Website Evaluation

Introduction
Retail companies usually sell and distribute goods to consumers at different places. Recently, advancement in technology has led to the development of online retail companies. These are companies that use the internet to advertise their commodities and also help consumers ask for the commodities that they would like distributed to them. RockCreek is one of these companies and is based out in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It deals with camping, hiking climbing, paddling, etc. The company owns a website that assists it and its customers to access each other fast and offer effective services. The company's website has some strengths that allow it to compete actively with those companies that offer the goods in the market. This paper will seek to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that the company is experiencing.

Strengths
The performance of the online business in relation to businesses that offer similar products is quite high. This can be attributed to several aspects in the business. RockCreek has been able to personalize its site to all its customers and this has pushed it a step forward. Customers are capable of creating their own accounts whereby they are required to provide their e-mails and passwords. The account allows the customer to gain access to all the features of the website. When a customer creates an account, he or she is capable of posting a comment to the company. The comment could be the quality of the product that the company is offering or any other general comment that the customer may deem fit for the company. These comments enable the management to improve the quality of both the products and the services that the company offers to its customers.

Improving the quality of the products and the services helps the company in competing with companies that offer similar products and services. Again, when the quality of the product is improved, more customers will prefer the company's products than products from other companies. Individuals who have accounts are also capable of giving their recommendations to the company which again helps the company and the customer. Recommendations may involve a new model that fits the customers more than the available model. The customer could also recommend the company to make some improvements on its distribution if he or she feels that the company is taking too long to distribute its products to him or her. This way, the management tries to look for means that can be used to help in meeting the customer needs and retain the customer. Recommendations of different varieties of products that the customers may require helps the company stock commodities from different manufacturers that gives the customer a list of commodities to choose from (Ralph, 2002: p.1).

A wish list helps the company know the commodities that a customer desires to meet when he or she is shopping with the company. This helps the company stock all these commodities and this way, the customers will always have all their requirements met any time that they wish to shop with the company. The personal account has been very useful to customers since any customer be it an individual or an organization who has made an order from the company is capable of tracking the progress of the order. Tracking ahs helped customers to build confidence with the company and it has also helped them make their plans for the commodities since they are sure that they will receive the commodities. Tracking of orders also helps the customer to remind the company of the times that they need their order and this helps the company to conveniently plan for the transport of the order.

The account that a customer creates helps him or her to store billing and shipping information in the account. This makes it very easy for both the customer and the company to finalize a transaction. It also increases the speed at which the transaction is finalized because most of the details that are required for the transaction are already available. An advantage of creating a personal account is that no other person can access the information in the account except the customer and the company where the customer forwards the information. The company has a privacy policy that strictly hinders the release of an individual's information in case the individual visits the website (Andy & Josiah, 2008: p.1). The company is also well known in the local region and most of the individuals would go for their shopping with the company for the good name it has built. The brand of the company is well recognized and this is for the products and the services that the company offers to its customers. The shipping alternatives that the company offers to its customers helps attract very many customers both locally and nationally.

A personal account helps a customer save a lot of time that could have been wasted in queuing since the customer only needs to open his or her account and place the order. The company's website makes it very easy for the customers to navigate and search for products by use of the drop down menus. Other features that the individuals with accounts access include an online address book that is quite convenient, the history of the orders that a person has been making, etc. the website is also designed in a way that its appearance will always make an individual to stay longer. The homepage also has some free giveaways that are quite interesting to the customer. This in turn makes the customer aware of the products that the company has for customers. The homepage also contains communication information where the customers who visit the website are informed of the upcoming local and national events; they can also view announcements and news on the same page.

Weakness
The company also faces some downfalls; it is greatly challenged by its competitors. The amount of money that is spent in developing the website is too much in comparison to the amount that the site brings back. There also lacks some commodities that can be placed in the website that can give profits back easily. Lack of national marketing greatly reduces the number of customers for the company. Most of the individuals within the country have no interest in the company since the company doesn't deal with them on a regular basis. Individuals are also not aware of the products and services that the company offers. The search engine that is available for the customers is at times not very effective especially when searching for some specific items such as the tents. One of the effects of the ineffective search engine is that the customers will not get the information that they wanted about the commodities.

It may also lead to frustrations since the customer has spent some money in searching for some information that couldn't be accessed (Ralph, 2002: p.1). Again, when customers are unaware of the details about a commodity they will tend to look for the information in some other places which leads to loss of customers. If some commodities are in the store waiting to be picked, the website does not show the availability of the information about such commodities. Any customer who visits the website when such items are in store may be deceived that the commodities are not available in the company and will thus go looking for the commodity in other places. Use of the internet is a disadvantage to those who do not have the knowledge of the internet. Use of the website therefore hinders such individuals from accessing information about the commodities that the company offers.

Opportunities
Through the use of the website, the company stands a better chance of enhancing its growth and its services to customers. The recent advancement in technology leads to innovations that can help in enhancing the website. Innovations in the internet are where the fiber optical cable is used in place of the satellite makes the transfer of information easy and fast. Technology has also led to the development of portable gadgets that can be carried in different places such as laptops and palmtops and modems which help one access the internet anywhere they wish.

This means that a customer can place his or her order at any time and in any place he or she wishes. This is important for the company because it will gain more customers due to easy and fast access of the internet. The website has an opportunity to enhance the process of selling in that many customers can now access the internet at a cheaper rate and one that is faster. This is important because the company needs to serve its customers fast and within the specified times. This will also increase customer satisfaction and attraction of other customers. Customers can make their orders from any place and at any time because the customer needs to place his or her order in the website. The customer also doesn't need to visit the company in order to verify the proceedings of the order but can track it on the website as long as the customer is registered with the website. The website when well used can help the company understand the needs of the customers (Mark, 2009: p.1).

An encouragement to the customers to list most of the commodities they are interested in within the website will help in achieving this. When the customers' needs are met, the customers will tend to be interested in buying more and more from the company and they might also refer some of their friends to the company since they have confidence in it. This helps retain customers and bring in new customers. The website has opportunities of enhancing the way that it provides the services to its customers. Better services to customers means orders are processed within the specified time and commodities are delivered in good time.

This will help in building trust within the customers and eventually lead to more orders from the customers. The company also has an opportunity to enhance the total customer's experience through the delivery of personalized web pages and services, selection, availability, free on-time shipping and lowest prices possible. This will make it easier for the customer using the website and will make him or her feel free whenever he or she is planning to make orders. The company can grow extensively due to the growth of the use of the internet. The growth will increase the profits of the company. Some of the available features can be used in conjunction with the new features so as to minimize expenses and increase profits.

Threats
The company is facing some threats that need to be addressed so as to continue serving its customers to the maximum. The website is currently facing tight competition from websites such as www.altrec.com, www.rei.com, www.sierratradingpost.com, and www.backcountry.com. These are companies that provide the same commodities to the customers and use the website for their retail. These are websites that are growing and thus pose a risk of competing for customers. The website is also spending a lot of money in marketing for its products and in integrating new technology. This is money that the company is not sure whether it will recover in the current world of competition. Some of the customers are always worried of the privacy of the information that they put on the website. The issue of online fraud is another major problem that may hinder individuals from registering with the website.

These individuals feel that the details of their personal information could be accessed by some ineffective individuals or their money could be lost in the process. Another threat is the possibility of hackers (Mark, 2009: p.1). These are individuals who destroy the system of a company with a bad intention or for the fun of it. Hackers make the system to crash whereby the system cannot function any further not unless formatting is done and the software is installed once more. The time needed to install the software may lead to the loss of many customers since the customers are not aware of the problem that they could be facing in the website. The government could develop legislations in the future that may not favor online retailing. This would mean that all the money that the company has spent in developing and maintaining the website is lost.

Conclusion
A SWOT analysis of an online retail company helps the company know its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The strengths of RockCreek help it know the strong points that it has against its competitors. One of its strong points is the creation of a personal account that helps customers have access to all the great features of the site. The weaknesses cover those areas that the website is weak in, in relation to other competitors. The opportunities are the areas where the company has chances for improvement. The threats identify all the aspects that pose great risks to the company especially where competing companies are concerned. The SWOT analysis can help a company decide the steps that it will take so as to retain its competitive advantage.


References
Andy, M. & Josiah, R. (2008). Rock/Creek Names Medium Interactive Agency of Record. Retrieved on 09-Nov-09 from http://thisismedium.com/news/rockcreek-names-medium-interactive-agency-record/
Mark, M. (2009). Rock/ Creek's New Brand Identity Recieves First Place in AIGA Design Competition. Retrieved on 13-Nov-09 from http://blog.rockcreek.com/archives/rockcreeks_new_brand_identity_receives_first_place_in_aiga_design_competition.html
Ralph, F.W. (2002). Doing a SWOT Analysis for Your Internet Marketing Plan. Retrieved on 13-Nov-09 from http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/plan-swot.htm