Kudler_Assessment

Kudler Internet Assessment University of Phoenix ACC/542 June 25, 2012 Dear Senior Executives: Business has evolved extremely quickly in the past five years, which is why adaptation is quintessential to success in the age of technology. Bring a high specialized business, such as Kudler brings advantages and disadvantages; however, having a strategic edge on the market place will aid you in the field of your business. Assessing your website, I have identified issues directly correlating to the flow of business and what you need from accounting to make this profitable. Your website provides quite an assortment of products you carry from “around the world,” which is special all in itself. Having a distributorship of fine imported foods is great, but the biggest weakness lies in the inventory process of keeping fresh foods on the shelves. Food is perishable, so it is paramount that the correct inventory cycle is used in the stores located across California. In addition, having a limited market just to California makes expansion quite difficult. Presently, California is one the largest hit by the current recession with unemployment rates exceeding 10%. With unemployment at an all time high, the need for luxury goods is diminishing. This is why the website must be built for global expansion. No assumption can be made in regard to the economic situation of California, so creating an order list on the website to mirror places like Omaha Steaks is needed. Full distributorship is needed to make your business grow, without it you are unfortunately limiting your growth potential. For accounting, setting up an e-commerce system takes linking and recognition of national and quite possibly international sales, so a new process must be generated. Banking is key to this issue, as we possibly need currency conversion, and immediate payment posting when customers pay electronically to the website. This is why you need a purchase order system to match the online sales. The creation of purchase orders will match every sale you make, so there will be an effective audit trail even though this business is conducted online. In the event of international sales, your purchase order system must correctly convert the applicable currency to the dollar. In addition, also assess the profit margin since you import your foods from all over, an effective price must be sent because you are also paying via foreign currency abroad. In reference to your website, I can tell that it possesses some good qualities. Your website design is nice; it fits the fancy customers you are trying to attract. The organization of the template is also nice, because it breaks down the lists of products you offer to your clients. However, I believe you can create sub-categories once you click the link. Because your current website does not offer full description on the products you have for sale. It is great that some tropical fruit comes from various countries, but what fruits do you have and where do they come from' I believe your current design makes potential customers wanting more. Will they drive to see one of your three stores, when they cannot even view the products for sale' Most likely not, an online picture catalog must be added, with a description of the products. In the technology era, users need their information fast, if they cannot get it immediately most likely they will not decide to shop with you. With this current roadblock brings current opportunities to achieve greatness. As mentioned earlier, creating an online catalog will most definitely assist you in obtaining more clients, because they will be inclined to shop your store with item descriptions and pictures. They can also order online and have it shipped directly to them. This gives you an opportunity to expand your business as well as more clients will purchase your products. This is why detail is needed on the website because even if international customers wish to purchase your products, you could have them possibly shipped directly from the manufacturer to save time and shipping costs. Under each product selection, provide a link that has the specific items that you sell in the store. Have a product description with adjoining pictures to make every item available. This shows the products more in depth so the potential customers can research them as necessary. In addition, also commence e-commerce to expand your business to clients across the world. This way you can eliminate just a Southern California client base. However, e-commerce does possess potential threats. In an online marketplace where money is changing hands, leaves potential openings to attacks from hackers. Because the website will possess client information and credit card information. First off, you need to create a secure website using the https address. Also, I suggest hiring a webmaster to monitor web traffic and create hard to crack administrative passwords to keep the integrity of your website. Finally, I also suggest getting solid virus detection for your website, so you can have almost every aspect of your website secure from outside attackers. With the creation of e-commerce, and the additions to your website, it is my opinion that your business will grow outside the state of California to become an extremely profitable entity. This is imperative that a secure connection for the website is also established, as previously mentioned to ensure your clients feel safe ordering from your website. I also suggest creating a logistics department in your company to help facilitate the potential increase in ordering.