You have decided yo buy a new color printer for your home of

You have decided yo buy a new color printer for your home office, but are unsure whether an ink-jet or laser printer would be best for you. Use two Web sites such as Hpshopping.com, Office Depot, Best Buy, OfficeMax, or Staples to gather information. Write a short critique of how each of the two sites provided or failed to provide information useful to you in your search.

Solution

Websites chosen for research:

Type of Research:

Secondary Research

Critique of http://store.hp.com/ :

HP is one of the most renowned brands a computer and printer manufacturer. Above mentioned website offers detailed information about printers with their designated categories. Website is also user friendly and offers good navigation to access each of the model. Moreover, it mentions price alongside the particular printer model. Detailed description / specification about printer models with service support is also on display for consumers. Though, website falls short of offering precise information regarding suitability of any printer for a particular office size. Further, in some of the models, it is not precisely mentioned that whether it is laser or inkjet. Also, feature comparison of more than two printers cannot be done to select the best model before buying. Buyers also don’t get an idea about what other printer models in the similar price range are offering.

Critique of http://www.officedepot.com/ :

It is a multi-brand shopping website that offers printer models of different manufactures alongside the other category of products. Here, buyers can select a price range, choose type of printers in that price range and then select a brand. Buyers can also adopt reverse process to select the best model, suitable for them. It seems to be a one stop shop that host all printer models of the reputed companies. Though, Website lacks in offering customized information regarding the suitability of a model for a business size as it is the case also with HP. A programmatic guidance to help buyers to select the most suitable model through need assessment and periodic requirements will be a great assistance for customers. Also, Website lacks in best graphic visualization as it also affects the buying decision.