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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS Amalgamated Diversified Products has created a new Technology Division to further diversify their products. President, Kevin Fox has commissioned Data World to determine if a Web site should be created for this division of Amalgamated. Many computer-sellers already have advanced web sites that have put them much farther ahead in the market. Research was conducted by collecting data on twenty various Web sites. Data was collected using an objective analysis form, which surveys every aspect of each Web site. Several features were determined to be helpful to customers. Some of these features attract customers and help them purchase products directly from the site. The report further addresses certain issues: (1) Which features are essential to this type of Web site, (2) Which features would make the site more attractive to customers, and (3) Which features would make the Web site unattractive. The study determined that the Technology Division would benefit tremendously from the creation of a Web site. A Web site would increase the scope of possible customers, rather than limit them to the immediate area. With the growing community of Internet users, a Web site will help increase revenue. The Internet was originally started by a large university; they interconnected a few computers around the campus to send information to students. Today the Internet is a quickly growing advertising and selling point for many companies. Now a simple Web site can reach millions of consumers all over the world. This kind of advertising can prove exceptionally useful to any company. Most of the companies that sell technologically advancing products benefit from Web sites. They are allowed to change their advertisements more rapidly to keep up with the pace of emerging technology and information. Web sites allow companies to sell their products and services to consumers around the world, rather than limiting them to driving distance from a store. This 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. The 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. This study includes the analysis of 20 computer-seller’s 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. Research was conducted by determining the Web addresses of a few well-known companies and by searching the Internet using Yahoo’s 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 Yahoo’s directory listing for “computer sellers” in California. Before each site was thoroughly examined it was checked to make sure it met the criteria to be considered a computer seller. Each Web site was individually evaluated objectively by the use of a yes/no analysis form. The use of this form is to ensure that there is no partiality towards any of the Web sites evaluated in this report. The web sites were divided into two categories: (1) large company, and (2) small business. The large company category is comprised of the six previously mentioned well-known companies. The small business category is comprised of the remainder of sites that were randomly selected from Yahoo’s directory listing. Criteria for Evaluating Computer Sellers Web Sites The criterion used for evaluating Web sites was broken down into six categories. These categories asked the following questions: (1) Is the layout of the page easy to read and attractive to the eye? (2) Does the page reflect the business? Does it include an identifying logo? (3) Is the Web page easy to navigate and find what you are looking for? (4) Is it easy to contact the company for more information? (5) Does the Web page give useful information about products and services? (6) Can a customer order products on the Web site? Can a customer use a credit card as a method of payment? Figure 1 displays how these sites ranked in these categories. Figure 1. WEB SITE CATEGORY RANKINGS Other criterion that was also considered was: (1) Does the page look cluttered or dull? (2) Is the page visually appealing to the eye? (3) What is the best feature? (4) What is the worst feature? (5) An overall rating among the twenty listed sites. These criteria can be referred to in Appendix C: Web Site Criteria Forms. All of the large companies received the same scores in the different categories as the other large companies, while the small business scored the same way among themselves. The best Web sites were owned by the large companies who naturally have a much larger budget than the smaller companies. The top site among the large companies is Dell. Their home page covers all the aspects of their business without being cluttered. It displays appealing graphics and uses colored text to emphasize what is most important to the customer. Their page is easy to navigate with a search option and a general index at the top of each page. Most consumers find these features extremely useful while browsing a Web site. The first things that are noticed on a page are the different sales categories and the choice deals. The top site among the small businesses is Xtend Micro Products’ Web site. Again the site was appealing to the eye and was not cluttered with useless information. Their design uses the same general format throughout site and keeps everything neat and clean. The information that is most useful to the customer is displayed first and every page is kept simple. The worst site among the large companies is Sun Microsystems. The only reason that this site was ranked the worst was that it did not offer any way to order products through the site. Overall this site is well organized and easy to navigate. Among the small businesses the worst site is Tuniss Computers. This Web site is completely unorganized. The designers tried to incorporate animated graphics that did not fit with this type of business site. At the home page a short sound clip that states, “All systems are functioning within normal parameters” is played that slows down the time it takes to load the page and distracts customers from the products. A well-designed web page should not try to include too many features; they make the web site seem cheap and deter customers. Printouts of the best Web page can be referred to in Appendix D: Best Web Site. Printouts of the worst Web page can also be referred to in Appendix E: Worst Web site. All of the Web sites in the large company category displayed phenomenal designs. There were a few small business sites that displayed the same quality as the large companies. Apple, Gateway, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, and Xtend Micro Products displayed almost identical marks on the analysis sheet. These sites allow customers to order products online and use a credit card to pay for them. The home pages are simple and usually fit into one screen for easy viewing. The graphics are kept professional and are not too bright or complicated. Web sites from all ranges of businesses in the computer-selling field were examined to determine what criteria should be used for designing a first-rate Web site. Web Site Features Attractive to Customers When customers visit a web site they want to find what they are looking for quickly. The most common way of doing this is by use of a search function. This feature was only included in one-half of the sites surveyed. This does not mean that it is unpopular; it is a more advanced feature that only the larger businesses can afford. Many customers enjoy the luxury of shopping from home, yet only half of the Web sites display this feature. This is again due to the expense of creating this feature. It is important to show a picture of a product along with its information. There are many features that every Web site should include. Some of these features include an index on the first page, company logo, easy-to use buttons, topic searching, contact information, online ordering form, order checking and the option to pay with a credit card. These features are important to the success of the web site. Table 1 shows the number of sites that contain these features. TABLE 1. ESSENTIAL WEB SITE FEATURES Features Number of Web Sites Percent of Web Sites It is important for a company to have a logo for the customer to identify with the company. A typical example of a good logo is Gateway’s use of a cow colored box displayed in Figure 2. This is a classic example of using strange products to make customers remember your company. There were a few features that were not found in many sites. These features appeared most commonly on pages with a lower overall ranking. Some of these features include “free stuff”, links to other Web sites offering related services, and the date the page was last updated. There were a few features that were uncommon that really made a site stand out. These features include accepting credit cards and order checking and were only found in the design of the outstanding web sites. Table 2 shows the number of sites containing these features. Features Number of Web Sites Percent of Web Sites It would be of great use for the Technology Department to include a way for the customer to pay for the products using a credit card. The data contained in this report provides enough information to draw sound conclusions about Web site marketing for the Technology Division. Based on the data, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. A Web site is a necessity for business. Companies rely on Web sites to do their advertising and to sell their products. 2. To be able to compete with other companies the Web site must have many advanced user-friendly features included into its design. 3. Too many features can cause slow download times and deter customers from visiting the site again. Amalgamated should create a Web site for its Technology Division with the following in mind: 1. All of the standard features should be used to attract customers. 2. Advanced features such as credit card acceptance and topic searching should be a high priority because they generate more revenue. 3. The company information should be in a place that is accessible from any page in the Web site. 4. Offers for “free stuff” is not something that should be available very often. These kind of offers are usually good for promotional periods only. 5. A logo that stands out must be selected so customers will have something to remember the Web site by. Figure 3 is a fine example of this type of logo. FIGURE 3. LOGO OF THE TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT A Web site for the Technology Division of Amalgamated will expand the company’s range of available customers. It will allow many more people to purchase products from a single location. A site designed with many innovative features will attract new customers and even more return customers. The Technology Division will only benefit from the creation of a Web site. 1. http://www.abacus-computer.com/home.htm Abacus Computer Corp. 3. http://www.comp-express.com Comp Express 6. http://www.hitech-usa.com HiTech USA 7. http://www.HP.com Hewlett Packard 9. http://www.lacc.com/lacc L.A. Computer Center 10. http://www.mac-pro.com Mac Pro Systems and Software 12. http://www.moresystems.com MORE Systems 13. http://www.precisionpc.com Precision Computers 14. http://www.spectra911.com Spectra 15. http://www.sun.com Sun Microsystems 16. http://www.tuniss.com Tuniss Computers 17. http://www.whtech.com Western Horizon Technologies 18. http://www.xmpi.com Xtend Micro Products 19. http://www.zantech.com ZanTech Computers 20. http://zoommax.com Zoommax Computers Bibliography:

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