E-Business Applications Caltex Australia Pvt Ltd

Question: Discuss about theE-Business Applications for Caltex Australia Pvt Ltd. Answer: Introduction Caltex Australia started its operations in the year 1936. The company which began as the joint venture between the standard oil (California) which later named as Chevron Corporation and the Texas Company to sell out the oil in Saudi Arabia (Caltex, 2016). In 1968 the company was renamed as Caltex Petroleum Corporation. Caltex is the leading Oil provider company in Australia. The distribution structure of the company turns out to be the biggest strength for the company. The Company belongs to the oil and gas industry. It trades mainly in three products they are (Caltex 2016): Fuels (Caltex 2016) Petrol - Caltex Vortex Premium 98, Caltex Vortex Premium 95 Diesel- Caltex Vortex Premium Diesel Autogas (Caltex 2016) Lubricants and motor oil (Caltex 2016) Caltex Star Mart which is the eatery store which consists of coffee, grocery items, Daily newspapers and magazines, Cold drinks, bread, milk and snacks (Engineering News 2016). Caltex Australia is not a company which is primarily built on the model of an E-commerce business rather e-business forms a part of the same Company wherein the customers have the access and convenience to buy the product (Engineering News 2016). E-Commerce Business Models Caltex Australia Pvt Ltd. Follows the model of the B2B and B2C. The company deals with the online as well as the offline refueling of the fuels. Caltex provides the option of on-site refueling that provides the fuel and diesel direct to the site. The payment can be made with the help of the card wherein the customer has to scan the barcode and pay the sum instantly (Caltex 2016). Ease of Use of the E-Business Business owners and consumers buy online because the online stores give a sort of relaxation to the consumers (Huang and Benyoucef 2013). If the business owner is planning to start his own online business, there are certain advantages that the online business provides to him (Huang and Benyoucef 2013). Customers can purchase the product at any time. Easy delivery of the product The transactions made by the customers are safe The customers can purchase the goods at any time. E-Commerce Applications Currently used The company uses several Applications (Caltex 2016): Online Marketing: The company uses online marketing where the company has an online portal where customers can transact and order their products online. Offline Marketing: The company uses offline market where the customers can visit the stores and service stations and make use of the product. E-Commerce Supply Chain Management The companys Supply chain management is considered to be the vital business process for the smooth flow of products from the supplier to the end user in the value chain. Directly or indirectly it includes all the party include in fulfilling the request entered by the customer. Every stage in the supply chain management pertains to the flow of the information related to products, information and the cost (Chambers and Chambers 2016). The Caltex National Truck Networks referred as NTN which consists of 200 truck sites in and around Australia which provides the company with the cost of fuels which results in less investment on operating cost and with this the fleet efficiency gets improved (Caltex 2016). Benefits provided by the fleet efficiency: the products are delivered on time to the end users and the operating cost of the company gets reduced. The company offers greater fuel discounts to the users who are located in the NTN area (Caltex 2016). E-Commerce Security Strategy With the online marketing and transactions need to be secured. The company provides StarCard, StarFleet, StarFleet Plus, StarCard Debit and StarCash cards with the help of which the customers can pay for the every purchase they make. There are several features that are attached with each and every card (Caltex 2016). StarCard: With StarCard the customers can save 6 cents on purchase of every litre of Vortex Premium fuels which includes vortex 95, vortex98 and vortex premium diesel this offer is provided to the customers for only first six months and after that customers can save 2 cents per litre on every purchase made by the card. The card monthly fee is $3.95 (Caltex 2016). The account can be maintained online. The pin secures the card (Caltex 2016). The card can be used in 2000 fuel outlets (Caltex 2016). StarFleet: The card can be used in more than 3500 fuel outlets. The card holder can save 2 cents on every litre of the diesel purchased. The card monthly fee is $5.95 (Caltex 2016). The statement and billing of the card can be done online. The cardholder can set the purchase limits on the card (Caltex 2016). StarFleet Plus: The cardholder provides the benefits of both the StarFleet and StarCard and the card can be used in over 3500 outlets (Caltex 2016). StarCard Debit: The card can be used with full pin security. The customers can save up to 4 cents on every purchase he/she makes on vortex premium fuels and on every purchase of diesel or fuel the card gives the cardholder to save 2 cents (Caltex 2016). Star Cash: Star Cash are the cards which provide the employees and the card holders with certain gift vouchers and coupons (Caltex 2016). The company provides the e-commerce security in the form of maintaining the own account of the customers with the help of the Username and password. The cards are password protected and no data are shared in public (Caltex 2016). E-Commerce Marketing Strategy The company has invested in the retail and the terminal sites. Caltex will help the local businesses to manage the supply of the product more efficiently so that they can meet the growing demand for the petrol and diesel. The company invests largely on the supply and retail infrastructure (Engineering News 2016). Caltex is also improving the road safety for the transportation purposes. The company largely invests in making of the pumping equipment and installing new pipes. In 2004 the company started a joint venture with the Woolworths petrol which currently provides the customers with the Caltex fuels around Australia (Woolworths Online 2016). The company is also planning to enhance its expansion project and expand in Thailand with the help of the retailers and the investors Caltex is making strategies to expand its operations in Bangkok. Chevron has opened 23 new service stations for Caltex and these websites would increase in number by the year 2015 and there would be 370 such new sites which will be opening way for Caltex (Engineering News 2016). The supply chain of e-commerce can be divided into two segments: firstly, the procurement, where the customers are buying goods and services with the help of the electronic media and the second is e-commerce where the customers can transact, buy goods and services (Caltex 2016). The Caltex Online Business provides access to several services that the company provides to its customers. These includes The inquiries related to accounts, reprint of the invoices, the summaries of the transactions, promotions, newsletters and many other. The online business of Caltex is not efficiently marketed (Engineering News 2016). IT Architecture The IT Architecture composes of three components (Taylor et al. 2014): The internet, The firewall and the Business. The internet will help the customers to choose the products of his choice. The firewall will provide the protection against the harm that the technologies and people can provide with the data provided on the internet and the business that will provide the customer with the product in return the customer will get the product (Taylor et al. 2014). Recommendations As compare to its competitors, Caltex Australia can build an online site where customers can buy goods and services with the help of a click (Financial Review 2016). The company can take the help of the various marketing strategies which will result in the demand for the product to shoot up and directly would result in increase of the revenue. The company can take use of the search engine optimization (SEO) with the help of SEO the Google site will navigate the keywords entered by the customers and show the results on the top this would assist in making a business successful. The company can start with the email marketing where the customers will get updated about the companys new venture and the plans of expansion. The social media can turn up to be the best platforms to make business success, making of Facebook pages and insisting the customers to like the page businesses can also make their business visible on Instagram. Caltex Eatery store can also start an e-portal and the in-house delivery which will help the company to make profit Conclusion Today's offline business tends to go online with the help of the portal because customers want the products at their convenience. In this new era businesses should adopt new strategies and technologies to make their business success. With the help of the internet and e-commerce the possibilities for the new opportunities have become endless for the customers and businesses both. The companies with the help of the internet can sell their products. Many companies have started transacting and selling electronically. There are no barriers for the company to enter into the electronic segment. On the other hand, the e-markets are competitive in nature. 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