A comparative analysis of e-commerce website development using two implementation methods

The Internet has become a major resource in modern business and many businesses are creating a web presence. A business' website can become a storefront and needs to function efficiently, having the aesthetic appeal to attract and retain customers. Pick 'n Pay [2001] have recently developed an online grocery store that allows customers to purchase products and have the goods delivered to your home. There are however implications to the business when deciding to provide an e-commerce service. Important considerations are that a website is functionally complete, secure and ensures the business will receive payment for the goods sold. Development time and costs are important factors to consider when a business plans to set up an e-commerce website and therefore various implementation options available needs to be considered. Internationally accepted guidelines have been developed to provide companies and website developers with strategies to follow when implementing effective e-commerce websites [Nielson, 2001]. The business needs to further decide who will design the website and how it will be done. An IT professional/company can provide these services, however there are other options available to the business. In-house development can be done with the use of a software package, such as an e-commerce construction kit. The questions a business should consider is which implementation method should they consider and how would the resulting systems differ? The final result could have large implications on how the website looks, functions and costs and therefore will effect the business's decision. This research project aimed to select a general retail business, develop two fully functional prototype e-commerce websites for the business using two implementation methods and compare the two methods. One website was development using ASP and another site designed with the use of an e-commerce construction kit, ECBuilder. Each site listed various products and allowed the user to purchase products making use of a shopping cart. An efficient search facility was incorporated to allow clients to easily find products. Users making use of user interface satisfaction and functionality criteria evaluated the websites. The two prototypes were compared with regards to design and implementation criteria, in order to obtain research results as to which design method a small businesses could consider, when opting for online retail website development. The results of the usability evaluation showed that a custom made ASP prototype provided a better user interface. The results from the functionality tests performed on each system indicated that the ASP website provided better overall functionality with regards to ease of use, the intuitivism of the screens and the time taken to complete each of the tasks. The results from a design perspective showed that the toolkit website took only forty-five minutes to set up, whereas the ASP site took roughly one-hundred and thirty-four hours to develop. The cost of each website differs drastically. A business that intends to implement an e-commerce website needs to evaluate certain criteria to decide which method will be the best for them. These could include the size of their budget, the time available for the design and implementation, possible aesthetics and the ease of maintenance. This project has proven that each method has its advantages and disadvantages and it is up the business to decide which option is the best for them.