Every business should be online Essay

The first of the three I am going to discuss is Tesco. Tesco have become a very large household name over the past 50yrs. When the Internet was introduced to the world Tesco was one of the first supermarkets to put a website up. They put images of products on the website and showed everyone their product range. In doing this, their sales went up and they were, yet again, becoming an even larger company worldwide. Seeing that they were able to expand on the web, Tesco made it possible to apply for a membership card online, which proved to be a great success for them. Tesco saw this as a way to ‘get to know’ their market and made sure that they provided the products people wanted. Also it gave Tesco the image of good ‘Customer Relationships’, which was, and still is, a big thing for any major company. As the years went by they brought the idea of online shopping to life. It means that people were able to purchase goods without having to leave the house. You could choose all products they desired and have them delivered to your house. The only catch to the purchases is that you have to pay for the products online with a credit card, which some people are reluctant to do in case someone else gets hold of the details. Since Tesco had grown so much they also started to advertise jobs on the website for different area’s of the world. They have a link on the site, which takes you to whichever country you are in the world. Say for example I chose the English site. It would give me a list of counties then a list of all the Tesco supermarkets in that county. After going through this process it gives a list of job possibilities. This is the home page of the Tesco website. All their products are broken down into categories and then into sub categories that helps you find the shopping you need. If unable to find a specific product or service the website has a search button which enables you to locate what you are looking for. I believe that Tesco made the right decision when putting this site onto the Internet and that they have successfully become the leading supermarket in their Market. Barclays Among others Barclays bank has been one of the longest running banks we know. Even before designing a website they were very popular and have always been that, and in making their website this image has been upheld. Creating a website meant many possibilities for Barclays. It meant that people could look at all the sources of finance available to them if they were starting up a business, loans if they are in need of one, mortgage rates, etc. I managed to find a press release from Barclays website that I think represents how much they are looking out for their customers demands on the net by giving them information about upcoming events that they are holding. The press release is shown below. Barclays has developed a brand-new seminar to help small business owners and managers to boost their sales and marketing power. From April 19 until June 29 the bank will be running a programme of 22 seminars across the country – â€Å"Bright Marketing for Smarter Business†. Barclays research shows that entrepreneurs want to increase the time they currently spend on business development and marketing activity by at least 50% to 12 hours per week. Developing new business ideas and finding new customers are essential for any business and attendees of the seminar will receive a wealth of information, tips and advice on everything from differentiating themselves from competitors through to better understanding customers and how best to attract them. Alison Hopkins, Managing Director of Small Business at Barclays said: â€Å"Good marketing can be the key to success. It is vital to be able to identify and meet the real needs of customers, whilst at the same time remaining profitable. The Bright Marketing seminars provide valuable advice to help small businesses continue to succeed and grow†. The seminars have been developed by Barclays and is being delivered by leading business and marketing guru, Robert Craven. Robert is author of ‘Kick-start Your Business’ and ‘Customer is King’. He is also managing director of The Directors’ Centre, has run his own restaurant, sound recording studio and training company and was formerly head of small business programmes at Warwick Business School. The seminar is free of charge and is open to all small businesses whether they are Barclays customers or not. Businesses who wish to attend Barclays â€Å"Bright Marketing for Smarter Business† can book online by visiting www. business. barclays. co. uk/bb/seminars or call 0800 028 4002. By allowing the public view press releases on the Barclays website it gives customers an idea of what Barclays are doing with their time and how they try to help everyone they can. Not only has Barclays accumulated a lot of information for their website, they have shown their customers, and potential customers, what is available to them when they bank with Barclays. Below is an image of the home page of the website. On the front page of their website Barclays have included a long list of options, into which you can search through their site to find what you are looking for. So in this instance of Barclays I believe that they have been very triumphant in producing this website for the public. Warner Bro’s Being one of the largest production companies of films and T. V shows, it is obvious that Warner Bro’s would have a website.