Below are some examples of web personalisation from my account on trackitdown.net

The above screen shot shows some tracks that I may like based on my favorite tracks.

This Screen shot shows some tracks that have suggested that I purchased based on previous purchases I have made.

This screen shot show use of collaborative filtering. I have been suggested the following tracks based on the ratings that I have given tracks. This means that any track I have rated five star I will then be showing tracks that other customers have rated five stars.

I would say that I am very much in favor of web personalisation, not just on the trackitdown.net site but on e-commerce sites generally.

I prefer  that a site does take notice of what I am purchasing and then suggest different items upon my next long in as it can save a lot of time searching through the site for a particular item. One of the main reasons I like the personalisation on the trackitdown site is that it can sometimes direct me to a track that I have been looking for but just didn’t know the name of it.

Although there are many benefits to using web personalisation there is also many disadvantages to this as well. Many customers would prefer that such information was held on there purchases. Also many sites will suggest items that have no relevance to what the customer is after and this can become annoying for customers.

To help with this I used the Google search based keyword tool that provide me with a list of keyword based on google search queries.

First off I search for the web address itself. A lot of the result that came back where for equipment that trackitdown sells. This surprised me as the site is mainly known for its MP3 downloads. The Top keyword was helvetic, a record label from the site getting 8,200 monthly searches.

As I didn’t agree with a lot of the of the keywords from my previous search, I moved on to the next tool. This time I used google insights search tool. Using this site I used 4 different phrases that you would find associated with the website. They where: dj top 10 bundles, mp3 tracks, house music and download music. I then used the filtering section to see the results for the UK in 2009.

As you can see from the results above download music was the most popular result, where as dj top 10 bundles and mp3 tracks failed to show much interest.

Another tool I used was google ad words. This provided me with better keywords that where more relevant to the site. The search tool grouped the keywords and then listed other keywords that related to each group.

I don’t think that I gathered the best selection of keywords using the google tools. I then used the following site http://keywordfinder.org/index.php that help generate a listing of keywords related to the site.

From using the tools aboved I have narrowed down the following 12 keywords that I feel best describe the website.

1. House Music

2. Dance Music Downloads

3. Top 10 Tracks

4. New Releases

5. MP3 Downloads

6. Dance Charts

7. Remixes

8. Electronic Music Download

9. Music Samples 

10. Techno Music

11. New Additions

12. Dance Store

After searching for the trackdown.net site I was met with loads of results. Each result up until page 10 was all links to the trackitdown.net site. As well as these result there was also five sponsored link and each of these links where also linked to the trackitdown.net site. So this is good that there is so many links there for the site.

Now what I wanted to checked was to see how many links appeared for the site when I tried various other keywords as my search. My next search was “dance music download store”. I was surprised with the result that came back. Trackitdown.net is one of the leading digital download stores for dance music but yet it was not within the top ten results on the first page.

What I did notice was the two other competitor sites that I have compared with trackitdown.net are listed there “http://www.audiojelly.com” www.audiojelly.com was the first result and  ”http://www.beatport.com” www.beatport.com was the eighth. Trackitdown,net was actually listed as number thirteen on the second page. This position will have a huge impact on the site as a lot of potential customers may click on some of the first links.  

My next search was for “top 10 dj charts mp3 bundle”. The reason I searched for this was because trackitdown.net offer bundle packages of various DJs top 10 chart. A link was there for trackitdown.net but it was ninth on the first page, again if trackitdown want to attract customers they will have to make sure that there site is coming out on top on all related searches.

I think that trackitdown.net would have to look further into marketing there site so that it can be one of the first sites listed when searched for not just when the website name is searched for. 

Cloud-computing has many benefits and is now first preference for most companies now days as it cost less than installing the apps yourself as there is no need for companies to pay for people, products and facilities to run them. Another main benefit of cloud computing is not having to be dependant on the one machine, this means that users can access there files and programs on any computer with an internet connection.

Like everything cloud-computing also comes with its disadvantages. One main disadvantage of cloud-computing that could have great impact on a business would be loss of internet connection. With internet connection not being completely stable and reliable users cant always be guarantee to be able to access their apps.  Another one of major disadvantages is the security of the data stored in the cloud. At the minute it is too early to say if cloud-computing is completely secure.

Cloud-computing will have a huge impact on e commerce as it will be a lot cheaper for businesses to use as it does not require any hardware or software and users will only have to pay for what they use.

Push vs pull supply models:

Trackitdown.net uses the pull supply chain model as method of attracting customers. Trackitdown.net boast that it’s first for getting tracks and also offers exclusive tracks that have yet to be released on any other digital download site, in doing this trackitdown.net are pulling customers in.

Vertical integration vs disintegration vs virtual integration:

Trackitdown.net uses virtual integration for its supply chain management. The company rely on all the products that are sold on the site to come from a third party supplier. As the site is dependant on these products they will keep a close relationship with their suppliers.

I have looked at trackitdown.net marketing strategy and it appears that trackitsdown.net did not use the process of market penetration. When the site started out it was selling MP3s only at the cost of £1.49 per track, and still does now. If they where to sell at a lower price at first then not much profit would have been made after payment to the record labels.

Evidence of value networks:

The relationship between trackitdown.net and its suppliers is extremely important for the site. The record label and manufacturers will set there own price for there products and this will determine the price that trackitdown.net can sell it for on the web site. If trackitdown.net can negotiate a good price with there supplier then this means that they would be able to make more profit from the sale of the product on the site. If trackitdown.net was to lose one of its suppliers this would have a huge impact on the company, as they would have to start out again to seek a reliable supplier. So this shows evidence of the value of networks that trackitdown.net has.

Evidence of efficiencies in supply chain:

Trackitdown.net provides customers with a complete e-commerce site. The site will only communicate with customers through the use of email. All invoices and weekly newsletters are sent to the customers registered email address, this saves trackitdown.net having to send letters to each and everyone one of its customers. This is very cost effective as it allows for the information to send in the one mail out. All payments are made online using credit cards or with a PayPal account, this makes it more efficient for both the customer and trackitdown.net as customers don’t have to spend time ringing to make a purchase and saves trackitdown.net having to employ staff to make sure orders are put through correctly.

At the minute there is an increasing amount of digital download sites emerging on the internet. This is a major threat to the trackitdown.net site. Trackitdown.net was one of the first digital download sites to emerge onto the internet and instantly became a huge success, now with more and more appearing this could have a big impact on the amount of sales from the site as customers can make purchases from other sites for cheaper. This year trackitdown.net expanded it sites from selling only music tracks to DJ equipment and clothing. This will be an advantage to the site as no other digital download site is currently selling those items at the minute.

The threat of the entry of new competitors:

The threat of new competitors would be a problem to the trackitdown.net. Nowadays it is a lot easier to set up an online business so therefore a lot of different digital download web sites are appearing. Trackitdown.net will continue to provide customers with exclusively tracks, meaning that the site will sell the track before it is released on other sites. Currently at the minute the only other site to offer this is www.beatport.com. If other new competitors get the rights to sell tracks exclusively then this could have great impact on the web site sales.

The intensity of competitive rivalry:

There is a lot of competitive rivalry on the internet between digital download sites. A lot of sites will try to gain more business over other sites by offering tracks at a lower price. Trackitdown.net do offer there tracks at a competitive rate but I have seen sites that have been offering the same tracks cheaper. This can be damaging for the site as customers may track business elsewhere and also potential customers could be put off. Trackitdown.net do offer some savings on bundle packages, this type of offer could attract customers who will be purchasing more than one track.

The bargaining power of customers/buyers:

Customers purchasing on trackitdown.net don’t have much power to bargain with prices of tracks as they are priced at a fixed rate. The same goes for the equipment and clothes. If trackitdown.net realises that its losing a lot of customers due to similar sites selling at a more competitive rate then they may be forced to lower there prices. This would be a way of the buyer bargaining with the sites current price.

The bargaining power of suppliers:

With the way the music industry is now it would be very hard for trackitdown.net or any digital download site to bargain with the supplier. In this case the supplier is the record label, the record label is there to make as much money possible of the sale of the record therefore the track will be sold as a set price to trackitdown.net. It would be different with the DJ equipment and clothing that the site sells as they may be able to bargain with supplier for a cheaper price when they buy stock in bulk.

To be able to make purchase from the trackitdown.net web site everyone must become a registered user. The process of registering on the web site evolves supplying the follow information:

• Forename
• Surname
• Display name
• Email address
• Password
• Address
• Postcode
• Country
• Telephone number

Trackitdown.net assures customers that they will not pass on any information the user has supplied to any third party and will take all reasonable steps to ensure security of the password, membership and all other relevant information. Trackitdown.net has ensured that the site has compiled with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.

I have looked into the terms and conditions that a user will agree to in order to become a registered user on the site. In the term and conditions it does state that the trackitdown.net does use cookies.  Users will automatically be issued with a cookie when the registered, the cookie will be store basic information on the users computer that the web site can use to recognise repeat site visits. This information may also be used to observe the users internet use.

I looked at the amount of visitors each site was receiving between the period of August 08 and August 09. During this time I discovered that out of the three sites beatport.com was getting the most visitors on there site, with 48,000 people visiting that site in March 09. trackitdown.net had the second most visitors with 20,000 visiting the site in April 09. Looking at the statistics I have discovered that audiojelly.com may not be as popular a web site as the other two.

 I next looked at the sites to making a purchase at the web site.  Up until this year trackitdown.net was a digital music store. Customer would have to register to make a purchase.  Once the payment has been accepted then the customer will be provided with a download link to the track. Now that trackitdown.net sells DJ equipment it will take orders the same way as music tracks only the customer will have to wait on the purchase being delivered. Trackitdown.net will accept payment from most major credit cards and PayPal payments.

I have looked at the other sites similar to the site I have chosen and currently at the minute none of them are using TV advertisement or mobile advertisements. The sites tend to advertise there web sites on other web sites and social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter.  Trackitdown.net also host the Hard Dance awards that also gets the web site a lot of publicity. If one of the sites started to advertise of television I think that this could have a huge impact in the sales of the site as the other site would have the advantage on advertising to a wider market.

If this was the case then trackitdown.net would have to consider if they to would also advertise on TV or on popular dance radio channels.

Trackitdown.net was launched in 2004 as DJing moved into the digital age. The website allowed for registered users download the latest releases from the web site as MP3 or WAV instead of having to purchase vinyl’s.

Trackitdown.net adds 1000 new releases to its database each week and sells to 190 countries.

Five years on and trackitdown.net was still going strong. To celebrate its 5^th birthday trackitdown.net launched a new merchandise and DJ kit store. The new facilities on the web site allowed for users to purchase CD decks, mixers, software etc as well as t-shirts and track tops.

Trackitdown.net is based in an office in London. The company itself has list on its site the 9 employees in the business. Each employee specialises in a different department within the company. Although the site does only show the employees for each department on the site I believe that they would have other members of staff working behind the scenes. Unfortunately trackitdown.net do not publicly publish figures for there annual turnover or any profit made.

Having looked at various different web sites I have discovered that at the minute trackitdown.net is not the only website in the market for this business. Trackitdown.net was the first dedicated website in the market for a dance music store. Since then and the rise in digital DJing a lot of similar websites have emerged although trackitdown.net remains one of the most dominant web sites there is.

Researched showed that in 2006 in the UK there was 14.3 million households with Internet access. In total 40 per cent of the households where using a broadband connection.

In 2007 15.2 million households had Internet access. This figure made up 61 percent of households in the UK. This was an increase of 1 million from 2006.

In 2008 16.4 million UK households had Internet access. This again was an increase of 1.2 million from the previous year. Of the household that had Internet access 56 per cent those had a broadband connection this was over half of those with broadband in 2007.

Looking at the statistics overall it is evident that Internet usage in the UK is continuously on the rise. Going by the figures it shows that the reason that Internet usage is on the increase is due to more households using broadband because of its availability. The research shows that the amount of households with access to Internet but with a non-broadband connection is dropping each year. 

The main reason why households didnt not have internet access was simple because they did not need it. This was also the same for households that did not have broadband but also because it was too expensive.

Statistics show that in 2008 as well as 2007 men where the main gender that were likely to access the Internet.

The main age group of users that had access to Internet was 16-24 with the majority of them using it every day or almost every day.

The main activity that the Internet was used for was recently was for sending and receiving emails. This was the most popular activity for those of an older group (55-64 65 plus) and also the younger group (16-24).

With more people using the Internet for buying online and online banking, this is reflected in the statistics that show that nearly half of recent users have used the internet for online banking and online buying proved most popular with age group 25-44.