5/2/2017
Global ECommerce Final
Write-Up
http://citweb.astate.edu/drew.rea/One%20Stop%20Fidget
%20Shop-1/One%20stop%20Fidget%20Shop/index.html
Drew Rea
ONE STOP FIDGET SHOP
Table of Contents
Porter’s Generic Strategy
Pg. 2
Value Proposition
Pg. 3
Egg Diagram
Pg. 7
Resource System
Pg. 8
Revenue Model
Pg. 8
Cultural Considerations
Pg. 9
Abstract:
The idea behind The One Stop Fidget Shop is that you can purchase all of the popular
fidget toys at one click. The website I built is easy to use, and it focusses on providing a
culturally customized experience for English, Spanish, and Swedish users. The great thing that
my website has over the others is the option to choose. Many people don’t enjoy when someone
chooses a path for you, so I have picked the top selling fidget toys including: fidget spinners,
fidget cubes, kururins, hoberman spheres, cubebots, and the tangle which has been around the
longest. This lineup offers a great selection for any audience be it a younger kid or an adult that
just needs a stress reliever at school or work. This allows for our market to be broader than most
of the other websites that focus on one specific toy. With the explosion of the Fidget Spinners,
many websites have been created solely for that purpose while missing the wider audience. My
website, The One Stop Fidget Shop, aims to offer the lowest possible products without
sacrificing too much quality so that we don’t spread ourselves to thin in this expanding market.
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The method in which we will be able accomplish all of our goals will be further explained in the
body of this paper.
Porter’s Generic Strategy:
I feel the best way to start to understand the concept and idea behind my website is to
conduct a Porter’s Generic Strategy analysis. The One Stop Fidget Shop aims to be a Cost
Focused business. We are doing this so that we can gain a competitive advantage in this new
market over the companies that have yet to take a hold of this new and profitable market. A Cost
Focused business can be defined as a company who provides the lowest costs within an industry
segment. This is illustrated by (Exhibit 1) below:
I feel it is important to note that just because we have decided to focus on the cost that we
still have our roots in providing a better service to the industry as our sub focus. We can do this
by offering things like Free shipping so that we compete with the big company Amazon who has
revolutionized the shipping industry with Amazon Prime and their free 2-day shipping. There
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are plenty of other websites that sell Fidget Toys, but they all seem to have a flat-rate shipping
which I feel we can take advantage of by offering free shipping on all of our purchases. The
primary cost that comes with shipping is the weight of the product, and the great thing about
these fidget toys is that they are made with that consideration in mind. The idea is for them to be
small enough as to not cause a distraction in a workplace or school.
My website also offers returns on our products which many other competitors don’t offer,
and the idea behind this is establishing a good customer base. We obviously can’t allow returns
on orders made years ago, but it is important that people don’t feel tied down by a first purchase.
Many people, believe it or not, will leave a website or not make a purchase based on that factor
alone. People love having a choice, and this gives us another step up on our competition.
The third strategy implemented into our website is a lowest price guarantee which will
keep customers eyes open on our website because they will know they are getting a great deal.
One question a lot of people ask is how we will profit if we offer such low prices and free
shipping. Well, luckily, this market is cheap to produce product. All of our products are either
cheap plastic or recycled wood which doesn’t cost much to manufacture.
Value Proposition:
A value cluster is a fundamental step in defining the value proposition for a website or
business which aims to describe the innovation, service, or features that are used to attract a
customer base. This can be broken up into
around three parts including the target
(Exhibit 2)
segments, key benefits offered, and supporting
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rationale which can be seen in (Exhibit 2). The target segments involve breaking a market down
into different divisions that focus on a customer whose needs and desires most closely match
your product offering. The key benefits offered are the things that my company offers in which
other companies don’t offer. These are the things that set my company apart from the
competition in return giving an advantage. The supporting rationale or uniqueness capabilities
are the hooks or the main selling points. When a customer is faced with the question of how our
company is different than the rest, this is where we point to. Our unique capabilities and
offerings.
The segments that our website is aiming at are mainly at the people who just can’t focus
and get bored easily. Fidget toys are proven to help people with ADD, ADHD, and anxiety
relieve stress and retain much needed focus. The key benefits our website and product offers are
the benefits of selling a wide variety of Fidgeters on an easy to use website. It is called the One
Stop Fidget Shop for this reason, and our fidget toys have the goal of helping people with the
conditions listed above. These toys provide a productive and less distractive outlet for these
people, and studies have shown an increase in heart health for people who use them since it is
oddly calming. The Unique capabilities offered are the fact that this is a new trend, but our
sturdy business model will allow for sustainability after the fad has faded down a bit. Easy
website navigation is obvious since there will be a number of high school students using the
webpage. Lastly, is the importance of the multiple products. We understand that everyone has
different needs, and that is why we have culminated a website with the bestselling and most
purchased products.
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Business Model Components:
There are four main components in an effective business model (Exhibit 3) that include
the Value Cluster, Marketspace Offering, Resource System, and Financial Model. The first of
these is the Value Cluster
which is supposed to specify
the value proposition of the
business and is a culmination of
the target segments, customer
benefits offered, and the
Exhibit 3
uniqueness of the firm and its
partners that allow for the best delivery of the offering. This completed value cluster is similar to
a mission statement in that it states all of the things your company/website aims to be or do for
its customers. It is a very integral part in establishing a business plan which is why it is often the
first thing companies complete. Marketspace offering is what articulates the online product
service and information offered. This is broken up into about three of its own steps which is
identifying the scope of the offering, identifying the customer decision process and mapping the
offering to the consumer decision process. The easiest way to look at marketspace offering is
through analysis of the customer decision process and understanding the three phases of a
purchase. The pre-purchase, purchase, and post purchase are the main steps that a customer goes
through when looking to purchase a product. To effectively gain control over a certain
marketspace, you have to catch the attention of the customer at every step. The Resource System
is the third step in the business model, and it is defined as how the company needs to align its
resources to deliver the value proposition. Typically, the resource system is done after an egg
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diagram which will be discussed in further detail later. The last step in a business model is the
revenue model which is where a company decides who its revenue will be obtained. Examples
of these are advertising, product/service, transaction, or subscription.
The Value cluster is easily the most specific definition of what your company aims to do
and offer. For the One Stop Fidget Shop we provide a discreet outlet for the fidgeter in all of us
by providing a wide array of Fidget toys on one easy-to-navigate website with competitive
pricing and hassle free shipping. The websites homepage has a sidebar which allows users to see
the bestselling items while reiterating our business goals, and it even has a video for users who
may not know what a fidget spinner is or what the big deal is about them. If you are from our
international markets in Sweden or Mexico, you can simply click the flag to translate the page
and provide you with a nice banner header so that you know you are in the right translation. We
value customer feedback and the ability for the customer to leave information regarding their
purchase which is why we have provided a contact us page and a customer reviews tab which is
under construction. Our company values the security of its customers which is why we have a
secure checkout page tailored to making the process of purchasing a breeze. This can be done by
either clicking the buy now button linked with a product for one click purchasing or by going to
the product page which can be done by clicking the details page of any product. If we are out of
stock, the website will tell you before you get to the purchase page. The marketspace offering of
our website is obviously Category specific dominance in nature. This means that we focus
exclusively on one product category as opposed to a company like Amazon.com or Ebay.com
who has a lot of products. The advantage of Category specific is the fact that they will be more
specialized in the division, and it allows for more customer service assistance.
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Egg Diagram:
As I explained earlier, the egg diagram is often done before the resource system and
revenue model of the business plan. An egg diagram which can be seen in (Exhibit 4) can be
used to help explain the decision making process that every consumer must go through in the
purchase of a product that is sold. This process can be easily broken down into a few key parts
starting with the need recognition which is also known as product identification. It occurs when
a consumer discovers an unmet need that needs to be fulfilled. The following step is the search
for ideas and offerings which is where the customer will come to the website and see what makes
us better than the rest of the competition in terms of product price and customer satisfaction. The
next step is the evaluation of alternatives. People could go to a big box ecommerce retailer like
EBay or Amazon at this phase in which they would be overwhelmed by the vast number of
different individual sellers offering what looks like the same exact thing. After this step, the
customer goes into the purchase decision in which we hope they choose our website. This is
followed by the message selection and post-sale support. These two steps go hand in hand and
are often the steps that decide whether a person decides to be a repeat customer, and they are
typically either pleased with their purchase experience or upset with it. The last step is to build a
relationship. This is very important to our company because we focus in the fidget industry, and
the low prices we offer often appeal to people for repeat business. It is very important for us to
build a customer base, and we can only do this by building a relationship with the customer.
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(Exhibit 4)
We focused on creating a website that fully encompasses everything that the customer
has to go through in their own decision making process by trying to make the experience easy
and enjoyable.
Resource System and Revenue Model:
As I mentioned, the Egg diagram often comes before the last two steps of the business
model. Now that we have analyzed the consumer’s thought process it is time to start looking at
what a resource system is. A resource system takes the core benefits, capabilities related to the
benefits, links the resources to each capability, identifies the degree to which the firm can deliver
each capability, and the partners who can complete the capabilities. The most important part of
the resource system as it relates to my business is the degree to which we can deliver each of our
capabilities. Our three main focusses (free shipping, easy to navigate website, and customer
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satisfaction through great prices) are all important things that have to be carried out in an
effective manner for the website to be successful.
A revenue model can be defined as how a company plans on making its money. This can
be done through a number of ways, be it advertising, product/service, transaction, or
subscription. My website will focus mainly on the product sales with a subtle bit of advertising
once it becomes profitable to do so. Banner ads as well as sidebar ads are great sources of
revenue if a lot of people visit your website, but it also distracts the consumer from the main
focus which is the product we are selling. As of this moment, the website doesn’t have ads, but
it may be important to implement them in some way down the road.
Cultural Considerations:
This website is catering to a few separate markets, so we like to take all things into
account so that our products are profitable in all of the markets we are a part of. The biggest
obstacle in the way of many international sellers is simply the language barrier. My website
solves this problem in a simple yet effective manner by having a link attached to the flag of the
homepage which will translate the page and provide a nice banner art. The main things we
decided to look at when making cultural considerations are Individualism or collectivism. A
high IDV indicates that they tend to look after themselves and immediate family more so than
others while a collectivist society has groups that look after them. The second cultural
dimension is Masculinity and Feminity which is based on how distinct gender roles are. A
masculine culture like India has clear gender roles while a Feminist society is more tender and
modest. Uncertainty avoidance is the third cultural dimension, and it is defined on how a culture
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feels threatened by what is unknown or uncertain. These people are typically more paranoid and
require a more structured format of website. The last of the cultural dimensions is High/low
context. In high context cultures, the way words are said are more important than the words
itself for the most part, while in low context the message needs to have a clear meaning behind it.
United States is the main market focus since that is the language I am most familiar with.
A graph illustrating the majority of the cultural dimensions can be seen in (Exhibit 5) below.
The main cultural considerations I focused on were Individualism and Masculinity since those
are the highest factors for United States. Individualist cultures tend to mean that they spend with
less care than other countries since they are worried more about themselves which means they
are ok with spending money on something that they themselves will use. They are also high on
the masculinity scale which implies that “things” are important, so they may care more about
buying an item that may seem frivolous to some.
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Mexico is another country I decided to add to the global marketing plan mainly because
of the closeness in relation to our country, but they are also a big part of the American culture
since there are so many Hispanics in the United States. I felt it was important that the Spanish
webpage I made had a piece of Mexico which is why I added a banner to the top of the screen
which makes it feel a little more like home. The website is also a little more simplified because
of their high uncertainty avoidance. It is important to be very upfront as to not throw them off
guard and make the buyer feel as if they are being taken advantage of. (Exhibit 6) below is a
graph listing their cultural dimension statistics.
Sweden is the last company I decided to cater my website too, and I did it mainly for the
fact that they are similar enough to the United States in regards to everything except Masculinity
which could be something that can be taken advantage of. Low masculinity societies focus on
quality of life and the importance of social interaction. This is good since fidget toys aim to
improve the quality of life of the person using it by reducing stress levels and helping maintain
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focus over a long period of time. Sweden is probably the most ideal market for our product since
they, like the United States, are highly individualistic, and they tend to spend money on what
they choose to. Them being low on uncertainty avoidance also allows for people to be less likely
to stray away from a relatively new product. The cultural statistics can be seen below in (Exhibit
7).
Conclusion:
All of the methods above are used in my website, to help gain a sustainable competitive
advantage over all of the markets competition, and I believe that the website is an accurate
representation of all of the planning and cultural dimensions that I have focused on throughout
the development phase of my website. The One Stop Fidget Shop provides a discreet outlet for
the fidgeter in all of us by providing a wide array of Fidget toys on one easy-to-navigate website
with competitive pricing and hassle free shipping.
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