Towards Appraising Online Stores Ernest Cachia Mark Micallef

Towards Appraising Online Stores Ernest Cachia Mark Micallef Software Engineering Process Improvement Research Group (SEPI) SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 1 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Introduction SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 2 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Overall Goals SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 3 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work The First Step SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 4 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Initial Targets • Identify most important quality attributes in ecommerce systems • Limit Scope to the Online Store variety of ECommerce Systems (for the time being) • Success of such systems depends largely on users accessing a website and buying products or services • Therefore, users’ opinions should be given a large weighting SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 5 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Overview of Activities 1. Research into existing work 2. Discovering how e-commerce systems differ from generic systems 3. Designing a questionnaire 4. Conduct a survey amongst 350 ecommerce users 5. Analysis of results 6. Extraction of important e-commerce attributes (and their importance ranking) SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 6 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work How do E-Commerce Systems Differ? SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 7 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Why was this information required? • Identifying why e-commerce systems differ was an important step: – Further justifies the need for an e-commerce metrication framework – Allows us to identify quality attributes based on these differences • 5 main differences were identified SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 8 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work How E-Commerce System Differ • • Content Driven (Navigability) Exposed to the world (Security) Browser-Based (Portability) Enormous User Base (Scalability, Multilinguality) • Frequent Change (Maintainability, Reliability) SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 9 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Survey Organisation SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 10 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Survey Design • Designed to rank importance of quality attributes defined above • Divided into two parts: – Section 1: Collection of demographic information about users – Section 2: Collection of information about which attributes are deemed most important by users SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 11 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Example Questions from Section 1 • Age Group • Main use of e-commerce (personal or business) • Education Level • Frequency of online shopping • Products/Services bought online • OS, Browser, Devices SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 12 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Example Questions from Section 2 • • • Abandoned Transactions Reasons for abandoned transactions “First Impression” Factors Intentions when visiting an e-commerce site Ranking of attributes/features SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 13 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Survey Results SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 14 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Our Sample Space • 350 Respondents • 94% of participants were under 50 years old • Browser usage, OS usage and Device usage compare to other surveys carried out SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 15 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Browsers SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 16 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Operating Systems SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 17 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Devices SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 18 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Most Popular Products SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 19 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Abandoned Transactions SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 20 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Reasons for Abandoned Transactions SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 21 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Security and Privacy Issues (1/3) • Security turned out to be an important factor • For example, when asked to identify a reason why they would prefer not to use e-commerce, users replied as follows… SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 22 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Security and Privacy Issues (2/3) • How sure would you have to be about a site’s security capabilities before you buy from it? SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 23 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Security and Privacy Issues (3/3) • When asked to rank the importance of quality attributes in order of importance, security received and average scored of 6. 24 (out of a possible 7). • This made it the most important quality attribute as perceived by users of ecommerce systems • We recommended security as an essential quality attribute in e-commerce systems SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 24 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Portability Issues Conclusions and Future Work (1/4) • Refers to the extent to which a system is accessible from different operating systems, browser and devices • Participants ranked portability as the 5 th most important attribute (out of 7) • Case for portability not too strong if one relies on the results of this survey SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 25 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Portability Issues Conclusions and Future Work (2/4) • 98% of respondents use Windows. TM -based OSs • Almost 93% use Desktop PCs • 95% use Internet Explorer. TM • Less than 4% of users who abandoned transactions did so because of compatibility problems SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 26 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Portability Issues Conclusions and Future Work (3/4) • Results seem to indicate that portability is not important • However one must be careful: – 88. 7% of users will not change browsers so as to be able to view a particular site – A small percentage of customer lost due to lack portability might still amount to large amounts of lost revenue – New mobile technologies are likely increase the importance of portability issues in e-commerce SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 27 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Portability Results Conclusions and Future Work (4/4) • Portability is recommended as a necessary attribute in e-commerce systems • However, in the current environment, compatibility with dominant technologies would seem to ensure a sufficient reach SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 28 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Performance and Scalability (1/3) • Speed is important to users • 33% of users who abandoned transactions mid-way through did so because the site was too slow • Only 18. 4% would remain unconditionally loyal to their favorite site if it became slow SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 29 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Performance and Scalability (2/3) • What is the most important “first impression” factor you look for in a site? SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 30 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Performance and Scalability (3/3) • Participants ranked performance as the 4 th most important quality attribute • We are recommending Performance as an essential quality attribute SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 31 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Navigability Results Conclusions and Future Work (1/3) • Why did you abandon transactions mid-way through? Also more likely to simply find another site SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 32 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Navigability Results Conclusions and Future Work (2/3) • 72% of users know beforehand what they are looking for when visiting an online store • This indicates that search and navigation features are important • 30% of participants also chose navigation as their primary “first impression” factor SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 33 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Navigability Results Conclusions and Future Work (3/3) • Navigability was ranked as the 3 rd most important attribute by users • We are recommending usability with an emphasis on navigability as an essential quality attribute in online stores SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 34 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Multi-Lingual Features • Not being recommended as an essential attribute • The importance of such features is highly dependant on the context in which an online store is operating • 51% of participants claim e-commerce systems could still be classified as a quality system if it had no multi-lingual features • Respondents ranked this feature in 6 th place (out of 7) SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 35 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Low-Bandwidth Version of Site • Some e-commerce sites have a text-only or lowbandwidth version available • Useful for users with slow connections • 52. 5% of participants deem such a feature unnecessary • Users ranked this attribute as the least important • Considering increasing popularity of broadband connections, we are not recommending this as a necessary attribute SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 36 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Ranking of Essential Attributes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Security Reliability Navigability Performance Portability SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 37 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Conclusions and Further Work SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 38 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Introduction First Step How E-Commerce Systems Differ Survey Design Results Conclusions and Future Work Conclusions and Further Work • These results are an important first step to our overall goals • Since this research we have explored: – Information Architecture – Graph Theory – Security • Further work will include: – Investigation into each of the above attributes and how they can be measured – Development of a metrication framework that will combine metrics for different attributes together – Development of a list of guidelines – Incorporation of guidelines into framework SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 39 Towards Appraising Online Stores

Questions and Discussion SEPI Research Group, Department of Computer Science and AI University of Malta CSAW 2004 40 Towards Appraising Online Stores