The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has one of the best environments in the world for having an e-commerce business (PYMNTS 2013). This fact is explained mostly by the popularity of the Internet among the citizens and the variety of products and services that can be bought there (Northwestern University in Quatar n.d.). The country lives by the Sharia laws, which predicates most of the ways of how people live and do business. For instance, women cannot drive cars or walk in public without male representatives, which belong to their families (Greenwood 2015). Such rule opens up many possibilities for offering products to the female audience that can be bought online (Middle East/Africa Hub 2014).
The type of e-commerce business that will be covered in this paper deals with selling women’s fashion bags and accessorizes. The Internet platform will contain positions of items that represent some of the most popular models from European and American companies, as well as local brands. Services will include pre-orders and delivery, as well as a wide option of payment methods. The business statement includes the idea that such services are important in the community where females do not have many opportunities to spend time on things like offline shopping, yet they strive to be fashionable and beautiful like many other people in the world. The company’s vision is based on the idea of a community that devotes time to follow the latest trends and be an equal member of a fashion society while adapting these steps to the local traditions. To achieve this perception, several objectives must be reached. They include increasing the number of women who can make online purchases, reducing delivery time, and providing flexible payment options that would allow customers to be more secure about the operations. One of the main goals is to offer some of the most variable choice of products that cannot be found offline in one place.
Business Processes
The first step of the user experience is to visit the website and look through the offered products. If an item is chosen to be purchased, it is transferred to the virtual shopping cart, where a customer may determine the size, color, and other factors. Payment is done either at the point of ordering or after the arrival of a product. All ordered items are packed at the warehouse facility and sent to the delivery point. Finally, a package is delivered by a courier to the customer’s address. Warehouses should provide an up-to-date information about the number of products they have.
SWOT Analysis
The main strength of this business is the possibility to offer different payment methods. Apart from PayPal, other systems can be used that are not offered by the most famous European brands (Wamda 2012). However, customers may return items if they do not match what they imagined, which can result in low revenues and high operation costs. Women in Saudi Arabia are very interested in Western fashion, which represents the main opportunity for this business (Gorney 2016). Finally, there is a threat of the current economic recession and the decrease of oil prices that are the primary income factor in Saudi Arabia.
Website
The website should be both informative and user-friendly. All information must be understood intuitively. The first page should feature the most popular items, new arrivals, and sales. Division between products is going to be according to their brand featured on the left side of the webpage. Another important feature of the website should be the contact form. The platform must incorporate the feedback menu and the option to contact a company representative online regarding the matters of delivery or item description. Finally, the feedback page is very important since many customers would like to know the real experience of other people who have used this service.
Reference List
Gorney, C 2016, The changing face of Saudi women, National Geographic, Web.
Greenwood, G 2015, Five things that Saudi Arabian women still cannot do, The Independent, Web.
Middle East/Africa Hub 2014, Online shopping on the rise in Saudi Arabia: MasterCard Survey, Web.
Northwestern University in Quatar n. d., Percentage of people use the internet for the following purposes at least once a day, Web.
PYMNTS 2013, Will Saudi Arabia become the next big e-commerce market?, Web.
Wamda 2012. Demystifying e-commerce: Payment getaways in the Arab world (Infographics), Web.