Electronic Commerce - A Managerial

Electronic Commerce - a Managerial Perspective

Electronic Commerce Model

The following pages will propose an e-commerce model for the Watertower restaurant and cafe. The Watertower provides food services in the style of cafe, restaurant, and coffeehouse at moderate prices for an upscale casual dining market (Bplans, 2007). Currently, the restaurant offers brewed coffee and espresso-based beverages, granite ices, fruit smoothies and juices, and other beverages. Freshly prepared desserts and bakery products are served at the dessert bar. The restaurant also features lunch and dinner services, a full-service bar, and live entertainment in weekends. In addition to this, the restaurant will provide a series of newspapers, magazines, and art products.

The objectives for implementing an e-commerce application for the Watertower restaurant are: promoting the restaurant's image, products, and services, increasing sales, increasing the market share, and the opportunity to enter new markets. The restaurant's website must provide information on the restaurant's history, products and services it provides, catering information and contact, employment information, and promotion information.

In relation to the company's specific activity, it is recommended to select a classic design for the website. The design must be personalized. Regarding the website's structure, it is recommended to apply a representative structure that allows the implementation of online ordering through several alternatives accessible to users. Implementing an electronic catalogue would generate a series of advantages: improving the quality and the security of the online ordering process, increasing the long-term efficiency and productivity, facilitating the labor of compartments specialized on processing traditional ordering. Other opportunities include: continuous expansion of the Internet, and continuous increase of the number of customers that will be integrated, therefore leading to higher incomes.

One of the key aspects of implementing an e-commerce model refers to establishing promotional techniques. The main objective of e-shop promotional program consists in attracting traffic, and especially visitors, and potential buyers. Given the current state of the restaurant and its significant growth objectives, it is recommended to implement an aggressive strategy that is able to create a strong image of the restaurant in the customers' mind. For example, the advertising strategy should start with registering the website in several search engines. This will not ensure the necessary volume of traffic, but it is the first step in order to attract users. Another aspect of the strategy consists in placing animated banners. It is recommended to place the banner in the lower part of the page, next to the scroll bar located on the right side of the first screen, due to the high click-through rate provided by this method. Email marketing is also a very efficient method for attracting website visitors. It is also recommended to use sponsorship programs, contests, and loyalty programs based on customer satisfaction.