Introduction
E-commerce is the purchasing of merchandises and services over the Internet. This is an country that is deriving popularity highly fast and is one that has enormous potency. My undertaking looks at e-commerce from my personal point of view or a client’s point of view. I will fundamentally be looking at how I, being the client, position e-commerce and how I use it to my benefit.
In this undertaking I will speak about some general standards that I use to measure merchandises when I purchase so. Then I will review web sites of 2 ware groups, which are computing machines and music Cadmium? s, based on that standards. After looking at the pros and cons of these sites I will reason as to how I evaluate the whole e-commerce procedure and what I think is the best manner to utilize the web sites when I buy the merchandises.
Purchase CRITERIA
Before I purchase any merchandise, irrespective of how I make the purchase, I consider assorted facets of the purchase and utilize these to reason whether the dealing is deserving my while. I will now sketch these standards in order of precedence that I place on each.
The really first facet of a purchase and the 1 that I consider as being the most of import is that monetary value of the merchandise. I am a pupil who does non gain much and finally everything I can purchase is restrained by my available budget. This means that I have to look at the cost of what I am purchasing and see whether I can afford the merchandise, maintaining in head all other necessary outgos that I have to do.
The 2nd most of import standard is the quality of the merchandise itself. I define quality as fittingness or rightness for usage. I should be able to utilize the good for the intent that I buy it for. After all, what good is a merchandise that can non even function its intended application? Quality doesn? t needfully mean that a good must last long. If I buy a merchandise and have used it for what I needed so I don? T truly care if it becomes unserviceable after that.
The following most of import facet of a purchase dealing, that I consider, is assortment. The more merchandises that are available in a merchandise line the more I can compare between different merchandises and see what is best for me. If I can non happen assortment so I will hold to make a batch of seeking to happen what I need and that will utilize up more of my cherished clip. Lower assortment may besides do me to purchase a merchandise that wasn? t the best 1 for me as I may non be willing to pass the excess clip in traveling to some other p lacing looking for a wider choice of merchandises.
The 4th component of a purchase, which I look at, is convenience. This is fundamentally how easy I can obtain a merchandise. If I can purchase a good more handily so the whole buying dealing is non such a fuss and I don? Ts have to pass much clip on it either. Salvaging clip is really of import for me as I am a pupil and my surveies require a batch of clip.
The fifth and last factor, which I use to measure a purchase, is the quality of the after gross revenues service of the merchandise. This is of import because with certain merchandises, particularly expensive 1s like computing machines I may necessitate aid with utilizing the merchandise. The more the marketer helps me out with utilizing the merchandise, the more usage I can do of the merchandise and so I can acquire better value for the dollars I spend.
Evaluation OF WEB SITES
The two ware groups that I chose to look at were computing machines and music Cadmiums. First I ll go over the music Cadmium sites and so the computing machine sites
One web site for purchasing music Cadmiums online is the Best Buy site. You can purchase Cadmiums from their site any clip you want. The monetary value of the Cadmium’s here is about the same at the in shop monetary value. The quality and assortment of CD’s are besides the same. However, it is really convenient to merely order a Cadmium from the site instead so drive down to the shop and acquire it.
The Best Buy web site allows its users to listen to samples of the vocals in their Cadmiums. The site besides lists those Cadmiums which are presently the most popular. Drawbacks of the site include the fact that you have to pay with a recognition card as no other signifier of payment is accepted and you can non seek for Cadmiums by music type or genre. That is to state that you can non seek for all stone CDs available. This characteristic is available in most other music Cadmium sites.
One other music Cadmium site that I evaluated was the Amazon.com site. This is an highly good organized web site that sells a batch more than merely music Cadmiums. I was most impressed by this site and had a tough clip looking for the deficits of the site.
Among the legion advantages of the site were low monetary values and a big choice of Cadmiums. I found about every Cadmium I searched for on this site. The site besides gives reappraisals on each Cadmium and allows users to listen to samples of vocals on the CDs. One alone quality of this site was the fact that it could gift-wrap the Cadmium and sends it to whom of all time you would bespeak. The lone drawback that I could happen here was that some merchandises were non instantly available in stock list so their transportation times were longer.
The 3rd CD site I perused was Cdnow.com. This site was impressive every bit good. There are a batch of really utile links provided on this web page. It was besides really colourful and attention-getting. Newss about events happening in the music universe was besides available on the site.
The most impressive characteristic of this site was the fact that it allowed you to make your ain usage Cadmium. You could state it precisely what songs you wanted on your Cadmium and it would do it for you. This is an highly good characteristic, as it becomes really convenient for me to acquire what I want and in a more cost-efficient manner. I may so hold to purchase less Cadmiums to acquire all the vocals I like. The site besides allows me to seek Cadmiums by creative person, vocal, histrion, actress and film. International transportation is besides available. Drawbacks of the site included no listing of vocals within Cadmiums and the inability to listen to samples of the vocals in Cadmiums.
The following few web pages that I examined were the computing machine sites. These included sites of Compaq, Dell and IBM. All three of these companies are market leaders in the computing machine industry and are runing with enormous success.
The first company I considered was Compaq. They have a really good place page, which has some truly good links. Compaq is a really large trade name name so I was anticipating to happen high priced merchandises in their site but to my surprise I was able to happen computing machines that were rather monetary value competitory. The Brand name itself certifies that the computing machines were of highly high quality. A immense assortment of all kinds of computing machines are offered on this site. Almost all computing machines besides came with a lower limit of a annual guarantee of which three months were on site service. This meant good after gross revenues service excessively.
The Compaq site had a particular characteristic called the Comparator, which allowed a direct characteristic to have comparing of any two Compaq computing machines. The user of the site can input his or her geographical location and the site will besides place the closest retail mercantile establishment. Users can besides configure their ain Personal computers and order them online. The chief drawback with buying from this site was that the purchaser would hold to pay both transportation and revenue enhancement costs, which raises the entire cost to the client.
The following site was the Dell Computers Corp site. Another highly impressive site this was. Dell sells refurbished Personal computers at low monetary values. The company besides has a repute for high quality merchandises and is besides known for holding the best after gross revenues service in the industry. The site besides allows you to subscribe to a free monthly catalogue, which has all the information on the latest merchandises. There is a subdivision, which lets the user circuit, the site and high spots the sites chief characteristics doing the site a batch easier to utilize. The other chief advantage is that there is no revenue enhancement payable on the computing machines, which reduces their cost.
Merely because of its repute for high quality and service Dell demands a high monetary value for its merchandises. The other thing is that Dell merely sells Intel bit based computing machines so that besides reduces the assortment of computing machines. Dell besides merely sells through catalogue or online so clients can non travel to any retail mercantile establishment to look at the concluding merchandise before doing the purchase.
The last computing machine site I looked at was the IBM site. This site was a good one excessively but non every bit good as the old 1s. The thing I liked most about this site was the fact that it gives a practical and elaborate circuit of its merchandises online. It feels like holding an on-line salesman stating you everything about the merchandise.
The computing machines themselves were non excessively expensive or excessively inexpensive so the monetary values seem merely right. There was a big choice of merchandises. One other alone characteristic of the site is that it offers on-line certification of manuals and mentions of assorted merchandises. The site besides has a questionnaire for users so that it can utilize the replies to it to demo the user the ideal computing machine for him or her. This means good quality, as the merchandise is more likely to be appropriate for its intended usage.
The chief drawbacks were that both transportation and revenue enhancement charges must be paid raising the overall cost of the computing machine and merely recognition card payment is acceptable so you can non get off cheques.
Decision
After looking at the assorted web pages for the two ware groups I thought about how I would desire to utilize e-commerce so that I can maximise the value I obtain from my purchases. To come up with a concluding determination I had to see what benefits I get from purchasing goods straight from a shop.
The best portion of purchasing from a store is that I have the chance to see and touch the existent merchandise before I buy it so I know precisely what I? m acquiring. I can besides normally inquire a sales representative all the inquiries I need to about the merchandise so I may be better acquainted with the good. One other obvious advantage is that I don? Ts have to wait for the good and I can get down utilizing it the instant I purchase it.
There are besides many jobs involved with shopping in a shop, which are avoided by shopping online. I would hold to drive down to the shop and happen parking before I can even get down shopping. Once inside a shop I would trust that it has the assortment of merchandises that I am interested in, otherwise I would hold to travel someplace else. Web pages normally have a batch more assortment than shops because their merchandise lines have more deepness instead than breadth.
After sing all these factors I have come up with two ways of utilizing e-commerce for myself. The method I use mostly depends on the monetary value of the merchandise. If I am purchasing a comparatively low priced good such as a Cadmium so I would merely purchase it online merely because it is really convenient and I can afford to take the hit with the money of something goes incorrect.
However, if the merchandise is really expensive, so I may research the crucifix online but I would about decidedly want to travel to a store, inquire a batch of inquiries about it and really see it before I commit a immense sum of money to it. For illustration, if I were purchasing a computing machine I could research its assortment in a shop like Best Buy online. I could make all my research and so be good informed about the merchandises available in the shop so when I get at that place I? ll make a better determination as to which computing machine I want to purchase.
Self Assessment
I found this undertaking to be rather an interesting one, as I haven? T truly used the Internet a batch for my personal shopping. After making this undertaking I realized that it would be deserving my piece to purchase cheap points online as non merely can I afford to put on the line the loss of money if something goes incorrect, but I can besides salvage myself a batch of clip and problem.
I am besides rather certain that as clip goes by and more and more people start utilizing e-commerce so I will besides experience more comfy with shopping online and more and more of my purchases will be on-line. As it is, a batch of companies are offering e-commerce options on their web sites now. It is really convenient as the clients can shop anytime they want with the comfort of sitting at place.
The undertaking besides made me believe about what will go on to shopping promenades as retail mercantile establishments as a consequence of this turning e-commerce field. Will they be wiped out because it will merely be manner excessively convenient to shop online or will they stay because some people merely like the whole shopping experience and want to physically be able to see and touch the merchandises they buy. Lone clip will state.
Mentions
- Compaq Computers Corp. ( 1999 ) . ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.compaq.com ) [ 1999, November 28th ]
- Dell Computers Corp. ( 1999 ) . ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.dell.com ) [ 1999, November 28th ]
- IBM. ( 1999 ) . ( hypertext transfer protocol: //ibm.com ) [ 1999, November 28th ]
- Best Bargain. ( 1999 ) . ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.bestbuy.com ) [ 1999, November 28th ]
- CDNow. ( 1999 ) . ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cdnow.com ) [ 1999, November 28th ]
- Amazaon.com. ( 1999 ) . ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.amazon.com ) [ 1999, November 28th ]
