Do a key word online search for clothing manufacturers or retailers. Select two companies that make or sell similar clothes and access their websites. Conduct an Internet shopping audit similar to the one P. Kelly Mooney does as the president and chief executive officer for Resource Marketing, Inc., a technology marketing and communications company based in Columbus, Ohio.

Mooney uses five principles to evaluate Internet shopping sites in such areas as prepurchase customer service, gift giving, special promotions, and postpurchase follow-through. She describes the five principles as follows:

● Don’t just do it: The website should be more than the company’s catalogue loaded online.

● Don’t let your seams show: Shopping, whether online or in a retail store, should be a seamless experience that guides customers according to their needs.

● Own the customer experience: The website should be intuitively easy to use and accessible. It should personalize service by asking customers about the types of information they want.

● Avoid barriers to entry: The website should center on the customer. It should have clear connection paths, quick-loading graphics, well-organized pages, crisp self-help features, and personal email responses that state all details of the shopping transaction in plain language.

● Trust is a must: The website should not follow a one-size-fits-all information-gathering approach. Rather, it should allow customers to personalize their approaches to browsing and buying so that they may come to view the company as a valued and trusted adviser.

Use Mooney’s five principles to answer the following questions about the two companies you chose:

1. Identify the companies, their product lines, and their URLs. From a customer’s perspective, what are your impressions of their websites and their products?

2. Compare the companies’ order forms. Do the companies request the same measurements and other information? Are their prices for like items comparable? How do the order forms differ?

3. Assume you are the manager of each company you chose. Did your product unit cost influence your pricing decisions? What other factors had a significant effect on the prices you set?

4. If the companies’ financial statements are available on their websites, review the figures for cost of goods sold and inventories. Describe your findings. Do the financial results agree with your previous impressions?