E-Commerce Web Site Analysis

BIS/375

E-Commerce Website Analysis

This paper provides information regarding analyzing Websites as they relate to supply chain management. Included in this paper is information regarding Wal-Mart, Famous Footwear, Amazon, and Best Buy. A history of the organizations, the market in which it operates the role of government regulations, and any issues or opportunities that it faces is provided. Other areas of analysis include how user-friendly, download speed, navigability, content quality, and aesthetics.

Wal-Mart

Sam Walton faced stiff competition when he opened the first Walton’s five and 10 retail store in Bentonville, Arkansas, on May 9, 1950. In 1962, Sam, and his wife invested 95% of the funds needed to open the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas. By the end of the 1960s, Walton owned and operated more than 25 stores Wal-Mart stores in at least three Midwest states (Wal-Mart, 2011). Thus was born the modern discount retailing industry. Walton incorporated Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated in 1969 then took Wal-Mart public in 1972 trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Although discount retailing did not begin in 1962, stores such Target and K-Mart opening in 1962 ushered in the discount retail industry as known today. The same three players are still operating today, and the market they do business in thrives even more than before. More discount retailers operating in the United States today than at any point in time but none compete on the same level globally as Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Target Stores (About, 2011). Wal-Mart is currently the world’s largest retailer with nearly 9200 stores and club locations in 15 countries, and employs more than 2.1 million associates (Wal-Mart, 2011).

Different government agencies have jurisdiction over Wal-Mart’s operations. Because Wal-Mart operates pharmacies, sells groceries and an assortment of products and services, Wal-Mart must understand and operate under the various regulations that protect consumers and other businesses alike. There can be no monopolistic behaviors that may bring about anti-trust questions. There have been matters of labor-relations for which Wal-Mart has been sued. The Food and Drug administration would have rules in place to govern the pharmacies and grocery operations. Because of the wide variety of products and services offered at a given Wal-Mart store, Wal-Mart, Inc. must meet several regulation standards.

With so many stores in the various locations, Wal-Mart still has plenty of growth opportunities. Introducing its own brand as competition to national brands has increased the organization’s private label portfolio, and has garnered even more customer loyalty. The Wal-Mart brand offers [customers] quality goods at prices almost 40% cheaper than the national competitors (Wal-Mart, 2011). Wal-Mart also offers most of its inventory over the Internet in its e-business operations. This vehicle drives additional revenue, and aids in opening more brick and mortar stores the chain needs to continue its growth.

Famous Footwear

Famous Footwear is a business that sells shoes, boot, slippers, and other accessories for the foot at lower prices than found at other retail stores or company. Sketchers, Reebok, Dr. Scholl’s, Nikes, and Timberland are brands featured in this business. Famous Footwear has stores in malls, free standing and in outlet settings but purchases can be done over the Internet on secure sites.

Famous Footwear has entered the world of e-commerce beautifully to supply the world with footwear for a reasonable price. The Famous Footwear Website is very user friendly. Entering the Website on the home page the first thing the user notices is sales or special features happening at Famous Footwear plus the top name brands of footwear the customer can shop for.

The navigability of the Famous Footwear Website is considerably easy for any user visiting this site. A feature found on this Website is a shoe finder where the customer can use the drop down menu to enter the gender, size, and colors click on find my shoe button so the customer can find the shoe wanted without spending a large amount of time. This feature allows a user to find the shoes wanted but also allows the user to explore what other products are available.

The content quality of this Website is on the upper end of the content scale. The content of this Website ranges from the brands of shoes carried by Famous Footwear and the prices of the shoes plus any reviews that were available on several shoes. The Website also includes where to find stores, company policies, customer service areas, reward programs, and information about the company.

Amazon.Com

Amazon.com was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and is recognized as a Fortune 500 e-commerce company and the leader in e-commerce companies. Amazon initially marketed itself as the first online book retailer. Because of its online retail business the company was not faced with physical boundaries like a brick and mortar retail store. Therefore, the company could offer more titles than any of its competition at the time. Establishing itself as the leading online book retailer Amazon has expanded into many other retail markets including clothing, gourmet food, watches, jewelry, baby products and apparel, beauty products, sporting goods, music CD’s, DVD’s, MP3 music downloads, home appliances and electronics (Webhosting report, 2010). In addition Amazon has also spun off smaller business ventures such as Pinzon that sells household items such as clothes and cosmetics (Webhosting report, 2010). Amazon has also established a small publishing firm that publishes a limited number of titles mostly marketing short stories.

Amazon has also created new opportunities for itself beyond the e-commerce retailer that most people are familiar with. Amazon is also a strategic business partners for other large-scale retail companies such as Target and Eddie Bauer. With these combined efforts as a retailer and a strategic supply chain business partner Eddie Bauer continues to grow far beyond its rival competition. In comparison to Wal-Mart, another leading retailer, Amazon ships almost 10 million packages per year compared to Wal-Marts 500,000 packages per year (Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania, 2009). To attract and retain customers Amazon uses a unique blend marketing tactics including easy and intuitive site navigation, a vast selection of products and services, streamlined online purchasing processes and an extensive selection of shipping alternatives to meet each customer’s needs.

Best Buy

Best Buy is a business store that sells all electronics for the household or business or educational. Best Buy not only offers TV’s but also offers computers, video games, cameras, appliances, phones, music. Best Buy is about 19% of the market in the United States; it also operates in Mexico, Canada, China, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Best Buy is also known for Geek Squad for customer’s that need help setting up his or her electronics. Not to forget its rewards zone where one can accumulate points and use them to the best of the customer’s needs. We can say that Best Buy became the primary electronic store online with an easy and clear web page that anyone can browse through and choose from whatever product they need. Best Buy also offers many locations feature in-store pickup, which can be arranged through the company’s Website. It is a convenient and efficient system that allows consumers to be satisfied with the products and ensure more to come, as in the contrary with Wal-Mart many occasions their web page had offer the same service and when they go to pick up their product is not on stock. This is an example of the store not updating its webpage accurately and causing for consumers having to go through this type of situations causes consumers not to be happy. “In 2011, during the three-month period ended February 26, Best Buy saw its revenue and profits slide, but generated a profit of $651 million on revenue of $16.26 billion. In comparison to the same period in 2010, it tallied $16.55 billion in revenue and a $779 million profit.”

Conclusion

Organizations such as Wal-Mart, Famous Footwear, Amazon.com, and Best Buy are all associated with supply chain management. Each organization has its own history and the market in which it operates. Government regulations are associated with each organization and issues and opportunities play an important role in the success and failures within the organization. Various factures such as competition, location, and customer satisfaction is important for each organization. Providing success through e-commerce is necessary. Therefore, maintaining a customer friendly Website is necessary for successfully navigating in the Internet environment.

References

About.com. (2011). 2010 World’s Largest Discount Store Chains – Complete List Biggest Discounters. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://retailindustry.about.com/od/famousretailers/a/2010-Worlds-Largest-Discount-Store-Chains-Complete-List-Biggest-Discounters.htm

Best Buy, http://www.bestbuy.com/cp/About-Best buy.com

Best Buy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Buy

Wal-Mart.(2011). History of Wal-Mart. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/297.aspx

Wal-mart, http://www.walmart.com/cp/About-Walmart.com

Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania. (2009). Fit for the Holidays: Amazon Is Shaping Up and Shipping Out. Retrieved from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2382

Webhosting report. (2010). The history of Amazon. Retrieved from http://www.webhostingreport.com/learn/amazon.html

Famous Footwear – www.famousfootwear.com