Google Apps Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Google Apps - Essay Example The number of domains the Google owns may range to dozens providing services like stock quotes, news headlines, images, email service and many more. The request for information is generally in forma of query and in just fraction of a second the query gets processed and is displayed on the users' screen (Google Inc). The Google which we see today has begun its project as a research project. It was hypothesized by Larry Page and was later assisted by Sergey Brin. The techniques over which search engines were based in 1996 used to display results according to the number of times the search term appear on the page. Larry and Brin worked on the concept that that for better results if the search engine analyze the relationships between the websites. The website and the page with the most links from other relevant sites, is considered as the most relevant site related to the query entered. With this thesis Google came into existence using Stanford website with the domain name being google.stanford.edu. Later in 1997, the domain google.com came into existence and in 1998 the company Google Inc became a reality (Wikipedia). The main business of Google is to generate revenue through online advertising. It provides the advertisers the most deliverable and cost effective online advertising opportunity through pages which are most relevant to the product which are being advertised. These advertisements are displayed according to the query searched for and hence are beneficial for both user and the advertiser. The Google AdWords program helps advertisers to promote their products and the Google AdSense program helps many website managers to generate revenue with ad participation though Google (Google Inc). Among all the services Google provides its users, Google Apps is the one which can have a major impact on usage of Office software. In complete sense Google Apps can be said as a service being hosted by Google for business purposes. The communication and collaboration feature of Apps makes it good enough of businesses of any size. This Web based service of Google provides its users tools to ensure collaboration on documents and spreadsheets. The documents can be shared and modified. The libraries for the reference materials can be built. Google provides this service in three different forms. The standard edition is free and has fewer features. It can be used for both normal users as well businesses purposes. The educational version contains all the available features but is available for the colleges and institutions. The condition for being a part of this is that the institute should use for educational purposes, sharing and research. The premium edition of Google Apps is available at a cost of $50 per user account per annum. This edition provides all features that are present in Google Apps. Charging money for its product is something very unique in case of Google. From the beginning Google has generated revenue through advertising tools. Almost all of the soft wares right from searching tool in late 90s of the last century to till date have been made available by Google free of cost. Even Google Apps launched in August 2006 providing services like webmail, calendaring, VoIP, word processing, spreadsheets has been free of cost. Only the premium edition launched this year with target market ranging from small

The Marketing Mix for Pets.com Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Marketing Mix for Pets.com - Case Study Example Diversity of product was what differentiated the site from other competitors, both online and bricks-and-mortar, thus attracting more potential target segments. During the launch and growth period of Pets.com, product was one of the primary selling points along the marketing mix. Place was emphasized for convenience, providing new opportunities for consumers to get pet products without having to visit a bricks-and-mortar competitor. Place was important in the late 1990s as the Internet was just beginning to become part of consumer lifestyle and thus represented innovation in sales strategy. Furthermore, price was an important part of the marketing mix. This was reflected in the company’s guarantees for a flat rate shipping fee of $4.95 regardless of the volume and weight of the products being delivered. Sales and discounting incentives that provided further value also emphasized the company’s focus on pricing as a differentiation tool. Finally, Pets.com also utilized pr omotion effectively, gaining brand exposure through cross-promotional strategies with The Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. A very large expenditure to be included in the 2000 Super Bowl ad gave the company considerable promotional exposure and gained more consumer interest in the process. Analysis of Differentiation Strategy Diversity of product variety served to differentiate from other pet-related competition, illustrating that the business wanted to gain market attention and assist many different target segments. However, there were difficulties with this strategy as the company did not maintain the distribution and warehousing capacity needed to support this differentiation tactic. Further, holding costs of high volume inventories must be considered that include lighting, labor, and taxation that can significantly raise operating costs (Heizer and Render 174). Sales and discounting incentives also differentiated the business from competition. The advantage of this is that pr ice-sensitive consumers are more attracted to the business model over competition. When offering a flat rate guaranteed shipping price, this also had advantages related to price. Furthermore, using expert consultations from experts in the pet field, such as breeders and scientists, gave the business more credibility and expressed perceptions of competence to many target segments. Some of the differentiation strategies were implemented successfully, including having expert information available to pet owners that gave the business a better market position under quality. However, discounting and high volume merchandise selection offerings conflicted the process of avoiding losses associated with operational budget. If the business had re-examined its low flat rate shipping policy and redetermined its distribution network strategy, it is likely the cost of goods sold would not have been so high and attracted more investor confidence and interest in common stock purchasing. The Product- Market Growth Matrix Analysis Adding horse products to the business model was a diversification strategy, branching into untapped or new markets with a new line of relevant products (Boone and Kurtz 218). The result of this strategy along the product-market growth matrix proposed by Ansoff is having presence in a new market where the business had not previously been devoted. The company’s diversification strategy, however, was not efficient, especially since the business did not have the capacity to sustain such high volume inventories and inventory holding costs. Horse ownership is a niche market and most consumers procure their products from local organizations and, because of this, it is not likely that Pets.com would have gained much revenue growth in an effort to lure horse enthusiasts to buy