Evaluating the Usability and Content Usefulness of Web Sites - Essay Example

0 Introduction The aim of this report is to illustrate and evaluate a transactional website by describing the e-Commerce operations that allow thee-customers to do business online anytime, anywhere. Currently, there are a huge number of transactional websites selling and purchasing products online, some of the examples of these transactional websites are Amazon, Grainger, E-bay, Walmart, Netflix etc. These transactional websites are capable of managing and handling huge numbers of customers’ orders and processing transactions simultaneously. In order to demonstrate the e-Commerce operations, the report is divided into seven main parts including the description of a selected transactional website, the purpose / objective of the transactional website, evaluation of the website by utilizing the Webqual 2.0 (as described in Barnes & Vidgen [2001]) and in terms of accessibility, recommendations based on the findings in the evaluation, ranking the Amit and Zott forces in order of importance, recommendations based on the Amit and Zott analysis and the last part of the report summarizes the key finding of the evaluation. In the first part of the report, I have explained an e-Commerce enabled website named “Grainger” having the URL (http://www.grainger.com/), the main features of the website design or user interface of the website, the pros and cons of the Grainger business, the technical features of the website, an evaluation of the website design to assess its effectiveness, usability, security, accessibility and the report includes several suggestions and recommendations for improvement of the website. Moreover, the second part explains the transaction process of the e-commerce from customer’s initiation till completion of the operation. 1.1 Website Grainger was founded in 1927 by William W. (Bill) Grainger – started business as a wholesale electric motor sales and distribution business in Chicago, United States. In June 1995, the Grainger launched its transactional website to do business online. The Grainger is serving two (2) million of e-customers, businesses and institutions in 157 countries and continuing to give their best for their customers. The Grainger has more than 21,446 employees in different countries, the employees work closely with customers to better understand their challenges and provide cost-saving solutions (Grainger, 2012). It is required to review and explain the technical information on the web development environment on the website. In order to do so, one of the ways is to access the source code of the web pages of the website, after reviewing the source code, it was noticed that the interface of the website has been developed in HTML 4.01, menus and cookies are developed in JavaScript, validation of forms in JavaScript, moreover, it appears that the ‘iframe’ is used in certain parts of the website to avoid reloading, hence, saving page loading time. As you type the URL:”www.grainger.com” it always converts into “http://www.grainger.com/ -Grainger/wwg/start.shtml”, the extension of the home page file is ‘shtml’ instead of ‘html’ or ‘htm’, it means that the file contains some information that would be added during execution by the server before it is sent to the user (Rouse, 2005). 1.2 Purpose of the Website The aim of the website is to cater online orders and improving customer as well as vendor services. The website maintains details of the customer’s personal as well as payment information, order processing, and the addition of new customer, updating and adding new products through a content management system. All the information has to be stored in a database that can be a relational database management system on the server side. There has to be a front end (also known as Buy Module) and a back end (database module) of the website. The initial module is used for the interaction of the e-customers to search the products and place orders, whereas, the back end is used not only to store / save the data of the customer but also utilized to process the order of the customer as well as controls inventory of the store. In order to evaluate the website, it is required to explore the Grainger’s website and it has been found that in regard of achieving the objective of the Grainger, the company works with more than 3,500 suppliers to provide customers with access to more than one (1) million products from diverse categories. The Grainger deals in a huge number of categories of the products that include but not limited to the Power Transmission, Adhesives, Electrical, Fasteners, Fleet & Vehicle Maintenance, Hand Tools, Hardware, Janitorial & Painting, Lighting, Motors, Plumbing, Pneumatics & Hydraulics etc. Moreover, it is equally significant to investigate each and every feature of the website and some of the features of the website include: the registration of e-customers for membership, the logging into the system by providing correct username and password, e-customers have been facilitated to check the status of delivery of the order, capable of development of personal products lists that enables the customer to purchase frequently or setting a date for reordering automatically, the facility of copying and pasting the orders / product descriptions to easily develop the personal products list, the facility of order management system. Availability of the mobile interface of the website, facility on the customized search to view the products immediately, the feature of real time product availability, a history of the items purchased by the e-customer, the history of items that were frequently ordered or reordered by the e-customers, as the website deals with huge number of even similar products. Therefore, it facilitates the e-customers to compare the product with other similar product to make an informed decision, a feature of “Will Call” to facilitate the customer that your online order has been reached at the local Grainger store, online help to answers the questions about the e-customers, moreover, the facility of e-customers to order without registering by just signing in by the guest checkout system (Holtmeier, 2010). Despite the above given features of the website, the Grainger facilitates its e-customer by a huge number of online services that include but not limited to the emergency service to provide the order within as less time as possible (with a fee of $50), the Grainger lightening service to save electricity, the sale on the clearance items and the online ‘Webinar’ to facilitate the organizations by providing industry information and updated technologies to keep the organization or business informed. 2.0 WebQual 2.0 WebQual 2.0 is an instrument or tool utilized for evaluating the information, usability (ease of use), and quality of services of the internet websites – especially the e-commerce enabled websites. Moreover, the tool emphases to assess the user interface design of the website, confidence or trust of the users of the website as well as the understanding of the users by using the website. The following table presents the questions of the WebQual 2.0; the questionnaire is required to be filled by the users of the website. The parameters of the scale used by the tool for evaluating the website include: the importance of questions (as per users’ understanding) and their experiences. The one (1) is least important and / or poor feedback, whereas, the users can assign seven (7) for the most important and / or excellent service. The following table shows the parameters or questionnaire of the WebQual 2.0 (Barnes and Vidgen, 2001). Sr. # Question 1 Has an attractive appearance 2 Has an appropriate style of design for site type 3 Creates an audio-visual experience 4 Can be depended on to provide whatever is promised 5 Provides information which is free from errors 6 Provides up-to-date information 7 Gives a time of delivery of products or services 8 Has fast navigation to information 9 Gives a professional and competent image 10 Can process transactions competently 11 It's easy to find and to return to the previous or the required page. 12 It's easy to find your way around 13 Has things where you expect to find them 14 Is a site with a good reputation 15 Guarantees services or products offered 16 Feels safe to complete transactions 17 Gives confidence that it will deliver products or services 18 Makes it easy to give feedback or contact the organization 19 Provides information content that is easy to understand 20 Provides information at an appropriate level of detail 21 Communicates information in an appropriate format 22 Provides content tailored to the individual 23 Can customize products or prices 24 Conveys a sense of community appropriate to the user 2.1 Limitations of the WebQual 2.0 It is known that the assessment of the WebQual is accurate and reliable; however, there are several limitations of the tool for evaluating the website. One of the main concerns regarding the tool is relying on the perception or awareness of the internet's users input from which more users are non-technical as well as does not know the limitations of the e-commerce (Hassan & Li, 2005). Furthermore, the parameters or the questions of the WebQual 2.0 are limited to the usability, user’s empathy and trust, the services and the available information on the website. However, the WebQual does not evaluate the important e-commerce factors like accessibility and reliability (Loiacono, Watson and Goodhue, 2002). Therefore, it is significant to include these factors in this report. 2.2 Accessibility Web Accessibility is the level of accessing the website over the internet for each and every internet user by utilizing diverse technologies. A website needs to be accessible for everyone even for the disabilities or mental impairment people, therefore, in order to support the especial people the website should contain audios (for visual impaired people), videos, text magnifiers (to support visually disable persons), moreover, utilization of the technology in order to support mobility (speech input) and cognitive disable people (web accessibility over Personal Digital Assistants PDAs). By utilizing the technologies in the development of the website the not only the visitors get benefits but also the owner of the website (Royal National Institute of Blind People, 2012). The technologies that can be implemented to support the impairment people include: the web pages should contain adjustable text sizes in a way that they become larger if the visitor is having problems to read the text, the links should be clear, unique, concise, and easy to identify by implementing a consistent colour scheme. Moreover, an alternative to the text is the utilization of multiple and diverse images that should be informative and can also be used as links. The presentation of the information through audio and / or video should also have alternatives for the people who are visual or hear impairment, for example, the video should contain the text as well either on the video or on the page. The similar guidelines have been provided in the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) in 2012; moreover, various conferences and forums have been initiated to develop guidelines for the web developers to include in the websites (W3C, 2012). 2.3 Recommendations – WebQual and Accessibility It is required to review the features of the Grainger’s website keeping in view the questionnaire of the WebQual 2.0 in order to evaluate and weigh up. The evaluation process would assist to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the website that facilitates to suggest and recommend the improvements for the website. In the initial parts of this report, I have discussed the features and purpose of the website along with the parameters or questionnaire the WebQual uses to evaluate the website. Moreover, the importance of web accessibility and guidelines for using the technologies to embed in the web development in a way that it could be accessible to all the users. Keeping in view the review of the Grainger’s website, WebQual and web accessibility, I would suggest and recommend the following improvements to the website. The owner of the Grainger’s website should consider some of the guidelines for developing an interface design that I have not found at the website. These include: always informing the visitor about the system’s visibility or current situation of the website, informing the current path or the web page location, the options of text only or printer friendly versions etc. The Grainger’s website provides ‘help’ feature to the customer, but it is not in the form of A to Z alphabets, therefore, the same should be added to the website. There should be an efficient and effective content management system on the Grainger’s website. Moreover, the contents of the website should regularly be checked and audited to avoid any outdated information or content (Allerdale Borough Council, 2012). The Grainger’s website does not allow customer to hear the contents of the website, as it does not have ‘Read Speaker’ system as well as the videos of respective products describing the functionality / features of the product. Therefore, both audio and video files should be added to the website in a way that the video files also assist the hearing disable persons with full text description. Moreover, the Grainger’s website should also use the Portable Document Format (PDF) as well as Word files that can also be downloaded by the customer or user. These files should be structured in an appropriate manner so that the text is arranged in logical reading order to avoid inconvenience for the readers. The Grainger’s website does not have the text magnifier feature; the same should be included in the website to assist the visual disordered people. The feature would like (A, A, A). As the Grainger’s website is used world wide, therefore, it is also suggested that the Grainger’s website should have a feature of translating the language feature (English, French, etc.) or should have diverse version with different well known languages. The website of the Grainger does not contain electronic forms regarding the licenses, media, and claim etc. to facilitate the citizens, businesses and / or organizations fill and submit online. Therefore, the same should be added to the website. Moreover, these forms should have appropriate instructions for filling and submitting, the text labels should be specific, precise, understandable and complete. The Grainger’s should add all the most recognizable brand names / pictures with a brief explanation (if required / possible) as an alternative to the text, it is preferable that most of these images should be on the home page of the website. It is also suggested that the Grainger should not totally rely on the JavaScript (Royal National Institute of Blind People, 2012). The Grainger’s website provides multiple prices of a single product with respect to the brands of a product so that the customer can have huge options to select the desired price range product. However, the Grainger’s website does not provide customization of the product along with its price, but it is also pertinent to mention here that most of the products on the website cannot be customized. Therefore, the owner of the website should also consider giving options to the customers to customize the product where applicable. It appears that the security of the Grainger’s website is up to the required level, as they are using electronic certificates to complete the financial transaction. I have not found the e-procurement system in the Grainger’s website; therefore, it should be added to efficiently and accurately controlling the procurement activities. The Grainger’s website does not facilitate the customer / user to get involved in the online polls, forums, etc. Therefore, it is suggested to always engage the customer by such activities. 3.0 Amit and Zott Analysis In order to recommend the business model explained by the Christoph Zott and Raffi Amit to the Grainger Company, it is important to understand the design parameters of the activity system in the business model. The design parameters consist of two main sets include: the design elements and design themes. In the design elements the focus should be on the content of the activity system, the structure of the activity system (the sequence or the way of performing the activities), governance of the activity system (who, where and when the activities would be performed). The design themes are based on the NICE acronym of Novelty, lock-In, Complementarities and Efficiency. The Efficiency centred design refers to designing the activities in a way that it reduces operating costs while the efficiency of the organization increases. I would suggest the Grainger Company to follow the guidelines of the Efficiency centred design as the most important element of their business model by increasing efficiency and decreasing operating expenditures. The efficiency centred design is the most important element to increase the productivity of an organization. The Complementarities refer to the development of the activities in a group which adds more value than running the activities individually or separately. It is recommended that the complementarities should be the second most important element of the Grainger Company, as the customer always likes to have a complete solution rather than just individual items. It is pertinent to mention here that currently the Grainger are dealing with individual items only. The Lock-In design element should be in the third position in terms of importance for the Grainger company, as the Lock-In refers to engaging the stakeholders (especially customer / seller) in the activities (according to their desire) to gain their attention. It is always important to engage the customers in a way that they compel to come again to the website of the Grainger. After achieving the above given design elements of the business model, I would recommend the fourth important design element to the Grainger company i-e Novelty by adopting the innovative content (initiation of new activities), the modern structure (interlinking the activities in diverse and novel ways) and / or the novel ways of governance i-e performing the same activities by different employees using diverse processes (Zott and Amit, 2009). 3.1 Zott and Amit Forces – Importance along with Recommendations The e-business mainly relies on the order or transaction processing, therefore, this should be efficient by implementing the Efficiency-centred design of the design theme that refers to increasing the transaction’s efficiency while decreasing the operational cost. The most important element of the design theme and that is recommended for the website of the Grainger. The company can lower down the operating costs by reducing / lowering the distribution costs, by making inventory management more efficient, simplifying the process of the transactions to avoid mistakes, bulk purchasing etc. The Efficiency centred design by which the third party can be engaged to exploit co-dependencies. It is pertinent to provide an example that the Grainger can involve the international courier companies in their business, as the Grainger has to parcel the products to the customers. It would not only help the Grainger to widen the business but they can also save operating costs. The international courier companies could be contracted by not only showing / marketing their brands over the website of the Grainger but also benefits such as money. In this way, the Grainger would efficiently deliver the orders to the customers (Amit and Zott, 2001). The complementarities activity system of the design theme presented by the Zott and Amit deals with comprising a collection / bundle of products / items collectively gives more worth than the entire value of having each one of the products independently. It has been suggested through analysing the data that offering bundle of complementary products always adds value to the e-business. These complementary products could either be after sale services (known as vertical complimentary) or one-stop shopping i-e provision of complete product along with allied accessories can be of third parties (known as horizontal complementary). As the Grainger deals with several of product categories and a huge number of items, therefore, it is desirable for the company to deal with complete solutions rather than single or individual product. Moreover, I believe that the complementarities are the second most important element that the Grainger need to consider. It is pertinent to quote an example that the Grainger has an Electrical category which has a huge number of items to sell; one of the items is ‘Plug and Receptacles’, the company would need to provide an option to the customer to purchase a complete solution having the electricity board, power centres, etc. (Hoskisson, Hitt and Ireland, 2008, pp189). From the analysis of the Zott and Amit, it would be recommended that the Grainger should consider the ‘Lock-In’ activity system which deals with engaging the third party in the activities of the Grainger Company. As the Grainger engages a huge number of suppliers to sale their products through the website of the Grainger, therefore, the third most important element of the design theme should be the Lock-In. The aim of the ‘Lock-In’ activity system is switching / transferring the costs of the activities to the third parties by identifying and developing the new activities (content) and governance of the new activities. The design theme has been employed by the eBay – one of the largest eCommerce enabled website. The eBay has engaged the suppliers in the activities of the marketing the products (such as deciding and describing the sale items) of the respective supplier (Zott and Amit, 2009). It is recommended that the Grainger should not only involve the suppliers in the activity system but also engage the customer in their activities in a way that they have to come back to the website. The suppliers can be engaged in the marketing process of their products, whereas, the customers can be engaged by enabling their personal accounts as well as the facilities to add their friends in a way that they can place comments on the products. It would be a profitable activity for the Grainger and the business can be increased, because the customers like to have comments or opinions of their friends or relatives. Moreover, the Grainger would be able to develop a community of friends and family who always like to buy the products from the Grainger website after having opinions of their loved ones. The activity would compel the customers to come back to the website for viewing the comments as well as buying the products. Moreover, adding customer ratings (as the Grainger has already implemented) for the products as well as the customer buying ratings, but this has to be linked to their profile so that it can be viewed by the friends and family (Andras, 2010). It is always important to add new products, services, novel production methods and developing up-to-date strategies for marketing as well as widening the business through tapping new markets. It has been shown that the novelty – the fourth element of the design themes, it is always required to bring innovations to the e-business. Therefore, it is the fourth important element that needs to be considered by the Grainger Company. The novelty is interlinked with the complementarities that can only be achieved after implementing the above given suggestions. 4.0 Conclusion The fast swiftness of the development in the information communication and technologies joined with the expansion of the e-businesses provide rise to massive opportunities and chances for earning new wealth. The Grainger is one of the leading companies of its type (e-business) and widely recognized as one of the leaders among distributors in Business-to-Business (B2B) eCommerce. However, there is always a space for improvements with respect to the latest technologies and guidelines provided by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and web standards. In this report, I have attempted to review the website of the Grainger, evaluated the website by utilizing WebQual 2.0 web assessment tool and web accessibility initiatives. Moreover, I have provided several suggestions for improvements (with respect to WebQual evaluation). The business model for value creation in e-business by Zott and Amit has been reviewed in this report; furthermore, I have assigned importance of the design elements (introduced) and provided suggestions to the Grainger Company in terms of the business model introduced by Zott and Amit. I believe that the website of the Grainger has not been developed keeping in view the guidelines of the web accessibility, therefore, it is one of the significant weaknesses of the website. Therefore, I have provided several suggestions to improve the web accessibility; moreover, I believe that the most important element that the Grainger needs to consider is the web accessibility, some of the suggestions include: text magnifier, language translator, inclusion of audio and video streaming, in-video full text description, downloadable PDFs, inclusion of electronic forms, etc. Furthermore, there are several weaknesses that have been identified through the WebQual 2.0 and I have provided the suggestions that include but not limited to the keep the user informed regarding the status and location (web page / sitemap) of the website, inclusion of ‘help’ features in A to Z format, effective content management system to avoid out dated information, etc. It is difficult to categorize the importance of the design factors in the Zott and Amit analysis of the Grainger website, as all elements of the business model are significant and needs to be followed. However, just for the sake of categorization, I have suggested the most important element is the efficiency centred design, the complementarities is the second most important factor to be considered by the Grainger, the third most factor is the Lock-In and the least important factor that I would suggest for the Grainger is the novelty. Reference List Grainger. 2012. About Us. [online] Available at: [Accessed 8 Dec. 2012] Rouse, M. 2005. SHTML. [online] Available at: [Accessed 8 Dec. 2012] Holtmeier, J. S. 2010. Grainger’s E-Commerce Evolution. Modern Distribution Management. Intelligence for Wholesale Distribution Professionals. Vol. 40 No. 05. Hassan, S. and Li Feng (2005). Evaluating the Usability and Content Usefulness of Web Sites: A Benchmarking Approach. Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, Idea Group Publishing Loiacono, E. T. Watson, R. T. and Goodhue, D. L. 2002. WebQual: A Measure of Website Quality. American Marketing Association. Barnes S. 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