For the final weeks assignment I have been asked to study personalisation and give my opinion whether I am for or against it.

Personalisation modifies pages to the individual users’ preferences. Its main use would be to enhance customers service or e-commerce sales, it can also be known as ‘one-to-one marketing’  as webpage’s can be tailored to specifically target each individual consumer. Personalisation meets the customers needs effectively and efficiently which helps make interaction faster and easier, therefore increases the customers satisfaction.  I feel that this would help users who have little ICT skills.

There are many forms of personalisation, web personalisation is the most common technique used by e-commerce websites.  For example, if a customer purchased a book from Amazon, the next time they visited the site they would be greeted by their name and a list of books which they might like, same genre or books by the same author they purchases before. This is friendly and helpful for the users and may encourage customers to revisit the site. Search engine sites such as Google and Yahoo allow their users to customize the page; users can set the page as their homepage and add news and weather reports and other features. I think that this feature is good for users as it allows them to easily obtain up to date information on local news or entertainment.

Below is a screen print of the MSN webpage. This page allows users to set as homepage, change background colour, font sizes. It also allows users to add tabs and headlines on sport, weather and news.

Personalisation depends on gathering personal user information which means privacy issues are a major problem. Users may feel unsafe with their credit details or personal information being stored which may put them off using e-commerce sites. This decreases online sales for businesses. Also users interests and likes change, so users who like a product today might not like the product tomorrow.

To conclude I am pro personlisation. I feel that the features allows you to customize webpage’s to suit your individual likes. I regularly use Google, Facebook and eBay, when I visit these sites they remember me and my login details. My chosen website Marks and Spencer’s uses personalisation, it greets its regular customers by name and displays products and offers which may appeal to them.

This week task involves me identifying keywords and phrases which return the Marks and Spencer website through a search engine. I will be using Google to carry out my investigation. I will be using Google as it offers a variety of search tools which will help me identify the popular keywords which return successful hits. I need to create a list of 12 phrases.

The assignment question give links to Google search tools which I could use. Below is a screen print of the first search tool which I used.

I entered the M&S website address into the search box and then clicked ‘Find Keywords’. This then returned a number of results, many irrelevant to me. I didn’t find this search tool helpful, so decided to use one of the other search tools.

Using the second search tool I again entered the M&S website address. This time however, the search returned information on search patterns and M&S articles. I found this information useful but it didn’t provide me with keywords.

The screen print below shows the information which was returned.

Using the third search tool, Google AdWords I entered the M&S website address and clicked ‘Get Keywords Ideas’. This search returned me a list of keywords, which are shown below. I found this list helpful. The top results were ‘marks and Spencer’ and ‘mark and Spencer’. The list even included keywords with spelling mistakes, so users who may spell the term wrong will still be returned relevant hits.

I found using Google AdWords tool very helpful but I wanted to carry out other searches in order to create an accurate list of keywords and phrases. I used Google to carry out several searches; I used keywords that I thought would return the M&S website. I entered words like, ‘wine, clothes, M&S and Christmas’. Some of the results didn’t return the M&S at all, but I decided to use Boolean terms. These are keywords and characters which help refine a search, such as, ‘+, AND’.  When I used these words with my own keywords I found that the searches were more successful and the M&S website was the top hits.

Below is a screen print of the results returned after I entered ‘M&S+wine’, the M&S website is the top result.

After using several search tools I believe that I have created a list of successful keywords and phrases.

1. marks and spencers
2. m & s
3. mark & spencer
4. m and s
5. marks co uk
6. marks and sparks
7. marks & food
8. M&S AND jobs
9. M&S + wine
10. m&S AND Christmas
11. M&S + flowers
12. M&S AND clothes

The three searches have indicated that the Marks and Spence website can easily be found through using various search engines.

The next part of the assignment was to search the company’s branded products. I visited the Marks and Spencer website first to choose a product. I decided to choose a Christmas flower boutique. I entered the product name into the Google search bar; surprisingly the first hit returned was M&S. When the product was searched using Yahoo, the first paid hit was M&S and the first hit was also M&S. AltaVista returned M&S first also. When each of the links was clicked on, the webpage opened with the product and its details. This shows that successful searches can be carried out on M&S products.

The next step was to indentify where M&S competitors sites are returned when the searches are carried out. The best way to carry this out was to select a product which I know competitors will have. I entered ‘Samsung LCD TV’ into the search engines, the results did include M&S, however they weren’t top hits. The top hits were ‘Curry’s, Dixon and Argos’. This means that anyone searching the product would select the top hits, this would lead to M&S losing online sales.

For my final search I entered ‘Xmas food’ into the search bar on each of the search engines. Google returned M&S as a top sponsored link, the other search engines also has M&S as a sponsored links.

The simple keyword searches that I carried out returned top results for M&S, however when I didn’t use simple keywords the results weren’t as good, this is a major problem for M&S as they could be losing potential customers which will lead to them lose online sales.

- Software-as-a-service (saas)
 - Infrastructure-as-a-service (Iaas)
- Platform-as-a-service (Paas)

The term ‘Cloud Computing’ was inspired by the cloud symbol. The symbol represents the internet through diagrams and charts. A ‘cloud’ can be public or private. A public cloud sells services to anyone on the internet, BT currently provide this service. A private cloud is a data centre which supplies hosted services to a limited number of people. If a internet service provider uses public cloud resources to create a private cloud, it is called a virtual private cloud. The aim for both, public and private clouds is to provide an easy access to computing resources and IT services.

A cloud service has 3 different characteristics that distinguish it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand which is usually by the minute or hour. An end user can access as much or as little of the service as they want at any time. This service is completely controlled by the service provider.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service: like Amazon web services provides virtual server instances with unique IP addresses and blocks of storage on demand. Customers use the providers application program to start, stop, access and configure virtual servers and storage. Cloud computing allows a company to pay for as much capacity as is needed. This pay-for-what-you- use model is sometimes known as ‘utility computing’

Platform-as-a-service: this is defined as a set of software and product development tools hosted on the provider’s infrastructure. The developers create applications in the providers platform over the internet and need to know that currently, there are no standards for interoperability or data portability in the cloud. Some providers will not allow software created by their customers to be moved off the providers platforms.

Software-as-a-service: the provider supplies the hardware infrastructure, the software and interacts with the users through a front-end portal. These services can be web-based email to database processing. The service provider hosts both the application and the data, this allows the user to access the service from anywhere.

There are many benefits to ‘cloud Computing’, these include:

- Reduced costs
- Increased storage
- Organizations can store more data than on private computer systems
- Cloud Computing is pay-as-you-go, which saves money for companies
- More mobility
- Employees can access information from anywhere

 There are however several drawbacks:
- Cost of bandwidth can be expensive, buying hardware and hiring staff to maintain it
- Loss of control, a company can give up control when they sign up to use a firms cloud resources.

‘Cloud Computing’ has many benefits to offer e-commerce. The costs of cloud computing are based on consumption, there is no hardware, software or infrastructure to purchase and in most cases you pay for what you use. Cloud computing is cost effective is centered around peak usage, during these times more computing power, disk storage and bandwidth is required. If a business is at its busiest from May to June every year, businesses would need to invest in a variety of components to handle this peak activity, even though investments are left sitting idle for most of the year. With cloud computing, businesses only have to pay for processing power, storage and bandwidth that they requires, meaning they don’t have to pay for the times the business is idle.

It has been predicted that within 5years nearly 90% of all e-commerce businesses will be leveraging some form of cloud computing. Many online businesses already use some type of cloud computing, for example hosted shopping carts. These businesses have already moved beyond traditional computing methods to web applications that can be defined as variations of cloud computing. It will be likely that many more online businesses will change their infrastructure, development and software applications to cloud computing methods, this is a new way to describe what many e-commerce businesses have already started doing.

Cloud computing is not only a necessity for mainstream e-commerce sites but it also increases efficiency and lower expenses. The monetary savings may be misleading to businesses who don’t fully understand the potential risks involved. With a pay-as-you-go type structure, users are only charged for the amount of traffic, bandwidth, and memory used. Online businesses become more efficient by only utilizing the storage and space needed, while also being assured capacity for any usage increases. The buzz has been building for years, so cloud computing has attracted a diverse customer base, ranging from popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Cloud computing carries inherent risks as personal identifiable information can be distorted, the specific location of data is unknown, and any issues are especially difficult to investigate as customers share their hosting space.

For this weeks assignment, I have been asked to analyse M&S strategy for management of the upstream and downstream supply chain. To complete the assignment I need to decide whether my chosen e-commerce business is a ‘Push’ or a ‘Pull’ system. These describe the movement of a product between two subjects. Examples of these would be, that consumers will ‘pull’ the goods that they demand for their needs and suppliers will ‘push’ the products towards the consumers.

Researching the terms ‘Push’ and ‘Pull’ systems I have learned that my chosen business, M&S uses a ‘Push’ system. I feel this because M&S is based in a projected production plan, which means information flows from the management to the market. Head office has the say in promotions and prices. A ‘pull’ system would be based on daily demand for products and information.

Vertical integration vs disintegration vs virtual integration

Vertical integration:   uses information and communications technology to allow it to operate without clearly defined physical boundaries between the functions of the business. It will allow the company control over production and distribution and its costs.

Disintegration: means M&S using suppliers or other companies to produce products which they used to produce themselves. These would apply to M&S I think, as M&S move to outsourcing and new suppliers.

Virtual integration: this method controls the company by third parties through majority supply chains outside the business. I think this would apply to M&S as they may be linked to third parties and have close relationships with chain suppliers.

A value network is a set of social and technical resources used together to create relationships to create social or economic value.

This value takes the form of knowledge and other intangibles and/or financial value. Value networks exhibit interdependence. They account for the overall worth of products and services. Companies have both internal and external value networks.

I think M&S have efficiencies in the supply chain as they are able to reduce the cost of their online orders and delivery charges. M&S are able to lower costs through price competition and reduced spend on manufacturing capacity and holding capacity.

With all the main supermarket giants in direct competition with one another, they each offer similar services and sell the same products. Each of the chains produces their own branded products, M&S do this, however other supermarket branded goods are slightly cheaper than the M&S range. M&S use advertising to promote their own brands; they have meal deal offers on their own and leading brand products.  However all leading supermarket giants are now using similar offers in order to attract consumers through the current economic climate.

With the current financial struggle, I don’t think M&S are threatened with any new competition however I do think that all the leading supermarkets are competing with each other to promote the best offers. Any new competition to the market would affect M&S.

Since M&S introduced their online shopping website, they have widen they target audience to global. All the leading supermarkets also offer the online experience, this increases the competition. With online price comparison websites available, the competition has become more powerful, with all competitors aiming to offer the best deals and price to attract consumers. With these price compassion websites available, costumers are able to compare prices on products then shop around for the best prices and deals available. M&S carry out regular surveys on their customers to ensure that the products they want are available, at the prices they are willing to pay. Without the use of surveys M&S may lose its customers to rival supermarkets.

The power of the supplier is also an important factor. If M&S and Morrison’s are both looking the same stock from a supplier, the supplier can up the cost. The supermarket willing to pay the price will get the stock, this can mean that a demand for a product by costumers may cost M&S extra; however it will maintain consumer’s loyalty with the supermarket rather than other supermarkets.

M&S’s terms and conditions which are available on their website are reasonable. They are printed in clear font and are easy to understand. They assure users that their website is save and secure from viruses and corruption. They offer a standard delivery charge, exceptions on large products. They offer a collection from store service. They also allow a cancellation right and allow a 35 day return policy, where they will refund or exchange products. The site displays customers’ service phone and fax numbers as well as email and post. This will allow customers to contact the company with questions or queries. They have a detailed description of the security used to support their site, which will help assure online customers.

When the customer has finished their online shopping and have moved to the checkout page to purchased the products, the website changes from ‘http/’ to ‘https/’. This is known as Secure Socket Layer, which means the webpage is now secure from corruption, as payment details are required at this stage of the online process. There will also be a small padlock symbol which will indicate to the user that the webpage is secure.

Cookies are files that are used to remember information on a website. M&S use cookies on their website. This feature will allow users to login and purchase items and if they left the website and returned several days later the items would still be stored for them. Cookies are helpful to regular online shoppers.

Marks & Spencer re-launched their online website in March 2007, claiming to have the widest range of clothing and home products of any online retailer in the UK. M&S online have recorded a growth in share of total sales from 4.2% to 6.2%. The retailer forecast that it will reach its goal of £500m in online sales by 2010. M&S have 5 online competitors including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Asda and Morrison’s. With the rapid growth of online shopping, “M&S have stated that they wish to increase their online revenue to £500million by 2011. M&S also wish to offer more choice of when and how to buy M&S products, with online sales a particularly large growth area especially as more people are online shopping. M&S online sales are expected to almost triple to GBP57 billion in 2020 from GBP21 billion this year according to research by Verdict, Forrester and Javelin Group provided by M&S at its investor day.” http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/200910131220DOWJONESDJONLINE000364_univ.xml#

The M&S online website is quite easy to use. Once the website address has been entered the home page opens, this home page is updated regularly with M&S offers. The home page has tabs labelled along the top of the page which categorizes the home ware from clothing and technology from food products. These tabs then break into small menus, for example the Technology tab divides all the products into groups, i.e. televisions, stereos and gaming. These help the user to access the products. Once the user has selected the products they select the ‘Add to Basket’ button which brings up a pop messages confirms the user they are purchasing a product. The user is then brought to the checkout were they are asked for payment details and address. The process is easy to follow and there is help for users who may find difficultly. There is also a feature for regular users which allows them to only enter their details once rather than every time.

M&S spend thousands on advertising; they use billboards, newspapers, radio and television. They use well known celebrities in their television and radio adverts. They use an email to their loyal customers to notify them of upcoming offers and events. I think that M&S are currently using all the right methods to attract new customers, but I feel that a M&S catalogue would maybe help attract a wider audience.

My chosen website for the assignment is www.marksandspencer.com. Marks & Spencer is a major British retailer, with over 855 stores in more than 40 territories around the world. It has become the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom and as well as being an upmarket food retailer, in 2008 it began the 43^rd largest retailer in the world. Most of its retail stores sell both clothing and food and in the recent years has expanded into other ranges such as home ware, technology, furniture and insurance.

Below is a screenshot of my chosen website.

At present the company employs over 75,000 employees and are now a world wided known company. All international stores are operated under franchise with the exception on the stores in the Republic of Ireland and Hong Kong which both remain in company ownership. M&S made their reputation in the 20^th century on a policy of only selling British-made goods. This allowed it to make relationships with British manufacturers. In 1997/1998 M&S went into a sudden slump, which surprised the company and its shareholders, who were small investors. The company’s share price at this time fell by more than two thirds and profits fell for more than a billion pounds. In 1999 their online shopping was introduced and the company grew with new clothing sales.

M&S are listed on the London Stock Exchange. Mid 2008 M&S saw major share prices plunge to well under half their value of twelve months, as they struggled to cope with more conservative shoppers in the credit crunch.

 The company was founded by Michael Marks, he first opened a penny bazaar selling toys and other products from his native Poland. Thomas Spencer joined in 1894 and the company then became Marks & Spencer, the site of the first stall is marked with a green and gold commemorative clock. One of the original Penny Bazaars still remains open to this day, and is now the smallest M&S store in operation. A cautious international expansion began with the introduction of Asian food in 1974. M&S opened stores in continental Europe in 1975 and in Ireland four years later. M&S has historically been an iconic retailer of ‘British Quality Goods’.

The households with internet access in 2007, varied between different parts of the country. At the time South West and London were recieving the highst levels of access. The areas with lower access levels were Humber, North East and Northern Ireland, each with 52%.

The tale below shows the regions recieveing internet access in 2006-2007. The figures are mesaured in per centage.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/inta0807.pdf

As in 2006, London remained the region with the highest level of households with broadband Internet access at 60 per cent. The proportion of London households with Internet access and a broadband connection was 88 per cent. Northern Ireland remained the region with the lowest level of households with broadband, at 40 per cent of all households. The proportion of Northern Ireland households with Internet access and a broadband connection was 78 per cent.

UK households connecting to the Internet via broadband increased in 2008,with 56 per cent of all UK households connecting this way, compared with 51per cent in 2007. Dial up (narrowband) connections continued to fall, to just 9per cent in 2008. The table below shows the increase in each method of connectivity.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/iahi0808.pdf

With the table showing that a small percentage of households who do not have internet access, when asked their repsonse was that they had no need for it.

Businesses large and small have recently used the internet as a way of advertising or selling their goods and services worldwide. Studying the website, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/iahi0808.pdf, we can see that peopel have increasing been using the internet for such things as, booking accommodation, betting or buying products.

These figures can indicate that there will continue to be a growth in the number of households who have internet access. We also learn that many buinesses large and small are now using the internet to advertise and to trade. We can predict that there will be a vast increase in internet usuage within the next 5 years.