Small Business Report on Ecommerce

‘Happy Island Designs’ is a small shop located on Gloucester Road, Bristol, that was established in 2006 by a local jewellery designer called Stephen Saliba, who studied his art in Sheffield from 2001 to 2005. The business specialises in selling locally designed, handmade jewellery and sculptures to local customers in traditional commerce. The company resides in the retail market, selling niche, bespoke jewellery and sculptures to mainly local ‘trendy’ customers at a huge price range, from as low as ten pounds to as high as seven hundred pounds. Their customer base is mainly return trade from the local area and they see around 40 customers each day, reaching from teenagers to older adults. The proposition that this business should move to solely e-commerce would be one based on the fact that this company has high overheads in particular fixed costs including rent and utilities, furthermore a wider market of consumers will be gained from effective online promotional strategies, meaning that expansion and higher sales revenues may be achieved. According to Mintel online, the online retail sector grew by 15% in 2012, showing a certainly positive growth, however not too significant. Although this sector is thriving due to being ubiquitous, (available anywhere and anytime due to the role of new technology including smart phones and tablets,) possibly a move to solely e-commerce could be a negative one, in light of being situated in the heart of a niche, ‘cool’ area that this business specialises in. ‘I think if there’s anywhere in England other than London that likes funky stuff it is Bristol, especially Gloucester Road,’ Dagmara Zielinska identifies in an online article In the Bristol post. Moving online could ruin the attractiveness of the small, iconic, ‘trendy’ company and their unique selling point of handcrafted or locally designed jewellery, may become disregarded.

Differences between traditional and virtual organisations

One interesting difference between trading online and in-store sales is that consumers often associate online shopping with ‘bargains’ and lower prices due to auction sites and transparent accessibility to cross-referencing prices. Using the internet in this way facilitates consumer competition because of the greater availability for comparing deals, for example customers could only visit a few retailers in the time frame it now takes to view countless stores online. ‘E-commerce makes information on products and the market as a whole readily available and accessible, and increases price transparency, which enables customers