Electronic Commerce, consists of the buying and selling of product or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer netwoork. A wide variety of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronis fnds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing,electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.
Electronic commerce that is conducted under 3 categories:
· Business-to-business or B2B
· Busness-to-consumer or B2C
· Consumer-to-consumer or C2C
In this project, we have chosen the Pizza Hut as our resaarch subject and we only fous on the B2C part to determine how they operate in the Pizza Hut.
Website Purpose
Pizza Hut's website's main function is their marketing medium. With good marketing strategy and with internet so conviently accessible, they not only attract new customers but also maintain old customers to make use of their website as a medium to purchase their product. With a simple yet attractive interface, customers find it easy to navigate around their website and have a clear view of Pizza Hut's product.With an order online service via their website, it's even more accessible for customers to buy their product whenever they have their cravings. Thus this will attract customers to place an order online more frequently and increase their profits.With such convienience, customers can buy from them anywhere, anytime, at any place.
The existing backend system is an order-processing system which mainly receives orders, organize them and direct the order information to the correct outlets. Website and call centre are the frontend systems that allow Pizza Hut’s customers to make ordering. The original Pizza Hut’s website used was merely acting as a brochure for advertising. Customer who wants to make order will phone the call centre which the agents in the call centre will receive orders and enter them into the existing backend system. Pizza Hut aims to integrate call centre service and their backend system using the Natural Language Speech Recognition (NLSR). The customers will then speak to an automated system, which the orders will automatically send to the backend systems for processing. The company also wanted to add on an online-ordering feature which they wish to integrate with the backend order-processing system as well.
Key Characteristic
1.Order Processing
In terms of order processing, the customers may choose to submit their orders & requests through either the call centres or the website itself. However, since Pizza Hut already has existing backend legacy systems and infrastructure, which means order processing is automated. Hence, in order to process orders instantaneously, the front end call centres & website has to be integrated with the back end system so that they could both run concurrently. This means that the entire system is able to take & track the orders, checks its inventory of products, advice the delivery time, processes the payment and creates a sales order which would be then be sent for packing. This involves an auto channelling of the orders from the front end to the back end systems. In this way, the entire order processing time would be shorten and it is much more cost effective as it would be able to take more calls and at the same time, less labour is needed as there will be no longer a need to manually send the orders to the back end system. Furthermore, in peak hours, there normally will be an overwhelming of calls which through the integration of the front end and back end systems, could effectively reduce the length of call which directly impacts on the number of orders that would be processed. Hence, it is of importance for the front end system to be integrated to the back end system in order to achieve the above.
2.Order Fulfilment
Secondly, in order fulfilment, the execution of the orders includes packing and delivery of the products. Hence, in order to increase the efficiency and reducing the responsive time in handling the orders, real time order processing if of great significance. This is especially so when there is a high volume of sales during peak hours. Furthermore, customers may enquire about their delivery status and an estimated expected time of delivery. Hence, with the integration of the front and back end systems, the front end system is able to advise the customer on the status instantaneously.
Since it involves packing, it depends on the time that the products could be completed and packed appropriately. This then depends on how long it takes for the sales order to reach them. After which, delivery relies on the amount of time that is being used for preparing and packing the products. Last but not least, transportation must be considered which requires them to decide what kind of transport to use (depends on availability of transports or size of orders) & which route to take. With such consideration, it supports that the integration of the front end and back end systems is important in increasing the efficiency and responsiveness to execute the orders.
Design
Strength
With a website, customers only require five clicks to have their pizza delivered to their door. They can conveniently order pizzas for delivery or pick up by providing simple information such as delivery address or select a pick up location that is convenient for them, select the items that they want to order from the menu, choose a mode of payment and lastly submit their orders. In the case where they would like to place repeat orders, it could be done in only four clicks.
Furthermore, the web site has the function to allow customers to save their favourites and customised their selections which are convenient for them in future orders. The web site allows the customers to be effectively in control of the whole ordering process which usually generates more satisfaction. It is a simple, convenient and fast way to receive their pizzas at their door steps. Customers simply need to register online, login and make their selections using the menu, they can also customize their orders to suit them, locate the nearest store and also provide feedbacks to Pizza Hut.
Last but not least, as mentioned above that the web site allows customers to keep track of their past orders and save their favourite orders, this allows more convenience for the customers. The “Pizza Maker” is one of the most popular features that can allow customers to choose any combination of toppings that are of their preference on the pizza. This allows the customers to try out and choose their to the default kinds. This function allows customers to have wider choice when making their orders.
Weakness
Pizza Hut’s website contains a lot of information which provided to their customers to surf and chooses for their ordering. Since too much information will confuse the customers, so if there is too much information, they can be categorised into a single group. For example, menu for pizza, drinks and side orders can all be put under the tab menu. The text on the website should allow users to see even on a smaller screen. As monitor comes in many different sizes, some customer may have a very small screen as output like a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) phone. This can be done by using font not too thick on those small font size words. Sometimes, the in consistency in design features and colors may lead to confusion and it put stress on the eyes of users. This may prevent them from surfing the website for long. For example, try to use similar color for the background throughout all the pages.
Conclusion
Pizza Hut has provides a common B2C commerce environment with use of advanced technology that enable the customer more convenient and accessible to buy the their products within a few clicks.
