Social E-Commerce Model for Eves Fruit Shop

SOCIAL E-COMMERCE MODEL FOR EVES FRUIT SHOP
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Social E-Commerce Model for Eves Fruit Shop
Executive Summary
Eves Fruit Shop faces problems with service delivery to customers. As a traditional fruit and vegetable shop, the firm needs to make a few changes to improve its service delivery. The recommendations provided to Eves Fruit Shop involve building an e-commerce business that leverages the benefits of social media and is supported by an adequate delivery infrastructure. A literature review reveals that social e-commerce is increasingly becoming valuable to businesses since it helps combine the advantages of online selling with the customer engagement competencies made possible by social media. The new business can build on retailers' experiences during COVID-19, who actively took advantage of online food shopping to keep the food supply chains robust.
Introduction
Retail firms, especially small and medium businesses, face challenges that often hinder their growth. Retailers often must contend with the old rule that the customer is always right. This saying illustrates the amount of power that consumers have. As such, customers are no longer forced to choose between a few options. Therefore, building customer loyalty becomes one of the most challenging undertakings for a retailer. Since retailers do not produce, their best option is to build a seamless customer experience through service delivery and other strategies. Many pathways are increasingly becoming available today, especially as technological advances continue. Social media can combine with e-commerce to build the ultimate customer experience in retail service delivery. This report explores how Eves Fruit Shop can leverage social and e-commerce to help improve its current problems.
Eves Fruit Shop is a small retail shop dealing with fruits and vegetables. Even though the business is doing well, an interview with the owner reveals some problems that require immediate solutions. One of the problems revolves around the delivery business. The owner expressed that there were no initial plans to do deliveries as he expected the customers to purchase directly from the shop. However, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the firm to make deliveries to customers. Doing deliveries was the only way the shop could sell due to the problems with isolation and restricted movements. Even so, the deliveries were only possible in good weather. The delivery has helped the owner to gain a few loyal customers who often call or message him directly whenever they need products. As a result, the owner is considering making internet sales, but a busy schedule prevents him from pursuing this objective.
Discussion of Literature and Recommendations
Literature on Social Media and E-Commerce for Retail
Social media and e-commerce are two technological developments that have revolutionized business activities and customer shopping experience. Current literature on social media focuses on two aspects: social media as a marketing tool and social media as a business platform. Entrepreneurs often use social networking sites as a business platform to sell products, interact, and connect with clients (Nawi et al., 2019). The sites are often designed as interactive platforms where people can interact remotely in real-time. The growth in social media use for other purposes means customers have also been willing to embrace it for business purposes. The unified theory of technology acceptance and use describes the factors that influence the willingness of people to adopt and use technology. The theory expresses that 70% of the variance in technology use is behavioral (Nawi et al., 2019). Therefore, entrepreneurs exploit consumers’ intentions to buy through social media by creating facilitating conditions for social media use for business. For example, mobile payments and product deliveries make social media a viable platform to buy and sell products.
Social media as a marketing tool entails a broader set of marketing strategies called social media marketing strategies (SMMS). SMMS can be described as using social media and marketing strategy dimensions, encompassing social commerce strategy, social monitoring strategy, social content strategy, and social customer relationship management (CRM) strategy (Li et al., 2021). In this case, social media provides marketers a platform to implement marketing strategies, including market research and CRM. The value of social media to businesses is increasingly growing as new possibilities emerge. Social media allows firms and customers to interact and influence each other. Firms can learn about customers’ needs and preferences and identify emerging market trends. Similarly, customers can learn about products, services, and brands either through the businesses themselves or through the social media communities. Reviews and customer feedback are critical components marketers use to design and tailor products and services.
Recently, studies have examined how social media and e-commerce can be leveraged to produce more excellent value for companies and their customers. Integrating social media into traditional e-commerce creates an innovative technology-based approach that changes customer decision-making and buying behaviors (Lin and Wang, 2022). Social media often provides consumers with an avenue for information seeking and sharing, a critical component of the buying process. Information seekers in the pre-purchase stage can find information from information providers in the post-purchase stage. This scenario is where reviews and feedback become part of the interactions between the brand and the customers. Traditional e-commerce does not offer these options.
On the contrary, an e-commerce platform will often resemble an online store display with products and prices and a check-out application that allows for purchases. Product information is scant in these models, meaning they cannot be leveraged for the ultimate customer experience. However, some scholars explain that e-commerce helps build customer experience through convenience, personality, and prices (Ertemel et al., 2021). However, brand engagement is often minimal, and e-commerce platforms cannot stimulate purchase intention on their own. The rationale is that buyers will rely on other sources of information before making the online purchase decision.
E-commerce may not be as successful without social media as it would be if it integrated the media. Recent studies in India, South Africa, and Malaysia indicate that social media is critical for creating a bond between businesses and their clients (Khalaf et al., 2022). The rationale is that many consumers are skeptical about online businesses, mainly due to concerns surrounding online payment systems. Customers who feel safe with a brand will most likely embrace their e-commerce model. As a result, social media can be construed as a bridge to e-commerce adoption, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that might face the prohibitive costs of establishing a full-fledged e-commerce platform (Maskuroh et al., 2022). The power of social media cannot be ignored by any business that seeks to establish an online retail business. Customer engagement theory expresses trust and commitment as essential for relationship formation (Santini et al., 2020). Trust shows a willingness to rely on exchange partners, meaning that trusting customers expect to be more engaged. Social media is the ultimate tool for customer engagement. Commitment denotes a willingness to stay in the long term....