Business 3700 Group Assignment

Case: The S2S Stuff Exchange

Background

Chelsea and Sienna are university students who wish to start their own on-line website business that provide students the opportunity to purchase and sell items that they are no longer required. Sienna, a commerce student with a background in investment banking will manage the financial aspects of the business, while Chelsea, a computer science student she will be the subject matter expert for development. Some of the key issues surrounding this businesses venture are the two business partners do not have all the resources needed run a successful business. Chelsea has limited experience in database work and payment processing. Sienna having the financial background but no real life experience could be problematic in the beginning stages of a business. Key questions that require immediate response are: how are we going to make money? Who is our target audience? (Students have a limited access to money) How are you going to differentiate yourself from similar business (Kijiji and eBay)? Both websites host a bigger a much bigger audience, which means more people viewing which translates to higher prices for items being sold. Why list on this new site that Chelsea and Sienna plan on launching? Assuming these concerns has been addressed and is favourable, then the concerns of build, buy and/or lease will have to be researched and analysed, the development of the website is of upmost importance. Question 1 Taken into consideration the issues are addressed above it is felt that this business venture is not a good idea. From a financial point of view this business does not have the potential to generate a profit based on the already well-established competitions such as eBay and Kijiji. The organizations have a high traffic volume; offer free membership and have an extensive number of advertisers that utilize their respective websites and return provide additional revenues for them. In addition, Chelsea and Sienna are still students with limited time available to them for a business that requires more than part-time efforts. Finally, their lack of experience in various aspects of website implementation has potential to increase costs and prolong rollout.

Question 2

As a new business owner’s one question does come to mind, how do I get started and how do I continue increasing the growth of my business? In today’s economy, websites are an essential tool to survival in any industry. Online businesses essentially rely on websites. If the website is the first interaction between a potential customer and your business, first impressions are everything, so the website needs to be user friendly and effective. The main concern being the future in terms of growth and expansion, having a custom web design provides opportunities that cannot be seen through buying and/or leasing a website. This of course is a costly and timely venture that has both advantages and disadvantages. First, having a custom web design provides a unique design that is more adaptable for your company needs. In addition, a professionally designed and coded website will result in a user friendly experience that is fully functional. Having a custom web design will also provide competitive advantage and greater flexibility/control over the website. To gain the trust of your customer the required route is a custom built website. The downfall of a custom web design is the high costs depending on the size and complexity of the website (number of pages and functionality). In addition, development and design requires much time and effort to research, build, test and release. Testing is a big and costly component of any website release, a website that is “buggy” with no doubt turn away customers.
Buying a web template on the other hand might be the answer to those business owners that have a need for a web site but do not have the resources and time for a custom