Management Information System Assignment Exploring The Website Of Good Guys

Question

Task:
Select a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) that has a full-fledged e-commerce website. Explore the website carefully and address the following questions in your management information system assignment.

1. Briefly explain the company's business model.
2. Evaluate the strategic value of IT to the company.
3. Describe a possible data model (using ER diagram) behind the website.
4. Create a database in Microsoft Access according to your ER diagram. Take screenshots of your Access database and include at least five sample records for each table. Also do add the screenshot of ERD in access.
5. Perform one meaningful query in Access with the database you have created. Write down the query in SQL format and take screenshots of the dynamic web pages (NOT from Access!) to illustrate the query.
6. Make at least one suggestion to improve the interface of the website. Support your suggestion with previous academic research and/or actual business practices.
7. Discuss the challenges posed by corona virus on your chosen company and critically discuss how the company have used/can use internet technologies to overcome these challenges?

Answer

Introduction
The report on management information system assignment is prepared for discussing the e-commerce website design of the Good Guys. The project is entirely based on how a renowned electronics shop is running its e-commerce site. Here the report includes a brief discussion about the company, states about the business model, strategic value of the company to IT. It also illustrates the ERD model, discusses the data model. The report has a very clear presentation of the database design. It discusses how corona virus has affected the organization and how the organization can overcome these issues with help of the Internet. The Good Guys is a well-known SME that is known for the chain of customer electronic retail stores. The organization operates all over Australia. It has its national headquarter in Melbourne.

Business model of the Company
The stores of Good Guys are mainly operating in the form of joint venture partnerships among the individual store proprietors by corporatizing around 40% of the group. It can be stated that the JV model is proved to be successful. It is operating in such a way that store proprietors own almost half of store operation and is operating in the form of their own business. The stores of Good Guys are usually large warehouse stores which depend on the volume in sales. The organization is offering a monthly price guarantee while customers are finding a lower advertised price after purchase. It is capable of receiving a 120% refund for the difference in price between the two products. The organization has introduced a special program of "Concierge" throughout the Australian stores. It can be considered as a direct replacement for the "extended warranties" which the stores are having in place (thegoodguys.com.au., 2021). The competitor of Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi has been reported to be interested in buying a chain with a sum of around $750 million. The parties are capable of getting an agreement and the deal has not been finalized. It can be stated that the US Company Blackstone Group and Wesfarmers are expressing their interest in the purchase of the chain. Analysts are focusing on the business. The organization is having joint ownership for the stores and is likely to add complexity to the negotiations.

The organization, Good Guys has founded the Good Foundation collaborating with the state by considering the Government funding. The Foundation is encouraging and supporting programs as well as some initiatives which can help in improving the social and health welfare of communities throughout Australia. It can tackle diet, obesity, and poor nutrition after it raises awareness for the impact of issues faced in the health care system. The stores of Good Guys are participating in the Local Giving Program. A specific percentage of in-store and online transactions donates to the community organizations by the program. The community organization is found in the local area or the nearby areas around the store. Each of the stores is supporting at least one or more organizations and is featuring a token box. The customers, on the other hand, are interested in voting for the preferred charity by sharing a token along with a receipt for the corresponding slot.

The initial store of the Good Guys was launched in the northern suburbs of Melbourne by the year 1952. The philosophy of the company is all about attracting customers and doing well. Some of the care, as well as small acquisitions going on for the last few years, is providing a strong foundation. The organization was then renamed Good Guys by initiating a unique selling proposition Payless Pay Cash as well as an iconic TV commercial. This proposition and TV commercial help the company in national expansion. The Good Guys are now a household name after having a humble beginning. It has set a standard for the community demand, customer satisfaction by satisfying the customer demand. The customer-centric approach is making some reflections in the ongoing commitment of the organization for supporting, and strengthening the communities where it is operating. The organization is now a well-known market leader after receiving the most significant awards.

The number one electronics retailer of Australia, Good Guys has been awarded the most prestigious Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Award. The researchers have found some significant changes in the business by considering the acquisitions and corporatization by JB Hi-Fi. The unwavering commitment of Good Guys provides customers with the best service. It can be stated that customer service is an integral part of Good Guys where the organization continuously challenges them in improving the customer engagement model. It helps to create an enhanced relationship-based experience with customers. The working or operation team of Good Guys gives preferences to the customer satisfaction by considering the advertised prices. The organization

Strategic value to IT
One of the most used Google phrases for the last year was Bitcoin. People were very eager to know or to figure out what was it or how does it work also how to get in on the action. In a Bitcoin boom, we’re living; Initial Coin Offerings (IGOs) in 2017 more than $4billion has been raised. The average number of transactions of bitcoin which was estimated last year was 12,000 per hour. The investment, as well as the interest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, seems to be increasing. The whole world was talking, about the concern regulators globally expressed. Few words like a threat, heist, misleading, deceptive, criminal, scam, activities that are illegal, fraud, etc. are now taken into consideration. This surrounds cryptocurrency which floated in media also with the industry. Currently, Facebook imposed few rules for ads that are linked with cryptocurrency or bitcoin. These ads will get a ban also for new threats Google is monitoring ads. It has been quite difficult for the regulators to agree on the risk because of the fast-moving industry. By blockchain, the first distribution storage platform and a recent emotive brand are secured. A new path in the world of cryptocurrency was founded. The visual identity needs to be refreshed and also the brand needs to be differentiated so that they can present themselves as the good guys which will help them to prepare for their upcoming tokenized securities offering Which is also known as TSO (Ilbahar and Cebi, 2017). It is important to change the public opinion about cryptocurrency, bitcoin technologies, and cloud storage for a brand So that they can communicate their value and demand drive for their TSO.

The logos for the organization are taken into consideration for a visual identity. The developers are trying to modify the logos to let go of black, with the refreshed white space and bright color palette. It is simply clear an open as well as bright being your visual identity. This can be considered as an antidote to the competitors and as well as a style that mirrored the people how they wanted to feel about their brand. Sia's vision for the blockchain has been seen that the brand focused on building transparency and priority around the technology and also explained how dis blockchain will support the better way to store the data. For the future and act with the long-term aspiration in mind, seer knew that they had to share their vision openly. As business went public the leadership team was committed to maintaining its idols and ethics so that it can continue to progress in the market (Wilson et al., 2019). The brand messaging truth has been put in front of us so that it can show its importance. People always bring preconceived notions to the table. The role of the organization is to differentiate it from the negativity and also to shift the perception. Boldness, clarity, transparency are required highly for this.

Data Model

Figure: ERD
(Source: created by the learner)

In this above Entity-Relationship diagram, eight entities have been selected. They are named as register, login, user, order, category, item, payment, and feedback. In the first entity register, r_ID is the primary key, and r_name, r_mobile, r_email, and r_address are candidate keys. The register has been connected with login where I_ID is the primary key and I_r_ID is the foreign key. Here, I_username and I_password are candidate keys. The third entity is the user and connected with login, order, and feedback. u_ID is the primary key, u_firstname, u_lastname, u_address, u_city, u_pincode, u_mobile, u_email, u_password, and u_entrydate are candidate keys. I_ID is the foreign key. In the next entity order, o_ID is the primary key, and u_ID, and i_ID is the foreign key. O_iname, o_qnt, o_price, o_Tprice, o_status, and o_entrydate are candidate keys. It has connected with the next entity item. One primary key i_ID and some candidate keys such as i_name, i_detail, i_price, i_qnt, and foreign keys also like i_entrydate, and c_ID. The next interconnected entity is a payment where p_ID is the primary key. u_ID and i_ID are foreign keys. Some candidate keys are present here such as p_amount, p_type, p_bank, p_branch, p_cardno, p_cvv, p_entrydate. Item entity has connected with the category entity where c_ID is the foreign key and c_name is the candidate key. User entity has connected with feedback where f_ID is the primary key. u_ID is the foreign key. f_message, and f_entrydate are candidate keys.

Database

Query

Suggestion for improving interface of the website
The organization, Good Guys is synonymous with being the largest electrical and electronics appliance retailer. It operates around 103 stores throughout regional and metropolitan Australia. The core responsibilities of the organization are all about improving an excellent customer experience and evaluating customer feedback besides establishing, promoting design guidelines and more.

According to several surveys and studies, it can be stated that for an electronics e-commerce website, the creation of an eCommerce website becomes difficult. It needs too much effort, money, and time. There are a lot of things to perform. The researchers have mentioned the most significant steps for initiating an e-commerce business for electronics shopping. One of the most significant steps is the selection of the appropriate platform for the electronics e-commerce store. There are several choices for an e-commerce platform. The organization can opt for Magento for developing an electronics e-commerce store. Magento is a popular e-commerce platform. It is categorized into 2 editions (Asih et al., 2019). One is the Magento Commerce and another one is Magento Open Source. Magento is providing some fundamental e-commerce features which are somewhat important for the Good Guys. The flexibility of Magento and the customizable impact is undoubtedly effectual. The website design of Magento is quite responsive as well as mobile-friendly. It can be stated that Magento is enabling multi-currency, multi-language, multi-store features. It is also offering a professional dashboard for site management. This application is effective for the SEO that is the most significant for the e-commerce website of the electronics store.

Good Guys must be well-prepared with the budget and need to draw a rough estimation of the budget required to create the e-commerce website. The price or budget of developing an e-commerce website for the Good Guys and sell products or electronics item online varies, depending upon the factors chosen for the selected platform. The requirements for the various functionalities as well as the website design changes accordingly. If the Good Guys plan of developing a simple online electronics store, it will cost around $2000- to a max of $5000. It may require a maximum of 3 months for developing the e-commerce website. To plan for a website design without having a rough estimation is accepted. There are two options for e-commerce website design (Liew et al., 2017). The organization can develop the site by considering a template of the electronics e-commerce website. They can either download or can also purchase a template from the theme markets. All the organization need is installing the application on the site and making customization when needed. There are some paid electronics templates whereas some templates are free. It can be considered an appropriate method for the Good Guys since it is an SME having a tight budget. This quick design solution will help the organization in performing its operations much effectively.

Developing an e-commerce website and running the business successfully with it, requires a unique design. The design will help the organization in standing out differently and competing with others. It is considered to be an ideal solution. It requires a significant percentage of time for developing the design with help of web designers. It needs more time for considering the PSD design. It requires a higher cost in order to set an e-commerce business. Each of the electronics stores is having a specific list of requirements. The organization requires providing clarification before they move to other significant steps. Some of the elements considered for the website functionalities are checkout flow, currency, language, page speed, banner, login credentials, email templates, third party integrations, payment methods, and many more. The organization can purchase or register for a domain before they initiate with design and development process of the eCommerce electronic store (Kühn and Petzer, 2018). The cost required to acquire a new domain is not significant however there are some desirable domains. The Good Guys might require selecting their host immediately once they are ready with the list of the most reliable hosting service rather than opting for a domain. The organization can ignore the domain selection step in case they opt for the hosted service. The options of the shipping carrier and payment gateway are also significant for the website.

The organization can imagine the online electronics store after considering all the steps mentioned before. They are having different ideas and plans on their mind. They can probably try hiring a website development agency for turning the ideas into reality and implementing the operations effectively. When the organization has a good plan for developing the e-commerce website, choosing the project implementation as well as the appropriate web agency becomes easier. The agency becomes responsible for providing a detailed project proposal as well as a timeline before they initiate the operations (bt Mohd and Zaaba, 2019). The professional agency shares weekly reports for keeping the organization updated about the progress in the project.

Challenges faced due to coronavirus
Due to coronavirus, various challenges are getting faced by both customers and sellers. In this pandemic, some stores remain open by strictly following social distancing and cleaning in their stores. They have been advised to wear facemasks in store. The government advises that, if someone visited the various location at this time, he must have to test as soon as possible. He also needs to quarantine till he gets his result negative ensuring safety regarding their team and for their consumers. While visiting their stores, customers are requested to check-in through the COVID QR code. It is visible to the entry area of the store. They also suggest doing a manual check-in register if customers do not have a smartphone. Some stores have been reopened after a deep cleaning. To make shopping easier for all consumers, stores are introducing a new advanced drive-up option (Ritonummi, 2020). They are highly recommended to stay in their car while the store will do their needful to get their purchase faster and safer.

Strict safety measures are implemented, which includes personal hygiene and other procedures like social distancing also. They recommended more ways of contactless delivery and other options. They are introducing better ways of dealing with their sales team. They keep updating their consumers to help them for better understanding. Also helps to keep family of consumers and their team member safe and secure. They started contactless delivery includes delivery of goods to their doorstep and also to a safe location. They have introduced a photo record instead of a signature for contactless delivery. Delivery crews are requested to maintain social distancing while loading products on their vehicles from the warehouses. While interacting with consumers, they are advised to maintain all hygiene. They are instructed to carry sanitizer or had a towel along with their vehicles and have to be aware of hand hygiene. While delivering any product, they will ask consumers if there is anyone affected in their house. They also asked if any member is in self-isolation or there is any suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case. For any of these above suspicions, they will offer a contactless delivery. If consumers are facing any health issues, a later delivery will be attempted by the store.

Due to the higher demand all over the country, some delivery delays have taken place. Consumers are receiving tracing id which has been generated by the logistic team of the store. They also receive emails and SMS which helps them by keep updating about their product. Some restrictions have been made due to the high demand for products. Trial express contactless delivery has been introduced to get the product on the day of ordering for some products which are higher in demand. For premium delivery services, some safety process of sanitizing has been implemented which will be removing old products from their premises. The store is asking to allow space for their entire team to perform all sanitizing procedures maintaining all guidelines of social distancing (Hessain, 2017).

Some questions are frequently asked by consumers. They are like if they are needed to create an account before purchasing online if they will forget their given passwords what they will do next, how they can track their order, how they can cancel their products if there is any possibility to delay their product delivery and many more. They have some queries related to their delivery such as if they are eligible to make next day delivery if there is any chance of premium delivery, how long it will take to deliver their products, and so on. Some consumers are not aware of the click and collect option. They doubt their click and collect the order. On the other hand, Some consumers have demanded a copy of the tax invoice of their order. Few people are not aware of bonus offers and promotions. they don't know how they can use a promotional code online or if they are receiving any bonus or gift card while shopping. Sakes of the Good guys have been rushed during the lockdown of COVID-19. Total sales of the retailer have been growing by 12% appropriately (Pryor et al., 2017). Through the year sales momentum has been increased. They are enhanced as consumers are spending more time learning and working. During this COVID-19 pandemic, online channels of the Good Guys’ are rising. Their online sales are increasing by 33% and represent the total sale. They are plans to add some new brands for their portable appliances like SMEG and Miele. Retrials are trying to expand their Telco products and their services by their partnership.

Utilisation of Internet for overcoming the issues faced
The researchers aim at developing a sustainability framework for SMEs like the Good Guys. The small to middle-sized enterprises are usually found to be most vulnerable to the covid-19 impact. The introduction of social distancing is restricting people from going out by decreasing the sales turnover of the organization. The organization requires changing the mindset of running the business by considering the transformation of technology. It will maintain the sustainability of the Good Guys. The organization is aware of the digital skills which have relevance to the business. Online business is capable of resulting sustainability in business for the covid-19 situation (Papadopoulos et al., 2020).

It requires a digital approach for having a digital transformation. The government has planned a stimulus for SMEs so that it helps to survive with debt repayment delays and by avoiding a drastic reduction which is observed in the sales turnover. The Australian Government helps in handling complaints like the distribution of products and many more. The actors of Good Guys are carrying out the business strategies in such a way that the income gets stable. It can be expected that the actors are capable of making strategic business decisions according to the data. This may be prudent for pursuing business financial management.

Technology is playing a significant role in the sustainability of operations within the company. Adoption of cloud-based technology along with the use of accounting software is recommendable. It simplifies the business operations and helps the owners in monitoring and accessing financial reports securely as well as at affordable costs. The organization is capable of getting access to the systems which are including tracking of expenses, sales, and inventory with the creation of workflows which are saving the valuable time of the organization (Jovic et al., 2020). Cloud-based accounting services are hence utilized as an alternative for driving business growth. Efforts are needed for the digital economic ecosystem. It provides opportunities for innovation and transformation. The Internet is having comparatively higher data throughput rates since people staying at home are consuming videos and are performing teleconferences whereas the Internet of Things is not having the same impact. IoT devices run and send the same amount of data by considering the priority of the crisis. It does not affect the core networks.

Conclusion
The online business plan is providing some details of the proposed project or the website design by meeting all the expected needs and considering the unique nature of the electronic eCommerce. The plan provides an outline of how the organization takes advantage of the eCommerce site for gaining greater efficiencies. The organization is likely to use EDI, EFT, Email, and the internet for easier operations. Implementation of the e-commerce site is creating an environment for helping the supplier in providing more value-added services. E-commerce is gaining ground in the form of a business paradigm.

An online store is a virtual store on the Internet where users can go through and choose products as per their and interest. The chosen items may be stored in a shopping cart. During the checkout time, the products in the shopping cart will be shown as a request. Normally, the users will be asked to fill or select a shipping address, a delivery alternative, and payment options while checkout. Any person can register and can check some accessible items. Only enlisted users are capable of purchasing various items by paying to amount. There are some significant categories like User and Admin. Users can go through accessible items. The user is capable of viewing and buying items. An Admin looks into the additional advantage. Admin is capable of adding items, altering item data, and adding/eliminating items. Admin is capable of checking shopping cart configuration.

The website does not have a proper shopping cart feature. It ought to be advantageous for the user. The developers are working on portraying shopping cart features and give various highlights that are intended to make the users more agreeable. This project helps in understanding the formation of an intuitive web page and the technologies or features used to actualize it. The project also incorporates Data Model and delineates how the data set is working with various tables, and how the information is stored and handled from the tables. The structure of the website provides exact information about how ASP.NET is utilized to build up a site, how it interfaces with the data set to get to the information, and how the information and web pages are altered to attract users with an enhanced shopping cart feature.

References
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Pryor, M., Millar, G.C., McNamara, A., Kaufman, L. and McLaughlin, A.C., 2017, September. Creating content guidelines for consistent display of information on an ecommerce website. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 1834-1838). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.

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