The case study research method in my research project, in order to gain a better understanding of how businiesses in the Bay Area use websites. By understanding the situations they were dealing with in regards to their business growth and learning how the website played a role in that, much valuable information was collected to help answer the central research question.
Multiple interviews were conducted where open ended questions were used to gain qualitative data. This was in an effort to better understand the roles websites play in day to day business, at different types of stores. In total, six interviews were conducted and an overview of each is shown below.
| Business Name | Website | Size | Store Description | Interview Date | Interviewee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gitane Style | Link | Small | Mom & daughter clothing boutique in downtown Menlo Park | 2/5/21 | Founder & Owner (Malika Parker) |
| Cafe Douce France | Link | Small | A local cafe and bakery serving baked goods, breakfast, and lunch foods near downtown Palo Alto | 2/9/21 | Founder & Owner (Victor Marku) |
| Rick's Ice Cream | Link | Small-medium | Local ice cream store located near Cubberly, Palo Alto, best known for their 48 flavors of ice cream and custom cakes | 2/16/21 | General Manager (Kiki Khosla) |
| Silicon Valley Fine Wine & Spirits | Link | Small-medium | An alcoholic beverage store with three locations in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Belmont | 2/18/21 | Owner & Manager (Justin Matthew) |
| Footwear etc | Link | Medium | A specialized footwear store with a vast selection of shoes and eleven locations around the Bay Area and San Diego communities | 2/4/21 | Salesperson (Ribka) |
| Blue Mercury | Link | Medium-large | A local neighborhood beauty, makeup, skincare, and spa store that has since expanded to 162 locations across 27 states | 2/9/21 | Salesperson (Ana) |
After collecting all the interview data, coding was used to transform the information into meaningful and cohesive categories. This was done by analyzing the various ways businesses used their websites for different business growth functions, and determining the areas their websites were falling short of business expectations.