Evolution Of E-commerce UI Design: Trends Essay.

For this assignment you will be asked to prepare a short literature review that places your project within the context of your profession and industry, and ends with a focused field of study or research aim, and at least one research question. You will be asked to clearly describe your research plan, including your proposed method of analysis.

As a Masters-level student, you are required to engage in research as per the Australia Quality Framework (AQF) guidelines. Two specific requirements need to be considered. Students need to demonstrate “a body of knowledge that includes the understanding of recent developments in a discipline and/or area of professional practice", and demonstrate "knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to a field of work and/or learningâ€Â.

Each unit in your Masters program has a number of required weekly readings in terms of academic texts, journals and business publications that represent the appropriate body of knowledge and recent developments referred to by the AQF. In order to demonstrate the ability to engage in appropriate research, students should read and utilise these texts and journals and publications, and as a Masters student, demonstrate an ability to research beyond this minimum standard through additional texts, journals and studies that demonstrate an ability to engage in independent research. This is an advanced level course, and accrediting bodies are also looking for evidence of independent research, so the ability to conduct this project without continually relying on your tutors and lecturers is an important part of the learning process for this unit.

Your assignment will be marked on the following eight criteria, with the weighting given on the Moodle site:

Professional presentation and accuracy of work
Quality and appropriateness of references, and accuracy of referencing
Feasibility of project within time-frame
Aim and objectives/research questions
Preliminary critical literature review
Organisation of the project
Written communication
Evidence of tutor/lecturer engagement

In early E-Commerce how user interface looked (1990s)

In early 1990s most websites were created with text. There was no online store until around 1994. The user interface looked like a word document with individual columns filled with text and featured screen to make a quick transaction. As the 90s progressed, individual columns changed to tables and GIF images were becoming extremely popular. EBay and Amazon were just getting started at this time. Security also became priority as first secure transaction happened in the U.K.

Tremendous Growth was seen in 90s for some E-commerce companies as we know today. There were also flash animations used by web designers.

In early 2000s, cascading style sheets (CSS) was used. This was effective as web designers can look and feel of the design a considerable number of pages. The content and design is still in use today because of low costs design.

In the middle and lately 2000s there was new scripting language called JavaScript to design more powerful web pages which gives superior user experiences. At this stage, demand for numerous products increased so they required a navigational menu apart from small menu which couldn’t support navigation to even tons of pages. This navigational window consist of various web applications and attractive contents with drop down windows where one can print a coupon, save their favourite products in wish list and can share blog and can place multiple products in one go, all in the same sitting.

The evolutionary growth in mobile device posed a huge problem to web designers to entirely change infrastructure of the e-commerce because earlier customers were having no interest in purchasing items through tablets and phones. This resulted in the mobile interface along with the desktop interface. Moving on effects like flash was not preferred anymore. Also customers have many options like PayPal, companies E-wallet, cash on delivery etc to pay for their purchased items efficiently.

Online shopping trends have changed significantly in the last few years. There used to be limited number of few big online stores earlier and there are now thousands of stores selling products worldwide on just one click.

Mobile app has opened a new era to do online shopping. It has shut down the use of many websites in favour of mobile apps and its hasn’t been privilege for most companies however shopping through mobile apps doesn’t make downfall in annual report, ultimately resulting in remarkable performance. Nowadays customers prefer mobile apps over websites. With mobile apps purchasing things becomes easier than websites. You can place orders from anywhere.

Shopping through mobile apps is getting stronger than before.

It can’t be denied that e-commerce website is future of online retailers. Easy availability of internet has given rise to purchasing portals that lists goods from various retailers. Different retailers set different prices for their products so this makes it possible for customers to compare prices before purchasing products.

This service of price comparison is a stop to the customers to get right product with lowest possible price. This e-commerce websites also provide wide array of customer goods and services. Price comparison may appear to focus only on big merchants but it can give an opportunity to small merchants to showcase their wide variety of products.

E-commerce user interface design in early 2000s and late 2000s

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of software to become proficient and acquire skill on the data provided to it. AI is still away in understanding the human brain but in terms of e-commerce the strides have been huge. The virtual economy is run in software to interpret massive amounts of data and make real time changes to it. This has brought changes in how customer relates to product and how a merchant relates to customers. Artificial intelligence benefits both groups- merchants and buyers.

Artificial intelligence brings an experience of personalization. This makes it easy for customers to search in through the required content only.

Artificial intelligence has provided an idea of chat bots who answers customer queries from the FAQ database without wait time and unnecessary interactions.

If customer is willing to search for an unknown name product, can upload that image into search area like Google search bar. AI learns the elements and produces the related results. There are many more features of artificial intelligence like shipment tracking. Tracking can be done in real time.

In this way Artificial intelligence makes shopping websites more user friendly.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a crucial part of a successful e-commerce business. Overall managing of consumer information is required in running of viable e-commerce. It allows your company to manage business relationship in a centralized way. A customer relationship management software allows to keep track of partnership and sales related information. It will greatly enhance the internal visibility of any company.

CRM can be managed by performing various practices, strategies and technologies throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal of driving sales growth.

Firstly, limit the need for customer service. Consumer will have no need to call customer service to resolve the issue. Simpler the user interface is more customers you get. This type of user interface includes high definition images, accurately described things like prices and ratings, neatly described categories and easy going of checkout.

Thoroughly going through customers needs and service provided by customer service executive to them should be managed to ensure quality service.

Security of e-commerce websites is a major concern today. Users give importance to those websites which gives utmost privacy and security to their transactions. With the growing threats of cyber attacks e-commerce websites need to follow the trends to prevent breaches. Some of them are:-

1. Upgrading your business website with a secure socket layer (SSL). An SSL certificate is a way to prevent threats over the internet. Generally electronic commerce website collects sensitive information of their customers and to prevent the misuse of this information websites needs to install SSL certificate. An SSL is a security protocol that establishes a secured connection between client and server during transmission. It secures the sensitive information like credit card numbers, login credentials and many such things.
2. Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard DSS is mandatory if the transaction is made through credit card, it is company’s responsibility to protect consumer’s credential.
3. Use of strong passwords leads to a secured account.
4. E-commerce websites which saves credentials is mostly targeted. So save only what is mostly required.
5. To build a robust e-commerce website choosing a right platform and applying unique security features will save a lot of time and money.
6. Having a back-up is important; if main server fails we can immediately restore information.

Security is a crucial part of any transaction that takes place over the internet. Digital payment security is managed by fulfilling the essential requirements for safe e-payments:-

1. The confidentiality of information should not be accessible to unauthorized person.
2. Integrity is the feature which ensures that data is not intercepted during transmission over the network.
3. Proper encryption and decryption of data by authorized person only.
4. Authentication of user should be done.
5. Digital signature is a type of e-signature authenticated through encryption and password. It ensures the authenticity of information.
6. Security protocol like SSL, SHTTP etc. ensures the security of transactions.

In this way digital payment can be done securely.

Database is a system that organizes data in form tables and relationships between tables. Database is accessible in various ways. The data you store can be easily retrieved like you want to see orders in yours wish list, previous order list etc. Mainly the database is to store and retrieve information.

User data is managed in e-commerce website in such a way that only authorized person can only get access to it. User creates an account in e-commerce website for shopping online by filling his credentials. These credentials are encrypted using database modifiers. User critical information like credit card information is secured by several security protocols. All the information related to user is maintained, encrypted in a definite way. This all is maintained in transaction data content.

Before buying the product its authenticity checking is very important. The best way to know the product is genuine is to check the originality of e-commerce website. Customer can go through the reviews of websites through various ways like Facebook, Twitter and its very own website. If customer is lacking to do so, can apply for cash on delivery in this way your money is secured till you get the product.

Secure socket layer certification can also be checked if any doubt of originality of product.

Company websites give their address and contact information. Scam websites generally share fake information about them. Customers can call on the mentioned numbers or can send an email to the respective representatives to ensure the loyalty of website.

An e-commerce portal always mentions its policies and terms and conditions. So it is better for the customer to spend some time going through the policies before buying the product.

All this ways are beneficial to check the authenticity of products.

References:

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Nida Rasheed (2017). Changes in Shopping Trends (and How You Can Use Them to

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Anonymous (2017). Ecommerce Sites Or Ecommerce Apps: What Will Be The Trend Of 2017? [Online] Available at:

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Ankit Dudhewala (2014). E-Commerce in India – Past, Present & Future. [Online] Available at:

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Elena Malykhina (2017). Ecommerce 2020: Sites, Consumer Expectations Evolving Fast. [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2016/07/14/ecommerce-2020-sites-consumer-expectations-evolving-fast/#4f740c26a82a [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].

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