Occasion Exchange

Occasion Exchange is a clothing provider site that allows users to post their used special occasion clothing for sale or exchange. This site will allow people to be able to celebrate at an affordable price. Customers will be able to sell wedding and bridesmaids gowns, costumes of all kinds, and recital outfits. Occasion Exchange will guarantee safe transactions with a shop at your own risk policy. Items will be in a list format similar to craigslist and will have a thumbnail image next to the description. The size, shape, and price will be required so that consumers can make the right purchase.

Business Name: Occasion Exchange

Product: Used holiday apparel

Potential Consumers: Sellers and Buyers that have or need special occasion clothing

Demographics: All locations as long as the buyer is willing to pay shipping

Concerns

1. Credit Card Fraud

Solution - Use PayPal as the payment center for all transactions to make to provide security to all of Occasion Exchanges customers.

2. Incorrect Product Information

Solution - The costumer can contact the seller and set-up a refund. The buyer can also contact Occasion Exchange and ask for the seller to be marked and after three marks they will not be able to sell anymore.

3. Bad Description By the Seller

Solution - Their will be an email address attached with each post so that the buyer will be able to contact the seller with additional questions and to see more pictures.

4. Unprofessional Use of Site

Solution - Monitor the site and the customers who are registering and remove any illegitimate posts immediately.

5. Amount of Site Capacity

Solution - Need to monitor the site and check the speed to make sure that the site is not running to slow. When the site grows then an upgrade to more bandwidth will be in order.

Citations

http://www.costumediscounters.com/?wm_ctID=313&wm_kwID=12259341&wm_mtID=1&wm_DefaultURL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.costumediscounters.com&wm_content=0&wm_g_crID=6143229645&wm_g_kw=halloween%20costumes&wm_g_pcmt=&wm_g_cnt=0&s_kwcid=TC4176halloween%20costumesSb6143229645&gclid=CKLB8eST7aQCFahe7AodXWoV1g

http://shop.weddingpath.co.uk/images/newswire/weddingideas/jheirlong.JPG

http://starstwirlstudio.com/tuition__fees

Swap Cloth

Swap Cloth is an online vintage clothing boutique where buyers and sellers can exchange unique and custom pieces of clothing.  Our internal network allows users to auction their gently used vintage items in an online forum where individuals can appreciate the art of vintage clothing, the history and their style. 

Swap Cloth offers a safe way for buyers and sellers to exchange clothes for payment online in an internal auction network of person to person transactions.  

Business Name: Swap Cloth

Product:  Vintage Clothing

Potential Consumers: Buyers and sellers interested in vintage clothing. 

(This can be anyone! Vintage clothing never goes out of style!)

Potential Concerns: The following are potential risks that have been identified:

1. Credit or payment fraud
2. Counterfeit goods or falsification of items
3. Misrepresentation of information by sellers
4. Lack of information for buyers
5. Unregulated or unmonitored trade practices

Potential Solutions:

Credit Card/Payment Fraud: Use a reliable third party source to handle all payment transactions.


Counterfeit goods: Post an addendum that alerts sellers to ask questions regarding item specifications, including item numbers, sizes, etc.


Misrepresentation of information by sellers: Sellers will have a review system and if any misrepresentation or falsification of an item has occurred other buyers will be aware by the review.


Lack of information for buyers: Similar to counterfeit goods, buyers can refer to the addendum and ask questions regarding items.

Unregulated/unmonitored trade practices: Currently, trading practices of online auctions and its sellers are not monitored by state or federal agencies.  As a result, consumers need to protect themselves by asking questions, checking the security of the website, and saving receipts.

Sources:

http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=03d7e349-3111-4690-a72f-132bc50bdd69

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_auctions

http://www.buttons-and-bows.co.uk/1940's%20reproduction%20vintage%20clothing.htm

Taste of the Tropic online shop



Taste of the Tropic is your online shop to buy tropical fruits and trees.  Our selection of tropical trees include mangos, lemons, limes, and orange trees (sweet and sour).  Our fruit selections include mangos, lemons, limes, and sweet and sour oranges. We ship throughout the United States, and observe weather conditions on a daily basis to guarantee your shipment arrives fresh, and in perfect condition. 

We are located near the water in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, Florida, and recently started our business after planting hundreds of mango and citrus trees.

Name of business:  Taste of the Tropic

Products:  Tropical Fruits and Trees

Potential Consumers: Individuals, Nurseries, Supermarkets, and Large Grocery Chains

Concerns

Perishability

Solution:  Keeping an irrigation system during the coldest days of the year to keep the trees frost-free, and continuing with the irrigation system during the driest months. Regularly inspect trees for pests and diseases that can ruin fruit and even kill whole trees. These diseases and pests include fungus, parasites and viruses.

Stocking

Solution:  Constantly planting new trees, and if it necessary, we will buy from other owners of mango and citrus groves at a fair market price.

Credit Card and Payment Fraud

Solution:  Using Internet Merchant Account and processing Network -PayPal’s Payflow Payment Gateway- Reliable, Secure Conection, Trusted by Business, Banks, Online Shoppers, and No long-term commitments or monthly minimums.

Returns & Refunds

Solution:  Our shipment is always warranted to be fresh and in good condition.  However, exceptions will occur.  The return should be done within 30 days after receiving our product.  We will issue a refund including the shipping cost for the return within 15 days. 

Environmental Issues and Government Regulations regarding Citrus Canker

Solution:  Since it is illegal to move live citrus plants and citrus fruits from Florida, we will hire a USDA certified packinghouse to properly disinfect for citrus canker.  Once the plants and fruits are inspected, packed, and accompanied by a USDA certificate, shipping will reach other parts of the country.

Sources:

http://www.ehow.com/list_6782238_pests-diseases-citrus-mango-tree.html

https://merchant.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?&cmd=_render-content&content_ID=merchant/payment_gateway

http://saveourcitrus.org/practice-safe-citrus/ 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/hot_issues/citrus_canker/citrus_canker.shtml

   

KardKarma

KardKarma is a business where people can buy, sell, and swap retail and restaurant gift cards. Every year there is nearly $90 billion dollars worth of gift cards that are sold to consumers, however, billions of dollars worth of these cards are never used. Many people receive gift cards from employers, friends, family, and others for products and services that they neither want or need. KardKarma will provide a local based card advertising site similar to the Craigslist model. By connecting local consumers to local consumers, KardKarma will distinguish itself from other card swap/sell sites which tend to clearinghouses for discounted gift cards from retailers and restaurants.

1. Business Name: KardKarma


2. Product: Gift Cards


3. Potential Customers: Both men and women over the age of 18

Concerns

Fraudulent Gift Cards

Solution:
In order to become a participant on the web site, users while have to register and verify an email address before being allowed to post ads. The ads will also be subject to verification before being made active to attempt to spot any trends that may indicate fraud.

Age of Users

Solution:
The site may use some sort of age verification methodology, however, much more research and planning must be done before this concern can be solved.

Gift Card Availability

Solution:
The site start-out in only 1-4 cities, concentrating on getting traffic to the site and thereby seeking to increase the number of users seeking to buy, sell, or swap cards. It will be critical get as many users as possible, as quickly as possible. By keeping the number of cities small, a more concentrated advertising effort can be used, that will be far more cost effective.

KardKarma Becomes Huge

Solution:
The larger the site becomes and the more cities it incorporates, the more server resources will be required. It will be critical for the site to have the ability handle any number of users. This will always be an on-going problem/concern and as such will have to be constantly reviewed and addressed.

Links:

2009 Gift Card Statistics


Uunsed Gift Card Statistics

Are There Risks Involved?

Someone has convinced the local Chocolate Shop to put their specialty cookies on the web. But they didn’t mention the risk with perishables. Preparing batches when orders come in will require getting up before the Dunkin Donut Man. No one told the local Florist about the cost of joining Flowers800 and if she didn’t join she could be lost. The furniture store who thought Web advertising would increase business didn’t encompass the calls that came and requested delivery – which resulted in typing up his entire personal. The boating supply redistributors didn’t realize the webhost he chose did not take pay pal. And the toys reseller didn’t encompass the shipping cost. And that’s just on the front end.

The competition for the judo school was not mentioned along with Search Engine inclusion costs. No one warned the online Wine store about Global age requirements and legalities. John’s antique pottery is trying to deal with credit card fraud. And the list goes on.
Most websites limit the critical risks to technical issues but there are a lot of intangible issues including increased business. In the present day when we can’t distinguish the difference in searching online and internet or web. While some etailers may need to worry about viruses, others are concerned with keeping record orders safe and knowing what state taxes will be involved with purchases.

It’s up to the consultants to determine the Risks and the potential solutions.

Using the C2C business of your choice, conduct a Risk Analysis and document the tangible and intangible risk factors. Providing the following:

1. Name of business.
2. Type of product.
3. Demographics on the potential consumers.
4. Prioritize the concerns for the analysis.
5. List the solutions for the concerns and how you plan to handle them. (You do not have to solve them).
6. Provide working links to the resources where you obtained your information.
7. Make your Blog as attractive and informative as possible - worthy of an Advanced Ecommerce student.

This exercise in Critical thinking is designed to get you started on the right foot – planning before you invest your time and effort in design.
Example (very "shortened" version):Wanda sells Nightcrawlers for Fishing. She grows her own and lately she’s noticed that people are coming from further distances and calling because the supply has decreased but the demand has increased.

1. Business name: Wanda’s Worms.
2. Product: Nightcrawlers – worms for fishing.
3. Potential consumers – All ages may use but purchasers will be between the age of 18 and 97

Concerns:Age of BuyersSolution: Purchasing Age Verifier (be sure to verify the validity of services) or having designer encrypt. [You will not have to perform such verification for this course but should be cognizant of the lettering verification and other methods business use as a disclaimer to justify accepting orders].

Credit Card Fraud
Solution: PayPal has built in solutions.

Perishability
Solution: Nightcrawlers can be maintained for interminable lengths of time.

Stocking
Solution: Wanda will post an out of stock notice when necessary. She is not concerned about lost sales.

Have a go at it and Git'r Done!