Bachelor thesis
A transformation of a garment company from offline to online - an analysis with solutions based on
SWOT and Enterprise Modeling
A case study on a small traditional enterprise
Author: Shuting Wan Supervisor: Wei Song Examiner: Serena Barakat
Subject/main field of study: Informatics Course code: GIK28T
Credits: 15hp
Date of examination: 2020-06-01
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Abstract:
Chinese traditional garment enterprises not only have to face inventory and channel problems left over by history, but also encounter the influx of new online companies into the market, resulting in a significant decline in the turnover of the traditional garment industry. With the promotion of e-commerce, the economic development of the garment industry presents a new trend. In order to find new opportunities in the environment of increasingly fierce competition, traditional garment enterprises have embarked on the road of strategic transformation.
This study takes a garment company DLD as the research subject and displays the primary information through the Business Model Canvas. A case study, therefore, is the research strategy applied in this study, and data are collected through interviews and questionnaires. The primary method of analyzing data is a
combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis. The purpose of this study is to provide a useful reference for the enterprise in the transformation of e-commerce.
SWOT analysis is conducted under the background information based on the Business Model Canvas, which demonstrates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats encountered in the transformation process of its sales channel from offline to online.
Combined with the Enterprise Modeling, this study summarizes the strategic transformation of the DLD company and proposes corresponding strategies and recommendations. Implementing the O2O e-commerce mode and the C2B business mode effectively reduces the product backlog and improves the company's competitiveness in the market. In the process of implementing these two modes, establishing a consumer database, unifying product prices, and establishing online and offline coordination teams are some practical methods for adjusting conflicts between sales channels and increasing product update rates.
Besides, through the questionnaire, the recommendations proposed in this study are evaluated, two of which required further investigation and design.
Keywords:
e-commerce, traditional garment company, online, offline, Business Model Canvas (BMC), SWOT analysis, Enterprise Modeling (EM), O2O e-commerce mode, C2B business mode.
Table of contents
1 Introduction...1
1.1 Background... 1
1.2 Problem and research questions...2
1.3 Purpose...2
2 Theoretical background...3
2.1 Business Model Canvas... 3
2.2 Enterprise Modeling...5
2.2.1 4EM method for Enterprise Modeling... 5
2.3 O2O e-commerce mode... 7
2.3.1 Definition... 7
2.3.2 Transaction process...7
2.4 C2B business mode...9
2.4.1 Definition... 9
2.4.2 Category... 9
2.4.3 Application in the garment industry...10
3 Research methodology...11
3.1 Literature review... 11
3.2 Research strategy... 12
3.3 Data generation... 12
3.3.1 Interviews...12
3.3.2 Questionnaires...14
3.4 Data analysis... 14
3.4.1 Qualitative data analysis... 14
3.4.2 Quantitative data analysis... 15
3.4.3 SWOT Analysis... 15
3.4.4 The use of BMC...17
3.4.5 The use of EM...17
4 Results and Analysis... 18
4.1 Business Model Canvas... 18
4.1.1 Nine building blocks... 18
4.2 Results of SWOT analysis... 20
4.2.1 Strengths...21
4.2.2 Weaknesses... 21
4.2.3 Opportunities...22
4.2.4 Threats...23
5 Discussion and Recommendations...24
5.1 Problems...24
5.2 Solutions...25
5.2.1 Concepts Model... 25
5.2.2 Business Process Model...26
5.2.3 Business Rules Model...27
5.3 Integration... 30
5.4 Evaluation... 31
5.4.1 Analysis of the open-ended questions...31
5.4.2 Analysis of the closed-ended questions... 32
6 Conclusions and future work... 35
6.1 Conclusions and limitations... 35
6.2 Future work... 36
7 References...37
8 Appendix...39
8.1 Questions for the first interview...39
8.2 Transcription of the first interview... 40
8.3 Questions for the second interview...43
8.4 Transcription of the second interview...45
8.5 Questions of the questionnaire...49
8.6 Questionnaire answers... 52
List of figures
FIGURE 1: BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS...4
FIGURE 2: THE O2O MODE TRANSACTION PROCESS...8
FIGURE 3: SWOT ANALYSIS...15
FIGURE 4: BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS FOR THE DLD COMPANY...18
FIGURE 5: GOAL MODEL FOR THE DLD COMPANY...24
FIGURE 6: CONCEPTS MODEL FOR O2O AND C2B...26
FIGURE 7: WORKFLOW OF THE C2B BUSINESS MODE... 27
FIGURE 8: BUSINESS RULES MODEL FOR O2O AND C2B...28
FIGURE 9: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 3... 52
FIGURE 10: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 4...52
FIGURE 11: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 5...53
FIGURE 12: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 6...53
FIGURE 13: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 7...53
FIGURE 14: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 8...54
FIGURE 15: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 9...54
FIGURE 16: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 10...54
FIGURE 17: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 11...55
FIGURE 18: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 12...55
List of tables TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF SIX MODELS IN 4EM (STIRNA & PERSSON, 2018)...6
TABLE 2: THE RESULT OF SWOT ANALYSIS...20
TABLE 3: STRENGTHS... 21
TABLE 4: WEAKNESSES...21
TABLE 5: OPPORTUNITIES... 22
TABLE 6: THREATS...23
TABLE 7: DETAILED INTRODUCTION OF THE GOAL MODEL...24
TABLE 8: DETAILED INTRODUCTION OF THE BUSINESS RULES MODEL...28
TABLE 9: INTEGRATION THE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS...30
Definitions
Abbreviation Expression Definition
EM Enterprise Modeling A process of modeling various processes, infrastructures, asset groups, or other elements of a business or organization.
DLD Dolandi Clothing
Limited Company A small traditional garment company in China.
O2O Offline to Online An e-commerce mode used for
Internet promotion.
C2B Customer to Business An emerging business mode in which consumers dominate the production of business under the background of the Internet.
1 Introduction
This section describes the study’s background and motivation and explains the research questions and objectives.
1.1 Background
With the rapid development of the Internet in China, e-commerce has become the mainstream channel of consumption. Through sorting and analyzing the data in the report released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), Yuan (2019) states that as of June 30, 2018, the number of Internet users in China reached 802 million, and the Internet penetration rate was 57.7%. The proportion of online shopping and the use of mobile payment methods has reached 70% of the total citizens, which means that online shopping and online payment have become the behaviors that citizens are more willing to choose. The stable development of e-commerce has played an important role not only in coordinating supply-side structural reforms and stimulating employment but also in driving the enterprises' development and transformation.
While the widespread application of e-commerce brings opportunities to all walks of life, it also makes the traditional industry suffer a huge blow, especially the traditional garment industry. The number and scale of the entire apparel industry tend to be saturated, and the traditional economic growth model of enterprises no longer adapts to the existing environment. Moreover, the e-commerce environment has enhanced the competitiveness of the market, which is mainly caused by the application of various channel marketing models and the reduction of industry access standards (Yuan, 2019).
The sales volume and sales growth rate of the traditional garment industry have declined significantly, one of which is the closing store tide. In order to survive and develop, garment enterprises have chosen to transform and adjust to create new vitality for themselves. In the context of e-commerce, the development of online and offline integration has become an inevitable choice for enterprises to achieve more enormous breakthroughs and market opportunities. It has become an industry consensus to promote overall sales through effective integration of online and offline (Xu, 2013).
The Dolandi Clothing Limited Company (DLD) is a traditional garment company that integrates the design, production, and sales of men's trousers. The company has 18 years of brand garment production experience, and cooperation with many brands, relying on fashionable styles, exquisite technology, advanced equipment, strict control, and stable quality, has won the trust and praise of customers. The company has more than 200 employees and 16 specialized integrated production lines, with an annual output of 3 million pieces of men's sports casual pants. The company takes "good faith management, quality first" as the enterprise spirit,
"high quality, fast fashion, fine workmanship" as the principle (DUOLANDI, 2018). However, since 2016, the customer flow of the offline physical stores of the DLD company has been decreasing year by year, and the offline transaction rate has dropped from the original 60% to 40% (refer to Appendix 8.2). Therefore,
DLD, which has been focusing on traditional sales channels, has implemented a dual online and offline sales model since February 2020.
1.2 Problem and research questions
Yuan (2019) states that the rise of e-commerce has brought ample development space to traditional garment enterprises. A large number of Internet apparel companies have risen rapidly. Traditional apparel companies have also expressed their desire to cross the boundary to transform e-commerce and seek a more significant market share (Xu, 2013). However, while e-commerce brings opportunities to traditional garment enterprises, it also makes them face many problems (Yuan, 2019). Therefore, the following questions are explored in this study:
What strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats does a traditional garment company face in transitioning from offline to online?
Through SWOT analysis, the transition process of DLD from offline to online is analyzed from four aspects, which are discussed in Section 4.2.
What are the difficulties and the corresponding development strategies and recommendations in the transformation process?
By combining the results of the SWOT analysis and enterprise modeling to analyze the difficulties encountered by the DLD company and put forward strategic recommendations, this is described in Section 5.
Through the exploration of these two research questions, the researcher can fully understand the transition process of the DLD company from offline to online by analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and propose corresponding solutions to the difficulties encountered by DLD.
1.3 Purpose
This study aims to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a small traditional garment company in the process of transformation through SWOT analysis and to propose appropriate strategic recommendations, which can provide a useful reference for the enterprise in the transformation of e-commerce.
2 Theoretical background
This section describes relevant theoretical frameworks used during the study, including Business Model Canvas, Enterprise Modeling, O2O e-commerce mode, and C2B business mode.
2.1 Business Model Canvas
The chapter "The Business Model Canvas" in the book "Business Model Generation" was written by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur in 2010.
Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) state that the Business Model Canvas tool – BMC is a universal language used to describe, visualize, evaluate business models, and change business models. The business model canvas is composed of 9 basic building blocks and can be divided into three aspects. The first aspect is value creation, which includes key partners, key activities, value proposition, and key resources. The second aspect is value delivery, including channels, customer segments, and customer relationships. The third aspect is capture value, with a cost structure and a revenue structure, as shown in Figure 1. The goal of creating BMC is to establish a relevant but straightforward concept that allows any company to conveniently describe and use business models, to build new strategies and effectively create value (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010).
The business model canvas is strategic management and lean start-up template for developing new or documenting existing business models. It is a visual chart with elements that describe the value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finance of a company or product. It helps companies adjust their activities by explaining potential trade-offs [Wikipedia]. Therefore the model is applied in this study to understand the company's essential business in order to conduct more in-depth research, which is introduced in detail in Section 4.1.
Figure 1: Business Model Canvas
2.2 Enterprise Modeling
The paper “Enterprise Modeling: Facilitating the Process and the People” was published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG in 2018, written by Janis Stirna from Stockholm University and Anne Persson from the School of Informatics, University of Skövde.
According to Stirna and Persson (2018), Enterprise modeling (EM) creates models for the enterprise's required aspects. It can provide a framework to ensure that the application systems closely match the enterprise's business processes. In this case, the enterprise can be a private company, a government department, an academic institution, another type of organization, or part of it. The relevant sub-models that make up the enterprise model are business rules, business processes, concepts, goals, actors, and technical components. Each sub-model focuses on specific aspects, allowing researchers to focus and accurately model the desired aspects of the enterprise.
Through enterprise modeling, this study describes solutions to the problems encountered by the DLD company in the transition process from offline to online, which is introduced in Section 5 below.
2.2.1 4EM method for Enterprise Modeling
Stirna and Persson (2018) state that the 4EM method is just another tool for capturing an enterprise or part of it in a model. The goal of the captured model is to enable the organization to make informed, purposeful decisions about its TO- BE situation. 4EM is a representative of the Scandinavian strand of EM methods.
It has many underlying principles of the so-called multi-perspective approach, which recommends analyzing organizational problems from multiple perspectives.
These multiple perspectives can be the vision (goals, objective), data (concepts, attributes), business processes (processes, tasks, activities), organizational structures (actors, roles, organizational units), et cetera.
An organization can evaluate the six models that are featured within the 4EM method. These six models focus on specific aspects or perspectives of the enterprise - goals, business rules, concepts, business processes, actors and resources, as well as information systems (IS) technology components (Stirna &
Persson, 2018). Table 1 shows a summary of the six models.
Table 1: Summary of six models in 4EM (Stirna & Persson, 2018)
2.3 O2O e-commerce mode
The thesis "The Research of O2O E-commerce Mode of S Clothing Company"
was written by Chen Wang in 2016. It is about the ability that S Garment Company must have to realize the O2O mode operation and the risks and improvement strategies that S Garment Company has in implementing O2O.
Wang (2016) states that with the continuous development of mobile communication technology and the explosive growth of consumers' online
shopping emotions, consumers have launched a "fitting in physical stores - buying in online stores" purchase method in China. The phenomena have a severe impact on the sales revenue of garment companies' offline stores. At the same time, a new e-commerce mode, O2O (Online to Offline), is known to many merchants and consumers, along with the rise of various group-buying networks. This mode unifies and integrates online virtual marketing and offline physical operations, enabling enterprises to realize online and offline integrated operations, and
maximizes the profitability of businesses (Wang, 2016). Therefore, the application of this mode can effectively solve the difficulties encountered in the
transformation process of the DLD company to a certain extent (see Section 5 for details).
2.3.1 Definition
According to Wang (2016), the O2O e-commerce mode, namely Online to Offline, originated from Wal-Mart. It refers to Internet promotion so that consumers can get timely information about the enterprise's commodities, guide consumers to offline physical stores for consumption, and increase sales revenue. By sending online promotional activities or commodity information to consumers through the network, companies can gradually expand consumer groups and enable consumers to understand the brand and commodity information of enterprises quickly and to guide them to offline stores. In this way, relying on the characteristics of rapid Internet information transmission, enterprises can quickly pass the latest activities information to consumers so that the brand is further promoted. For consumers, the O2O mode enables them to choose a variety of online or offline ways to enjoy services. For example, customers can place orders online in advance and pick them up after trying them in physical stores. They can also choose to go to a physical store to try them on and then check out online, so they do not have to wait in the checkout line. Besides, there are two ways of the delivery method: self-pickup and home delivery. Therefore, due to the seamless connection between online and offline sales, the O2O mode can better meet consumers' needs, create a pleasant shopping environment for consumers, facilitate consumers to complete their consumption behaviors, and ultimately realize the profitability of enterprises as well (Wang, 2016).
2.3.2 Transaction process
Wang (2016) states that the O2O mode transaction process mainly consists of four steps (as shown in Figure 2). The first step is for consumers to make purchase decisions after they know the product information online. The second step is for consumers to pay online through online banking or third-party payment. After completing the payment, the consumers are given a series of numbers as proof.
The third step is for consumers to present digital certificates to offline stores so that they can obtain identical products and complete consumption behaviors. After completing the previous steps, the last step is to analyze and process the
consumption information of customers. Through the network platform, the stores can obtain all the consumption record data and conduct practical analysis. It enables the merchants to fully grasp the consumers' preferences, plan the
promotion activities favored by consumers, and make timely recommendations to consumers through the platform. The completion of the O2O mode transaction process can make more and more consumers become regular customers of merchants, thus forming a virtuous circle (Wang, 2016).
Figure 2: The O2O mode transaction process
2.4 C2B business mode
The article "C2B Mode of Clothing Enterprises Working Capital Management-a Case Study of BAOXINIAO" was written by Lijun Zhou in 2018. It is about the application analysis of the C2B business mode and puts forward constructive suggestions for BAOXINIAO company in China to further improve working capital management performance.
Zhou (2018) presents that that Chinese consumers' demand for fashionable and personalized clothing is increasing. With the support of big data and smart manufacturing technologies, the C2B personalized, custom business mode
combined with the Internet trend has emerged. This emerging business mode will inevitably have a significant impact on the management and operation of apparel companies and is expected to improve the problems of high inventory and lagging sales in the apparel industry. Therefore, in this study, the mode is applied to improve the inventory backlog in DLD, which is introduced in Section 5.
2.4.1 Definition
According to Zhou (2018), the C2B business mode (Consumer to Business) is the reverse e-commerce mode of B2C, which is an emerging business mode in which consumers dominate the production of business under the background of Internet.
Contrary to the traditional B2C business mode, the C2B mode changes the original relationship between consumers and producers, in which consumers first put forward the demand. Then manufacturers produce what demanded of consumers.
Throughout the process, consumers can actively participate in the design,
production, and pricing of a product, and purchase the product they desire (Zhou, 2018).
2.4.2 Category
Zhou (2018) writes that C2B is built on customer requirements and is classified according to customers’ needs and implementation methods. The current C2B business mode in China can be divided into the following two categories:
2.4.2.1 Group-buying customization
Group-buying customization is also known as the clustering customization, which first gathers the needs of consumers through the network platform, and then the merchants conduct mass production. The unique part of this method is that consumers can pay a part of the payment in advance to occupy the quota of a favorable price. Merchants can understand the demand for the product through the amount of deposit paid by consumers during the warm-up phase. The benefit of this method for merchants is that they can predict the user base and demand, which effectively alleviates the resource waste caused by blind mass production under the traditional mode, being conducive to resource conservation and environmental protection (Zhou, 2018).
2.4.2.2 In-depth customization
In-depth customization is also called personalized customization or participatory customization. In this way, consumers can participate in every process of
designing, matching, selecting, and other customized patterns. The production of a
factory is wholly based on the customers' requirements, and the products designed and produced for each customer are independent units. At present, the industry with the most extensive application of personalized customization should be the garment industry and furniture customization industry (Zhou, 2018).
2.4.3 Application in the garment industry
In the field of garment customization, Zhou (2018) states that the C2B business mode fully utilizes the advantages of the Internet and e-commerce platforms. In the whole process of transaction, consumers first put forward their demand for clothing, including cloth, style, color, price, and then the merchant produces the products according to the demand. Finally, both parties complete the process of payment and delivery. The above process realizes the direct contact between the producer and the consumer through the network, omitting the middle of various distributors, franchisees, and other sales channels. The C2B mode is a consumer- centered business model. In recent years, more and more independent studios or designers have emerged in the personalized design and customization industry. It is based on the C2B mode, which has become an essential role in fashion
development and design. Therefore, with the enhancement of people's living standards and consumers' self-consciousness, the garment's personalized customization will have a broader future or prospective (Zhou, 2018).
3 Research methodology
This section describes the research methodology of the study, which contains the literature review, research strategy, data generation, and data analysis.
3.1 Literature review
In order to find relevant materials and literature as the basis of this study, the Google search engine was used, and the Google Scholar database and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were used to search scientific articles.
The reason for using Google as the primary way to find information for the study was because Google was considered to be the most widely used search engine on desktops and mobile devices, with an estimated 90 percent share of the global search market on all devices in 2017 (Odrozek, 2018). The reason for using CNKI as the literature search for this study was that CNKI covered all disciplines and met the needs of scientific research, and it was currently the most extensive Chinese database in the world (ADA, 2018).
After choosing the subject of this study, the literature review on the theoretical background began. The thesis "Strategic Transformation from the Perspective of Internet + Research on Performance Evaluation" was chosen because it took the Septwolf garment company as the research object. Moreover, this thesis focused on transforming the business from traditional business management strategy to the Internet business model under the background of the rapid development of the Internet and the downturn of the apparel industry. The author of this thesis, Yuan (2019), proposed to use a SWOT analysis to explore the motivation and
implementation of the strategic transformation of the company and summarized the strategic transformation and proposed countermeasures. This thesis was very similar to the main direction of this study since the focus of this study was to analyze the difficulties encountered in the transformation of a small garment company, DLD, from the traditional offline business model to the online business model under the Internet and to propose corresponding strategy recommendations.
The research questions were raised after reviewing this paper, and the method of solving the first question was proposed in this study. Hence it had been cited many times in the statement and discussion of this study to enhance its effectiveness.
Wang (2016) writes the paper, "The Research of O2O E-commerce Mode of S Clothing Company", was selected because it described the background information, risks, and improvement strategies of the O2O e-commerce mode. Since this study analyzed a small traditional garment company's transition from offline to online, the O2O mode was related information involved in this process, and this thesis, therefore, was relevant to this research. The academic article "C2B Mode of Garment Enterprises Working Capital Management-a Case Study of
BAOXINIAO." written by Zhou (2018), was relevant to this study because of the background information about the C2B business mode and the information about constructive suggestions on the application of the C2B business mode. Therefore, the relevant reviews of these two papers were used to provide ideas and references for solving the second research problem raised in this study.
In this study, BMC was used to explain the necessary information of the DLD company's business, and EM was used to proposes appropriate recommendations.
Therefore, the book "Business Model Generation" was chosen because it described the process and purpose of constructing BMC. The paper "Enterprise Modeling:
Facilitating the Process and the People" described the concept and implementation of the 4EM method, so it was chosen to enhance the theoretical background of this study.
The English keywords used were traditional offline business model, Internet online business model, the transition from offline to online, SWOT analysis, Business Model Canvas (BMC), Enterprise Modeling (EM), 4EM method, O2O e- commerce mode, C2B business mode.
3.2 Research strategy
This study analyzed the transformation process from offline to online of the DLD company, a small traditional garment company. Hence, the research strategy used in this study was a case study. According to the definition in Oates, B. J (2006), a case study is:
“A case study focuses on one instance of the ‘thing’ that is to be investigated: an organization, a department, an information system, a discussion forum, a systems developer, a development project, a decision, and so on. This one instance, or case, is studied in depth, using a variety of data generation methods (interviewing,
observation, document analysis and/or questionnaires).”
A case study aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the complex relationships and processes of the research field. By studying specific cases, researchers can obtain detailed insights into the field and relevant knowledge of other situations (Oates, 2006).
The purpose of using this research strategy in this study is to describe the
advantages, disadvantages, opportunities, and threats of a small traditional garment company during its transition from offline to online. An exploratory study is the type of case study in this paper, which is used to help researchers explore and understand research questions (Oates, 2006). Therefore, it is necessary to collect as much information as possible about instances of phenomena under investigation, which is why the case study was selected in this study.
3.3 Data generation
Two methods of data collection were used in this study, namely, interviews and questionnaires. This subsection describes the question design and the content of two interviews, the question design, and the corresponding answers of a
questionnaire as well (as shown in Appendix 8).
3.3.1 Interviews
Oates (2006) writes that an interview is a particular way of conversation between people, which can produce a large amount of text and digital data for a related
study. Researchers need to get information from people in the research field after determining the research topic, and the interview is conducted with a specific objective (Oates, 2006).
According to Ryan, Coughlan, and Cronin (2009), interviewing can be conducted one-to-one or with a group of respondents. The one-to-one interview is a standard method of data collection in today's research and an effective method for in-depth data collection. In literature, more and more attention has been given to the interview process, especially on purpose, method, the timing of the interview, and the interviewer (Ryan, Coughlan & Cronin, 2009). Therefore, a one-to-one
interview was used in this study, which helped to think about views, understandings, and experiences of a given phenomenon.
There are two reasons why interviewing is the appropriate method for data
generation in this study. The first is that the researcher needs to obtain the general situation, products, development status, and other detailed information of the enterprise. Moreover, according to Oates (2006), interviews allow researchers to get a comprehensive understanding and analysis of the enterprise. Another reason is that the research questions of this study are complex and open, so it is necessary to conduct guided discussions with relevant personnel through interviews (Oates, 2006).
The semi-structured interview was the type of interviews used in this study. Semi- structured interviewing is one of the most commonly used research methods in the social sciences. In a semi-structured interview, the interviewer usually has the subject framework to be explored and can also change questions and propose new ideas based on the respondent's answers [Wikipedia]. Oates (2006) states it provides a more flexible approach to the interview process, allowing interviewees to express their ideas during the interview. Therefore, it is used for in-depth investigations, especially those aimed at exploring personal statements and feelings.
3.3.1.1 Interview execution
Two interviews were carried out in this study. The interviewee was the same person in the two interviews, and the two interviews were conducted with the manager of the DLD company through Zoom. After the interviewee's consent, the recording mode was used in the two interviews to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the data analyzed in this study.
The first interview mainly focused on the necessary information of the research target the DLD company, such as company size, main products, and business status. Hence, the interview questions were designed (see Appendix 8.1), and the complete transcribed interview information was shown in Appendix 8.2.
The second interview was mainly used to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats encountered by the DLD company during the transition from offline to online. Based on the result of the BMC constructed after the first interview and the four aspects from SWOT analysis, the second interview question was designed (see Appendix 8.3). Furthermore, the second complete transcribed interview information was shown in Appendix 8.4.
The interviewee voluntarily conducted the interview, and with his consent,
information such as the interviewee’s name and position appeared in the appendix of this study.
3.3.2 Questionnaires
According to Oates (2006), a questionnaire is a research tool, consisting of a set of questions or other types of prompts. It is widely used in research because it
provides an effective way to collect data from many people.
Unstructured questionnaires were the type used in this study. According to QuestionPro (2020), unstructured questionnaires use questions that do not restrict respondents to collect qualitative data so that specific data can be collected from participants.
Questionnaires can be used to obtain relatively short and non-controversial information from people and collect large amounts of data in a shorter period (QuestionPro, 2020). Therefore, the questionnaire was chosen to evaluate the recommendations proposed in the last part of this study.
3.3.2.1 Questionnaire execution
The design of the problem was based on the corresponding strategic
recommendations of this study. The purpose was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of these strategic recommendations through the answers of the respondents. The types of questions used in the questionnaire included open-ended questions and closed-ended questions, as shown in Appendix 8.5.
The questionnaire was sent to ten people, including the manager of the DLD company, the operator of the offline store, the online store operator, and seven employees from other departments. Statistics of their answers were shown in Appendix 8.6.
Anonymity is a way to conduct a questionnaire survey, which is to ensure the information security of the respondent. Therefore, no other personal information such as the respondent's name, age, etc. will appear in this study.
3.4 Data analysis
3.4.1 Qualitative data analysis
Qualitative data is the primary type of data or evidence generated by case study, which is defined in Oates, B. J (2006) that:
“Qualitative data includes all non-numeric data – words, images, sounds, and so on – found in such things as interview tapes, researchers’ diaries, company documents, websites, and developers’ models.”
The purpose of qualitative analysis is to enable the researcher to organize and extract a large amount of data and then perform a SWOT analysis and modeling on
the primary data information. That is to say; qualitative analysis is the basis of the other three data analysis methods below.
3.4.2 Quantitative data analysis
According to Oates (2006), quantitative data means data, or evidence, based on numbers. Quantitative analysis is a method to establish a mathematical model based on statistical information and use the mathematical model to calculate the indicators and numerical values of the analysis object.
Qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis are often used simultaneously in research. It can be said that qualitative analysis is the basic premise of quantitative analysis, and quantitative analysis makes the qualitative analysis more scientific and accurate (Oates, 2006).
The purpose of using quantitative analysis is to evaluate the proposed recommendations. A quantitative analysis of the questionnaire's answers can promote a broader and in-depth evaluation of the results collected from qualitative analysis.
3.4.3 SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique used to help an individual or organization identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with a business competition or project planning, as shown in Figure 3 [Wikipedia].
Yuan (2019) states that this method can be used to conduct comprehensive, systematic, and accurate research on the transformation of a small traditional garment enterprise from offline to online.
Figure 3: SWOT analysis
3.4.3.1 The elements of SWOT analysis Strengths
Strengths are attributes or characteristics within an organization that is considered essential for the organization's execution and ultimate success. Strengths are the quality that enables managers to fulfill the mission of the organization. It can be tangible or intangible, including favorable competitive situations, sufficient financial resources, right corporate image, economies of scale, technical strength, product quality, market share, and cost advantage (Hashemi et al., 2017).
Weaknesses
Weaknesses are related to internal factors, which may affect and prevent the organization from achieving a successful outcome. Weaknesses in an organization may be aging equipment, poor management, lack of critical technologies, shoddy research and development, lack of funds, reduced operations, product backlog, and weak competitiveness (Hashemi et al., 2017).
Opportunities
Opportunities are external factors of an organization, including new products, new markets, new demands, foreign market barriers removed, and competitors'
mistakes. Opportunities will help to achieve the institute's goals when it can use the conditions in its environment to plan and implement strategies that will make it more profitable. Organizations can gain a competitive advantage through
opportunities, so organizations need to recognize and grasp opportunities when they arise (Hashemi et al., 2017).
Threats
Threats arise when conditions in the external environment threaten the reliability and profitability of the organization. Thus, threats are also external factors of the organization, and they will make the vulnerability affecting the organization more dangerous when another external factor of the weaknesses of the organization is related. Threats are uncontrollable, and they specifically include new competitors, the proliferation of alternative products, market tightening, changes in industry policy, economic recession, changing customer preferences, and emergencies (Hashemi et al., 2017).
3.4.3.2 The use of SWOT analysis
According to Helms and Nixon (2010), managers typically first consider internal strengths and weaknesses (at the top of the 2×2 grid), including image, structure, access to natural resources, capacity and efficiency, and financial resources. At the bottom of the table are external opportunities and threats, including customers, competitors, market trends, partners and suppliers, social change and new technologies, and a variety of environmental economic, political, and regulatory issues (Helms & Nixon, 2010).
Helms and Nixon (2010) indicate that countless practitioners and market
researchers have used SWOT, and it is a common and popular tool for students of corporate marketing and strategy. Because the tool is used to evaluate alternatives and complex decision situations, its simplicity and catchy acronym perpetuate its usage in companies and other industries. In business areas, the grouping of internal
quickly and can benefit from multiple perspectives through brainstorming exercises (Helms & Nixon, 2010).
Through SWOT analysis of the transcribed information of the second interview and taking the specific steps of the four aspects introduced above, the results were introduced in Section 4.2.
3.4.4 The use of BMC
By implementing the specific steps of 9 primary building blocks as shown in Section 2.1 above, BMC was used to analyze and display the necessary
information of the research target DLD, such as company size, main products, and business status, as follows shown in Section 4.1.
3.4.5 The use of EM
Four models in 4EM: Goals Model, Concepts Model, Business Rules Model, and Business Process Model were used in this study, and the specific methods for constructing these models had introduced in Section 2.2 above. The purpose of building the Goals Model is to connect the results of SWOT analysis with
enterprise modeling and describe the problems encountered by the DLD company in the transformation process, as shown in Section 5. The purpose of constructing the Concepts Model, Business Rules Model, and Business Process Model is to describe the constructive recommendations for these problems, which was also introduced in detail in Section 5.
4 Results and Analysis
This section describes the results of the Business Model Canvas and SWOT analysis, which answers the first research question.
4.1 Business Model Canvas
Through the qualitative analysis of the information transcribed from the first Interview (shown in Appendix 8.2), the BMC is built, as shown in Figure 4. The purpose of establishing the BMC is to display the necessary information of the enterprise so that the researcher can comprehensively understand the company's business and better perform the following in-depth analysis of this study.
Figure 4: Business Model Canvas for the DLD company
4.1.1 Nine building blocks
Key partners:
The key partner building block describes the network of suppliers and partners that make the business model work properly, as well as other partners with whom the organization works to create value for its customers (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). According to the interviewee's answer, as shown below, the critical information was compiled and extracted.
“The main partners of the plant in Fujian, a province in China, are raw materials companies, and the partners of the branch in Guangzhou are Chain supermarket, domestic second and third-tier brand companies, and for the Nanchang branch, the key partner is self-employed households. Of course, we will also cooperate
with banks and apply for loans and other activities every year.” (refer to Appendix 8.2)
Key activities:
The key activity building block describes what an organization can do to provide its value proposition (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). According to the
interviewee's answer, as shown below, the critical information was compiled and extracted.
“It is to maintain the existing customer base and attract new customer groups:
including brand companies, retailers, and wholesalers.” (refer to Appendix 8.2) Key resources:
The vital resources are the resources needed to support the enterprise’s activities, which means that this building block describes the most valuable assets needed to implement the business model (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). According to the interviewee's answer, as shown below, the critical information was compiled and extracted.
“Because the company is a traditional garment company that has operated for many years, we have the brand effect and many existing customers. They are our main resources. Of course, the development of any company requires sufficient financial support, so this is also an important point.” (refer to Appendix 8.2) Value propositions:
The value proposition building block is the center of the canvas, describing the different products and services the organization provides to its customers. It seeks to solve customer problems and meet customer needs through the value
proposition (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). According to the interviewee's answer, as shown below, the critical information was compiled and extracted.
“Although the company is a small traditional company, our business covers every step from pants design, production to sales.” (refer to Appendix 8.2)
Customer segments:
The customer segments building block defines different groups or organizations that an enterprise aims to attract and serve (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010).
According to the interviewee's answer, as shown below, the critical information was compiled and extracted.
“There are mainly three types, brand companies, retailers, and wholesalers.”
(refer to Appendix 8.2) Customer relationships:
The customer relationship building block describes the type of contact between the organization and the customer. Since the block is established and maintained with each customer segment (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). Keyword extraction in this block is the same as customer segments.
“There are mainly three types, brand companies, retailers, and wholesalers.”
(refer to Appendix 8.2)
Revenue streams:
The revenue streams building block represents the cash generated by the company from the customer segment (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010).Therefore, the critical information extracted here is also the same as customer segments.
“There are mainly three types, brand companies, retailers, and wholesalers.”
(refer to Appendix 8.2) Channels:
Channels describe how an organization keeps in touch with its customers and are customer touchpoints that play an essential role in the customer experience (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). According to the interviewee's answer, as shown below, the critical information was compiled and extracted.
“Since our company is mainly engaged in offline transactions, we communicate with customers face to face. Of course, we also contact customers by WeChat and phone.” (refer to Appendix 8.2)
Cost structure:
The cost structure building block describes all costs incurred by operating the business model and is a financial view of the means employed by the organization (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). According to the interviewee's answer, as shown below, the critical information was compiled and extracted.
“The main cost is, of course, the purchase of raw materials and the maintenance of equipment. Since our company adopts traditional sales channels, the rent of shops and the salary of employees are also a large part of the expenses. Other items such as marketing, corporate finance, and so on are also major cost.” (refer to Appendix 8.2)
4.2 Results of SWOT analysis
Based on the necessary information of BMC, the questions of the second interview were designed (shown in Appendix 8.3). Similarly, with the interviewer’s consent, the researchers recorded the second interview and transcribed it (shown in
Appendix 8.4). By the qualitative analysis of the transcribed interview information and performing the steps described in the SWOT analysis section, the following four different categories are summarized, as shown in Table 2. They are described in detail in the following subsections.
Table 2: The result of SWOT analysis
Helpful Harmful
Internal
Strengths:
1. Brand recognition 2. Financial support
3. Combine online and offline sales, O2O
Weaknesses:
1. Conflict in sales channels 2. The lack of Internet talents 3. Product update
4. Inventory backlog External
Opportunities:
1. Internet environment
2. The development of e- commerce
Threats:
1. The impact of Internet garment enterprises
2. Cultural conflict
3. The rise of personalized customization, C2B
4.2.1 Strengths
Table 3: Strengths
S1 Brand recognition S2 Financial support
S3 Combine online and offline sales, O2O S1: Brand recognition
The traditional garment enterprise has been engaged in production, operation, and sales for many years. It has a strong market brand recognition ability and can quickly realize its brand promotion and shorten its cumulative time and online time. There is no doubt that before the traditional garment enterprise enters the field of e-commerce, they already have a high quality of brand value identity, with a strong market competitive advantage and consumer base. Through the company's market brand recognition, online stores on Taobao can quickly achieve brand promotion, forming a definite competitive advantage and consumer base (refer to Appendix 8.4 S1).
S2: Financial support
The traditional garment enterprise has been deeply engaged in the market for many years and has a complete capital operation system that can provide sufficient financial support for its e-commerce business (refer to Appendix 8.4 S2). The company gives its substantial financial support, which can guarantee the successful transformation and upgrading of the enterprise Internet.
S3: Combine online and offline sales, O2O
Since the market share of physical stores is continuously shrinking and the costs of rents and wages of physical stores are increasing, the development of online and offline dual sales channels is the best development strategy for the DLD company.
Through the transformation of e-commerce, to create an "online + offline"
interactive sales experience, on the one hand, it can maintain its traditional garment market consumer groups and market shares. On the other hand, it can avoid the disadvantage of the poor online shopping experience, and hence rapidly expand new consumer groups and consumer markets with the help of the rapid transmission ability of the network (refer to Appendix 8.4 S3).
4.2.2 Weaknesses
Table 4: Weaknesses
W1 Conflict in sales channels W2 The lack of Internet talents W3 Product update
W4 Inventory backlog
W1: Conflict in sales channels
The traditional garment company has established its own strict offline marketing channels. Once the transformation of e-commerce, the company needs to
reorganize or build its new marketing channels, which will inevitably cause many conflicts of interest of agents at all levels (refer to Appendix 8.4 W1).
W2: The lack of Internet talents
Soon after the company implemented its online transformation strategy, it faced a shortage of Internet talents. The current situation is often that an employee has multiple duties and is responsible for both network use and essential maintenance of the online store system, without achieving a professional division of labor. With the increasing demand for Internet talents and enterprises have not made relevant talent introduction plans, which will affect the work efficiency and work quality of online operations and lead to the loss of customers (refer to Appendix 8.4 W2).
W3: Product update
The traditional garment industry is a labor-intensive industry that lacks the spirit and consciousness of innovation (Yuan, 2019). Therefore, the traditional garment enterprise has slow product updates, competitive imitation of products, and severe product backlog, which are challenging to meet the personal demands and interests of consumers on the current Internet for fashion, trend, quality, and customization (refer to Appendix 8.4 W3).
W4: Inventory backlog
The company has always focused on men's products, and its current consumer group is middle-aged men around 40 years old. However, with the influence of the Internet on the mainstream consumer groups in the market, the mainstream
consumer groups are getting younger and younger. The first inventory of products cannot meet the demand of young consumers for clothes (refer to Appendix 8.4 W4).
4.2.3 Opportunities
Table 5: Opportunities
O1 Internet environment
O2 The development of e-commerce
O3 The rise of personalized customization, C2B O1: Internet environment
Various industries in China have come to a new stage of integrated development in the promotion of the Internet action plan. Several traditional garment enterprises, such as Bosideng and Peacebird, have been supported by national policies in their transformation to the mobile Internet model (Yuan, 2019). Therefore, in this environment, the traditional garment companies have an excellent opportunity to complete the transformation from offline to online.
O2: The development of e-commerce
The state actively supports the development of e-commerce, which provides the right market environment for the enterprise to transform into an online business model. It also provides a more significant market space for the development of the enterprise (refer to Appendix 8.4 O2).
O3: The rise of personalized customization, C2B
The personalized proposition and interest appeal of consumer demand have increasingly become the mainstream consciousness of consumption in the future.
In the context of the development of e-commerce, personalized customization has become a trend (refer to Appendix 8.4 O3). The development of e-commerce is based on the continuous progress of Internet technology and the construction of big data cloud platform, which breaks the traditional garment production and design system and forms an open production and design environment. The mode makes it possible to fully meet the personalized needs of consumers and breaks through the development thinking of traditional garment enterprises. Through the Internet e-commerce platform, the "demand and design" communication and
interaction platform between consumers and traditional garment enterprises is built.
Moreover, personalized needs are designed so that customers and enterprises can jointly complete products, which is also the embodiment of users' thinking and sense of participation (Zhou, 2018).
4.2.4 Threats
Table 6: Threats
T1 The impact of Internet garment enterprises T2 Cultural conflict
T1: The impact of Internet garment enterprises
The competition between traditional garment companies and Internet companies is fierce. Since the operating costs of physical stores are relatively high, online stores have no operating costs. Therefore, a large number of Internet companies have flooded into the market (refer to Appendix 8.4 T1). According to Yuan (2019), price is the most significant difference between Internet garment companies and traditional garment companies. Since the establishment of the e-commerce platform has reduced the cost of the companies 'operations, which has given the internet garment companies much room to cut prices. With the new format of the e-commerce mode, more consumers tend to shop online. That is not because the shopping experience and quality of online platforms are better than offline stores, but because of the high-cost performance of online platforms, which is
undoubtedly a fatal injury to the development of traditional garment enterprises.
T2: Cultural conflict
The traditional garment enterprise culture idea lays particular stress on preciseness, profession, practical. In contrast, e-commerce is more focused on innovation, passion, and change. With the development of e-commerce in the transformation of traditional garment enterprises, it is inevitable to face the dilemma between corporate culture adherence and innovation (refer to Appendix 8.4 T2). In particular, if it is difficult to reach a consensus on the high-level concept, it will affect the enterprise's development strategies in the future. Once there is a conflict in the corporate culture on the management level, it will harm the stability and work passion of the enterprise operation team (Yuan, 2019).
5 Discussion and Recommendations
This section describes the problems, solutions, the integration of them, and evaluation, which answers the second research question of this study.
5.1 Problems
By combining the results of the SWOT analysis and implementing the focus, components, and the issues to be modeled (mentioned in Section 2.2.1), the Goal Model is established, as shown in Figure 5, and the detailed explanation is shown in Table 7. The purpose of establishing the Goal Model is to connect SWOT analysis and enterprise modeling. Through investigating the relationship between the goals and problems in Figure 5, a direct reference can be found for the
recommendations proposed in Section 5.2.
Figure 5: Goal model for the DLD company Table 7: Detailed introduction of the Goal Model
Goal Problems Description Relationship with
SWOT analysis
G1: To
achieve the transformation from offline to online
G1 is the overall
goal or the
central goal of
GM. All the
following goals are the sub-goals of G1.
This research uses SWOT analysis to
study the
transformation process of DLD from offline to online, so there is no
doubt that the
company's overall goal is to achieve the transformation from offline to online successfully.
G2: To increase produce sales
P3: Inventory backlog
P4: The impact
of Internet
garment enterprises P5: Its product updates are slow
The goal
contributes to G1 and is achieved by G3 and G4. In this case, there are three issues (P3, P4, P5) that will affect this goal.
W4, T1, and W3 in the
results of SWOT
analysis correspond to P3, P4, and P5 in the
goal model,
respectively.
G3: To
establish the entity and network parallel dual- channel sales mode (O2O)
P1: Conflict in sales channels P2: The lack of Internet talents
The goal is one of the sub-goals to achieve G2 and is affected by P1 and P2.
This goal is based on S3 in SWOT analysis's results, and P1 and P2 that affect it correspond to W1 and W2 in the SWOT analysis results.
G4: To
implement the C2B business mode
P2: The lack of
Internet talents The goal is another of the sub-goals to achieve G2 and is also affected by P2.
The goal is based on O3 in the results of the SWOT analysis.
G5: To build up a positive brand image
P6: Cultural
conflicts The goal
contributes to G1 and is supported
by G5.1 (To
create a corporate brand strategy).
Besides, P6
affects the
achievement of this goal.
The goal is based on S1 in the results of SWOT analysis, and P6 affects it corresponds to T2 in the SWOT analysis results.
G6: To
achieve adequate economic support in the process of enterprise transformation
The goal is the last sub-goal that contributes to G1.
The goal is related to S2 in the results of the SWOT analysis.
5.2 Solutions
By constructing the next three models, solutions to P1, P3, and P5 can be proposed.
5.2.1 Concepts Model
The Concepts Model (CM) is used to strictly define the "things" and "phenomena"
mentioned in the other models (Stirna & Persson, 2018). The realization of each goal requires the definition in the Concepts Model of concepts: Online, Offline,
and et cetera, the construction of the Concepts Model, therefore, is shown in Figure 6.
Important concepts used in the O2O mode and the C2B mode must be defined here to avoid misunderstandings about the establishment of this mode. DLD currently opens both offline stores and online stores. Online stores mainly provide product descriptions and payment platforms, which is conducive to customers' selection of products. Moreover, offline stores mainly provide services for customers, such as trying clothes and matching consultation.
Figure 6: Concepts Model for O2O and C2B
5.2.2 Business Process Model
The specific process of the C2B mode implemented by DLD is described by using the workflow in the Business Process Model. In this process, Zhou (2018) writes that the C2B mode reduces inventory hoarding (P3), which is conducive to
shortening the working capital turnover period of the apparel enterprise's operating process and promoting the improvement of the company's working capital
management level.
The workflow diagram provides a graphical overview of the business process, so it used for business process modeling. A workflow is also useful to help employees understand the roles and order of completion of work and build greater unity between different departments(Lucidchart, 2020). By using standardized symbols and shapes, the workflow is built, as shown in Figure 7. The purpose of
constructing the workflow is to deeply describe the process of the C2B business mode to analyze the application of the mode to DLD.
Under this model, the position of the entire consumption and supply chain has undergone a fundamental change. Consumers log in to the online platform first, browse and freely match garment styles, materials, colors, et cetera, and submit orders and then complete payment after satisfaction. After receiving the order, the manufacturer will customize the production according to the needs of consumers
within the commitment period and deliver it to consumers through the delivery method. During the entire customized production process, the specific needs of consumers will be communicated and resolved with the enterprise through online consultation and other methods.
Figure 7: Workflow of the C2B business mode
5.2.3 Business Rules Model
The Business Rules Model (BRM) is used to define and maintain formulated business rules, consistent with the Goal Model. It means that business rule modeling is closely related to goal modeling. Goals define rules and affect the achievement of other goals (Stirna & Persson, 2018). This study describes the three rules for establishing the O2O mode and the C2B mode. The problems (P1, P3, P5) to be adjusted through the Business Rules Model.
According to the results of the SWOT analysis, the DLD company intends to develop a combination of online and offline channels, which is at the initial stage of building the O2O mode and C2B mode. The company has not realized the specific steps and requirements of O2O and C2B. Therefore, relevant business rules for establishing these two modes is shown in Figure 8 and detailed in Table 8.
The purpose of constructing the BRM is to propose the rules or solutions that the DLD company needs to pay attention to when implementing the O2O e-commerce mode and the O2B business mode.
Figure 8: Business Rules Model for O2O and C2B
Table 8: Detailed introduction of the Business Rules Model
Rules Description
Rule 1: Unify product prices to avoid price conflicts between online and offline brands
Whether the company is developing from online to offline or vice versa, it is confronted with the problem of commodity pricing. Online businesses can reach consumers directly and only need to consider that their interests can be guaranteed.
Offline is more complicated since its marketing system generally has multi-layer agents, which means that the interests of agents need to be taken into account. In this way, it is easy to cause the different operating costs between online and offline, which in turn leads to contradictions in the pricing of online and offline products (Wang, 2016).
In this case, the solution to avoid the price conflict between online and offline sales channels is to unify the pricing ultimately.
Rule 2: Establish online and offline coordination teams
Wang (2016) states that the integration of online and offline sales channels is bound to produce many conflicts and frictions. Moreover, if the company carries out the O2O e-commerce mode, shopping guides in offline stores may have resistance or passive downtime, because they worry that their interests will be damaged. Through this coordination group's training of new businesses in various
departments, the staff of various departments, especially shopping guides, will be informed that their interests will not be dispersed. Besides, the team's functions include receiving complaints from online and offline channels, mediating various conflicts and frictions between channels, thereby maintaining fairness and reasonableness between online and offline channels. Based on offline business sharing, the commission of the consumer guided by the shopping guide to registering as an online member also belongs to himself, so that the shopping guide will not work passively (Wang, 2016).
As a result, in addition to consistent product prices, the DLD company needs to set up an online and offline coordination team to regulate the market conflict and friction between online and offline sales channels.
Rule 3: Establish a consumer database to provide better services
Wang (2016) states that the establishment of a consumer database can enable enterprises to understand the behavior characteristics of consumer groups and adjust products more precisely, to provide better quality services. Moreover, he writes that the establishment of the consumer database is divided into the following two steps:
Consumer information integration. According to the data, enterprises can know the standard information of consumers, such as their consumption levels, consumption preferences, and sensitivity to different forms of promotion, to provide more targeted personalized services to consumers (Wang, 2016).
Consumer information analysis. After collecting consumer information into a database, enterprises can find out the general rule through the analysis of these data and then send it to the design department, marketing department, after- sales department, and other departments to adjust product updates and product backlog problems (Wang, 2016).
Therefore, the establishment of the consumer database is conducive for the DLD company to design more targeted products, reducing the company's backlog of products and promoting the speed of product updates. For example, when the customer does not have time to choose to clothe, DLD can help the customer to select products through the customer's preference information in the
consumer database and notify the customer of the selected products through WeChat, email, et cetera.
5.3 Integration
P1, P3, and P5 can be adjusted to a certain extent according to the implementation of O2O and C2B described above. P2, P4, and P6 are challenging to alleviate through the modeling process of the enterprise model, so this study solves these three problems by citing suitable solutions in other studies. In Table 9, the problems encountered by the DLD company and the corresponding solutions are described one by one, which makes the overall framework clear and unambiguous.
Table 9: Integration the problems and solutions
Problems Solutions
P1: Conflict in sales
channels Through the unification of product prices and the establishment of online and offline coordination teams (rule 1, rule 2 in BRM), the issue of price and market conflicts in sales channels can be adjusted(see Section 5.2.3).
P2: The lack of Internet
talents Yuan (2019) states that Internet talent is the first element of an enterprise, and any step in the transformation is inseparable from its personnel.
In the strategic transformation of enterprises, the investment of talent capital needs to increase year by year. At the same time, enterprises develop talents by carrying out activities such as "training camps," "large lecture halls," and "junior internal trainers" to ensure the real-time learning of talents. It can not only improve the learning ability of personnel but also improve the working ability of personnel.
P3: Inventory backlog The C2B mode is helpful for businesses to understand the product demand in advance and the style design of products that customers prefer, which effectively reduces the waste of resources caused by blind mass production under the traditional model. The type of the C2B mode and its application in the apparel industry are introduced in Section 2.4. Moreover, the specific steps for implementing the mode are described in Section 5.2.2 using a workflow. Therefore, this problem can be adjusted by establishing a consumer database and implementing a customer- centric C2B mode (see Section 5.2.2 and Section 5.2.3).
P4: The impact of Internet
garment enterprises The influence of Internet garment companies on traditional garment companies is inevitable. Only by transforming to online sales can traditional garment companies enhance their competitiveness in the market (Yuan, 2019). The two modes (O2O
