Assignment scenario

You are an e-commerce consultant who has been approached by a local book publishing business known as “The Book Emporium”. They are a small organisation whose primary business goals revolve around identifying good quality authors who write books that are in the realm of science fiction and fantasy.

The book emporium is struggling in the economic downturn and they intend to diversify as a business into online publishing offering as a minimum the following services:

• Book editing
• Online book publishing
• Standard cover design
• Bespoke cover design
• Online marketing
• Retail Sales

There are quite a few services provided by The Book Emporium, therefore your number one objective is to help the organisation in developing a satisfactory pricing strategy, revenue model and business model.

You will have to spend some time giving consideration to the best publishing platform in addition to your website. Your website will not be enough when selling the books. It is important to note, you are a publisher and a retailer. Selling your books on your website will not be enough, consider where else can you sell your books.

As a publisher think about how you will sell your services. You will need to think about how the services can be packaged together for efficiency and ease of use and you will need to define your pricing strategy for the different packages that you come up with.

To help you develop a pricing strategy consider the following:

• the current offline pricing strategy is based on a flat rate 30% fee on all books sold; this covers marketing, publishing and standard cover design.
• The book emporium feels that this pricing strategy may be unsustainable for the online environment.
• There are upfront fees, revenue is collected on books sold.
• Bespoke cover design is outsourced out to freelance designers, which can be expensive.
• Book editing as a service is also provided but this is an additional 5% surcharge on each book sold.

You must remember that the Book Emporium has zero experience of the online environment with their skill set primarily anchored in the offline environment.

Assignment Task

Your job therefore is to develop an online business case of 3,000 words for the Book Emporium with a website output. Your assignment should have covered the following areas:

1) Clear Understanding and explanation of the online book publishing business environment illustrated by analysis such as PESTLE, SWOT or Porters five forces to highlight business areas of growth and efficiency. In addition to this you will need to justify your decision making on the chosen publishing platform, market size, cost etc. You will be expected to critically compare and contrast multiple  platforms and define the best one for the business.
2) Clear analysis of expected e-business improvements to the business. Focus on profitability and efficiency based on business model generation. As part of this you will need to develop a pricing strategy and revenue model underpinned by a clear Business model. Use the Business model Canvas to help you define your ideas in this section.
3) Construct a fully functioning HTML e-commerce website using a development tool such as Dreamweaver. You will be expected to define a suitable URL with consideration given to infrastructure. Your website should contain at least 7 pages of your choosing and should encompass in detail all the aspects discussed in your report.
4) Critically analyse and discuss how you will take payment for products sold through the website. Outline different payment packages, In addition to this you will need to define the advantages and risks involved in undertaking the changes for the business, with particular attention to security issues.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge, Understanding and ability outcomes

On completion of the module the student will:

4. Critically assess the e-business environment that will contribute to the success of electronic commerce implementation.
6. Understand, analyse and implement current business modelling techniques within a online context.
7. Demonstrate efficient implementation and effective improvement mechanisms that allow online business growth through the use of e-commerce and associated technologies.
8. Explore current technological innovation and advise on its implementation within an e-commerce environment
9. Practice implementing e-commerce solutions through the use of web based software technology

Extra Note

To pass students should show an ability to analyse a business using the strategic models available for that purpose. They should be able to identify potential improvements to the business and show understanding of how E-Commerce and E-Business can be used to
assist in these improvements. The report should be properly referenced.

To obtain a high mark the student should use the models in an incisive way to highlight the key features of the business and to draw out ways of improving competitiveness or effectiveness. The results of this will be analysed to see how E-Commerce can act as a means to attain these improvements, taking into account risks. The analysis will be related to the processes of the business as a whole and will be academically supported and well referenced.

This assignment report will be submitted via TurnitinUK. Your website URL will need to be displayed on the contents page. In addition please remember to stay within the 3000 word limit, your line spacing should be 1.5 and you should use the Arial Font. Any assignments
that go over this limit will be penalised.