Assignment 1 Implementing e-Commerce Solutions

Shoaib Chaudhry

301IT-evaluating a food website

ContentsIntroduction................................................................................................................................................1

Background................................................................................................................................................1

E commerce...............................................................................................................................................1

W3C Standards..........................................................................................................................................2

Models.......................................................................................................................................................5

Technologies that exist related ecommerce...............................................................................................6

Emerging Technologies.............................................................................................................................7

Impact of the environment.........................................................................................................................8

SMART......................................................................................................................................................9

Appendix....................................................................................................................................................0

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................1

References..................................................................................................................................................1

IntroductionThis assignment will require evaluation of existing websites which are food related and it will include information such as w3c standards and what rules to apply when creating an e commerce business. The 2 chosen existing website that have been picked are heavenly desserts and Truburger. Screenshots and tables will be included in this assignment to show an understanding of how to evaluate a website.

BackgroundHeavenly desserts- Heavenly desserts specialises in desserts, they have food chains across the U.K and are a well-established company and based in Birmingham, Nottingham, Preston, Derby and Leicester. ‘Heavenly Desserts is a unique brand, dedicated to bringing the most luxury products, distinctive quality, and extensive range of beautiful desserts to the market’ (BengaliPapi, 2016)

Truburger- Truburger specialises in gourmet burgers and other different kinds of foods for their customers. The business is only based in Birmingham ‘’ we´re serious about food, and make sure that everything we produce is to the highest standard and best quality – burgers, chicken, sides, salads or drinks. Virtually everything is hand–made on our premises. Our burgers, toppings, sauces, chips and salads are produced using only top quality ingredients, locally–sourced wherever possible. (Truburger, 2015)

E commerce The internet has improved over the years and it’s allowed businesses to expand by using e-commerce, it allows business to sell products online and all over the world. E commerce involves creating a website by using a content management system, Examples can be WIX, WordPress, using this method can save time for a user as most content management systems will provide website templates and organising the layout so that the customer can see content properly.

Accessibility: The w3c web accessibility is used to make sure that users can access and use the website without having any issues. The standard also makes sure that it is suitable for different kind of users to use for example, people with physical or mental disability, people from all ethnicity backgrounds.

Heavenly desserts: Users can access the website however it does not support accessibility for vulnerable users and also language barriers. Language is only English.Truburger: The website is similar to heavenly desserts and has the same problem, it lacks accessibility for vulnerable users and the chosen language is English only. This will have an effect on the business mainly because if users across the world try to access the website, they will find difficulty understanding what the business is about. This standard will be useful to the company because it will generate money and also publicity and users across the world will be able to understand a bit more about the website if they have multiple languages added, so it’s important that both businesses take this to consideration.

HTML/CSS: HTML and CSS are both used to create a web design. HTML provides the user with the structure of the page. These Allows users to publish documents online with headings, texts, tables, list and photos. CSS focuses the presentation of webpage. This includes colours, layout and fonts. (See appendix 2 and 3 for examples of the code)

Heavenly desserts: the website has a good layout, easy to understand and not complicated for the user to browse. Hyperlinks have been added which allows the user to click on the link and will direct them to the businesses social media page e.g. twitter. Text and font has been kept consistent.Truburger: the business has 3 pages that the user can browse, colour scheme matches with the layout of the page. Business can add more pages letting customers know about their business e.g. social media page and a delivery page. It’s recommended that businesses use the latest version of HTML 5. Advantages of HTML 5 is that it has cleaned and improved code this enables designers to use cleaner, neater code, div tags can also be removed and can be replaced with HTML5 elements. The way that it will help both of the business is when the business want to update information using the website, it can be easily done as the coding is easy to edit

Graphics:The use of graphics on website will enhance experience for the users. The W3C standards has technologies that will work together with HTML and scripting to provide creators of websites and applications with tools they will need to use to give the best possible representation of the businesses content. Graphics include information such as maps, photographs, design and patterns etc.

Heavenly desserts: Judging by the website, heavenly desserts have more graphics than text, However the advantage of this is that it catches the attention of users. TruBurger: Similar to heavenly desserts The business has a lot more graphics, and also text. The business has balanced the two out so the users have an understanding of what the website is about. Both the sites are food related so it’s important that they consider graphics that is relevant to the business. Jpeg is a standardised image compression mechanism and is designed to compress in full colour or grey scale. They usually work with photographs and not so well on lettering, cartoons or

black and white drawings. PNG is a file format and is for image compression. PNG is compressed in lossless fashion, this means that the details of the image is restored when the file is decompressed once it’s been viewed and works well on transparent backgrounds. Both of businesses have used jpeg format, photos have been taken using a digital camera, This allows what their website is about and gives the message across that it’s a food website.

Audio and video: The use of audio and video enhances the experience of webpage. The Audio codec contains one audio channel (mono), 2 audio channel (Stereo) or can contain more channels, example of this is 5.1 surround. A voice is recorded using just 1 channel whilst the music uses two or more channels. The video codec have audio codec streams, this include still pictures, compressed formats and movements in the picture.

Truburger: Browsing through the website, the business website does not seem to have any audio or video added onto the company website.Heavenly desserts: Same as Truburger, heavenly desserts lacks audio and video. It’s recommended that both the food business uses this standards for enhancing user experience with web pages.This would affect both of the business because of vulnerable users. ‘774 million people-the number of people around the world who can’t read’ (goodreadingmagazine, 2013) Users that have trouble reading will need to have audio or video support, this standard will be useful for the business because vulnerable users will know what the website is about.

Internationalization: internationalization is when a user develops their own content, application specification. It can easily be adapted for users that are from a different culture and speak a different language other than English.

Truburger: the problem with this website is that the only chosen language is English. This cause a lot of problems for foreign users that want information from the website.Heavenly desserts: Similar problem with this website. Chosen language is English only. To solve this problem and to gain more customers, the business will need to have this standard on their website, not only that but it will also gain more visits from users overseas and will generate more views on their website. Also the website can be developed worldwide.

Mobile web: ‘there has been a surge of interest in developing websites that are accessible from a mobile device ‘(>Web content accessibility and mobile web ◦ web accessibility initiative (W3C, 1994) This has been made easy to access websites for users that have disabilities, it is also An integral part of high quality websites and a legal requirement in some cases. Over the past years w3c standards has developed a number of web technologies for mobile devices. These include CSS mobile, SVG tiny, and XHTML For mobile.

Heavenly desserts and TruBurger have both mobile websites that are capable of running on android and iOS devices. The advantages of this are that users with handheld devices and tablets can access the website everywhere they go, as long as they have internet connection. This will affect both of the business in a good way because a lot of users can access the website. Disadvantages is that if a user has an old mobile, it will take time for the page to load due to the speed of the mobile, in order to prevent this problem, its important the businesses don’t add too much information or large picture as it will take time to load the page.

Privacy: the web provides many Heavenly desserts: when users visit the website, the

mechanisms that allow users to interlink data across systems. It’s important the standard keeps the possibility for users that want to keep their personal information private and fragmented.

business may ask customers for personal information such as name, address, phone number etc. Heavenly desserts will use personal information for contacting existing customers, register as a user to post content on the website, newsletters, surveys, etc. personal information will only be passed to other marketers at unaffiliated companies if users send explicit content. Truburger: on the other hand Truburger does not have content of their privacy policy. The way that it will affect the business is the customers will not know how their personal information will be used. Customers can refuse to give their personal details until they know what the business is going to do with it. To solve this issue it is recommended that Truburger have a privacy policy on their website of how details will be used, the business can then think about creating newsletters and registering customers, also customer information should be kept private and not be passed onto third party companies.

E commerce websites use an electronic payment system which allows customers to pay for their goods, simply by adding their credit card details onto the e commerce system. E commerce accepts different card payments such as Credit cards, Debit cards and smart cards. Relating back to both businesses TruBurger and Heavenly desserts do not do online orders, having an online system where a customer can order food would generate more customers and more money. Advantages of e commerce are:

Faster transactions, faster buying and easy to find products Buying and selling 24 hours More customers all over the world Easy to start and manage a business.

Bricks and clicks Bricks is physical shop, may have an online website but can’t purchase

products Clicks is an e commerce website however they do not have high street stores

e.g. eBay Bricks and clicks they have high street stores and they deal with online sales

e.g. Argos. The 2 chosen businesses (heavenly desserts and Truburger use only bricks, they do not provide online orders. However customers can always visit the store and purchase items. if the 2 businesses use bricks and clicks, they can generate more income and more customers, from both online and in store.

W3C Standards It is a standard that has been agreed upon by web experts on building a website that is compliant between different web browsers. Below are a set of rules W3C standards have come up with.

Web design and applications

Web of ServicesPayments: To generate payments an e commerce will need to have a payment system to receive into their account. Example of payments are PayPal and BACS which ‘provides an essential service for both consumers and organisations. Bacs is the company which runs Direct Debit in the UK’ (bacs 2016)

Both of the chosen website do not have a payment service, they have not implemented the e commerce part of the website. Advantage of having a payment service is that the business can receive payments and customers can order online with a few clicks. This would generate more income and profit. Disadvantage is that if security is not right, credit card details can get stolen and can be used for fraud. It’s recommended that both of the business use PayPal as it is free service to use.

Browsers and authoring tools Browsers, media players: when browsing the web, it’s important that certain websites are capable of running the browser. E.G making sure that business websites enables users to use different browsers including google chrome, internet explorer and Firefox. Also handheld devices such as android and IOS. (See appendix 1) for browser testing.

both websites are capable of running the website on internet explorer, android, IOS, chrome and Firefox (see appendix 1)

Authoring tools: Any of software or collection of software components that authors use to create and modify the web content for use by other people is an authoring tool.

Both of the businesses will use authoring tools to edit their website examples of authoring tools is Photoshop to edit photos to add on the website. ‘An e learning content authoring tool is a software package which developers use to create and package e learning content deliverable to end users’ (LLC, 2013)

Models Business to business – it is a type of transaction that already exists between 2

businesses. So this means that business will sell to another business. An example of this is that both of the businesses can purchase food ingredients from wholesalers. Advantage of this is that if both of the businesses buy in bulk they could get discounts.

Business to consumer- the business is selling directly to the customer that uses the product an example of this is that both of the food related business will get the order from the customer and they will pay for the product.

Consumer to consumer- this will involve electronically facilitated transactions between people (third party) an example of this is eBay where a user can list an item up for sale, EBay users will then bid on the item. (Both the chosen business will not use this model as its food related) as they will have their own e commerce website to generate payments.

Consumer to business- this type of site allows consumers to set the price of their products they want to purchase themselves. The business will then make a final decision being guided by information about the current purchase requirement. (both the chosen business will not use this model as it’s food related)

Technologies that exist related ecommerceSocial media: social media plays a big role for companies. It allows them to share content, both the of the business use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for social media to share special offers and share content. The advantages of social media in a business are that it can generate more customers and you can also communicate with them. Disadvantages of is that social media can get hacked and users can post inappropriate content. The 2 businesses will need to take this consideration by using stronger security protection and also using passwords that contain letters and numbers.Mobile phone applications: a mobile application is a software application that allows running on mobiles and tablets. Majority of application these days have pre-installed applications such as internet browser, music player etc., phone companies such as iOS and google play will have an app store which allows users to purchase millions of applications and games. Relating back to e commerce the reason why true burger and heavenly desserts will use an application is to generate orders, show offers and many more, an advantage of this is that customers can quickly access the application without having to go on the browser. Disadvantage is that applications can crash if they are not developed properly or due to the operating system software not being updated, so prevent this from happening developers will need to keep an eye on the application and see how it works and then come up with a solution of how they can solve the problem. Online shopping: online shopping is a form of electronic commerce that will allow customers to buy directly from an online website, example of e commerce shopping websites are eBay and amazon. Customer can simply purchase products by ordering an item, and then simply add credit card and personal details such as their name and address and card information. Relating back to the both businesses, true burger and heavenly desserts have not yet added this method onto their website, the advantages of having online shopping is that both of the business can generate more customers, not only in the U.K but all over the world. Disadvantages are that some people within the business cannot be trusted with personal details as they might use it for fraud. To prevent this from happening is to get a trustworthy person within the

business that can keep information safe and also password protected so the relevant people can get hold of information.

Emerging Technologies Emerging technology is a new technology that is currently being built, or could be developed within the next 5 years. The technology will substantially change the way the business works and also the social environment. Emerging technologies will include information technologies, wireless data communications, man machine communications etc. Heavenly desserts and Truburger can improve their business and the way it works by thinking about different technologies that would be useful for their needs.

Applications creating virtual reality To make online shopping much more comfortable and real, customers can use a VR headset to do online shopping. Companies have come up with the option to try products using real time by having webcams in the store or a current picture uploaded on the VR headset. Customers can also try the product find information and how the product looks. Relating Virtual reality to the businesses, heavenly desserts and TRUburger the advantage is that customers can shop in their comfort of their own home, order food using the headset. The disadvantages is that they’re anti-social, and can also cause health risk, e.g. epilepsy.

Live broadcasting video using social media using Facebook.

Using live video broadcast will help the business grow; broadcasting videos will allow the business to show products, show users around the store. In order to do this heavenly desserts and TRUburger will need to have a Facebook page This emerging technology is still developing, the only social media platform to provide this is Facebook. The advantages of live broadcasting are that companies can promote, and advertise products, and competitions. Disadvantages are that live broadcasting video can close connection and buffer whilst watching the stream.

Drone delivery Drone delivery is expected to be an innovative technology in the e commerce industry. Drones will use GPS signal and have electric motors which makes them environmental friendly. At the moment

amazon and DHL are the only companies that provide drone delivery. Relating back to the 2 businesses. Heavenly desserts and Truburger can use this emerging technology, the reason why is an advantage is because the companies will be saving fuel, not only that but drones use electric motors that makes it more environment friendly. Disadvantage is the drone could get lost or it won’t recognise the delivery address.

Impact of the environment

Talking about environment and relating it to e commerce a lot of companies will use materials to produce products such as paper, cardboard and plastics. Asda has stated that ‘we working hard to reduce our energy use right across our estate: from big investments to remembering to do the simple things right, like shutting the fridge doors and turning pizza ovens off (Asda, 2015)’ examples of helping the environment are listed below:

Electric and energy- both of the business can have a team that will monitor energy performance to see how much energy they have used. This will be an advantage and can think about cutting down on electric e.g. switching off machines that are not being used to save electric.

Recycling: ’A large percentage of UK household’s still do not recycle enough and throw everything that they consider ‘rubbish’ into their ordinary bin’ (recycling guide, 2008) The 2 businesses need to think about using different bins, the way that they help the environment is by separating what needs to be thrown away, the council will then take the recycled items away and they can be reused again. This is an advantage mainly because materials are not going to waste and will be used for a good cause. Both the businesses can buy materials that can be recycled to help the environment and it will save wasting materials.

A new lease on life for used goods: ‘Websites like eBay have allowed millions

of consumers to sell their old clothes, books, and housewares rather than just throwing them into the bin’ (Reddy, 2012b) talking about the businesses, they may have machines that not currently being used, so instead of throwing them away, they can resell the items on existing e commerce websites such as eBay this will help the environment by not throwing items

that already work and it can be used by another company. This has created a longer life span for customer goods.

SMART Specific: what does the business want to accomplish?

Business can increase the number of customers online by using an e commerce website

Business can increase sales and profits by introducing food delivery. Business would need to update website to let customers know what they

have to offerMeasurable:

Advertising the e commerce website in the shop by letting customers know and to gain publicity.

Reading customer reviews on the website and looking ways to improve their services

Checking social media of what customers have to sayAchievable: is it within the capabilities?

Checking for bugs and also testing the website to see how users will interact with it.

Business will need to act on positive and negative feedback and make improvements, there’s always room for improvement

Making sure that staff plays a role with improvements and listening to their queries and having their personal opinion on what they think

Realistic: Users will have no problem browsing the website, will also meet their

standards. Accessibility of websites will be improved so the vulnerable users can

gain access without having issues. Customers and money will increase in a good way

Timely: is there a deadline? Implementation will need to start when everyone is ready to do the work

Appendix Table 1 Appendix 1 (browser capabilities)

Google chrome

As you can see from both of the screenshots are working properly and are capable of running on chrome browser.

Mozilla Firefox

As you can see from both of the screenshots are working properly and are capable of running on Mozilla firefox.

Android and IOS

As you can see from both of the screenshots are working properly and are capable of running on chrome browser.

Internet explorer

Appendix 2- HTML/CSS

Heavenly desserts CSS- the screenshot shows the CSS style of the website.

HTML version for heavenly desserts – as you can see that the business is using the latest HTML 5 language.

CSS for Truburger- as you can see that the business a CSS style sheet for their website.

HTML trubuger – as you can see that the business is using the latest HTML 5 language.

ConclusionTo conclude this assignment the 2 businesses (true burger and Heavenly desserts) I have made recommendations of how the websites should implement e commerce system in their business. Things such as payments, order system and security would play a big role in an e commerce. Another thing about e commerce is accessibility, users who are vulnerable should be able to view the website without having problems so this means having voice systems and video system and zoom. So it’s important that the 2 business take to this consideration as they don’t support this on their website, furthermore, screenshots have been added of how the websites support different browsers. In order to have a successful business it’s important to that they cater for different users and using social media to gain customers.

ReferencesbengaliPapi (2016) Banging waffles. Available at: http://heavenlydesserts.co/#ourstory (Accessed: 14 November 2016).

TruBurger (2015) TruBurger. Available at: http://www.truburger.co.uk/(Accessed: 14 November 2016).

oodreadingmagazine (2013) How many people in the world can’t read? Available at: https://goodreadingmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/how-many-people-in-the-world-cant-read/ (Accessed: 23 November 2016).

verisign, verisign (n.d.) available from <https://www.verisign.com/ ?dmn=www.verisign.co.uk> [25 November 2016]

LLC, E. (2013) What are content authoring tools and how can we use them? Available at: https:// www.talentlms.com/elearning/what-is-a-content-authoring-tool (Accessed: 25 November 2016).

Bacs (2016) Bacs. Available at: https://www.bacs.co.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Accessed: 25 November 2016)

(2015) About Asda. Available at: https://sustainability.asda.com/ (Accessed: 25 November 2016).

 Recycling guide (2008) Reduce, reuse, recycle. Available at: http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/rrr.html (Accessed: 25 November 2016)

Reddy, R. (2012b) ‘The environmental impacts of e-commerce - A greener way to shop?’, Huffington Post, 8 August. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/robbie-reddy/the-environmental-impacts_b_1750438.html (Accessed: 25 November 2016).