苹果网站分析报告.docx

苹果网站分析报告.docx

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苹果网站分析报告

7CsEvaluationofAppleWebsite

2012/11/9

Lecturer:

Dr.EricChin

WebAdvertisingandWebPublishing

Tableofcontents

1.Introduction

AppleInc.,isanAmericanhigh-techcorporationfoundbySteveJobs,SteveWozniak,andRonaldWayneonApril1,1979.ItsmainproductsincludesMac,iPod,iPhone,iPad,IOSoperatingsystems,iCloudect.AppleheldnewconferenceonOctober24,2012,andofficiallylaunchthefourth-generationiPadandiPadminiTabletPC.Thecompanysellsproductsthroughover390retailstoresin14countries,onlinestoreandthird-partyanditsrevenuehadreachedatUS$25.922billionin2011.OurevaluationismainlyfocusonApple’swebsite.

2.BusinessModel

2.1ValueProposition

Applestoreshaveacleargeographicsegmentation.Detailsasfollows:

Figure2.1distributionofAppleStore[4]

BeinggreatnotbigisoneofApplevalues.Itfocusesoninnovationtocreategreatproductsandgivescustomersnewexperiencebecauseofeasytouse.Appledeliverieshighvaluetochangepeoples’mind,andevenimpacttheirhabits.Also,itbecomesoneofthemostvaluablecompaniesintheworldanddevelopsrapidlyinrecentyears.

2.2FinancialModeling

AppleInc.maintainsnetsalessteadygrowthfrom2009to2011.Thebelowshowsnetsalesbyoperatingsegmentsindifferentregions,netsalesandunitsalesbyproducts.

Table2.1NetSalesbyOperatingSegment,NetSalesandUnitSalesbyProduct[9]

Source:

AppleInc（From:

10-K,AnnualReport,30September2011）

0

AppleInc.keepsacertainamountofcashflowforoperating,investingandfinancingactivitiesinthelastthreeyears.Thedatabelowisthestatementsofcashflows:

Table2.2ConsolidatedStatementsofCashFlows[9]

Source:

AppleInc（From:

10-K,AnnualReport,30September2011）

AppleInc.hasaclearbusinessstrategy:

∙Bringcustomersbestexperiencebyprovidinginnovativesoftware,hardware.

∙ExpandtheplatformforuserstodownloadapplicationsandbooksfromiTunesStore,AppStoreandiBookstore.

∙Increasetheinvestmentindevelopment&researchandmarkettoenhancesalevolume.

∙Expandretailstorestopresentcompanyproductsdirectlytoattractcustomersandgivethemfirst-handexperience.

3.Webanalysisandcomparison

Table3.1WebAnalysistocompareApplewithcompetitor[3]

Site

Google

Alexa

IndexedPages

Inbound

Links

Traffic

（GlobalRank）

Reputation

（SitesLinkingIn）

70500000

6760

37

830564

2550000

3260

260

62772

14300000

3550

325

53248

159000000

18200

32

639062

1850000

1340

852

18429

ThedataaboveshowsApple’swebsitehashighglobalrankamongcompetitorslikeSamsung,Dell,Lenovo,however,relativelowerthanthebiggestcompetitorMicrosoft.Also,ithasahigherreputationinallcompetitors.Thatis,visitorshavealargeinterestedinAppleInc.resultingmanysiteslinkinginitswebsite.

4.SuperioritiesofApple’swebsite

WhenfirsttimeloginApple’swebsite,Ithinkmostpeoplewouldhaveanamazingvisualshockastheinterfaceofitshomepageisquiteaestheticandappealing.

4.1Simpleandartisticinterface

ThehomepageofApple,asFigure4.1[4]shows,usesseveralsimplewords,abigoverallpictureandsomevideostoillustrateitslatestproduct.Thisdisplaystylemakesthepointquiteoutstanding.Forinstance,itisobvioustoseeIPADminiinfrontofthescreen.And,thewholepagelookscomfortableandprettynomatterwhatthecolor（Context）orpattern（Content）itis.

Figure4.1HomepageofA[4]

4.2AFriendlynavigation

Appletakesacommonlyusedlayout--three-columntemplateinthefunctionmoduleofitsApplestore.Anditmakesfulluseofthearea.TheleftcolumninFigure4.2[4]showsthedetailedcategoryofitsproducts;themiddlecolumnshowsabriefoverviewwithalittlebasicinformation;andtherightcolumnshowssomeadditionalinformationlikeeducationdiscountstrategy.

Figure4.2StorepageofA[4]

4.3Thethoughtfulcustomization

AnotherfeatureofApple’swebsiteisitsonlinebuyingprocess.Itisveryconsideratethatthecartsummarypanelkeepsshowinginright-handsideofthepagewhileusersscrolldownthepageorchangetoanothershoppingpage.Thatmakesusersknowtheirshoppingcartstateconstantly.Anditalsoallowsuserstochoosetheiraddresstypetodecidethedeliverydate.Forexample,inFigure4.3[4],ifchoose“Thisisbusinessaddress”intherightcornerofthepage,Applewilldeliveritsproductduringweekdaysandbusinesshours.Andthemostimportantpointisthatshoppingisfreeofcharge.

Figure4.3CartitemdisplaypageofA[4]

It’sworthmentionthatApplerecentlylaunchedaservicecalledengravingwhichcanpersonalizeusers’Appleproductswithsomewordstheyprefer.Thesewordswouldbeengravedonthebackoftheproduct,asshowninFigure4.4[4].Besides,thisserviceisavailableonlythroughonlinepurchase.

Figure4.4PersonalizationpageofA[4]

4.4Sortedcommunity

Basically,thecommunityofApple’swebsiteisnotadmirable.However,itmaybeagoodtrythatithasacatalogwhichmatchesthemainservicesofferedbyApple.Iforganizedwell,itcouldhelpusersfindtheirdesiredresultmoreeasilyandextremely.ThecatalogisshowninFigure4.5[4].

Figure4.5categoryofcommunityofA[4]

5.Inferiorities

5.1Context

miscellaneousnavigation

AlthoughApplewebsitehasagreatdealofsuperiorities,therearemanyaspectscanbeimprovedtooptimizeconsumers’interface.AsDiagram5.1shownbelow,Apple’shomepageofonlinestoreisdividedintomanysquarestodistinguishdifferentinformationareasandeachbigareaissubdividedintomanysmalleronestoshowthedetailedinformation.Clearly,Applehopestoshoweverythingrelatedtotheirconsumers’activitiesbuttheresultseemstoruncountertotheirdesire.Actually,containingtoomuchinformationmakesthehomepagetoomiscellaneoustonavigateeffectively.

Diagram5.1ThehomepageofAppleonlinestore[4]

FromtheanalysisreportsofAppleandSamsungbyWebpageAnalyst,showsasDiagram5.2,wecanfindthatthereisagreatgapbetweenthenumbersoftitlesanddescriptionsbutthenumbersoflinksaresimilar.TheseresultsshowthatApple’scompetitorSamsungusearelativelysimplermenuthatleadstoamoreconvenientnavigationinterface.

Diagram5.2WebpageAnalyserreportsofAppleandSamsung[2]

Complicatedsupportsystems

Asanelectronicretailer,Applebuildsmanyassistantfunctionstosupportconsumers’maintenancerequirements.However,mostoftheseassistantfunctionsaretechnical,justlikeApple’shightechproducts,requiringconsumerhaveself-studyabilitytoexplorethewebsite’ssub-sitesaswellasthesolutiontothetechnicalissuesoftheirdevices.

The“connectApplesupport”canbeatypicalexample.Usually,peopleconnectthesupportivepersonnelviatheinteractivewebpageinterfaceandexpectconvenientafter-saleservicetohelpsolvetheirproblems.Butaftermanystepsofchoosingthedevice’shitch,consumercanonlyfindaguidearticle（Diagram5.3）thatencouragesthemselvestosolvetheproblem.

Diagram5.3TheGuideArticleofResolvent[4]

5.2Content

Badcompatibility

TheintegrativeproductmixwithhardwareandsoftwareisoneuniqueadvantageofApple.However,apartfromitspositiveeffect,thehighlyintegratedmarketingstrategybringssomecompatibilityissuesatthesametime.Laudably,Applewebsitecontainsmultiplemediastooffertheirconsumerabundantonlineshoppingexperience.Inconsequently,toviewthesevideos,consumershouldhavetodownloadApple’sownplayerQuickTime（Diagram5.4）.Websitevisitors,whoaredifferentfromcustomersthathavealreadyusedthecompany’sproducts,theymayusedifferentplatformsandvariousdevicestovisitthesite.Thus,optimizingthecompatibilityofmediaplayersbecomesanemergingproblemneededtobeimproved.

Diagram5.4theBadCompatibilityofMediaPlayer[4]

5.3Community

Lowuniversality

Asaninternationalband,Applewebsitehasnearly100locationsandseverallanguageoptionstofulfilldifferentreadingdemandallovertheworld.Strangely,thisglobalcompanyonlyhasoneEnglishwebsitecommunityforuser-to-usercommunication.AsforAppleInc.,oneinternationalcompany,ignoringnon-Englishspeakingconsumers’demandsnotanadmirableapproachintheglobalmarketingstrategy.

Immaturelocationnavigation

Anotherpointneedstopayattentiontoisthelocationnavigation.AfterconsumersenterthecommunityinApplewebsite,thelanguageaswellasthelocationwillalltransfertoUnitedState（English）.However,eventhisproblemisnotaserioussystemflaw,thelocationnavigationfunctiondoneedssomeadjustment.

Impracticalcommentsinterface

Relativelyspeaking,communityisanimmaturefunctioninApplewebsitewhichreflectsinthecommentsinterfaceespecially.Firstly,fromDiagram5.5,users’commentsanddiscussionsareorderedbytime,butthelatestnotmeansthegreatest.Managingthesecommentsbytheirqualitymaybeabetterwaytohelpuserswhentheywanttosearchsomeparticulartopics.Secondly,theill-definedsignsmaymakeusersconfused.Maybe,theselittlesigns,standfordifferentqualitiesordiscussiontypesandtheiroriginalpurposes,aretohelpusersdistinguishcommentsquality,butwithoutaclearexplanation,thelittlesignslosetheirfunctions.

Diagram5.5theImpracticalCommentsInterface[4]

5.4Customization

Toosimpleaccount

TheaccountcustomerscreateinApple’swebsiteistoosimple.Thereareonlythreeitemsinthewebpage.Cu