Introduction
The Online store URL - http://www.fairprice.com.sg/
NTUC Fairprice is a chain supermarket operating in various parts all over Singapore.
Known for its reasonable price and fresh food. Most of us would require no further introduction of the supermarket since we would have purchased our necessities at their outlets at least once.
More information of the supermarket can be obtain from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTUC_Fairprice
The fairprice online store did not have such a long history as compared to its brick-and-mortar operation. however it would be interesting to understand how a household brand having effect in the e-commerce world.
Thus in this research, we shall look at different aspects of Fairprice online e-commerce site.
Business model
NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Limited operates a supermarket chain all over the island, with a hypermaket in Ang Mo kio. It has also 74 outlets at ExxonMobil petrol kiosks which are opened 24 hours a day serving motorists and petrol station patrons. A convenience store which was branded as 'Cheers' also served many parts of the island 24 hours of conveniences.Below is a brief detail of the outlets run by the same corporation that run the Fairprice Online.
Details of the individual outlets- Cheers by FairPrice — This convenience store run by NTUC FairPrice was introduced in 1999. It offers 24 hour shopping convenience, and similar facilities to rival 7-Eleven. Cheers can also be found at selected ExxonMobil stations around the island, in which NTUC FairPrice co-operative runs the station, instead of ExxonMobil itself.
- FairPrice Express — A concept which can be found only at ExxonMobil stations, it is larger than Cheers and sells things like fresh produce, meat and seafood. It also sells more products meeting daily needs than a Cheers convenience store.
- FairPrice Homemart — This is a separate store selling non-food items, which include videos, electronics, furniture and household equipment.
- FairPrice Finest — This is a separate store offering up-market food supplies. It was officially opened in September 2007.
- FairPrice Online — Online supermarket offering many popular products familiar to patrons of the supermaket itself.
Besides the many different outlets that is managed to cater to different niche customers, the corporation also has a warehouse facility to cater for its logistics and distribution needs.
Payment scheme
Like many e-commerce sites , the website accepts credit card payment.
However they only accept Visa and Mastercard which is popular with the locals.
In addition to that , they offer cash/cheque payment on delivery for users without credit/debit cards.
However it is rather disappointing that they did not have the option to use eNETS which is already very common in many e-commerce websites.
Designs and Key Characteristics
The layout design generally uses a left and top navigation bar which is very common in many information and e-commerce sites. Some of the sites which observe similar layout includes 'yahoo.com' and 'msn.com'.
Since Fairprice Online does carry a wide range of products, they have also offered a search option on top of the left navigation panel .
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General information of the website and FAQs are located at the bottom of the page which seems as a pretty standard location for many major websites.
Though the website requires all users to sign-up a free membership, the general public can choose to view the products until they decide to make transaction on the website itself.
It is rather a good way to attract new customers to the site, since they can view what the e-commerce site have to offer before signing-up.
Strength and Potential
Since NTUC Fairprice is a household name that offers many food and household products, many existing customers from its 'brick-and-mortar' customers may try out its e-commerce website since they carry the same branding. Thus the brand name is trusted by the users of the e-commerce website.
As it is very common for homemakers to be working a full-time job. It is very difficult for them to make their way to the Fairprice outlets. Fairprice Online offers them an alternative way of shopping groceries and household item. As Fairprice Online does provide delivery services, they can save the hassle of picking up the purchased items as well.
This delivery service may also attract current customers that does not own a private vehicle, as it is often that people purchase groceries for a few weeks all in one trip of shopping.
Given its accessibility, it may also earned itself a new pool of customers that has problems making trips to the operation stores itself. Such customers may include the old, people with disabilities and homemakers that spend most of their time taking care of kids at home.
They have also catered itself to suit corporate needs. This may allow them to deal directly with various corporation offering them supplies regularly, creating a win-win situation. This is due to the coporation getting a good price for the products and Fairprice Online earning another long-term customer.
Weaknesses
Fairprice Online may be 'competing' with its physical stores operation.
As the currently patrons of the physical stores may view this e-commerce operation as a replacement. Thus will affect the sales of the physical stores itself.
We do not have information of the costs of operation in the physical and virtual for comparison. However if similar case becomes a major occurrence, in extreme cases they may be forced to close some physical outlets if the sales is unable to cover the outlet's costs of operation.
Many other major competitors such as 'Medi-ya' and 'Cold Storage' also have similar e-commerce sites. Both of these cited examples offered specialties products in some categories. For example, if I wanted to purchase wine, I would pay attention to the range of wine and recommendations that 'Cold Storage' has. As to 'Medi-ya' we would most of the time associate it with Japanese products.
Fairprice Online does not really brand itself to have a certain strength in certain categories of products except for the price.
However it is rather disappointing that they do not provide its 'Housebrand' on the site, which is something they can brand themselves with.
Customer retention programme for the e-commerce site is not well-developed. Therefore the users may go to its competitors with no opportunity costs at all.
Conclusion
With the above analysis , we are able to identify that Fairprice Online does have its capacity to develop into a successful e-commerce website.
However they do have its weaknesses and considerations to improve upon as well as to create strategies like its 'brick-and-mortar' operations to provide better services to its customers.
