BM565 Digital Business & New Technologies Case Study

Introduction

Digital business implies for the organization which utilises digital technologies to develop, sell or distribute goods and services. Nowadays, almost all business sectors are utilising the advanced technologies for making their business digital due to its various benefits. The report is going to explain about the e-commerce technology and its related different aspects. The report will explain the different theories and their application in the retail industry. Further, the report will discuss the nature of relationship among digital technologies and old and new business and management theories.

Section 1

a) Importance of e-commerce

In the current times, e-commerce is highly significant as many organisations have adopted this business model to enhance customer base and sell their products. Now, it has become the most beneficial way to develop retail or other business (Hussien, Rahma and Wahab, 2021). The scope of e-commerce involves international reach, enhanced convenience, market expansion, diverse product portfolio and cost-effectiveness. By developing the e-commerce website, the company can increase their reach to the wider audience which is not possible by the physical stores.

b) Development of e-commerce

The development of e-commerce started in 1960’s with the formation of Electronic Data Interchange. It was invented to replace the fax and mail which made possible exchange of data by digital transfer without requirement of human intervention. After that, year 1979, an English inventor Michael Aldrich developed the idea of online shopping by hooking up television to supermarket in order to deliver products (Big Commerce, 2025). After that many businesses used this approach and launched e-commerce platforms to sell their products online. Technically, Boston Computer Exchange was the first e-commerce firm that launched in year 1982.

c) Description of e-commerce and its uses

E-commerce, also known as electronic commerce, is the purchasing and selling of products and services by using internet. It is conducted over smart phones, computer systems, tablets and other smart devices (Kedah, 2023). Organisations can establish their own ecommerce platform or develop ecommerce storefront on well-known selling website such as; Amazon. E-commerce technology allows customers to place an order by utilising online stores and websites. After that, a company starts the process so that they can deliver products on time.

d) Technological platforms and software utilised in e-commerce

In e-commerce, there are various platforms utilised that help different business operations. It involves Shopify, BigCommerce, Weebly, Adobe Commerce, Big Cartel, Wix and many more. Further, there are different payment tools which are integrated with online stores in order to process transactions (Spiralytics, 2024). It involves Google Pay, Wise, Revolut, WorldRemit etc. These payment applications can be utilised by the customers to make payment while order product online.

e) Type of business and organisation utilise e-commerce

Almost all products and services can be bought but using e-commerce platforms today. Different types of business sectors are using the e-commerce technology. Business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-business all kinds of businesses are undertaking e-commerce technology (Kremez et al, 2021). Further, businesses sectors such as; retail, food and beverage, hospitality, automotive, healthcare, finance and many more are now operating their business from both physical and online stores. Supermarkets, fashion company, restaurants, telecommunication etc. have own online stores from which they sell products and services.

f) E-commerce as business tool and its effectiveness

Nowadays, retail sector is utilising e-commerce as business tool because of its different benefits. It allows the retail organisations to sell products and services through online stores. This in turn facilitates reach to the global consumer markets and thereby generates high profit margins (Khan, 2023). By offering products online, retail company not only sales products to the urban customers but also fulfils the needs of people who live in the rural areas. With the rise in e-commerce, the company does not need to invest in brick and mortar shop which contributes in saving the operational cost.

Section 2

1. Implications of the e-commerce technology understood by retail industry

The rise of digital technologies has revolutionised the industries internationally including retail industry. The incorporation of digital technologies in the retail organisations like supermarkets has transformed the business operations and management approaches, offering supermarkets to achieve competitive advantages. However, there are also some organisations that have been not successful in adopting and applying technologies. The success and failure in technology in the retail industry can be understood by using relevant digital technology and management theories.

Tesco which is a UK-based multinational supermarket chain has invested in the digital technologies across its organisation. The digital transformation of the Tesco started with the launch of online shopping and e-commerce (Grocery Doppio, 2024). The company has introduced its own e-commerce website where people can see all product categories and search products according to their needs. Not only e-commerce but the company also embraced other technologies such as; artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics etc. Into its supply chain operations as well as customer service.

Technology acceptance theory (TAM): The theory describes that how a person embraces and utilise a new technology. The theory assumes that supposed ease of utilisation and perceived usefulness are major elements that impact the decisions of the users to accept technology (Musa et al, 2024). For Tesco, the incorporation of e-commerce and other technology like artificial intelligence showed the understanding of the organisation about usefulness of technology. The capability to offer products online with fastest delivery shows the acknowledgment of organisation regarding the usefulness of the technology to enhance customer experience and efficiency of the business. The integration of the technologies align with the technology acceptance model perception of technology’s ease of use because customer can easily place orders from their mobile phones without going anywhere. They can also make online payments after ordering online products. Tesco also introduced the Clubcard programme which is a kind of loyalty programme and allow online customers to earn points which can be utilised in future.

The organisation that operates under the retail industry has understood the significance of e–commerce. This is the reason almost all companies has built own e-commerce to make shopping trouble free for the customers. Over time the retail sector has also changed their old management structures to stay relevant into the market.

Mintzberg model of management structure has been adopted by the Tesco to build their organisational structure according to the changing market demands of the market. The model states that the firm’s strategy, external pressure along with internal factors impacts the structure of the company (Weidener, Greilich and Melnykowycz, 2024). In line with the Mintzberg’s model, the company has embraced the machine organisation that has standardised work procedure and centralised decision-making. Earlier the company has implemented the hierarchical structure which was quite rigid. However, due to the changing market conditions and emerging technologies, the organisation has changed its structure. Now, Tesco has invested more in high level of specialisation so that employees can carry out technology-based tasks.

2. Emergence of brand-new organisations and challenges faced by old-style firms

The development of new and tech-friendly firms has disrupted the e-commerce field. The companies established around digital technologies has revolutionised the way products and service are sold to the customers. These disruptors are usually customer-centric, agile as well as data-driven that help retail companies to make decisions. Now new retail firms directly sell the products online instead of physical shops (Mariachiara and Pedroni, 2021). New organisations are leveraging the digital technologies to run their business even some businesses only operate their business by only online platform. It forces the old style companies to change their traditional way and adopt digital technologies. Nevertheless, it is not easy for them to embrace technology easy because change in the existing practices and management structure are quite difficult. No old organisation can easily change their way and they take some time to shift into the online business.

Although, digital technologies helped the business organisations in perform their operations and thereby increase the chances of success. Supermarkets like Tesco, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and many more leverage the e-commerce technology. All these organisations have changed their old management style that helps in achieving success in e-commerce business model.

Technology adoption lifecycle model explains how firms move from various phases when embracing the technologies. The stages involve innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards (Attié and Meyer-Waarden, 2022). For example, Walmart is considered as early adopters that offers large range of products online. The supermarket has built fulfilment system in order to handle online orders. But still there are many supermarkets that failed to adopt e-commerce technology effectively.

Iceland, a UK-based supermarket chain that operates across the UK and Ireland shifted their business operations. The supermarket has adopted the e-commerce technology to sell products online. Unfortunately, Iceland failed to embrace technology effectively. The main reason behind its failure that the supermarket is slow in applying advanced technology compare to other supermarkets (Internet Retailing, 2022). For example, when Tesco introduced e-commerce platform, the company also announced to Clubcard scheme. However, Iceland’s e-commerce strategies were poor that negatively affected the ecommerce business model. The supermarket is still depends on old management structure which could be reason for failure. In line with the technology adoption lifecycle model, Iceland can be considered as late majority that embrace the digital technologies later compared to others.

Section 3

Findings

The survey was conducted on 5 managers of Tesco that helped to know more about the e-commerce technology and its related aspects. The manager asked about the reason behind embracing e-commerce, its advantages, challenges, contribution in improving customer satisfaction etc. From primary research, it has been identified that the major reason behind embracing e-commerce technology was growth of online shopping. Over time, top companies has introduced online platform that encouraged Tesco to launch own e-commerce platform. From analysis, it came to know that e-commerce benefit the business in different ways. It allowed a company to reach wider audience including global customers which is not possible by physical stores. E-commerce helped the firm to reduce operational costs and make large base of loyal customers through reducing the limitations of brick and mortar stores.

Additionally, it has been identified that the firm has faced many challenges while implementing e-commerce. Due to lack of skills and limited resources, the company faced issues. As it was quite time-consuming process so it impacted the implementation process. Company has also used different strategies to reduce the challenges. Tesco focused on their management structure and decided to change that allowed them to reduce challenges and effective apply e-commerce. It can be said that, if the company want to achieve success by after adopting the digital technologies then it is crucial for them to make changes in existing structure. A company that is still using old style management structure like Iceland then it can be difficult for them to achieve success.

Primary research helped to understand that training is crucial to apply technology effectively. Training allowed the employees to learn about the technology, its importance and different features. By getting sufficient training, employees became able to manage e-commerce business and it was the reason, Tesco gained success in their online business. The managers of the company focused on time management and allocation of resources. It facilitated the firm to handle e-commerce operations while managing other functions. Moreover, the managers has accepted that e-commerce allowed them to improve the experience of the customers which matter most to the company. E-commerce platform facilitates the customers to make their shopping more convenient. Because of this technology, the customer could access large range of products anytime. It allowed them to order products after checking all information. Overall, it can be said that e-commerce offered benefits to both businesses and customers.

Conclusion

As per above analysis, it is concluded that it has become crucial for the industries including retail sector to increase their efforts to make their business digital. The companies that success full adopted the digital technologies have gained higher success than those firms that did not focused on emerging technologies. The report has explained that digital transformation has put pressure on the supermarkets to transform their own business. Some companies successfully applied the e-commerce technology like Tesco but dome supermarkets faced failure in adopting technology like Iceland. Organisations also changed their old management structure and adopted digital transformation theory to stay relevant in the market.

Reference materials and sample papers are provided to clarify assignment structure and key learning outcomes. Through our Assignment Help UK, guidance is reflected while maintaining originality and ethical academic practice. The BM565 Digital Business & New Technologies Case Study Assignment Sample demonstrates practical application of e-commerce concepts, digital transformation strategies, and technology adoption theories in the retail sector.

References

Books and Journals

• Attié, E. and Meyer-Waarden, L., 2022. The acceptance and usage of smart connected objects according to adoption stages: an enhanced technology acceptance model integrating the diffusion of innovation, uses and gratification and privacy calculus theories. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 176, p.121485.
• Hussien, F.T.A., Rahma, A.M.S. and Wahab, H.B.A., 2021, May. Recommendation systems for e-commerce systems an overview. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1897, No. 1, p. 012024). IOP Publishing.
• Kedah, Z., 2023. Use of e-commerce in the world of business. Startupreneur Business Digital (SABDA Journal), 2(1), pp.51-60.
• Khan, S.A., 2023. E-marketing, e-commerce, e-business, and internet of things: an overview of terms in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Global applications of the internet of things in digital marketing, pp.332-348.
• Kremez, Z., Frazer, L., Weaven, S. and Quach, S., 2021. Ecommerce structures for retail and service franchises: Ecommerce implementation in mature franchise systems. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 33(6), pp.1292-1308.
• Mariachiara, C. and Pedroni, M.L., 2021. Rethinking Fashion Brands in The Era of Digital Media. ZONEMODA JOURNAL, 11(1).
• Musa, H.G., Fatmawati, I., Nuryakin, N. and Suyanto, M., 2024. Marketing research trends using technology acceptance model (TAM): A comprehensive review of researches (2002–2022). Cogent business & management, 11(1), p.2329375.
• Weidener, L., Greilich, K. and Melnykowycz, M., 2024. Adapting Mintzberg’s organizational theory to DeSci: the decentralized science pyramid framework. Frontiers in Blockchain, 7, p.1513885.

Online

• Big Commerce, 2025. e-commerce. [Online] Available through < https://www.bigcommerce.com/articles/ecommerce/ >
• Grocery Doppio, 2024. What Makes Tesco's Retail Media Strategy a Game-Changer and Differentiator. [Online] Available through < https://www.grocerydoppio.com/articles/what-makes-tescos-retail-media-strategy-a-game-changer-and-differentiator >
• Internet Retailing, 2022. Iceland retains online growth but overall sales decline. [Online] Available through < https://internetretailing.net/iceland-retains-online-growth-but-overall-sales-decline/ >
• Spiralytics, 2024. Ecommerce: Past, Present, Future. [Online] Available through < https://www.spiralytics.com/blog/past-present-future-ecommerce/ >