The web-based project - Essay Example

Running Head Web Design Firm Web Design Firm The web-based project is aimed to sell cookies for large target audience. The importance of this project is that the population that can be addressed by conventional physical sales and marketing is constrained by geography, that of the Internet is constrained by the number of people who both have access to it and make active use of it (these not necessarily being the same thing). Estimates of the number of people who use the Internet vary widely, although a consensus seems to be emerging that currently tens of millions of people do indeed use the Internet. Product Description A cookie is a bit of software stored in the computer of a user to a web site. The web page provides the cookie, and the user's web browser installs the cookie on the user's hard drive. The cookie allows the web-site to path the movements of the user on the operator's web site. Another analogy is that the cookie "brands" another computer with profile information. Two of the most popular companies allowed cookies are Netscape and Microsoft (Kalakota et al 1999). Reason for the Site The advantage of this product is that the cookie allows the web site operator to customize the web site for the visitor's convenience. What there is no disagreement about is the type of people who use the Internet. At the moment (and this will change as the user-base of the Internet expands), they are predominantly young, under the age of about 40, male and relatively wealthy. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the pornography industry is one of the few industries that appears to have developed a successful business model for selling on the Internet. Another key aspect of the demographics of the Internet is that every one single person using it owns, or has access to a computer (Laurent, 1998). Users are likely, therefore, to have an above average interest in technology. Computer companies, both hardware and software, are, therefore, also extremely well represented on the Internet. The site will benefit e-business companies and help them to monitor actions and preferences of their visitors. Yet, privacy is a serious matter in this case. Cookies gather a lot of personal information about web site users. Some web pages demand a visitor to fill out a registration form before visiting the web site (Laurent, 1998). The web site has the right to store voluntarily provided information, implant the cookie in the user's computer, and access the information anytime the visitor revisits the web site. This practice can be either positive or negative, of course, depending on the use of the information. Another aspect to consider is whether receipt of the cookie was voluntary or unknowing. Audience The main target audience is e-business companies and websites. Once a company has succeeded in getting customers to visit website, it still has to get them to buy something. This is the area in which the Internet, with its interactivity and versatility, starts to win over traditional sales methods. The virtual nature of the Internet means that a company can use different methods for achieving sales - methods that cannot be applied effectively in a physical environment. Ironically, however, most websites fail to take advantage of these methods. In this case, cookies will allow to monitor visitor's preferences and analyze their tastes (Laurent, 1998). Cookies can also allow the web site operator to improve the web site by tracking what interests visitors. The Internet marketing community calls information gained from tracking web site user's movements "click stream data". Software from NetGravity, Inc., tags web site visitors with ID numbers. Its software permits a corporation to read information on the corporation's cookie, such as how many times the visitor has visited, what he or she clicked, and how long he or she has lingered. NetGravity also permits target advertising: A web server pulls the visitor's registration number, then sends details to AdServer, which will then choose the ad to present to the user (Kalakota et al 1999). Benefits of the Product The Internet has been constructed by computer experts, not by marketers, but its future, whether the computer geeks like it or not, is going to depend on the speed with which an effective model emerges that allows commercial organizations to sell their goods and services. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and unless the marketers can find a way of making it pay, then the Internet is doomed to grind to a halt. There are four areas which, we believe, you particularly need to consider (Laurent, 1998). Cookies have many positive aspects. For instance, they can make ordering products over the Internet easier because the buyer who has already received the appropriate cookie from the web site seller will not have to re-enter information such as the buyer's mailing address. Cookies can also be used to store name and password so that a visitor does not have to type in that information every time he or she visits a site requiring visitors to register (Kalakota et al 1999). Cookies will help companies increase interactivity. The key factor that differentiates the Internet from other forms of marketing is its interactivity: consumers are not passive recipients of a broadcast marketing message - they can interact with it. At its simplest, consumers can choose which areas of the message to explore. Sites can be laid out so that consumers can be led down a particular set of pathways depending on their particular interests. Sites can, however, also be developed to provide different information to different consumers. 'Cookies' gives details of the parts of the Internet that a company has explored - can be picked up and used to generate the site content that is displayed. Imagine a music retailer who provides free samples of different bands. By analyzing and recording which bands a company has listened to, the company can display advertisements that reflect your areas of interest the next time you visit its site (Laurent, 1998). Used in this way, the Internet can begin to resemble the marketer's dream of one-to-one relationship marketing, where individual content is generated for individual customers depending on the information that is carried about each person's individual preferences. One of the other major advantages of the Internet is the volume of information that can be stored and the ease with which it can be updated. This enables new services to be provided in a way that was not economically feasible before (Kalakota et al 1999). Reasons to Support this Project The main reason to support this project is that the product has large target audience and can be sold to small, medium and large companies. Cookies are important for many companies because interactivity gives rise to new methods of selling and purchasing, primarily by giving purchasers and sellers new ways in which they can interact. One of the best examples of this is General Electric, which is rapidly moving all its different business units to purchasing via the Internet. This approach can also be used by organizations that want to sell as well as buy. The use of auctioning, for example, is becoming more common on the Internet (Laurent, 1998). These auctions started with the sales of surplus computer equipment. Purchasers were invited to submit their bids for each item, and these bids were then displayed for all to see. When the auction closed, the purchasers with the highest bid were offered the goods. This method of selling is now being investigated by other industries as well. A number of airlines have held auctions of surplus seats on the Internet. Again, the method has proved to be successful, drawing numerous bidders interested by this new. Business needs to start to match its strategic vision and sense of direction (built around the business as a whole) with precise analysis - at a detailed level - of the information from which it is composed, whether this information concerns customers, employees, products or processes. Greater size meant that activities had to be divided and managed, something which in turn gave rise to formalized organizational hierarchies. Given the increasing size and complexity of business, it followed that their owners could not know everything about them. References Kalakota, R., Robinson, M., Tapscott, D. (1999). E-Business: Roadmap for Success (Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series). Addison-Wesley (C); 1 edition. Laurent, S. S. (1998). Cookies. Computing Mcgraw-Hill. Read More