Last week we turned in our rough draft of the whitepaper, which was a compilation of all three of our sections. Evan’s section was first and contained information on the possible options for who would set up the website. Possible options including using internal workers already on the Knight staff, outsourcing the job to a third party specializing in designing web stores, or lastly a combination of the two.
Matt’s section included design options, as well as payment methods. Design options included podcasts, images, text, and diagrams to name a few. Video demonstrations could also be used to illustrate how products are used. Combining the effects may also be useful to draw emphasis to certain sections of the site. Customer service could also be available on the site. This would offer customers a way to ask questions and also service their products. Payment options may include the popular option for internet payment called Paypal, which provides extra security to customers. Checks, and credit cards can also be used as payment. There is also a choice between whether to run the payments within the company or to hire a third party to handle payments.
Lastly my section contained options for marketing and advertising. Options for advertising include television commercials, mailing lists, and e-mails to existing customers. Marketing themes include promoting the 50th anniversary of the Knight Corporation, and sending out promotional coupons to name a few.
We plan to revise our paper this week. We will also be adding both an introduction and conclusion paragraph to the paper. We will also be adding the recommendation to not add a store to the online site. This would be due to the fact that it is hard to sell disability equipment to people without first measuring the product to fit the specific person. Our group will also be putting together our presentation this week.
Response
Oh I forgot about that last section. I think it is important to inform them not to add the online store. In addition to your reasoning, Knight Corporation likes to maintain a reputation as friendly and personable. However, an online store is impersonal and mechanical. Knight Corporation would have to sacrifice their "local" image if they wanted to expand to online sales.
We also need to write out our bibliography.