1. The P&G Web site (http://www.pg.com) is a support site for a traditional business; it does not offer the customer any opportunities to buy products on the site. It does offer promotions and information about its products, however. From the customer vantage point, the primary value of the site is to provide information on P&G products. The consumer can find out what products are available, get household tips that involve the use of the products, enter contests to win prizes, and obtain useful information, such as an ôEssential Fall Checklistö that details how to prepare a house for winter and a video guide to flossing. The consumer can find out what new products are in the P&G line and where to buy them, as well. In addition, there is a ôContact Usö link that allows the consumer to get in touch with P&G to ask questions, register complaints, or just make comments.
2. This Web site has competition from companies that market similar products, such as Unilever, which also markets soap and home care products as well as food products, and has a Web site of its ownùhttp://www.unilever.ca/index.asp. P&GÆs site has competitive strengths, including a free ômonthly publicationöùthe site does not specify whether this is a magazine or an e-newsletter. It also provides a calendar showing when P&G coupons will appear in the newspaper insert and the P&G Brandsaver, which highlights key products and offers services, such as a downloadable manual, a way to purchase replacement parts, an interactive video demo, and online warranty registration for the Swiffer Sweep+Vac.
UnileverÆs site has competitive strengths of its own. It provides more information on its products than P&G does, including instructions for use and more detailed descriptions of the products and their ingredients; P&GÆs information is more like advertising. It also has a recipe database and provides other useful information that is not associated with the u...