Design approach in e-commerce – selected aspects of the business model

Introduction/background: E-commerce has become one of the most important innovations in today's economy delivering significant economic value. It is not surprising, therefore, that businesses around the world operating in various industries are inclined to use e-commerce to optimise their performance. The use of e-commerce is fostered by the huge increase in internet accessibility. Businesses working on e-commerce models have the ability to deliver products to customers within a short period of time. These advantages have resulted in a high level of competition in the e-commerce industry today. Some online shops succeed and others fail. The paper looks at this problem from a business model perspective. Business models are generally oriented towards creating value for the customer, but the paper looks for its most valuable components in the context of e-commerce. Aim of the paper: The purpose of the study is to identify the business model of a successful e-commerce company. All its components are analysed, in particular the correlation between the selection factors of the online shop and the consumer values of the shop under study. The paper designs a process for creating a business model for e-commerce. Materials and methods: This paper uses materials from the master's thesis "Business models in ecommerce", defended at the Silesian University of Technology in 2022 by Justyna Koloch. A case study analysing the business model of an e-commerce company was used as the main research method. Results and conclusions: As a result, the paper shows the process of a design approach to building and testing an e-commerce business model. An overview of this process provides a glimpse into the problem of finding effective e-commerce business models. The design approach to creating a business model and the use of different schemes increases sales opportunities, attracts different types of customers and encourages collaboration to achieve success in the highly competitive e-commerce market.