Throughout this module, I will gain knowledge of the relationship and the application of ICT in healthcare.  As the years go by, a more modern world appears where changes are rapidly happening around us in every aspect of life.  This especially relates to the up-to-date ICT software applications, hardware and contemporary technology that we carry around with us on a day-to-day basis i.e I-Pad, I-Phone.  These objects provide us with technology that could not have been for-seen in the last decade, never mind the last century.  The invention of computers has allowed doctors and other healthcare professionals to easily carry out research at the click of a button or to diagnose patients by entering the patients symptoms, where as before technology had moved on, doctors would have referred to medical books or journals.

Health informatics “deals with the resources, devices, and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and biomedicine.”  (en.wikipedia.org/wikii/Health_Informatics)  The lecture material provided has given me an insight into the field of health informatics, of which has multiple domains.  Below shows an image of a man having an ECG (Ekectrocardiography).  The ECG is an example of ICT in healthcare, it is used to measure and diagnose irregular or abnormal rhythms of the heart by using electrodes that analyse and record a persons heart beat.   These records are then examined by a health care professional, they can be used in research for studies for example, a recent study resulted that ”Stress increases the chances of dying from heart-related problems by five-fold” (http://www.midulstermail.co.uk/nhshealth)

During the Practicals in Week 1 and 2 i carried out the activities that were set using the program ‘Matlab’ which is a ”program that was originally designed to simplify the implementation of numerical linear algebra routines.  It has since grown into something much bigger, and it is used to implement numerical algorithms for a wide range of applications.” (www.cyclismo.org/tutorial/matlab/)  Matlab allows a user to create graphs in order to easily visualise a patients results.  The practicals provided me with an understanding of how to manipulate medical data. I found the practicals difficult to start with, however, i used the suggested website (http://www.mathworks.com/academia/student_center/tutorials/launchpad.html) in order to carry out these tasks.  I am slowly but surely getting the hang of Matlab.  Practical 1 introduced us to the basic’s of Matlab, using the commands such as ‘pwd’ which shows the user what directory they are in, i felt this was similar to Virtual Box.  Practical 2 was more difficult than Practical 1, i expect the practicals to develop further and i hope to grasp the overall concept of this program as the module continues each week.  I have found the lectures and tutorials very interesting so far, the tutorials are helpful when it comes to doing the practicals each week. 

In week 2, Mark provided us with the specification for Assignment 2.  I believe i will enjoy assignment 2 as i have an interest in investigation and presenting the findings.  Each week within these blogs i will record my progress of the assignment.

Studies are carried out within health informatics in order to provide statistics and analysis for the healthcare profession.  Health informatics has came along way in helping both the patients and the carers involved i.e. doctors, nurses etc.  After many years of development of information systems to support the medical sector, a new generation of systems and tools are aimed at healthcare professional’s in order to support education, decision-making, and communcating.  Health informatics is applied within many regions of healthcare for example, a computerised patient record system.  However, it is not strictly health professional based as you will read below.

On a more personal angle, i have recently read in the paper that there is a man from my home town of Magherafelt, whose life has been changed dramatically due to the great technology available.  He was paralysed in a drastic car accident in 1998, and now is in need of 24hour care.  However, the benefits of technology within healthcare have made his life easier.  He lives in a house that boasts high specification security withstate of the art facilities integrated into his house for e.g. an automatic door control system.  These facilities are all controlled from his I-Phone and I-Pad.  This amazing technology allows Philip to have control of his environment.  He has recently published a book about his life following the accident (Image shown below).   I think this high end technology is fantastic and it is thanks to health informatics in providing this opportunity that allows people with a disability to live a more normal life.

Technology is speedily changing and getting better with time and research.  What’s next for health informatics? Only time will tell!

From reading the statement above, i feel that ‘Personalisation’ would benefit a business by providing advantages to them who use this factor on their e-commerce website.  A personalised online shopping experience may make a customer feel more important and cared about.  Some customers may not feel this way, they may feel like the business is pushing for sales.  However, i feel that the personalisation aspect would help a business to retain its customers and to increase sales.  It allows a customer to navigate through a site with ease, in turn Customer satisfaction is increased and the business is on a high. 

Personalisation takes place after gathering information about a visitor and their previous purchases from the site.  This data is then analysed and other items similar to ones you have previously purchased are recommended for you when you log into this site.  Personalisation has many roles on a website, it advertises and promotes products, personalises information that is suitable for a user, gives appropriate advice and also combines speciallt tailored information into an e-mail for a customer. 

Personalisation is essential is certain areas, such as:

• Managing customer relationships
• Targeting advertisements and promoting products
• Managing Web site content
• Managing personalized portals and channels

The screen shot below provides a diagram of the elements and overall process of personalisation.

The screen shot above provides a diagram of the techniques and filtering tools to allow personalisation.  There are many different techniques to do this.  A website uses cookies in order to hold and retrieve a users identity, information and preferences.  This data allows the business to combine this and provide personalised recommendations for that user.   This is called “Implicit Profiling.”  The website examines the users behaviour and browsing background.  These details are used to provide a profile on the customer and to work out their interests.  When a user visits the website in future, recommendations will always appear to tempt the customer in a more personal nature.  However, the customer that the recommendations have been matched to may not be the user that has logged into the site.  This may be a user that shares the computer.  Therefore the recommendations may be incorrect and confused if more than one customer has been using this website.  This has been made evident below.

This screen shot above predicts that it is me viewing the sight, which may not be the case as there are 3 other users who use the same computer as i do. 

The screen shot above provides me with recommendations when i visited www.amazon.co.uk.  These recommendations are based on previous viewings and purchases.   This data is then combined and proposed items that Amazon believe i would be interested in are placed in the “More Items to Consider” section of the recommendations.  I feel that this is very misleading as they are basing the information on the cookies provided.  The information is lacking personal touch when it is not based on one person.

The screen shot above also provides back up that personalisation may have its advantages but it also is not perfect.  The screen shot shows items that were inspired from my previous browsing history.  It provides me with 99% of items that i have browsed before, however the Susan Boyle CD was not viewed by myself, the website is picking up data from another user of my computer.

Another company who use personalisation within their website is Ebay.  The screen shots below show that they pick up on previous views and purchases.  These products are presented to a user when they visit www.ebay.co.uk. 

Facebook, which is not an e-commerce site, is also a user of personalisation, the screen shot below shows suggestions for friends for me to add.  They have combined this list by comparing my friends to others.  They suspect that i know the suggested people.

Overall, i feel that ‘Personalisation’ is a great concept, however it has flaws.  It would be better if the personalisations did not come from cookies that were retrieved.  I feel that it does make online shopping feel alot more personal.  It also intrigues a customer to explore more of the website.  I feel that the customisation of personalisation should be used in more websites.  There are many more advantages than disadvantages to Personalisation so therefore i feel that it is the way forward for e-commerce!

www.ibm.co.uk

www.facebook.com

www.ebay.co.uk

www.amazon.co.uk

Following this, i decided to see what results the ‘Google for Insights Search tool’ would provide.  The results are shown below.

The screen shot above shows the ‘Web Search Interest : www.asda.co.uk’ from 2004 to present.  It shows where it peaks and decreases, however at this present time www.asda.co.uk shows to be quite a popular search.  The screen shot below also shows the ‘Regional Interest’ from across the world.  The results show that the UK provides the most searches for www.asda.co.uk, the search volume index is high. 

The google insight tool also shows the ‘Top Searches’ and the ‘Rising Searches.’  These findings are presented below, you will see that Tesco is placed first in the results followed closely by Asda.  This search shows that Asda seems to prove more popular than Sainsbury’s and Morrisons which are also large competitive supermarkets within the UK.

The next tool i used was ‘Google Adwords.’  I found this tool to be the most successful of all as it provided relevant results.  The screen shot below shows the keyword results after i typed in www.asda.co.uk.  The keywords should be related to this website.  This particular search provided a vast 84 results.  I will attempt to break down these results.

I had to examine which keywords where more relative in order to redraft the keywords shown above.  The final selected keywords are presented below.

 The following test was to see what results were shown when ‘Asda’ was searched.  The screen shot below shows the many links that Asda have on their website.  They provide a wide range of services which were advertised in the Yahoo search results.  The first result listed brings a user straight to the main homepage for Asda, this is a positive find.

The next test i carried out provided me to type in ‘Groceries’ into www.yahoo.co.uk.  This test was to see what rank Asda would show up in.  The screen shot below shows that Asda did not prove popular for this test as it was the last result on the first page, where as Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s where higher within the results.  If someone hoping to do their grocery shopping online was to type in ‘Groceries’ to yahoo, it is most likely they would not even scroll to the bottom of the page when the other two leading supermarkets are shown earlier in results page.

Following this i typed “Asda’s own named brand’s” into Yahoo and the results can be viewed below.  The first result shows Asda’s own branded clothing range called ‘George’.  There are also a couple of results about Asda’s own brand daily contact lenses.  As for the rest of the results, many of them have no relevance at all.

Overall, i feel that using search engines to retrieve information about ‘Asda’ has been successful.  It was quite easy to navigate through Yahoo to find the correct information you required.  There was one issue i noticed while searching for ‘Asda’, there were no paid links displayed on the right hand side of the results page.  To conlcude, i feel that i should i have used www.google.co.uk to require this information as it is a world wide search engine where as Yahoo is UK based and may not provide as much information or detail.

Cloud Computing ”is the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources as a service over the Internet on a utility basis.” (en.wikipedia.org)  The main aim of cloud computing is to provide easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services.  The name cloud computing was derived from the cloud symbol’s that are used within flow charts and diagrams, or as we know them as ‘spider diagram’s’.  According to www.guardian.co.uk, now with the “gigabit ethernet connections in local area networks, and increasingly fast broadband, network performance has improved to the point where cloud computing looks like a feasible proposition.”

‘Cloud Computing’ is basically where IT power is delivered over the internet as you need it, rather than drawn from a desktop computer.  Large internet and technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Amazon are all promoters of Cloud Computing.

Cloud Computing’s Impact on E-Commerce

I feel that Cloud Computing is a beneficial service to use within e-commerce.  The economics of it lets innovative companies to create products that have perhaps not been possible before or are significantly less expensive than the competitors.  Cloud Computing has the aspects to be able to provide agility and control that traditional outsource cannot compete with.  Many cloud soultions will allow increasingly less involvement from the IT departments of any business.  A business will be able to take on the future Cloud computing solutions entirely using self-service.  With less barriers to create new ways to improve a business, Cloud Computing will allow the new approach steps to be carried out faster and less expensive.

The services that are hosted over the Internet are known as ‘Platforms’, ‘Infrastructure’ and ‘Software.’ 

• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) “is an outgrowth of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over the Internet.” (www.platformasaservice.com)  PaaS can also be named ‘Cloudware’, as it relocates resources from privately owned computers into the Internet ‘Cloud’.  PaaS allows the features within an operating system to be altered or updated on a regular basis. 
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) “is a provision model in which an organisation outsources the equipment used to support operations, including storage, hardware, servers and networking components.” (searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com)  This service can be viewed like a pay-and-go service, the service provider owns the equipment and releases the service to the customers, and the customers in-turn pay for the use of it. 

             Some characteristics of IaaS are:

• Dynamic Scaling
• Internet Connectivity
• Utility computing service and billing model
• Automation of administrative tasks

IaaS is also referred to as ‘Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS).’ 

• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) “is a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand.”  (en.wikipedia.org)  According to the company from www.savvis.net “The Software-as-as-Service model is causing a seismic shift in the software industry.”  Below is a diagram of SaaS. 

Clouds

There are two types of cloud, ‘public’ and ‘private.’  The public cloud provides the service of selling on the Internet.  Amazon is currently the largest public cloud provider. 

The private cloud “is a proprietary netwoek or data center.” (searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com)  It supplies hosted services to a certain number of people.

“Virtual Private Cloud” is where a service provider uses their public resources in order to create their private cloud.

 Potential Benefits

• There are less maintenance issues
• The service provides a much easier way in doing business with the customer
• Storage capacity and Backups are not a problem
• SME’s (Small to Medium Sized Businesses) do not have to implement it directly which means it can be used straight away with no hassle
• Building applications within cloud is faster and more efficient, it is five times faster which means orders can be completed within a short period of time
• The pay-as-you-go scheme can be an advantage to businesses who may find a rise in sales at a particular time of year.  No additional costs are needed to add new users.

Potential Problems

• Data is released outside the company which causes security and privacy issues.  Cloud Computing is said to be secure however it has not been proven that this is true.
• Cloud Computing relies on a constant Internet connection.  In some areas, the connections have either not been set up yet or may be an unreliable connection which may cause problems for users.
• Stored data within the cloud may be lost, we rely on the cloud if this takes place
• Some companies are reluctant to take on the Cloud structure

www.guardian.co.uk

en.wikipedia.org

searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com

www.savvis.net

Push Vs Pull

On Asda’s e-commerce website, they publish advertisements of their current offers, both online and in-store.  This is known as a pull strategy, aimed to persuade customers to purchase this product due to the value set upon it.  The advertisements make customers aware of what services Asda provide for them.  In Asda’s case, this is a wide range.  These adverts allow customers to compare prices of these products to the other leading supermarkets.  Asda allow the customer to choose a day and time of which suits them for delivery of their order.  This is a great beneficial service as it makes the customer happy, and in turn provides custom for Asda.  Asda focuses on providing a high quality service for their customers, whether they are shopping in-store or online.  They aim to provide cheaper affordable prices for their customers.  Asda have no say in what products customers decide to purchase.  Below are the push and pull model’s for Asda.  They show the process from supplier to customer.  The push model shows the communication between the supplier and Asda, interaction is essential whether it be by phone or internet.  Customers are also interactively communicating with Asda while they shop online.

Vertical Integration Vs Disintegration Vs Virtual Integration

Asda comes under ‘Virtual Integration.’  This is due to their supply chain, as they order their products for in-store and online through a supplier and a manufacturer, when the orders are processed they are delivered in-store to the warehouse and then are put on the shelves ready for customers to purchase.  Each supplier will have a price for an item which can be ordered, Asda will purchase at this price or possibly lower if they buy in large bulk.  Asda will then charge customers a higher price for these items.  The main aim for each of the sections of the supply chain is to earn a profit.  Asda have their own branded products, e.g. tinned items, these products can be set at a price of Asda’s choice as they do not have to deal with the ‘middle man’ so to speak.  Asda provide lower prices such as their ’round-pound’ deals in order to be in competition with the other supermarkets.

Evidence of Value Networks

Asda feels that Value networks are important, they are continuing to provide a number of facilities to their customers. Customers can purchase groceries, electrical goods, dvd’s or insurance online.  This is a wide range of variety for customers.  It is a one stop website, customers can go online and purchase all their necessities in one go.  Asda always aim to satisfy their customers by providing a great service and communication.  They do not want to slip below their competitors.

Evidence of Efficiencies in Supply Chain

As I stated above, customers are continually communicating with Asda when they are navigating their way through the e-commerce site.  Each time a customer chooses a product to purchase, this is communicating to Asda what the customer wants delivered.  This process is quick, easy and secure.  I have also mentioned that customers can pick their own delivery day and time.  This is an effective service for both customers and the delivery man.  When a customer is expecting their delivery, they know what time they have to be at home.  Where as if a customer does not know when delivery is expected, this can cause havoc for both the customer and the delivery man as a re-delivery would have to be sorted.  Communication is also provided through the confirmation e-mail of the customers order.  It is a quick and easy process for both the consumer and the company.

www.supplychainanalysis.igd.com

www.wikipedia.org

The threat of substitute products and services

Asda is a leading supermarket, therefore both its main competitors and its smaller competitors will also provide the same or similar types of products online and in-store.  This factor provides continuing competitiveness between all of the competitors.  Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s will be able to sell these products at a similar price to Asda as they are large companies.  Smaller local businesses will have increased prices as they do not be supplied with such a vast number of any item, as Asda would.  Therefore they will have to pay more to the supplier as they are not buying in bulk each time.  This is the reason why they are not in direct competition with the leading supermarkets.  Also, customers may need an item urgently, they are not going to travel to their local Asda for one or few items.  They will most likely walk to their local shop and pay the higher prices that are set.  The large leading supermarkets also sell their own name branded products which are sold at a lower rate to the original item.  For e.g. a tin of Asda’s baked beans costs 45p where as a well known brand costs 68p in Asda stores.  Customers are paying for the brand name rather than the product itself.  The screen shots below show the difference in prices of the same item fr0m Asda and Tesco.  There is a difference of 10p and Asda also provide a special offer of 4 for £1.  These offers are used to entice customers.  This is a good selling prospect.

The threat of the entry of new competitors (barriers to entry)

There are thousands of people within the UK that have dreams to have their own business.  In this day and age it is quite easily done, due to the amount of help that is provided by companies such as “Invest N.I” who help people or young entrepeneurs to start a business.  However, i believe that it would take an extremely large business to take customers away from Asda.  Asda has no problem in the current market being in constant competition with other leading supermarkets that already exist i.e. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons etc.  They are all similar companies to Asda as they each have stores nationwide and also have an e-commerce site available for customers.  They provide customers with all their needs.  I believe that if a smaller supermarket for e.g. Dunnes Stores or SuperValu expanded into e-commerce, it would not affect Asda’s sales or customers due to their competitive prices and long running quality customer service.

The intensity of competitive rivalry

Each of Asda’s main competitor’s are continually hoping to get bigger and better by expanding and increasing their stores, online sale’s and customer’s.  Due to their extreme similaritie’s it is difficult for Asda to always be in a healthier market position than Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s or Morisson’s.  Asda is well-known for their ‘lower prices.’  Throughout the events of the recession, Asda has still maintained a strong financial poisiton within the market.  They were deemed more popular than their competitors throughout this ‘Credit Crunch’, i believe this is due to their low prices.  They also have plans to expand by opening another 8 stores in 2010.  Asda aims to provide customer’s with quality service and quality goods, therefore, in return this should entice customer’s to become regulars.  They are in constant competition with their rivals on a daily basis, it is not only prices of items that they compete against, their is also marketing and service and not forgetting their overall aim = PROFIT.  Asda introduced their “round pound” deals to tempt customers with their lower prices.  They advertise their daily offers online which is also to lure customers to purchase.

The bargaining power of customers/buyers

Asda provide’s an e-commerce website which includes many services that are available in one easy click.  These include anything from groceries to insurance cover.  They also provide a service in their stores and a phone line is available for custom.  Their website is easily accessible and navigated through due to the different sections that are set out.  If a customer cannot find an item, there is a search box available.  Many customer’s are concerned about the price’s they pay for items.  As each of Asda’s competitors have their own e-commerce website, it is easy for customer’s to visit each of these web pages and compare prices.  This is known as bargaining.  Asda always need to be aware of what’s happening within their industry.  It is essential that they keep on top of what their competitors have planned and attempt to better this.  This may be carried out by performing analysis within their competitor’s stores and ensuring that Asda have lower prices and better service.  Growth and Profit are their main factors of aim and these have to be examined daily to make sure Asda is performing.  This is why Asda need’s to set limits and guidelines for their advertising, this is a large factor of their business as this is what brings custom.  It would be beneficial for Asda to advertise in as many way’s as possible, especially with pop-ups online as more and more people are using the internet for shopping.

The bargaining power of suppliers

According to www.guardian.co.uk “Asda is putting the squeeze on suppliers by demanding lower prices to boost its fire power in an intensifying price war with rivals such as Tesco.”   Many supplier’s are glad to be contracted to a leading supermarket, like Asda.  The supplier’s realise how popular Asda is and they know that the more Asda sells of their products, the more beneficial it is for both Asda and its supplier.  There is a continuous profit aim within each sector of the business.  If there ever happened to be an item that a supplier was providing Asda that was not selling well, Asda would have no problems in releasing the supplier from their contract and finding another.  This can be easily done due to the size of their company, they would have no problem in finding another supplier to fill in.

www.guardian.co.uk

After researching the terms & conditions for purchasing from www.asda.co.uk, I feel that their policies are very fair and ethical.  When placing an order from Asda, your card does not be charged until the package has been sent to you from their warehouse.  Customers can also easily cancel their order when the tracking system shows that the “order is placed”, “processing”, or “awaiting pick.”  These are both very customer friendly policies.

When customers purchase any electrical items in store at Asda, their receipt is placed in a free ‘Exchange & Refund’ wallet.  This covers the item for a full year after purchase, as long as the customer keeps the receipt, otherwise the item will not be covered under the ‘Asda Warranty.’  Asda also offers a 28 day exchange/refund on any electrical item, CD’s, DVD’s games and clothing that is in its original condition, a proof of purchase must be provided.  This is called the ‘Changed Your Mind’ promise.  Faulty products are returnable within 28 days and will only be exchanged for the same product that was purchased originally.

When returning an item that has been purchased online, Asda provide a similar policy to their stores.  They offer an “absolute satisfaction” guarantee where you can return any unopened and re-saleable item within 14 days of your purchase date.  Asda will then refund your credit/debit card in full when the item has been processed.

Asda provide a customer based service, their website is helpful and the support is to a high standard.  If a customer wishes to find out what will happen to their order if there is postal delays, this can be easily found within the FAQ’s section of the website.  Asda’s competitor’s website also provides information on FAQ’s, however the information is limited.

Q.8 Examine the registration process for your site, from the perspective of security. Is your data encrypted? What does this mean?

Asda state that their customer’s ”privacy is really important to us, and we understand how important it is to you. Our aim is to be as clear and open as possible about what we do and why we do it. ASDA is committed to the online privacy of all its users.”  While registering for an account, the overall security of the website seems high as the hypertext transfer protocol secure (https) is in place as well as the padlock icon to show that the information is encrypted and safe.  This is visible in the screen shot below, this means that www.asda.co.uk is safe and secure to purchase from.

 Q.9 Does the site use cookies? Find out what cookies are, and explain how cookies are used in, for example, your site.

According to www.asda.co.uk, their privacy policy states that “A cookie is a small piece of text that a website will ask permission to place on your computers hard drive. You may be prompted to agree, or your browser may be set up to automatically allow cookies.”  They make a point of stating that cookies do not allow Asda to gain access to any customer’s personal information, other than the information that they wish to share.  Asda simply wish to improve your online shopping experience.  When clicking on the privacy report when surfing the Asda website, the below screen shot appeared.  It shows that the cookies from www.asda.co.uk are safe and accepted.

According to www.guardian.co.uk “Asda continues to buck the recession with higher sales, bigger profits, more customers and an increased market share.”

Asda is continually focused on growth; they have plans to open 10 new stores this year and have hope to increase online sales.  Their own fashion label, “George” is growing rapidly.  Their sales were up by an impressive 7.2% on 2008 levels in the last months.  Asda provides competitive prices for their customers as they have several other leading supermarkets to compete with.  Their “round pound” deals have doubled in number from 2008.  This is in result of local discount supermarkets i.e. Lidl.  Asda’s finance director, Judith McKenna, said “Asda’s low prices and promotions were pulling in a record 18million shoppers per week.”

As you can see in the screen shot below, Tesco’s, has the most daily visitors of all four supermarkets, this may be due to their advertising.  The company spent a massive 77.6 million on advertising over a 10 month period; this is 20.67 million more than Asda.  According to www.statbrain.com Asda has an estimated 45,649 visitors per day.

 Q.5 Explore the processes involved in purchasing on your chosen site. Describe the different steps in these processes, in terms of the technology that is being used, from typing the web address into the browser to a product being delivered to your door.

The homepage of www.asda.co.uk allows the user to click the hyperlink ‘Start Shopping.’  As well as this option, the homepage also allows users to view ‘Daily Deals’ or to visit ‘Asda Direct’ where electrical products can be purchased.  There are also many more options available.  The site is very user friendly and provides a “store locator” service which allows customers to type in their Post Code to find their local store.

Customers can navigate easily throughout the website to add the items they wish to purchase.  It is a very simple and easy procedure.  I am not surprised than many people shop online rather than going in-store.  It saves time, a greater selection available and you can view the amount of money you have in your basket before going to the checkout. 

When you are finished shopping you can choose the day and time slot in which the delivery man will be at your door with your items.  This service is excellent as customers can choose the delivery to suit them.  It is essential that you register an account on www.asda.co.uk as they may not deliver to your address and they can also save your details in their database.  Once the customer is happy with their items, they click on checkout which brings them to the payment page.  This requires the customers to pay by credit/debit card.  When payment details are confirmed a order confirmation page will open, the order has been sent to Asda and you will also receive an automated confirmation email.  It is a very quick process and is becoming a more popular service within the UK.

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.

I believe that Asda already have a large advertising campaign.  They use their website, emails, billboards, leaflets, television, and radio to promote the company.  I feel that if Asda was to use the proposed channel of using a mobile device for e-business, that it would be a poor decision for the company.  Asda is a large business which would not benefit from this type of marketing.  It would be awkward for customers to view items on such a small screen on a mobile phone as there is a wide range of products available.  This type of channel would best suit a smaller company, such as clothing companies, websites that are on a smaller scale to Asda. 

However, I feel that using digital television access may be an idea for Asda to test.  This channel has more potential, although Asda would have to consider the costs for this.  They would have to investigate whether or not it is affordable, depending if sales are high or low at this current time.  With the current recession, this may have to be delayed for a few months until sales are at a higher level and the company feel more comfortable with their current situation.  The company is continually competing with other supermarkets, if Asda were to go ahead with this channel, it may boost sales. 

www.statbrain.com

www.guardian.co.uk

www.iabuk.net

www.alexa.com

Asda is a well-known British supermarket.  Asda is owned by the large retail company called ‘Wal-Mart’.  Their website is mainly aimed towards online shoppers.  As well as groceries, online users can also purchase clothing, electrical items, insurance etc, in one easy click.  It is a very user-friendly website.

Asda Homepage

Q.2 Use some search engines or industry sources (e.g., trade magazines online, Financial Times, etc) to carry out desk research to find out specific quantitative information about the size of the business behind the web site. Try to determine figures for turnover, number of employees, and profit for specific (recent) years. Please do so without directly contacting the company.

The Asda chain is owned by Wal-Mart, one of the world’s largest retailers.  Asda is the second largest supermarket in the UK after Tesco.  Today, Asda has over 350 supermarkets across the UK and have an employee count of 140,000.  Asda base their overall company image on having lower affordable prices than any other leading UK supermarket.  These price comparisons can be viewed on television on the ‘MySuperMarket’ advertisements.  According to www.websiteoutlook.com , www.asda.co.uk is estimated to be worth $226613.9 USD.

Q.3 Take some time to research the business behind your site. Is the web the only channel to market for this business? If so, please describe your understanding of how this business came about. If the web is not the only channel, please describe the other channels in detail. Use Channel Chain Maps (see Week 2 slides here) if possible. Try to find out how much business is won by each channel.

Asda was founded as “Associated Dairies & Farm Stores” in 1949 and changed in 1965.  Asda holds a white and green corporate image.  Asda provide a wide range of services for the public and they are continuously growing, they are aiming to employ 7,000 people this year.  With an 8.4% rise in sales within the first quarter, Asda are currently trying to win customers by setting up a “virtual store”, “a supermarket that includes everything but customers and check-outs as staff pick groceries for home delivery.” (www.ft.com)  Asda is such a large competitive company, it benefits from advertising online, on tv, billboards and flyers.  Through these ways, the company can print offers that will aim to provide custom.