What is e-Commerce?
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-Commerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Due to the widespread of using the Internet, the amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web in part of their transaction, although it can also encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.
E-commerce is conducted under 3 categories:
- Business to Business (B2B)
A term commonly used to describe commerce transactions between businesses, as opposed to those between businesses and other groups, such as business and individual consumers (B2C)
- Business to Consumers (B2C)
A term used to describe activities of businesses serving end consumers with products and/or services.
- Consumers to Consumers (C2C)
It involves the electronically-facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. The sites are only intermediaries, just there to match consumers. They do not have to check quality of the products being offered.
IntroductionStarted out in the year 2005, eGrocy.com welcome users to browse shopping aisles, view product details and buy products online. However, only registered customers are able to place orders through eGrocy.com. Guest shoppers may only browse but cannot place orders.
eGrocy.com stand by what they sell. They claim that customers will be able to own only the most authentic, quality products from them.
Purpose of website
The purpose of eGrocy.com is to allow consumers to purchase their groceries online at a cheaper price than the various supermarkets in Singapore, save the consumers’ time to go to the supermarket to buy and also at their own time and pleasure. eGrocy.com offers very low rates across the various products to allow consumers to save money on their daily necessities such as rice, oil, fruits etc. They also enable users to create and save their own shopping list and use them for repeat orders throughout the term of their uses. Payments can be made easily by cash or cheque when they deliver the groceries to the users’ houses. The products offered are also of quality and they can be viewed by category or brands.
Features of Website
eGrocy’s business model is Business-to-Consumer (B2C) as it deals directly with the customers.
eGrocy’s website uses images with vibrating colors to attract customers when browsing through their homepage and loading-time of the page is short. The website eases convenience for professional singles and working mothers who are busy for grocery shopping by using the flow of space.
Useful information like which items on discounts are shown in the "Best Buy" and "Promotions" tabs that inform customers on which items are more worth buying.
Orders, Payment & Delivery
At eGrocy.com, there are four easy ways to place your order.
Customers can choose any one of the following way:
1. Online Ordering
2. Phone Ordering - 9272 7460
3. SMS Ordering - 9272 7460
4. FAX Ordering - 6512 5303
In order to click and buy the groceries online, one has to sign up for membership online in order to enjoy delivery at doorstep, in which they will need to provide a user-id for login purposes. After which, a password will be sent to their email address. This feature provides security and accessibility for customers’ details as they are shopping online.
eGrocy.com website makes online shopping easier for their members by allowing them to create “Personal Shopping List” for repeat purchases, saving customers' time.
Furthermore, customers can sign up for the eGrocy.com newsletter which gives updated information to all members about new products, product discounts, special offers, changes in the website, promotional announcements, etc.
Payment
Payment can be made either by CASH or CHEQUE at the time of delivery.
Delivery
Delivery is free for orders above S$60 and above. Minimum order for delivery is S$ 40, delivery charge of S$5 will be charged for orders between S$40 and S$59.99.
eGrocy deliver 6 days a week, currently there is no delivery on Sunday and Public Holidays.
Amendments to orders can be made via sending email to the support with the changes. Please note the order number, your name, and phone number in the email. Email must be sent at least 6 working hours before the scheduled delivery time.
Support email address: support@egrocy.com
Frequent Shoppers Reward Program
At eGrocy.com, a “Frequent Shoppers Reward Program” is introduced that pamper and reward their customers. eGrocy rewards customers with three different reward programs and customers can redeem accumulated points for fascinating free gifts.
1) Bonus Points for Registration
eGrocy has a unique way of recognizing member, by awarding 100 bonus points for registering with them.
2) Reward Points for purchases
With every $1 the customers spend in eGrocy, they will earn one point which can be redeemed. Thus, earn points for spending in eGrocy at the rate of 1 point for ever S$1. These accumulated points can be redeemed for exciting gifts.
3) Additional Points for referring a friend.
Customers will able to earn more bonus points by referring a friend to eGrocy. They will be awarded point’s equivalent to their friend’s first order.
Strengths of eGrocy.com
The website is user-friendly as easy navigation through the website aids customers in getting what they want. They can even select one of five different languages for the product names.
The website is well-organised with links such as categories and search functions to assist users to find information more efficiently. Products can be viewed by category or brands. Customers can also search by entering the name of the products.
The website provides great convenience for customers as they able to create your own shopping list and use them for repeat orders. Their previous orders can be used to place order again.
The "Frequent Shoppers Reward Program" values customers by rewarding returning customers. It allows the customers to feel satisfied after making their purchases from eGrocy.
In order to improve their customers’ shopping experience in the online store, that is why eGrocy allows feedback on the website for any suggestions or for improvements to enhance the shopping pleasure even more.
To make it convenient by clearing the doubts of customers straight away, eGrocy answers to frequently asked questions and guide customers with instructions on how to shop online at the ‘Help’ corner. The ‘Help’ corner is sub-divided into various headings for easy reference.
For example,
Weaknesses of eGrocy.com
The weaknesses of eGrocy.com are that it does not offer all the products and brands that you can find in the supermarkets. They only featured major brands and common products that consumers need in their daily life. Consumers do not get to choose their products, for example, a bunch of bananas. As we know bananas are perishable goods that do not last for more than a week, the consumer does not know the remaining life of the bananas and also in what state the bananas is in. Like how many days has the bananas been in their hands and how rotten it is etc.
The delivery schedule is not sending daily to all the locations in Singapore. Those who are living in the North and South sectors of Singapore will not have deliveries made to them unlike those who are staying in the West and East sectors of Singapore. Furthermore, there will not be deliveries made on Mondays and public holidays. You have to place your orders before 2pm on the previous day to ensure that you can get your groceries by the next working day of eGrocy.com delivery schedule. This is a weakness due to that consumers can go down to the supermarket giants in Singapore if they need the items urgently and also if it is not that much groceries that they need. As the consumers need to purchase above $60 for free delivery service, those that do not purchased up to $60 will have to pay delivery fee of S$5.
Critical Analysis
On comparison with other online grocery stores, such as Cold Storage online and NTUC FairPrice, eGrocy.com might lose out to these supermarkets giants as its brand name is not as establish as compared to theirs. Only those customers who are Internet savvy will have a chance to get to know about this website as it is a virtual store unlike Cold Storage and NTUC FairPrice.
Some customers may wish to pay via credit cards to their convenience however eGrocy.com does not provide this service. eGrocy.com may consider introducing credit card payment and secured by VeriSign, the global leader in online security for e-commerce payments.
eGrocy.com try to attract their consumers by introducing rewards system for their customers who buy their goods online. For those consumers that purchased a certain amount of groceries will get free delivery and gifts. By using reward points, eGrocy.com rewards customers by having this policy of “buy $1 you will get 1 reward point”. When the customer has retained a certain amount of points, they can use them to exchange for items.
One of the most significant qualities of eGrocy.com is that it takes into account Customer Relation Management (CRM) which its effective customer relation policies help to retain and meet the demands of customers. This quality will bring the website to a further level.
Overall, eGrocy.com has successfully incorporated E-commerce into their business model. They have certainly assisted consumers in saving both time and money, making it more convenient for them to shop and buy online.