e commerce related

Electronic Commerce Systems (ISY10058)

Assignment 1

Title Evaluation of the Effectiveness of E-commerce Websites

Weight 20% of overall unit assessment

Due time 5pm, Monday, 12/08/19 (Week 6)

Length Maximum 2500 words excluding appendix, references and/or footnotes

Task description

You are required to write a report on the critical evaluation of six given Websites in three different categories of business models for a business manager.

Objectives

· You should determine and explain the evaluation criteria, including

· at least five success factors and/or business objectives, and

· indicators for the success factors and business objectives such as website features, contents, functions, objects, etc.

For example, online product sale is an objective of many e-commerce Websites, and for this objective, three basic objects/functions are needed: catalogue, shopping cart and transaction processing function. Interactivity is an example of success factors. You should determine the criteria based on the principles and guidelines for effective e-commerce Websites discussed in this unit and gained from your own research. While some criteria are applicable for all e-commerce websites, others may only be applicable for some categories of the sites. You should discuss the difference of the criteria in terms of their application scope. You should also determine assessment methods. For the online sale objective, for example, you may assess if all the three objects/functions are available and evaluate the quality of each in terms of, for example, completeness, appropriateness/effectiveness, usability, etc. (refer to the ‘three basic functions’ in Topic 3).

· You should evaluate the Websites according to the determined criteria by comparing the sites in the same category, and between different categories. You should use tables for the comparison.

· You should identify major strengths and weaknesses of each site based on the above evaluation, and provide recommendations/solutions to improve their performance. Your recommendations/solutions should be actionable or operable.

The following ten Websites are categorised according to e-commerce business models. You must evaluate the Websites in Category 1, and choose two categories from the other four for your evaluation.

Category 1 E-Tailer

Any 2 sites in Activity 5 of Tutorial 01 in ISY10058_EssayExercises.docx.

Category 2 Content Provider

https://www.northernstar.com.au/

http://www.acm.org/

Category 3 Community Provider

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au

http://www.meetup.com

Category 4 Market Creator

http://www.graysonline.com/

http://www.alibaba.com/

Category 5 Transaction Broker

http://www.webjet.com.au

http://www.ticketmaster.com.au

Marking criteria

Category	Specific criteria	Maximum marks
Determination of evaluation criteria	Originality, academic rigour, synthesis of ideas, cohesion (15)	30
	Own appraisal and logical reasoning (15)
Evaluation	Accurate comparisons using tables (10)	20
	Factual material and relevant data (10)
Findings and recommendations	Verifiable strengths and weaknesses (10)	20
	Actionable recommendations (10)
Research for information	Relevant research (5)	10
	Close association of references with discussion (5)
Documentation	Conventional report structure, presentation and layout (5)	20
	Logical and consistent organisation of information (5)
	Correct spelling and grammar (5)
	Consistent reference and citation style (5)
Total mark		100

Document Format

· The document must be word-processed using MS-Word.

· The document must contain an assignment cover sheet.

· Filename = YourLastNameFirstInitial_ISY10058_Ass1.docx e.g. SmithJ_ISY10058_Ass1.docx.

Assignment submission

You should submit this assignment in the Turnitin assignment box for your location of study at the Blackboard of this unit. It is recommended that you should have sufficient learning to start the assignment after Topic 3.