Chapter 6

1. If you go to a retailer’s Web site and it offers one-click payment, shows inventory
availability at a local store, remembers your home address, and contains product reviews
from users, then thank the retailer’s Web site team. Web experts create an overall Web
design, write code, incorporate sound and videos, check download times, plan for search
engine optimization, and ensure that site features operate on different devices
(smartphones, tablets, and laptops) and with different operating systems. Each device
and operating system needs a similar appearance because many people channel hop from
laptop, tablet, and smartphones in their purchase journey. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
predicts that, from 2016 to 2024, the demand for Web developers will grow by 27
percent. During this period, 39,500 new jobs will be created. The median salary for Web
developers is over $63,000.

How would a Web developer’s job vary if she or he worked for a retailer versus a
manufacturer?

2. A recurring issue underlying all Web-based transactions concerns the legal responsibility
of online sellers to collect sales tax. The general guideline is that online retailers are not
required to collect sales tax in states where they have no physical presence. A number of
states have recently enacted laws that require large online retailers to collect sales tax
from all purchasers in those states. Under the current sales tax collection process, Web-
based retailers with no presence in a state have a significant price advantage equal to the
sales tax. This is especially the case in those states where the sales tax states equals or
exceeds 7 percent.

As a store-based retailer, how you deal with this issue?

3. With the latest products in home automation, such as turbo bikes and camera drones,
even tech-savvy consumers may have difficulty figuring out how to use their new toys.
Most people can relate to this problem. For example, you purchase a new smart- phone
and realize that it may be too smart. Enter Enjoy.com, an online retailer that hand-
delivers a product, sets it up, and gives a tutorial; the entire visit may last up to an hour.
Enjoy.com contacts customers ahead of time to understand exactly what help the
shopper wants. It’s the perfect marriage of online shopping’s convenience and the
hands-on experience with a trusted tech expert that an in-store experience provides. Thus
far, Enjoy.com has been limited to San Francisco and New York City, where it is a
shipping option for partners such as AT&T.

Describe the pros and cons of this service to the high-tech retailer as well as its
consumers.