Key Success Factors in Online Ventures

The chaotic teaching of the Internet has left many attempts to route commerce through it stranded. Icons of the brick-and mortar age realise a great deal been the almost hapless victims, floundering in vain attempts to attract the attention of browsers, and to deliver value. This makes the eminent online success of procedure fund especially worthy of study.The rail line-to- billet model has been especially difficult for middle-aged industrial and corporate buyers to comprehend. Those who have never learnt to write in code feel threatened by the very mention of a nett post, and take refuge in the exaggerated risks of buying online (Tillinghast, 2002). The first key success mover of piazza term lies in the simplicity of design of its web site, requiring no familiarity with com entrapers or programming to designate orders, pay for them, and to receive supplies. position reposition, by virtue of the variety of products and services on offer, tempts customers to become frequ ent web site visitors ( posture Depot, 2006). delegacy supplies for coffee atomic number 18 positioned in the upper left quadrant where it is likely to grab first attention. The lay out is inviting, and is bound to generate curiosity and interest even in the minds of wondering(a) browsers. Overall, Office Depot scores through a web site, which is akin to the shop windows of the most fashionable retail outlet in the physical world.A third success factor is that Office Depot makes it blowzy to return goods purchased on incorrect impulses, even arranging to pick them up at the door (Johnson, non dated). This must alleviate natural fears about making buying decisions without seeing and feeling products, and meets most objections of electronic commerce head-on.Office Depot respects customer choice, emphasizing the availability of trusted brands (Office Depot, 2006). Generic products, new brands, and the most established ones such(prenominal) as Hewlett-Packard are offered with eve n prominence. This is in contrast to the online backing forays of some others, which are blatant efforts to promote particular brands at the constitute of customer degrees of freedom.Broadly, Office Depot has succeeded in online business, because it has put customer ineluctably ahead of technological innovation in electronic communication, ensuring that the Internet serves business needs rather than dictate terms to it.Lessons from the Office Depot Online victoryConventional marketing promoted the targeting of relatively narrow segments. This made wiz as long as a business offered its products and services within the confines of a separate area. An over-riding feature of the Internet is that the whole world becomes a single market place. Conventional marketing which is extremely focused on a spatially limited segment pays the costs of existence on the realness Wide Web, but without the attendant market potential and size benefits. We kitty learn from the success of Office D epot that online marketing has to address clusters (Payne, 2002) rather than narrow segments. Office Depot defines its customers as enterprises of all sizes, from the mild to large corporations, and has combined its Internet foray with international operations. It is therefore able to use the full business office of the medium.The Internet makes the Process element of the Marketing Mix (Payne, 2002) a key determinant of success. Office Depot has a prominent promise on the web site of deliveries, without extra charge, within one business day. The enormous planning and investment efforts made to make this promise come true over incredibly large numbers of transactions everyday, has to be appreciated if anyone wishes to repeat the Office Depot success story. maybe the facility of the medium makes other enterprises offer commitments which they are not geared to meet, leaving customers disillusioned. There is a large and complex operation of logistics behind the Office Depot success, to keep adequate inventories of such a large number of items within a days reach of all customers.The sophistication of online business tempts many enterprises to segregate Internet operations from conventional business. A lesson from Office Depot is that the medium should be integrated in to the mainstream in manners which lend synergy (Johnson, not dated). Office Depot treats customers on its web site just as it would if some one walked in to one of their conventional stores.Finally, Office Depot enhances its physical and generic products with useful services (Johnson, not dated). The articles and discussions on small business and commercialized resources must be particularly valuable for customers.Competitive Advantage in MarketspaceScale matters in marketspace (Johnson, not dated). Office Depot is successful because of the breadth of its product and service offers, because of the vast territory it serves, and the sheer weight of over a billion dollars of revenue, which is grow ing rapidly as well. These dimensions act as barriers to new entrants, and strengthen the companys competitive strength from day to day.Marketspace is first about customer needs, and not about the elegance and creativity of software engineers. Other enterprises have web sites with flash, multi-media, and other features which delight programmers, but which take time to load, and can even scare away customers. Web sites should have clear objectives (Tillinghast, 2002), and serve the business, rather than drive it. It is historic for enterprises to avoid being overwhelmed by the aura of the Internet, and to keep it tightly within the reins of customer needs.Limits to Online Business Success and the Office Deport ExperienceThere are 5 important limitations to online business in general, and to the foregoing account of the success of Office Depot in this regard firstly, credit card and related payment frauds plague most electronic commerce ventures. The case does not mention the actual watch of Office Depot in this regard, and even if the company has not suffered any significant losses in this regard, it remains vulnerable for the future.Secondly, products such as copiers and facsimile machines may require considerable product demonstration and after-sales-service, which the online business model is not geared to provide. The decision-making for pins and staples is certainly not the same as for equipment such as filing cabinets Office Depot runs the risk of building revenues faster in low value-addition lines, as opposed to modern office products of the future.Thirdly, Office Depot has tasted success during the halcyon years of a global economic boom. The serious fixed cost growth which it has encountered in terms of warehousing and logistics could become a serious drag on positivity during a future economic downturn.Fourthly, the practice of offering products in kiosks which are not available or offered online, may rebound on the company. Customers may move aw ay from the companys web site once they realize that more choice is available in real stores.Finally, the Office Depot experience lacks universal relevance. Many competitors, and companies in other lines of business may realize better returns from conventional business channels, and failures if they copy the high fixed cost and infrastructure-intensive online business model of Office Depot.ReferencesJohnson, W. C. (not dated) Case 13 Office Depot Goes Online-E-Service Quality, publication details not availablePayne, A. (2002) Services Marketing, Prentice-HallTillinghast, T. (2002) Tactical Guide to Internet Marketing, Xlibris CorporationOffice Depot, (2006) Company website, retrieved January sixteenth 2007 from http//www.officedepot.com/