The Pursued E-business Model by Sainsbury’s E-commerce Platform along with its Strengths and Weaknesses Considering E-business Concepts and Approaches with Proposals for Additional Improvement

Sainsbury’s primarily utilises a “Business-to-Customer or B2C” e-business model in its online shopping outlet as it sells and delivers diverse products to customers. Further, Sainsbury’s online shopping platform possesses many functionalities which furnish the platform with diverse strengths. All these functionalities of the Sainsbury’s platform are discussed in the following slide.

Strengths of Sainsbury's E-Commerce or Online Shopping Platform:

Shopper Convenience: The online shopping platform of Sainsbury’s delivers exceptional convenience to its shoppers. Shoppers in Sainsbury’s e-commerce platform can search for diverse products according to their interests and purchase these products through the online platform from anywhere and at any time. This helps shoppers to eliminate physical travel to purchase a product, making it convenient. In addition, the online shopping platform of Sainsbury’s also possesses an embedded interactive store locator. This helps the shoppers by displaying the nearest store in their area. In other words, this facility helps shoppers who want to make a purchase but are also concerned with checking and determining the quality of products like apparel and clothing items. This further indicates the “customer-centric approach” of Sainsbury’s online shopping platform by delivering profound shopper convenience. Furthermore, this customer-centric approach helps the organisation to enhance shopper satisfaction and shopper shopping experiences.

Diverse Delivery Options: The shopping platform of Sainsbury’s delivers flexible options for product delivery, such as same-day delivery. Additionally, the omnichannel functionality of the platform like “click-and-collect service” provides customers the opportunity to collect their ordered items at nearby shops or designated supply points (Sainsburys.co.uk, 2024). Through this omnichannel approach, Sainsbury's can seamlessly connect its offline and online shopping channels together. This further offers its customers convenience and flexibility in purchasing and receiving their orders according to their preference of getting the delivery. Moreover, this omnichannel approach improves shoppers' accessibility and helps the company to widen its customer base (Staff, 2023).

User-Friendly Platform Interface: The online shopping platform of Sainsbury’s possesses a user-friendly platform interface with instinctive design elements. The platform has a search box that helps shoppers find any products on the platform by typing the product's name. Additionally, the platform has also categorised all its offerings and each product section contains additional sub-sections related to the product. For instance, if a person is looking for meat and fish items, Sainsbury’s shopping platform has a distinct category for this. Which is further divided into sub-sections such as chicken, beef, lamb and more. This indicates that Sainsbury’s platform possesses a strong search functionality which makes it a user-friendly platform. Hence, it can be stated that Sainsbury’s online shopping platform also focuses on the optimisation of user experience.

Weaknesses of Sainsbury’s E-Commerce or Online Shopping Platform:

Sainsbury’s shopping platform does not focus on the B2B e-business model and this indicates some crucial weaknesses of the platform.

Overlooked Revenue Opportunities: B2B trades often involve immense order volumes, which can produce higher sales and enhance the profits of a business (BigCommerce, 2024). Without the presence of a B2B segment, Sainsbury's would overlook possible revenue streamlets from trading products in the majority to businesses, like hotels, restaurants, or other retailers.

Limited Market Outstretch: B2B clients portray a different market segment and possess different preferences and needs compared to particular consumers (BigCommerce, 2024). By not trading with this segment, Sainsbury's is restricting its market reach and failing to capitalise on possibilities to serve a more expansive customer base.

Competitive Disadvantage: Many UK-based online shopping platforms facilitate B2B sales of products such as “Alibaba”, this provides the shopping platforms with an advanced edge in the marketplace (Alibaba.com, 2024). Hence, Sainsbury's is falling behind its competitors as it is not focusing on B2B trades to improve its market position.