Website and Internet Marketing Campaign for United Matbouli Group - Term Paper Example

 Website and Internet Marketing Campaign for United Matbouli Group Executive Summary This report concerns my work on the UMG website and in creating an internet marketing campaign for UMG. This report highlights how a company can benefit from having a web presence and the how e-commerce can help a business in gaining a competitive advantage. E-Commerce frees companies from physical restraints and introduces fast communications and transactions. The main qualities desired in a website such as usability, focus, aesthetic appeal, security, regular updates and fast responses are explained. The report highlights the important elements that go toward making a website usable and explains why it is important to have a clear objective for a website. Some general marketing strategies commonly employed on the internet are described. A study of Saudi internet users in general and the state of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia is made. The objectives of the United Matbouli Group website are defined. The website is evaluated for usability. A study of the target audience of the website is made. In light of the various studies we craft a general internet marketing strategy for the UMG and make a list of recommendations to improve the UMG website. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 WEBSITE AND INTERNET MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR UNITED MATBOULI GROUP 4 1-The importance of a company’s website 4 2 - Benefits of E-Commerce to Businesses 6 3 - The Importance of Having a Clearly Defined Purpose for the Website 8 4 - Desired Qualities of the Website 9 4.1 - Usability 9 4.2 – Focus 10 4.3 –Look and Feel 10 4.4 - Aesthetic Appeal 10 4.5 - Frequent and Regular Updates 10 4.6 - Fast Response Times 11 4.7 - Security and Trust 11 5 - Promoting and Advertising the Website 12 6 - Internet Usage in Saudi Arabia 13 7 - E-Commerce in Saudi Arabia 14 8- The United Matbouli Group Website 16 8.1 - Purpose of the Website 16 8.2 - Evaluation of the Website at its Current State 17 9 - Target Audience 20 9.1 - Demographic Factors 20 9.2 - Geographic Factors 21 9.3 - Behavioural factors 21 10 - Customer Analysis 21 10.1 - Customer Survey 21 10.2 - General Findings from the Survey 22 11- Competitor Research 24 11.1 - SWOT Analysis of the UMG Website 24 11.2 - SWOT Analysis of the Zagzoog Website 25 11.3 - SWOT Analysis of the MECL Website 26 11.4 - SWOT Analysis of the LG Website 27 12- E-Marketing Campaign 29 12.1 - SEO 29 12.2 – Advertising 30 12.3 - Facebook Fan Page 30 12.4 - E-Newsletter 30 13- Recommendations and Conclusion 30 14 - References 32 15 - List of Figures 34 16 - Appendices 35 16.1 – Appendix A: Survey Questionnaire 35 16.2 – Appendix B: E-Marketing Budget Appropriations 38 16.3 – Appendix C: E-Marketing Project Implementation Timeline 38 WEBSITE AND INTERNET MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR UNITED MATBOULI GROUP The United Matbouli Group (UMG) is one of the largest distributors of consumer electronic products and home appliances in Saudi Arabia. Based in Jeddah, UMG owns a number of stores located in urban centres throughout the country and employs more than 550 people. UMG has a wide range of products including many different types of air conditioners, cell phones, televisions, digital video and audio players and home appliances such as gas ranges, microwave ovens, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and washing machines. Our task during the internship was to evaluate and help redesign UMG’s website and formulate an internet marketing campaign for the company. The United Matbouli Group has had a web presence for around ten years now however the website has never been a major part of UMG’s marketing strategy. The redesign of the website and the new marketing campaign aims to make the UMG website an important source of business for the United Matbouli Group. 1- The importance of a company’s website Having a well maintained website can provide modern day businesses with a competitive edge. Websites allow businesses to inform customers about the products and services they offer, websites are not constrained by the limits suffered by promotional materials printed on paper. Businesses can offer potential customers highly detailed information regarding the products and services they offer unconstrained by limits on page size and number of pages. Building a website is an alternative method of informing customers of the products offered by UMG. In an area with high internet connectivity, it is a much cheaper option than producing and distributing promotional literature to potential customers. Another advantage offered by websites is the possibility of interactions with potential customers. Websites can be used to receive comments and queries about products from customers and potential customers. Advertisement rates on the internet are much cheaper per person targeted as compared to traditional media like television, radio and newspapers. There are several unique features available in web-based advertising which have the potential of making web-based advertising much more useful to the advertiser than traditional forms of advertising. In traditional media, the whole audience or readership of the television show or newspaper has to be shown the advertisement, most of these people may not be interested in buying the products or services offered by the advertiser and the advertisement is wasted on them. The internet gives advertisers the ability to target the ads to an extremely specific audience which is much more likely to be interested in the advertiser’s products or services, for example, using search advertising, it is possible to show ads only to Saudi internet users who searched for the keywords ‘microwave oven prices’ on a search engine. The advertisements can then direct those clicking on them to the section of the company’s website dealing with microwave ovens. Other ways of running focused advertising campaigns include putting up banner advertisements on consumer websites dedicated to the products the advertiser is selling or advertising on social media or other web portals frequented by the target audience for a product or service. Another way advertising on the internet is different from advertising on traditional media is that the cost of placing advertisements on the internet is usually significantly less than the cost of placing advertisements on traditional media. The prevailing model of internet based advertising is the Pay per Click (PPC) model in which advertisers are only supposed to pay advertisement agency a fixed sum per each user that clicked on the advertisement and was directed to the advertiser’s website. According to this model the advertiser does not have to pay anything for those viewers who were shown the advertisement in their browsers but did not click on it. Internet based advertising also differs from traditional advertising in the range of additional functions available to an advertiser. Advertisers may use text, images, video clips, audio clips, interactive flash movies etc. in their advertisement. In addition internet based advertisement campaigns allow advertisers to gather large amounts of information about the potential customers that view their websites. This functionality, in conjunction with the low advertising costs, allows advertisers to experiment with different approaches and find out the sort of advertisement and website design that works best for them and results in greater sales from their websites. Websites are also important to business for ‘image’ reasons. No having a website or having a badly designed or old fashioned looking website projects a bad image of a business. Websites also allow companies to take control of their image and project their point of view on issues unconstrained by the editorial policies affecting traditional media. An extreme example of this can be seen at the website of British Petroleum which consistently presents a favourable point of view of the company with respect to the recent oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico[bpc10]. 2 - Benefits of E-Commerce to Businesses Electronic commerce systems can provide significant value to a business organization. One of the most obvious advantages of e-commerce to businesses is that through the adoption of e-commerce the effect of the physical restraints that slow down the growth of traditional businesses is lowered. E-commerce also has the potential of reducing the dependence of product sales upon local marketing efforts (Gurley, 1998). Using e-commerce business can cut back on the need for physical business infrastructure such as shops and offices. This results in a cost reduction for the business. An early study on e-commerce identifies five main reasons the use of e-commerce systems can provide a competitive advantage to a company: E-commerce systems can connect buyers and customers together directly without the intercession of third-party middlemen which can lead to a lower cost for both the buyer and the seller E-commerce systems enable the exchange of digital information between the buyer and the seller E-commerce systems reduce limits of time and place upon the transactions between the buyer and the seller E-commerce systems enable interaction between buyers and sellers and can therefore enable businesses to dynamically adapt to customer behaviours. E-commerce systems can keep track of all business activities in real time and help the business in always remaining up to date. In addition E-commerce systems can enable the creation of a closer and more personalized relationship between the suppliers and their customers due to the ability to keep track of each customer’s behaviour patterns[Blo96]. According to a more recent study regarding e-commerce in developing countries, it is possible for one just company in an industry to change the whole nature of the competition in that industry by adopting e-commerce. In such a situation, the competitors to that company may be forced to adopt e-commerce as well, in order to remain competitive[Tar03]. The past decade has seen rapid adoption of e-commerce around the world. While e-commerce has become a regular facet of life in the developed world the adoption of e-commerce is an emerging trend in the developing world as well. According to some experts e-commerce is one of the ways through which developing countries and smaller businesses can compete with developed countries and large multinational corporations. According to the economist Thomas Friedman, the rise of e-commerce is one of the forces contributing to the 'flattening of the world' i.e. the levelling of the playing field between the rich and the poor (Friedman, 2005). Some web retailers have managed to gain enormous success in their business through brand-focusing, delivering quality products and services, providing efficient customer service and information about their products, cost reduction, raising barriers to new entrants in the marketplace and gaining monopoly over suppliers or customers (Oz, 2008). 3 - The Importance of Having a Clearly Defined Purpose for the Website Before a website is designed, its main purpose and objectives should be made clear. If the intention behind the creation of the website is to sell products on it then the products should be the focus of the website’s design and all the other content that may distract the visitor from perusing and buying the products should be removed from the website or moved out of the way. Research has shown that internet users are very impatient with respect to badly designed websites. They quickly jump from one website to another in search of the content they seek. Users usually do not stay on a website for more than a few minutes if the content they desire cannot be found on it [Nor01]. For example if the visitor to the UMG website wants to know the price of a particular model of air conditioners, they should be able to reach this information within a few clicks, otherwise they would leave the site and look for the same information elsewhere. 4 - Desired Qualities of the Website 4.1 - Usability According to the International Standards Organization (ISO), usability can be defined as the “effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which a specified set of users can achieve a specified set of tasks in a particular environment[Nor01].” There are four aspects to the usability of a website: Its usefulness: i.e. does the website do what the user requires it to do? Its effectiveness: i.e. is it easy for the users to make the website do what they require it to do? Its learnability: i.e. is it easy for users to learn the commands and actions they need to undertake in order to make use of the website? Its satisfaction: i.e. is it pleasant experience for the user to visit and use the website or not? In order to be considered usable a website needs to meet all four criteria[Rub94]. 4.2 – Focus As previously noted, it’s very important to have a clearly defined purpose for the website. The whole website should be designed to aid in that purpose, all elements that lead the user away from accomplishing that purpose should be removed. 4.3 –Look and Feel The United Matbouli Group is a respectable business establishment; it is a trustworthy name in business. At the same time UMG is a market leader and a dynamic and modern organization. The UMG website needs to reflect these all qualities. The website must look professionally designed and not have a haphazard look to it. The look of the website must reflect maturity and professionalism, it is a business website and the products should have centre stage in the website’s design. 4.4 - Aesthetic Appeal The website must be beautifully designed and look pleasant to the eye. There should be something novel and interesting in the website’s design in order to attract the attention of users[Pap09]. 4.5 - Frequent and Regular Updates The website should be kept up to date: The information content of the website should be periodically checked for any needed updates, broken links etc. should immediately be removed. Products that are not available in UMG’s stores and warehouses should not be advertised or put on sale on the internet, similarly prices given on the website should reflect the current prices of the products in UMG stores. 4.6 - Fast Response Times The customer service responses should be fast: There should always be one or more customer support representatives online during working hours, who have the technical and social skills needed to answer the customer’s requests for assistance in a timely and adequate manner. In addition queries made by email by customers or potential customers should be promptly answered. 4.7 - Security and Trust Computers and information technology has made it a lot simpler for malevolent individuals to co-opt the identity of another person and to gain access to and make you of their personal resources. On the internet it becomes quite difficult to verify whether someone really is who they claim to be. In addition the access to online resources such as bank accounts etc. are guarded by such security measures as passwords etc. which may be overridden by criminals with the required technical expertise[Eas10]. Internet based identity theft is fast becoming a huge problem, the world over. The scale of the problem can be seen from the fact in the year 2007 around 7.9 million household were affected by identity theft according to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Justice[Lan10]. In addition frauds in the form of fake e-commerce websites and fake emails from banks etc. have proliferated on the internet in addition inadequate information about internet based crimes often leads to businesses which have their customer’s personal information, becoming unwitting accomplices in their defraudment by malevolent individuals in what is known as incidents of ‘social engineering’[Eas10]. There exists a vast underground market for sensitive personal information stolen from ordinary individuals by hackers. The commonest product available in this underground market is people’s stolen credit card information. Vast internet based criminal networks dealing in stolen credit card information exist that span the whole world[Zet091]. Many people abstain from engaging in e-commerce due to the fear that their identity would be stolen and hackers would steal money from their bank accounts and their private information would be leaked to malevolent individuals and statistics show that these fears may be justified. In order to allay this fear and boost customer confidence in the website, steps should be taken to ensure greater security for the website. The visitors and those who purchase products and services from the website need be given the confidence that their personal details will not be used in any unauthorized way. Only the most trustworthy employees should have access to customer details and these individuals should be fully informed about security protocols and disciplined in implementing these protocols in order to prevent them from falling prey to attempts at social engineering. 5 - Promoting and Advertising the Website Merely creating as high quality website may not be enough to draw sufficient numbers of interested visitors to it. Some of the means through which the website can attract a greater number of visitors are: Placing search advertisements on major search engines Buying advertisement space on popular websites frequented by Saudi internet users Offering discounts on product purchase if the product is bought from the website Increasing the UMG website’s search rankings through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) methods Attempting to create viral media content that directs people to the UMG website in a subtle manner. 6 - Internet Usage in Saudi Arabia According to statistics from the International Telecommunications union, in 2006 Saudi Arabia had 13.6 computers per every 100 people. According to 2008 figures from the Communications and Information Technology Commission, 77% of 15-60 year olds in Saudi Arabia owned computers and computer owners formed 49% of the total population, this represented an increase of 6% from 43% in 2007[CIT08]. In addition 61% of the 15-60 year olds were regular users of the internet in 2008, up from 515 IN 2007. Internet users accounted for 36% of the total Saudi population in 2008, up from 30.5% in 2007 and around 54% of the population subscribes to an internet connection[CIT08]. These figures make it clear that internet usage is rapidly expanding among the Saudi population and the use of internet is fast becoming one of the regular features of life in Saudi Arabia. Concerns about the social impact of the internet pervade the Saudi population, according to statistics from 2008, 47% of Saudi internet users are concerned about internet addiction in children and only 45% disagree with the proposition that the internet is a source of corruption containing a lot of immoral content[CIT08]. Any successful internet strategy needs to take such concerns of the Saudi population into account. An important facet of internet use in Saudi Arabia is the popularity of Arabic language sites to those with English language content. 10% - 25% of Websites visited are Arabic sites 3% 26% - 50% of Websites visited are Arabic sites 3% 51% - 75% of Websites visited are Arabic sites 8% 76% - 100% of Websites visited are Arabic sites 76% 100% of websites visited are English sites 11% Table 1: Percentage of Websites visited by Saudi internet users which have Arabic content Most of the people who visit English language websites only are Asian migrant workers[CIT08]. Looking at the list of top most sites accessed by Saudi internet users we can distinguish three significant trends in internet usage: Use of the internet to access large Arabic web portal sites which include discussion forums etc. Use of the internet to access matrimonial/social networking sites. Use of the internet for financial and business news. For example, the website for the Tadawul (stock exchange) is consistently one of the top ten most frequently visited websites (Internet.gov.sa, 2010). This third trend is especially significant for e-commerce and business websites. The significance of this trend lies in the fact that Saudi users consider a website to be a reliable source of information in important matters of their life such as the state of their investments in the stock market. 7 - E-Commerce in Saudi Arabia E-commerce is a rapidly growing sector of Saudi economy. There is an increasing trend among Saudi companies to offer their products online. Saudi internet users too, are increasingly turning toward the internet to make their purchases. However actual purchases made through the internet are still low. In a 2008 survey it was found that only 6% of the Saudi internet users had actually bought anything online[CIT08]. However despite this, e-commerce websites do a great deal of business with Saudi internet users, in 2007 the amount of money spent by Saudi internet users online exceeded $3.28 billion[Ara08]. According to 2008 statistics 43% of Saudi internet users consider shopping online to be an enjoyable and time saving method of shopping[CIT08]. Saudi internet users have a lot of concerns about e-commerce which prevent them from engaging in it more. One of their greatest concerns is about online privacy. According to a 2002 study 64% of Saudi internet users are concerned about possible leakage of their private information online. Over 60% of the Saudi internet users would like completely anonymity while browsing websites on the internet (Sait, Ali, Al-Tawil, & Sanaullah, 2002). Such a great concern about online privacy and need for anonymity may not be compatible with widespread use of e-commerce where it is essential for individuals to share their private information with businesses. People who wish to engage in e-commerce are usually willing to sacrifice some privacy for the sake of convenience[SMY07]. Over 40% of Saudi internet users are also somewhat concerned about the security of e-commerce websites while for nearly 50% of the users the security of e-commerce websites is of great concern (Sait, Ali, Al-Tawil, & Sanaullah, 2002). These statistics show that people in Saudi Arabia have some knowledge of the widespread fraud and identity theft that goes on, on the internet and are therefore wary of engaging in e-commerce. These concerns of Saudi internet users are quite justified and more governmental regulation and increased security of e-commerce websites is needed in order to help convince Saudi internet users to increase their online shopping. Another aspect of the wariness of Saudi internet users with e-commerce is the fact that internet access was only introduced in Saudi Arabia in 1998. As a result of this most of Saudi internet users are novice users and have less confidence in the internet compared to internet users in nations where the internet was introduced much earlier. According to experts the more the level of experience an internet user has, the more likely they are to be willing to engage in e-commerce (Lee, 2003). As the Saudi internet user’s level of experience with the internet rises, their engagement in e-commerce can be expected to increase as well. 8- The United Matbouli Group Website 8.1 - Purpose of the Website To display to potential clients the whole range of electronic consumer products and appliances offered by United Matbouli Group company. To allow retails stores, smaller distributors and individual customers to order products and pay for them using credit cards in a secure manner. To present the details of each of the products offered along with answers to the common questions about the product that may arise in the mind of the potential clients. To have a working customer support system in place on the website regularly answering customer queries and offering technological support. 8.2 - Evaluation of the Website at its Current State 8.2.1 - Automated Website Testing An automated evaluation of the website was done using the site sort tool. Browser Internet Explorer v.6 Internet Explorer v.7 Internet Explorer v.8 Critical Issues none none none Major Issues none none none Minor Issues none none none Table 2: Site Compatibility with Different Versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer Browser Firefox v.2.0 Firefox v.3.0 Firefox v.3.6 Critical Issues none none none Major Issues none none none Minor Issues none none none Table 3: Site Compatibility with different versions of the Mozilla Firefox browser Browser Safari v.4.0 Opera v.10.0 Chrome v.4.0 Critical Issues none none none Major Issues none none none Minor Issues none none none Table 4: Site compatibility with the current versions of the Safari, Opera and Google Chrome Browsers W3C HTML/XHTML Validation - All pages valid. W3C CSS Validation - All pages valid. W3C Style Guide - No issues found. W3C Deprecated Features - No issues found. 8.2.2 Manual Website Audit 8.2.2.1 - Usability The website is, on the whole well designed with ease of access to the product pages, however the product pages are lacking in detail, and there exist a number of broken internal links and a few unfinished pages. The following are some of the broken links and other problematic issues on the website: The ‘Contact us’ Link: The ‘Can't find it? Contact us direct!’ link on the product pages links to open directory http://www.umg.com.sa/contact/ instead of linking to http://www.umg.com.sa/index.asp?pg=contact as the link in the header bar does. The ‘Floor Standing’ (air conditioners) Link: The link for floor standing air conditioners http://www.umg.com.sa/index.asp?pg=products&grp=34 in the left sidebar points to an error page saying ‘Sorry, nothing was found.’ If UMG does not offer any floor standing air conditioners this link should be removed, especially given the prominent position of this link. The ‘Camcorder’ (TV, video and audio) Link: The link for camcorders http://www.umg.com.sa/index.asp?pg=products&grp=48 similarly links to an error page saying ‘Sorry, nothing was found.’ This link too should be removed until UMG is offering camcorders for sale on the website The ‘Audio System’ (TV, video and audio) Link: The link for Audio Systems http://www.umg.com.sa/index.asp?pg=products&grp=54 suffers from the same problem as the previous two links. This link should also be removed until there are audio systems for sale on the website. The ‘Refrigerator’ Link: http://www.umg.com.sa/index.asp?pg=products&grp=38 similarly has no content in it. The ‘Gas Range’ Link: http://www.umg.com.sa/index.asp?pg=products&grp=59 similarly has no content in it. The ‘More’ Link on the Digital Audio Player Page: Instead of linking to more digital audio systems, the ‘More’ link http://www.umg.com.sa/index.asp?pg=products&grp=56 points toward http://www.umg.com.sa/products/. The ‘News’ Page: The news page has a link to an old issue of UMG’s monthly magazine from February 2007, this is a dead link since the actual magazine is not there. Unfinished ‘Support’ page: The ‘Support’ page still has text in it from the template used in site construction: "Enter text and HTML tags here." The ‘Links’ Page: The ‘Links’ page similarly has ‘Enter text and HTML tags here.’ on it. The ‘Offer. samsung-sa.com’ Link: There is a prominent flash animation link to this side on the right sidebar. The linked website samsung-sa.com is not a legitimate site but redirects to a cyber squatter. The ‘Samsung.com’ Link: The link to http://www.samsung.com/ae/ on the right causes the page to open in a new window with restricted controls. This is a potential source of annoyance to users who would expect to browse to the website in their current window when they click on the advertisement. The ‘Free Delivery’ ad: This ad on the lower right hand corner of the page does not link to anything, which is likely to be a source of annoyance to users. 8.2.2.2 - Look and Feel The look and feel of the website is consistent with that of a modern business organization; however the steel blue colouring has perhaps been a little overdone, giving the site a certain ‘cold’ air. A little more splash of bright colours may improve the look of the website. The site has a mature and professionally designed look. 8.2.2.3 - Aesthetics The UMG website is aesthetically pleasing, the fonts used are a bit blocky but readable and go well with the overall design; the graphics are sparingly used and well integrated into the overall look of the website. 8.2.2.4 - Updates Some sections of the website appear to not have been updated in a few years. Since the news section is non-essential to the main purpose of the website, which is to sell products, the designers have the choice of updating the section or removing it and all references to it from the website. 9 - Target Audience 9.1 - Demographic Factors Income: SR 4K+ Target Audience: Retail Stores, Distributers and Citizens Gender: Male and Female Age: 15+ Area: Saudi Arabia 9.2 - Geographic Factors The geographic target for UMG is Saudi Arabia 9.3 - Behavioural factors The products and services offered by UMG are those used by every household nowadays. A lot of the business conducted by UMG is with retail stores and smaller distributers that buy products in bulk from UMG. Among individual buyers four main trends can be seen: Those who are starting a family: People about to get married purchase household appliances for their new family homes. Those who are embarking on a new career; graduates fresh out of college working at their first jobs etc. Connoisseurs of electronic products: These are people with a lot of disposable wealth who like to possess the latest technologies and products. Students: Many affluent students purchase televisions, DVD players and other entertainment devices for their personal use. 10 - Customer Analysis 10.1 - Customer Survey A survey was conducted to ascertain more facts about the UMG’s customers and their online habits. A copy of the survey questionnaire is available in Appendix A. The survey was designed to gain more insight about the target audience, to know what age group they belong to, know how much influence the internet has on what they purchase, find out how important the internet is to these customers spent on the internet and on what sites. In this survey we also attempted to find the customers’ purchasing habits and find out if they visited the UMG website and their impression of it. 10.2 - General Findings from the Survey 10.2.1 - Age Group of UMG Customers Nearly 30% of UMG customers reported being 28-35 years old. Nearly the same number of people reported being over 35. 23-27 year olds accounted for about 15% of the customers while the rest were nearly equally divided between 15-17 year olds and 18-22 year olds. 10.2.2 - Source of First Knowledge about UMG According to the majority of the respondents, a friend recommended UMG to them. The next biggest source of knowledge about UMG was newspaper advertisements. A few people learned about UMG through flyers, brochures and other promotional materials. None of the respondents learned about UMG through social networking sites. 10.2.3 - Importance of the Internet to the Target Audience According to our findings, the internet is quite important to UMG’s customers. A large percentage of them use the internet regularly, both at home and at their workplace. The total amount of time on the internet spent by the customers every day varies from less than one hour to four hours a day. This shows that having a website is quite important for a business organization in Saudi Arabia. 10.2.4 - The Use of Social Media According to our findings the use of social media websites is a common trend among the UMG customers. Nearly 40% of the respondents reported that they check their Facebook accounts more than twice a day. This shows the importance of reaching out to customers through Facebook. Around 5% of the respondents reported checking twitter once or twice a day. 10.2.5 - Method of Connecting to the Internet Over 90% of the respondents accessed the internet through their home computers. Nearly 10% connected to the internet through their mobile devices as well. Around 5% used internet cafes to access the internet. 10.2.6 - Online Research before Buying Products Over 40% of the respondents turn to the internet to research products before making a major purchase. 10.2.7 - Search Engine Used Around 50% of the respondents, who reported conducting internet based research before purchase, conducted their research using the Google search engine. Around 30% of the respondents reported using Yahoo to conduct their research. The rest used various other search engines such as Microsoft’s ‘Bing’ in order to conduct their searches. 10.2.8 – Visits to the UMG Website Around 30% of the respondents reported visiting the UMG site before making their purchase 10.2.9 - View of the UMG Website Around 60% of the respondents were satisfied with the UMG website. The rest reported that they did not find what they were looking for at the UMG website. An important thing to note regarding this finding is the fact that the customers visited the UMG website but were still not willing to buy directly from the website instead of visiting a UMG store. 11- Competitor Research In this section we aim to offer a brief SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the UMG website and that of its main competitors as a method of quick comparison between the UMG website and the website of UMG’s competitors. 11.1 - SWOT Analysis of the UMG Website URL: http://www.umg.com.sa/ 11.1.1 - Strengths The website is easy to use and well-focused toward the selling of products. It is aesthetically pleasing and well designed. 11.1.2 - Weaknesses The website is wholly in English and there is no option for viewing the website in Arabic. The site contains some dead links, unfinished pages and sections that have not been updated for years. There is not a lot of detail on the products on the product pages and only a very brief description of the products and their various functions has been given. 11.1.3 - Opportunities Since most of the Saudi internet population visits Arabic language sites rather than English only sites, adding an Arabic section to the website is likely to increase sales. The information given for each product can be improved by incorporating the key parts of the detailed product description on the manufacturer’s website into its description on the UMG website. Adding a gallery of a few high quality pictures of the product along with each product description may increase customer understanding and desire for the product and lead to increased sales. 11.1.4 - Threats The biggest threat faced by the UMG website is from its competitors in the market. The UMG website has a number of competitors. Another threat faced by the website is from hackers. A number of prominent Saudi websites have successfully been hacked in the recent past; including the website for Riyad Bank that was hacked using DNS update in June. In order to prevent such hacking it is necessary to obtain a reliable host and install strong protections of all the computers which are used to make administrative level access to the UMG website. 11.2 - SWOT Analysis of the Zagzoog Website URL: http://www.zagzoog.com/ 11.2.1 - Strengths The website is available in Arabic as well as English. The website is aesthetically pleasing with a slick flash animation in the header. There are no incomplete pages or dead links. 11.2.2 - Weaknesses The website lacks usability. There is no e-commerce capability on the website. In order to reach the product pages users have to skim through multiple pages making 4-clicks or more. The products are categorized according to brand name rather than through function. This is not helpful, because the brand of the product is secondary to its function in a customer’s mind. It is unlikely that people would come to the website with the intention of buying a ‘Chigo’ product or a ‘Glem Gas’ product rather than an air-conditioner or a cooking range. Clicking on a link for a specific product often causes a new window with restricted controls to open which contains a large image of the product and minimal information. The usefulness of this feature is questionable. The website lacks focus, it opens with a flash intro which the user has to watch or manually skip through. There are a whole lot of prominent sections of the website completely unrelated to the selling of products and services, such as the company profile and the biography of Sheikh Zagzoog. The constantly running flash animation in the header may become tiring to the user after a while, in addition it may falsely appear to be interactive to the user, leading to frustration when clicking on it or moving the mouse over it has no effect. 11.2.3 - Opportunities Zagzoog can add to their business by adding e-commerce capability to their website. Zagzoog can increase functionality by adding further documentation regarding the products they offer on the website. 11.2.4 - Threats The Zagzoog website faces competition from the websites of other companies offering major home appliances. Since the website is not an e-commerce website, the possible damage caused by hackers is considerably reduced, though still existent. 11.3 - SWOT Analysis of the MECL Website URL: http://mecl.com.sa/ 11.3.1 - Strengths The MECL website is a beautiful and highly animated website with great graphical content. 11.3.2 - Weaknesses The website is severely lacking in content. It has no e-commerce capability. The site does not even have information on the products sold by MECL, instead it links users to the product pages on the Sony Middle East and Africa website. The site lacks in usability. The high amount of graphical content slows the site down. The large number of menus and images slides may confuse novice users. The site has been designed more as a contact point for MECL and a repository of MECL contact numbers, addresses and latest press releases than as an e-business. 11.3.3 - Opportunities MECL can obtain another point of sale for their products by adding e-commerce support to their website. A low graphics version of the site with basic text-menu based functionality would not only be a help to novice users but also to users with slow internet connections. 11.3.4 - Threats The MECL is closely identified with Sony in Saudi Arabia and is the sole distributer of Sony products, threats to the business could come in the form of an end to their monopoly on the distribution of Sony products. Since the website mainly contains contact information and links to product details on another website, a competing website could offer all this information without violating any copyright laws. 11.4 - SWOT Analysis of the LG Website URL: http://www.lg.com/ae/index.jsp 11.4.1 - Strengths The website is well designed with easy access to each product and slick graphics. The website is geared toward providing information about LG products and it contains detailed information about each of LG’s products. The website has both an Arabic language and an English language section 11.4.2 - Weaknesses The website is graphics heavy and all the different graphic menus may result in confusion for the novice users. The website does not have e-commerce capability; it only provides contact information to stores in each country that carry LG products. 11.4.3 - Opportunities LG could cut out the middle men and offer direct sales of its products through the website. Adding a text based, low graphics version of the site may be helpful to novice users as well as those with slow connections. 11.4.4 - Threats The LG website faces threats from electronic product review websites which contain reviews and comparisons of LG products with those of its competitors. 12- E-Marketing Campaign An e-Marketing campaign has been designed for the UMG website. The main tasks and associated costs of the campaign have been listed in Appendix B. The implementation timelines are presented in Appendix C. 12.1 - SEO Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the practice of improving a website’s standing in search results through the use of formatting, placement of keywords and link building etc. The UMG website should be revaluated with a view to improve its search rankings. Building links to the website on other legitimate websites and increased use of frequently searched for key-words in the text content of the website are some of the ways in which the search rankings of the UMG website can be improved on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. While building links to the website is a beneficial activity which may result in increase in the profile of the company in search rankings, it is necessary to abstain from such unethical practices such as link spamming on websites, blogs and forums. Such activities are not looked at kindly by internet users and often result in the generation of a lot of bad publicity regarding the individuals and organizations that engage in them. Internet marketers should concentrate their efforts on such legitimate link building activities such as link exchanges with other websites dealing with consumer electronics, household appliances or the Saudi business sector etc. 12.2 – Advertising A Google Adwords account will be setup and the company will advertise their site on other websites and on search engine results. In addition a Microsoft advertising account will be set up to display banner ads on Saudi user’s hotmail accounts. Ads will be placed in major Saudi newspapers highlighting the launch of the refurbished UMG website and directing readers to check it out. The advertising campaign will continue from the end of August to November. 12.3 - Facebook Fan Page A new Facebook fan page will be created for UMG. Facebook fan pages will enable the company to learn more about their customers and receive feedback in an easy manner. 12.4 - E-Newsletter The UMG newsletter will be issued every month and posted on the website. 13- Recommendations and Conclusion The UMG website is, on the whole a well designed and adequate internet outlet for UMG’s products. It generally gives out a good impression of UMG as a company however some of the bugs, errors and unfinished areas of the website need to be removed to give the website a more polished and professional look. In light of the statistics about Saudi internet use, it is imperative that an Arabic section be added to the website; in fact it would probably be better to have Arabic as the default language of the website i.e. when a user browses to the website they should see the Arabic version of the website and the English version should be offered as an option. Great attention should be paid toward securing the website from hackers and other threats. This is essential in order to maintain people’s confidence in the e-commerce system in place at the UMG website. It is imperative that the staff at UMG is taught never to release any information about a UMG customer to a third party without authorization 14 - References Arab Advisors Group. (2008, January 07). Saudi Arabia’s Internet users spent over US$ 3.28 billion in B2C e-commerce during 2007. Retrieved August 04, 2010, from Saudi Gazette: http://www.arabadvisors.com/Pressers/presser-070108.htm Bloch, M., Pigneur, Y., & Sagev, A. (1996). On the Road of Electronic Commerce - a Business Value Framework, Gaining Competitive Advantage and Some Research Issues. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on EDI-IOS (pp. 446-460). Bled, Slovenia: National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE). bp.com. (2010, August 04). Gulf of Mexico Response. Retrieved August 04, 2010, from bp.com: http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=40&contentId=7061813 Communications and Information Technlogy Commision. (2008). Internet Usage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: Communications and Information Technlogy Commision. CITC. (2008). Internet Usage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: Communications and Information Technology Commission. Easttomm, C., & Taylor, J. (2010). Computer Crime, Investigation and the Law. Florence, KY: Cengage Learning. Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Gurley, J. W. (1998, January 11). Internet investors beware. Fortune , pp. 152-154. Internet.gov.sa. (2010, July 26). Most Visited Sites in Saudi Arabia. Retrieved July 26, 2010, from Internet.gov.sa: http://www.internet.gov.sa/resources/statistics/most-visited-sites-in-saudi-arabia Langton, L., & Baum, K. (2010). Identity Theft Reported by Households, 2007 Statistical Tables. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Lee, J. K. (2003). Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce. In H. Bidgoli (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Systems (Vol. I, pp. 81-97). Bakersfield, California: Elsevier Science & Technology. Norlin, E. (2001). Usability testing for library Web sites : a hands-on guide. Chicago: American Library Association. Oz, E. (2008). Management Information Systems. Florence, KY: Cengage Learning. Papachristos, E., & Avouris, N. (2009). The Subjective and Objective Nature of Website Aesthetic Impressions. In T. Gross, J. Gulliksen, P. Kotze, L. Oestreicher, P. Palanque, R. O. Prates, et al. (Eds.), Human-Computer Interaction - INTERACT 2009 (pp. 119-122). New York: Springer. Rubin, J. (1994). Handbook of Usability Testing. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Sait, S. M., Ali, S. H., Al-Tawil, K. M., & Sanaullah, S. (2002). Trends in Internet Usage & its Social Effects in Saudi Arabia. Dhahran: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Tarafdar, M., & Vaidya, S. (2003). Adoption of E-Commerce by Organizations: Integrated Perspectives on the Strategic and Environmental Imperatives in Developing Countries. Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) (pp. 1068-1079). Tampa: Association for Information Systems. 15 - List of Figures Table 1: Percentage of Websites visited by Saudi internet users which have Arabic content 16 Table 2: Site Compatibility with Different Versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer 29 Table 3: Site Compatibility with different versions of the Mozilla Firefox browser 30 Table 4: Site compatibility with the current versions of the Safari, Opera and Google Chrome Browsers 30 Table 5: Summarized Budget for E-Marketing 37 Table 5: Summarized Budget for E-Marketing 37 Figure 1: E-Marketing Project Implementation Timeline 37 16 - Appendices 16.1 – Appendix A: Survey Questionnaire Dear Sir, This survey is being carried out as a part of a research for my internship at United Matbouli Group. The objective of the research is to determine the internet usage habits and website preferences of UMG customers. Disclaimer: The survey questionnaire is only carried for academic purposes. No private information shall be disclosed at any stage of report writing. Respondents have the right to withdraw their responses at any time. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the researcher. His contact details are provided below: INTERNEE NAME MAIL TEL No 1 - What age group are you in? a. 15-17 b. 18-22 c. 23-27 d. 28-35 e. 36 or older 2) Where did you first hear about UMG? a. Friends b. Social networking sites (i.e., Facebook) c. Newspaper advertisements d. Flyers, Brochures etc. e. Shop f. Other 3) How much time do you spend on the internet in a day? a. 0-2 hours a day b. 3-5 hours a day c. 6-9 hours a day d. 10 or more hours a day 4) How often do you visit Facebook? a. 0 times a day b. 1-2 times a day c. 3-5 times a day d. 6 times or more a day 5) How do you access the internet? a. Home computer or laptop b. Public internet access c. Mobile device d. All of the above 6) Do you conduct research on the internet when making any major purchases? a. Never b. Sometimes c. Most of the time d. Always 7) What internet search engine do you use when conducting research on a product you are interested in buying? a. Yahoo b. Google c. Bing d. Other ______ 8) Did you visit the UMG website before making a purchase from UMG? a. Yes b. No 9) Did you find what you wanted to know on the UMG website? a. Yes b. No Thank you for your time and cooperation. 16.2 – Appendix B: E-Marketing Budget Appropriations We start with a budget of $4000 of which around $3500 is to be spent on the E-Marketing campaign and $500 for redesign. These estimates are based on current advertising rates and may not match actual rates when the E-marketing campaign is launched. Advertising Service Cost Google PPC $1500 Microsoft Banner Ad $500 Al-Madinah Newspaper $120 Aukad Newspaper $600 Al-Eqtisadiah Newspaper $210 Al-Yaum Newspaper $300 Total $3230 Table 5 – Summarized Budget for E-Marketing 16.3 – Appendix C: E-Marketing Project Implementation Timeline The website is to be completed toward the end of August and around that time the e-marketing campaign will be launched as well. Work on the e-newsletter will commence in September and the first e-newsletter will be launched in the beginning of October and work on the November issue will begin immediately. Update of the website to reflect current news, product availability and current product prices will be done each week starting from mid August. Figure 1: Implementation Timeline Read More