Know Your Business
The cosmetic industry is one of the economic drivers across the globe owing to the ready market all around the world. This ranges from hair products, body lotions, makeups, deodorants, sprays and skin care creams. The list is endless as attributed to the wide market in different demographic needs.
Golden scent is a major cosmetic dealer in the Middle East with operations in the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Targeting the Arabian market, Golden scent offers a myriad variety of products over the internet in the E-commerce platform. At Golden scent, all the demographic groups and sex are considered. Golden scent understands the challenges in mobility due to various schedules for different customers, the company has thus moved its service online for mailing delivery as well as personal delivery by company staff. Golden scent is also flexible enough to allow diverse electronic payment methods as well as the cash on delivery model of payment, this is to lighten the payment hiccup in the conventional cash on delivery model (Khan, et.al 2018).
The company also offers a flexible return policy with a notice period of 24 hours, this is in the event of wrong products (one which you did not order). In this case, you will receive a refund in 2 business needs, the customer also a chance to replace the order within the price.
Golden scent is anchored on the statement motto; “Obsessed with your beauty, the heart sees what the eyes can’t, Look Good, Feel Great!”
Derived from the company’s statement; “Obsessed with your beauty, the heat sees what the eyes can’t”, Golden endeavors to not only offer quality products but also see to it that it maintains a bright smile of looks and beauty.
Golden scent recognizes the digitization of the world and has majorly targeted the Arabian market of millennials. This is a major market niche owing to the numbers and the demand in this demography.
A business model can be described as the plan of how the company is planning to operate and make profits. There are a number of business models depending on the nature of operation in a given company, in an e-commerce system as it is in the analysis, the B2C model is suitable; in this model, the involved company sells products or services directly to the consumer.
Golden Scent is a B2C-based company, the Business-to-customer is the base mode of operation in Golden scent. In this case, the company deals directly with retail customers in direct deliveries from the dispatch centers to the buyers on the online platform.
In-line with the business model, a revenue model is a strategy for which the company will manage the revenue streams and the identification of the respective revenue streams. Golden scent operates as a B2C business venture, in this essence, there are two major revenue streams; services and products (Mangiaracina, 2019). The company offers makeup tutorials and advice as well as selling the actual cosmetic and beauty products. Golden scent is thus a two-channel revenue model business venture in the niche. This is a clear market niche as most of the stakeholders in the market niche only concentrate on the products, Golden scent offers a complete package of consultation, tutorials and the actual products depending on the customer needs. Customers are also flexible to purchase a segment of the package or a whole package.
Products And Services
In the social media-driven world and self-care awareness, there is an imminent need for skincare, cosmetic and beauty products across the world. This presents a wide market space for the respective products, for this purpose, Golden scent has tapped into this niche offering a wide range of products at an affordable price along with other incentives. Golden scent targets the youth market which forms a large portion of the market gap within the targeted countries. The youth lifespan in the age gap of 18 – 35 years is known to be sensitive to looks thus the high consumption of the makeup, skincare and the general beauty products.
Beauty and cosmetic industry are fast-growing industry with a fast-growing market place. Golden scent primarily targets the millennial generation which makes up a significant percentage of the population in the three states as the target market. This is expected to grow exponential with population growth according to the bureau of statistics, as of 2021, about 28% of the Middle east’s population is aged 15-29 accounting for about 108 million according to Youthpolicy.org; retrieved from https://www.youthpolicy.org/mappings/regionalyouthscenes/mena/facts/
On 23rd/ March/22. Whereas there is a significant competition in the niche, the growing population creates an imminent gap thus allowing for the growth of Golden scent’s market share as well as new entrants. With the marking strategies deployed in Golden scent, it is projected that company will retain a fair market share to propel its operations and trust among the customers and possibly expand to other states.
The E-commerce web is characterized by various aspects all in the efforts of digital marketing via websites. The site has different content majorly; the display products, product categories, flash sale offers and site navigation links.
Strength
- Internet availability
- Zero/ less internet censorship
- Widespread use of digital devices; mobile, iPads, laptops etc.
Weakness
- Section (10%) in computer/ digital illiteracy thus hard to penetrate the rural market
Opportunities
- Exponential growth in cyberspace; device, literacy and the internet in general
- High population for the target market and extended market in outer demography (adults)
Threats
- Internet security threats and weaknesses in literacy
- Competition from other firms and vendors within the territories of concentration
In the digitized world, digital marketing is key in all the digital platforms, as such, the company makes use of office 365 platform. This is in addition to the company’s website as well as the social media platforms for digital marketing. Microsoft Office 365 provides business agility that comes along in cloud business solutions, Golden scent utilizes Office 365 for shared communication and marketing strategies in the digitized business world (Handayani, et.al 2020).
Figure 1: Presence Map
Golden scent is a digitized company with contemporary methods of operation for purchase, payment and return policies. These are critical aspects of the e-commerce website to uphold the general purpose of online shopping/ B2C model.
Business Objective |
System Functionality |
Information provided |
Display goods |
Digital catalog |
Dynamic text and graphic catalog |
Cart collection |
Session/ instance storage |
Graphic catalog |
Flexible payment systems |
E-payment mechanisms |
Credit card numbers and online payment methods |
User information security |
Authentication (sign-in and sign-out) |
Username and password Government issued identification numbers and methods |
The e-commerce business domain is on a rapid positive trajectory owing to the rapid digitization of the world. E-commerce businesses are thus characterized by web applications as the major mode of communication to reach to the intended customers. An e-commerce business is essentially ubiquitous with an option to possess a physical location or not, in this case, the business firm can simply operate fully online (Alfonso, et.al 2021).
An e-commerce business is also majorly characterized by electronic payment methods, this is crucial to enhance the flexibility as a solution to the conventional methods of physical location and physical mobility to purchase or sell. In summary, an e-commerce business such as Golden scent is characterized as;
- Ubiquitous flexibility
- Electronic payment mechanisms
- Web application platforms
Despite being an innovative approach of business, the website can be annoying from its features which may affect the overall traffic/ number of users visiting the website.
Popup
Figure 2: popup
A landing page should be as attractive as possible to keep the users’ concentration, in this case, the interface does not communicate what the products could change in terms of pictorial visualization of users and the transformation.
Figure 3: Landing Page
An e-commerce-driven business is completely undertaken on the internet, this means, that the users can simply purchase online and the goods/ service delivered to them by the chosen methods (Boysen, De Koster & Weidinger, 2019). An e-commerce case of business involves a process as elaborated;
- Browse the product catalog
Viewing the product catalog does not need the user to be signed in thus allows for guest users. To proceed to purchase however, the user needs to have authenticated themselves.
- Pick the desired products/ services/ move into cart
This is where the selected products are temporarily stored before payment
- Proceed pay/ checkout
Payment gateway allowing the users to select either of the available payment methods
- Pay via the chosen methods
- Authorize payment
This is system generated to confirm the ownership of the respective credit card or payment methods provided in the website.
- Receive payment receipt
A digital receipt generated by the system in the form of email or SMS message to confirm purchase and payment respective to the particular customer.
- Pick/ confirm receipt of goods/ service ordered
Reference List
Alfonso, V., Boar, C., Frost, J., Gambacorta, L., & Liu, J. (2021). E-commerce in the pandemic and beyond. BIS Bulletin, 36(9).
Boysen, N., De Koster, R., & Weidinger, F. (2019). Warehousing in the e-commerce era: A survey. European Journal of Operational Research, 277(2), 396-411.
Hanson, W. A., & Kalyanam, K. (2020). Internet marketing and e-commerce.(Student ed.). Thomson/South-Western.
Handayani, S., & Hadi, S. (2020). Pelatihan E-Learning Menggunakan Office 365 Bagi Guru-Guru dan Siswa-Siswa Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 1 Semarang. JPKMI (Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat Indonesia), 1(2), 49-58.
Khan, H. U., & Uwemi, S. (2018). Possible impact of e-commerce strategies on the utilisation of e-commerce in Nigeria. International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 15(2), 231-246.
Mangiaracina, R., Perego, A., Seghezzi, A., & Tumino, A. (2019). Innovative solutions to increase last-mile delivery efficiency in B2C e-commerce: a literature review. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management.
Vulkan, N. (2020). The Economics of E-commerce. Princeton University Press.