Caribbean Mist

Caribbean Mist

Web Project

Recommendation Report

English 420

Group 4

Kevin Quatmann

Sarah Mund

Mark Vogel

Zak Wolfe

Submit Date: April 29, 2005

Overview

This report provides Caribbean Mist Inc. Tanning Spa, with a well detailed recommendation for a web site that would cater to the company's needs. In order to create a good web site and write a good report we need to have a general understanding of your needs. From our extensive research we can see that the main goal for the company's web site is to attract more customers and provide customers with more information regarding your services. Both goals are addressed in the recommendations for the web site so that it will achieve its full potential.

In this report we will analyze and contextualize our team's field research so that we can give recommendations for a web site that meets the standards of Caribbean Mist. After looking over what we had gathered from our research we began to see what Caribbean Mist is looking for in this web site and what restrictions and standards you are forced to comply with. The report provides recommendations for advertising for the web site, web site design, where to host the web site, and the context on the web site. Each recommendation is well stated and provides descriptive steps or actions, supported by research, that the company must perform in order to fulfill the recommendation. Along with the description, we will provide a rationale on why the option we chose will best suit your needs. Lastly, each recommendation presents Caribbean Mist with a step by step procedure of what needs to be done and how long it will take. To assist Caribbean Mist with our recommendations, we have also included a cost analysis of each recommendation that is given so that you will know exactly how much each step will cost and how much money will be needed to get the project started.

Analysis

Our team executed a number of things to produce our recommendations. We did field research, an interview, and market research. Our field research consisted of an in-depth observation of Caribbean Mist while they were open for business. This gave us a better idea of what types of customers come into Caribbean Mist and how often. We also conducted an interview with the manager to get a better idea of what Caribbean Mist wants in a web site. We conducted market research by examining other tanning company web sites to see what is popular in the industry.

The field research that was completed gave our group a feel for Caribbean Mist and how the establishment is run. We took pictures of the business so that we could get a better visualization of the company. With these pictures incorporated into your web site, customers can get a much better feel for the company by being able to see the inside and outside of it. The unique atmosphere that Caribbean Mist offers will also be portrayed through the web site. In the field research we were also able to analyze documents that Caribbean Mist has on display for customers which provide them with information on tanning, lotions, and other services that they provide within the store. This information will also be used in designing the web site and illustrating the wide variety of services you provide.

The interview that was conducted proved to be a valuable tool for determining what the needs are for your company. We learned that many different types of customers come into Caribbean Mist giving us an idea of how to market the web site. From this, we were able to break down the customers into three main groups. These groups are college students, high school students, and adults. College students tend to want to look good when they go out. Many college students attribute this to the tone of their skin. For the college students we analyzed some things that are important to them. We found out that many college kids think that in order to look good they need to be tan. We then thought about what time of year this is the biggest problem for most people. During the winter the need for tanning is most apparent. Advertising should be increased during the winter months to take advantage of this prime market. High school students, much like college kids, attribute being tan to looking attractive. Our marketing for high school students was focused around certain social events that take place in high school, such as dances. By advertising around the school dances we could take advantage of the rush to get the right look before those dances. Advertising in the schools' newspapers would be a good idea to accomplish this. The third group we focused on is adults. This group was difficult to analyze because they don't congregate as frequently as kids do. Most adults work during the week and go out during the weekends. Many adults want to look tan for the weekends so advertising around sports clubs during the week would be effective. We determined separate marketing strategies for each of these groups. The advertising strategy we came up with is to advertise in newspapers, yearbooks, and pass out flyers. These advertisements will be vibrant, much like Caribbean Mist's atmosphere, to attract customers. From the interview, we were able to determine on average how much business Caribbean Mist gets in a days time, which gave us an idea on the amount of customers you get in a day and an idea on how to improve that number. We found out through the interview that Caribbean Mist is a locally owned company which gave us motivation to increase the business for your establishment. This interview gave us the necessary information to formulate the pertinent information to include on the website.

To get a better idea of the tanning market, we researched other tanning salons' web sites. The information gained from this research helped us decide what we feel is most important to include on Caribbean Mist's web site so it will stand out. The web site will have colorful, stimulating graphics and useful information for all customers. Through the research we have conducted, we have determined that a web site that will most likely attract customers must be easy to use and visually appealing. By creating this web site to be attractive, we can then increase the amount of business by broadening the amount of people that know about Caribbean Mist.

Through the combination of our field research,