The Customer Experience

Attitude does many things to make the customer experience as good as possible. Navigation is relatively easy because of various search options and clear layout amongst other aspects (see previous section on Accessibilty and Usability for more details on this). There is also a detailed help page that aims to solve the basic problems of most customers making it easy to solve problems and therefore making the experience better.





The customer can give feedback on the site quite easily. At the very bottom of the page there is a 'Site Feedback' option, when the user clicks on this link the following screen appears which allows the user to give feedback on the web site, the user must provide details of their email address so that Attitude are able to get back to them.

This is a good feature because it allows customers to have their say in the design and general running of the web site, if the customer has more say it improves their customer experience because the design of the web site is improved by user feedback. The only problem with this section of the site is that it is quite difficult to find as you have to scroll down a long way before you reach the link - many people may not even realise it is there. It would be a great improvement if this was easier to find.

Attitude also provide other methods of customer care - the help page is one example. This has many useful features to the user, it is clearly split into sections so that it is easy to understand and even has a frequenly answered questions section which solves many problems that a user may have, meaning there is less need for them to fill in other enquiry forms.

Enquiry forms are available to the user for if the help section does not solve their particular problem. This is for customers who have an enquiry about their particular order (customers are first advised to look at the help section as it is likely that their query is answered there). This is useful to the customer because their questions can be answered by sending off this form which is easy to follow and fill out. The only downside is again, it is quite difficult to find this section as before, it should be made more visible so it is clear to the user where it is.

Conditions of Purchase

On the Attitude web site there is a clear link to a page titled 'Terms and Conditions'. This informs the user of the terms on which they are entitled to use the web site and various rules they must abide by if they are to use the web site. This page is relatively easy to find, but only if the user is looking for it. It is right at the very bottom of the page and you have to scroll down a long way before you get to it (the page is blank as you scroll down - so it could be moved up the page). It is also written in dark blue font on a black background making it difficult to see - it would be better if the page was easier to find for the user as these factors make it difficult.



The page uses clear and simple language making it easy for any user to understand, it gives the user most information that they need, however it does not tell them how they can return goods, the only information given on how goods can be returned is a small piece of text saying '*All sale items are non-returnable. This does not affect your statutory rights'. This is not enough information as it does not tell the user how they can return goods that were not on sale. However more information how to return goods is given on a different page in the help section which gives all the relevant details. Although this is satisfactory, it would be a good idea to have a link from the Terms and Conditions page to this page as it would make sense to have all of this information in the same place. Information is also given on cookies, what is done with customer information, what custoemr information is kept, information on copyrights and information on security for the customer.



Overall the conditions of purchase given to the user are good as they contain most of the relevant information that they should. Although they do not give information on how to return goods, there is an 'Enquiry Form' on a different page, the user could fill in one of these if they wished to find out more information on this - however it would be much better if they gave information on returning goods on the terms and conditions page. Also I think the page should be easier to find.

Screen shots

<--Screen shot to go with 'Usability and Accessibility'

Screen shot to go with techniques to engage, retain and entice customers:

Usability and Accessibility

Attitude do many things to make the web site easier to use. For example, there are many different categories that the user is able to search by - this means that it is much easier for them to find the product they want because their search is narrowed down considderably. This makes it easier for the user and also makes shopping on the web site much more pleasurable because they do not have to spend lots of time browsing through products they are not interested in. The key word search serves the same purpose as this - allowing the user to find the right product quickly and easily.

There is a 'quickshop' option on Attitude which makes it much faster for the user to find their product if they already know the 'product ID' (each product has its own unique product ID making this much more efficient than searching by key word if the user already knows the ID as there will not be more than one option matching their criteria). The user can also enter the product size and quantity into the quick search - this is useful because it means everything is done in one stage (this would usually be done over a number of stages). Once all of this information is typed in the product is automatically added to the customers cart where they can then make the final transactions.

The web site has a very clear structure making it easy to follow for the user - for example everything is very ordered and the links to different product types are in the same place no matter what page they are on, this mean that the user cannot get 'lost' on the web site because they can click on all of the links no matter where abouts on the site they are, and if all else fails it is easy to get back to the home page.

Attitude has a clear, easily found help page. This makes it easier for the user to use the web site because if they are stuck with something on the web site or have a problem with the product they are able to go straight to the help section (which is avialable from all pages) to solve their problem. The help page answers frequently asked questions which may help the user, and alternatively they can contact the company with their question via email, phone, fax or post (details of this are given in the help section).

The sizes on Attitude are quite strange and are not standard sizes used in shops in the UK, so Attitude has a 'sizing guide', this gives the size used by Attitude, e.g. 'Medium' and underneath it gives the standard UK dress size (10, 12, 14 etc.), it then also gives the user the various measurements that also come under that size, for example the bust and waste measurements that apply to the size. This information is presented in the form of an easy to follow table so the user can understand it clearly. The only problem with this section is that it is not particularly easy to find - it is in the 'help' section, which although is quite logical it is not the most obvious place to look. It would probably be better if the size guide was hyperlinked on each page or was part of the main options bar, this way it would be much easier for the user to find. This would benifit the company because users would not be put off of an item just because they were unsure what size they would need to buy.

The only problem with the Attitude web site usability is the cluttered home page - this could look confusing to the user, especially if they do not have much computer experience. Therefore this could put people off of using the web site entirely as it is not entirely clear where you need to go from the home page.

Another negative point is that if the user clicks on one of the categories down the left hand side of the page, they are taken back to the home page! This is very frustrating for the user, it would be much better if when clicked they took the user to a list of sub categories within that option as it is quite misleading to have links to the home page on each of the categories. This could confuse the user and could put them off the web site because it makes the navigation difficult making it harder to find the desired product.

Overall, I think the Attitude web site is highly usable, especially once the user is used to the layout. However the home page should probably be less cluttered so the user could find things easier.

Techniques to Engage, Retain and Entice Customers

Because it is a web site, Attitude has to f ocus a lot on enticing customers. This is because it is different to having a high street shop in that people will not just 'pop in' on the way past if they like the look of it, they have to go their specifically. Most people do not just find transactional web sites by chance like they would a shop. It also needs to make up for the lack of human interaction - for example there are no salespeople to convince people to buy the products, therefore extra effort needs to be put into making them sound good.

Attitude does quite a lot of advertising. One method of advertising is the free catelogue that is given away with music magazines such as 'Kerrang!' every season. This is a good idea because the people who read magaszines like this are the ones who are most likely to like the sorts of clothes that are sold on attitude in the first place. It also gives people an alternative method of buying the items other than on the Internet - they can order them by post instead of online. Another good thing about giving away the catelogue is that the web address is given at the bottom and the catelogue does not contain all of the products that Attitude sell, it just gives an idea of the type of clothing available to the customer on Attitude. This means that the customer is more likely to want to visit the web site to see more of what they have to offer. Attitude also often advertises in the actual magazine, the advertisment always has a link to the web site and pictures of some of the clothes available which encourages people to visit the site.

Attitude is also a 'sponsored link' on Google - this means that they pay the search engine Google to advertise the company and pay them depending on how effective this is (the more people that click on the advertisment, the more they pay). This is good because it means that if the user types in search criteria such as 'Alternative clothing' on google, Attitude is the first web site that appears on the page. People are more likely to visit the sites that are closest to the top of the page because they are generally the more popular ones and often people do not want to scroll through all of the other web sites, reading all of the captions until they find the right one. This method is very successful because more people can find out about the web site and they will therefore have more customers as a result.

Once the customer is on the web site - Attitude need ways to keep them intersted. This is why the page is so busy and colourful with so many pictures. If a web site is not attractive customers are less likely to stay on them, it is also important that the navigation is easy (it is reasonably on Attitude) as if the customer cannot find any of the right products they are not likely to continue trying to find them on the site. This is no different to a traditional shop - if a customer thought it was untidy, didn't like the layout or could not find what they wanted they would leave.

Another method Attitude use to encourage customers to buy things on the web site is through special offers and competitions. For example, at the top of the screen on the home page as part of the same banner as the logo it says 'FREE UK standard delivery when you spend over £50 onlin' and 'HURRY! Only (_) shopping days left til Xmas!' The first offer shown in this banner encourages people to spend over £50 so that they can get free delivery, although this does not convince people to spend much more money for the sake of it, it makes them buy more from the site. For example, if somebody bought a jacket on the web site that cost £30 and there was also a pair of shoes on the web site that they wanted but they were available in a highstreet shop, they may choose to buy the jacket online and the shoes in the high street because it is easier and more reliable. However, with this offer they are more likely to buy both on the web site. The idea of the Christmas countdown puts the customer under pressure and makes them feel like they need to hurry up and buy their Christmas presents from the site.

There are also competitions that encourage the customer to buy certain items, for example advertised on the home page is a competition to win an 'Emily the Strange' electric guitar when you buy any other 'Emily the Strange' merchandise. This encourages people who may not have thought about buying the merchandise before buy it because they want to be in with a chance of winning the guitar. This is very effective because it encourages people to buy items they may not have thought about buying before and therefore the company gets more money.

To buy a product on Attitude you must be a member. Once someone has become a member their personal details such as name and address are remembered because they are stored on a customer database. This means that in future it is easier for them to order goods because they do not have to enter all of these details again so the process is sped up. This is a good idea because it means people are more likely to return to the web site to buy other products in the future. For example somebody may want a T-shirt that they have seen on a different web site, however they may check if Attitude sells it or not before ordering it because it would be much easier to order it from there.

Down the left hand side of the page there is a section with links to other web sites the user may be interested in. This encourages users to come back to the web site because if they forget the URL of one of the web sites that are advertised they might come back to Attitude in order to find the web site - it is likely that they will have a look around the site first rathern than then going to straight to the link - especially with the eye catching offers advertised on the home page.

Methods to Capture Customer Information

There are many different ways web sites capture information from customers. Obvious and open methods of data capture are called 'overt' methods. When these methods are used the customer knows that the information is being captured. An example of an overt method of data capture is a data capture form that the customer fills in, this way they know exactly what information is being taken. Attitude use this type of data capture on their web site - for example when the customer fills in the form to give their personal detials such as name, address etc in order to become a member of the site. This is good because it means the customer knows exactly what information is being taken from them because they are giving it in the first place.

However quite a lot of information is taken without the customer realising, these methods of data capture are called 'covert' methods. It is possible for web sites to log the IP address of a customers computer when they are making transactions. This can then be tracked to a particular computer because IP addresses are allocated to cetain computers by the ISP (however this information is only useful to the company at the time the user is connected to the Internet).

Another method of collecting data is to put a code on a web site that leaves 'cookies' on the user's computer. There is code on the cookie that identifies a computer when it returns to the web site. This enables a company to see how often you visit the web site, what pages you look at, how long you stay on the site for and other information. Code used on web sites can also log statistics such as what search engine referred them to the web site and what words they put in the search to call it up - they can even see what browser is being used and the computer's operating system.

Attitude uses cookies - the customer is told about the use of cookies on the 'Terms and Conditions' page meaning the customer is aware that they are using them (if they look at this page). They say "cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not".

Section A - eCommerce Continued...

Types of transactions that can be made continued

On many web sites the customers can track their orders and check if items are in stock or not, Attitude has this feature. This is a useful feature because it means that the customer will be aware if the item they want is in stock or not and therefore they cannot complain to the company if they do not receive the item as soon as they would have hoped. This is generally good customer care, allowing customers to track the order will put their minds at rest if they are particularly worried about buying online (some customers may be worried about things like fraud online - especially if it is their first time shopping online). It allows the customer to see whether or not an item is in stock by putting "out of stock" in brackets next to a particular size in the product, this is a good way of doing this because the customer can see straight away if the item is in stock or not - they do not have to go through the ordering process before they find out that it is not in stock. This also makes it very clear as to whether or not the item is in stock to avoid confusion.

Most web sites allow users to become members by registering with the web site, they can then log in to the web site in the future which makes ordering goods much easier because their details will all be stored in an database and they will not have to enter them every time they want to purchase something. Attitude has this feature - it is impossible for the user to buy anything without first becoming a member. This is useful to the user because details such as their name and address are remembered when they log in which means they do not have to waste a lot of time entering them again every time they want to make an order.

Section A - eCommerce

What Is eCommerce?

E-Commerce is transactions involving goods or services using technology. E-Commerce often uses 'transactional web sites'. Transactional web sites are web sites where a business provides a service or goods on the Internet that the customer can buy. They collect details and payment from the customer. (A purchase is a transaction carried out between the customer and the company providing the goods or services.)

The web site I will be looking at is the site for 'Attitude Cothing' - http://www.attitude.uk.com/. The company does not have a traditional store, goods from Attitude are only available via the Internet or postal order (there is an Attitude Clothing catelogue available).

Purpose of the Site and how Successfuly it Meets it's Objective

The purpose of this web site is to sell alternative clothing online. The web site offers a vast range of clothing types, for example jeans, skirts, tops, t-shirts and shoes. It also sells clothes that fit into different genres, for example 'Streetwear' and 'Punk Clothing'. The first impressions of the web site are very good and it would immediately appeal to the type of person who would usually shop there because of the dark colours, bright logos and pictures of some of the clothing.

I think the web site is successful in achieving its objective to sell alternative clothing because it is clearly laid out making it easy to find the right products (this is also helped by the search facility) and it guides the user through the process of purchasing an item making it easy for them to buy it.

How is it Structured

The structure of the web site is very good - navigation is easy and it is very attractive which entices potential customers.

Down the left hand side of the page is a menu which allows the user to find items they want quickly and easily. There are a number of different ways they are able to look for products. Firstly there is the search facility, an essential for any transactional web site with a reasonably large range of stock. This allows the user to either type in their own search criteria using key words, search by brand, band or product. Such a variety of search tools makes it easy for the user to find the item they want without wasting too much time.

The user can also browse through the items sold on the site using the categories shown down the left hand side. For example 'footwear', 'accessories', 'gothic clothing' or 'punk clothing'. When the user hovers the cursor over one of these headings another menu appears which allows them to choose from the various brands selling products and types of product within that category, for example if the user hovered over 'Punk Clothing' a list appears for the user to choose from including brand names such as 'Poizen Industries' and 'Criminal Damage' as well as the types of clothing such as 'skirts' and 'dresses'. This enables the user to narrow down their search so they do not have to browse through lots of products they are not even interested in.

Further down the page on the left hand side is a section containing links to other web sites that other users are likely to find interesting. This is a good technique to encourage users to come back because if they do not remember the URL of one of these sites they may go to Attitude to get the link.

Down the right hand side of the home page are links to various different brands that are sold on the web site, there is a picture link to represent each brand. This is not particularly useful to the user because there are many other places where there are links to the different brands, however in a way it makes navigation easier because if there are more places to find the links the user is less likely to get 'lost' or be unable to find them. However, these also make the page look attractive as the colours in the logos and pictures brighten up the page and make it look more interesting.

There are other, larger pictures in the centre of the home page. These provide links to new products, special offers and competitions. These also make the page look attractive and interesting.

Although the home page looks attractive and interests the user, it is a little bit too cluttered. This means it is distracting to the user and even though the varios links and pictures are put there in an attempt to improve navigation, it actually makes it more difficult because with so many pictures it is difficult to see where everything is.

There is a navigation bar at the top of the page which contains the following links: 'Home', 'Login', 'News', 'Forum', 'Quickshop' and 'Checkout'. This makes navigation for the user much easier.

On the pages away from the home page, the navigation bar on the left hand side stays there. This is useful because it makes navigation much easier for the user and reduces the chance of them getting lost on the website. The navigation bar at the top of the page also remains at the top of all pages. This is particularly useful because it contains a link to the home page, therefore it is virtually impossible for the user to get lost because if all else fails they can always just go back to the home page and start again.

Each of the pages displaying the different products only show 9 products on each. This means the user does not have to keep scrolling down the page which can be irritating. However, instead they must keep clicking the next button or skip to a certain page number which is even more irritating than scrolling down. This is because in going between the pages the user has to wait for each one to load, which takes quite a long time because of the pictures and hyperlinks etc on each page. Therefore looking through the products becomes tedious. I think it would be much better if all of the products within a certain category were displayed on one page, or where there are too many products to be able to do this there definitely be a lot more than 9 on each page.

Overall I think the structure quite good however it has many negative aspects. It would be much better if the home page was less cluttered and if on the sub pages there were more items per page as this would make shopping on the web site a much more pleasurable, less frustrating experience for the user.

Goods and Services Offered

The web site makes it reasonable clear what goods it is actually selling by showing picutres on the home page of some of the items. The navigation bar at the side also gives the user an idea of what they are selling, for example some of the headings are 'gothic clothing', 'footwear' and accessories'. These not only tell the user what actual items are sold, but also the type of clothing. The logo and name of the web site also gives away what they are selling - at the top of the screen is a large logo that says 'Attitude Clothing' making it obvious to the user that they sell clothing on the site. This is good because if what the web site is selling is clear the user will know straight way whether or not it is worth looking on the web site. It also benifits the comany because the user cannot buy something from the web site if they do not even know what they are selling.

Here is a list and goods and services offered on Attitude:

• Jewelerry
• Bags
• Belts
• Coats
• Dresses
• Tops
• Band T-Shirts
• Jeans
• Skirts
• Gloves
• Jackets
• Hair dye
• Makeup
• Necklaces
• Scarfs
• and much more...

Product Information Provided

Attitude provide quite a lot of information about each of the products. When the user chooses a product (for example a t-shirt) and clicks on it the user is given a picture of the product (which they can click to enlarge) the following information:

• Material
• Gender
• Style
• Print
• Sizes available
• Delivery time

However, the information given about the product varies depending on what the product is. For example the user will have to know different information if they are looking at a bag to a T-shirt, for a start the sizing will be entirely different.

I do not think the web site gives enough information on the products and it would be much improved if the basic information (which is already given) was presented to the user at first and there was a link to find out more information about that product. For example when looking at a T-shirt it may say 'printed' but not tell you what the print is - this is something that is often not clear in the photograph. Also, the sizes are given as 'small', 'medium' and 'large', however there is not a size guide to tell you what these convert to in standard British sizes. Also when looking at products other than ordinary clothes such as bags, necklaces etc, the dimensions of the product are not given. For example when you click on the product 'Evil Fairy Exile Bag', a picture of the bag appears with some basic information on it, but information on the dimensions of the bag are not given. As far as the user is concerned, this bag could be of any size as the picture does not indicate how big it is. It would be much better for both the user and the comany if either the dimensions of the bag were given or there was a picture showing the bag with a model so the user can see the size in proportion to a person.

I also think that product information could be given in a more interesting way - for example on other web sites such as 'schuhstore.com' there is an interactive method where the user can click to see the product from different angles and zoom in on certain parts. This would be very effective on this web site because they would be able to see the detail on certain parts of the product.

Types of Transaction Made

A transaction is an interaction with a database management system. Transactions vary in complexity, a transation could simply be clicking on an image to check if a certain item is in stock or it can be more complex, for example when buying goods entering details into an order form, especially for a new customer because the company need to capture all of their details.

The system needs to collect a number of different details from the customers, for example credit card number and other details used to validate the card and name and address of the person paying the bill and the delivery address. Text boxes are most commonly used as a way of interacting with the page, the user types in information into the text boxes. Another method that can be used is drop down menus, this is when a choice is given to the user in a menu, they select the option they want to use.

Attitude uses both text boxes and drop down menus as methods of data capture. The first time the user uses a drop down menu is when the select the size product they wish to purchase. Then the user must give their details and become a member before they are able to buy anything. The user gives almost all of their details to become a member using text boxes - they must give a username, password, email address, first name, last name, address, postcode and country. The only one of these that uses a drop down menu instead of text box is 'country' because there is a limited number of countries they can deliver too and therefore there are not too many options to put on a drop down menu. This is good because it is clear what details the web site is asking for and using drop down menus helps to eliminate spelling errors in those sections.

Unit 2 Coursework Plan - Section A eCommerce

What is eCommerce?

Brief definition of eCommerce and introduction to the web site i am looking at - give the URL of the web site

Purpose of the Site and How Successfully it Meets this Objective

Say what the purpose of the web site is, what are first impressions like? Does it meet it's objective? To what extent? How and why?

How it is Structured

Use screen shots to illustrate points, describe structure, navigation, search facility, are the pages simple and easy to follow or cluttered? Is it well structured?

Goods and Services Offered

Describe the types of goods or services available on the web site chosen, is it easy to figure out what they are actually selling?

Product Information Provided

What methods are used to give the user more information about the product (e.g. multi media methods such as pictures that you can enlarge etc)? Is there enough information?

Types of Transactions Made

Describe what a transaction is, what types of transactions possible on the web site. Give an example using screen shots.

Methods to Capture Customer Information

Describe methods that could possibly be used, then sya what is used on the actual web site, scree shots.

Techniques to Engage, Retain and Entice Customers

What techniques are used? E.g. advertising banners on other web sites, special offers etc. How effective are they?

Usability and Accessibility

How is the web site made easy to use? E.g. simple easy to follow navigation, search facility etc. Are these methods effective?

Conditions of Purchase

Should cover conditions of sale and how to return goods. Should be easy to find and easy to understad, are they? Security information.

The Customer Experience

What customer care is offered on the web site? Are there clear contact details? Is there a way to provide feedback? Is the customer experiene good - is navigation easy? good product range? Does it meet its objectives? Overall - do the good points outweigh the bad to make a good customer experience?

Exchanging Information

For information to be successfuly exchanged between businesses it must be at certain standard. For example word processed files written in Microsoft Word conform to a standard so that most other word proccessors can read them to making it possible to exchange files easily.

A 'defacto standard' is a standard of file where most organisation either have the program itself or software that can read files from that program. For example Microsoft Word is a defacto file standard, most organisations have either Microsoft Word or software that is able to read Microsoft Word files.

However, not all data can be stored using in the format of everyday office software. There are some simple standards that have been brought about to make it easier for data to be prepared on one computer system and processed further by another. This makes it easy for data to be moved between computers using different 'platforms' such as Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple.

Here are some examples of data that is exchanged between organisations:

• Exam results are passed from the exam board mainframes and to universities
• Orders for goods are passed from a supermarket to a supply company
• Schools make exam entries and send in coursework marks online

CSV (common separated values). This is when each data item is separated from the next one by a marker, usually a comma is used for this purpose.

Presenting Information

Information can be presented in lots of ways, for example:

• Items bought at a supermarket can be presented as an itemised bill


• Hotel booking confirmation can be presented as email notification


• Concert tickets can be presented as printed and personalised tickets


• Tax demand can be presented as a paper form


• Bank statements could be presented on paper or on screen


• A credit card balance enquiry could be presented using voice output over telephone


• An announcement of the next station on a train can be presented using voice output and visual matrix display.

Planning for the Future

For the future, most businesss need to considder:

• Possible expansion
• New areas of business
• New ways of doing business
• Keeping costs down

Operational tasks are the things that staff have to do every day in order to keep things running. For example every day a teacher has to deliver lessons.

However, because things are changing all the time there have to be people who think ahead and plan, these people are called directors. They do something called called a strategic activity - this means planning where the company is going and it is an extremely important job, if they do something wrong there could be severe consequences and lots of people could lose their jobs.

Management need processed data that shows trends in the company, they want the big picture however they do not need all the details. The data is usually considderably processed and has its origins at lower levels.

Transactional Web Site - Argos

The URL of the transactional web site I will be looking at is http://www.argos.co.uk/. This web site is for the shop 'Argos' which sells a vast range of products from all sorts of different categories. The purpose of the web site is to sell goods. The web site allows you to search for items by word or catelogue number (all most if not all items from the web site can also be found in the catalogue), this search facilitiy is necessary for a web site with such a vast range of products and is very useful.

The products available from the web site are also available in argos stores, where the customer chooses a product from the catelogue and takes the catalogue number to a till where they are sold the product.

Overall first impressions of the site were very good. The layout is clear and easy to follow, the page is not to cluttered and it is not too squashed. There are clear sections of the web site that split up the products into different catergories making it easy to find the right items. The only negative point is that the page is quite boring, however in many ways this is actually a positive thing because it means the web site is nice and simple making navigation and dipping in and out of sections much easier.

How It Is Structured

The web site is very well structured making it clear and easy to follow.

There are different ways of finding items on the web site. Firslty, the user can navigate usign the headings along the top of the screen, for example 'sports and fitness' and 'toys and games', this is useful for customers who do not know exactly what they want to buy and would like to view all items within a particulary category. When you click on one of these categories, a list of different types of product available within that catergory appears narrowing down the search. Once one of these is selected another screen appears with options on what to 'search by', for example when looking at toys and games, the user can search by type, age, brand or character. Although this may seem like a very long and drawn out process to find a game, it actually saves the user a lot of time because it will only show products that are relevant to their requirements.

It is very easy to get between pages because the main navigation bar showing all of the different categories remains at the top of all pages on the web site, as does the search facility, therefore it would be very difficult to get lost on the web site! Everything is very easy to find. Ther is also always a link to the home page at the top of each page just in case, that way it would be easy to get 'un-lost'.

The Goods And/Or Services It Offers

It is very easy to see what types of goods are available on the web site from the very beginning as there are options at the top of the screen showing the different categories of products that are availalbe. Also down the left hand side of the page there is a list of types of product within certain categories with examples of products within that type underneath, for example it says 'Kitchen and Laundry' and underneath it says 'washing machines, heaters...'. This helps the user to get a better idea of the products available on the web site.

The web site also offers a delivery service which it makes clear to the user by displaying two icons next to each product stating whether or not it is available for home delivery or in store pickup.

Here is a list of item categories available at Argos:

• Garden, DIY and leisure
• Sports and fitness
• Personal care and bathroom
• Kitchen and laudry
• Furniture and furnishings
• Baby and nursery
• Office, PC and phones
• Sound and vision
• Photography
• Video games
• Toys and games
• Jewellery and watches
• Chirstmas gifts

I think the web site is very successful in showing the types of product that it sells, which is not an easy thing to do considdering there is such a variety of items available. It is very clear to the user what products are available to them.

The Product Information Provided

Argos generally provides very detailed information about all of the products that are available to make up for the fact that the customer is unable to see or handle the goods before buying them. For example when looking at a digital camera, information is given about the brand, pixels, screen sixe, optical zoom, digital zoom and thememory card, price, design style, size and weight. There are also pictures of the items so the user knows what they look like. There is also an option to 'compare' products to others similar, this then produces a table showing the selected products with a table containing all of the details that are comparable. This helps the user to decide between them as it is made obvious which features are better on which product. The information given varies depending on the product, for example different product information will be given about a watch that a digital camera because differenet features need to be specified.

Types of Transactions that can be Made

A transaction is an interaction with a database management system.

Transactions vary in complexity, a transation could simply be clicking on an image to check if a certain item is in stock or it can be more complex, for example when buying goods entering details into an order form, especially for a new customer because the company need to capture all of their details.

The system needs to collect a number of different details from the customers, for example credit card number and other details used to validate the card and name and address of the person paying the bill and the delivery address. Text boxes are most commonly used as a way of interacting with the page, the user types in information into the text boxes. Another method that can be used is drop down menus, this is when a choice is given to the user in a menu, they select the option they want to use.

On many web sites the customers can track their orders and check if items are in stock or not. Most web sites allow users to become members by registering with the web site, they can then log in to the web site in the future which makes ordering goods much easier because their details will all be stored in an database and they will not have to enter them every time they want to purchase something in the future, they just have to log in. It is usually possible to edit your customer details if necessary.

The Argos web site uses both text boxes and drop down menus to get information from customers. This is good because it means that where there are drop down menus error is less likely to occur, obviously it is not possible to have menus for fields such as 'name' as there are too many different possibilities.

The Methods Used To Capture Customer Information

There are many different ways web sites capture information from customers. Obvious and open methods of data capture are called 'overt' methods. When these methods are used the customer knows that the information is being captured. An example of an overt method of data capture is a data capture form that the customer fills in, this way they know exactly what information is being taken. Argos use a form on their web site to collect the delivery details of the customer, for example it says 'first name' followed by a text box, the customer knows that if they fill this in they will know that the company are collecting information on their name. They know exactly what details are being taken from them because they enter them into a form.

However quite a lot of information is taken without the customer realising, these methods of data capture are called 'covert' methods. It is possible for web sites to log the IP address of a customers computer when they are taking their credit card details or making another transaction. This can then be tracked to a particular computer because IP addresses are allocated to cetain computers by the ISP (however this information is only useful to the company at the time the user is connected to the Internet).

Another method of collecting data is to put a code on a web site that leaves 'cookies' on the user's computer. There is code on the cookie that identifies a computer when it returns to the web site. This enables a company to see how often you visit the web site, what pages you look at, how long you stay on the site for and other information.

Code used on web sites can also log statistics such as what search engine referred them to the web site and what words they put in the search to call it up - they can even see what browser is being used and the computer's operating system.

The Techniques Used To Engage, Retain and Entice Customers

Web sites need to use special techniques to attract customers and help to retain them as there are no salespeople to build up relationships with customers and pursuade them to buy things.

Advertisement is very important

Types of Information Required by Business

Production

Many different businesses sell a product, in the process of making the product there is the production process, this is either mass production, batch production, continueoues production or one-off production, with a good IT system the production is kept going and the supply under control if this supply was not kept under control then for example a car manufacturer may run out of components and th eproduction line will come to a standstill, either though the workers are getting paid for this.Batch Production- is when there is a small amount around 1000 being producedMass production- when there is huge amount being produced like car manufacture like FordOne-off production- is when a product is made only once like a conecpt gadgetContinueous production- is when the production line is running 24/7 like making aluminiun cans.

Finance – Any department within a company/organisation needs budgets to prevent them from becoming bankrupt. This is because if a company spends more than they earn they get themselves into debt. It is important that every organisation, even those that are non-profitable such as schools and hospitals, keeps track of their finances.Main Categories of Expenditure in a School· Staff wages· Text books and stationary· Equipment for technology, art, cookery etc.· School trips· Student Insurance· Internet Connection· Extra curricular activities (clubs)· Maintenance· School Food

Human Resources

Human resoursces (HR):Large organisations have a whole department that looks after recruiting new staff and looking after existing workers. They have to make sure that promotions are dealt with, applicants of the right qualifications and that interviews are conducted according to set rules. They need information about the applicants and about the staff who are already working at the company. IT systems are vital here.Activity:A PC retail outlet wants to hire some sales staff:what information will they need before they call an applicant to an interview?
CV - especially name and phone number so the applicant may be contacted.
Their communication skills because they will be sales staff and these skills are vital here. the applicant must be a confident person.
Qualifications needed for the job e.g. maths, english, etc. etc.
An idea as to whether the person may be right for the job. what extra information will they need if they appoint someone?
Criminal record check.
Previous job records.
National Insurance number
Uniform size

Finance

Any department within a company/organisation needs budgets to prevent them from becoming bankrupt. This is because if a company spends more than they earn they get themselves into debt. It is important that every organisation, even those that are non-profitable such as schools and hospitals, keeps track of their finances. Main Categories of Expenditure in a School are:
· Staff wages
· Text books and stationary
· Equipment for technology, art, cookery etc.
· School trips
· Student Insurance
· Internet Connection
· Extra curricular activities (clubs)
· Maintenance
· School Food

Data Processing

There are 3 different types of data processing:

Batch processing

Transaction processing

Real time processing

If somebody wants to buy a book on amazon, it would involve transaction processing because this keeps records of stock and the information is kept as up to date. It does not have to be in real time because if they run out of that book the order will be put on hold and just say that the customer has to wait for extra time. The customer will still get the book, they will just have to wait longer so it is not urgent and therefore does not need to be in real time.

If somebody wants to buy a ticket to the V Festival it woudl involve real-time processing. This is because the data is kept as accurate as posible with real-time as the database is updated immediately. This is important for bookings such as this because it stops the next customer from booking the same thing, otherwise they would not know how many tickets were left. Another example of real-time processing is when using PayPal as it is necessary to check that the person actually has the money in their account before items are sent to them.

If somebody wants to pay their gas bills it would involve batch processing because human involvement is not necessary and there isn't really a product at the end, only a piece of paper that can be printed off automatically and sent to the customer. It does not need to be in real time because as long as it is paid by a certain date the gas supply will not be cut off. Another example of this is teachers marking work.

Automated Data Capture

Automated data capture is when hardware devices are used to collect data that is needed instead of humans to avoid human error. Here are some examples of automated data capture methods:



Bar Codes


Bar codes are used in most grocery stores to help keep track of the items in store and also to help reduce shoplifiting (as it is more difficult to switch the price tag from a lower priced item onto a higher priced one). Bar codes can also be used to track the movement of objects, for example hire cars and airline luggage.


Magnetic Strips


Magnetic strips are used in identity cards, credit cards and driving liscence (only in the USA). They hold relevant data on the strip which is then attatched to the card and can be read by a special device.


Smart card chips



Optical mark recognition

An example of when OMR is used is in multiple choice exam papers. An HB pencil must be used by the candidate to colour in the 'bubble' with the letter they think represents the correct answer, a machine then reads the exam paper by shining a light on it and using the reflection to establish which bubble is coloured in.

Magnetic ink character recognition

MICR is when magnetic ink containign iron oxide is used to print something such as the number at the bottom of a cheque, this can then be read by a special machine. The characters can be read even if they have been printed over with something like a stamp. MICR is more successful than OMR with fewer errors.

Capturing and Processing Data

Data, Information and Knowlege

Data – A collection of facts that we store with no context or meaning. Nowadays it is stored on computers. Data is processed to get knowledge. For example ‘green’.

Information – Information is data with meaning. For example ‘the traffic light is green’

Knowledge – Knowledge is when information is applied, for example ‘the traffic light is green so I can go’.

Computers need data because they cannot process information – you have to type something in or click on something for it to understand.

As humans we look around and put together information. We need to do something called data capture to get data that is suitable to put on a computer. For example on reality TV programs such as the X Factor people have to phone in to vote, each person has a different phone numbers.

Humans make mistakes when entering data which could dramatically affect people’s lives.

Paper Forms

Some advantages of paper forms are:
· Force a structure on the data being collected
· Collect the fields of data from everyone they are given to making them easy to process
· Can restrict the answers that people write by giving options – restrict what people write back using tick boxes.

Paper forms also have many disadvantages:
· They can be easily lost
· Handwriting can be hard to read
· They cannot be backed up very easily

Screen Forms

Some advantages of screen forms are:
· You can delete mistakes easily
· Validation – makes sure the information is relevant and makes sure it fits the correct format – e.g. text, numbers, date etc.

Some examples of possible validation rules are:
· No is longer than 15 letters
· Non name surname has numbers in it
· A post code must start with one or two letters
· A date of birth must be between 21 and 65 years ago (e.g. this could be used for job applications)
· A price must be between the lowest and highest possible (e.g. this could prevent entering negative values)

Companies need validation to save them time and money, it makes them more efficient. However validation can not stop all mistakes, it can only make sure that data is of the right type. Humans can still make mistakes in data entry, for example there could be a validation rule that no name has numbers in it, but there could still be a typing error in the name as long as it did not involve a number.

Transactional Web Sites

Transactional web sites are web sites where a business provides a service or goods on the Internet that the customer can buy. They collect details and payment from the customer. (A purchase is a transaction carried out between the customer and the company providing the goods or services.)

They have to be able to collect the payment – credit cards or pay pal (safer and quicker) are effective for this. Electronic transfers.

Why do databases play a vital role in these websites?
· Store customer details such as name address and payment details.
· Purchasing history
· Product information, e.g. books – genre, author, title, price, how many in stock

3 different databases that might be used by a transactional website:
· Customer detail
· Purchase history
· Stock

Information Needs of Organisations

Organisations need information to function. It used to be stored on hard copies such as paper records. This meant that people called clerks had to be employed to record them manually, for example it might be someone’s job just to copy information from one piece of paper to another one. In the past this had to be done manually because there were no computers, now it can be done automatically which is much faster.

Companies like ‘Amazon’ might need information for the following:
· What’s in stock and what they need to order.
· Customer email addresses and other customer details.

Information is vital, for example it is vital for ‘PayPal’ because if information on credit card details was lost the whole system wouldn’t work.

Information is also vital for the police because when they are investigating something they may need to look at people’s records – if the police database crashed they would not be able to check up on whether or not somebody has committed previous offences which would affect the decisions they make.

Attitude Clothing Web Site

Features

On the web site http://www.attitude.uk.com/ you can search by band, brand or product or type in a search criteria in order to find an item you want to buy. All of the products matching this then appear on the screen. There is a picture of each product with information about the product beneath them including the price, product code, the name of the product and the brand. If there are lots of products matching your criteria they appear over several pages, to view the next page you have to click 'next' at the top of the screen or select a page number to skip pages you do not want to see. You can click on the pictures of the products to find out more information about them. Below the product picture is a drop down menu which allows you to choose a size (if the size is not available it does not appear on the list of options). Once a size is selected you can click the 'buy' button which will add it to the 'cart'. From the cart you can either pay for the product or continue shopping.

Down the left hand side of the web page are different types of clothing to choose from - another method of searching for a product, for example, 'Punk Clothing', 'Streetware', 'Footware' and 'Accessories'. When you hover over one of these categories a list of brands that make clothes for that type appears to choose from.

On the home page there are large pictures advertising some of the brands in stock. These links then take you to the page designated to that brand.

To buy items on the site you must be a member. The option to register appears automatically if you try to buy an item without logging in. In order to register you must think of a username and password and give your full name and address. Once an account is created you can buy items. When you continue to the checkout to purchase the items in your cart it asks for additional information including daytime phone number of delivery address and details of the card you are using to pay.

The web site also has a news section which gives information such as when bands are touring with links to merchandise below.

Another feature of the web site is a 'quick shop' option. This is for if you already know what you want to buy. It allows you to give the product ID, item size and quantity and then add it straight to the cart. This could save a lot of time looking through endless pages trying to find the right item.

Positive Things

This site has many useful features, the 'quick shop' option is very useful for customers who do not have much time and already know the product they want to buy. Also the navigation on the site makes it easy to use because it is very clear so you can find your way around easily. However in some ways the navigation is not particularly good, for example on the column down the left hand side where you hover over the type of clothes it is difficult to then select a brand without it disappearing.

The search tool is very useful because it helps customers who do not know exactly what they are looking for find something to suit their needs quickly and easily. It is also very useful that there are so many differnet categories to search by.

The web site does not store users' card details along with other details that it saves such as address; although this can be a nuisance because it slows down the checkout proccess it makes using the web site much safer because it is more difficult for your details to get into the wrong hands.

The web site uses special offers to attract customers. For example, on the home page there is a message at the top of the screen saying 'Free UK standard delivery when you spend over £50 online!'. This encourages customers to spend more money on the site.

Negative Things

A negative aspect of the web site is that you cannot filter out either male or female clothing (whichever you do not want), this makes finding an item a very long process because there are so many items to look at, whereas if you could filter out clothing for one gender this time would be roughtly halved. However it could be quite difficult to do this as some items could be considdered unisex, for example certain shoes and accessories.

Another negative point is the way the items are displayed accross several pages. This can be irritating and it would be much easier for the user to just scroll down to view an item rather than having to click next to go onto a new page. This also slows you down because the pages usually take quite a long time to load.

Attitude do not have an ordinary store, it is entirely internet and catelogue based. This is good in a way because having the web site makes it easy for people to buy items from them, however it would probably be better if there was a store as well as a web site and catelogue because not everybody has the internet and it is sometimes difficult to tell whether or not you like an item if all you see is a picture of it on a computer screen. For example you cannot try things on so it is virtually impossible to tell if they will fit you or not (this is made more difficult where sizes are only given as 'small' 'medium' or 'large' and not as specific sizes), this could make the company lose money because people will find it easier to buy clothes from a high street shop where they can try them on and will not have the hassle of having to return them if they do not fit.

Attitude does not have a very good method of advertising, it does not advertise on the Internet as far as I am aware, neither does it use media such as television or radio to advertise. However it does advertise by giving away free 'Attitude' catelogues with music magazines such as 'Kerrang!'.

Overall

Overall the Attitude web site is very good, the navigation is quite good and so is the layout, however it does have some annoying features.