Business Website Analysis

The objective of this assignment is to increase knowledge about how businesses are leveraging the
Internet to conduct business.  You will be using public web sites
to do the research, the focus will be on marketing, sales, and customer
service transactions with end-consumers (B2C).

1. 
Choose an industry of interest where
several companies have developed online e-business strategies with public B2C
web sites. This industry might include traditional companies operating as
bricks-and-clicks firms, as well as dot-com companies.

2.  After you have looked at several
public web sites for companies in this industry, select 3 or 4 companies
you think will provide an interesting comparison about how companies are
leveraging the Internet today. (Hint: you might want to include one company with
a website you think is significantly inferior to at least one other company’s
site.)

3. 
Analyze each of the websites in
terms of the overall “look-and-feel” of the site from the perspective of the
targeted consumer, as well as how well each web site has addressed the 7Cs in
the model developed by Rayport and Jaworski (described at the end of Chapter 7
in the textbook. See the attachment: Managing Information Technology-7th Edition.pdf)

4. 
Write up your findings, including
the following content:

• Introduce the industry you selected
  and the web sites you selected.  Include the reasons why you chose this
  industry and these particular companies, and include the URL for each site.
• Describe and also compare the
  ways that these companies’ web sites address the 7Cs and any other
  characteristics you wish to emphasize. For example:

1. How easy was it to identify the content or services
   available?
2. How easy was it to navigate between pages?
3. Did the site download easily? 
4. Was the use of graphics and animation appropriate for the
   target audience?
5. Were the linking capabilities of the Web exploited?
6. Was there a sense of “community”?
7. Was a privacy policy available and easy to find?

• Based on your analyses, provide some
  recommendations for the company whose web site you considered to be the
  weakest. Be sure your ideas are appropriate for the industry you selected, and
  take into account whether companies in this industry traditionally have sold
  directly to end-consumers or not and using what channels (e.g., catalog,
  physical store, or via a distributor).

5. 
Use outside resources to provide
current statistics and forecasts for the industry you selected, as well as any
information about B2B applications that the companies may be using. Be sure to
provide full citations to all third-party sources, including a “last date
accessed” for all references to a URL.

Your paper should be 3-4 pages in
length, well-written, and in conformity with APA formatting.