This is the first group assignment from BI5691 Network organization. As part of the assignment we were asked to select a company, discuss supply(buy) / sell side of the company, construct a map for it, evaluate advantages and make suggestions for improvement.
"Firebox.com was founded by Michael Smith and Tom Boardman in 1998 as http://hotbox.co.uk/, then in 1999 it moved to London and relaunched as http://firebox.com/". (Available: http://firebox.com/ Accessed 16:05,12-Oct-2010).
Business model of firebox is an online shopping website like Ebay & argos with the selling point – Unique products. firebox head office and distribution centre located in South London and the staff grew from 2 to over 30 member separated into several teams (buying & merchandising, corporate Sales, Stock Control, Marketing, public Relations,Finance&Accounts,Technical,design and customer services）
"At present firebox website attracts nearly 10 million visits and serves 48 million impressions annually, sent out a fortnightly to over 550,000 recipients, publish catalogue 's with an annual subscription exceeding 7 million copies and it supplies innovative gifts to several companies". (Available: http://firebox.com/ Accessed 19:37, 14Oct2010 ).
Supply (buy) / Sell Side Diagram
Following is a visual representation of current state of firebox (Portrayed as a supply (buy) / sell diagram - Firebox).
*Please click on the image to maximize
Summary of Supply (buy) / Sell
Supply (buy) Side: Company has direct contracts with some contract suppliers. Also firebox has a product search team which travels around the world to find “gifts with a twist” which is unavoidable due to nature of the products they sell. In firebox words “Products that are inspirational, quirky, bizarre and downright fun”. As a result of this unique product strategy it is difficult to stick with limited number of suppliers and a constant search for unique products is unavoidable.
Sell Side: Firebox has different sales channels for reaching customers.
Online: Sales through their main UK website http://firebox.com/
Mail Order: Company distributes a large number of brochures and catalogues to existing and prospective customers and they call mail order these items from firebox.
Wholesale: Firebox offers its branded products to several retailers in order to increase its reach. It provides whole sale rates to these independent retailers and they set price for the product and sell through their channels.
Corporate Channel: Firebox offers its branded and corporate branded products to variety of companies which they use for gifts and rewards. Based on the requirements and specification of its corporate customers firefox find unique products with a touch of their corporate customers.
How can hotbox improve either side (buy/sell)
Firebox could use lot of new options to improve their customer experience and market exposure of the company. Following are a few to name.
Wider Reach without loosing uniqueness: The main selling point of the Firebox Company is selling unique products. However, it will only attract fewer customers in the market as they tend to cost more. To tackle this, when a customer identifies a product from firebox.com company could show similar (less unique)products with a cheaper price. This will ensure prospective customers wont leave site only because of the price factor.
Involving customers : Firebox can provide a suggestion board or organize an annual competition for new product design (C2B).
Rating system for new products: As soon as firebox has a new unique product, they can publish pictures of product to loyal customers and collect feedback. This will help firebox to find which products are more attractive. It will also reduces the cost for producing more unappealing products.
Involving customers : Firebox can provide a suggestion board or organize an annual competition for new product design (C2B).
Rating system for new products: As soon as firebox has a new unique product, they can publish pictures of product to loyal customers and collect feedback. This will help firebox to find which products are more attractive. It will also reduces the cost for producing more unappealing products.
RSS feeds & Search engine optimization: Firebox currently concentrate on search engine listing but search keywords usually used by prospective customers are not included in search optimization (eg: unique gifts, gift ideas, unusual gifts etc..).Really Simple Syndication feeds are very useful for companies like Firebox. Company could use its small news feeds to deliver new product details and updates to customers.
Visibility: They could sponsor prizes for sporting events or weekly news paper competitions to increase visibility.
New Markets: Firebox should open more localized websites to increase exposure in new markets.This also help customers to tackle language barrier.
firebox fits in a variety of e-business models within Chaffey. Buy side fits in to B2B model as company receives most of its services from business service providers. Sell side fits in to B2B and B2C models. Customer rating may help company to add value by avoiding unpopular products and thus increasing profits.Search keyword optimization is highly recommended.
Appendix: How we did it
Day 1: Individuals had been randomly assigned to groups. Our group consists of Aida, Shao Hau, Chen and Santosh. We were encouraged to discuss a company and eventually it was decided that the company Zopa would be the focus of our discussions. Zopa is website dedicated to match money lenders with borrowers. It was agreed that we individually were to research this company and come up with suggestion on how the company’s business model could be improved upon and also find out what weaknesses it may have.
Day 2: After some initial discussion about Zopa, we determined that the business model was flawed in the way that it essentially alienated a great portion of an age demographic, that would be most likely to use the website. We also determined that the business model provided a greater advantage and value to the borrower as opposed to the lender. Despite getting matched with a suitable borrower that had been through a vetting process, the lender was still at greater risk of losing money through this transaction.
The group felt after the assessment of Zopa that attention should be directed at a different company. The company Firebox was chosen. Firebox is an online retailer of quirky and unusual products. It is based in the UK where it has its main following.
During this meeting it was agreed that each of us would choose an aspect of the company, do research on it and write a section describing weaknesses and suggest possible improvements. These individual parts would be written into a cohesive piece intended for the group blog. Group blog was created on day 2 and access details were shared within the group.
Day 3: Group had a meeting after Wednesday morning lecture to discuss all findings, noted relevant points from each other and entered individual parts to the blog.
Day 4: Blog had additional entries made after some more discussion involving how to maximize the selection of products by bridging the gap between what products Firebox should stock and what the customers actually would like to buy. Also methods for encouraging innovation and serving customer preferences and importance of encouraging website loyalty was brought up.
Posting was kept as a draft until final consensus reached.
I like the level of detail with the background of the case. And of course the process that you followed! It seems now you are in a better position to understand how companies organise themselves. In the next week(s) we will try to address ways of making sure companies decide to network. Well done guys, now you have become a group in cyberspace!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Extremely impressive work guys! The approach you have taken for this task will be beneficial for you in your upcoming tasks and coursework.
ReplyDeleteYou have distinguished well between the buy-side and sell side of Firebox in the diagram and further explained this in the descriptions. The discussion, about strategy/unique selling point of Firebox i.e. developed around unique products, is well presented.
Very interesting suggestions of how the buy/sell side of Firebox can be improved, i.e. product recommendations, customer feedback, SEO, RSS, website localisation etc. However, I have noticed you focus primarily on the sell-side. You could look further into how the company could improve the supply-side processes...?
The amount of time and effort put into the task is evident - well done!
I wonder now if within the strategy of Firebox there is an explicit reference to 'being unique'. You might like to consider this in your current homework.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
JR