TUTORIAL THREE

1. In two paragraphs explain why a customer centric Web site design is so important, yet so difficult to accomplish

ANS

 Customer centric web site design is highly important but difficult to do as customers always changing. These are websites that are designed specifically to suit the customers and cater to their needs and wants (Pivarnik, 2000). It is a very important but difficult thing to accomplish for a company because it would have to aim the website to cater only for what the customer wants rather than what the company thinks or assumes that the customers want. Therefore, advertising must be done for products that are already popular and not products that don't sell. (McGovern, 2006) 

When designing a customer centric website, it has to be easy to use, convenient, fast and have all the necessary information. Customers would leave the site if it is highly complicated to use, slow and full of blocks and takes a long time to download a page. They would also leave if there is no sufficient information, like the price of the product or how to buy it.

Source: Pivarnik, C. (2000). Is your Website Customer-centric?

McGovern, G. (2006). Catalog success. Retrived on 24th Sept. 2012 from the website: http://www.catalogsuccess.com/article/e-commerce-10-tips-more-customer-centric-web-site-41482_1.html

2. Define the term 'presence'. Write an additional paragraph that describes why firms that do business on the Web should be more concerned about presence than firms that operate in the physical world.

ANS         

 Presence, is defined as "being present; existence; occurence or attendance at some place or something" (Oxford, 2006) This is the liteal meaning.

However, in my opinion, firms that do business over the internet have to be much more concerned about presence as consumers might not know the business and would never actually search for that particular product or service, if they don't know. Therefore they must be more concerned to make their presence and name and make consumers wonder, "Okay what is this? This looks interesting", "I am interested in this, where can I get more information?" This would lead them to search for the particular product. This is where online advertising is again quite important. Online businesses have to be more concerned about "presence" because businesses in the physical world already have a presence in terms of shops which people can see and physically visit, while online businesses don't. If people do not know about it, they wouldn't even have a business because noone would know about it, to actually go to their site and buy. Thus advertisements are really important to make the consumers realise the company's presence. 

3. Write three paragraphs to briefly describe the things that Real Estate Agents can best accomplish through 

(1) their web sites 

(2) Mass media advertising 

(3) Personal contact  

ANS 

Websites:

              Real estate agents use websites since most people use Internet to find out information. Real estate agents can use it to advertise property, houses, land, and other things so consumers can see the product and not have to leave home or work. This can be easier for the consumer and the real estate agent as either of them would have to leave the comfort o their homes and can update and in the customer's case, look at the website anytimes and see if there is anything they are interested in, instead of making time from work to actually go to a house or property, only to be disappointed once there. Having virtual tours, pictures, videos and necessary information about the house/property allows the agents to cater to the needs of the consumers by giving them information that lets the consumer, 

a.) see the house

b.) know what the house would have to offer.  

This allows busy people who are working to look at websites in their free time and not work about having to make time to travel to the area itself.

Mass media Advertising 

      Mass media can be used to advertise not only the business but to also receive recognition to show potential customers houses that might interest them. The best way to advertise is television, catalogues or even newspapers and radio. In newspapers we often see a section where people sell stuff or are looking for stuff in the wanted section, there there is often a section for real estate where there are pictures of houses for sale, giving a good description of the house and the price. Potential customers look at these pictures and see if they are interested in what the agents have to offer. By using media like television, business can get recognised because the consumers can physically see the business and put an image to the mind of the consumers about the business. 

Personal contact

        Real estate agents use personal contact to create relationships with the client to help them feel comfortable. Personal contact allows the real estate agent to be able to see what the client is looking for and is able to give help in the way of searching for things in the price range of the client. Personal contact is in a way a method to allow the agents to have a personal one on one contact with the client and are able to try and cater to their needs and wants.

    
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