E-commerce is a business that involves buying and selling on online platforms. E-commerce revolves around technologies such as mobile commerce, internet marketing, inventory management systems, and electronic data exchange. E-commerce also employs online shopping websites, online marketplaces, business to business buying and selling to their customers. It can also describe the buying and selling of services and goods over a particular electronic network. The electronic network is mainly the internet. The transactions may be consumer to business, business to business, consumer to consumer, or business to consumer. The terms e-business and e-commerce may be used interchangeably. One of the companies that rely mainly on e-commerce is Uber. Uber is an affordable and convenient taxi service where a client hires a private driver to pick them up from a certain destination through the click of a button on all smartphone devices. The paper will carry out an e-business analysis of Uber Company.
History of Uber
Uber Company is an example of an E-commerce company. The name “Uber” is similar to the word "uber," which means topmost or rather super. Uber has also originated from a German word ubër which means "above." The company was. Formerly known as UberCab Inc. UberCab Inc was founded in 2008 and in October 2010 it changed to Uber (Elliott, 2015) . Uber is a peer to peer food delivery, ridesharing, and transportation network company. The headquarters of Uber technologies is located in San, Francisco, California. It operates in 633 cities in the world. Uber has websites and mobile applications where their platforms can be accessed. Uber has been known to be in the sharing economy and in reference to this, changes in the industries as a result of it have been referred to as” uberisation."
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Uber technologies have developed mobile applications which allow consumers to submit a trip request which is routed to taxi drivers who are crowd-sourced (Elliott, 2015) . The application enables users in arranging and scheduling transportation and logistics services with the third-party providers. Uber in the last few years has gone through a life cycle that took some successful companies decades to complete from iPhone button to cultural icon, startup to upstart, and from pushy disruptor to pushy behemoth.
Company Overview
Uber’s executive doesn’t like to associate themselves with the "sharing economy." The company's ambitions are known to be grander, but for now, a majority of the drivers are behind the wheel of their own car. Uber Company needs cars in good conditions, experienced drivers, reliable applications and willing customers for them to run the business efficiently. Uber Company targets the following groups (Elliott, 2015) . Men and women aged between eighteen to 60 who frequently attend concerts and games, men and women who are eighteen years and above who frequently travel for business, men and women who are above twenty-one years and frequently visit bars and nightclubs, men and women who have not yet acquired a driving license. People who don’t want to buy a car at the moment, people that don’t want to drive because they are drinking or going to the airport are also other target groups.
Uber has two target markets Demand-side and Supply side. On the demand side, people and businesses require a fuss-free experience to get from A to B. The supply side, on the other hand, is where drivers require flexibility and the need to make more money. Business strategy involves formulation and implementation of major goals and initiatives taken by a company’s management based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments. In many developing countries lack reliable transport system is a major problem, and this makes people prefer cabs. On the other hand, cabs are seen as a luxury in New York (Elliott, 2015) .
Uber gives normal people the ability to access services that taxis can provide without having to register. This is because the taxi services around the world are very infamous. Uber is a great source of convenience to its customers. Real-time booking connects the customers in need with the available service providers. (Elliott, 2015) They have ramped up operations in very many countries and are way before the taxi- wallahs in Mumbai. Uber company almost make no profits and they, therefore, hope that one day they will be almost monopoly and will be in a position to utilize technology to keep their customers while they will be getting rid of the suppliers who make them have a little say in how things will run. After which they can now charge any price to their customers.
Uber Company and the Internet
Reliable internet is the main requirement of the company. Internet connects the taxi driver with the customer upon the customer seeking for services. In this case, mobile apps are used. Uber has used the internet in marketing, and this has improved its services through research. Research has helped the company to know how its competitors run their businesses. It has propelled the company to higher levels. (Elliott, 2015) The Internet has also been used to gauge customer's interests. It is through monitoring the customer's trends Uber has advertised its services on online platforms, and this has made it easy for them to reach potential customers quickly and efficiently.
When planning for the online aspects of the business, the following considerations need to be made. Competitors and other businesses that use online tools, aspects of online business that will benefit the business, the budget, the laws and regulations that apply in the business, choice of software technology, plan of risks such as viruses, scams, data loss or damage to hardware, required training for the employees and time (Elliott, 2015) .
The Internet is a very interactive and efficient tool that makes a business more productive and profitable. The internet allows efficient communication and proper streamline of business activities. Therefore, the internet has many benefits. Reduced mailing expenses are one of the advantages. Internet reduces and eliminates traditional postal mailing. It also keeps up a good relationship with customers, especially where customers are given a platform to give feedback about the services offered.
Internet improves efficiency through providing readymade applications for daily use. These services assist in financial management through inventory control It also saves time and labor force needed in the running of the business (Elliott, 2015) . The internet has also increased business through increased sales. This is brought about by fast response from the service provider, global access, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and flexibility of the service provider.
The best way to understand online users is through understanding how different people interact with social media. In relation to this, Forrester research produced an analysis of six types of online users and how these users are differentiated by age (Elliott, 2015) . They include creators who are online users that write blogs, upload videos and publish web pages. The age bracket of these users is between twelve and twenty-six years. Less than 8% of adults who are over fifty years are creators.
Joiners are people who use social sites for networking. The other type of users are the critics who are the people that view user-generated content comment social media, blogs, and reviews for products and companies. 10 to 20 percent Online users above forty years are critics (Elliott, 2015) . Collectors use RSS feeds and social bookmarking tools to get the latest information. The other type of users is known as spectators. They read blogs, listen to podcasts often and watch user-generated videos (Elliott, 2015) . Lastly, we have the in actives. These are people who are always online but want nothing to do with user-generated content and social media. Teens between twelve and seventeen years are in actives.
Internet regulation can cost an online business in very many ways (Elliott, 2015) It can lead to customer inconvenience since the customer cannot access the services. This is because the mobile apps used require internet services to link both the driver and the customer. Time wastage is also another disadvantage. This comes about where the customer has to spend time looking for available service providers. On the other hand, the service providers spend time and a lot of resources which could be used elsewhere in search of customers Fraud cases increase since the cars will not be routed to the company’s monitoring systems, therefore the drivers may take advantage and overcharge the customer.
Metrics of E-Commerce in Uber Company
There are five main EC. Metrics of an online business. Conversion rate which is the percentage of the site’s visitors who makes a purchase is one of them. It is calculated by dividing the total number of site visitors by the total number of site visitors that make purchases. A good conversion rate improves all other metrics. The second one is the average order value which is the average amount a customer spends when an order is placed on a site by a customer. It is calculated by dividing the number of orders by the sum of the value of all orders. A high A.O.V reflects high-profit amounts.
Repeat Customer Rate is the percentage of customers who return to make a second purchase on a site. Repeat customers make businesses to be successful. Website customers are also part of the EC. Commerce and this are the total visitors on a given site (Elliott, 2015) . Lastly, we have customer Lifetime Value which is the value of an average customer during their entire relationship with the company. It helps in knowing the worth of each customer towards a business.
E-commerce security involves the protection of e-commerce assets from unnecessary destruction, use, and alterations. There are six dimensions of e-commerce security. (Elliott, 2015) They include Integrity which prevents modification of unauthorized data, Nonrepudiation which prevents any party from reneging on an agreement after the fact, authenticity which is the authentication a data source, Confidentiality which prevents unnecessary data disclosure and Privacy which is the provision of data control and availability which is the prevention of data delays.
Conclusion
The paper analyzes out an e-business analysis of Uber Company. E-commerce is a business that involves buying and selling on online platforms. E-commerce revolves around technologies such as mobile commerce, internet marketing, inventory management systems, and electronic data exchange. One of the companies that rely mainly on e-commerce is Uber. Uber is a peer to peer food delivery, ridesharing, and transportation network company. Uber gives normal people the ability to access services that taxis can provide without having to register. Due to globalization, the number of consumers who rely on e-commerce will keep increasing steadily. Furthermore, the rapid advancement of internet technology will ensure that goods and service can be purchased from any region. Ultimately, businesses that take utilize e-commerce such as Uber will benefit greatly.
References
Elliott, R. E. (2015). Sharing App or Regulation Hackney: Defining Uber Technologies, Inc. J. Corp. L. , 41 , 727.
