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Course Name: E-Business Final Project Fall 2021

E-commerce Project

Presented by: Fares Mrad

Submitted to: Dr. Ali Farhat

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➧Setting up an e-commerce presence.

➧My e-commerce business will be a website with a social media presence. It will be called
“cryptoprint”. The idea is to sell cryptocurrency-printed merch for cryptocurrency holders. This
would let them express their love for the currency they are holding. And since crypto trading is
getting more and more recognition every day and there is a community of loyal and
technology-driven crypto fans that are getting bigger and bigger, I decided to fill the gap.
➧The products will be t-shirts and sweaters, mugs, and phone cases. On these products, there
will be printed logos related to cryptocurrencies. For example Ripple XRP, Solana, Bitcoin,
Ethereum, Shiba Inu, and Dogecoin. On our website and social media, people would be able to
shop, their orders would be delivered in 4 to 6 days, they could pay cash on delivery, in crypto,
or by credit card through the website. After receiving the product, they could exchange it if they
want to, also if there was a good reason, they could return the product and get their money back.
➧Our mission is to give something to cryptocurrency lovers that they could express themselves
with and be proud of using.
➧ Our vision is to be the voice for cryptocurrency lovers.
➧ Our objective is to ensure high-quality products to our customers, create a brand that focuses
on giving customers a good shopping experience, and serve our community by giving a
percentage of our profit to charities.
➧Our revenue model would be an online sales and cash on delivery model. Revenue would
come by selling our products and getting paid through online payments to our bank account,
cash on delivery that would be paid to us monthly by the delivery company we are working with,
and cryptocurrency (usdt or other coins and tokens ).
➧Our targeted audience is every cryptocurrency trader in Lebanon.
➧The ballpark. Accurate data concerning the percentage of cryptocurrency traders in Lebanon is
not available, unfortunately. But the number of people trading in crypto is increasing due to the
current economical and monetary crisis in Lebanon. It is a good source of fresh dollar income, it
doesn't involve banks, and is the fastest and cheapest way to transfer money.
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➧The content; T-shirts, mugs, and phone cases will be brought from wholesale sellers in Burj
Hammoud. A printing machine will be bought to execute printings on the products, bags, and
stickers for packaging.
➧SWOT analysis:
Strength:
- High-quality products
- Excellent customer service
- Community driven project
Weaknesses:
- The mood of buyers is constantly changing.
- Limited market share
Opportunities:
- Develop a loyal community
- Use blockchain technology in terms of moving to a decentralized business
- Build a brand awareness
- Expand product variaty
Threats:
- Declining economic condition
- Price fluctuation

➧To build a presence, the website and social media will do the job. Our target audience is a
technology and financially driven audience. So the focus would be on creating an interface that is
themed to their interests and relatable. In a simple way, our website and social media would look
like our targeted audience, and speak as they do. And engaging with our followers on social
media is key to building a presence.
➧Timeline: 6 phases milestones.
1. Planning: plan e-business presence and envision an identity
2. Website planning: Developing a website, choosing the design.
3. Web implementation: SEO and finding influencers to promote our product.
4. Social media plan: Choose what social media platforms would be more suitable to market
on.
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5. Social media implementation: Developing presence on Facebook and Instagram.

6. Mobile plan: Make the website support mobile smartphones.
➧Cost: Medium-sized warehouse: 1000$/month
Products:
- Basic T-shirts 7$/piece
- Mugs 3$/piece
- Smartphone cases 0.75$/piece
- Printer machine 3800$
- Packaging 2$/item
- Marketing: 3000$
- Website: 2500$

Average cost including electricity, phone bills, marketing:10000$

➧Building an e-commerce site: A systematic approach.

➧ Planning: The system development lifecycle

➧Business objectives: The website should have capabilities that would make the customer
experience as simple as possible. Present the product in a beautiful and informative way so it
could be appealing and eye-catching to website visitors. Being able to go through different
categories of products through filter search, easy checkout, and in the most secure way possible.
Also, it is so important to keep the website updated on a regular basis.
➧ System functionality would include being able to shop easily by having a clear call to action.
A shopping cart must be included and payment can be by cash on delivery, visa, or crypto
payment. Also, it is very important for the website to be optimized for mobile, search, and social
web.
➧Information requirements: Dynamic text will be used in order to personalize the user
experience. If the user has already been on the website and has already created an account, other
more specific data can be used to personalize the content such as name, gender, products that
they visited, and actions they previously made.
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Concerning the graphics catalog, the website will display powerful product images with
compelling product descriptions.
➧ System design: the architecture, components, and interface of the website would be based on
having a clear view for the customer to find what he needs easily.
➧The most important thing in the layout of the website is the simplicity and being able to
navigate through it without any problem. The overall look and feel of the website will be similar
across all of the site's pages. Backgrounds, color schemes, and even the tone of your writing.
They are all important to have consistency in the website.
➧Building the system: The website will have a simple layout to help customers have a seamless
experience. The information about the business, like the location and number, will be easily
reachable. And a description of the business and its objective will be available in the “about”
section.

➧Testing: Samples would be made to make sure the quality of the final product is perfect. The
prints on the merch have to be durable. Also, every function of the website should be tested in
order to make sure that website users will be satisfied.
➧After testing, we should start implementing and start building the website according to the
design we made.

➧Choosing software
➧The website's factuality is so simple. The web server should deliver the website content to the
end-user. The web server will contain all the files to run the online store, like prices, product
images, orders, customer accounts… I am gonna be using Shopify.
➧Functionality for sales:
- Online catalog: An online catalog will be designed, and it will include the variety of
products, their description, and prices.
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- Shopping cart: will facilitate the purchase of the products. It will accept the customer's
payments. It will allow the customer to select, reserve, and purchase the product from the
website. And it will include all information the customers provide.
- Credit card processing: A merch account will be made in the bank to be able to process
credit card payments on the website.

➧Choosing hardware.
➧Computing equipment needed for e-commerce functionality:
- Laptop with fast specifications
- External hard drive to keep business information secure and organized
- Mobile device
- Network server for fast speeds and security.

➧Right-sizing hardware platform

- The demand side: The website should be fast for a better user experience. It should be
able to process in peak times(peak times should be estimated) and process the number of
items, and type of content.
- The supply side: the website should be able to increase in size when the demand
increases on the website. Vertically it will increase the processing power of individual
components. Horizontally, use multiple laptops to share the workload.

➧Payment and security

➧ Payment methods:
- Credit card
- Cryptocurrency
- Cash on delivery
➧ Commonly used technologies to secure online transactions:
- Match IP and billing address information to make sure that the customer is the
cardholder.
- Encrypt sensitive information.
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- Require strong passwords and authentication from customers that want to sign up to
ensure their security.
➧Cryptoprint Privacy Policy.

We only use the information that we collect to fulfill any orders placed through the website
(including processing your payment information, arranging for delivery, and providing you with
invoices). Additionally, we use this information to:

- Communicate with you.

- Screen out your orders for potential risk or fraud.
- When in line with the preferences you have shared with us, provide you with information
or advertising relating to our products or services.

➧Categorize marketing and advertising strategy and methods

The majority of cryptocurrency traders have a need to show others that they are a part of a crypto
community that follows a revolutionary technology that would pave the way for the future and
makes money like nothing else. Trading crypto as a job or as a small investment on the side
comes with a new lifestyle. This is the need I will be focusing on and give this audience
something they can identify and express themselves with through offline, online, and social
media strategies.

My audience is at a stage of problem awareness and solution awareness. Meaning they know
they have that need and they are searching for a solution, and they know the solution but don't
know what product they should pick. My goal is to reach a stage where people would know my
product but they are yet to choose it, and a stage where they are most aware meaning they know
my solution and trust it. And I will conduct and execute my marketing strategies based on that
analysis.

Starting with the offline strategy, it will get the smallest part of my marketing budget, because
there aren't many places yet in Lebanon where I could reach my targeted audience efficiently. So
my strategy will be basically finding crypto-related events where my target audience would be
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gathered and sponsoring those events. Also, flyers would be distributed in crypto-related stores
with a discount to motivate people to visit our website.

The online strategy will focus on using search engine optimization to improve the quality and
quantity of the website traffic from search engines. Search engine optimization would help lead
people that are constantly searching for a specific product to our website by ranking higher on
search engines Email marketing, to promote products, incentivize loyalty, and discounts. Email
marketing would help the business retain its customers as well as gain new ones.

Social media will be a source to generate traffic to my website and engage with my audience.
The social media content would include:

- Only important crypto news, because it helps stir emotions

- Motivation to use your products or pursue a certain lifestyle, such as quote graphics or
photos
- High-quality product shots of my products being used, videos, and testimonials
- Contests and giveaways.

And for advertising, I will be contacting crypto influencers and using Facebook ads.

➧Explain your business e-commerce process

Starting by visiting the website, the customer would be greeted by a simple and catchy website
layout. He would find 4 categories that he could choose from: t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, and
phone cases. After choosing a category he would find different designs of the category he chose,
and every design has its own description and all the related information to it ( size, price, color,
availability...). When the customer chooses the products he wants to buy, he would click on “add
to cart” and then he would find the item added to his shopping cart. When the customer goes to
his shopping cart and finds the product he chose, then he clicks on “proceed to checkout”. If the
customer hasn't signed up yet, he would need to make a personal account and enter his personal
information(first name, last name, email address, phone number, and location). After signing up,
he will be taken to a page where he would choose his payment method(credit card,
cryptocurrency, and cash on delivery), then he would click on “place my order” and get directed
to a page displaying a thank you note for shopping with us and asking for his feedback. In four to
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six days, he would find his order on his doorstep. And if the customer wants to return or
exchange the product he would call us and he would be getting the help he wants.

➧Conclusion

I want to conclude my report by stating a few critical aspects of my business. The most
important thing for me is to make the customer happy with every interaction he makes with the
business. Knowing what my customers need by asking them through different ways, really
listening to what they are telling me, and really caring for providing what they need is the core of
my business. From that point of view, all website components, social media, customer service,
and policies would be working on the same page to reach that goal.