Q.4 Explore the Internet for information on your site the site, especially for data that helps to place your site in context; for example, competitors, industry averages, growth rates for some sites.

 

The website I have chosen has proved popular among viewers in various countries although is ranked at 4,232 compared to it competitor, Abercrombie who was rated at 2,879. This is a significant difference and may be caused due to Abercrombie being available to buy in more countries although there is no evidence of this.

The majority of users of Aeropostale come from USA with 84.7% coming from here, 4.9% from Mexico, 2.2% from Canada and 1.5% from Dominican Republic and the rest of the users from other countries in the world.

On average the daily viewings on average would be around 3,583 per day with recent hits for the website reaching 5,112 hits per day. This is a successful amount of views per day which would be highlighted within their sales figures. Aeropostale has a greater number of hits than its competitors Abercrombie who reach an average number of views of 3.036 viewers. Of the number of views reached Abercrombie have an average of 10 unique pages viewed within their website per day whilst Aeropostale has a weekly average of 12.2 per week. This shows Aeropostale is high above its main competitor in both views per site and page views per user.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

In order to purchase products from www.aeropostale.com users will have to follow the guidelines shown below.

 

Users will have to type the website address- www.aeropostale.com into the tool bar at the top of the page. After doing this they will be directed to the homepage of the website.

 

 

 

 

From here users are then given the option of where they want to go or view using the well laid out navigation bars. From this screen shot you can see there are various options available for users such as girls, guys, gift centre, sweaters, long sleeves, sale and various other aspects of the website they might find useful.

Using an example, users will have to follow the next steps in order to purchase a product.

 

Users will need to choose one of the options on the home page above. For this example I have chosen the girls section.

 

 

 

 

After choosing the girls navigation button users are automatically directed to the main girls page where they have more options of the types of clothing they want to choose.

 

Views then have to choose from one of the navigation bars above for the type of clothing they want and in this case I will choose Hoodies.

I can then choose any hoodies by clicking on the chosen on that I want. This will then direct users to a personal page which looks like this with their chosen garment where they can then choose colour, size, quantity, add to wish list or email to a friend. To purchase the hoodie selected users must click on the add to bag button after choosing their specific requirements for size, colour and quantity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The item is then sent to the online shopping bag where it is stored to allow users to view more products.

 

To then continue to purchase the product user must click on this icon to view their purchases which then allows them to view what they had bought. Users are then able to select various features of the shopping bag including removing or updating items, adding more items to their cart or continue to pay.

To ensure online safety when purchasing items users have two options to choose from who pay with.

 

 

 

 

Customers are then required to fill in information about themselves and their billing information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q6. New channels to market for e-business are increasingly being used. Such channels include mobile device access as well as digital television access. Consider and describe the potential future impact of ONE of these channels for your e-business from the perspective of the e-business. What strategic choices (if any) need to be made.

 

For the type of business Aeropostale is I feel they have adopted their market for business successfully through their shops and website which allows e-commerce. This has proved successful though I feel if needed, they could introduce digital television as a new channel to market e-business. Television is the most watched device with near every household owning a television set. This will make it viable for all users to access the Aeropostale shopping channel. I feel the introduction to this can prove either fully successful or a failure with no middle man. Shopping programs have been introduced before with channels such as QVC and Bid-TV although these are different as their range of products can change everyday but with Aeropostale they will not be able to maintain a full channel dedicated to their clothing and accessories. To solve this problem they could develop a program for their clothing and work along side other clothing companies to market their products together in slots on the TV. From this they should also include a purchasing facility to allow shoppers who may not have access to their website to purchase the products. This may become an advertising feature for the business and thereafter encourage customers to shop within their many stores or by using their online website.

Aeropostale will need to consider the cost of using television as a new channel to market. The cost may become more than the sales revenue coming into the business therefore the business will not gain profit on the channel. This may be rectified by customers viewing products using the TV then visiting stores or the website to purchase the product. The growth in the sales will determine whether or not this new form is a good aspect for the business. Aeropostale will also need to do research with customers to see where they found about the product and see if the TV channel is more of an advertising technique than buying facility.

Aeropostale will also need to find out about legal aspects involved in this type of market. In order too do this they will need to employ other members or staff to do research on the marketing channel or else use a current member of staff who they can take away from their current post in the business.

The company will also need to set up a department who will facilitate for this introduction to the business. They will need to employ people with the skills needed or teach current staff the skills required for the job.

The business will need to draw up an expenditure plan for the introduction of this method of marketing. This will show if they can afford to use this or what profits they will make from it.

Overall I feel this could be a successful form of marketing if the advertising is done correctly to promote the television marketing.