Mobile Devices and Self-Service e-CommerceTawana EdwardsProf. Hoskins?In today’s world mobile devices have taken over the place of old ecommerce system where personal computers were used for online shopping needs. With all of the improvement in technology and the mobile industry, users now have an opportunity to carry out their shopping on the mobile devices such as Smartphone, tablets, laptops, and notebooks. The transactions are executed through devices such as the Sports R US application.
The application on the devices are set in a way so that people can view the application, downloading and installing it on their devices. Also, customers can access the application through varies Web browsers like Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and others that support the self-service tasks which also provides the privacy to the users. Sports R US is a company that has goals in line with ensuring customer satisfaction and tries to cater to their customers to make sure that they have absolute use of online purchasing and easy accessibility for customers to be able to use the services that are provided. The way that the company gathers information is via online questionnaires, interviews, and observation which helps them to understand and gather required data that will be important during the analysis of the needs and wants of the user’s experience with the mobile e-commerce.
This data is very important because it provides them with an insight of the market and gives the company an advantage to improve and adjust its Web application before launching it in a live environment. The website should be designed in a way that it is simple in both accessibility and use this would help ensure that the users do not have a hard time operating it. The security aspect on the website will be most important due to the new technology challenges which can be exploited by hackers that can hack into the application to access user’s personal information. Having a stable security system will enhance the customer’s confidence on the web since payments are made through the web using crucial and private data being used. The Sports R US wants to provide a platform where the users will be confident in purchasing their items on a self-service basis without delays that occur due to waiting on the line, the application will be convenient, hassle-free, and consistent and with error prevention techniques.For the relevant analysis to be conducted, the identification of the target audience is important in order to gather information necessary for designing the web. Since sports are one of the major things in the day to day activities in people’s lives around the world, it does not consider age as a factor in the identification of the target segment.
The survey, therefore, will be conducted using one of the sampling techniques. The most common sampling technique to be used in the survey is the Random sampling. This is achieved by using a random number generator or by selecting every person provided on the lists which provide an equal chance for each member of the group to get a participation chance. The other sampling technique to be used is the stratified sampling; this incorporates dividing a total population into smaller groups by age, gender, education level, nationality, or job profile then applying the random sampling. Lastly the use of convenience sampling and volunteer sampling, which are non-probability sampling methods that provide the opportunity for the participant to be more prepared before the interview (Preece, Sharp, and Rogers, 2015). Data can also be received through observations conducted in certain malls and sports shopping houses. Online questionnaires may be suitable for the Generation Y or the Net Generation rather than the Generation X and older which may not be well acknowledged about the online questionnaire functionality.
Once the identification of a customer base is done, the selections of customers are then selected. In order to compile the results, the use of Google Analytics can be applied. Google Analytics will help in the generation of detailed statistics on how the activities of the website are being conducted by customers. It helps to provide by providing an analysis of customers traffic and paints a complete picture of the company’s audience and their needs, how they purchase the goods and the path along which they purchase the products. This will provide the company with enough knowledge on how best to design the Website and what to include in the website in order to help the customers to easily use it when purchasing (Preece, Sharp, and Rogers, 2015).The design of the Sports R US homepage for mobile device usage is designed using the open source wire framing system. The Mobile User Interface (UI) will be the best to fit the web design since most phones use Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android architecture, Blackberry’s operating system, HP’s WebOS, and Windows operating systems can support the UI design approaches. The application will also be advantages to users since it requires zero-cost when installing (Lentz, 2011).
The application will also provide the space for upgrading to the new version which the users can get the updates of their version through the online stores. The design, therefore, will put in focus the display size in consideration of the text and image size with the size of the screen. The size design should appear in a sizable way that it will be able to accommodate all information required without appearing to cramped or stretched at both ends of the screen. With the use of results obtained in the Google Analytics, the company is able to find out the screen sizes that most of their users have and with this information the company is in a better position to design the web with a screen resolution.
The input design is also of importance for the design of the web. Most popular Smartphones use touch and gestural input systems. With most users of the web having phones that use touch input, the spacing on the screen designed should be able to provide enough access to figures to click on various, links provided in the web design. The space between links should be at least 28 X 28 pixels. The web will also be designed to give feedback when the visitor clicks on the link, this can be in the form of highlighting the clicked link to avoid the users to repeatedly continue to clink the link with assumption that it has functioned. The web design will also consist of clickable space or buttons which guide the user where to click to get more information; this includes the drop-down menus that will help to hide information until it is required. The design will have minimized text input to enhance the visibility of information on the screen.
This will be attained by breaking up forms into multiple pages with a clear “next” button below for the users to use to go to the next page rather than scrolling. The design will also incorporate mobile-specific features such that it allows the user to click on a button provided to make a phone call to the company, or for emailing the company when clicked. The self-service Web page for the Web design that will be used to review and check out products using mobile devices will be designed in a form that it stays close to home, from the Google Analytics report, the company will be able to identify the users’ manner and most interested aspects that they mostly review or read when they visit the web. This means that the self-service web page will be designed in a form that the most popular topics are easily visible and accessed in the mobile design web (Distilled, n.
d).A prototype is an interactive mockup for a web designer. However, the most recommended prototype for wire frame for the company web design will be the Web flow tool. Web flow is much easier and when it is finished it only requires a click of a button to turn the prototype into a production-ready site.
Web flow contains a unique feature CMS that is more visual, which allows the creation of a more dynamic and powerful website without writing a single line of code. It also allows the creation of the admin that controls all the changes that are required on the web. It comes with site templates and web components that are easily sent to the prototype only by dragging and dropping which increases its speed when creating web designs. Web flow is open to all devices and that makes it easy to use on Smartphones, tablets, laptops, and notebooks. It also provides a platform for additional designs, especially on mobile devices such as the creation of animation and other modern browsers. Lastly, web flow allows the connection of live prototypes to Slack, Mail Chimp, and Google Drive due to its extensibility built in (Mejia, 2018). The company will apply various evaluation methods to determine the Web design users’ experiences.
The user experience is determined by branding, usability, functionality, and content elements. Some of these methods include the company conducting analysis by working through the four elements of the user experience. The company hires an expert in Web design evaluation that will rate each statement to be analyzed with a scale of 1 to 10. User testing is another method to evaluate these elements. This can be done in person, in a Lab or through online methods. The selection of a number of users from the target market on the web can be interviewed to get their experiences on the usage of the website. The online survey is conducted with the usage of the Standard Universal Percentile Questionnaire as it is designed to measure the site’s usability, loyalty, trust, and appearance.
The measuring of engagement and emotional response is also important to determine the user’s engagement when they are on the website. Sports R US will apply electroencephalograms and functional magnetic resonance imaging methods to obtain this data which will reflect the level of audience trust, what affects them on the web and how (Andrew, 2015). Sports R US will ensure that the mobile self-service method is well implemented on various mobile devices through the adoption of industry standards such as the use of iHTML5, JavaScript, and CSS which can be applied to different types of mobiles.
The company will also provide alternative methods such as short messages, email or through tweeter where users can be able to access the web information in various ways. For instance, the company can send texts to its users to inform them about the new products or available products in the store with the messages including the company’s URL for accessibility. The provision of a free to download and installation website of the company in all online application stores will ensure most users of mobile phones are able to access the company’s application which will provide them with an opportunity for self-service g (Lentz, 2011).
In conclusion, Sports R US Company is in a position to provide its products to most people who would like to shop for sports products but they do not have time to visit the sports stores. With the website being easily accessible, it will be simple for one to check available products, their brands and prices without moving. The ordering and payments are done with an advantage of door delivery being one of the factors that make it more users friendly.?ReferencesAndrew, O. (2015). Is My Design Working? How to Gauge User Experience. Envato.
Retrieved from https://envato.com/blog/is-my-design-working-how-to-gauge-user-experience/.Distilled. (n.d.). Building your mobile-friendly site. The Distilled Best Practice Guide.
Retrieved from https://www.distilled.net/training/mobile-seo-guide/#.Lentz, J.
(2011). User interface design for the mobile web. IBM. Retrieved from https://www.
ibm.com/developerworks/library/wa-interface/index.html. Mejia, L. (2018). 10 top prototyping tools. Creative. Retrieved from https://www.
creativebloq.com/web-design/top-10-prototyping-tools-2016-21619216.Preece, J., Sharp, H., and Rogers, Y.
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