Jeffrey Alfaro and Kathleen (Kathy) Andree have chosen to expand Jeffrey’s pre-existing web site, www.bboogie.com, to fulfill the requirements of the NDP E-commerce project. Please note that particular points of interest surrounding this site will appear throughout this executive summary in red letters. This paper will provide you with hints on what features to look for when clicking around The Boogie Store. We hope that you will take the time to read through this executive summary, as a lot of time and effort was put into this project. As can be seen in the FINANCIAL FORECAST below, real revenues have been realized through a combination of Jeffrey and Kathy’s efforts.
Background
The Boogie Store is an extension and enhancement of an existing web site, The Boogie North at www.bboogie.com. This pre-existing web site is dedicated to a summer festival that takes place every year in a beautiful, serene setting in Connecticut on the estate of the late grandmother of one of The Boogie’s founders. The Boogie North festival is entering its ninth year of existence and draws individuals and bands from far and wide who come together for three days of camaraderie including good food, excellent company and, most of all, great music. The scenic Connecticut backdrop provides talented musicians in every genre the opportunity to play music for an audience who can truly appreciate their art. People in attendance hail from all across the United States, London and even as far as New Zealand. Each year the Boogie finds its popularity growing and the web site is a perfect means for "Boogiers" from far and wide to come together to view pictures from the festival and even chat with one another in the Boogie Chatroom, accessed from the homepage. Most importantly and relevant to the project at hand, at www.bboogie.com people are able to purchase copies of Boogie Sounds, CD and/or tape compilations of each year’s festival performances.
Jeffrey Alfaro is an active participant at the Boogie Festival. Not only is he a talented drummer who performs each year, but he also maintains and periodically updates the www.bboogie.com web site. For this reason, he has chosen to expand the scope of the site to include The Boogie Store. The advantage of doing so is obvious, as there is an established client-base, attendants of the Boogie Festival, who wish to purchase items from the Boogie Sounds product line. As this product line is limited, the web site has much more to offer to its visitors, and the broad scope of The Boogie Store’s features appeal equally to both Boogie Festival participants and those completely unfamiliar with the Festival.
Departments of The Boogie Store entered via THE BOOGIE STORE STOREFRONT
The target-audience for this store is people interested in all aspects of music, from just plain listening to out-and-out performing. The homepage revolves around The Boogie North, but does not stop there. With its attractive and fun look, The Boogie North web page draws interest at first glance and provides links to various web sites sure to whet the appetites of music lovers young and old. The Boogie Store itself provides links to Boogie Sounds, Kweevak’s Tracks (www.kweevak.com), Tunemaster Records (www.bdcollectables.com), The Engine Room, Internet Sites of Interest, and, most recently, The Blues Bag (Jeffrey’s compilation of stand-out blues CD’s; here, there is a further link to www.amazon.com) and The Boogie Literature Connection (which is accessed by clicking on the Amazon.com icon and also provides a further link to www.amazon.com; this page is Kathy’s primary contribution to the site).
NOTE that when you place your mouse pointer over any grayed-out The Boogie Store logo on The Boogie Store storefront, you will be given a holiday message (either across the top or bottom of your screen).
Additionally, a Boogie Store visitor who is in a rush and wants to make a quick purchase at www.amazon.com can do so by clicking an amazon.com icon link at the bottom of the page.
Boogie Sounds is the brainchild behind The Boogie Store. When a visitor to The Boogie Store clicks on the BOOGIE SOUNDS icon, he or she is given the opportunity to purchase a tape or CD compilation from this year’s and/or past year’s Boogie summer festivals.
Note that while in the
BOOGIE SOUNDS department, a visitor may listen to a sampling from the current Boogie Festival tape by clicking on any of the songs shown within the graphic. As well, if any of the grayed-out The Boogie Store logos are clicked, a message will appear on the screen.See
FINANCIAL FORECAST below to view current sales of the Boogie product line as well as future sales projections.Kweevak’s Tracks (www.kweevak.com), originating in May 1999 and based locally out of Ringwood, NJ, is the self-proclaimed "Musician’s Friend". At this site, accessed by clicking the KWEEVAK.COM icon on The Boogie Store storefront, visitors are able to procure information about fresh, new bands here in New Jersey and are given the opportunity to check out their music. Furthermore, Kweevak offers musicians the opportunity to promote their own music. As stated in the homepage:
PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC – Get noticed on Kweevak’s Tracks! We have a number of ways we can help new bands and artists promote their music on this site. Click here for details.
By linking with this site, The Boogie Store appeals to a younger audience who has varied musical interests. This site keeps its visitors coming back by running contests with global artists who contribute autographed CDs as sweepstake prizes. An additional incentive to linking with Kweevak is the KWEEVAK Mall, which provides links to etoys.com, Barnes and Noble, Pets.com, Value America, Fogdog Sports, Reel.com and more.
See FINANCIAL FORECAST below for further information surrounding the monetary advantages of linking with www.kweevak.com.
Tunemaster Records, having been in business for 21 years, represents an established, experienced, solidly-based division of The Boogie Store and Boogie Productions as a whole. It is accessed by clicking on the Tunemaster Records icon on The Boogie Store storefront and is a means for locating that impossible-to-find CD. As stated in their homepage:
We specialize in oldies, Rhythm & Blues, Doo-Wop, Acappella, and other hard to find CDs….
By linking with Tunemaster, The Boogie Store adds an element of interest for the "over-40 crowd". Visitors to The Boogie Store will never feel limited by the confines of your run-of-the-mill CD web site which caters to mainstream pop, since Tunemaster is willing to go that extra mile to find those tracks you thought were lost to you forever. Another noteworthy aspect of Tunemaster is its active participation at the Ebay site, where Tunemaster holds between 12 and 20 auctions per day. Sports and other collectibles are featured at Tunemaster, too, adding yet another dimension to The Boogie Store’s offerings.
See
FINANCIAL FORECAST below for further information surrounding the monetary advantages of linking with www.bdcollectables.com.When a Boogie Store visitor clicks on The Engine Room icon, he or she is offered the opportunity to make use of any of nine popular search engines to continue on his or her web journey. Through The Boogie Store Engine Room links are provided to the following:
The benefits of The Engine Room are obvious; no one likes to waste time, and with the ability to automatically continue searching without fuss, The Boogie Store’s appeal is enhanced all the more. The Boogie Store’s primary goal is to make its visitors web experience enjoyable, informative and, most of all, easy.
The Boogie Store’s Internet Sites of Interest…… link is a compilation of those web sites we have found to be top-notch in their respective service areas. Our target audience is one of varied interests and through research and experience, The Boogie Store has provided visitors with an opportunity to link with those web sites we have found to be of superior quality. Again, The Boogie Store is looking to make its visitors’ lives as easy as possible.
This department is entered by clicking on the moving TheBluesBag icon near the top of the screen. In this department, Jeffrey has provided commentary on a selection of blues CD’s that he thinks will appeal to The Boogie Store visitors.
By clicking on any CD picture, a visitor is brought to the www.amazon.com site and is given the opportunity to purchase this CD. Additionally, at the bottom of TheBluesBag page, an amazon.com search engine is provided for our visitors’ use. A link to bring visitors back to The Boogie Store is also featured.
In an effort to further engage our audience’s interests, The Boogie Store has expanded to include a link to The Boogie Literature Connection, accessed by clicking the Amazon.com icon on the storefront. In this department, we strive to provide commentary on books we feel will appeal to our site’s visitors. Rather than being overwhelmed by the huge amount of offerings of an Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble, The Boogie Literature Connection gives its guests a sampling of books with in-depth commentary to aid them in purchasing decisions. This department is directly linked with www.amazon.com, so if a visitor is unable to find what he or she is looking for at The Boogie Literature Connection, with one click of the mouse an immediate link to www.amazon.com is accessed and the visitor’s needs can be easily met. If in fact a Boogie customer is interested in one of the books featured at the store, by clicking the graphic a link is established with www.amazon.com and, as with the CDs above, the visitor may purchase the selected book. As with our other departments, The Boogie Store is focusing on its customers’ needs by providing a fun, user-friendly environment.
Again, at the bottom of the page our visitors are provided with the opportunity to immediately link with amazon.com and make use of their search engine. As always, we provide a link back to The Boogie Store storefront.
FINANCIAL FORECAST
A. Revenues
Our BOOGIE SOUNDS department has actively provided The Boogie Store with a respectable amount of revenue. Through our loyal customer-base, eight (8) tapes and two (2) holiday box (a box-set including all of the Boogie Festival tapes) have been sold. To date, total sales are at $160.00 and we expect this number to increase throughout the holiday season.
By linking with KWEEVAK.COM, The Boogie Store has broadened its audience, as since its inception, KWEEVAK.COM has had 16,333 hits (figure as of 11/30/99). Jeffrey has negotiated with Richard Lynch, Kweevak’s chief operator, an agreement wherein Boogie Productions will earn a straight 10% commission on all traffic sales originating from www.bboogie.com; additionally, Boogie Productions will receive $1.00 for every 150 click-throughs (visitors entering www.kweevak.com from www.bboogie.com). Furthermore, Mr. Lynch is fully familiar with Boogie Productions, as he is Jeffrey’s business partner and bandmate. Because of this, he has agreed to provide a cross-link from KWEEVAK.COM to www.bboogie.com. Adding all of these elements, Boogie Productions has the potential of increasing its revenues substantially.
Likewise, by linking with Tunemaster Records, The Boogie Store has opened a very valuable door, as this company has a large customer-base and averages between $5,000.00 and $6,000.00 per month net-after-taxes profit. Jeffrey was able to negotiate a fantastic business arrangement with Bob Caruso, Jeffrey’s personal friend and proprietor of Tunemaster Records, wherein Boogie Productions will receive $1.00 for every 150 click-throughs and 10% of all sales originating from www.bboogie.com. Above and beyond this and most important to the future development and expansion of Boogie Productions, Tunemaster Records has agreed to stock 1999 Boogie tapes and CDs in its store. This is the first retail outlet for The Boogie Store and Tunemaster Records has agreed to take only 10% of Boogie tape and CD sales as compensation for stocking the BOOGIE SOUNDS product line. Again, we feel that this business venture provides a great potential for future revenue to The Boogie Store.
By providing our customers with multiple links to www.amazon.com, The Boogie Store insures some means of revenue. As have all NDP students, we have created a link with Amazon wherein any purchase generated by a click-through The Boogie Store to Amazon resulting in a purchase leads to a percentage profit for The Boogie Store. To date, three such purchases have been made and as the word spreads through friends and family, this holiday season guarantees additional revenues for The Boogie Store.
On top of our department offerings, it is important to note that www.bboogie.com is a notable web site which appears on a number of search engines including About.com, Lycos and Yahoo. This fact gives The Boogie Store creditability and a greater chance of being "found" on the ever-growing worldwide web.
As with all businesses, there are expenses that will be incurred. Fortunately, The Boogie Store’s are limited. Of course, there is a fee to maintain the www.bboogie.com web site, but this fee is minimal, averaging $180.00 per year. Shipping expenses for the BOOGIE SOUNDS’ product line have been built into the products’ cost and are, therefore, designed to pay for themselves. The business agreements reached with both KWEEVAK.COM and Tunemaster Records are mutual in nature. As discussed above, Tunemaster Records will take 10% of all sales of 1999 Boogie CD’s and tapes sold at www.bdcollectables.com, but this is gravy when compared to the exposure this venture will provide to Boogie Productions.
CONCLUSION
The Boogie Store is at an obvious advantage due to its pre-existing customer-base and www.bboogie.com’s presence on the Internet prior to the assignment of this project. However, these factors alone do not guarantee The Boogie Store’s success. Jeffrey has friends and colleagues with similar Internet businesses that have proved to be very successful. Evidence is presented in our overview of www.kweevak.com and www.bdcollectables.com. We feel that by expanding The Boogie Store’s features with multiple links to Amazon Books we work toward meeting visitors’ needs that much more. Our site provides ease in navigating the sometimes-frustrating Internet and gives its visitors reasons to return. Our departments correlate perfectly to satisfy the requirements of our target-audience. Of course, product lines will be periodically updated and commentary on different products (both books and CDs) will appear. There is potential for future expansion down the road by linking with other worthwhile web sites we find to be complimentary to The Boogie Store. Technical realization has been attained already with sales generated by both the BOOGIE SOUNDS’ product line and our link to www.amazon.com. The future looks indeed bright for this unique, user-friendly "web site with a cause".