Sample TBUS610 E Business Strategies Assignment

TBUS610 E–Business Strategies Assignment Sample

For 125 years, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has been a venerated newspaper with a focus on business and a welI educated, discerning readership. It consistently ranks as one of the top publications world¬ wide in terms of number of sub¬ scribers (currently approximately 2.8 million). Despite its pedigree as one of the most recognizable and respected newspapers in the world, WSJ has also made an effort to stay on the cutting edge in an industry that has seen significant disruption in the past decade. It was a pioneer in developing a pay wall for its digital content in 1997, Which met with skepticism and even ridicule at first, but is now increasingly common among online newspapers? WSJ was also one of the first news organizations with its own app for the iPad, released in 2010.

From 2010 to 2015, however, WSJ began to lag behind other newspapers and web¬ sites as devices became smaller, more streamlined, and more specialized. Although it was a first mover into the mobile space, other papers like the Financial Times and USA Today made sweeping changes to their websites and mobile offerings during this time period that better suited mobile browsing. WSJ had not redesigned its website since 2008. To make matters worse, in 2015, Google updated its search algorithms to prioritize sites that are optimized for mobile devices, which caused WSJ's search results to suffer. The company wasn't alone in that regard, with nearly half of the websites belonging to Fortune 500 companies failing to achieve "mobile-friendliness," according to Google, including a surprising 29% of retail sites, where mobile search is critical to maintaining revenue growth. However, with many publishing companies already struggling to adjust to the new online world, WSJ decided it had no more time to waste.

In 2015, WSJ undertook a complete redesign of its website and mobile apps across multiple platforms. It released new I Pad and Android apps with a variety of new features to improve user experience, and followed those up with the release of apps for the Apple Watch and for the Windows 10 operating system. It also added its first mobile-only product, an app that features a curated digest of 10 stories that is refreshed during the day, patterned after the what’s News column that appears on the front page of the print version. WSJ also launched a London-specific app called WSJ City that provides frequent updates on the most significant business news in London. In 2016, WSJ announced plans to launch more apps with specific functions akin to what’s News and WSJ City. The paper also launched the WSJ.D niche site, which focuses on technology news, analysis, commentary, and product reviews. The overhaul was more than just cosmetic. Organizationally, it also integrated the team that works on new technology products and design elements into the news room, so that the editors themselves can have direct input into shaping the technological future of WSJ. This move has helped WSJ keep pace with other top newspapers, including the Washington Post, which has almost 50 engineers working in its newsroom. In 2016, WSJ also announced continued changes to the organizational structure of its newsroom to improve its digital efforts further.

One of the most critical objectives of the overhaul was to ensure that the user experi¬ence was consistent across all of the different devices that readers use today and in the future. Being able to save an article on the i Pad and open the app on your i Phone or log in to the website and see the same article with your progress saved was a top priority for WSJ. The number of options for navigating articles was reduced for simplicity and ease of use, with the number of exposed navigation options dropping by nearly half on many pages. In the past, options were different on different devices and appeared in different places on the screen, confusing readers attempting to move from one device to another. Using an iOS feature called Handoff, WSJ allows users to save stories across all of their devices and to carry over the "graying out" of article headlines that have been read across those devices as well. It also allows users to access its Watch list stock portfolio service across all I devices.

In addition to making the user experience more consistent across devices, WSJ hoped to improve it. The app versions of WSJ are more responsive and more visually appealing. Graphical elements are more prominent and even interactive. The app loads faster, which had been an area where it trailed its competitors in the past. WSJ wanted the reading experience to feel natural on any device, which required it to optimize its apps for the screen size of the latest generation of Apple and Android phones. As devices continue to evolve in size, so too will the WSJ app experience. On a desktop, users can mouse over and click precise areas, but on a mobile device, users can swipe and tilt the device. In general, WSJ seeks to minimize interactions requiring precise taps on mobile as well as to reduce the amount of the screen that is fixed from page to page. Making interactive maps suitable for mobile can be particularly difficult, but WSJ is fine-tuning its approach.

Most of the feedback on the design changes has been positive. Elements that many readers had requested were added, including a II Market Data Center" featured prominently on the new website home page with essential information on the status of the stock markets that day. The iOS app also includes a Journal widget that places top stories of the day alongside other daily notifications, such as appointments and weather alerts. Users can swipe directly from their widget menu to move straight to the story within the WSJ app. From a user perspective, the new site and apps provide a large number of content choices, while also offering a variety of advertising opportunities, which is beneficial from WSJ's perspective.

As traffic continues to shift to the mobile platform, providing these advertising opportunities will become increasingly important to WSJ's continued success. In 2008, 10% of WSJ's traffic came via mobile devices. That figure sits at 55% in 2016 and continues to grow quickly. WSJ has about 900,000 digital-only subscribers, trailing the New York Times (1 million) and coming in ahead of the Financial Times (over 520,000), but most of its 1.5 million print edition subscribers also have all-access subscriptions. Although measuring subscription numbers has become more complicated as the number of digital devices and reading platforms has grown, the trend away from print and towards digital has long been clear throughout the industry. But despite the proliferation of the mobile platform, two-thirds of WSJ's subscribers visit the website home page each month. Realizing this, WSJ included the website as a key component of its redesign. As it turns out, readers use whatever device is convenient at the time-desktop in the office and mobile devices when moving about.

Another effect of the wider array of options for WSJ subscribers is that different trends and reading patterns emerge on each platform. To capture this new data, WSJ is upgrading its analytics capabilities, with the goal of using them in the newsroom and in its larger business strategy. One example of this approach already delivering results is the breakdown of device usage by WSJ readers. Tablet usage of the WSJ app is growing at approximately 10% per year, but smartphone usage is growing by 30% to 40%, sug¬ gesting that the smartphone app experience should be WSJ's major focus going forward. Additionally, WSJ has found that app users are more active and engaged than web browser users, spending more time in the app and reading more articles than other types of users. App users are also likelier to maintain their subscriptions than any other type of user. WSJ also dropped its Linkedln share button in 2016 because its analytics indicated that it siphoned off more traffic than it returned.

Many of the features that WSJ engineers are working on are tailored specifically for the app experience. One goal is to provide live video coverage via mobile devices. Another is to improve push alerts to make them more relevant to users. By analyzing reader data to understand what types of stories are most appealing to individual users or different demographics of users, WSJ can provide custom push alerts that are likeliest to motivate readers to swipe and move to the app. Another feature in development is a" Read-it-later" button that allows users to tag stories on any platform and view them later within their app. WSJ will also continue to optimize its Apple Watch app, which allows users to tilt the watch while looking at a headline to make that story available on the i Phone app.

Going forward, WSJ hopes to begin work on other features that will help in the future as early as possible. This means the paper will be continuously redesigning itself on a rolling basis. By integrating its engineering and product teams into the newsroom, it is much better positioned to achieve this level of development. For example, WSJ is one of the first organizations experimenting with virtual reality technology to improve its reporting. To that end, it updated its apps with built-in 360-degree video and virtual reality capability. With its sweeping redesign across all platforms, WSJ has once again solidified its status as an industry leader, even in this brave new world of news media.

Questions need to be answer for online case study assignment help -

Q1. What were Wall Street Journal’s objectives in redesigning its e-business presence?
Q2. What considerations unique to the newspaper business were involved?
Q3. What are the revenue models newspapers are using to go online?
Q4. What did Wall Street Journal do to meet the needs of mobile device users?
Q5. What advantages do pure digital news sites have over print newspapers? What
advantages traditional newspapers have over pure digital news sites?

Solution

Question 1

It is evident from the case study in Wall Street Journal that this Publishing House had not redesigned its website since 2008. As a result, the company faced huge challenges in attracting readers and gaining maximum profit in the competitive business world. This problem became more intense when in 2015; Google refurbished its algorithms regarding the search sites and gave enhanced priority to those sites which were optimised more on mobile gadgets. Furthermore, facing huge losses after this incident, Walsall Street Journal soon redesigned its website in 2015. The major motive behind redesigning its website was to attract more readers and engage them in reading newspapers so that the market revenue of the company could be increased. Another intention behind refurbishing this company's website is to provide users with better experiences. Hence, the organisation has also developed mobile applications across various social media channels. Significantly, it is also observed that the company has also developed iPad and Android applications, which can help fascinate more readers and achieve maximum financial gain. In the competitive business world, a sense of trust and better satisfaction to consumers is important as it helps in building consumer loyalty and bringing profit maximisation for the company. Hence, the companies need to develop a proper website as it is considered the liaison that helps bring loyalty and satisfaction to consumers from the seller's end (Wijaya et al., 2021). It can also be noted that in the digital era, companies must have an official website containing information about their products and services. This helps support the company's services and better communication with consumers and other stakeholders (Azizan, Munti & Adeswastoto, 2022). Another objective behind this overhaul was to provide better experiences through advanced technologies in different mobile gadgets readers intend to use in the present and future scenarios.

Question 2

Certain considerations of the Wall Street Journal have made the company unique compared to its competitive rivals. This company has decided to offer a better user experience. Due to this, it has overhauled its data analytics, intending to use these analytics in the newsrooms to gain maximum profit margin. Moreover, this company's engineers are developing some unique attributes that help the users receive the best experiences of using the mobile applications of WSJ. It is one of the first firms among the other rival companies that have initiated the usage of virtual reality technologies that helps the company improve its reporting system (GlobeNewswire, 2015). Notably, this company is the first to launch 360-degree video and virtual reality technologies. With refurbished technologies and overhauled website of the company across all the social media platforms, it is significant to note that WSJ has tried to retain its status in the industry in which it operates.

Furthermore, the company has developed an iOS application that comprises several widgets of journals and it also helps in placing the best stories of the day, including the top news (Wang, 2016). WSJ has 900,000 online subscribers, whereas, on the other hand, its competitive rivals, like Financial Times, have 520,000 subscribers. It is due to the fact that Tablet usage of WSJ applications is increasing rapidly by 10% and the usage of mobile phones is rapidly increasing by approximately 30%-40% as the company is providing unique features in its user-friendly mobile applications. Moreover, the company is trying to analyse the facts and data of users. Another feature named "Read It Later" helps users tag the stories on a single channel and view them later by utilising the mobile application of WSJ (Lichterman et al., 2015).

Question 3

It is significant to note that there are certain revenue models that newspapers use for going online. One such model is the transaction-based model, a traditional model that helps newspapers go online and earn money. Through this model, newspaper companies are trying to put all the important news on social media platforms to help readers get easy access. In addition, some newspapers put subscription fees with the help of which the newspapers can gain more money and success in the business market. Revenue models are used in assessing the legitimacy of the consumers as the security and privacy concerns differ from one revenue model to the other. (vanAngeren et al., 2022). Affiliate revenue is another revenue model that helps gain maximum financial profits by showing the advertisements of other brands on the official website of the companies. Newspapers on their online website show different promotional advertisements of other companies and earn huge amounts of money. It uses revenue and affiliate models to help gain huge income (Mathur, Narayanan & Chetty, 2018). In addition, this revenue model is highly used in replacing CPC practices in which the advertiser has high powers of negotiation. However, it is also evident that the publisher's power deals with receiving overall revenue from the affiliates. Accession to readers for online research is another model in which the site owner tries to generate more income standards. It helps show the practices that help assess the various effective pages on the companies' websites for more revenue. This also helps affiliate marketers for making more money by commissioning the consumers clicking through the third parties of the retail sites (Kemppainen et al., 2018)

Question 4

Wall Street Journal has adopted many strategies to cope with mobile gadget users' needs. One such strategy it implemented was the refurbishment of the online website, which it revamped in 2015, containing all the important facts and information regarding the news and other information of the company. It is also observed that to make mobile users happy, Wall Street Journal has developed certain mobile applications that help users use and access the company's online portal across various platforms. To cope with the requirements of online users, the company has also brought iPad and other Android applications that possess manifold characteristics in ameliorating the users' experiences (GlobeNewswire, 2015). It has also released appropriate and easy-to-access applications through Apple Phones and watches and another application with characteristics that aid in curetting the top 10 stories during the day (Doctor et al., 2015).

Moreover, it has also developed the Wall Street’s New Column that appears on the front page of the online news portal. WSJ had launched a particular application for the users of London named WSJ City in which frequent overhauls of the fundamental news regarding business and other news can be accessed. It is significant to note that the newspaper has also inaugurated a niche site that puts more stress on the technological news, commentary and review of products. Moreover, a consumer who wants to buy products can review the products-review section and get an idea about the item before purchasing. The WSJ applications' versions are quite appealing regarding their videos and responsiveness (Southern, 2016). These applications can be loaded efficiently, giving the company a competitive advantage compared to its rivals. Due to a similar reason, the company has 500,000 subscribers online, whereas other companies failed to gain such huge subscribers.

Question 5

There are several advantages that print media have over online news portals. One of the biggest advantages of print news media is that it is considered more credible than online news media. Research invariably emphasises the fact that the credibility of print media stems from a suitable impression developed by the true nature and atmosphere of the word printed and on the "halo effect". Consumers also view print media as the most appropriate form of news media in providing news. In print media, the recall value is higher than the online media as it is easy for print media to recall an enhanced number of advertisements and readers intend to react to them. Print media does not face interruption in the process of marketing. Some people postulate that print media is more reliable than online media and hence is considered the traditional form of providing accurate news to people across the globe (Saragih & Harahap, 2020).

On the other hand, online news portals can also be considered better in the digital age, where people are busy and have no time to view news on television. Hence, they use online media newspapers to gain more facts in a shorter period of time. Another advantage of online news media is that it is cost-efficient and people can save money as these newspapers do not require access (Saragih & Harahap, 2020). However, some newspaper portals require subscription fees which are not huge. In the current circumstances, environmental challenges are becoming adverse. Print media requires cutting trees to obtain papers, posing threats to the environment (Gutierrez, Martinez & Myrick, 2020).

Moreover, online portals it does not require chemical inks and papers and hence pose low threats to the environment. Another advantage of online newspapers is that it helps in allowing the readers to interact with the paper and is also able to give feedback and reviews. Online news portals help in giving facts regarding the happenings. The traditional print media do the same process by collecting and printing and distributing the facts, requiring much time. On the other hand, online news portals are time and cost-efficient.

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