The finance and procurement departments work hand in hand to avail the materials and equipment needed for the project to run smoothly and effectively. The procurement department makes purchases according to requisitions made by the IT department. They determine the quality of supplies and the timeliness of those supplies. They play a key role in determining how soon the project will be completed. Other key stakeholders are consumers. They are directly affected by the project and determine whether or not the project will be successful. Any organization implementing an online shopping platform has to consider whether its customers will be positively or adversely affected by the project and how well it will serve their needs. For example, an organization whose clients are majorly the elderly will have a difficult time implementing an online shopping system. Customers will likely need access to the internet or knowledge of how to use the system. As a result, implementing such a system will affect them adversely, and if an alternative like an outlet store compensates for it, the organization will retain its customers (Zheng, 2019). On the other hand, an organization whose majority of customers are youths is likely to reap much from an online shopping system because many customers will have full-time access to the system.
Other primary stakeholders include the marketing department, investors, and suppliers. The marketing department will have to change or at least modify its marketing strategies to meet organizational sales goals. Out-of-shelf discounts and offers will need to be taken online to appeal to customers. More marketing will need to focus intensely on popularizing the online platform and creating extensive awareness. On the same note, sales, and marketing agents will be adversely affected because the organization will require less of their services (Freeman, 2019). They are likely to experience financial losses by becoming unemployed. On the contrary, search engine optimizers and affiliate and social media marketers will more likely benefit from the system. The organization will require more of them in its operations.
Suppliers will benefit financially by cutting costs and making operations more efficient and effective. The process of making purchases will be much faster and easier. Besides, fewer resources will be deployed to market their products since most services will be available at the click of a button cost (Varvasovszky & Brugha, 2018). There will be an easier comparison of products and prices, simplified communication between clients and the business, and feedback acquisition. Investors can analyze and understand the business’s operations and how good or bad the customers feel about the products and services they receive through such forums as frequently asked questions and customer feedback.
Secondary stakeholders include competitors, the government, banks, local communities, and business regulators. Competitors are affected by implementing an online shopping strategy because the shift enables the organization to compete more effectively, reaching out to a bigger population and making more sales. With an increased sales volume, the profit margin is increased, and there is an increased ability to reduce marketing costs (Varvasovszky & Brugha, 2018). In return, more discounts and profits are experienced. Competitors might have to develop a strategy to cope with the new adversity by retaining their customers and attracting potential customers.
Banks will also be affected since modes of payment will change. Online shopping calls for internet and mobile banking instead of cash. As a result, fewer people will queue in banks and ATMs for withdrawals. This means that withdrawal charges will reduce, and the human capital required in the banks will also be affected. In the long run, financial institutions will either gain or lose depending on the result of the implementation. If reducing human capital will save more money than the losses incurred on eliminating withdrawal charges, then they will make a profit. Otherwise, a loss will be made. Direct interaction between banks and their clients will also be greatly reduced since they will not have to visit their branches. Business regulators will have to change their mode of operations because with online shopping, tracking and moderating business operations will require implementing new strategies. Besides, local communities rely on out-of-shelf operations for casual jobs like transport and marketing, among others (Zheng, 2019). Applying online shopping strategies means that such job opportunities will reduce drastically. There will be lower levels of employment and income.
An online shopping system is a revolution in the business industry. It calls for the automation of most processes like marketing, logistics, and finance, among other operations. There are three major categories of stakeholders in the system; key stakeholders, primary stakeholders, and secondary stakeholders. However, key stakeholders are a part of the primary stakeholders. Primary stakeholders are either affected directly or affect the project directly. The stakeholders have an interest either financially or emotionally. They either gain or lose from the venture. Several stakeholders benefit from an online shopping system, while others are adversely affected.
References
Brugha, R., & Varvasovszky, Z. (2020). Stakeholder analysis: a review. Business policy and planning, 15(3), 239-246.
Freeman, R. E. (2019). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Indiana
University.
Varvasovszky, Z., & Brugha, R. (2018). A stakeholder analysis. Health policy and planning, 15(3), 338-345.
Zheng, Y. (2019, September). Multi-stakeholder recommendations: case studies, methods, and challenges. In Proceedings of the 13th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (pp. 578–579).
write