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Deliverable B
Michael Baez | Nick Napoli | Zakiyyah A Claybron
Michael Baez
ECT 455
September 24, 2011
Overview of Website
I am going to do a web analysis of Park For Wrigley which is considered
a rival site for our website, Cub Parking = cubparking.com. The URL for
the website is http://parkforwrigley.com/.
The e-commerce category that this site belongs to would be business-to-consumer
(B2C). This category is where businesses sell products or services to individual
consumers. Their value proposition is “Park for Wrigley provides you
the opportunity to purchase parking for Chicago Cubs home games and other
Wrigleyville events in advance. Our state-of-the-art system allows you to
pay for parking online and print out your access barcode, saving you the
time, expense and headache of trying to find parking on the way to the ballpark.
All available parking is conveniently located near Wrigley Field in Standard
Parking managed self-park facilities.” Park For Wrigley is unique
from their competitors because they allow customers to pay for the parking
spaces online and the parking spots are also managed and supervised by self-park
facilities. Also, as a bonus not only does this website allow parking for
events for Cubs Games, but also for other Wrigleyville events.
The Revenue Model this website uses a Fee-for-Transaction. These are businesses
offer services for which they charge a fee that is based on the number or
size of transactions they process. More specifically, Park For Wrigley can
be considered an event ticket industry and business because they are soliciting
their services for parking spots during popular baseball and events that
happen in Wrigleyville. Park For Wrigley directly integrates with other
channels by cross promoting events that are going on within the Wrigleyville
area. By being an open site to allow viewers to find events in the area,
they are possibly able to reach a venue outside of the Chicago Area. Also
there is a list on the main page that allows viewers to easy designate the
events parking that is available through their website. There is no mobile
presence that allows the user to carry the app with them in their pocket
through their mobile phone. So the user must previously plan out the purchase
for the event before leaving their house, and last minute impulse buying
has been diminished. There is no global presence listed on the page. Although
there are plenty of local website partners; cubhub.com, just one bad country,
soldier field, Chicago Traveler, and Twin Cities.
Intended Customers
The intended customers for this website are those looking for ample parking
spaces at events in Wrigleyville. The advantage for this website are that
the customers can vary in age and gender. The customer is not pinpointed
by a certain demographic, and the website has the potential to outreach
to those people who are attending the numerous sporting or leisure events
in the Wrigleyville area. The website has no real appeal visually. The colors
and graphics are minimal, and the point of the website is more of for purpose
than being visually attractive. Although, the appearance of the website
is aesthetically pleasing, the purpose of the website is strictly for planning
and booking parking spots for popular events. The site does not cater to
different types of customers. The website is overwhelming attuned to the
type of customer that plans out their events ahead of time. Patient and
analytical buyers would be pleased with the layout of this website because
the events are accurately posted according to the date. Before purchasing,
these types of buyers want to explore all the possible options. As previously
stated, impulse buyers would be more lured to the services if the website
was app based on a mobile phone because if the customer was lured to the
event at the last minute the app would be readily available to purchase
parking spots while on the go.
Usability
The websites special interface feature and arrangement could have some room
for improvement. Although the website is easily laid out to display the
recent events that are going on in the area, if a customer is interested
in purchasing a parking space then they must also be a registered customer
of the website. In order to complete the order of the preferred parking
space for the event, the customer must have already created an account or
create a new profile on the spot. This is most likely for security reasons
since the customers credit card information is going to be shared on the
website as well. There is also a defined toolbar in the top right corner
of the main screen that instructs the user to sign in, reach his or her
cart, logout, or contact someone from the business. Other than the difficulty
in designating a new or current customer of the website there is not an
issue with navigating because the site only has a main page with the options
for the events listed accordingly, and the steps for purchase following
automatically.
Attract
The site does not actively market or advertise itself in order to attract
higher customer usage. The best chance the website has for publicity is
if a user were to type in keywords for finding parking spaces for an event
in Wrigleyville. As previously stated there is only a handful of outside
companies and businesses that cross list their services for Park For Wrigley.
One aspect of the site that may turn away some customers is the availability
of the credit card companies accepted. Discover is the only major credit
card company that is not accepted, and for people who do not have other
options must look to another competitor service. In order to bring customers
back to the site they must also be reliable enough to have service return
to the website.
Interact
The tools and features the website provides to enhance customer experience
are the interactive calendar function, the customer log in feature, and
the social networking tab. These three features alone provide enough support
to have the website be exposed outside of the actual website. The calendar
feature allows events to be listed chronologically and then the parking
space buying feature follows shortly after. The final step of purchasing
a parking spot is putting the customer information in to access the credit
card number. The customer login feature ties in with the parking spot purchasing
because before a customer can proceed with getting the ticket they must
first have credit card information. By saving their information for a later
purchase, the process can go much faster the next time. However, because
the program is not implemented on a mobile device, the service can only
be reached beforehand on an actual computer before the customer has departed
for their event. The social networking tabs on the lower left allow for
users and customers to link their accounts or information through Facebook
and Twitter. By personalizing their information to the events on the website
the customer feels more appreciated.
Act
The site processes order placement through an interactive system that allows
the customer to input their credit card information, and the website returns
the ticket. Thus, the business takes the money from the credit card account
and then gives the parking ticket on the users personal account. The company
only allows refunds for events that have been cancelled with proof. Under
their terms of usage, the business says that the customer has to review
their order before purchasing. Otherwise the company cannot refund the money
because of the fault of the customer. Ordering the parking tickets through
mail order is also allowed, and a certain amount of ticket purchases is
allowed per parking space and event. When tickets are purchased through
the mall the order takes at least fourteen days to arrive, or if UPS is
used it takes up to two complete business days to arrive. This allows for
all customers to have a chance of getting a spot they desire without having
a buyout from someone else.
React
The site maintains customer service and support by offering a toll free
phone number for any customers having issues to call. However, the customer
services hours are only open during the weekdays from 9am to 6pm with some
extended hours on event days. Does this mean that customer service hours
also apply to weekends when an event day is in progress? There is also a
contact us link that is available on the website. When this link is hit,
the website automatically brings the user to an email service where the
customer can get in contact with the business representatives. The site
does not have multi-language support, which hinders the amount of exposure
the website could potentially have for customers that do not speak or read
English. There should at least be another website link that would take the
user to a page that was in a language of choice. This type of website would
be beneficial for tourist season.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths – The Company does well with keeping the parking space purchasing
to a simple process. The more a user has to do in order to complete their
order, the more time the person has to rethink what they are actually doing.
The business has an established fan base because of their loyalty to the
Chicago Cubs Baseball Team. In order to bring customers back every event
and season their services need to be accommodating and up to par with competitors.
Weaknesses – The Company does not do a good job of making their purpose
outright. A majority of the main webpage is a large graphic with the bottom
of the page being used for the actual purpose of purchasing a parking spot.
Although once the process has been started, the customer has their product
in no time at all. The problem could be avoided by having the first part
of the process on the main web page with simple instructions for the rest
of the steps. The company does not seem to have any financial liabilities,
although if the customers do not come back for service they will not get
much revenue for their business.
Opportunities – Industry progress seems to be moving forward because
as fans come back every year for games and expect to have parking spaces.
No new markets are presenting themselves for this current business because
the services are only explicitly for parking space occupancies. The best
way for this company or business to make more money technologically is by
exploiting mobile phone applications. This app would allow the users to
purchase parking tickets while on the go. This would create a broader audience
for the types of customers that would use this service. The chances of the
heightened purchases may also be possible because of the age group who has
smart phones.
Threats – The competitors keep the purchasing process more synchronous
and better laid out so that customers would better understand how the website
works. The only major obstacle that this website faces is by not having
their services branch outside of the immediate Chicago Area. By catering
to other major metropolitan areas the amount of customers that this service
can reach out to.
Conceptual Development
Some of the features of this website can be helpful for the development
of our current website because some of the features of the website are different
and similar to the other. Taking an analysis of the competitor website allows
our website to better understand how the other business works and what we
can do to improve upon our experience to make the customers even more happy.
Some improvements that I would recommend to enjoy the experience on the
website even more would to add more appealing graphics to the main page.
Also, to not overwhelm the customer, by not having the main page so crowded
the user won’t feel so nervous when opening the page for the first
time. For those users who aren’t familiar with the website might be
turned off to buying the parking space.
Nick Napoli Ivanovich
www.CubParking.com
ECT 355
Deliverable B
09/24/2011
Overview of Competitors Website
I compared our website to that of our friendly competition in www.SpotHero.com. Seeing as how they have a similar model to us in that they provide a service, (parking) to customers driving to Wrigley Field , they also use a Business to Customer model. Their value proposition states that “In the midst of constant innovation, the system of parking has remained largely unchanged for Idecades. Enter SpotHero. A welcome innovation. SpotHero allows you to:
1. Make extra cash, by renting out your
parking space or driveway when you’re not using it
2. Park in previously unavailable spots with a prepaid reservation
3. Reserve your parking spot online and avoid the parking hassle.
SpotHero will save both time and hassle and allow you to make extra income
that you previously were unable to make. SpotHero is starting with Chicago
parking. If you would like your city included, please suggest it by contacting
us.
Though they are unique from CubParking.com in that they offer parking all over Chicago instead of for solely Wrigley Field. They like the rest of the competition rely entirely on Internet traffic and online sales to generate revenue. Like us at CubParking, they use a Fee-for-Transaction model. Also like us, the do a good amount of cross-promoting with local bars and restaurants to help build brand awareness. This allows them to integrate with other channels in the same parking territory. There is no mobile app for this site though like our site it seems usable on a mobile web browser.
Intended Customers + Usability
Unfortunately, we share the intended
customers! Anyone looking to purchase parking for events at Wrigley Field
are our intended customers. This website also markets itself to anyone of
legal driving status rather than by gender and age group. Seeing as how
the age range in the crowd at a Cubs game can vary from infant to senior,
our customers are anybody within that range (age 16+) that drive to the
game. This particular site (SpotHero.com) doesn’t have much visual
appear. There is a plain white background throughout the entire site with
somewhat organized texts and links to help users navigate throughout the
site. There aren’t any broken links and the site is relatively user-friendly.
An impulsive shopper would easily make it all the way to checkout, but their
Amazon.com checkout module really slows down the user. An impulsive Internet
shopper or someone in a hurry to get out the door to Wrigley Field, upon
checkout might close the site down and choose a different site or just pay
cash for parking when they arrive to the neighborhood and find parking then.
At CubParking.com, our checkout was custom-designed to be “on-site”
to allow for a drastically quicker credit card checkout process. This helps
generate not merely web-traffic but a higher conversion rate.
Attract
This site doesn’t actively market
itself although they do implement a blog to allow their site to build relevance
in organic listings and customer feedback. They were also featured in the
Business section of the Chicago Tribune. Other than offering parking around
Chicago, there isn’t much to attract people to this website. Their
social networking at does keep people actively interested and subscribed
to SpotHero.com news and updates. Their Facebook fan page and Twitter does
have a decent amount of follower and fans.
Act/React
This site allows people to avoid the stress of parking all around the Chicago land area. Their customer service policy seems sound in that both co-founders are easily accessible by phone and email. They have a strict no-refund policy unless events are cancelled and parking is cancelled 24 hours in advance or for whatever reason, parking services were not rendered at the fault of the parking provider.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths. This site has many strengths.
Their site is very well organized and easy to use. The URL is easy to remember
and the graphics on the home page immediately let a user know this site
is in the business of providing parking. They started in Wrigleyville and
will always have steady traffic 6 months of the year during Cubs season
as a result. They use social media and email marketing to the fullest. Their
blog keeps users in tune with company news and customer feedback.
Weaknesses. This site has only a couple weaknesses. The biggest one has
to center around their check out process. The last page, in which a customer
enters credit card information, will always have the highest bounce rate.
That being said they also use a checkout app that makes it even more difficult
to completely process a transaction. I would highly recommend they use a
different checkout app like paypal or custom design an ‘in-house’
checkout shopping cart module.
Opportunities. Seeing as how there will not likely be a dedicated parking
garage built for Wrigley Field anytime soon, this market of game day drivers
will be here for a long time. Though the business is seasonal, it is consistent
6 months out of the year. As time and technology progresses, more and more
people will be turning to the Internet to resolve their daily hassles like
finding parking. That being said, more and more people will traffic via
search engine to a site like this one in the future, which should be good
for business.
Threats. One major threat to this business is our business. We don’t
require our residents be home to greet the drivers parking on their property,
we handle the parking operations. We also provide a clear and present advantage
in that our clients parking sells nearly 100% of the time because we don’t
rely entirely on internet to sell our client’s parking spots. We utilize
game-day traffic off Addison St, Belmont Ave, and Irving Park St, to sell
our resident’s available parking all over the neighborhood, effectively
putting more cash more frequently in the hands of our residents over the
course of the Cubs season. When word of this spreads to SpotHero’s
clients, their customers could flee to CubParking.com where they do less
work and make more money.
Conceptual Development
Based on my analysis of this website,
some of the features that will be helpful for our site might be that our
site is easier to use. A new customer can get from the home page, to the
new customer sign up page, to our spot selection and checkout in under 5
minutes. We also donate to charity, which could do some good for the community
as well as generate interest in our business. A few practical improvements
we could make to improve customer loyalty might be a referral discount system
and repeat customer discount system. This could help generate new customers
via referrals as well as generate loyal/repeat customers, which any business
owner will tell you, is the life blood of any healthy business.
Zakiyyah A Claybron
ECT 455
Deliverable B
September 24, 2011
Overview of web site
www.parkwhiz.com
The e-commerce categories that the site belong to are B2C and B2B. It is
a B2C site because it provides a way for consumers to find an available
parking space at a variety of venues. It is a B2B because it also provides
internet tool services to businesses small and large who have parking structures
available.
Their value proposition is “Find a guaranteed, reserved parking space
on ParkWhiz and never waste another minute hunting for parking.” They
are very unique from other competitors because a lot of their competitors
just focus on offering reserved parking spaces near one local venue (Wrigleyville).
ParkWhiz help businesses that own parking structures offer reserve parking
spots near airports, stadiums, and theaters in different locations across
the US.
The revenue model used by ParkWhiz is fee-for-transaction. This is because
the middle man/agent is removed from the situation because the web site
provides the consumer with the ability to purchase from the site and have
their ticket for their reserved parking space on their phone or they can
print out a physical ticket.
The website integrates with other channels such as parking facilities. This
is due to the fact that ParkWhiz offers a prepaid parking reservation system
to people or companies that own parking facilities, so that they can offer
their consumers an easy and efficient way to park. ParkWhiz offers it internet
and smart phone services to businesses and those businesses tell their customers
to use ParkWhiz to reserve their space.
ParkWhiz offers a mobile site for iphone and smart phone users. Consumers
can reserve a parking space on the site, use their phone as their parking
pass (consumer don’t have to print out their pass), and check into
their space from their phone (no human contact is necessary).
A global presence is possessed by ParkWhiz because they offer their services
throughout the US. So if you are travelling from another country and you
are visiting the US, you can use ParkWhiz services. They don’t offer
parking outside of the US, but if you are in the US you can use their services.
Intended Customers
The intended customers for the website is for all drivers who may need to
reserve a parking space for an event or any businesses that would like to
use the services of ParkWhiz for their parking facility.
The site provides a utilitarian experience because people that come to this
site have the purpose of reserving a parking spot and it allows for that
without many distractions. The site is not made for entertainment but it
does offer social media interaction through a blog, facebook, and twitter,
so this may prove as a great hedonic experience.
The site caters to the impulsive, patient, and analytical buyers in different
ways for each. The analytical buyer is the primary target buyer because
these shoppers know what they are looking for and they have done their research.
If they choose to use ParkWhiz site, they are sure about their purchase
and they tend to become loyal customers. The patient buyer will purchase
from ParkWhiz if the price and location is right for their parking reservation,
so there may not be as much loyalty unless they have found ParkWhiz to be
the best economically more than a few times. For the impulsive buyer, they
may use ParkWhiz because the site offers quick buying through the website
and also through the mobile site, but they still may decide to just purchase
their tickets once they are at the event.
Usability
The site provides a lot of content and it is very helpful, but I had difficulty
coming across some of the information. There is no sitemap for the site,
but it does have a help link that can be of assistance in coming across
additional information on the site. There are several navigation tools on
the page, which can be confusing… but overall the site is easy to
use if you are on there just to get your reservations for parking.
Attract
ParkWhiz focuses on a specific service, parking reservation, so it attracts
many people because it offers a variety of parking reservations for a variety
of venues. Also when you search for parking, ParkWhiz is one of the first
links you come across on the search engine sites. On the homepage of its
site it explains how to use ParkWhiz and it also shows a majority of the
places where you can reserve your parks at. Also due to ParkWhiz having
a variety of business consumers with parking structures, their consumers
have additional marketing tactics that influence their customers to use
ParkWhiz for convenience.
Interact
The website offers a few tools to use to enhance the customer experience.
One of the first tools it offers is a reservation search and calendar database;
so that the consumer can have accurate up to date information on what is
available for their reservation. Also there is a payment system set up,
so that customers can conveniently use a credit or debit card for their
purchase. They also use credit card verification so that they can verify
that their consumers who want to sell their parking spaces are who they
say they are. If you don’t want to use the credit card verification,
you can speak with a representative as well. They also promote that you
read their blog site, but there is not a strong presence for social medias
such as facebook or twitter on their main site. It promotes twitter and
facebook interaction once you have an account, so that you can provide feedback
to your friends and family and get a 10% discount. Also on the blog it promotes
interaction with twitter and facebook, but it just lacks that social media
presence on the main site. With signing up for an account you are sent reminders
of your purchases, which may help a lot of people remember, but it is an
optional feature. Also for convenience your smart phone or iphone can be
used to reserve a parking space, used as their parking pass, and check into
their space from their phone.
Act
The site offers services to businesses or individuals that wish to sell
their parking spaces in various locations. Businesses have the option to
sign up through the website or over the phone for services and they are
provided the software that they need so that the site can remain accurate
with what is available at the different parking facilities.
If you are a consumer purchasing a parking reservation you have the ability
to pay online through a computer or through your smart phone. Also the site
offers consumers the ability to get a raincheck from the owner of the park
if the event you were going to attend was cancelled and you didn’t
use the parking. Also you can get a refund as long as you cancel your reservation
24 hours in advance of the start of your reservation and it can be setup
through your account on the site.
ParkWhiz allows the consumer to print their ticket or use an E-ticket (phone
displays their ticket) to present to the parking attendant and then they
will show the customer to their parking space. Also ParkWhiz gives a 100%
guarantee, so if the reservation is not honored the customer is given a
refund. Also it provides businesses with a safe and secure marketplace for
selling their parking reservations.
React
The site offers customer service and support through providing help page,
where you can get your questions answered if you need help on the site.
Also contact information is provided on their site, so that if you have
additional questions or if you need help with your services you can contact
them directly and they say they will respond to you during their normal
business hours. The site does not have multi-language support, so that can
be hindrance in earning potential international consumers.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths – ParkWhiz caters to different venues within the US which
is a great way to maximize on profits. They not only provide parking services
to consumers, but they also provide internet and marketing services to different
parking facilities throughout the US. This gives them a greater advantage
over other parking services that only offer parking reservations in their
local areas. Also Park Whiz offers a great technology presence, where you
can make reservations through the computer as well as through your smart
phone. This gives them an advantage over their competitors because many
do not offer those services through the smart phone technology.
Weaknesses – ParkWhiz handles such a widespread of locations that
some consumers may just want to stick with a parking reservation web site
that just caters to one specific location. This may cause them not to get
as much local loyal customers. Another weakness is that ParkWhiz site can
be somewhat difficult to navigate and find additional information, unless
you really explore the site. They should maybe simplify their site and add
a sitemap to make it more maneuverable.
Opportunities – They should make their social media presence known
on their official website because it let consumers know that they can find
additional reviews whether good or bad through facebook and twitter sites.
Also it is a great way to show that you are in tune with new technologies.
Threats – Right now ParkWhiz stands alone in the services that they
offer to a widespread of consumers. If a competitor built up the momentum
to become as huge as them that may cause them to see a decrease in their
revenue, but for now there are no major competitors that offer the type
of services that ParkWhiz offers now. As long as they stay technology saavy
and no major competitor enter into the market and offer services at a better
price they will continue to be successful.
Conceptual Development
A feature that may be helpful to our site is offering more incentives such
as discounts for incorporating customer loyalty feedback on the social media
sites. Another feature we can add is incorporating a mobile site for customers
to have the ability to purchase parking from their smart phone and receive
the information for their parking choice right away. By adding the two features
mentioned above it could help our site reach a greater potential of our
target market.