E-commerce

In the current scenario, there are a number of opportunities which could be explored. Because when we talk about todays context, the low calorie and low sugar diet are in vogue. People are increasingly becoming conscious about health products and the diet which causes fewer problems. Apart from that, people suffering from diabetes and cholesterol problems also prefer the dishes which are guaranteeing fewer issues in already hectic life. During the case of this particular analysis, efforts shall be made in order make a business plan taking into account the e commerce module and making marketing strategies for the promotion of the current business. The grandmothers recipe has done wonders in one case and that is why there is so much demand in the restaurant sectors for that. We shall be making efforts to make the maximum out of the current situation.

Proposed Business Model
The E-Commerce business model which is going to be applied in the particular case shall be a fusion of traditional e commerce business models. The gourmet food shop is expected to serve not only the restaurants but also to the direct retail customers. The model of the website is proposed as under
 
The basic bifurcation of the model has been proposed in order to cater the needs of both the business partners who would be the owners of the restaurants and are expected to place huge business orders. The number of orders would be less but the volume ordered will be huge in case of partners will be huge.

The customers will include the retail customers i.e. the individuals who would like to order the food for their own consumption. The number of orders will be more though the volume of food ordered would always be limited. E commerce businesss best part is that it is pretty flexible under various conditions. (Turban, 2002)

Technology to be implemented
The business model will be powered with the latest technology in the field of computers and internet. The use of Flash scripts and Java models will be made. Efforts will be made to make the website pretty user friendly. Usage and inclusion of Google search in different sections will be done. Apart from that, the preview section will ensure that the best deals of the day are available on the homepage of the website.

Marketing Strategies
There are a number of marketing strategies which could be used under the given circumstances. It includes the following

Target Audience The target audience would be people from almost all the age groups and demographics with a special reference and concentration on the people who are health conscious. We shall be covering various social networking sites in order to promote the business.

We shall be taking the innovative strategies into account. This deals with the firms rate of the new product development and business model innovation. It asks whether the company is on the cutting edge of technology and business innovation.

Privacy and Security Measures
The payment system will be digitally verified. There will be usage of credit cards and internet banking systems. It is important to take assistance of a number of secure websites who are already in the business of transacting online. The online transactions often include frauds and a number of misappropriations of funds. In order to ensure that such incidents do not become part of our business, we shall be giving unique username and password for both the partners and the customers and different layers would be used to make the transactions safe and hassle free.

CRM
The business will be serving the needs of different customers. The partners and customers both are important for us to continue being in the same field. We are introducing a 24X7 customer support for the website users as well as telephone support during the work hours. CRM helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behaviour of customers and the value of those customers. (Naumann, 1995)
The normal sales cycle is depicted by way of the following diagram (Berry, 1983)