Background of Company -
The Chinese Books Cyberstore (CBC) is a subsidiary of ITVentures Ltd., a company focussing on Internet, e-Commerce and multimedia technologies. CBC was established in early 1997 and is one of the first online Chinese language booksellers.
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Since inception, CBC has modeled itself on Amazon.com as an Internet retailer selling products such as books, music and videos without brick-and-mortar stores.
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CBC started with the business of selling Chinese books online to customers all over the world. Over the past two to three years, CBC has accumulated an extensive database of book titles from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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In January 1999, CBC won the “1998 My Favourite Web site – Business Category”, an award based on open online voting organised by the Sing Tao Daily in Hong Kong.
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CBC launched its web site in mid 1997. Since then, CBC has built an extensive database of Chinese language books. CBC has also expanded beyond books to cover collections of music, videos, comics, hi-tech products, gifts and Chinese arts in its product offerings.
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To attract and retain customers, CBC publishes reading guides, bestsellers' chart, book reviews and product recommendation, and other product related information on its web site.
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To enhance customer services, registered users can establish their own personalized bookstore according to their interests. They may also participate in CBC chat rooms.
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Security of payment transactions over Internet is ensured through the use of Secure Socket Layer technology.
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Ordered products are delivered to the customers using postal and courier services.
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Market reach: the globalisation of Internet enables an e-retailer like CBC to reach millions of customers worldwide without the heavy investment in capital and human resources associated with establishing physical stores.
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Selection of products: without the physical limitation of a brick and mortar store, product selections can be much wider. Bundling of goods for promotional and other purpose can be implemented easily. By means of cyberstore, the number of book titles selected by CBC can be several fold that of a typical bookstore.
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One-to-one marketing: making use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software capabilities, customer profile and transaction data can be vigorously collected for one-to-one marketing.
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Rich and consistent information: rich product information can be delivered in a consistent manner to all customers without the burden of training up sales staff.
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Self-service: self-service provides the highest level of customer comfort.
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| Challenges encountered on promoting E-Commerce -
Maintaining first mover advantage: due to the low barrier of entry into the e-commerce world, it is of paramount importance that CBC maintains its first mover advantage.
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Agility: as CBC grows, it must remain agile to constantly and quickly adopt to the rapidly changing e-commerce environment in terms of technology, customer behaviour, and regulations.
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Excellence in operations: inventory management, timely and accurate order fulfilment, and quality customer services are all critical success factors.
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Trust: trusted brand names are of significance in the cyber environment. CBC must continue to earn the trust of its customers through operational excellence and brand building.
Future Plan on E-Commerce
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CBC's vision is to become the dominant e-commerce destination for Chinese products and services worldwide.
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