Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Test 2: CHAPTER 5, 6



Q1: Define "direct materials" and "indirect materials". List reasons for a large company having two separate departments to manage the purchasing of each.


Q2: In about 200 words, describe the reasons a buyer might have for wanting to participate in an industry consortium marketplace instead of setting up its own private company marketplace.



Q3: Which industries were the first to establish standard RFID technology? In about 100 words, state why, in your opinion, these industries were more interested in RFID tag technology than other industries.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Test 1: Chapter 1 - 4

Due Date: 16th May 2012 (Wednesday)

Question 1:
Select a retail store with which you are familiar that has a Web site on which it sells products or services similar to those it sells in its physical retail stores.
Explore the Web site and examine it carefully for features that indicate the level of services it provides. Using your experience in the physical store and review of the Web site, write a 200 word evaluation of the company's touch point consistency.

Question 2:
What were the main forces that led to the commercialization of the Internet? Summarize your answer in about 100 words.

Question 3:
Describe two possible service-for-fee offerings that might become available to users of Internet-enabled wireless devices (such as iPad or mobile phones) in the near future. Write one paragraph for each service in which you outline the profit potential and risk of losses for each.


Question 4:
In two paragraphs, explain why a customer-centric Web site design is so important, yet is so difficult to accomplish.


Question 5:
Promoting products on the Web is different from using mass media promotion or personal contact. Assume that you want to explain these differences to a person who is planning to open a Web site that will sell fishing-rod. Write one paragraph about each approach (mass media, personal contact, the Web). In each paragraph, explain the advantages and disadvantages of the approach for the fishing rod Web business.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Quiz 2: HOME OFFICE FURNITURE ONLINE

Due Date: 7th May 2012 (Monday)




SAMPLE ANSWER (DO NOT COPY)

Task 1 – 5 Marks
You need to do some research to familiarize yourself with the subject area and to gain some ideas about how you can carry out the rest of the project. There are a number of e-commerce sites that sell home office furniture online. Use a maximum of 1 hour to review these resources. Bookmark the relevant sites and make notes of information that you can use in your assignment.

INTRODUCTION

In this task, a simple research to get an idea related to e-commerce business is conducted. This process is carried out by visiting several e-commerce sites that sell home office furniture online. All relevant sites will be bookmarked and brief notes of information on how all the sites are being organized will be presented. The notes will be used to get an idea on how to carry out the rest of this project. The followings are the output of this research.

WEBSITES THAT SELL HOME OFFICE FURNITURE ONLINE


The goal of this website is to sell home office furniture, chairs and computer desks. The products that they are selling are organized into categories such as home office, office sets and desktop accessories. This strategy shows that the business is aiming for customers who are looking for a specific home office furniture product. This information can be used as reference in Task 3 later for the marketing strategy.

The website also provides discounts, free shipping and additional features of their product such as promotions, price range, color/finish and material. This strategy shows that the business is aiming to attract customer in purchasing their product. This information can be used as reference in Task 3 later for acquiring customer.

The website also contains sign up property for customer to receive special offers on the business products via e-mail. This strategy shows that the business is keen to retain their customer. This information can be used as reference in Task 3 later for retaining customer.



The goal of this website is to sell variety of office supplies. The home office furniture specifically, is categorized with a brand name such as Sauder Office Port Collection and Bush Bennington Collection. This strategy shows that the business is aiming to ensure customer’s perception towards the product that they are selling is good. This information can be used as reference in Task 4 later for the brand management.

The website also contains return policy to clarify the circumstances in which returns can be made and the resultant actions. This strategy shows that the business is committed in achieving customer’s satisfaction on their product. This information can be used as reference in Task 7 later for the return policy.

(continue your answer here)

CONCLUSION

In this task, several e-commerce sites that sell home office furniture online has been bookmarked; and brief notes of information on how all the sites are being organized has been presented. From this task I managed to get a big idea on how e-commerce business is conducted. Consequently, I’m ready to make report on an e-commerce business; and answer the remaining task in this assignment.

REFERENCES

ivgStores, LLC. 2012: Home Office Furniture, Chairs & Computer Desks.

OMX Inc. 2012: Office Supplies, Office Furniture & Office Technology.
http://www.officemax.com/office-furniture/home-small-office-furniture-collections, [accessed on 2/4/2012]