E-commerce Website Development to Boost Business Performance: Project

This project details the development of an e-commerce website for Greenwoods, a menswear retailer, to enhance business performance. The project identifies the issues with Greenwoods' traditional business model and explores the benefits of e-commerce, including increased sales, improved customer service, and reduced inventory costs. The report covers the analysis, design, implementation, and testing phases of the website development, highlighting the tools and techniques used. The final evaluation discusses the product's effectiveness and provides recommendations for future improvements. The project aims to provide Greenwoods with a competitive edge in the UK market by establishing a strong online presence.

Running head: GENERAL COMPUTING PROJECT
Method to improve e-commerce for enhanced business performance using website
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:

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Acknowledgement
Conducting the research study enhances me to improve my knowledge as well as analytical
ability. It gave me the chance to face challenges all the while and conquer them. It will not be
possible to conduct the research without the significant direction of my professors, companions
and every one of who have added to this advancing knowledge. I will also want to thank my
supervisor _________________ for helping me in my research work as well as given me his full
support during the research process. I would also thank all the participants within this study for
giving their time and helping me out. From the support of people, I am inspired to work on the
research in this subject area. Finally, thank you to my family members those help me and
encourage me.
Thank You.
Yours Sincerely,

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Abstract
E-commerce website is online process of purchasing of products and services from the
online store. The research study is based on investigating the business potential for the internet
for small as well as medium sized enterprises mainly within UK. In this study, an e-commerce
website is implemented for Greenwoods which improve its current business performance.
Currently, the company is operated traditionally, and it is not operated online. Therefore, an
online website is created for the company which offers SME which is cost effective as well as
reliable. It provides with an opportunity to compete with larger counterparts. Into the
informational age, it is seemed that each of the organization has its own website which is
designed as well as maintained the reputation of the company. The report is being provided with
building of the online business, therefore the legal as well as regulatory issues are also analyzed.
Based on online perspective, e-commerce is provided ability to buy as well as sell of products on
the internet. Mainly, this project is based on online perspective through which the researcher
develops an e-commerce website for selling and buying of men’s wears through online mode.
The rationale of this project study is development of e-commerce website for a retail store which
is facing problems due to its traditional retail business. The website allows the retail store to sell
their products and services to online audiences. The focus of this study is to find the impacts and
also challenges of the e-commerce in the selected company. After the design of the website,
implementation is to be done with testing of the sites by use of various testing tools as well as
techniques. The customers can able to search for various items online and can buy the item not
going to the store through only one-click on the computer mouse. The research study is mainly
focused on the benefits of e-commerce website in the retail industry; issues that Greenwoods
face in their traditional business operations and development of e-commerce website improve

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business performance of Greenwoods. With the e-commerce website, the suppliers decrease
inventory cost of the goods that they can able to automate inventory management. The online
business opportunities of Greenwoods are to manage the suppliers, communicate with the
customers, offer of services online, allow the customers to purchase online along with research
on competitors. The online business opportunities change offline aspects of business like
promotions and range of products.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................6
1.1 Background of the research project.......................................................................................6
1.2 Aims and objectives of the project........................................................................................7
1.3 Research project questions....................................................................................................8
1.4 Scope of the work..................................................................................................................8
1.5 Problem context.....................................................................................................................9
1.6 Rationale of the project........................................................................................................10
1.7 Limitations of the project.....................................................................................................10
Chapter 2: Analysis........................................................................................................................12
2.1 Identification and analysis of the problem...........................................................................12
2.2 Literature Review................................................................................................................13
2.2.1 E-commerce information management.........................................................................13
2.2.2 Benefits of e-commerce for retail industry...................................................................15
2.2.3 Issues that Greenwoods face in traditional business operations...................................18
2.2.4 Development of e-commerce website improve business performance of Greenwoods
...............................................................................................................................................20
2.3 Discussion and justification of the product requirements....................................................22
2.4 Justification of tools and techniques in the project work....................................................27
Chapter 3: Synthesis......................................................................................................................32
3.1 Design..................................................................................................................................32
3.1.1 Research about various E-commerce websites.............................................................32
3.1.2 Requirements Analysis.................................................................................................32
3.1.3 System Architecture and Design..................................................................................36

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3.2 Implementation....................................................................................................................43
3.2.1 Implementation of main web application.....................................................................44
3.2.2 Header of the website...................................................................................................45
3.2.3 Creation of tab menu structure and pages.....................................................................46
3.2.4 Home page of the website.............................................................................................47
3.2.5 The application page.....................................................................................................50
3.2.6 Blogs in the website......................................................................................................53
3.2.7 Implementation of plugin.............................................................................................57
3.3 Testing.................................................................................................................................60
3.3.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................60
3.3.2 Overview of the test architecture..................................................................................60
3.3.3 Discussion on the Content Management System..........................................................61
3.3.4 System under test..........................................................................................................65
3.3.5 Test architecture for communication purposes.................................................................68
3.3.6 Summary.......................................................................................................................68
Chapter 4: Evaluation and Conclusions.........................................................................................71
4.1 Evaluation of the product.....................................................................................................71
4.2 Evaluation of the project process.........................................................................................72
4.3 Conclusion and recommendations.......................................................................................73
References......................................................................................................................................78
Appendix – Website......................................................................................................................89

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the research project
The general computing project is based on improving the e-commerce for enhanced
business performance by developing of an e-commerce website. The selected organization for
this project is “Greenwoods”; it is chain of menswear stores with it does headquarter is in
Bradford, England. The products of Greenwoods are suits, jackets, shoes, shirts, pants and other
accessories (Greenwoodsonline.com 2015). The company faces various problems due to not
operating its business online, therefore the company faces challenges of low productivity and
profitability. Gregory, Ngo and Karavdic (2017) stated that invention of faster internet
connectivity along with online tools result into e-commerce website. This website offers
advantages to Greenwoods and their customers. The proposed e-commerce website of
Greenwoods consists of purchasing as well as selling of the products throughout electronic
system such as computer network, internet. The website has significant option of the business as
it develops an online store for Greenwoods. The customers can purchase the products 24*7 a day
which provides them with shopping experience (Wang, Wang and Liu 2016). E-commerce is
preferred as best way of shopping due to its easiness in addition to convenience. The customers
get description along with details from the catalog of products. With the e-commerce website,
the suppliers decrease inventory cost of the goods that they can able to automate inventory
management. In this way, the company can save the operational cost.
From the above discussion on e-commerce, it is observed that there are various benefits
and opportunities of e-commerce into retail industry. Greenwoods adopted of e-commerce and
enhanced their services and facilitated their customers which provide an impact on customer’s
behavior and industry (Turban et al. 2017). The focus of this study is to find the impacts and also

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challenges of the e-commerce in the selected company. Jarvinen and Karjaluoto (2015)
suggested that rapid emergence of the e-commerce into Greenwoods changed the business nature
of the company rapidly. Chi, Zhao and George (2015) stated that the e-commerce website
provides many opportunities for creating better business economics. Through development of the
e-commerce website, the company can better understand their customers. The customers can able
to search for various items online and can buy the item not going to the store through only one-
click on the computer mouse or Smartphone. The developed e-commerce website helps to
provide brand awareness into online landscape.
Wang, Pauleen and Zhang (2016) defined the definition of e-commerce into four
different perspectives. Firstly, on communication perspective, e-commerce is delivery of
information, products and services over the computer network and other means of electronic
means. Based on business perspective, e-commerce is application of technology towards
automate the business transactions. Based on service perspective, e-commerce is the tool to
address customers, managing to cut the service cost at the time of improving quality of goods
(Chuang and Lin 2017). Finally, based on online perspective, e-commerce is provided ability to
buy as well as sell of products on the internet. Mainly, this project is based on online perspective
through which the researcher develops an e-commerce website for selling and buying of men’s
wears through online mode.
1.2 Aims and objectives of the project
The project is aimed to develop an e-commerce website for Greenwoods to improve their
business performance by increasing their sales in the UK market. The study identifies the
problems into the traditional business of Greenwoods. The project also evaluates the benefits of
online retailing by use of e-commerce website. The online marketplaces allow anyone to set up

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an online shop and sell their products in minutes to improve business performance. The aim of
the e-commerce website is to sell their products online and the customers buy those products.
Based on the selected project topic, following are the objectives of this project work:
 To identify the benefits of e-commerce in the business operations of Greenwoods
 To develop an e-commerce website for the company
 To identify the critical success factors which make e-commerce business more profitable
 To identify the factors which provide an impact on the business performance of
Greenwoods
1.3 Research project questions
Based on the above mentioned objectives, following are the project questions for this
particular project study which are evaluated as:
1. What are the benefits of e-commerce website in the retail industry?
2. What are the issues that Greenwoods face in their traditional business operations?
3. How does development of e-commerce website improve business performance of
Greenwoods?
1.4 Scope of the work
The research project deals with the impact of e-commerce website on the business
performance with respect to retail industry. It also evaluates how e-commerce drives competitive
advantage, enhances brand reputation and increases the return of investment. The scope of this
study evaluates the business performance of Greenwoods by use of e-commerce website. It
discusses the critical success factors which make an e-commerce business more profitable in
retail industry. The e-business development process is included of some phases such as analysis,

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design, and implementation and testing. The goal of this general computing project is to assess
methods adapted to e-commerce business in retail related companies and the factors which
define the success of e-commerce. The study also draws attention towards changing patterns into
retail. Timely along with accurate information about products and services are key requirements
towards satisfaction of the customer’s demand. The entire online process is based on
development, marketing, selling, servicing along with paying the products as well as services.
Greenwoods should witness an e-commerce success stories in their retailing in suits, jackets,
shoes, shirts, pants and other accessories. The scope of this study is to analyze the challenges of
traditional retailers so that the researcher can properly identify the benefits of e-commerce
website.
1.5 Problem context
Greenwoods continue to improve as well as upgrade their store’s image with investment
programme that is funded by patent company, Pacific Trend Investment. The company is
struggling to grow its profitability in the UK market due to its traditional retailing and the result
is that their stores are closed in some places. The problems that Greenwoods face in their stores
are poor customer service, lack of packing facilities, poor display of the products, location of
store at a distance, availability of the old stocks in addition to improper weighing of the products
in the order (Sun et al. 2015). It affects the business reputation of Greenwoods at a high which
decreases their productivity along with profitability. It also affects the market share along with
revenue of the company. There are also problems of improper billing at the store due to credit
accounting problems, poor visual merchandise, and poor quality of services by the staffs and no
selling is fixed amount to each one. The retailers are also faced issues when they are
experiencing a various types of constraints into retailing of menswear within the city. The

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constraints into retailing are taken at highest priority based on perception of the retailers (Popa,
Soto-Acosta and Loukis 2016). These particular problems are solved by development of an e-
commerce platform for Greenwoods so that their stores are sell their products and services online
in an efficient way. The e-commerce website reduces their operational cost and transaction
problems.
1.6 Rationale of the project
With advancement of the technology as well as internet, more people are turning towards
the web for different reasons. It is no longer to search information and connect to people but it
becomes an e-commerce platform for the customers and retailers to sell as well as buy the
products. The rationale of this project study is development of e-commerce website for a retail
store which is facing problems due to its traditional retail business. The website allows the retail
store to sell their products and services to online audiences. The reasons behind selection of this
project topic are to develop the business performance of Greenwoods by e-commerce platform. It
leads to better sell of the products and increase revenue of the company. It is easier to set an e-
commerce platform as compared to run a physical store in UK. It reduces the problems of
transactions as there is higher issue of billing using credit account information. Therefore, this
project work increases profitability for managing and running the online store.
1.7 Limitations of the project
The scope of this study is limited to how the e-commerce as the business channel is being
established into retail industry. Other organizations are not included into this study based on any
other sector. There is design limitation into the website to show the business images. There are
also internet limitations into the project which hampers the development of e-commerce website.
When the internet goes down then it goes down and it affects the website development work.

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The display of website serves as design limitation for the designer. Due to business reasons,
sometimes there is change into requirements into the feature of the website. Change into
requirements may change the suitable project e-commerce website solutions. There is also time
limit to develop the website based on the business requirements of Greenwoods.