distance from a store.Statements of the ProblemThis study was conducted to determine whether Amalgamated Diversified Products should create a Web site for its Technology Division, and if it is determined that a Web site should be created, what this site will include.Purposes of the StudyThe purposes of the study were as follows:1.To determine the advantages and disadvantages of posting a web site for the Technology Division.2.To consider the competition against other computer-sellers on the Internet.3.To determine if the Technology Division would benefit from creating a Web site.4.To find features in competitive Web sites which are attractive to consumers.5.Establish which features would be the most useful to the Technology Division.Scope of the ResearchThis study includes the analysis of 20 computer-sellers Web sites on the Internet. This wide range of Web sites was explored thoroughly to obtain useful information for this report. A listing of these sites follows this report and can be referred to in Appendix A: Web Site List. The home page of each site can also be viewed in Appendix B: Web Site Home Pages.PROCEDURES Research was conducted by determining the Web addresses of a few well-known companies and by searching the Internet using Yahoos directory listings. A standard Pentium class desktop computer with Windows 98 was used to gather the information contained in the report. The type of connection to the Internet that the computer used was a 200 kilobyte/s cable modem. This is a permanent connection that runs approximately fifty times faster than a standard 28.8 kbps modem. The Web pages were viewed through Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0. The well-known companies include: Apple, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Micron, and Sun Microsystems. The remainder of the sites that were examined was randomly selected from Yahoos directory listing for computer sellers in California. Before each site was thoroughly exa...
