線下至線上企業模式之研究 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學資訊管理學系. 碩士學位論文指導教授：尚孝純博士. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 線下至線上企業模式之研究. ‧. sit. y. Nat. Understanding Critical Success Factors of n. al. er. io. Offline to Online Business Model Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生：李立晟中華民國 105 年 7 月.

(2) 論文致謝對於自己人生中的第一本著作，內心除了覺得不可思議之外，無非就是滿滿的感謝。首先，要感謝我的指導教授-尚孝純老師，除了在研究所的課堂中交予我各式各樣國內外創新的案例及想法外，也在我對於研究方向一籌莫展時，給予我許多的建議，並介紹業界的學長姐，讓我能順利完成此次的訪談及研究。以個案研究來說，最困難的階段絕不是最終的資料分析及統整，而是找尋企業受訪者的過程。最初，我滿懷著希望，向各大企業的客服投遞了訪談信及大綱，沒想到過了好幾個星期仍然音訊全無，後來靠著親朋好友及老師的協助，. 政治大. 才順利地訪談完10家企業。在此要感謝屈臣氏、美體小舖、華南銀行、Uni. 立. 家及幫忙引薦的人，是你們和我一起完成了這本著作。. 學. ‧ 國. Café、可樂旅遊、普雷伊、永慶房屋、遠流出版、家樂福、橋登、各位產業專. ‧. 企業訪談的過程，對我而言就像是在尋寶，想要滿載而歸，就必須先對目標有. sit. y. Nat. 一定的了解，因此在訪談前，我都會先上網蒐集相關資料，讓訪談當天不只是. io. n. al. er. 受訪者單方面的付出，而是互相分享資訊的過程。. i n U. v. 同時，也要感謝時常在LAB出沒的大家，是你們豐富了我的研究生活，讓我在. Ch. engchi. 做研究的時候不至於太過苦悶。此外，已經在工作的女友也是我正面能量的來源，她總是相信我，並給予我很大的鼓勵，在此我想對她說一聲：妳辛苦了！最後，我想要感謝一直在身邊陪伴我的家人，平時他們賦予我高度的自主性，讓我做想做的事情，並給予我莫大的支持。在我需要協助時，他們也總是二話不說地就跳出來幫忙，謝謝你們，沒有你們，就沒有現在的我，我愛你們。. I.

(3) Abstract The convenience of the Internet brings many business opportunities to various enterprises. Physical enterprises can not only reach potential customers all over the world, but they can also display many more types of products and services through the Internet to satisfy different customers’ needs. However, although more enterprises are shifting to online sales, a considerable number of companies only provide basic information and functionality rather than extensive interactive features or support for every phase of a transaction, and thus, the value-added of the online store is not. 政治大 factors (CSFs) for building立 an offline-to-online business model.. significant. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the critical success. ‧ 國. 學. Based on the literature, this study builds a framework with two stages: (1) Before Launch Stage—online store planning, designing and implementing; and (2) After. ‧. Launch Stage—online store management. Moreover, we classify the CSFs into three. sit. y. Nat. dimensions: (1) Technology Dimension; (2) Management Dimension; and (3). n. al. er. io. Organization Dimension. Then, we conduct in-depth case studies on selected. i n U. v. companies to investigate CSFs for effective offline-to-online establishment.. Ch. engchi. The final lists of CSFs include two factors of technology dimension before launchedcontinuous IT investment and design user-friendly interface; four factors of management dimension before launched- strong support by top management, choose appropriate online platforms, set clear key performance Indicators (KPI) and cooperate with suppliers closely; two factors of organization dimension before launchedcontinuous IT process investment, frequent communication and coordination among organizations; one factor of technology dimension after launched- analyze consumer behavior continuously; one factor of management dimension after launched- maintain customer relationships effectively; two factors II.

(4) of organization dimension after launchedcontinuous process enhancement and continuous service innovation. The research result not only provides a complete overview but also verify and enhance the list of CSFs for building an offline-to-online business model. This study aims to gain a better understanding of the offline-to-online business model from these cases and thus help companies develop effective plans for offline-to-online projects.. Keyword: offline-to-online, offline, online, critical success factors (CSFs), business model. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. III. i n U. v.

(5) 摘要網際網路的興起為買賣雙方帶來相當大的便利性，尤其是為企業創造了許多機會。實體企業不只能透過網路接觸到全球各地的消費者，此外更沒有店面坪數的限制，能銷售更多元的產品及服務以滿足不同消費者的需求。然而，很多企業在成立線上商店的過程中並沒有進行妥善的管理，出現了網站功能不足及消費者體驗不佳等問題，也使得線上商店在營收上沒有辦法為企業帶來顯著的成長。因此，本研究想了解實體企業必須具備哪些關鍵成功要素，才能成功地在線上開設商店。. 政治大資訊系統的分類框架，一共分為三大面向，分別是資訊，管理及組織面向。此立. 本研究採用的是Laudon & Laudon (2014)在<<管理資訊系統>>一書中分析及檢視. ‧ 國. 學. 外，本研究也將線上商店的建置分為兩大階段，分別是上線前及上線後。上線前包含線上商店的規劃，設計及建置，上線後則須重視線上商店的管理。. ‧. 本研究採用多重個案分析，透過深度的企業訪談及資料蒐集，最後歸納整理出. y. Nat. io. sit. 關鍵成功要素的列表。在上線前，企業在科技面向須持續投資IT、設計使用者. n. al. er. 友善的介面；在管理面向須獲得高階管理者的支持、選擇適當的線上平台、設. Ch. i n U. v. 定明確的關鍵績效指標，並與供應商保持密切的合作；在組織面向須持續投資. engchi. IT流程、確保組織間頻繁的溝通和協調；在上線後，企業在科技面向須持續分析消費者的行為；在管理面向須有效地維繫顧客關係；在組織面向則須持續進行流程的優化及服務的創新。最終，本研究建立了從線下到線上經營的關鍵成功因素列表，它為實體企業的管理者提供了一個全面性的概述，也期盼所得的結果能協助未來想要發展線上商店的實體企業，讓他們能夠有例可循。關鍵字：offline-to-online、線下、線上、關鍵成功因素、商業模式. IV.

(6) Content Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 7 1.1. Research Background ................................................................................ 7 1.2. Research Motivation, Research Objectives and Research Question ......... 8 Chapter 2: Literature Review ....................................................................................... 11 2.1. E-commerce ............................................................................................. 11 2.2. Critical Success Factors (CSFs) ............................................................... 12 2.3. CSFs of E-Commerce .............................................................................. 12 2.4. Before online stores launched .................................................................. 13 2.4.1. Technology Dimension ........................................................................ 14 2.4.2. Management Dimension ...................................................................... 16 2.4.3. Organization Dimension ...................................................................... 17 2.5. After online stores launched .................................................................... 19 2.5.1. Technology Dimension ........................................................................ 19 2.5.2. Management Dimension ...................................................................... 20 2.5.3. Organization Dimension ...................................................................... 21 Chapter 3: Research Approach..................................................................................... 24 3.1. Research Approach .................................................................................. 24 3.2. Research Process ...................................................................................... 24 3.3. Case Selection .......................................................................................... 25 3.4. Analysis Steps .......................................................................................... 28. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. Chapter 4: Research Result .......................................................................................... 33 4.1 Before online stores launched .................................................................. 33 4.1.1 Technology Dimension ........................................................................ 33 4.1.2 Management Dimension ...................................................................... 34 4.1.3 Organization Dimension ...................................................................... 37 4.2 After online stores launched .................................................................... 38 4.2.1 Technology Dimension ........................................................................ 38 4.2.2 Management Dimension ...................................................................... 40 4.2.3 Organization Dimension ...................................................................... 41 Chapter 5: Conclusion.................................................................................................. 46. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 5.1. Research Summary .................................................................................. 46 5.2. Research Contribution ............................................................................. 47 5.3. Limitation and Future Research ............................................................... 47 References .................................................................................................................... 49 Appendix 1 ................................................................................................................... 55 Appendix 2 ................................................................................................................... 56 V.

(7) Figures Figure 1. Worldwide retail e-commerce sales are expected to grow ......................... 8 Figure 2. Retail e-commerce sales as percent of total retail sales in selected countries .................................................................................................................... 9 Figure 3. Interview Process ..................................................................................... 29 Figure 4. The Body Shop’s skincare diagnostic tool ............................................... 42. Tables Table 1. Dimensions of information systems .......................................................... 13 Table 2. Difference between traditional and digitized CRM ................................... 21 Table 3. The possible CSFs of implementing an online store ................................. 23 Table 4. Description of the research process ........................................................... 24. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Table 5. Description of industry experts in Taiwan ................................................. 25 Table 6. Data collection procedure .......................................................................... 28 Table 7. The result - before online stores launched ................................................. 31 Table 8. The result - after online stores launched .................................................... 32 Table 9. The naming rule of Watsons changed ........................................................ 39 Table 10. The final CSFs - before online stores launched ....................................... 44 Table 11. The final CSFs - after online stores launched .......................................... 45. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. VI. i n U. v.

(8) Chapter 1: Introduction. 1.1. Research Background The evolution of the Internet and other new technologies bring many conveniences to society. In the past, we obtained information only through the newspaper and television, and sent information only through the mail; however, now society is able to stay connected to world affairs without leaving one’s home.. 政治大 the past, enterprises could only reach a portion of customers with limited product 立. This convenience also brings many business opportunities to various enterprises. In. ‧ 國. 學. ranges, due to limitations of space and location of their physical store. However, along with the growth of electronic commerce (e-commerce) and the rapid adoption. ‧. of smartphones, more enterprises are becoming diversified (Class et al., 2005).. sit. y. Nat. Enterprises can display and sell many more types of products and connect with. io. al. er. customers all over the world through the Internet. Moreover, they can better target the. v. n. customer profiles, and promote personalized service to individuals.. Ch. engchi. i n U. Jeff Jordan, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, commented that “We’re in the midst of a profound structural shift from physical to digital retail. It’s happening faster than I could have imagined” (Jordan, 2014). The impressive growth of e-commerce also can be seen in Figure 1. Worldwide retail e-commerce sales increased more than 20 percent worldwide in 2016 to $2.05 trillion (eMarketer, 2015b), as online retailers continued expanding to new geographies and physical retailers entered new markets through e-commerce.. 7.

(9) 4. 90% $3.58. 3.5. 50%. $2.05. 2. 1. 60%. $2.50. 2.5. 1.5. 70%. $3.02. 3. 80%. $1.67. 40%. $1.34. 30%. 26%. 25%. 0.5. 7.40%. 6.30%. 23%. 22%. 21%. 8.60%. 9.90%. 11.40%. 20% 19% 12.80% 10%. 0. 0% 2014. 2015. 2016. Sales (US$ trillions). 立. Source: (eMarketer, 2015b). 2017. 2018. 2019. 政治大 % change. % of total retail sales. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 1. Worldwide retail e-commerce sales are expected to grow. 1.2. Research Motivation, Research Objectives and Research Question. sit. y. Nat. According to market data, e-commerce accounted for 11 percent of total retail sales in. n. al. er. io. Taiwan (Mehra, 2016), compared to 8.6 percent worldwide (DOC, 2016), and the. v. comparison with other countries can be seen in Figure 2. It points out the growing. Ch. engchi. i n U. importance of e-commerce. However, pure e-commerce is in the past. The future trend for business is multi-channel and channel integration. Pure e-commerce providers have gradually added an offline channel, while traditional enterprises have added the Internet as another channel to their portfolio. Although more enterprises are shifting to online sales, a considerable number of companies only provide basic information and functionality rather than extensive interactive features or support for every phase of a transaction (Class et al., 2005), and thus, the value-added of the online store is not significant. That means the service and tools provided by enterprises cannot satisfy the consumers’ need. 8.

(10) 19.00% 17.00% China. 15.00%. South Korea 13.00%. Japan Asia-Pacific. 11.00%. US Worldwide. 9.00% 7.00% 5.00%. 政治大. 2014. 2015. 立. 2016. Source: (DOC, 2016; eMarketer, 2015a). ‧ 國. 學. Figure 2. Retail e-commerce sales as percent of total retail sales in selected countries Moreover, despite the e-commerce market value rising year by year, the user. ‧. experience of online shopping still has significant room for improvement. Google, in. y. Nat. sit. cooperation with TNS, issued the Consumer Barometer, which analyzes the consumer. n. al. er. io. behavior and the trends of e-commerce. The Consumer Barometer reveals that. i n U. v. consumers in Taiwan not only use personal computers (PCs) but also smartphones. Ch. engchi. while they are shopping, but only 42.9 percent of PC consumers and 15.4 percent of mobile consumers are satisfied by the online shopping experience (Google, 2014). This may be due to lack of consideration of the desired user experience by retailers. For instance, when retailers first decide to go online, they should think about the website interface design, as well as mobile interface design. Moreover, retailers should decide the logistics set-up, i.e., whether to outsource logistics or perform the function in-house. Afterwards, retailers should manage the reverse logistics, cash flow, customer services, etc.. 9.

(11) Although many researchers have studied related topics about e-commerce, most of the existing literature focuses on one specific element, e.g., interface design or logistics. Moreover, fewer related researches combine the theory with practice. Therefore, the objective of this study is to summarize the previous studies and build a deeper understanding of the practice and management of an offline-to-online business model. The key question of this research is: “what are the critical success factors (CSFs) for building an offline-to-online business model?”. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 10. i n U. v.

(12) Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1. E-commerce The new online transaction methods are collectively known as e-commerce, which refers to commerce using computers and communication technologies (K. S. Han & Noh, 1999). Because the operational boundaries between firms have become fluid in today's business environment, e-commerce also includes sell-buy relationships and transactions between companies, as well as the processes of sharing business information (Zwass, 1996). More formally, e-commerce is about digitally enabled. 政治大. commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals (Laudon. 立. & Laudon, 2014).. ‧ 國. 學. E-commerce offers tremendous promise for altering the way we do business (Batty &. ‧. Lee, 1995). It has substantial advantages over traditional face-to-face, paper-based commerce, For instance, e-commerce gives the customer more choices and. y. Nat. er. io. sit. customized options by tying orders, design, and production time more closely to product delivery. It decreases the time and cost of search and discovery, both for. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. customers and for sellers trying to find customers (K. S. Han & Noh, 1999).. engchi. Moreover, with minimal capital outlay, equipment, space, and staff, it expands the marketplace from local and regional markets to national and international markets. The generally acknowledged benefits of using e-commerce include improved business opportunities, better record keeping, fewer mistakes, reduced processing delays, less reliance on human interpretation of data, more competitive prices, reduced order time, savings from smaller inventories, elimination of document losses, and better decisionmaking.. 11.

(13) E-commerce generally can be divided into four main categories: business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-business (C2B), and consumer-toconsumer (C2C) (Gummesson & Polese, 2009). This research would primarily focus on business-to-consumer (B2C) applications. 2.2. Critical Success Factors (CSFs) CSFs are the factors that must be achieved if companies’ overall goals are to be attained. Previously, CSFs have been applied extensively with the information systems (IS) field (Davis, 1979; Ghymn & King, 1976; Robson, 1994; Ward &. 政治大. Peppard, 2002), strategic planning and operational management field (Bruno &. 立. Leidecker, 1984; Ellegaard & Grunert, 1992). They may be derived from the features. ‧ 國. 學. of a particular company’s internal environment, i.e., its products, processes, people, and possibly structures, and are a reflection of a company’s specific core capabilities. ‧. and competencies critical for obtaining competitive advantage (Berry et al., 1997;. y. Nat. sit. Duchessi et al., 1989). This study wants to know how physical enterprises. al. n. we adopt CSFs.. er. io. successfully establish their online stores and what factors must be achieved; therefore,. 2.3. CSFs of E-Commerce. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. E-commerce is an important channel for a business to achieve its strategy. Therefore, the effectiveness of e-commerce should be measured by the degree of e-commerce support to the enterprise strategy, degree of e-commerce impact on the enterprise, and even the enterprise performance (Huang et al., 2007). In other words, whether ecommerce is successful or not should be measured by how much it impacts the business performance of a company (Barua et al., 2001; Madeja & Schoder, 2002).. 12.

(14) From this point of view, this study considers several variables that would influence ecommerce growth. Previous books about management information systems (MIS) (Laudon & Laudon, 2014) address an overview of fundamental MIS concepts using an integrated framework for analyzing and examining information systems, which shows that information systems are composed of management, organization, and technology. Each dimension has its main points, as shown in Table 1. Table 1. Dimensions of information systems Dimensions. 政治大  IT infrastructures Main points. Technology Dimension. 立. ‧ 國. 學. (e.g., Hardware, software, database, network, etc.)  IT applications (e.g., ERP, POS, CRM, etc.)  Decision making  Formulate solutions  Resources allocation (e.g., Financial, labor, knowledge, etc.). ‧. Management Dimension. n. Source: (Laudon & Laudon, 2014). Ch. Human resources Organization structure Business processes. er. io. al.   . sit. y. Nat. Organization Dimension. engchi. i n U. v. This study applies the framework to online store establishment and uses case studies to illustrate how technology, management and organization dimensions work together to implement a successful online store. Moreover, this study divides online store establishment into two stages. First stage is before online stores launched, and the second stage is after online stores launched. 2.4. Before online stores launched The first stage includes online store planning, designing and implementing. The 13.

(15) metrics of success are to build an effective business model and implement the project on time and on budget. Moreover, all the functions should work effectively. To fulfill above goals, the following factors may be necessary. 2.4.1. Technology Dimension User Interface (UI) Design The user interface is the first impression for customers when entering a website and is therefore a major factor. Enterprises should identify customer requirements and then design a user-friendly interface to fulfill their needs (Dukes et al., 2008). However,. 政治大. some businesses neglect customer needs and just build a basic online store, which. 立. may result in business failure.. ‧ 國. 學. In general, the user interface should be easy to navigate and have a good shopping guide because online stores always have a large selection of items (Lai & Liang,. ‧. 2002; Rayport & Jaworski, 2001). The navigational structure can be adjusted by. sit. y. Nat. frequency of access (Zuehlke & Thiels, 2008). To make it easier for customers to. io. al. some online stores provide built-in search engines.. er. collect information on various topics and reduce uncertainty in purchase decisions,. n. v i n Crapid Furthermore, mobile use has seen in recent years. For enterprises, the h e growth ngchi U principles of web interface design should not be directly applied to m-commerce (Benbasat & Lee, 2004). Mobile users lack patience (Google, 2014). Therefore, enterprises should provide a unique user experience for them, i.e., direct purchase without registration or quick product search. Moreover, the content displayed should be optimized for each end device (Daniel et al., 2015). If the display is small, then the font should be large (Cuthbertson & Piotrowicz, 2014). Logistics Systems Integration. 14.

(16) Most multi-channel retailers have separate systems running applications for their offline and online channels, and many of these systems were never designed to work together, which leaves gaps in order management processes that result in stock-outs, overstocks, and customer service problems (Brownell, 2003). For instance, if customers try to return an online order at a store, they typically encounter an unfriendly experience. To address these inconsistencies and their inefficiencies, there needs to be a common inventory management process and order management system. Systems should guide companies toward the most cost-effective way to fulfill orders,. 政治大. i.e., improve customer service, reduce costs, and optimize logistics networks.. 立. Information Technology (IT) Investment. ‧ 國. 學. IT has long been considered a vital resource for organizations to create and sustain their competitive advantages. Some scholars claim that enterprises can use their. ‧. existing infrastructure to support new channels (Goldsby et al., 2009). However,. Nat. sit. y. others claim that, although enterprises are inclined to use their existing infrastructure,. n. al. er. io. order fulfillment from existing facilities, such as stores or distribution centers (DCs),. i n U. v. will no longer be the best solution if the number of weekly internet orders becomes. Ch. engchi. large (de Koster, 2003; Farris et al., 2010). Successful IT projects act as enablers for business activities that improve products and enhance services. In contrast, failed IT projects can cause substantial financial losses to an organization and even jeopardize its survival (Barkhi et al., 2010). Therefore, a strong IT infrastructure is necessary if an enterprise wants to integrate its multiple channels completely. System Stability Website effectiveness can be measured by customer perception of service quality. For instance, load time is an important factor in website success. Pages with higher ranking often have quicker load times (Daniel et al., 2015). Moreover, customers 15.

(17) using e-commerce are most dissatisfied when the system is unstable (K. S. Han & Noh, 1999). Unexpected service failures can result in significant costs to the firm because service failure is a driving factor in customer switching behavior (Berry et al., 2000; Roos, 1999), resulting in lost customers and negative word-of-mouth (Bitner et al., 2000). Therefore, developers have to test web performance and fine-tune the details to ensure that every function operates normally (Gabriele et al., 2014). Transaction Security During the establishment of an online store, enterprises should consider privacy and. 政治大. security because many consumers have concerns regarding their personal data. The. 立. perceived lack of security associated with online stores represents an ongoing barrier. ‧ 國. 學. to the growth of e-commerce, and the importance of perceived security controls is recognized as a key antecedent to trust formation (de la Vega et al., 2009; Flavian &. ‧. Guinaliu, 2006; I. Han & Suh, 2003). Information security remains a key issue in the. Nat. sit. y. e-commerce industry because personal and financial information can be intercepted. n. al. er. io. and used for fraudulent purposes (de la Vega et al., 2009). If consumers feel a website. i n U. v. is unsafe, they may be less willing to provide personal data, thereby reducing the. Ch. engchi. amount and reliability of data retailers can access (Denis et al., 2010). Once consumers are reluctant to fill in correct personal information, the personalization strategy for enterprises is affected. However, multi-channel enterprises can significantly reduce consumer uncertainty and increase consumer trust through the brand (Vijayasarathy & Jones, 2000). 2.4.2. Management Dimension Executive Support. 16.

(18) No matter the nature of a business, obtaining attention within organizations for a project is a key driver for success (Kiron et al., 2012). It affects e-commerce’s success (Stephen, 1999). With executive support, the probability of success is higher, as their support leads to obtaining the needed resources for implementation and having enough time to complete the job. Top managers must be involved in the project to ensure effective IT governance (Ali & Green, 2012). On the contrary, without executive support, promoters have to rely on their own effort, which increases difficulty. A potential difficulty in obtaining financial investment for building e-. 政治大 stages and do not appear to merit the major investment requested (Foster et al., 2014). 立. commerce as a channel is that sales of new channels are typically low during early. 學. ‧ 國. Set Clear Project Goals. Clear project goals are critical for online store success (Ashja et al., 2015). Many. ‧. enterprises did not formulate concrete goals when they designed their online stores. Nat. sit. y. such that they became lost and the schedule delayed. Moreover, the cost for revising. n. al. er. io. systems afterwards is considerable. Therefore, enterprises must plan online store. i n U. v. implementation as a priority to organize the required resources. According to. Ch. engchi. management expert Peter Drucker, objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based (Drucker, 1954). Managers must clearly define goals, expectations, and expected deliverables for each phase of the project. 2.4.3. Organization Dimension Effective Communication Effective communication among various functions or levels is an important part of improving business organization and operation efficiency. From the beginning, staff should be told the scope, objectives, activities, and updates (Sumner, 1999). Throughout the project, team members must carry out effective communication with 17.

(19) managers to ensure that implementation is consistent with the project goals (Stefanou, 1999). Moreover, external consultants also have to work closely and effectively with team members to achieve the organizational goals (Nah et al., 2001). Enterprises can schedule regular meetings to ensure open communication within the organization. Staff Training Initially, store staff only had to assist offline customers; however, as the physical enterprises went online, store staff were perceived as a potential barrier to technology implementation because few staff had the knowledge and expertise needed to put the. 政治大. IT and logistics infrastructure in place to support click-and-collect (Foster et al.,. 立. 2014). Therefore, training and technology promotion among staff are required. This is. ‧ 國. 學. especially important for organizations in which a large proportion of staff are parttime, temporary, and not technology-minded (Cuthbertson & Piotrowicz, 2014). Staff. ‧. that are familiar with both online and offline contexts can provide better services.. Nat. sit. y. Furthermore, enterprises should recruit some experienced employees who are familiar. n. al. er. io. with new technology or different skills (Berman & Thelan, 2004). Staff Engagement. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Engaged employees are more productive, more loyal and remain in their jobs for longer time periods (Jessica & Thomas, 2001). Therefore, enterprises often motivate employees through incentive mechanisms. These not only improve staff performance but also align closely with organizations’ strategic goals (Stiffler, 2006). However, employees are skeptical about the relevance between pay and performance. Only a small portion of employees believe that they would earn more if they improved their performance. For instance, it can be difficult to give stores credit for internet sales made, or collected, in-store when retailers provide “click and collect” service, which facilitates “channel-influenced” sales (Foster et al., 2014). 18.

(20) 2.5. After online stores launched After businesses online, properly managing online stores is critical. The metrics of success are that customers are willing to repurchase, and the customer base and average revenue per user (ARPU) grow. To fulfill these goals, the following factors may be necessary. 2.5.1. Technology Dimension Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Research has shown that 90 percent of users hardly ever go beyond the first three. 政治大 an important issue for enterprises. 立. pages of search results (Sullivan, 2002). Therefore, high ranking on search engines is. ‧ 國. 學. There are two options for online businesses. One is search engine optimization (SEO). Sellers can improve their listings on the search-results pages by modifying their site. ‧. codes to make them more relevant and therefore more search-engine compatible (Sen,. y. Nat. io. sit. 2005). The other option is paid placement. Sellers can pay the search engine for. n. al. er. placement in the sponsored section of the search-results pages (Hansell, 2001).. i n U. v. Although paid placement is a faster way to obtain visibility and has lower. Ch. engchi. implementation costs than SEO (Sen, 2005), advertisers should keep in mind that buyers trust information in the editorial section more than information in the sponsored section (Hotelling, 1929). Moreover, some users use Google image search to find products (Daniel et al., 2015); therefore, images are also crucial in SEO. Consumer Behavior Analysis Running a successful business requires an understanding of customer needs and familiarity with competitors. Therefore, measuring website traffic and analyzing user browsing behaviors are important procedures for any website owner (Christensenc et 19.

(21) al., 2012). Many enterprises now analyze sales data and customer preferences by using data mining or other techniques to promote personalized information (Lai & Liang, 2002) because it has been recognized as a key differentiation strategy that helps firms to attract and retain customers (Amit & Zott, 2012; Veit et al., 2014). The procedures should be routine so that developers can produce better websites for users (Christensenc et al., 2012). Moreover, enterprises often buy reports from well-known market research companies to obtain relevant information. 2.5.2. Management Dimension Channel Integration. 立. 政治大. Channel integration is a crucial topic for multi-channel enterprises. Added channels. ‧ 國. 學. create new opportunities but also new challenges. Enterprises must manage their multiple channels appropriately to avoid channel cannibalization and achieve channel. ‧. integration (Farris et al., 2010). Companies should provide consistent prices between. y. Nat. sit. channels to maintain a strong brand, because varying prices may lead to customers'. n. al. er. io. confusion, anger, irritation, and perceptions of price unfairness (K. S. Han & Noh,. i n U. v. 1999; Neslin, 2006). Moreover, multi-channel enterprises can use their online and. Ch. engchi. offline stores mutually to enhance their level of consumer awareness and sales (Goersch, 2002). Channel cross-promotions comprise the provision of information on other channels as well as financial incentives for using them. Successful channel integration not only increases sales, but it also improves trust, increases customer loyalty, and brings greater opportunities for sellers (Cao & Li, 2015). Effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) A good relationship with customers is highly important. To reduce customers’ uncertainty while purchasing, it is helpful to make service phone numbers and other 20.

(22) contact information available (Lai & Liang, 2002). Furthermore, providing excellent post-sale service and exchange refund policies is also important for customers (Sunil, 2015). Post-sale services include inquiring and tracking order status. If the order status is available, customers will feel more comfortable. Some customers even change their mind after delivery. Therefore, allowing for product returns is also necessary (Lai & Liang, 2002). Multi-channel retailers should let customers return products to physical stores. Along with digitization, the way enterprises do CRM has changed. In the past,. 政治大 customers’ preferences and habits. However, enterprises now focus on a complicated 立 enterprises mainly focused on personal information and could only understand. relationship network and understand customers through their friends. Therefore, they. ‧ 國. 學. can conduct precision marketing to create more value. The comparison list is shown. ‧. in Table 2.. Table 2. Difference between traditional and digitized CRM. y. Nat. io. Focus on customers’ personal information Only understand customers’ preferences and habits. al. n. 2.. 1. 2.. Ch. Focus on complicated social network Understand customers through complicated community relations Build more precise communication way to create value for business. e n3.g c h i. er. 1.. Digitized CRM. sit. Traditional CRM. i n U. v. Source: (Chen, 2016). 2.5.3. Organization Dimension Process Enhancement As technology improves, the operation process should advance with time. The online store implementation represents the largest transformation that many companies have ever faced. Therefore, organizations should also transform their structures to align with the execution of chosen corporate business strategies and maintain their 21.

(23) competency (Ashja et al., 2015). Service Innovation Service innovation is a new or significantly improved service concept that has been put into practice. It includes new solutions in the interface, distribution methods, forms of operation, or ways to organize and manage services. Although many companies make incremental improvements to their service offerings, few succeed in creating service innovations that generate new markets or reshape existing ones (Berry et al., 2006). Moreover, although enterprises create innovative service, it is. 政治大 able to change but whether they are changing fast enough. 立. easy for competitors to copy. Therefore, the question is not whether enterprises are. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 22. i n U. v.

(24) After describing every possible CSF, this study summarizes them in Table 3. Table 3. The possible CSFs of implementing an online store Before Online Stores Launched. After Online Stores Launched. Description. Online store planning, designing and implementing. Online store management. Success Definition. 1.. 1. 2. 3.. Build an effective business model Ensure all the Functions work effectively. 2. 3.. Executive Support Set Clear Project Goals. Channel Integration Effective Customer Relationship Management.  . Process Enhancement Service Innovation. n. al. Ch. engchi. 23. sit. y.  . er. Effective Communication Staff Training Staff Engagement. io.   . Analysis. ‧.  . IT Investment System Stability Transaction Security. Nat. Organization Dimension. 治政 User Interface Design  大Search Engine Marketing 立 Integration Logistics  Consumer Behavior 學. Management Dimension.     . Implement project on time and on budget. ‧ 國. Technology Dimension. Let customers repurchase Grow the customer base Grow the average revenue per user (ARPU). i n U. v.

(25) Chapter 3: Research Approach 3.1. Research Approach . In-depth Interviewing. In-depth interviewing is a qualitative research technique that involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program, or situation (Boyce & Neale, 2006). Interviews can offer a more complete picture of what happened in the program, and the primary advantage of in-depth interviews is that they provide much more detailed. 政治大. information than what is available through other data collection method. Because this. 立. study wants to know business practice; therefore, we choose in-depth interviewing.. ‧ 國. 學. 3.2. Research Process. Because of the complexity of the contextual content of this research, the research. ‧. applies a qualitative multiple case-study method to fulfill the research objective of. y. Nat. sit. evaluating the CSFs for establishing an online store from an offline store. There are. n. al. er. io. three major stages when doing research, which is illustrated in Table 4. The first stage. i n U. v. consists of building a preliminary finding and reviewing literature to identify the key. Ch. engchi. factors of operating an e-commerce website. This study compiled the unstructured data, and integrated in Chapter 2. Based on the results of the first stage, the second stage went further by conducting in-depth interviews. Through the interviews, this study could understand the CSFs in practice. At last, this study organizes the findings above, and draws a conclusion. Table 4. Description of the research process Stage. Objective. Approach. Literature Review. Have a basic understanding of possible CSFs to. Data collected from Develop a framework journals, articles to investigate possible and other resources CSFs for effective 24. Result.

(26) establish an online. offline-to-online. store. establishment. Multiple Case Study. Understand the CSFs of offlineto-online business model in practice. In-depth interviews with managers from selected companies. Findings about the practical CSFs. Conclusion Building. To organize findings and draw a conclusion. Case analysis of the CSFs of offlineto-online business model. Final findings about the CSFs of offlineto-online business model. 3.3. Case Selection. 治政 this study interviewed 12 industry experts from 10 business 大 cases. The details are 立 illustrated in Table 5. The selected companies have to meet several criteria. First, the. To offer broad and accurate information of CSFs of offline-to-online business model,. ‧ 國. 學. companies must have started with a physical store before establishing an online store.. ‧. Second, they belong to different industries so that this study can get results that are more comprehensive.. y. Nat. 1. Watsons. 2. The Body Shop. al. n. Company. Industry Health & Beauty. Ch. engchi. Cosmetics. Job Title. er. io. No. sit. Table 5. Description of industry experts in Taiwan. iv n UGeneral Manager. Procurement Manager. The Body Shop. Cosmetics. E-commerce Manager. 3. Hua-Nan Bank. Financial. Assistant Manager. 4. Uni Café. Coffee Shop. E-commerce Manager. 5. Cola Tour. Tourism. Vice Chairman. Cola Tour. Tourism. E-commerce Manager. 6. Play. TV-Game. E-commerce Employee. 7. Yung-Ching. House Agency. Vice General Manager. 8. Yuan-Liou. Publishing. Director. 9. Carrefour. Hypermarket. E-commerce Project Manager. 10. Jordon. Clothing. Chairman. 1.. Watsons Personal Care Stores. Founded in 1841, Watsons is the largest health and beauty care chain store in the 25.

(27) world. Over 3 billion customers shop at its offline and online stores per year. To reach more customers, Watsons entered Taiwan in 1987 and developed its official website in 2014. Powerful service led Watsons to win the first prize in Nielsen Shopper Trend from 2012 to 2014. Moreover, Watsons won the best consumer service satisfaction in the health and beauty industry in the 2016 Common Wealth Gold Service Report. 2.. The Body Shop International plc. Founded in 1976, The Body Shop is a British cosmetics and skin care company. It carries a wide range of products for the body, face, hair and home. Inspired by nature,. 政治大 consumer behaviors and achieve precision marketing, The Body Shop established an 立 its ingredients are sourced through the Community Fair Trade program. To analyze. official websites in Taiwan, following the launch of sites in Korea and Japan.. ‧ 國. 學. 3.. Hua-Nan Commercial Bank. ‧. Founded in 1919, Hua-Nan Bank is a large commercial bank in Taiwan. Along with. sit. y. Nat. the development of technology, Hua-Nan Bank released digital financial service. It. io. er. allows people to conduct transactions online without going to the financial institution, thus saving time and money for customers and reducing operating costs for banks.. n. al. 4.. Uni Café. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Uni Café is a small coffee shop in Taipei that primarily sells cups of coffee and fresh baked coffee beans. However, the coffee shop’s meager income was insufficient. To obtain more revenue, Uni Café established an official website in 2011. After that, it reached customers not only in Taipei but also in foreign countries. 5.. Cola Tour. Founded in 1978, Cola Tour is the number two tour operator in Taiwan. It is known for multivariate tourism products and high quality service. For the tourism industry, ecommerce is a tool that offers customers useful information online, thus saving them 26.

(28) many unnecessary expenses. 6.. Play TV-Game Store. Founded in 1987, Play is the largest and the most professional TV-Game store in Taiwan. It now has 10 physical stores. To reach more customers and evaluate their habits, Play opened online stores on many large shopping platforms, e.g., Yahoo, PChome and GoHappy. 7.. Yung-Ching House Agency. Founded in 1988, Yung-Ching is the number two housing agency in Taiwan. It. 政治大 transformation through transparent management instead of pocketing the difference 立 improved itself continuously through service innovation and led the industrial. and reporting fake building sizes.. ‧ 國. 學. 8.. Yuan-Liou Publishing Co.. ‧. Founded in 1975, Yuan-Liou is a famous publisher in Taiwan. In recent years, Yuan-. sit. y. Nat. Liou cooperated with city governments and transformed into multimedia publishing,. io. er. providing audio books and e-books. It adopted public lending to promote e-books and form a sound industrial ecology.. n. al. 9.. Carrefour. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Founded in 1958, Carrefour is one of the largest hypermarket chains and one of the largest 500 companies in the world. It has over 85 stores in Taiwan. To provide customers with more convenient service, Carrefour not only established an ecommerce website but also planned to open small and medium stores in residential areas. 10. Jordon Outdoor Functional Apparel With 30 years of brand history, Jordon started as a wholesaler and sold coats. It was the first GORE-TEX® authorized manufacturer in Taiwan and did everything by itself 27.

(29) (product planning, production, sale, and repair). Because retail stores had space limitations, Jordon established its official website. It sold clearance items online with discount prices to increase revenue. 3.4. Analysis Steps This study conducts an analysis procedure including three phases to conclude the resulting CSFs list and their interpretation of the results. The systematic data collection procedure is illustrated in Table 6.. 治政大 Outcomes 立  Industry experts are open to elaborate what factors. Table 6. Data collection procedure Phase Description. ‧. io. al. n. III. Reflection. y. Researchers analyzed the feedback from the industry experts, modified the description of similar. sit. . . factors to make them more specific. Less-observed items by industry experts are removed.. er. Refinement. Nat. II.  . are critical for business success. The new items are combined and grouped. The initial list of CSFs is presented to industry experts for validation if they do not talk about.. 學. Validation and Expansion. ‧ 國. I. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Industry experts are asked for descriptive supports to the highly selected items based on cases experienced.. Phase I The objectives were to add new important factors and validate existing list. In the beginning, industry experts were open to elaborate CSFs for their business success. The new items were combined and grouped. However, some industry experts had no idea when we asked them open questions. Therefore, this study sorted out the initial list of CSFs, which was collected from previous literature. It was presented to experts for validation. The detailed interview process is illustrated in Figure 3. 28.

(30) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 er. io. sit. y. Nat. n. a lFigure 3. Interview Process i v n “choose appropriate Citems By the end of phase I, some new added. ItU includes h ewere ngchi online platforms”, “cooperate with suppliers closely” and “continuous IT process investment”. The lists were expanded to five CSFs of technology, four CSFs of management and four CSFs of organization before online stores launched, two CSFs of technology, two CSFs of management and two CSFs of organization after online stores launched. Phase II This study analyzed the feedback from the industry experts, modified the description of similar factors to make them more specific. Moreover, all factors were examined 29.

(31) the similarity and difference with each other. Similar factors were modified and combined, while different factors were kept. “Staff engagement” was considered to be a part of “set clear project goals”. Therefore, this study removed “staff engagement” and modified “set clear project goals” to “set clear key performance indicators”. ”Search engine marketing” was considered to be a part of “consumer behavior analysis”. Therefore, this study removed “search engine marketing”. “Channel integration” was considered to be a part of “process enhancement”. Therefore, this study removed “channel integration”.. 政治大. Finally, this study removed less-observed items by industry experts, which included. 立. “logistic integration”, “system stability”, “transaction security” and “staff training”.. ‧ 國. ‧. Phase III. 學. The details are illustrated in Table 7 and Table 8.. Nat. sit. y. After phase I and phase II, this study sorted out the lists of final CSFs and conducted. n. al. er. io. textual description for highly selected items. It is illustrated in Chapter 4.. Ch. engchi. 30. i n U. v.

(32) Table 7. The result - before online stores launched Initial list of CSFs Technology Dimension. New Item. User Interface Design Logistic Integration. Logistic Integration. IT Investment. 立. Transaction Security Executive Support. ‧. ‧ 國. Set Clear Project Goals. 政治 System Stability 大 Transaction Security. 學. Dimension. Final list of CSFs Design User-Friendly Interface. System Stability. Management. Removed Item. Choose Appropriate. Effective Communication. Dimension. Staff Training. al. v ni. n. Organization. Ch. er. io. Cooperate with Suppliers Closely. sit. y. Nat. Online Platforms. U e n g c h iStaff Training. Staff Engagement. Continuous IT Investment. Strong Support by Top Management Set Clear Key Performance Indicators Choose Appropriate Online Platforms Cooperate with Suppliers Closely Frequent Communication and Coordination among Organizations. Staff Engagement Continuous IT Process Investment. 31. Continuous IT Process Investment.

(33) Table 8. The result - after online stores launched Initial list of CSFs. New Item. Dimension. Consumer Behavior Analysis. Management. Channel Integration. Dimension. Effective Customer Relationship Management. Organization. Process Enhancement. 立. 政治 Channel 大 Integration. Analyze Consumer Behavior Continuously Maintain Customer Relationships Effectively Continuous Process Enhancement Continuous Service Innovation. ‧. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. Service Innovation Dimension. Final list of CSFs. Search Engine Marketing. ‧ 國. Search Engine Marketing. 學. Technology. Removed Item. Ch. engchi. 32. i n U. v.

(34) Chapter 4: Research Result After finishing several phases, this study modified the original CSFs to include the factors noted by the experts, and eliminate some less critical factors. The results for each dimension are described via case studies below. 4.1 Before online stores launched 4.1.1 Technology Dimension Continuous IT Investment . 治政大 point mechanisms that Many offline businesses have membership card and reward 立 allow consumers to save money or exchange gifts by accumulating points. For Member information integration. ‧ 國. 學. enterprises, these mechanisms can keep consumers loyal and allow analysis of. ‧. consumer behaviors. However, large shopping platforms usually do not have the connected mechanism and have to update their systems to support. Watsons initially. y. Nat. er. io. sit. opened its online store on Yahoo mall, but Yahoo did not have the mechanism. Therefore, Watsons communicated with Yahoo actively and revised IT systems to. n. al. Ch. integrate sales data with Yahoo mall. . engchi. i n U. v. Supportive hardware and software for service innovation. The industry environment is full of uncertainty. Only constantly innovative enterprises can create value. However, innovation requires hardware and software support. Therefore, businesses must be open to IT investment. “Every day, Cola Tour’s leaders are contemplating how to take advantage of IT to provide customers with better service and satisfy customer expectations.” The vice chairman of Cola Tour said. Moreover, Yuan-Liou Publishing was the first press to implement Oracle ERP for e-book promotion. It hired many IT, research and development engineers for digital rights management (DRM) and other functions. 33.

(35) Design User-Friendly Interface . Imitate other practice. Before online stores launched, enterprises could not analyze consumer behaviors via sales data. However, they could still provide friendly user interfaces by imitating. Yung-Ching House Agency referred to domestic and foreign websites that had won interface-related awards. Cola Tour imitated competitors’ practices and then made some modifications. Every business could learn something from others to give. 政治大 Collaborative design with users 立. customers a better experience. . In addition to imitation, businesses could also invite users to be involved in the. ‧ 國. 學. design. Because of the potential cognitive bias between enterprises and users, the. ‧. interface might not meet users’ actual needs. User participation could significantly. y. Nat. enhance usability of the website and satisfaction. For instance, The Body Shop asked. n. al. er. io. sit. members, students and users to give advice on its website’s interface design.. Ch. 4.1.2 Management Dimension. engchi. i n U. v. Strong Support by Top Management . Business leaders with vision. At the beginning, business leaders must have vision, which is the capacity to envisage future market trends and plan accordingly. Before The Body Shop established its ecommerce websites in Taiwan, it only had websites in Japan and Korea. However, as its headquarters was optimistic about e-commerce development in Taiwan, the online store’s establishment was successful. The headquarters even hoped the successful model in Taiwan could be replicated in other countries. 34.

(36) . Business leaders must have executive power. It is not enough for business leaders to have vision. They must also have executive power to make the online stores real. For Watsons, although former CEOs had vision, most did not execute the e-commerce project until a new Indian CEO took office in 2010. Therefore, business leaders have to take actions; otherwise, it is all just imagination. . Business leaders must persist when faced with opposition. Moreover, business leaders may face opposing views, as some people may object that. 政治大 opinions. Internet had just started when the founder of Yung-Ching House Agency 立 an idea is infeasible. At that time, leaders have to elaborate and persist in their. decided to establish an official website. “Most of the managers opposed the decision. ‧ 國. 學. because realty data used to be private and confidential, and they were afraid of losing. ‧. competitiveness once the data became public.” The vice general manager of Yung-. sit. y. Nat. Ching said. However, the founder insisted on going online, and the result confirmed. io. n. al. er. that this enhanced the market share.. Ch. Choose Appropriate Online Platforms . Find the target audiences. engchi. i n U. v. Before choosing online platforms, managers should clearly know who the target audiences are. Because Play TV-Game Store ran a Facebook Fan Page, it was able to view customer profiles via the Facebook Insight Report. There is much information about potential customers in the report, e.g., gender, ages and areas of interest. . Find the platforms where target audiences are. After understanding the profile of target audiences, managers have to know where they are and which platforms they use. In general, reading market research reports is a 35.

(37) common way to find this information. The e-commerce manager of The Body Shop commented that “Because Momo, PChome and Yahoo are the top three online shopping platforms in the health and beauty industry, we actively sell our products on them to acquire more customers.” . Choose platforms with required functions. Moreover, selected platforms should be in line with business needs. Jordon Outdoor Functional Apparel established its official website on Shop123 because it provided a back-stage management system. For relatively inexperienced enterprises and small. 政治大 shopping platforms first. Large shopping platforms not only bring increased traffic but 立 and medium enterprises (SMEs), experts recommend opening online stores on large. also provide many activity mechanisms and give timely assistance.. ‧ 國. 學. . Measure own resources. ‧. Finally, enterprises have to measure their own resources. Opening more stores may. sit. y. Nat. reach more customers; however, it is harder for enterprises to manage and control.. io. er. Jordon Outdoor Functional Apparel and Play TV-Game Store have online stores on many platforms. However, they intend to reduce the number of online stores. al. n. v i n Cone gradually. Uni Café now only has store owing to a worker shortage. h eonline ngchi U Set Clear Key Performance Indicators (KPI) . Objectives must be consistent with company strategy. Whatever the industry is, setting clear KPI is critical for business. Once enterprises set clear KPI, employees will try their best to achieve their goals because of the incentive bonus. However, many enterprises do not know how to set a correct KPI. First, the objectives must be consistent with company’s strategy. The vice general manager of Yung-Ching House Agency said that “To increase market share and take over the 36.

(38) lead, we set the number of online real estate objects at 1.2 times that of our competitors.” . Set quantified objectives. Moreover, the objectives must be quantified. Supervisors are able to evaluate performance only via quantitative indicators.. Cooperate with Suppliers Closely . Integrate systems with suppliers as much as possible. 政治大 Tour has many suppliers, including hotels and airlines. To provide customers with 立. There are great differences in electronic maturity among industries. For tourism, Cola. timely information and excellent user experiences, systems must be integrated with. ‧ 國. 學. hotels and airlines. However, some suppliers did not invest in IT infrastructure.. Use real cases to convince suppliers when they have concerns. y. Nat. . ‧. Therefore, Cola Tour also has to update their information pages in an artificial way.. er. io. sit. “When traditional suppliers are moving into a new market, they worry that the new market may influence their profits.” The procurement manager of Watsons. al. n. v i n C h suppliers throughUprevious successful cases. commented. Enterprises can convince engchi When Watsons decided to go online, suppliers were worried about a price war. because of price transparency. In this case, Watsons put only a part of the products online at first and used actual sales data to prove that online sales can increase revenues.. 4.1.3 Organization Dimension Continuous IT Process Investment . Use IT to reengineer internal processes 37.

(39) Businesses cannot have a certain market scale without an IT process. In the past, employees made decisions by themselves, although Cola Tour had their standard operating procedures. Therefore, Cola Tour decided to adopt a sound IT process management mechanism. “Once adopted, managers could easily evaluate performance, and all the employees had to follow IT process, which is best for customer service.” The vice chairman of Cola Tour commented.. Frequent Communication and Coordination among Organizations. 政治大 Online and offline businesses need the cooperation of all departments. Carrefour had 立 . Hold interdepartmental meetings regularly. an e-commerce project team that needed to communicate with the marketing,. ‧ 國. 學. purchasing and logistics departments. “However, each department had its. ‧. parochialism, and it was difficult to obtain their support.” E-commerce project. sit. y. Nat. manager of Carrefour said. Therefore, senior managers now conduct large. io. al. n. departments.. er. interdepartmental meetings frequently to coordinate and solve problems among. Ch. 4.2 After online stores launched. engchi. i n U. v. 4.2.1 Technology Dimension Analyze Consumer Behavior Continuously . Optimize web navigation interface through data analysis. User browsing habits are changing constantly. Enterprises can gather some findings via data analysis. To fulfill user preferences, enterprises have to adjust website interface design frequently. Director of Yuan-Liou Publishing said that “We revised the relative position of the confirming and canceling buttons, as well as the exhibit on top of the home page, e.g., new books or bestseller.” 38.

(40) . Optimize logistics configuration through data analysis. Enterprises are thinking continuously about how to improve cost-effectiveness. The results of this study showed that enterprises had to analyze sales and relevant data to optimize their logistics configuration. For consumers who were not community residents, home delivery was inconvenient. Therefore, The Body Shop released a convenience store pick-up service, which brought significant revenue growth. Play TV-Game Store found that most of its customers lived in Taipei and therefore added a distribution unit responsible for Taipei.. 政治大 When enterprises promote television commercial films (TVCF) and marketing 立 . Evaluate marketing effectiveness through data analysis. campaigns offline, they cannot evaluate the actual performance. However, online. ‧ 國. 學. businesses can. The e-commerce manager of The Body Shop commented that “We. ‧. used conversion rate (CVR) and other indicators to evaluate activities’ effectiveness.. sit. y. Nat. If performance was lower than expected, we could know the reason of failure, revise. io. er. campaigns and adjust target audiences (TA) afterwards.” Moreover, fine-tuning the product name can also improve visibility. Initially, Watsons put its brand name before. al. n. v i n C hdemonstrated poor U the product name, but this method performance although it was engchi. more intuitive. However, after Watsons swapped the order, it dramatically increased the visibility on Yahoo mall. It is illustrated in Table 9.. Table 9. The naming rule of Watsons changed. . Before. 【Watsons】product name. After. product name【Watsons】. Understand market demand through external sources. In addition to sales data, enterprises also have to be familiar with the current market 39.

(41) situation. Watsons discovered that consumers were willing to buy a large number of daily consumables if the price was cheaper. Therefore, it offered discounts for bulk orders. Play TV-Game Store went to online forums to find out which games are the most popular and then sold peripheral products to increase revenues.. 4.2.2 Management Dimension Maintain Customer Relationships Effectively . Provide personalized service. 政治大 consumers’ satisfaction. Watsons recommended special offers to consumers according 立 Personalized service not only brings more revenues for businesses, it also enhances. ‧ 國. 學. to their previous shopping records. In another way, The Body Shop calculated the life cycle of each product. When the product was about to be used up, The Body Shop. Listen to customers and make immediate improvements. sit. y. Nat. . ‧. would send repurchase messages to consumers.. io. er. Customers in Taiwan tend to complain in various ways if they are dissatisfied with a service. The vice chairman of Cola Tour commented that “The way enterprises react. al. n. v i n to these complaints is crucial. IfC enterprises the problems passively, customers h e n gtreat chi U feel disappointed and leave. Conversely, if enterprises solve the problems actively, customers are willing to purchase again.” Therefore, enterprises had to contact. dissatisfied customers, understand their thoughts and make immediate improvements. . Provide perfect post-sale service. Providing perfect post-sale service can create differentiation and increase competitive advantage. Yung-Ching House Agency sells houses; however, it also helps customers resolve tax, asset integration and other issues. Jordon Outdoor Functional Apparel not only sells coats but also provides maintenance services. 40.

(42) 4.2.3 Organization Dimension Continuous Process Enhancement . Service process integration. Channel integration strengthens each platform and simplifies the business process. Assistant Manager of Hua-Nan Bank commented that “Now many problems can be solved online without going to the branch, and then the counter staff has more time to perform important tasks, such as selling treasury products.” For the tourism industry, many customers used to go to the branch to ask for basic information. However, now. 政治大. customers can obtain most information online. The staff only has to handle the critical. 立. part, e.g., personal preferences. Sales campaign integration. ‧ 國. 學. . Online and offline customers are non-overlapping. However, enterprises can provide. ‧. better service and bring greater sales through channel integration. The Body Shop put. sit. y. Nat. a coupon code on its official website to attract online customers to offline venues.. io. al. er. Watsons provides “click and collect” service, which means customers can order. n. online and pick up offline. These options bring extra sales opportunities to offline stores.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Continuous Service Innovation . Create new value for online stores. There are many restrictions online. For instance, each skin-care product has its specific features, but online customers cannot ask the staff for advice. Therefore, customers may not know which product fits their needs. The Body Shop provides an online skincare diagnostic tool, which is illustrated in Figure 4. Customers can find the most suitable products by answering several questions. 41.

(43) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 4. The Body Shop’s skincare diagnostic tool (Source: http://shop.thebodyshop.com.tw/survey.php?survey_sn=2) Moreover, only few people made an appointment to visit houses during the prevalence of SARS. To solve the problem, Yung-Ching House Agency launched a new service, by which customers could watch online videos to see the house first. This increased performance by fifty percent. . Strategic alliance. Strategic alliance occurs when two or more organizations join together to pursue 42.

(44) mutual benefits. Each partner hopes that the benefits from the alliance will be greater than those from individual efforts. “When China Airlines had just started, most of its business class seats were not occupied. Therefore, we cooperated with China Airlines and Tai-Shin Bank to allow customers to pay NT$30,000 per year to be able to freely upgrade to business class when they took flights.” The vice chairman of Cola Tour said. Furthermore, cooperating with college students is another potentially beneficial alliance, as their creative ideas may create value for businesses. . Enterprise transformation. 政治大 sales continued to decline, singers made profits via live concerts. Similarly, Yuan立. The best example for enterprise transformation is the record industry. When album. Liou Publishing put related publications into shows and exhibitions, hoping to exploit. ‧ 國. 學. a new market. Carrefour originally ran hypermarkets but has recently moved towards. ‧. Omni-channel. In addition to the establishment of an online store, it also opened small. sit. y. Nat. and medium size retail stores, hoping to reach and retain more customers.. n. al. er. io. After describing every final CSF, this study summarizes them in Table 10 and Table 11.. Ch. engchi. 43. i n U. v.

(45) Table 10. The final CSFs - before online stores launched  . Member information integration Supportive hardware and software for service innovation. Design User-Friendly Interface.  . Imitate other practice Collaborative design with users.  . Business leaders must have executive power Business leaders must persist when faced with opposition.    . Find the target audiences Find the platforms where target audiences are Choose platforms with required functions Measure own resources.  . Objectives must be consistent with company’s strategy Set quantified objectives. 立. Choose Appropriate Online. Nat. Dimension. Platforms. Set Clear Key Performance. io. Indicators (KPI). n. al. ‧. Management. 學. ‧ 國. Top Management. y. Strong Support by. 治政  Business leaders 大 with vision. sit. Dimension. Continuous IT Investment. er. Technology.  Integrate systemsi v with suppliers as much as possible n C h  Use real cases e n g c h i U to convince suppliers when they have concerns. Cooperate with Suppliers Closely Organization. Continuous IT Process Investment. . Use IT to reengineer internal processes. Dimension. Frequent Communication and. . Hold interdepartmental meetings regularly. Coordination among Organizations. 44.

(46) Table 11. The final CSFs - after online stores launched Technology. Analyze Consumer Behavior. Dimension. Continuously. Provide perfect post-sale service.  . Service process integration Sales campaign integration. Continuous Service Innovation.  . Create new value for online stores Strategic Alliance. . Enterprise transformation. io. sit. Nat. y. Continuous Process Enhancement. ‧. Dimension. . 學. Organization. Effectively. n. al. er. Dimension. Optimize web navigation interface through data analysis Optimize logistics configuration through data analysis Evaluate marketing effectiveness through data analysis Understand market demand through external sources. 治 personalized service 政  Provide 大 Maintain Customer Relationships 立  Listen to customers and make immediate improvements ‧ 國. Management.    . Ch. engchi. 45. i n U. v.

(47) Chapter 5: Conclusion 5.1. Research Summary To answer the research question, “What are the critical success factors for building an offline-to-online business model?”, this study first analyzed previous literature and published data. We adopted multiple case studies and in-depth interviewing to interact with practical experts, examine the initial CSFs and obtain the final list, two factors of technology dimension before launched-continuous IT investment and design userfriendly interface; four factors of management dimension before launched- strong. 政治大. support by top management, choose appropriate online platforms, set clear key. 立. performance Indicators (KPI) and cooperate with suppliers closely; two factors of. ‧ 國. 學. organization dimension before launchedcontinuous IT process investment,. ‧. frequent communication and coordination among organizations; one factor of technology dimension after launched- analyze consumer behavior continuously;. y. Nat. io. sit. one factor of management dimension after launched- maintain customer. n. al. er. relationships effectively; two factors of organization dimension after launched-. Ch. i n U. v. continuous process enhancement and continuous service innovation. Some factors. engchi. are not important as expected, including “logistic integration”, “system stability”, “transaction security” and “staff training”. Furthermore, some factors are unnoticed in the literature, including “choose appropriate online platforms”, “cooperate with suppliers closely” and “continuous IT process investment”. This study found that multi-channel enterprises have many ways to run their online businesses and can take advantage of offline resources to satisfy customers and compete with pure virtual sellers. For instance, Watsons provides online customer pick-up service at its offline stores because it has over 500 retail stores in Taiwan. The Body Shop and Carrefour set offline stores as their shipping points. Moreover, many 46.

(48) industries except for retailing originally have heavy workloads; however, they can properly use online platforms to improve the overall efficiency, e.g., Hua-Nan Bank, Cola Tour and Yung-Ching House Agency. Customers can obtain preliminary information and perform basic operations online, allowing staff offline to focus on the critical business. No matter which methods enterprises adopt, they have to ask themselves what benefits they can obtain from going online. They cannot invest hastily just because ecommerce is a trend. Otherwise, the effort not only leads to failure but also affects reputation and brand image.. 立. 政治大. 5.2. Research Contribution. ‧ 國. 學. The findings of our research have both academic and industrial contributions. For. ‧. academic contributions, our research sorts out previous literature and uses technology,. sit. y. Nat. management and organization dimensions to establish a framework for the offline-to-. io. er. online business model. From the industrial perspective, the findings hope to assist. al. offline business managers who would like to plan an e-commerce project. Managers. n. v i n should notice no single aspect ofCresource investigate technology, management h e nbut gchi U. and organization dimensions during the development period because several factors will influence the success of an e-commerce project.. 5.3. Limitation and Future Research There are several limitations in this study. Because of the time limitation, this thesis only interacted with 12 practical experts and studied 10 cases. The study may be more reliable if additional companies and experts were engaged. Moreover, the results of qualitative research may be influenced by the degree of willingness for disclosure. 47.

(49) Finally, most engaged companies are large chain enterprises. Therefore, the results may not apply to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In the future, researchers can use the same framework to understand CSFs of offlineto-online business model in other countries. Moreover, online businesses also gradually establish their physical stores. Therefore, researchers can also use the same framework to understand CSFs of online-to-offline business model. The results may be interesting if there are different outcomes.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 48. i n U. v.