1. Selling the domain name is not recommendable because it is a precious commodity for online business world. Selling it will come in gaining commercial advantage by the one who intends to buy the domain name. In order to sell the domain name, it is necessary to know the intent behind the buyer buying the domain name. Ethical dilemma involved in the transaction is the time, money, and personal time that are tied to obtaining the domain name. As the online store is just established, it is necessary to get the traffic on the website so that the intention of starting the business online can be successful. As it is registered shortly, selling it will not create the desirable impact and effect for which the domain name was created. Although buying and selling of domain names is a profitable business, but the ethical dilemma is present in the context of the intention of the buyer to make use of the domain name. The customer can be made to place an order by using the reputation of the physical store by the new buyer, which can be a big ethical dilemma for the earlier owner of the domain name (Rich, 2006).
2. The e-commerce software providing catalog display, shopping cart facilities and transaction processing is beneficial to the business in the following manner:
a.Catalog display: It helps in organizing goods and services being sold. It is the listing of goods and services. For the online clothing store, it will be beneficial in keeping the track of the online store. As the online visitor gets the smooth shopping experience through catalog display, it is quite probable that they can place the order by viewing sorted categories of clothes, which will ultimately help the business in gaining traffic and increase in online transactions.
The website owner is benefitted by simple product browsing through presence of main and sub categories. Features, such as automated inventory control, real time recalculation of the product price and easy tracing of multiple packages within an order are beneficial for the web owner in terms of ease of online control and getting satisfactory feedback from customers for smooth shopping experience (Chaffey, 2004).
b.Shopping cart capabilities: Shopping cart makes the shopping easier for customers. They can keep the track of items they have selected with facilities of adding or removing the items. There is automatic storing of all the information related to the item in the cart and when the customer is ready to execute the order, clicking one button initiates the process. Thus, providing convenience to the customer and availability of cart creates the possibility of getting more orders as there is ease of putting and viewing items in the cart by the customer (Chaffey, 2004).
c.Transaction processing: Transaction processing helps the online store to perform all necessary calculations, such as sales tax, shipping costs and any available discount on items ordered by the customer. At checkout, both the web browser software of the customer as well as the web server software of the seller switches into a secure state of communication. Secure transaction processing creates the sense of secure payment over the web, thus weeding out the possibility of occurrence of online fraud or any internet threat. The business also gets the confirmation that the order made is genuine (Chaffey, 2004).
3. Creating effective web presence is necessary for any e-commerce website. Many features make the website attractive and interesting for visitors so that they stay on site, explore, and come again for shopping. First step is considering detailed description to every clothing item. There should be availability of comparison among different clothing items with detailed description. Addition of testimonials and customer reviews will make the clothing store website more effective and successful (Rich, 2006).
Site layout is another feature that fulfills the objective of making the site interesting and creating impression consistent with the organizational image. The site layout includes color schemes, templates, navigation, text, and so on. It is necessary to make sure that the layout has to be simple and consistent across all internet browsers as well as hand held devices (Rich, 2006).
In order to customize, features for advance check out options should be included, such as multiple destinations, options for wrapping gift, customized transferring of notes, etc. As it is a clothing store, there should be facility of replacement if the ordered item does not fit the consumer. It will increase customer satisfaction and reinforce positive image that the visitor already has of the physical store. There is very high significance of protecting the privacy of the customer and related important security information such as credit card, bank account details, names, and addresses. This highly sensitive information should be protected through facilitating the customer to enter secure payment gateway (Thomas, 2013).
The store should do search engine optimization so that the website link is seen in top search results. The color and background of the website should match with the target audience. For instance, using different color combinations, such as red and yellow along-with other vibrant colors will give the feel of fashion clothing, thus increasing the website usability. Showing recommended and related clothing items will significantly increase the user experience. Every fee should be shown in the shopping cart thus ensuring transparent shopping experience for customers. Hidden costs create bad customer experience. All these steps will increase the website usability (Thomas, 2013).
4. Web marketing strategy will include the following target market segment- both men and women of age group of teens and young people i.e. 13-19 and 20-35. The young generation is tech savvy and teens are already growing up in the era of information technology. These two target segments will be reached through promotions by search engine optimization and blogging.
There will be creation of advertising and promotional links in web searches. Famous social media sites will be used for creating awareness and advertising links (Dave, 2008). The promotion of the website will also be done through advertising and content writing for the website (Thomas, 2013).
In order to remain connected with the customer, famous social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube will be used for creating promotional videos, spreading awareness about promotional offers and making the two-way communication with the customer possible by asking suggestions and feedback from customers. Advertising will also include highlighting discount offers and combo plans on the website as well as other social media platforms where the company has its presence (Dave, 2008). Thus, targeting the consumer group with effective online communication tools will lead to success of the launch of the website for online clothing store.
References
Chaffey, D. (2004). E-business en E-commerce. Pearson Education.
Dave, C. (2008). E-Business and E-Commerce Management. Pearson Education Ltd.
Rich, J.R. (2006). Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online. John Wiley & Sons.
Thomas, C. (2013). eCommerce Marketing: How to drive traffic that buys to your website. SRA Books.
