Online Shopping Stakeholder Analysis

Online Shopping Stakeholder Analysis

Online Shopping Stakeholder Analysis

Introduction

From the recent past, a boom in online shopping activities has been recorded worldwide. Such metrics are supported by the steadily growing number of online stores and websites offering similar services. The process of buying and selling goods online has taken over various physical stores, where one can literally acquire goods they required with a tap of a button (Izogo, & Jayawardhena 2018). This implies that the implementation and the existence of online shopping possesses great advantage and convenience to its respective participants. About every nation worldwide has a taste and involvement in online shopping, ranging from household and basic needs to the financial sector. This article focuses on the various stakeholders and participants in online shopping as realized worldwide. During the execution and implementation of online shopping, various stakeholders are involved, whose work is to ensure seamless and successful trades. The buyer, seller and the transport medium, which is usually a logistics company are the main stakeholders involved in the process of online buying and selling. These stakeholders can be further analyzed and grouped differently according to the various effects and contributions to the online shopping.

Primary stakeholders

Figure 1

Online trading and shopping is connects together various stakeholders, who may be realized at the secondary and primary level. There are different types and groups of people who may contribute to the particular operations in online shopping, while other might be impacted by the respective operations. These groups are realized in different stages and levels, depending on their activity and how they are affected by the online shopping procedure.

Vendors / sellers

As realized in the online shopping and sales activities, there must be a group of stakeholders included, whose job is to avail the respective goods and service required by customers. The vendors may often be producers and other companies that directly involved in the generation and the production of the respective goods and services required by customers. The main mandates and obligations tasked to the vendors include the provision of high quality and trusted goods, which consumers can use and consume reliably (Izogo, & Jayawardhena 2018). Besides, they should also provide a steady flow of goods and services required, which can quench and serve the entire market. This is possible when a group or a number of vendors and producers engage in the production of particular goods and services, thus availing enough goods to serve the market. Practically, the vendors are the most essential stakeholders who keep the flow of goods and services in the online trading endeavor. The vendors or service providers often look onto various parameters to ensure that goods are of the right and permitted design before shipping to a particular region.

Consumers/ buyers

The consumers represent another primary group of stakeholders tasked with the work of purchasing and obtaining goods and services produced by the vendors. There are various consumer of online products worldwide, who depend on online shopping on their daily expenditures. For the most part, purchases are made by consumers/buyers, who are responsible for signing off on the transfer of payment to the vendor or approved middleman and receiving the goods via an express carrier or postal operator (Izogo, & Jayawardhena 2018). Direct sale, sale via an E-commerce platform/marketplace, shipping by express or postal channel, or any other type of business, the buyer is always a party to the transaction. E-commerce platforms and marketplaces provide consumers with access to crucial information about the transaction and the items, including the selling price and delivery conditions, as well as other vital information.

Online customers are usually responsible for paying any customs and taxes associated with their purchases, however this might vary depending on the purchase agreement (Rześny-Cieplińska, J., & Szmelter-Jarosz 2019). Customers and purchasers may be ignorant of their responsibilities when it comes to proper usage and disposal of things acquired due to import taxes and charges Customers who do not obey local restrictions may be charged an unexpected fee at the time of purchase, be subjected to import customs or taxes upon delivery, or have their items trashed. Tariffs and taxes on acquired goods should be paid by customers according to local rules. Using many Incoterms may have a major impact on each party’s duties. After learning about the items and transaction from the vendor and online shopping platform or marketplace, consumers can finalize a purchase.

Online shopping platforms / marketplaces

There are various platforms that execute their work of propelling and availing online shopping to their respective customers worldwide. They are the ones who make the best out of the implementation of online shopping, where they act as intermediaries who pick goods and services form the vendors and producers, and deliver them at a profit to the consumers. Their solemn function is to link the consumers to the sellers or venders (Izogo, & Jayawardhena 2018). Apart from the linking process, they also have to lias with legal bodies in various environments where they plan to erect their business endeavors. This implies that they are bound to follow and adhere to all legal stipulations for the different regions and countries hosting their customers.

Most e-commerce platforms/marketplaces are constructed on the foundation of an online store, where things are displayed and customers may make purchases. In order to sell products on the site, retailers can upload their product catalogs via their software solutions and build shop pages. A check-out module completes the transaction, offers a variety of payment and delivery choices, and conducts the necessary security checks to avoid fraud on the website. Following vendor approval of the order, a credit card is charged to the customer/buyer, and the E-Commerce platform/marketplace sends revenues to the merchant while also recording a record of the transaction on their account page. Vendors and customers/buyers may also receive additional services from the platform/marketplace, such as information on consumer security, privacy in terms of data secrecy and the respective customs and tax laws. Online platforms doing electronic commerce may sometimes give vendor bills and answer customer queries according to their own rules. The online platforms may also play a great role in terms of providing and catering for items that have been returned and rejected, depending on the conditions of the contract

Logistic service providers and financial intermediaries

Logistics service providers have various activities and mandates, which include the compliance to legal and customs departments in different regions, ensuring that the goods and services meet the minimal official requirements and are insured (Rześny-Cieplińska, J., & Szmelter-Jarosz 2019). Some of the Freight and forwarding activities and services may include logistics provisions that use advanced and modern technology to transport, handle, or store items, and in effect manage the whole supply chain. This type of service may be tailored to meet the requirements of clients that need services that can be used in different ways.

The freight forwarder, as part of the E-Commerce ecosystem, is tasked the activity of reporting goods and services, and cater for clearance at country borders which may comprise of duty, quarantine, and security laws placed. Moreover, they also organize the delivery of the shipment (see Figure 2). Generally, the role of a cargo handling and logistic company is multifaceted and also contingent depending on the contract signed between the company and customer. A freight forwarder can also function as a declarant, which implies that it is in charge of the declaring and catering for customs and assures the settlement of all necessary levies and taxes, in addition to its responsibility for shipment reporting and the safe transit of products over international borders.

Figure 2

The fundamental mandate of fiscal mediators includes activities such as transferring finances and funds from the buyer/consumer to the seller. Bank account information is especially vulnerable in an e-commerce setting since the buyer has little understanding of or confidence in the vendor and is wary of being a victim of fraud or identity theft. Financial mediators have thus invented various ways and methods for payment, which are indirectly linked to the clients’ banking accounts or the purchasers to avoid this risk (Rześny-Cieplińska, J., & Szmelter-Jarosz 2019). Online transaction solutions availed by specialist and online transactions service providers, such as secure debit cards, lessen the risk of a merchant holding credit card information.

Vendor and consumer/buyer account details (such as names, addresses, and bank details) are collected by the financial intermediary throughout the payment process, and financial data relevant to the payment transaction is also collected and retained. A financial intermediary normally does not obtain information about the commodities being sold or the place where they are to be delivered when they facilitate the sale of products. Customs and other government entities may have access to financial information if the information is available from financial intermediaries and the applicable data privacy regulations allow it.

Secondary stakeholders

Apart from the primary and prolific stakeholders and groups involved in the process of bettering the inline shopping experience. These stakeholders are not featured as primary stakeholders but their involvement possesses effect on the respective results of online shopping.

Customs brokers

To meet the laws and regulations set by the government regarding importation and exportation, parties use customs brokers. Customs brokers in regulated nations are frequently bound by legal stipulations that often control and monitor their competence in their activities, their monetary solidity, and adherence to ethics provided. It is possible for customs brokers to operate as authorized agents for their customers in order to comply with the regulations, including filing needed paperwork and making payments for customs duties and taxes as well. In order to be compliant, customs brokers must follow the rules that have been set for them.

Integration to societal and individual context

The various types and groups of stakeholders related to online shopping experience and endeavors possess their respective impacts and effects on both the social and the individual aspect, where quite some integration and correlation between their implementations and the stated contexts are achieved (Izogo, & Jayawardhena 2018). Foremost, the current society has a growing intend and association with online shopping, and thus a unified and massive society of online traders, who are realized in different groups per activities as per their respective activities. Such a circumstance implies that majority of the people in the society prefer to do their shopping in online platforms instead of physical trade. The stakeholders involved prove the integration to a societal context, where each specific group view themselves as a society that engages and contributes to the success of online shopping. Besides, the private context, where personal preference and involvement takes place is where one chooses to improve online shopping by either involving themselves in activities such as selling, buying or distributing goods in the online shopping arena. Individuals may possess choices and preferences on who and where to do their online trading, thus escalating the online shopping experience to a personal context.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the massive eruption of business transactions and other related endeavors in the online arena hosts different groups of people, who possess specific activities that impact and build the endurance and the general operation of the online shopping activity (Izogo, & Jayawardhena 2018). These groups often get involved in some of the main activities of online shopping, which may include mandates and activities such as channeling goods and services from the production to the consumption level, with the consideration of various aspects and circumstances, which may translate to either a societal or personal level.

Reference

Rześny-Cieplińska, J., & Szmelter-Jarosz, A. (2019). Assessment of the crowd logistics solutions—The stakeholders’ analysis approach. Sustainability, 11(19), 5361.

Rześny-Cieplińska, J., & Szmelter-Jarosz, A. (2021). Stakeholders’ analysis of environmental sustainability in urban logistics: a case study of Tricity, Poland. Energies, 14(5), 1274.

Mangifera, L. (2019). Stakeholders analysis for creative industry development. Jurnal Ekonomi Pembangunan: Kajian Masalah Ekonomi dan Pembangunan, 19(2), 156-162.

Rita, P., Oliveira, T., & Farisa, A. (2019). The impact of e-service quality and customer satisfaction on customer behavior in online shopping. Heliyon, 5(10), e02690.

Izogo, E. E., & Jayawardhena, C. (2018). Online shopping experience in an emerging e-retailing market. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.

Anon, E-commerce stakeholders: Roles and Responsibilities. Available at: http://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/global/pdf/topics/facilitation/activities-and-programmes/ecommerce/e-commerce-stakeholders_en.pdf [Accessed February 2, 2022].

Freight comany

border clearance, delivery

reporting goods and services

in charge of customs

vendors/ sellers

stakeholders

online shopping

consumers/ buyers

shopping platforms/ marketplaces

logistics providers

stakeholders