1. Introduction
Firebox opened
their virtual operations in 1998, as hotbox.co.uk. It was founded by the flatmates
of university, names Michael Smith and Tom Boardman. Hotbox was an existing
company who peddled hardcore pornography, but their business was all about cool
gifts and non-sexual gadgets. Realizing that, they changed the name to Firebox.
Their first and original creation was "The Shot Glass Chess Set". Due
to this invention of the founders, rapid growth was seen by the company. In
1999 they moved their company to London and relaunched their operations. Products
of Firebox have been defined as unusual, unique, quirky products from around
the globe. For instance: lightsabers, alarm clocks, duct tape wallets, and the
famous lava lamp. They are known for their innovation and creativity which
allows them to introduce stupidest products and still be within their vision,
that is to think out of the box. Their website is also representing their
innovation, specifically their about us page in which one can keep on scrolling
and there's hardly any boring content but it gives people suspense and make
them stay on the website for a long time (eSuperbrands, 2005 & Firebox,
2019).
2. Overview
of Business of Firebox
Firebox has
positioned them as being one of the prior outlets providing innovative goods.
Firebox has used the collaborative nature of the web with Customer to customer
interactions. Firebox allowed their consumers to share their personal
experiences with the products and they can even send videos and photos of them
in action with the products of Firebox. At first, Firebox was only an
e-commerce business but now it has become a multi-channel retailer. They
provide mail order services through their catalogue, corporate products
(promoting sales and incentives for staff for Yahoo!, Five, Oracle, Siemens,
and Abbey and trade suppliers as well as wholesalers) who are distributing
niche products to other offline and online e-retailers.
The firebox was
able to get 500,000 pounds as an investment from New Media Spark. Besides that,
they also received funding from various private investors. Their sales have
increased at a rate of 156% a year. It has gone from 262,000 pounds in 2000 to
4.4 million pounds in 2003 and 8 million pounds in 2004, which was gained from
175,000 orders. Furthermore, they were also able to receive 4.5 million webpage
impressions and around 680,000 unique visitors each month in 2004. It can be
seen from these stats that firebox has become a very successful e-business but
there were other businesses operating in the similar time period which weren’t
so successful, such as Boo. Hence, it encourages the investigation on the
strategies and decisions of Firebox which made the company such a huge success
(eSuperbrands, 2005 & Chaffey, 2009).
3. Strategic
Assumptions
E-business
strategy is defining the approaches through which internal and external
electric communication are applied for supporting and influencing the corporate
strategy, that is the goals of the business. Firebox always utilized realistic
and wise strategies and decisions for running the company which is why they
were able to survive in the tough times (Chaffey, 2009).
3.1.Market
Driving strategy
Firebox is
utilizing marketing driving strategy that is that their internal capability is
high but the external forces are low. It is the situation of early adopters and
as stated above firebox is the pioneer of providing innovative products.
3.2.Multi-channel
marketing
Firebox opted
for a multi-channel marketing strategy for their business. Customer
communication and product distribution is actually assisted by a mix of digital
and traditional channels at various points in the cycle of buying. When Firebox
started sending catalogues for getting new customers they mixed traditional
methods and digital methods together for providing the best service to their
customers. Charlie Morgan states the programme of catalogue drops has made it
possible for Firebox to recruit new customers and assisted it in growing as a
brand (Silicon, 2004).
3.3.Customer
to Customer
Customer to
customer is one of the key strategies which helped Firebox in gaining
popularity, trust, and customers. It is a creative method of allowing customers
to communicate with each other, Firebox allowed their customers to share their
experiences with products of Firebox publicly and they could even send photos
or videos.
These were some
of the key strategies which assisted Firebox in growing and being able to cope
up with the boom and bust of the dot com (Chaffey, 2009 & Firebox, 2019).
4. Decisions
4.1.Decision
1: E-business channel priorities
The firebox was
trading online with no physical presence.
4.2.Decision
2: Market and product development
Firebox has
constantly tried to develop more innovative products as well as it keeps on
increasing its market by various tactics, such as their catalogue programme.
4.3.Decision
3: Positioning and differentiation strategies
Firebox has
also positioned their products as differentiated products providing innovation
and creativity. Their unique products are their USP.
4.4.
Decision 4: Business and revenue models
They are
retailers and manufacturers and their revenue is mostly generated from selling
their products.
4.5.
Decision 5: Marketplace restructuring
Counter
mediation is being utilized by Firebox. They are fully in control of the key
elements of their supply chain for preventing competitors from gaining a
competitive advantage.
4.6.
Decision 6: Supply-chain management capabilities
They are
actively participating online for reducing costs and they do integrate closely
with their suppliers.
4.7.
Decision 7: Internal knowledge management capabilities
They are
utilizing their customers and other stakeholders for disseminating the
knowledge. They make sure to keep close ties with all their stakeholders (Chaffey,
2009 & Firebox, 2019).
5. Conclusion
Firebox is a
very innovative and different company working on the strategy of
differentiation. Their strategies are in alignment with the needs of their
operations and that is why they were able to survive even in the toughest
times. Besides that, they knew when to bring change and being a company based
on innovation it is not tough for them to bring a sparkle of creativity in
their business models. If they continue with their strategies of innovation
they are going to see this uprising growth for a long time.
References
Chaffey, D. (2009). E-Business and E-Commerce
Management, Strategy, Implementation & Practice, Prentice Hall, 2009:
E-Business and E-Commerce Management, Strategy, Implementation & Practice (Vol.
1). Bukupedia.
eSuperbrands
(2005) eSuperbrands 2005. Your Guide to
Some of the Best Brands on the Web. Superbrands Ltd, London.
Silicon.com
(2004) E-commerce sites: ‘Long live ... the catalogue'? 23 November. Author,
Will Sturgeon (www.silicon.com).
This is an assignment which I did for my university. If you want you can use it as an example for your assignments.
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