E-COMMERCE PLAN (BUSI 645)
(40%)

Working in groups of 4-5 persons, the students will assume that they want to start a brand-new e-commerce business.

They will identify a market opportunity, conduct detailed research about trends, competition and customers, and propose a digital marketing/e-commerce strategy on how to start a new business (“pure e-commerce”, online business).

There are three deliverables for this group assignment:

1. Group Project proposal (5%): the students will do research and come up with an idea for a pure e-commerce business. They will upload their idea on the course website during the third/fourth week of the course (refer to the calendar)

   The proposal will consist of an image (table) of the suggested business model canvas and primary research to define market opportunity (industry growth, keyword research, competitive analysis, value proposition and positioning, etc.).

The group proposal is worth 5%, and it will be evaluated based on the grading rubric posted in Week 0.

See the grading rubric for the Proposal posted on Moodle.

2. A 15 minute verbal presentation before the class (with slides, online, on Zoom, at the end of the semester) followed by a 5-10 minute Q&A session. All students should present. Note that the presentation may be attended by an external industry expert or panel who will be asked to select the best project, and to provide quick feedback after the presentation(s).

The student should present as if you are pitching their E-commerce project to important stakeholders. The presentation can highlight their business overview (mission, vision, value proposition, products/services, target consumers/customers, etc.), market research and analyses (competitive environment, situation analysis (e.g., SWOT), keyword trends), and E-commerce strategies and plans (SEO –Social media content/calendar plan, website map/wireframe/visual layout, other integrated promotional tactics, etc.), along with an implementation plan (financial projections and project timeline).

3. The students should also put together a 15 – 20 page Appendix / Supporting Documents to their verbal presentation (mostly consisting of tables, charts, screenshots…) and submit right before their verbal presentation. The purpose of this document is to accompany the verbal presentation and serve as a brief action plan, i.e. summary of the most important points.  More information about the Appendix has been provided on page 2 of this document.

   See the combined grading rubric for the deliverable 2 and 3 (35% of the total grade) above on Moodle.

Format of the Appendix

1. Business Model Canvas (copied and/or updated from your proposal)
2. Keyword research /  trend report
3. SWOT
4. SEO Plan and SEO tables
5. Social Media Content Calendar
6. Other Promotional Tactics (e.g. screenshot of social media or e-mail marketing campaigns)
7. Website Map
8. Website Wireframe
9. Website Visual Layout
10. Financial projections
11. Implementation plan (outline of a sequence of activities/ steps to be done before the launch – in a table form or as a Gantt chart)