the paying out habits

of human buyer. Internet as an alternative of telephone directories or yellow pages for reviews

of convenience products and to get updated information for your search and requirements. A

Page 16 of 27
business owner plainly can not rely on an ad in the phone book, in fact, customers are 15 times

more possible to search the Internet than those who look in a phone book to call a company.

Each business is unsimilar in its aspect, even each business differs in promotion, style, and

volume, but the power demand is the identical for everybody, but nowadays; It is essential

that life in the Internet world be updated with regard to the business deal if you want to endure

competitive with the others.

2. The impact of the E-commerce to Put It In:

E-Commerce affects business positively and negatively. In this part, we will analyze business

to business (B2B) and Business to consumer (B2C) through Shopee - a distribution channel

distribution for us.

a. Business to Business

Page 17 of 27
Here are some shipping units that Shopee offers for my store. We can choose the one which

is right for us. Just stay home and wait for the shipper come and take goods. It is convenient

and easy.

The thing is we can not choose the other shipping units that do not include in requirement of

Shopee or do it by ourselves. We can not also decide the time to delivery and if there are any

mistakes, it is very hard to solve.

Page 18 of 27
Shopee makes it easy to manage our products: product status, shipping information, inventory

and so on. E-commerce makes it easier for our company to get a much wider audience at less

cost than would be desired if the traditional store was to be asked for. There is no need to get

costly store in high streets. We can make or store our goods at a remote midland place and

still promote and sell them.

Put It In can directly sell to customers without the need for an intermediary. With Shopee, We

are directly connected to our customers sans any middlemen.

Page 19 of 27
We can simply change the name of the shop or update new information without any cost.

b. Business to consumer (B2C)

Page 20 of 27
In the E-commerce world, there is no downtime. Put It In are open 24 x 7, 365 days of the

year, which means sales can happen at any time of the day. Traditionally, the store has to close

shop at the end of the day. This means shoppers were limited and had to finish their buy within

a specific time.

Nowadays, with the emergence of Shopee, shoppers can buy at any time convenient for them.

Maybe it is in the middle of the night or while laying on their couches over the weekend.

Customers can freely choose the product with the information provided. Moreover, they can

receive direct advice from employees through chat mailbox.

In conclusion, E-commerce has great impact to Put It In. E-commerce has quickly changed

the way in which Put It In operate. Whether B2C or B2B, there’s no running away of the

reaches of ecommerce. Nowadays, when person wants to shop for a particular goods or

service, the first thing he does is to look up its a Google search. The consumer does his

research. Therefore, one of the best ecommerce tips for Put It In is to “Adapt and Evolve.” Put

It In has to keep on developing, recommending new technologies and other facilities to pursue

customers.

Page 21 of 27
IV. CHALLENGES OUR COMPANY MUST CONSIDER AND MAY FACE WHEN

RUNNING E-COMERNE APPROACHES

1. Competitive pressure on prices on e-commerce

Price is always known to be a powerful weapon that salespeople use to compete with rivals in

the e-commerce battle. Because reputable e-commerce sites prioritize promoting products

with the best prices to consumers, meaning that if our products have the best prices, they will

appear before similar products. But the stalls update their products constantly, so it will be

difficult for us to control and change the price to be the most competitive in the market. That

makes us lose significant customer traffic because we do not catch when our competitors raise

and lower prices. And of course, reduced traffic means that sales will decrease.

Moreover, Customers sometimes do not just shop on a single e-commerce page. They often

buy products with prices they find more beneficial by comparing prices with different stores,

they will find the lower-cost product choice saves them some money.Therefore, the price

competition of the same type of product between different e-commerce platforms is also a

reason why our products are at risk of "disgrace" in the hearts of consumers.

Another price pressure that we have to bear is from foreign enterprises, especially from China

participating in Vietnamese e-commerce platform. From 2018, the wave of Chinese

corporations' investment in e-commerce platforms in Vietnam is changing many aspects of

the market.

Usually canvas bags from China have lower prices than products that PUT IT IN is trading in.

That is one of the major challenges we face when trading on e-commerce platforms. In

Page 22 of 27
addition, Chinese goods and Chinese saellers are facilitated to penetrate the Vietnamese

market through e-commerce.

In addition, Chinese goods and Chinese sellers are facilitated to enter the Vietnamese market

through e-commerce. On the major e-commerce platforms we are currently trading in, Tiki,

Shoppe and Lazada all receive large investments from China. therefore, on these e-commerce

screens are creating a new niche, "buying from abroad", in particular China.

Therefore, the penetration of Chinese enterprises brings great competition to businesses like

us. Compared to the source of goods, price, variety of types and models, it is difficult for PUT

IT IN to compete. On the other hand, our business on e-commerce flatform is both competing

with other domestic enterprises and competing with enterprises from China, increasing

competition pressure. This leads to a reduction in sales and profits

2. Business development depends on e-commerce

E-commerce platform have their own policies and regulations for sellers on the floor. It is

imperative that the seller comply with these policies in order to facilitate business.

Sales persons must wait for the censorship the product for 24 - 48 hours or longer before

displaying the product on the flatform. That is not to mention that e-commerce flatform often

purifies products, censoring many times makes products hidden, deleted unexpectedly even

though it has been censored before, including best-selling products.

In addition, the operating model and order fulfillment policies of e-commerce platforms often

do not create conditions for businesses to expand their business.

Page 23 of 27
It is very difficult for sellers to sell multi-channel through the flatform due to the fierce

competition among e-commerce exchanges. There is almost no connection between the

exchanges, so the seller is unable to expand the user base, and can not exploit more users of

other exchanges, except creating a separate space on other e-commerce platforms. However,

this is required to rebuild its reputation from scratch on another e-commerce platform. It is a

great challenge for us to build trust with customers on each e-commerce platform

3. Difficult to manage customer data

When selling on an e-commerce platform, it is very difficult for us to capture and manage our

existing and potential customers. The information (including email, phone number, ...) of the

customer is usually not disclosed to the seller, the exchange and advice between the seller and

the buyer are required through the chat frame of the flatform. As a result, it is difficult for us

to analyze characteristics, behavior and not manage customer data to run ads that encourage

repeat purchases.

For multi-channel sales, we need a centralized warehouse management system in real time

with all sales channels and order processing in strict compliance with the marketplace

commitments. So our current challenge is the need for the support of multi-channel sales

support services such as multi-channel management systems, multi-channel logistics, which

requires a considerable amount of money for with small businesses like PUT IT IN.

4. Return and refund policy

Management who runs an ecommerce website for small business can be overwhelming and

occupied. From packaging, to delivering or managing the inventory, all has to be accurate and

Page 24 of 27
careful. For some retailers, they also have return and refund policy which allows customer to

change or take their previous purchased item back to retailers with a full refund. In another

word, this policy helps seller to gain trust from buyers. According to Michael-Jon Lazar (July

17, 2018), there are more than 60% of customer who check for return and refund policy of a

company before they starting to purchase. 71% said the greater their return experience, the

more likely they will come back for future purchase. This policy helps customer to shop

confidently and feel more secure about the company.

Some companies have strict return and refund policy due to the rising of consumer return

rates. However, strict policy can create a negative impact on some loyalty customer. It is

always better to be flexible with this type of policy, especially when it comes to customer who

has stick around with the company for a long time. For example, our company Put It In

specializes in canvas bag that comes with a variety of sizes and shapes. We would happily

return the product to customer if the reason for return is because of wrong delivery, or any

defected products. To loyalty customer who has purchase the item for a long amount of time,

we would also help them to get full refund if the product they received is not what they wanted.

Again, these type of flexibility only available for loyalty customer, in addition to make them

feel comfortable with their next purchase. On the other hand, it is easier to keep customer we

already to have, than to find new customer.

Return and refund policy can be a problem if the customer who would like a refund does not

live in the same city as the retailer, or in a different scenario, they live in a different country.

Of course, our company has a policy of providing return product will a full refund, but this

only apply for customers who are living in the same city or the same area with the company.

Page 25 of 27
The reason for this is because it can raise some concern about product delivery back and forth,

money transfer can also be a problem as well. To solve this problem, we have a policy of no

return and refund policy offered for customer living far away, but we always encourage

checking their product before accepting it. Although, we do take responsibility if the product

deliver is not as describe or false delivery by providing the correct goods.

Page 26 of 27
V. REFERENCES

Robert, J. (2015). The 4 trickiest E-Commerce return challenges – and how to solve them.

Retrieved from https://discover.getsidecar.com/4-trickiest-ecommerce-returns-

challenges/

Lazar M,J. (2018, July 17). Consumer Return Report. Retrieved from

http://info.optoro.com/consumer-returns-report

Big Web (2016): Những lưu ý để thiết kế website bán hàng hiệu quả. Retrieved from

https://bigweb.com.vn/nhung-luu-y-de-thiet-ke-website-ban-hang-hieu-qua-a398.html

Tam Nguyen Media: Những tiêu chí quan trọng của một website bán hàng hoàn hảo.

Retrieved from https://tamnguyen.com.vn/nhung-tieu-chi-quan-trong-cua-mot-

website-ban-hang-hoan hao.html?

Thiết kế Logo: Màu sắc nói lên điều gì về Thương hiệu của bạn?. (2017). Retrieved from

https://beau.vn/vi/goc-nhin/thiet-ke-logo-mau-sac-noi-len-dieu-gi-ve-thuong-hieu-

cua-ban

Page 27 of 27