CCC

Copy-cat Craft Company (CCC) is an investment company, formed in 2001 to develop a variety of business strategies and services to private, corporate and public sectors. Members are five entrepreneurs, based in north of England. Monthly meetings are organised where members have the opportunity to bring ideas to the forum. Ideas are openly discussed and if agreed by the panel, they are explored further for potential development. CCC has so far engaged in a number of business ventures ranging from catering services for private and corporate events to brick and mortar chain of shoe shops. Most of these ventures have been lucrative and some have resulted in disproportionate efforts for little return. In practice, they aim to respond to consumer demands in the market.

One of the activities that CCC has in the past engaged in has been to sell imported goods on auction sites and in particular e-Bay. These activities have been quite cost-effective and profitable though they have had some problems with managing the supply chain for the products but on the whole they have become interested in online activity. Analysis of some of the online operators suggests that while many offer limited online ordering, there was room to achieve competitive advantage by offering a greater range of products and services or alternatively to offer a much more specialised range of products as the case maybe. In any case, they understand that successful outcome would depend on achieving this through the use of simple, straightforward and well developed low cost technologies rather than developing a potentially expensive bespoke system solution. CCC also realises the importance of retaining direct customer contact for those who prefer it to ensure widely accepted business practice in developing a brand.

At a recent meeting they have discussed appointing a management consulting company to advise them on a number of ways forward to reduce damaging overheads and in particular evaluate strategy to develop a Website that would allow customers to place orders online including secure payment by credit card. One of their initial thoughts is that payment services could be through third part services such as PayPal, one that CCC is quite familiar with. They are somewhat concerned that use of third party could provide for a challenge as payment area may not be customised to match the rest of the site. In addition, they are concerned that some customers may still be unsure about the online payment security. The Website must provide quick and easy to navigate display of products and information about the services. Use of good images that help prospective customers to easily explore what they are ordering has to be of outmost importance nevertheless they are also concerned that anyone using a dial up connection will find it difficult to download large and detailed images.