Business and Accounting - Coca Cola

Choose a product or service. Think of two competing brands and go to their websites, for example, for soft drinks you may go to the Coke website www.coke.com.au and Pepsi website www.pepsi.com.au.

1. Which site better embodies the marketing concept?

2. Do the websites target different age, gender, language, or cultural groups?

3. Which website looks more interested in relationship marketing?

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You can often tell a lot about a company's degree of marketing orientation by looking at its website. Look at the following sample of websites:

Tesco Stores: www.tesco.com

Lidl: www.lidl.co.uk

Dell Computer: www.dell.co.uk

Morgan Computers: www.morgancomputers.co.uk

British Airways: www.ba.com

Ryanair: www.ryanair.com

Now ask yourself the following questions about each of the sites that you have visited:

1. How well does the company's website make it easy for people to use?

2. Has the design of the website been thought out with customers in mind above all else? Or is there evidence of the website being designed to be technically good, above all else?

3. Can you contact the company easily? How many different methods can you use to contact it?

4. Is the range of products on offer customer focused in its range and depth?

5. How well integrated do the marketing, operations and personnel functions of the company appear to be?

6. Overall, would you consider the site to be a good example of a market-orientated company?

Tip Planners - Service Stations and Restaurants Manage Customer Relations by Providing Online Travel Services

Providing increased services to existing customers is a way to increase sales and gain customer loyalty. You can now find some companies that cater to travelers that are doing just that via the Internet. Exxon, Mobile and even Cracker Barrel are exploiting their potential in the area of Electronic Customer Relation Management (eCRM) by integrating new electronic channels of services with traditional ones in their efforts to provide greater value to customers.

Planning a road trip anytime soon? There are Web sites that can help you plan your next trip, making it more enjoyable and safe. You can even map out your gasoline stops along the way. Finding an Exxon or Mobile service station along your route is easy when you use one of these companies' online station locators. You can enter a specific location and get stations in that area or you can plan a route and obtain all the stations that exist along the way.

Cracker Barrel restaurant goes a step further. It helps customers find a listing for every Cracker Barrel along a proposed route by using the Trip Planner posted at the Cracker Barrel Web site. In addition to this service, each restaurant has a selection of audio books that are wonderful for helping to pass the travel time for adults and kids. You can purchase and then return them to any Cracker Barrel across the country for a full refund; minus $3 for each week you've had them. What an idea for encouraging repeat purchases and customer loyalty!

Now, visit the Mobil Travel Guide Web site to answer the following questions.

1. What types of services are offered on the Mobil Travel Guide Web site that promotes customer loyalty?

2. Explain at least two ways in which Mobil plans to increase sales through customers who visit and make use of this travel Web site.

3. Map out some travel plans with the Cracker Barrel Trip Planner to explain how this company is using the Web to increase customer loyalty.

4. See if you can find another Web site aimed at travelers and explore it more fully. What exciting things does it have to offer customers that you think will help promote sales of products?

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