Planning of online bookstore activities

The present stage of e-commerce development features an intensive growth of the number of online stores, which results in increased sales volumes, stronger competition between goods and their manufacturers, the broadened range of better-quality goods, and the application of new information technologies to cater to market needs. These circumstances compel e-commerce agents to respond more accurately and carefully to the changes in the market and to monitor the influence of the external and internal factors on their activity in an effective way. The main socio-economic factors making an interactive purchasing of goods more attractive than a traditional buying include minimization of time for visiting a store, a simplified search for goods, 24/7 availability of electronic stores, custom-tailored services, considerable savings due to a direct purchase of goods from the manufacturing enterprise, purchasing goods and services cheaper and faster and enhanced post-sales support. Despite the rapidly-rising numbers of e-commerce enterprises in Ukraine, apart from the advantages, they encounter numerous problems that affect their management system. For instance, when making the transition to the information economy, functions of business management have a specific character of implementation due to the fact that the initial information is transmitted, processed, and stored electronically without being printed out. Other problems include human resources management, storage facilities management, goods delivery management, management of the sales volumes and range of goods of an e-store, and web-server management. This paper discusses an expert poll, on the basis of which methods of payment for goods in e-stores and the major factors that influence the selection of the prospective buyers are analyzed. The research suggests that, despite the popularity of non-cash transactions, most respondents in most cases make the payment via courier services; when choosing an e-store, the greatest influence on consumers is exerted by the price factor and the transport factor – the cost of goods delivery and the term of delivery; the information and communication factors are less significant. The contemporary state of e-commerce enterprise management in Ukraine still features numerous problems stemming both from the underdeveloped facilities and infrastructure needed for distribution and wider use of e-commerce and from the lack of theoretical foundations of its functioning. Another important task is the search for tools that would provide for advanced computerization of management functions in e-commerce enterprises.

Keywords: e-commerce, book trade, payment systems, influencing factors, management problems, online bookstores, organization of logistics activities.

doi: 10.32403/1998-6912-2021-2-63-191-197