Assignment #2: MKTG 437 zappos

hurray! a semi shopping assignment :P

1. the shoe I chose for this assignment is the Magdesians Anna.

2. From reading the reviews I found out that theese shoes are supposed to be very comfortable, 5 out of 6 said that they were true to width (very important) and the size is either right on or runs a half a size smaller.

3. The review wouldn't have made any difference to me in a store where I could try it on, but on the internet I think it would make me more inclined to purchase. I have a horrible time getting shoes to fit and depending on the shoe I can range a whole size, so knowing from others that with this shoe I should perhapes order a half size bigger is very important. The review helps lower the risk of the hassal of returning items to an online store which means that I'm much more likely to buy it.

4. The advantage of reading the reviews is that you have a much better idea of what you are purchasing, since you can't see it in person or try it on.
5. The advantage to zappos.com of offering reviews, even though the shoe might recieve negative reviews making it harder to sell, is costomer service, costomer opinion of the site and PR in general. Having the reviews makes zappos seem friendlier to the consumer, makes it seem like they care, and want you to make the purchase "knowing" that you will be happy. It could also help them decide which shoes to carry in the future. Shoes lines getting lots of negative reviews will probably be dropped asap.

6.Hmmm... I don't know that it would matter one way or another if a site like kencole.com that only carries its own brand of shoes has reviews or not. It's not the same as a site like zappos. If your going to kencole.com you most likely already know about ken cole shoes, you've probably had some experience of them or at least a verbal recomendation from a friend. Basically most people buying at that site probably already know everything a review would tell them making it sort of redundent. It could make consumers feel more intouch with the brand/company/whatever, and would help anyone just browsing the internet for shoes. *shrugs* It wouldn't be a bad thing, but I think it is probably unnessicary.

Assignment #1

note: it's kind of sad that inorder for me to get around to making a blog it had to be a class assignment...now onto the assignment questions:

3) potential buisness uses of blogs:
-marketing, marketing, marketing (most other things on this list could probably fall under the category of marketing, so fair warning)
-advertising
-PR
-tech support
-consumer feedback
-customer service in general

4) no, i don't think blogs are a fad. Why? because to my way of thinking fads usually only last about 2 years tops. blogs have been around a lot longer than that and are still popular. Pogs were a fad. blogs will probably be around for as long as someone wants an easy way to post/publish their thoughts on the web. well at least as long as the blog is the best format. As long as they are around and popular they will have an impact on businesses, word of mouth is one of the best forms of advertising ,good or bad, and seems to travel the quickest. The other, more personal reason I don't think blogs are a fad? I'm not an early adopter, most fads tend to pass by before I more than vaguely know they exist, but I've been hearing about blogs for a long time now, have been reading and commenting on my friend's blog for awhile and now even have on eof my own.

5)hmmm...yes I think it would be interesting if the art department here had a blog. It could be very entertaining, knowing the convoluted minds of some artists. It could also be very informative. It'd be nice if some of the art proffs would blog about jobs of theirs outside teaching, give us students a chance to get some insight into the "real world". I know everyone has office hours where you can go talk, but sometimes there are a lot of people to see/things to do for a short amount of time and it doesn't always feel comfortable to be able to just go to essentially chat.