Group Excluded from International Human Rights

Group Excluded from International Human Rights Human Rights Human rights, as explained by the great English philosopher and thinker John Locke, are natural and unalienable rights (life, liberty, and property) inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, sex, color, religion or language. All men are created equal, everyone is entitled to the human rights without any discrimination. Most human rights are guaranteed by the Constitution, state laws, and international treaties. International human rights law promotes and protects human rights by laying certain pressure upon governments. But even though there are many laws created to protect everyones human rights, certain people are being excluded from their rights by different levels of government, such as the poor homeless whose liberty is limited by the state government, Zapatistas whose life and property is taken by the Mexican National Government, and French Muslims whose freedom of religion is violated by the French National Government. Los Angeles is once a beautiful and luxurious heaven. But now Los Angeles state government is fighting war, a war with its own citizens living inside the state. Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space (Davis, 1), this is the title Davis gave to his research paper, but it is also his feeling toward the state of Los Angeles. Everywhere in the city is the frontline of war. Stop building toilets, special designed bus benches, fancy garbage to protect fishheads and stale French fires, and outdoor sprinklers, those are all policy decision made by the government to fight the citys war on the poor homeless. They tried their best to eliminate or remove homeless from the city by violating the human rights that homeless should be entitled to. But while the government is violating the human rights, they claim that they are promoting human rights by protecting people from danger, but they exclude homeless from the definition of word people. Collective human rights, those are what government is claiming about. They always try to protect majoritys rights by excluding certain peoples human rights. Rights and Human Rights, huge differences, but government never recognizes it, they just called them human rights regardless of the differences. They make the policy that will discriminate and deny the liberty of homeless to protect majority from possible danger. The government should not define homeless as dangerous just because some homeless people are dangerous and harmful. For public-housing tenants and inhabitants of narcotic-enforcement zones, the loss of freedom is the price of security (Davis, 6) As stated by the author Mike Davis, one of the three primary human rights, liberty is taken by the government from the homeless to ensure other peoples safety from possible danger, this should not be called collective human rights, but the power of government to protect people who make profit for the government. Similarly, people, especially children, in Central and S outh America are excluded from the protection of human rights imposed by the law. Their organs will be taken without their permission and sold to other rich countries, leave them with a horrible body for the rest of their life. The organ-stealing stories were told, remembered, and circulated because they were true at that indeterminate level between the real, the surreal and the uncanny (Scheper-Hughes, 36) Even though organ stealing is so wide spread and known by everyone, Government never tried to stop it, or maybe it is even promoting it to make profit. So it is clear that poor homeless is excluded totally from the protection of government for their human rights, even if the constitution, and international laws expressly guarantee everyone will be treated equally by the government. Only liberty is taken by the state government from homeless, but in some area even life and property is taken by the national government. On New Years Day, 1994, Zapatista rebels in Chiapas, Mexico, confronted the Mexican government with demands for basic human rights (Messer, 319). That is the start of the revolution inside the border of Mexico and the reason why Zapatistas fight against the Mexican government. People in Chiapas were discriminated against, their only property, land is also taken by the government. With nothing to lose, they started revolution, and created a border within the Mexican border. In the video, a place called Chiapas, the life of Chiapas people was presented. They were poor before revolution, but with the land they own, they can still live. But the Mexican government took the land from them to develop modern cities which cause Chiapas people to be abused by riches. Again, it is the problem of collective human rights conflicting with individual human rights. This time national government claims that they are protecting the benefit and rights of people inside Chiapas while taking away everythi ng they own and force people there to become terrorists. Maybe war is not a right choice, but it is Chiapas peoples only choice. Without revolution, they are all going to die due to the poor condition there. Collective Human Rights, as claimed by the national government, is just a joke. Without individual human rights, no collective human rights can be achieved. Without those lands, all Chiapas people are going to hunger to die, then what would be the use of collective human rights toward the dead people? Life, liberty and property, only those three primary human rights being protected well, then other things can be done by the government. Similar conditions occur in the process of progress. People and place which are being progressed have lost many. People would lose the right to their every day practice because the land is taken by the government. They are forced to change their diet which causes new diseases to appear in the local places, and reduce the health condition of the lo cal people. Overall, the available data seem to indicate that the dietary changes that are linked to involvement in the world-market economy have tended to lower rather than raise the nutritional levels of the affected tribal peoples (Bodley, 3) Progress is great thing, but with great prices. Freedom of choosing food and life of local people are taken during the process of progress. So individual rights should be considered first, and then collective rights can be done. So again, even though the international treaties lay down the obligation of protecting everyones human rights upon governments, some people are excluded from them because of collective human rights. Similar problem, but different salutation has occurred in France, this time it involves freedom of religion. Muslims in the France is always treated different, not only because of their religion, but also because of their dressing. So French government created laws that banned any Muslims to wear headscarves that have religious meanings. The reasons French government gave for this law is that For many non-Muslim French, they (headscarves) represent multiple dangers to the Republic: the oppression of women, urban violence, international terrorism, and the general refusal of Muslim immigrants to integrate into the broader society (Bowen, 31). So this seems to be a problem about collective human rights and individual human rights, but is it? It is not. A republic can exist with symbols of different religion. Freedom of religion, this should be guaranteed by any kind of republic. So this time there is no collective human rights involving at all. It is purely that French government taking away rights from Muslims without any legitimate reason. Liberty, one of the three primary human rights is vi olated by the French government. Not only that, the law they make actually may create diversity inside the nation since only Muslims are treated differently by the government. So with all those violations, Muslims in French are forced to change their way of life. They stop going to Mosques and practicing their religious activities. While all those rights are being violated, French government is still claiming they are promoting rights of the citizen living inside the republic. France is now outlawing Muslims and treats Muslims not as citizens of France, but a group of people who may cause diversity and terrorism inside France. French Republic is the official name of France, but is it a true republic? Before French government stop outlawing certain group of people inside the nation, France is never a true republic. So again individual human rights should always be the primary thing any government should think about before imposing laws or making decision. But there are always some pl aces where law cannot reach, thus create exclusion or discrimination. Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments of constitution created as the supreme law of the land to protect human rights in U.S. and other countries have similar laws. Above all, international human rights law is created to ensure everyones rights in the whole world. But it only lays down the obligation upon the government, if government will not enforce it, then human rights of people will not be protected. French Muslims, Zapatistas, and urban homeless are the examples of government exclusion. So even though every government claim that everyone will be treated equally and everyones human rights will be protected by the government, some people are not under the protection of government and suffering. Work Cited Bodley, John. The Price of Progress. Victims of Progress 1998, 137-151 Bowen, John. Muslims and Citizens. Boston Review Feb/Mar. 2004: 31-35. Davis, Mike. Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space. City of Quartz, Fortress LA Messer, Ellen. Anthropologists in a World with and without Human Rights. Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Lines. Ed. Jeremy MacClancy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2002. 319-337 Scheper-Hughes. Nancy. Min(d)ing the Body: On the Trail of Organ-Stealing Rumors. Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Lines. Ed. Jeremy MacClancy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2002. 33-63 A Place Called Chiapas. 2006. online video clip. Google Video. Accessed on 05 December, 2009.

A Study Of Food And Culture

A Study Of Food And Culture INTRODUCTION This assignment is basically based on gastronomy. In this assignment we need to discuss about gastronomy and its influences such as cultural, science sustainability and how they are influences buy gastronomy. How gastronomy is related with culture, transportation religion and many more things. MAIN BODY DEFINITION Gastronomy is the study of food and culture, with a particular focus on gourmet cuisine. Modern gastronomy has its roots in several French texts published in the 1800s, but the idea of relating food, science, society, and the arts has been around much longer. True gastronomy is a demanding multidisciplinary art examining food itself along with its context, presentation, freshness, and history. While commonly associated with gourmets and gluttony, gastronomy is actually its own discipline, although some gourmets are certainly gastronomes, as are some gluttons. The principle of gastronomy is that food is a science, in addition to an art form. By understanding how all of the senses contribute to an experience, a gastronome can more completely understand what is happening when a consumer claims to dislike or enjoy a particular food item. Gastronomy also examines the sociological implications of food, along with integrating other social science disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, and philosophy. The role of food in the fine arts such as performance art, painting, and sculpture is also examined, as part of a closer look at the role of food in society in general. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-gastronomy.htm INFLUENCE ON NATIONAL FOOD CULTURE People mostly connect to their cultural or ethnic group through food patterns. For Immigrants food now become the means of retaining their cultural identity. Each and every individual have different cultural backgrounds and have different eating habits. The ingredients, methods of preparation, preservation techniques, and types of food eaten at different meals are different among cultures. The areas and the climate factors in which families live- and geographical location where their ancestors originated also influence food likes and dislikes. These food preferences result in varieties of food choices within a different cultural or regional group. Food items themselves have meaning and some cultural identity attached to them. For example in many Western countries a box of chocolates would be viewed as an appropriate gift while in other countries chocolates might be a less appropriate gift. Different nations or countries are frequently associated with certain foods. For example, many people associate Italy with pizza and pasta but Italians eat many other foods, and types of pasta dishes are popular throughout Italy. Methods of preparation and types of food also vary by regions and culture of a nation. Some families in the United States prefer to eat meat and potatoes, but in some families meat and potatoes are not eaten on a regular basis, nor even preferred, by many in the United States, so would not be labelled as a national cuisine. Grits, a coarsely ground corn that is boiled, is eaten in the southern United States. A package of grits is only available in the largest supermarkets in the upper Midwest and its difficult to find even in large Midwestern supermarkets a long time ago. This may be called as the geographical effect. Regional food habits also exist in nations and countries but they also change by time. As people travel from place to place food habits and preferences are imported and exported. Families move to other nations, countries or places bringing their food preferences with them. They follow their old recipes with new ingredients available at different places or experiment with new recipes, incorporating ingredients to match their own tastes. In addition, food itself is imported from other countries. Nevertheless, what is considered edible or even a delicacy in some parts of the world might be considered inedible in other parts. Although most of the times food is selected with some attention to physical need, the values or beliefs by which society attaches to potential food items and define what families within a cultural group will eat. For example, both plant and animal sources may contribute to meeting nutritional requirements for protein; soybeans, beef, horsemeat, and dog meat are all adequate protein sources. Yet, due to the some values and beliefs attached to these protein sources, they are not considered in all societies. Moreover, even when the foods perceived to be undesirable are available, they are not eaten by people who have a strong emotional reaction against those potential food item. CULTURE AND RELIGION Types and food associated to British culture: British cuisine encompasses the cooking traditions of the British Isles. It reflects the cultural influence of the colonial era as well as post-war immigrations. British cuisine boasts of a rich variety of sumptuous dishes from its different regions. Staple foods include chicken, beef, pork, lamb and fish, served with potatoes and other vegetables. The most popular dishes are fish and chips, sandwiches, trifles, pies and roast As the result of both globalization and global environmental change food systems face dramatic transformations. Change in global environment influence the physical and socioeconomic conditions that underpin terrestrial and marine food systems., Globalization is also responsible for transforming the production and storage of food, , access to and consumption of food, and the quality and safety measures associated with food and eating habits. Both processes also have direct effects on agricultural production, livelihoods, and the agricultural economies as well. More important, both processes can take place at the same time and interacting to create dynamic conditions that influence vulnerability to both rapid and gradual environmental changes. Global environmental change affects food systems by various means such as, the loss of productive farmland, loss of biodiversity, and changing climate conditions, including increase in number of extreme climatic events such as droughts and floods. Globalization-related changes also include liberalization of trade in agriculture products which also spreads the eating and buying habits from different culture, and supports for agricultural production, expansion of the role of multinational corporations and supermarkets in food production and distribution, it also results in shifts toward urban and industrial land uses. Food is also considered an important part of religious observance and spiritual ritual of many faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. The role and importance of food in cultural practices and religious beliefs is complex and varies among different communities. Any introduction to such a diversified and complex topic will not be able to explain each and everything. Here are some examples of some ways in which various religious groups considered food a vital part of their faith. Understanding the role of food in cultural and religious practice is an important part of showing respect and responding to needs of people from a range of religious communities. This understanding towards different food culture also helps in increasing art of food, adding dishes from different menus and also helps in increasing revenues from tourist from different cultures and traditions. However, it is important to not to make any assumptions about persons culture and beliefs. T he various faiths of Christianity include Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY In this competitive and new era chefs (the main body of kitchen) are sometimes blamed of turning their kitchens very similar into scientific laboratories, theres no doubt that when they heat a piece of meat in the kitchen the reaction that takes place is a chemical reaction as in science labs. Science and cooking both are processes that have some rules and methods to follow and also go hand-in-hand, now more than ever before. The relation between science and cuisine is nothing new; we have several examples of this relation in past years as well. Studies such as chemistry, physics, biology and botany have always been closely related to cooking and also prove their existence in various terms. The terms molecular gastronomy and molecular cuisine become the topics of debates from a long time and the existence of science-based cuisine is also a controversial issue. To know about these terms in detail or to make the practical existence of such terms we need to consider or follow the approach adopted by chefs trained for such types of kitchens and other experts who want to know why things happen and have knowledge for their chemical reactions and which reaction is useful which is not. These types of kitchens and terms such as molecular gastronomy or cuisine will be no longer the topic of debates if they run under the guidance of their experts. Technology has dramatically improved and reshaped every part of our lives including kitchen standards as well. It doesnt left any aspect of our existence untouched. It also revolutionized the way we work, entertain ourselves and even change the concept of our eating and cooking patterns. The food industry has increasingly developed and modernized by adopting more advanced and latest technologies that can help us in bringing healthier, fresher and more varieties of food. In this modern era, the marketplace offers a vast variety of foods influenced by different people and cultures and we have a wide range to choose from, at a better quality and lower prices than in the past. With the introduction of new technologies and processes businesses can offer better products and services to the consumers in increasingly larger quantities and thus, satisfy a wider range of market. The same phenomenon works for the companies in the food industry. The expression nouvelle cuisine has been used several times in the course of the history of cooking, particularly in France in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was introduced to subordinate the practice of cooking to principles of chemistry that were to be established by Lavoisier later on. People had mixed feelings about it: for instance, Voltaire wrote I must say that my stomach does not at all agree with the nouvelle cuisine.' Today nouvelle cuisine refers to a trend of opinion that appeared in France in the 1960s. At the time, it caught on rapidly and was a great international success. Yet, as it got tangled up in its contradiction, it stopped being fashionable, and nowadays it has a negative connotation. In spite of that, it was an innovative and quite important movement, which brought about a revolution within the Grande cuisine whose lessons are still present in the grand chefs minds. http://www.enotes.com/nouvelle-cuisine-reference/nouvelle-cuisine LIFESTYLE, MEDIA AND INDIVIDUALS Today is the age of media; media is now become the backbone of every society and has a vital role in every field including kitchens as well. The universe of food-related blogs in particular is vast. It is estimated that there are at least 33,000 such blogs out there in cyberspace, but no one can give an exact or even approximate number of such blogs; this is one of the new and the widely using trend of the media. Some of the examples of Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Stumble Upon and Blog Her provide valuable means for bloggers to connect with each other and share their content and views about different food ,ingredients ,recipes and methods , while food-specific communities such as Food Buzz (and countless others!) offer even more targeted networking. Add to these mix sites where users can post their reviews of restaurants, food shops and markets, such as Yelp, Chowhound and Trip Advisor and it becomes clear that the media space related to gastronomy is very wide and virtually endless. In addition means of television also plays a very vital role; there are many TV channels that telecast many cookery shows, travel guides and also provide information about different gastronomies. Media makes easy to travel with full information about the place to be visited. GEOGRAPHY AND TRANSPORTATION: As long as there has been food in existence, there has been gastronomy in some form or another. Questions regarding our eating habits have always been around: How can we add taste and make our food special? Which ingredients provide the best boost of energy? What types of foods have healing properties in them and how can we cultivate them to get more of it? Later on, cuisine became more specialized, and cooking books and apprenticeships are also developed to provide instruction on the preparation of different kinds of food. However, it wasnt until the 1800s that gastronomy started to develop as an actual field of study. Instead of simply learning how to make food, people began to focus on how dining could be an experience-how the senses interacted in order to create a whole meal to be enjoyed. Gastronomy is such a wide concept that no country can be away from its influence. There are many countries in which the influence of gastronomy and its related terms such as molecular gastronomy can be clearly seen. The main countries influenced by gastronomy are Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and many other European countries. The history and popularity of Indian food in Britain is now almost four hundred years old and it has not only affected the cuisine but also a great change in the United Kingdom but also in its native land. In this field of food the reports of occasional explorers play a great role but the story really starts with the arrival in Surat of the English merchants of the East India Company in 1608 and then again and more successfully in 1612. As with the explorers or merchants the influence of the British in India grew, so did the popularity of Indian food back in Britain, leading to the publishing of recipes and Indian ingredients and the creation of curry powder at commercial level in 1780? The introduction of curry on a menu was at the Coffee House in Norris Street, Haymarket, London in 1773 but the first establishment dedicated to Indian cuisine was the Hindostanee Coffee House at 34 George Street, Portman Square, London in 1809 as recorded in The Epicures Almanack. It was opened by Dean Mahomet (or Mohamed/Mahomed) (See article) from Patna, Bihar, India, via Cork in Ireland. He appreciated the all Indian things and also offered a house for the Nobility and Gentry where they might enjoy the Hookha with real Chilm tobacco and Indian dishes of the highest perfection with real Indian taste. He also considered the Indian chefs for the real Indian taste. http://www.menumagazine.co.uk/book/restauranthistory.html As per UK gastronomy the growth of fast food is increasing day by day like people like fish and chips, burgers, KFC and many other fast food brands rather than having the proper meal. In which the quantity of vegetarian people is very less. As per the data and research people prefer organic food rather than other normal food. They are more conscious about healthy eating. The objective of food garnishing is, usually, to portray or to show the inherent beauty of food. And, just as when you are preparing food for eating, garnishing is one of the easiest and the important way of enhancing a dish for the camera. A garnish should be chosen very carefully, so that garnish can add just the right splash of colour in the dish, textural detail and/or height which really lifts the final image of the food. Some foods, such as mousses and soups can sometimes be difficult to capture their effect because of their flat and monotone surfaces. Adding a right and appropriate garnish makes it more attractive and also captures the eye of the customers. Sustainable agriculture as a means of the local farming is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their local environment. It has been defined as an integrated process of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will remain over the long term: in other words it is farming with natural resources. Conservation of natural resources is the main aim of this practice. This practice helps in satisfying human food and fibre needs of the people by natural way. Also helps in enhancing the environmental quality by understanding ecology system. It also proves beneficial in making the most efficient and appropriate use of non-renewable resources and integrate, natural biological cycles and controls. Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole by providing various agriculture related benefits and also helps in minimising the farming related expenses. CONCLUSION At the end of the assignment author would like to conclude gastronomy plays a vital role in the hospitality industry. Art and science of food is appreciated all over the world and is also considered as value added equipment for the hotel industry. Gastronomy is influence by many factors such as culture, beliefs science, media and many more. It is one of the emerging trends of each and every country. It is also used as a tool to attract tourist from different parts of the world. Gastronomy proves itself as a revenue generating tool for hospitality industry.

Define Normal Book Talk :: essays research papers

What if you had to peer council a person that you couldn't even stand! Would you be mad? Or what would you do if it happened to you? One of the main characters is a girl named Jasmine but they call her Jazz for short. Jazz is basically a goth girl and she has black hair with a little pink on top. She goes to high school and is around the age of 15. Jazz is in a pretty bad mood usually but it just depends on what she is doing. The other main character's name is Antonia. Antonia is a very smart girl and helps other people out with their problems. She is like a councilor. She has about shoulder length dirty blond hair and is pretty average in height for her age. She is usually in a good mood but sometimes she can get mad or sad. The last main character is Antonia's mom. She has pretty good attitudes depending on what she feels like. She is in her mid-30's. Antonia's mom smokes and she has been really sick lately. Her mom is that antagonist in this story because she can't even get out of bed unless she feels good. Since her mom has been sick, Antonia has to take care of everything around the house, including her brother. So one day Antonia was at a freind's house and her mom and brother decide to go on a picnic and when they were done she took her son to a motel, and then left to go to a bar down the road. When she was done at the bar, she went back to the motel and passed out on the floor. So when Antonia got home, nobody was there. About a half an hour later, her brother called and said that their mom had passed out and that they were at a motel. Her brother didn't know the name of the motel so he looked around and remembered the bar. He told his sister the name of the bar that their mom had gone to and then she knew right where they were.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Essay -- Movies Papers

One of the more popular movies of the 1960s was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , which featured Paul Newman and Robert Redford as the two titled Western outlaws. The film portrays the careers of Butch and Sundance, and how they were forced by the law to leave the Wild West for South America. In the last scene of the movie, the two bandits are shown surrounded by a bunch of South American soldiers after a robbery-gone-bad. Facing capture and extradition to the United States, the two badmen charge out of their hiding place, guns firing away. The film stops there, giving the impression that the two outlaws died in a blaze of glory with their boots on. However, did the real Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid meet their end in some one-sided shootout in South America? Members of both men’s families, as well as some historians, believe that the two men survived the shootout and later returned to the United States. A number of men have claimed to be the notorious outlaws , the most credible being a machine-shop owner by the name of William Phillips who said he was really Butch Cassidy. Based on the available information, the debate could go either way. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid both came from respectable families that were trying to make a living on the wild American frontier of the nineteenth century. Butch, born Robert LeRoy Parker, was actually the grandson of one of the original bishops of the Mormon Church (Editors 91). However, early on in his life, Robert turned to crime. He started out small, rustling cattle and stealing horses (Meadows and Buck 22). Robert Parker picked up his alias from his short career as a butcher. The name Cassidy came from Mike Cassidy, the con who taught Parker ... ...n all likelihood, though, no smoking gun will ever be found that says that the two men did indeed die in Bolivia. Butch and Sundance probably would have liked it that way. Works Cited Editors of Time-Life Books. The Gunfighters. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1974. Horan, James D. The Outlaws. New York: Crown Publishers, 1977. Johnston, Dorothy M. Western Badmen. New York: Ballantine Books, 1973. Meadows, Anne and Daniel Buck. â€Å"Running Down A Legend.† Americas. (Nov.-Dec 1990) : 21-27. Infotrac Expanded Academic ASAP. Patterson, Richard. Butch Cassidy: A Biography. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. Stewart, Gail B. Where Lies Butch Cassidy? New York: Crestwood House, 1992. â€Å"Wanted-Butch and Sundance.† Clyde Snow. NOVA. PBS. WUNK-TV, Greenville, N .C., October 12, 1993.

Euthanasia and Religion Essay -- Euthanasia Physician Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia and Religion      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the world today, medical technology is so advanced that a terminally ill patient can be kept alive for months or even years - sometimes against the will of the patient. When did suicide become a sin, and who decided that it was? "Opinion polls consistently show a majority of people professing all varieties of faiths support a change in the law for voluntary euthanasia. Even amongst Roman Catholics, more people support euthanasia than oppose (a poll in Scotland showed over 50% support), in spite of the church's opposition" (Religion and the Right to Die 1). And still in the United States assisted suicide is illegal in all but one state, Oregon.    "Official church policies usually oppose euthanasia. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest single funder opposed to euthanasia. It invests more money in its fight against euthanasia than all the combined resources of right to die societies around the world many times over" (R&RD 1).    In today's society, few churches prohibit passive euthanasia - where the patient refuses treatment or medication. The Evangelicals, Islam and the Mormon Church are faiths that restrict any type of euthanasia - passive, active or voluntary and involuntary. The most liberal of faiths Episcopalian, Unitarian, Methodist, Presbyterian and Quakers allow at least individual decision making in the choice for active euthanasia, as do the Hindu and Sikh religions. "Suicide (self-deliverance) is accepted by a number of faiths. There is the Jaina ethic of voluntary death through fasting. It is often thought that the Roman Catholic Church absolutely prohibits suicide, but Catholic theologians have confirmed that the prohibition, whilst being the Vatican's current ... ... would make if I were faced with the issue.    In my opinion, euthanasia is a moral grace to end the pain and suffering of terminal illness.          WORKS CITED Pavon, Father Frank "Brief Reflections on Euthanasia" April 2, 2001   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.priestsforlife.org/euthanasia/euthrefl.html.>  Ã‚   1- 8.    Euthanasia: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, April 2, 2001   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/e/euthanas.htm.  Ã‚   1-4 Euthanasia. April 1, 2001 http://islam.org/Science/euthanas.htm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1-3.    Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide: "All Sides of the Issue" April 2, 2001   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.religioustolerance.org/euthanas.htm.  Ã‚   1-17.    Religion and the Right to Die. March 22, 2001.   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.euthanasia.org/religion.html   1-4 Roy, Vance. Personal Interview, April 15, 2001. Via Internet email.

Internet Marketing Assignment Essay

E-Commerce describes any business to consumer transactions that take place partly or solely online and is not limited to the purchase of physical products from a website – although that does make up a key component of most e-commerce businesses. Some services or products are sold purely online while other companies may have physical stores or headquarters in addition to their online presence. E-Business describes any business to business transactions that take place online. For example a Web Design company often doesn’t sell products directly to consumers, but instead creates websites as a service for other companies, which will in turn be used to sell products or services to consumers. The internet has revolutionised the way companies do business. The shift in the way people shop has had a big impact on both the micro environments – the individual companies and their direct stakeholders; and the macro environment – politics, economy and society as a whole. â€Å"The death of the  high street† has been an obvious effect of these changes with many stores shutting down. Those who fail to keep up with these changes will be more likely to feel the negative consequences – as was the case with HMV and Blockbuster, who were forced into administration as competing online services took over their market share. For those who do keep up however, business is booming. iTunes, Amazon and Netflix are Blockbuster’s and HMV’s online equivalents and all three have billions of users from all around the globe. While the amount of jobs available in retail positions has been on a steady decline over recent years the demand for skilled workers in the IT sector is bigger than ever – so much so that there is a shortage of candidates and many roles go unfilled. A report issued by the government regarding the UK cyber security strategy highlighted that the â€Å"current and future ICT and cyber security skills gap† was a â€Å"key challenge† in implementing the strategy. (National Audit Office, 2013) To address this problem the education system needed to be changed, as of 2014 children as young as 5 will be learning advanced computing as part of the curriculum. Higher Education institutes will also likely have to reassess their course material to accommodate the new generation of students who will be leaving school with more in depth knowledge of computer systems and software development. Consumers gain many benefits from e-commerce, they now have the choice of shopping from an almost unlimited choice of companies from all around the world. Comparing prices and finding out what other customers thought of a product is also made much easier by the internet. The change in peoples shopping habits has changed the way companies advertise, huge marketing budgets for prime-time TV commercials are no longer the only way to get noticed and the potential audience is now global. Elements of Internet Marketing Traditional styles of advertising such as TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards etc are based on an â€Å"interruption† model. A show is interrupted by TV advert; music is interrupted by a radio advert; the flow of an article is interrupted by a magazine article, etc. This style of advertising persisted and still exists today in many places – but more and more companies are realising that demanding a customer’s attention in this way online does not yield good results. Some elements of internet marketing are examined below. Search Engines Organic search results account for a significant percentage of internet traffic. (The actual number is hard to measure for reasons discussed in the â€Å"Internet Marketing Tools† section on page 11). Regardless of the specifics it is widely accepted that organic search results are where a huge amount of a websites visitors come from. Search Engine Optimisation is therefore a vital part of a marketing strategy. Paid advertising through search engines may also be considered for extra exposure but is no substitute for a properly designed site structure and key word rich, quality content for search engine robots to crawl. Often good practices for SEO also embody good practices for UX design and accessibility; humans and robots alike prefer sites that are easy to navigate and have well-structured content that makes use of headings and sections to make it easy to read; as well as alt tags on all images that give a clear description of what that image depicts; with internal and external links within the content when the context is relevant. In the early days of search engines keywords were all that mattered, so it was easy to rank high on Google simply by stuffing as many keywords into the headers meta-tag as possible. Key word meta-tags are now obsolete and search engines have become much more sophisticated. (Google, 2011) As well as  crawling site structure and content to determine the quality of a page search-bots also judge the integrity of a page. They do this by keeping track of how many external sources link to it – at first, this encouraged â€Å"link farms† (a company would pay for a web traffic boosting service, which would churn out their site’s URL over a network of dummy sites set up purely for the purpose of creating links) – as search engines evolved this method is no longer as effective. Google now has algorithms that also measure the integrity of the sites that the links come from to provide users with more relevant results. Ranking high on Google for certain keywords is a long process, a new website has to build up a reputation, get their content shared and linked by others in an organic way – by having an article shared on social media for example – not through a link farm. Google strives for excellence by constantly improving its algorithms, they want to offer their visitors relevant search results so people continue to use their service and marketing strategies have to adapt if they want to keep up. Organic search results are a perfect example of marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing to potential customers. They are using search engines to find something specific – the hard work has been done for you, they already want to buy something or have some sort of problem solved – and if good practices for SEO have been implemented there’s no reason a website they find through Google would be irrelevant and not what they’re looking for, Google’s algorithms make sure of that and there are no shortcuts or cheats to trick them. A site filled with links and crammed with keywords for the sole purpose of getting more people to visit your website achieves nothing, if they click on it and it isn’t relevant to what they’re looking for they won’t just buy your product or service anyway, they will leave. The amount of time people spend on a website and the actions they take there (signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, et c) is all tracked by Google and used as part of the algorithms to determine the quality and integrity of a website. Banner Ads Banner Advertisements are based on the classic interruption model and the  vast majority of internet users don’t like them; and a huge percentage use software to block them completely. This has been determined multiple times over the years by a number of different researchers. One study conducted by the Norman Neilson Group, experts in Usability Heuristics, found that most users will completely ignore anything that looks like an advert – even when it’s not; and even when it provides them with the information they are looking for. In one study participants were asked to find the population of the United States using the U.S Census Bureau website – which was presented in large red numbers on the right hand side of the home page. 86% of users ignored it because it looked like an advert, it was bold and placed in the location that adverts are traditionally placed so was disregarded, despite containing the exact information they were looking for. The pie chart shows an overall representation of the behaviour exhibited by users on the site. In a different study eye tracking software and real time observation was used to measure exactly where people look on a website and how they interact with its various elements. In summary the study found that: â€Å"Users rarely look at display advertisements on websites. Of the 4 design elements that do attract a few ad fixations, one is unethical and reduces the value of advertising networks.† (Nielsen, 2007) The four design elements in question that users have been found to give their attention are: text, faces, cleavage/other body parts (â€Å"sex sells† still rings true for internet marketing) and obnoxious, intruding banner advertisements. Banners that sit and do nothing are considered a more ethical way of advertising, unfortunately studies show that ones that make sounds, pop up into the users line of sight or are animated attract more attention. However, just because a person is more likely to look at an obnoxious ad, that doesn’t mean they will click on it and be prepared to hand over payment details. I feel â€Å"Banner Blindness† should be taken more seriously than it currently is and companies need to find alternative methods of advertising, as this form has been proven to be ineffective for well over a decade now. (The same study with the same findings was first conducted by the NN group  in 1997.) Social Media Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc are no longer just the domain of a young tech-savvy audience. Data collected from a survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International found that Social Media usage has increased by 800% since 2005. In contrast, TV viewership has decreased by 50% in the same time frame. The graph below shows the findings, broken down by age  Social media marketing can connect businesses with millions of potential customers. Not only that, it can be done for free; unlike television and other traditional methods of advertising that require a substantial investment up front with virtually no guarantee of a return. Paid advertising on Social Media can also be tailored to target a specific audience. The ads can be set up to only display to those who will be the most likely to click on it. A bar advertising for fresher’s week for example could target their ads at students who were over 18 and living in the local area. Strategic Content The use of strategic content ties in with SEO and Social Media marketing; it involves creating content (as a blog for example) that is useful or interesting in some way (as well as relevant to the business) to encourage visitors to come to a website. From an SEO standpoint this will make the site rich with content, keywords and links which can result in higher rankings on search engines which means visitors are more likely to find your website. For example a company specialising in web design may have a design and technology blog providing expert information and up to date news on technology, or perhaps a section featuring tutorials and templates. Providing free content that’s similar to what you’re trying to sell can seem counter intuitive but it helps cultivate trust, it provides evidence that the company knows what it’s talking about and gives potential customers an overview of how things are done. Content can be shared around social media, and if it’s interesting or informative people may share it with their  friends which results in more exposure. Partnerships Forming mutually beneficial deals with other companies and cross promoting each other can widen the audience they both reach. Youtube and Twitch for example are used as platforms for gamers and game publishers to work together; publishers provide high influence content creators with early access to games, which they broadcast to all their fans. The content creators gain more views and in return more people get to hear about the game and see how it plays – making them more likely to buy it. This kind of promotion doesn’t cost either party any money but is beneficial and profitable for everyone involved. All of these elements (and others) tailored to fit the needs of the company combine to create what’s commonly referred to among marketing professionals as â€Å"The Marketing Mix.† The Marketing Mix The Marketing Mix: a phrase first used by Neil Borden in his paper â€Å"The Concept of the Marketing Mix† has become a well-known term for describing the strategies formulated to advertise services and products. One of the most widely used marketing mix paradigms is â€Å"The Four Ps†; proposed by E J McCarthy in 1964. The Four Ps are: Product Whether it be a tangible item or a service, first and foremost you need something to sell. What do customers want to buy? What features does your product or service need to fulfil the needs of your potential customers? Place In the past, brick and mortar stores and catalogues were the only two options  to consider, the internet has made a global market much easier to reach but has also made the market much more competitive. Companies need to consider where customers might look for their product. Is a physical location required or can the business exist solely online? The pros and cons of each would need to be considered, for example a small start-up clothing store would be competing with huge corporations such as Primark, Debenhams, etc while paying for expensive running costs of a brick store, stock storage and paying for staff wages. Online, that same start-up company would still be competing with those same corporations as on the high street, plus a huge other array of smaller or medium sized online outlets. However the running costs and risks of an online-only start-up are minimal. A company can exist solely as a part of a larger organisation such as Ebay or Etsy; many who start out this way and find success then choose to invest in their own website for selling their products without the middle man. Some then may also go on to open high-street stores, for example Simple Be existed as a purely online business at first before investing in physical stores; which have an advantage over online only clothing stores as customers can try things on and won’t have to worry about complicated returns procedures. Price Finding the right price for a product or service is a balancing act. Price too high for your target market and nobody will buy. Pricing too low not only means lower profit margins but can also label your product as â€Å"cheap† which may not be an image the company wants to convey. Apple are a perfect example of hitting the perfect price to quality ratio for their products target market. Apple products are hugely popular despite being comparable in technical specifications to other, lower priced competing devices. Ken Segall, Apples former marketing executive, said himself that â€Å"Apple doesn’t do cheap† stating in his blog that Apple â€Å"makes products for people who care about design, simplicity, quality and a great experience — and are willing to pay more for these things. For Apple to compromise in any of these areas would be a violation of the Prime Directive.† (Segall, 2014) Apple products are desirable because they’re seen by their fans as the most prestigious and high quality brand, this image would be diminished if the products were  cheaper; as was demonstrated by the relatively low sales of the iPhone 5C which was made of plastic and lower in price than other Apple devices (Though still much more expensive than competing brands). Promotion A great product won’t sell if nobody knows about it, but similarly a terrible product won’t sell well no matter how much time and money goes into advertising. The point of advertising is to convinced potential customers that your product or service will add value to their life in some way that’s relative to the price they would pay for it. This model can be applied to a wide range of services and products as it is non-specific and can easily be tailored to fit the needs of the business using it. It all boils down to putting the right product in the right place at the right price. Several alternatives and additions have been suggested by marketing experts and academics alike in the interest of creating a marketing mix that’s more relevant in an industry that has changed in ways nobody could have predicted. When the 4P’s were first introduced in the 60’s the internet as we know it today did not exist so it’s reasonable to say new strategies and updated methodologies are required. Some additions that have been suggested include â€Å"people† – encouraging good customer service and a good working environment for employees. â€Å"Process† – looking at ways to streamline and reduce costs in both producing the product and how the business is run. â€Å"Physical Evidence† – Could be in the form of endorsements, customer testimonials and feedback or any awards the company may have achieved. Another popular paradigm that evolved from the original 4P’s is the â€Å"Four C’s† model – proposed by R.F. Lauterborn in 1993. Customer/Clients The customers are the driving force behind any business, so an organisation  should ask themselves what they can do for their customers – what needs and wants to they have and how can you help? Cost How much will it cost the customers, are they getting good value? If your product is more expensive than competitors, why? Does it offer superior quality? If it’s cheaper, again customers will want to know why, will they be compromising on quality? Or does the business create lower costs by streamlining internal processes and passing the savings on to the consumer? Convenience People buy things that they believe will make their lives easier or enhance it in some way; and when they want something they want it to be easy to find and simple to purchase. For example a clean, uncluttered website that makes finding and buying products easy will tend to sell more than one with confusing navigation and a lengthy checkout process. Communication All promotion and advertising is a way of communicating with customers, a way to get your message and brand out into the world and let people know what your product is and why people should buy it. Companies who stay engaged with their customers cultivate trust and loyalty which earns them repeat business and recommendations. This model is essentially the same as the original version but is designed to encourage organisations to look at things from the customer’s point of view. There are merits to both sides of the debate over whether the 4P’s need revamping. On the one hand the original is broad enough for marketing executives to use as a very rough guide to shaping their own unique strategy. On the other hand in an ever changing industry improvements on old practices is a good thing – how can the world evolve if change is not  embraced? Doing things simply because that’s the way they have always been done may cause a company to stagnate and lose market share for not being innovative enough. I would like to propose my own take on the marketing mix, the 4E’s model: Excellence No matter the product or service, striving to be the best at what you do is a good goal to aim for. This is more easily achieved if a business focuses on one particular area rather becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none. Take for example the gaming company Mojang, who were recently purchased by Microsoft for $2.5billion. They developed one game – Minecraft – and they did it so well that it became more than just a simple browser game. It’s now an integral part of pop culture for this generations gamers with a huge diverse community that’s still growing 5 years on. Similarly, Facebook bought Instagram for $1billion after it dominated the mobile photo sharing market and WhatsApp for a staggering $19billion – a simple messaging service that took off in popularity and quickly overtook market share from the big players like Microsoft and Google. (CNN Money, 2014) Facebook itself started as a simple project and is now one of the most powerful corporations in the world – buying off any competitors is one way to keep that lead. A simple concept executed well can change the world. Engagement Social media and the internet in general have made communicating with customers easier than ever before. The best way to figure out what consumers want is to ask them. A business selling food products for example could engage with their customers by making a post on social media asking what different flavours they would like to see. This not only gives the company a firm idea of how popular a new product would be, it also generates buzz and makes the customers feel more involved in the process – making them more likely to actually buy said product when it’s released. Creating quality, relevant content for a website – perhaps in the form of a blog – gives  customers a reason to regularly visit a website. Using a food company as an example again, they could have a recipe section on their website. Maybe even a community section where others could post and share their own recipes. If these recipes are good quality it can lead to people thinking: â€Å"If the free recipes are this good, just imagine how great the food they sell will be!† – turning casual visitors into paying customers. Ease Allow potential customers to make informed decisions by providing them with information about what’s on offer in a way that’s easy to understand and easy to access – similarly ensure to make the process of handing over their money once they’ve decided to buy quick and easy. With an uncountable number of websites in existence a potential customer can be lost very easily if they can’t find what they’re looking for or find any part of the process difficult – they will simply go elsewhere. Economy Finding the right price for a product or service can still be as tricky today as it’s always been with one exception – information on competitors and target markets is readily available. Even in a niche market there are likely to be several competitors operating at varying scales of price and quality. The goal is not necessarily to undercut everybody and become the cheapest but to find the right balance of cost and quality – most people are happy to pay a little bit more for a higher quality product as long as they can justify that it will be worth the investment. Similarly there are many people who will buy the cheapest option available regardless of quality. Establishing a target market and researching purchasing habits can give a company a good idea of where to price themselves to be competitive and profitable. An expensive product can still be considered economical if its benefits are proportionate to its cost. In the end, any model is only as good as the implementation. Knowing the concepts behind a good marketing strategy isn’t the same as having the  skills to plan, implement and maintain them. Internet marketing campaigns take time. It takes time to gain enough followers on social media to start fully engaging with a target market; it takes time to create a catalogue of high quality strategic content and it takes time to build up consumer trust. Internet marketing isn’t as simple as making a Facebook page and uploading the company logo – the internet is an interactive medium. It’s not a billboard, it’s more a large ongoing focus group. Internet Marketing Tools One of the biggest advantages internet marketing has over traditional marketing is the fact the effectiveness of a campaign can be more accurately measured and analysed. Television adverts are measured in terms of how many people have viewed it; beyond that it’s mostly guesswork; it’s very difficult to measure how many people saw a television advert and then went on to perform the desired action (such as go to a store and buy a product, or make a phone call to enquire about a service). With internet marketing everything that happens as the result of a campaign can be tracked every step of the way. An email marketing campaign for example can be tracked to see how many people opened the email, how many then visited the website (known as the click through rate) – from there it can also track what the visitor did while they were on the website. How much time they spent there, which pages they visited, whether or not they purchased something – or if they abandoned their cart in the process of trying to make a purchase. Other details such as which device the customer was using, their location, age and previous browsing habits may also be tracked. Making use of tools such as Google Analytics can show at a glance the raw data related to any aspect of a visitors habits. There are many other tools on the market but Google Analytics is the most widely used and it integrates well with SEO – Google have built up a giant network of partners and billions of websites have tracking codes. Individual companies can access their own data to analyse but Google has access to everything and have built  up a database of browsing habit data they use to improve their algorithms – as well as sell to third parties (such as Facebook). This creates a constant feedback loop for everyone involved. This raw data however, is fairly useless if a company does not know how to analyse it and make use of the information. Some raw data has obvious implications – for example if a company finds that the majority of visitors are using a mobile device and their site is not fully accessible on mobile, they should look into optimising their site for mobile users to accommodate the needs of their customers. Other times the data is only the starting point, it must be analysed before it becomes useful information that can be applied in a practical way. Tracking tools can give answers to the questions â€Å"how†, â€Å"when† and â€Å"where† with a high degree of accuracy. â€Å"Who?† can be answered to a point, the approximate age of visitors can be tracked, as can their previous browsing habits which may give some insight into their likes and needs. The one question raw data cannot answer is â€Å"Why?† – Why do visitors behave the way they do? Why do some e-commerce shoppers add items to a cart and then abandon it during the checkout process? Why was the click through rate low/high for a particular campaign? Surveys and social media can be used as tools for getting answers to these questions. Once the quantitative data from tracking tools have provided a starting point, specific questions can be posed to collect qualitative data. Together they can give a company a lot of valuable information to help them improve future campaigns and the way they do business in general. Facebook has its own analytics tools called â€Å"Facebook Insights† – it works in a similar way to Google Analytics but is more focused around Facebook pages and ads. Facebook insights shows how many people saw a particular post (reach), how many responded to the post (engagement), and other information such as visitors ages and interests – based on what other pages they have â€Å"liked† on Facebook. Facebook Insights can be used to determine which posts get the most likes and  shares, which lets companies know what their audience is likely to respond to so they can tailor future posts accordingly. It can also provide information about when visitors engage with the page so future posts can be scheduled to post at a time when the highest reach is likely to be achieved. Combined with the data from Google analytics social media marketing campaigns and posts can be tracked down to the fine details. If these posts lead to strategic content tracking can be broken down into stages to measure the quality of a websites content. Many websites use this strategy, Cracked being one of them. Cracked are an entertainment website who post funny/interesting articles, columns, videos and podcasts. When a new piece of content is posted, their social media team make posts to advertise it to followers. Facebook Insights will provide the tracking information about reach, likes and engagement and Google Analytics takes over once visitors have clicked through. Cracked split up their articles into several pages – they could easily fit the content onto a single page – so why split it up? One reason is usability, pages load quicker with less content on and readers are less likely to feel overwhelmed by a huge wall of text than they are several manageable chunks. Another reason is SEO – the more pages and links robots have to crawl, the higher the site is likely to rank on search engine results. Instead of one page per article related to certain keywords – there are 2-4 pages per article. Finally, splitting articles up into several pages allows tracking analytics to be performed in stages. How many people got to the end of the first page and deemed the content interesting enough to click on the â€Å"read more† link? How many read the whole thing? How many dropped out and where did they tend to do it? This can help determine weak spots in content and the company can then  formulate a plan to improve the situation. It can also be used to further engage visitors who seem to be enjoying the content – the final page of an article could for example act as a trigger for a pop-up box that prompts to visitor to sign up for a newsletter. If a visitor has enjoyed an article it’s relatively safe to assume they would like to see more – the same is not true for a visitor who has only just landed on the home page. They haven’t read anything yet, why would they want to sign up for a newsletter? As mentioned in a previous section, tracking data does have its limitations that marketers have to be aware of to properly interpret the data their tools produce. Specifically – direct traffic can be difficult to differentiate from all other types of traffic. This makes analysing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns less straight forward than it seems. In a nutshell, whenever a referrer is not passed traffic is marked as direct. What this means is a glance at an analytics report may suggest that 50% of a sites traffic is direct, meaning the visitor typed the URL directly into their browser. The report could for example state organic search accounted for 40% and advertisements 10%. If a company is putting significant resources into advertising and seeing those kinds of numbers they may decide it isn’t worth it and seek to make changes. While in reality direct traffic may only account for 20% while ads account for 30%, making the cost per conversion rate much more favourable. There are a multitude of reasons a referrer may not be passed to the tracking software that results in traffic being incorrectly marked as direct. For example many people make use of ad blocking software – that often have clauses that allow for non-intrusive advertising. While users of this software can see and click on non-intrusive ads, the software blocks the server response required to pass the referral to the tracking software. Many browsers now offer a â€Å"do not track† option to offer additional privacy to users, turning on this setting also blocks tracking requests. Some people may perform a search for something or click on an advertisement but not make a purchase right at that moment and instead choose to come back later – by  typing in the URL directly; so their visit and subsequent purchase is marked as direct when it was really the result of a campaign. As more users become increasingly concerned with privacy tracking and tailored advertising becomes more difficult. Making use of marketing tools makes the process easier but they are still only tools – their usefulness is determined by the skill of the person utilising them. Interactive Order Processing Order processing is obviously an important part of e-commerce, an online catalogue isn’t much use if people can’t actually purchase anything. As mentioned in previous sections, the process of placing an order should be made as easy as possible for the customers. Once a customer has decided they would like to hand over some money – a company should not distract them in any way. Some companies at this point might be tempted to upsell, cross promote or place advertising on the checkout pages but in almost all situations this is a mistake. If the customer gets annoyed at the ads they will leave. If they can’t figure out how to continue with the checkout process because the design is cluttered or otherwise hard to use they will leave. If they don’t feel confident about the legitimacy of the company or doubt the security of the checkout process they will leave. Upselling attempts should be handled carefully. Bombard customers will too many options and they may get distracted by browsing, decide not to check out and instead leave it for later – they may not come back. Relevant promotions should be advertised at this point or ideally added to the cart automatically. For example if orders over a certain amount receive free shipping this should be prominently displayed within the cart and applied automatically when the threshold is reached – customers like to feel like they’re getting good value so if they see it will only take them a small amount extra to receive free shipping they may decide to add a few more items. Argos successfully uses this technique every year during the build up to Christmas – they offer a  £5 voucher for anyone spending over  £50 and  £10 for anyone spending over  £100. This promotion is prominently displayed all over their website, catalogues and physical stores. Rather than offering a discount on the current purchase, they encourage repeat business by offering money off the next purchase. This has a twofold effect – customers will buy a little more than they planned in order to get the voucher and then spend even more after that to use said voucher (not many items can be bought for under  £5 or  £10 and no change is issued – to further encourage customers to use their voucher in full and pay a little extra on top rather than waste any of it). If adding additional items can be done without the customer leaving the checkout this will further increase the success of upselling attempts. Both Domino’s and Asda integrate upselling into the checkout process. Dominos uses a sidebar next to the main checkout area displaying a selection of small items (sides, desserts, drinks) with a small discount applied – visitors can click â€Å"add to order† and the total is updated on the page without taking them elsewhere. Asda displays a selection of items that the customer has previously ordered, but are not currently in the cart with the heading â€Å"Have you forgotten anything?† This can be helpful to the customer because they may have indeed forgotten something, and Asda in return make additional sales. Businesses can track the behaviour of their customers and analytics tools can be used to determine if a checkout design is working. The tale of â€Å"The $300 Million Button† published in Luke Wroblewski’s book â€Å"Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks† contributed by Jared M. Spool is an excellent example of just how important the design of the checkout process is. The piece describes a company who decided to examine their checkout process – which featured a login and registration screen after customers clicked  Ã¢â‚¬Å"checkout†. Their designers reasoned that making registration non-optional would encourage repeat business; and customers wouldn’t mind logging in to take advantage of quicker checkouts in the future. Spool was called in to analyse the checkout design; his team put together a focus group, gave them all a budget and a shopping list and asked them to checkout from the site. Upon being presented with the login form many participants were not sure if they had used the site before; and attempted many unsuccessful logins before clicking the â€Å"Forgot Password?† button. Many times this was unsuccessful as they couldn’t remember which email address they used. Others who were sure they had not previously registered were reluctant to do so. One shopper is quoted as saying â€Å"I’m not here to enter into a relationship. I just want to buy something.† Many stated that they felt the company just wanted to use their details for spam and others were concerned about privacy. Upon examining tracking analytics for the site the team discovered that 45% of users had multiple registrations and over 160,000 â€Å"Lost Password† requests were being sent every day. 75% of these never returned to the site to complete the lost password process and ergo did not complete the checkout process. Spools team suggested the design was changed to make registration optional. The â€Å"register† button was changed to â€Å"Continue† with the message â€Å"You do not need to create an account to make purchases on our site. Simply click Continue to proceed to checkout. To make your future purchases even faster, you can create an account during checkout.† This simple change resulted in the number of customers purchasing increasing by 45%. The extra purchases resulted in an extra $15 million in the first month and $300million after the first year. Businesses also need to take into consideration security when implementing an e-commerce system. A secure payment gateway must be used to make submitting customer financial and personal information safe. Similarly this data needs  to be stored securely and kept up to date to comply with the Data Protection Act. Any company accepting card payments (not only online) must also comply with PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). If a company does not comply with PCI and DPA standards they run the risk of customer details being leaked which could lead to fraud. This is obviously bad for the customers whose details get stolen but would also damage the reputation of the company and destroy consumer trust – as well as earn them huge fines from governing bodies. For small or start-up companies the cost, time and knowledge required to set up and maintain a payment gateway may feel like too much. In that case there are 3rd party services such as PayPal and Google Checkout which can act as a middle man between the merchant and customer. The business doesn’t have to worry about keeping customer details secure if they don’t store them and instead allow PayPal or similar to handle it. There are fees involved that work on a percentage basis, the more you earn, the more you pay. Additional fees are also charged for withdrawals. PayPal in particular has become an internationally recognised brand and most shoppers are now happy to use them – so a small company won’t lose out on too many customers from not offering alternative payment options. Most third party payment processing companies offer a â€Å"free† (other than fees) service which hosts the shopping cart external to the main e-commerce site; and a premium subscription service which allows full integration of the shopping cart into the website. For minimal cost and effort a small company can use the externally hosted cart while bigger companies may choose to invest in a more seamless user experience for their customers. The web environment allows for scalability, businesses are free to start small with minimal risk and expand at their own pace. References CNN Money, 2014. Facebook buys WhatsApp for $19 billion. [Online] Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/19/technology/social/facebook-whatsapp/ Google, 2011. Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking. [Online] Available at: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html Mojang, 2014. Yes We Were Bought By Microsoft. [Online] Available at: http://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/ National Audit Office, 2013. The UK cyber security strategy: Landscape review. [Online] Available at: http://www.nao.org.uk/report/the-uk-cyber-security-strategy-landscape-review/ Nielsen, J., 2007. Banner Blindness Old and New Findings. [Online] Available at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/banner-blindness-old-and-new-findings/ Optimize Smart, n.d. You’re doing Google Analytics all wrong, here’s why. [Online] Available at: http://www.optimizesmart.com/google-analytics-wrong-why/ Segall, K., 2014. Apple’s adventures in plastic. [Online] Available at: http://kensegall.com/2014/02/apples-adventures-in-plastic/ Figure 1: How users interacted with the Population Finder4 Available at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/fancy-formatting-looks-like-an-ad/ Fancy Formatting, Fancy Words = Looks Like a Promotion = Ignored JAKOB NIELSEN September 4, 2007 Figure 2: Social Media Useage over time, broken down by age5 Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/08/05/72-of-online-adults-are-social-networking-site-users/ 72% of Online Adults are Social Networking Site Users OANNA BRENNER, AARON SMITH August 5, 2013

Comparison of High Involvement Consumer Decision Making with Love Involvement Decision Making Essay

Consumers don’t necessarily go through all the buying stages when they’re considering purchasing product. They have probably think about many products they want or need but never did much more than that. At other times, they probably look at dozens of products, compare them, and then decided not to purchase any. They sometimes can even skip stages 1 through 3 and buy products on impulse. Purchasing a product with no planning or forethought is called impulse buying. Impulse buying brings up a concept called level of involvement—that is, how personally important or interested you are in consuming a product. For example, you might see a roll of tape at a check-out stand and remember you need one. Or you might see a bag of chips and realize you’re hungry. These are items you need, but they are low-involvement products. Low-involvement products aren’t necessarily purchased on impulse, although they can be. Low-involvement products are, however, inexpensive and pose a low risk to the buyer if she makes a mistake by purchasing them. Consumers often engage in routine response behavior when they buy low-involvement products—that is, they make automatic purchase decisions based on limited information or information they have gathered in the past. For example, if you always order a Diet Coke at lunch, you’re engaging in routine response behavior. You may not even think about other drink options at lunch because your routine is to order a Diet Coke, and you simply do it. If you’re served a Diet Coke at lunchtime, and it’s flat, oh well. It’s not the end of the world. By contrast, high-involvement products carry a high risk to buyers if they fail, are complex, or have high price tags. A car, a house, and an insurance policy are examples. These items are not purchased often. Buyers don’t engage in routine response behavior when purchasing high-involvement products. Instead, consumers engage in what’s called extended problem solving, where they spend a lot of time comparing the features of the products, prices, warrantees, and so forth. High-involvement products can cause buyers a great deal of postpurchase dissonance if they are unsure about their purchases. Companies that sell high-involvement products are aware of that postpurchase dissonance can be a problem. Frequently they try to offer consumers a lot of information about their products, including why they are superior to competing brands and how they won’t let the consumer down. Limited problem solving falls somewhere in the middle. Consumers engage in limited problem solving when they already have some information about a good or service but continue to search for a bit more information. Brand names can be very important regardless of the consumer’s level of purchasing involvement. Consider a low- versus high-involvement product—say purchasing a tube of toothpaste versus a new car. You might routinely buy your favorite brand of toothpaste, not thinking much about the purchase (engage in routine response behavior), but not be willing to switch to another brand either. Having a brand you like saves you â€Å"search time† and eliminates the evaluation period because you know what you’re getting. When it comes to the car, you might engage in extensive problem solving but, again, only be willing to consider a certain brands or brands. For example, in the 1970s, American-made cars had such a poor reputation for quality, buyers joked that a car that’s â€Å"not Jap (Japanese made), is crap. † The quality of American cars is very good today, but you get the picture. If it’s a high-involvement product you’re purchasing, a good brand name is probably going to be very important to you. That’s why the makers of high-involvement products can’t become complacent about the value of their brands.