Week 2
Posted by: suziebaxter on: October 3, 2008
Q1. Examine the web site that you have chosen. Please provide a short description of the web site in everyday language. Please insert a screen shot of the web site into your answer.
The website I have chosen is www.aeropostale.com
The website also allows visitors to create an account to shop online with the website, find information on customer services, track an order and locate stores that Aeropostale has around the USA. They also include a search facility to enable users to view products using descriptions or key words or numbers.
Q.2 Use some search engines or industry sources to carry out desk research to find out specific quantitative information about the size of the business behind the web site. Try to determine figures for turnover, number of employees, and profit for specific (recent) years. Please do so without directly contacting the company.
The following information came from this website- http://www.advfn.com/quote_Aeropostale_NYSE_ARO.html
This shows the Aeropostale Historical Stock Chart which highlights the increase in shares bought in 2008.
http://library.corporateir.net/library/13/131/131103/items/294071/ARO_2007_AR.pdf- From this website I was able to view the annual report for Aeropostale for 2007. This shows the profit they made in 2007 to be $129.2million and a total of $266.7million in common stock. By the end of 2007 Aeropostale had opened 76 new stores in USA and 12 in Canada.
These graphs show the sales growth, sale per square foot, earnings per share and the stores count. This shows the increase in all these aspects for the business. For me this highlights success in all departments for Aeropostale.
From February 2007, Aeropostale employed 2,696 full time and 8,060 part time employees. They employed 333 of their employess at their corporate offices and 10,423 at their store locations.
Q.3 Take some time to research the business behind your site. Is the web the only channel to market for this business? If so, please describe your understanding of how this business came about. If the web is not the only channel, please describe the other channels in detail. Use Channel Chain Maps if possible. Try to find out how much business is won by each channel.
