Draft One (Adeline's Part)

Introduction

As the economy got worse and more businesses going bust, opportunity still exists. Despite the dotcom failure, there are some who have succeeded. Perhaps this can be justified by their ability to visualize and implement. Our online store, Gift Touch, follows a pure play model and will be a one-stop shopping gifts portal. Gift Touch sells a range of gifts products, ranging from decorative to stuff toys, cigarette holders to exclusive pens.

Besides targeting at individuals, Gift Touch has an array of products and services for the corporate and big groups. These include budgeted corporate gifts, door gifts, and discount schemes, vouchers, and gifts for special occasions. Other than selling presents, associated products for special occasions are also being taken care of. Such items include cakes, flowers and chocolates. Some of our contacted affiliate partners include Far East Flora, June Florists, Sweet Secrets, and Chocolate Box. Like any other online gifts store, Gift Touch provides delivery service as well. However, in comparison, we allow a shorter lead-time for customers to place their orders. This in turn will give us an advantage over our competitors.

Objectives

Firstly, Gift Touch strives to be a forerunner in excellent customer service in the retail gift industry, in order to gain market share. Secondly, in order to secure growth, Gift Touch will create and sustain growth of 30% in three years’ time. And lastly, in order to achieve quality, Gift Touch will always be customer-oriented, providing quality products and services, as well as creating product awareness in the market.

Methodology (Not ready yet)

Staffing

There are some areas of staffing that are very important to the success of our E-business. We will have a business manager who is responsible for implementing the elements of our business plan and reaching our business objectives. The business manager develops specific proposals for plan modifications and additional funding, and presents them to the team for approval.

Since the web is a visual medium, the role of graphics elements on every web page is important. We will require a web graphics designer, trained in art, layout, and composition, and also understands how web pages are constructed. The web graphics designer must ensure that our web site is visually appealing, user-friendly, and make consistent use of graphics elements from page to page. We have contents created specifically for our web site. This activity requires a content creator to write original web contents, as well as to update contents such as latest promotions and product pricing.

The web offers an opportunity for us to reach out to our customers. Thus, we will have a customer service personnel to design and implement customer relationship management. Customer service personnel will issue and administer passwords, design customer interface features and handle customers’ feedback or requests. As we are outsourcing to Webhosting.com.sg, we do not require a systems administrator from our internal team. Webhosting.com.sg will devote at least one person to be responsible for the system’s reliable and secure operations. In addition, we have network operations staff to resolve network problems, design and implement fault-resistance technologies, and manage any network operations. Lastly, a database administrator will be required to support activities such as transaction processing, order entry and shipment logistics.

3.3 Online Marketing

As we have mentioned earlier, Gift Touch will decide on adopting web site advertising. We decide to buy keywords from a popular search engine. Yahoo! Sponsor Matches is the most effective form of online advertising, and the most effective way for customers to find our web site. Sponsor Matches allows us to buy search words or phrases that are relevant to our online business. It promotes our web site listing to the top of the search results when users search on any of the words or phrases that we have bought. Since Gift Touch is an online gift store, we will purchase search words like gifts, stores, and gift shops etc. Our banner will appear when users key in those words.

Gift Touch will also sign up with Internet Yellow Pages to be listed in Singapore’s largest Search Directory. By subscribing to Yellow Pages’ advertising package, we can stand out in our category, which is the retail gifts industry. This makes our company even more searchable, as well as to educate consumers about our business, and to direct them to our web site.