Human Computer Interaction and Web Design for Competitive Advantage - Essay Example

Running Head: HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION AND WEB DESIGN FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Australian Clothing Industry- Oz Attitude Clothing Insert Name Institution Date Executive summary The Australian clothing industry has experienced substantial change for the last two decades. The use of online marketing has dominated the industry. The Just Jeans and WestCo Jeans have achieved remarkable online retail growth since their inception and this can be realistic for Oz Attitude Clothing. When the introduction of online retail took effect in late 1990s, there was great doubt of its success. However, this doubt has been overturned by the success of the retail business through the use of a potential internet which has been possible through careful planning by the Just Jeans which has the met the needs of their customers. Therefore, there is great need to sustain the use of internet on the online business due to its effectiveness and reliability. The WestCo Jeans and the Just Jeans has fully expanded their market share in the industry through the increase in volume of sales and profits. This growth of the both companies is realized through investing on technology as well as the human resource. The prices of the pure play are at most times lower than those of clicks and bricks on the online world. Therefore, Oz Attitude Clothing should follow the steps of Just Jeans and WestCo Jeans in its online marketing implementation. Human Computer Interaction and Web Design for Competitive Advantage Clothing Industry Introduction Every human being especially university students have the desire to supplement their livelihoods. The desire leads to the search of a part time job or even establishing your own small business. It is from this desire and thoughts that Oz Attitude clothing was born. The company started by university students with the objective of supplementing their university costs, came into force in 1985. At St. Kilda Market in Inkerman Australia, the company started as a stand whose sole objective was to supplement university costs. Jillian Norman and colleague Rosie Khol are the brains behind this great idea. Oz Attitude Clothing attracted a huge following of regular clients who enjoyed the services of Norman and Khol. Many Australians have flocked clothing stores in the last decade due to low prices and fatter paychecks. According to studies, few women were willing to do away with retail therapy compared to men despite the soaring petrol prices. In the fashion industry competition is fierce and companies which have capitalized in online marketing seem to carry the day. Competitors Norman and Khol company face stiff competition from the already established companies such Just Jeans and West Co Jeans. The two companies West Co Jeans and Just Jeans deal with fashion and beauty products and greatly dominate in the market of fashion in Australia (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). The West Co Jeans has put in to place the use of pod casts in its online operations as well as ensuring that there are daily blogs as a way of revamping its website and this has given it way in repositioning its strategy of how it operates its website to remain as the second largest store in the Australia. The website of the fashion company West Co Jeans has been allocated a fresh team of strong members to manage it and this is aimed at producing excellent results in online operations of the company. Just Jeans is a company which retails its fashion products through the use of online services commands the greatest share in the online fashion market with more than 30,000 products which have its label as well as being branded. This command in the online market is evident through the visitors who visit its website who are close to 7 million as well as the registered members who are about 3 million users (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). West Co Jeans which commands an authority on certain styles has had a great success since its inception. The West Co Jeans at times does not operate exactly as the Just Jeans since it has more than 300 physical stores being located in the Australia as well as similar stores being established across the world. Target Market The target market for the Oz Attitude Clothing is mainly the young group of people who are between the ages of 16 to the age of 35 who are usually influence with new fashions in the market. The Oz Attitude Clothing should follow the footsteps of Just Jeans whose prospective customers are usually provided with a variety of only one of its kind features when they visit the website such as videos of individual models who catwalk with the clothing which can be found on the internet (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). The website of Just Jeans shows that there is a fashion blog with updates of articles related to the industry of entertainment as well a link of clothes being posted on the main site of retailing. Mainly West Co Jeans targets the students who have given it a recommendable reputation. The West Co Jeans has pioneered the fashion world in Australia, on the high street through notable reputation earned through its individuality. The two fashion companies West Co Jeans and Just Jeans has restructured their goals and values to fit in the changing world of technology and this should be the way for Oz Attitude Clothing (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). The online operations of West Co Jeans fashion company has a marketing strategy that mainly targets the students through the creation of websites which seem to be a catch to the students such as campus tours as well as the student shopping nights which are active day and night. Through the online operations, the Oz Attitude Clothing can establish certain initiatives such as introducing new business lines contributed by the Fair-trade or organic cotton, which are aimed improving its venture in the new market or bringing new customers within its realms and truly it has achieved a positive report after the move (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). They have followers even in the shared web, for instance twitter along with face book. The twitter website shows how customers of the West Co Jeans and at the same time members of the site commend about how West Co Jeans is influential the products are when traded online. The same case applies to the Just Jeans which specifically has its operations online; the company has followers in the both social networks face book and twitter. Perceived Benefits Through the online operations of Oz Attitude Clothing, the company will increase its market share through the application of the relevant conditions necessary for a retail business to retail online in the world of sector dealing with the fashion. The Oz Attitude Clothing should put in place the use of internet as its growth tool which will help it to tap fully the expanding online fashion retail market (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). Most customers who accessed the Just Jeans website had broadband connections which had seen the number multiply with a bigger digit. The fashion company Just Jeans has a market segmentation of designed for the young people who are fashionable consumers and account for more than 20 percent of the population in the Australia that does its shopping through the use of internet. The online operations of the Oz Attitude Clothing will enable the business to have a goal of achieving close one billion pound business (£ 1) in duration of about five years as noted by the market analysts. The operations of the company are expected to go a notch higher when the company creates about its website, with the aim of being the largest in the market (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). The Oz Attitude Clothing will have a wide presence on the international globe of business and it should tailor its delivery policy as well as returns in avoiding defeat from the local competitors in the Australia and across the world (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). The online business for the Oz Attitude Clothing will have a great boom since earnings per share will increase. The Oz Attitude Clothing should try to capture its customers more through the introduction of a membership card which is specifically tailored for the customers to get rewards which would as a result of their loyalty to the company. Through the use of the internet the company will sends emails containing the company’s news as well as birthday treats. They will also keep their customers through the hosting of different events such as fashion week in an exclusive way. SWOT analysis of Oz Attitude Clothing SWOT analysis of Oz Attitude Clothing Strengths Great command in the online market Collaborations with world celebrities. Weaknesses Lack of trained workforce Products only best for the young Opportunities Potential of having a global presence Developing new products Develop the use of the internet in its market structure. Threats Political influence since it has a global presence The competitors in the market. The SWOT analysis of the Oz Attitude Clothing has clearly integrated all the information that pertains to the growth of the company. Such in formations include the internal environment which is constituted from within the company and the external environment which is constituted by the competitors (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). The integration of the environments is to help in identifying the organizations strengths which primarily the base from which the company develops. The identification of weaknesses from the company can know on how to deal with their own problems, the identification of opportunities which will help them to know on how to venture into new business lines and finally identifying the threats which may be posed by either poor management or competitor and understanding on how to handle them. Strengths of Oz Attitude Clothing Both companies have a competitive ability both locally and globally. This is because they have other many stores in their country of creation and other countries abroad which has increased product accessibility to their customers and hence increased competition chances in the retail market. Establishing an e-commerce company will give Oz Attitude Clothing a chance to expand to global level leading to an increase in the customer count and hence increased sales. This is because shopping is made accessible online to customers including the international ones. Through the internet shoppers can buy garments in season and also see the latest fashions or trends. These two companies offer discount to their target market like student which improve the customer morale to shop again in that company. There is a high business to customer communication in the online business which takes place at the time of order and time of delivery (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). They therefore ensure good communication to their customers which they use as a marketing strategy. Weaknesses for Oz Attitude Clothing Small organizations may look like a large one via the internet since customers are unable to estimate the number of laborers in that organization and these leaves customers with high expectations and therefore a customer can demand equal level of service from a small organization as he or she would demand from a large organization. Oz Attitude Clothing will be faced by managerial difficulties in managing the big stores, large number of staff and the wide range of products and therefore a high management cost. Opportunities for Oz Attitude Clothing Oz Attitude Clothing deals with fashion products and one of their target markets should be the youth who are always cautious on fashion spending and would like to have every fashion before it becomes out dated. Selling products via the internet for Oz Attitude Clothing companies may create a strong organization to organization networking which opens new lines of communication leading to company’s cooperation (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). Involvement in charity work for Oz Attitude Clothing Company would yield opportunities to target a huge range of prospective customers especially those who do not know of the existence of these companies (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). The Oz Attitude Clothing may also increase the brand image reputation and strength by using for example the world famous models which will help the organization to recognize and expand opportunities in the world. Most models catch youthful people interests, who are the biggest fashion consumers. Threats for Oz Attitude Clothing The Oz Attitude Clothing faces the highest threat from the other competitors who are entering the world of retail business (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). The threat hear will be low returns which is as a result of low volume of sales due to the competition brought in the market. For instance, foreign brands those offer an acceptable price by the customers and have up to date fashion styles which pose a great threat to Oz Attitude Clothing. The competition might not be posed by the other retailers of the same product only but it may also be caused by the manufactures of the raw products. This competition leads to low a profit margin which is caused by poor price levels (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). On the other hand, when it comes to competition with the manufactures, it might not affect the online retailers directly. Such a threat can be great if the companies will involve a negative celebrity campaign where celebrities have a great influence on people choice of fashion. The e-commerce may be adversely affected by future innovations which might make the current technology irrelevant. The online business or retailing will face the challenge or the threat of fraud. Most consumers are not fully convinced that all online retailing is genuine; this is due to high case of fraud being reported from time to time. Therefore the Oz Attitude Clothing faces a great challenge in fully implementing the online business since the issue of fraud has alienated a big portion of the population from doing online business. Another threat of the online business the issue of privacy concerns (Ganahl and Louisa 2009). Most customers may not have the zeal of revealing all their personal information in internet since such a case may lead to identity fraud. Conclusion In conclusion, both the Just Jeans and WestCo Jeans have achieved remarkable online retail growth since their inception and this can be realistic for Oz Attitude Clothing. When the introduction of online retail took effect in late 1990s, there was great doubt of its success. However, this doubt has been overturned by the success of the retail business through the use of a potential internet which has been possible through careful planning by the Just Jeans which has the met the needs of their customers. Therefore, there is great need to sustain the use of internet on the online business due to its effectiveness and reliability. The WestCo Jeans and the Just Jeans has fully expanded their market share in the industry through the increase in volume of sales and profits. This growth of the both companies is realized through investing on technology as well as the human resource. The prices of the pure play are at most times lower than those of clicks and bricks on the online world. Therefore, Oz Attitude Clothing should follow the steps of Just Jeans and WestCo Jeans in its online marketing implementation. Oz Attitude Clothing Website Interface References Just Jeans, http://www.justjeans.com.au/tem/JU_about.tem accessed on February 21, 2011 WestCo Jeans, http://www.westco.com.au/index.htm accessed on February 21, 2011 Louisa Ha and Richard J. Ganahl, 2009. 4th ed. Web casting worldwide: business models of an emerging global medium. Routledge Read More