SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Auto Accessories Market based on an e-commerce system

KIPLAGAT JOB
SC212/0997/2018

September,2023
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

In most countries, information technology is a key feature in improving and boosting a country’s
economy. Technology in business is becoming a trend and research is being done to fully utilize
its efficiency, thus vast tech is being applied in many upcoming businesses and the most
significant one is E-commerce.
E-commerce is a mode or way of buying and selling of goods and services via the internet.
Beyond buying and selling, activities such as using the internet to enhance customer services
and coordination are achievable through e-commerce.
Some of the derived advantages of e-commerce to businesses is the increase of productivity
that comes at a reduced operating cost. This because most of the business operations are
conducted online. Also is the advantage of global markets accessibility since no physical
presence is required for business to happen. Lastly is competitiveness of products in the market,
since vast variety of products are availed, customers choice isn’t limited. The competitiveness
results to high quality of the goods and services.
e-commerce does have its equal share of disadvantages, one of which is its dependability on ICT
whose skills and infrastructure aren’t accessible to all. Another is the fact that e-commerce
serves as loop hole to frauds since it lacks elaborate regulatory body .
1.2 Problem Statement

Auto-mart as an e-commerce market for auto spares that aims to streamline the automotive
market, which is booming exponentially thanks to infrastructural (roads) development that’s at
its peak. Several similar systems are being used in the market currently, the likes of Jumia,
Amazon, Jiji, Impala Auto, Myparts.com, Motorshop, SpareWorld.

Despite their market existence, these systems are lacking when it comes to their efficiency to
both the market and ease of usability. Thus making potential customers to avoid such sites in
their auto accessories hunting, leaving them in the hands of exploitative brokers, sub-standard
spares and dissatisfaction.
1.3 Objective

1.3.1 General Objective

To build an auto accessories market based on an e-commerce system.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives to this project are:

1. Determine customer requirements, and use them to achieve optimal efficiency of the
online store. Includes user’s opinion on user interface and experiences derived from
pioneer systems available in the market.
2. Develop a system that addresses customers’ issues stated above. Most important a system
that easy to use and understand even by novices and descriptive.
3. Lastly is to test the features of the end product to ensure it meets all the defined
requirements, debug arising errors and execute the changes that may be critical for
system’s success.
1.4 Research Questions

How to determine system and user requirements. This will generate an efficient blue print of
the what and how the system is expected to achieve objectives.

How to develop a system that addresses the stated requirements, using a variety on
development tools and language.

How to test the developed system by gauging its efficiency to the requirements through
debugging and executing changes where required.

1.5 Scope of the Study

the objective of this proposal is to define project scope.

1.5.1 Design goals

The design goals of the application consist of the following main things:

Visitor features:

-view home banners or slide show gallery

-browse products

-view product details

-membership registration

-view static pages

1.6 Project justification

to develop an e-commerce system for buying auto products and delivery of products to clients
while offering after sale services.

Study is limited to the clients in need of products advertised, marketed and provided by the
system.

To ensure clients get to appreciate e-commerce to suite their needs.

To evaluate clients’ preferences in terms of payments and the methods of payment.

To avail a means of feedback from the clients in regards to the products availed to them by the
system.
2.0 Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

Today, the internet has a major influence on global businesses because it has been serving
billions of users all over the world. Thousands of local and global businesses including private,
public, academic institutions and government networks, all contribute to the creation of the
internet. The internet has opened the door for e-commerce.

Today, the internet has a major

influence on global businesses
because it has been serving
billions of users all over the
world. Thousands of local and
global businesses including
private,
public, academic institutions,
and government networks, all
contribute to the creation of the
Internet (Yongrui et al. 2014).
The internet has opened the
door for eCommerce. The use
of
eCommerce is growing as a
way to conduct business.
There are many types of e-
commerce, but the most
common are as follows:
1. C2B (Consumer to Business):
In a C2B model, customers sell
goods and services to
businesses, and the corporations
purchase the products and
services (Nemat, 2011).
Consumers provide value, and
businesses consume that value.
2. B2C (Business to Consumer):
In this model, the trade is
conducted directly between the
company and consumers via a
website (Dan, 2014). In the
B2C model, businesses or
organizations trade goods or
services to customers over the
Internet for consumers’ use.
3. B2B (Business to Business):
B2B involves trade dealings
between businesses where the
sale
of merchandise is made to an
interim purchaser (Pandey and
Agarwal, 2014). B2B e-
commerce deals with
interactions between and among
businesses. About 80% of e-
commerce
is in this category (Gupta,
2014). One example of B2B is a
business transaction between a
manufacturer and a wholesaler,
or between a wholesaler and a
retailer
Today, the internet has a major
influence on global businesses
because it has been serving
billions of users all over the
world. Thousands of local and
global businesses including
private,
public, academic institutions,
and government networks, all
contribute to the creation of the
Internet (Yongrui et al. 2014).
The internet has opened the
door for eCommerce. The use
of
eCommerce is growing as a
way to conduct business.
There are many types of e-
commerce, but the most
common are as follows:
1. C2B (Consumer to Business):
In a C2B model, customers sell
goods and services to
businesses, and the corporations
purchase the products and
services (Nemat, 2011).
Consumers provide value, and
businesses consume that value.
2. B2C (Business to Consumer):
In this model, the trade is
conducted directly between the
company and consumers via a
website (Dan, 2014). In the
B2C model, businesses or
organizations trade goods or
services to customers over the
Internet for consumers’ use.
3. B2B (Business to Business):
B2B involves trade dealings
between businesses where the
sale
of merchandise is made to an
interim purchaser (Pandey and
Agarwal, 2014). B2B e-
commerce deals with
interactions between and among
businesses. About 80% of e-
commerce
is in this category (Gupta,
2014). One example of B2B is a
business transaction between a
manufacturer and a wholesaler,
or between a wholesaler and a
retaile today, the internet has a major influence on global businesses because it has
been serving billions of users all over the world. Thousands of local and global businesses
including private, public, academic institutions and government networks, all contribute to the
creation of the internet. The internet has opened the door for e-commerce.2.2 Conceptual
Framework

2.2 Conceptual framework

Below is a conceptual framework of the proposed system which consists of input, process,
output and evaluation.

a. Input

It shows the requirements to develop the system.

Knowledge requirements

The knowledge requirements are the needed basic knowledge to develop the system to finish.

Software requirements

These are the technical knowledge that the developers should have.

Hardware requirements

These are the physical tools to be used to develop the system.

b. Process

It shows the steps on how to develop the system.

c. Output

This is the desired output of the developers.

d. Evaluation

This is how the developers and the users will rate the development based on the features and
functions present in the system.

2.3 Existing Systems

2.3.1 Amazon

There are millions of products that can be purchased on Amazon’s e-commerce platform.
Amazon makes people’s life easier as it enables online shoppers to place an order in their own
home s and the goods purchased will be delivered to their doorsteps.

The business models of Amazon include B2B and B2C. B2B is also known as Business-to-
Business which means that Amazon create its own page to open up a marketplace for all online
sellers to buy from and sell to others. On the other side, B2C is a way of business model whereas
goods and services were selling directing to the end users from either Amazon mobile app or
website Official Amazon mobile app are now available at Apple App Store or Google Play store.
In Unites State, among all mobile shopping app, Amazon ranks the highest number of users in
2019and become the most popular mobile app for online shopping (Statista, 2019). Amazon was
a customer-friendly e-commerce mobile app platform that selling products like furniture, home
decor, kitchen, crafts and many more. One of the features ‘Browsing History’ is a simple yet
faster way to view back all those recently viewed products and items as shown in Figure
2.6.Beiersdorfer, J.D (2019) stated that once the browsing-history icon being turned on,
online shoppers able to look back to what products they had been viewed and this feature is
useful enough as it works act as a record-keeping list. The development of Amazon shopping app
truly saves a lot of time, with just a click of a button online shoppers can easily place the order
and have the items delivery to the doorstep. As we all known that, Amazon is a global e-
commerce marketplace and this company actually offer international shipping to others
countries like Australia, Asia and Pacific, America and Europe. However, the buyers
have to afford the customs, duties and taxes. In addition, Amazon Pay is one of the payment
methods that enable transaction to be process more fast, efficient and more secure. All the data is
securely protected. Payments Cards & Mobile, (2019) pointed out that Amazon Pay make online
payment easier ,more convenient and most importantly it did not require additional fees. Instead
of searching fora certain product with keywords, Amazon allow anyone to locate or search for a
specific product with a single tap on the camera icon. Undeniably, it really saves a
lot of time and bring convenient for users to shop more. One can look for an assistant
provided by Alexa to track their purchase orders or even searching item.

A downside of Amazon e-commerce platform was high competition in the marketplace. In fact,
Amazon had a few thousands of sellers who registered their online stores and started to sell
their goods and products. This clearly means that sales of the online business will be affected as
the sellers who sells similar products tend to compete with each other. Furthermore, one of
the drawbacks about selling by using Amazon platform was both individual and professional
sellers were required to pay fees according to their selling plan. For example, $0.99 per items
fees will be charged from online shoppers whereas sellers have to pay the referral fees as well.
Another drawback includes sellers only able to get their profit or money earned for a duration
of two weeks. It actually took about five days for Amazon to transfer the money to the sellers’
account which was considered too long.

2.3.2 Jumia Mobile Application

Usage is growing 6% years over years and it significantly shows that people nowadays prefer
online shopping instead of visit brick-mortar store. Jumia is a Nigerian e-commerce platform xx

which was first launched in 2013, then further expanded its reach to other country such as
Egypt, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Kenya and South Africa and many others. At the early stage, Jumia
was started its business with the concepts of C2C(Consumer-to-Consumer) and at the later state
its founders decided to move into B2C based business model.

Jumia provide a convenient, simple and yet fast online platform for Jumia users where they can
purchase certain products or even start up a business by selling their own products. That fact is
that Jumia was recorded as a high rating apps on Google Play and App Store as it is free of
charge for all to download and most importantly offer cheaper price all the time compared to
the stores outside. By browsing through Jumia platform, users first view a list of products with
description and specification and add the interested items into the order cart and lastly make
payment. Before placing order, users can compare the price and quality by scanning through
there view and rating part. The figure above explains that once the purchased orders have been
delivered, users can rate the seller and leaving any comments with at least 50 words regarding
the products received or shipping services and also provide at least one picture in order to gain
3 Jumia coins. Although Jumia coins cannot be exchange for cash but it can be used to pay the
products listed in the Jumia platform. The main purpose of Jumia coins is to reward Jumia users
and help them save more in the next purchases. Jumia have some unique features such as
Jumia Guarantee, web chat, free shipping and so on. Firstly, Jumia Guarantee -the payment will
be collected from the buyer upon checkout and once the buyer got the order completely only
then the payment will be release to the seller. In this way, we clearly see that Jumia Guarantee
is a policy that securely protect both sellers and buyers during transaction happen. In addition,
Jumia have a free shipping program in collaboration with overseas couriers. To buy and sell with
ease with Jumia, web chat is introduced where users and sellers can communicate and interact
actively.

Thanks to this feature, trust and loyalty between both seller and buyer were able to enhance in
the long run. Thirdly, both seller and buyer were able to gain benefit from Jumia free shipping
program. For example, sellers can easily boost their sales by offering free shipping vouchers to
their long-term customers. However, Jumia e-commerce platform usually set a specific amount
also known as minimum spend in order to qualify for free shipping. Either the free shipping
vouchers or Jumia coins is strictly not transferrable to any users. xxi

Besides that, the drawbacks of Jumia include lack of touch and feel when ordering items from
Jumia website. For instance, a shopper was not able to test or try the clothes on and
consequently buy the wrong size or unfit clothes. Last but not least, it is time consuming if
buyers wish to request return or refund of their purchased items.

2.4 Summary

People would feel annoying if they have to browse through messy and uncategorized products,
hence visual search engine feature on the app actually helps them to narrow down the type and
brand of products. If they intended to look for a particular brand, they just have to click at the
search bar and enter the brand name. After using the search bar to look for a specific product,
consumers can continuously use the filter option to help them sort the products by price range,
categories, brands, rating and so on. Customer loyalty can be enhanced by implementing a chat
feature. Jumia and Amazon all have Chabot services in their app that is used to boost their sales
by offering speedy response to consumers’ enquiries. Undeniable, Jumia and Amazon have a
user-friendly interface design in their app. In Jumia app, the shopping cart is designed that allow
consumers to review back their products. They can easily add quantity or delete the products in
the shopping cart. Moreover, Jumia user scan negotiate the price with the sellers at the Chabot.
Whether the negotiation succeed or not, it all depends on the sellers either accept the
offer or reject it. All four review e-commerce platforms accept Individual, Company and
International Seller. In other words, whether at Jumia or Amazon, buyers from oversea are allow
to make orders online through their platform.

3.0 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter is intended to discuss the descriptive technique to meet the output's objectives.
This section outlines the procedures involved in developing a system and defining
functional requirements. It also covers the system development methodology that is used in the
research, feasibility study, and system requirement and specification. The design will capture
both the physical and logical aspects of the system and architecture.

3.1 Research Design

Generally, the system development methodology of Auto-Mart Website Software ,

Development Life cycle is used to complete the procedure, then it will be followed by the
 agile method or waterfall method. Most modern Software Engineering Institutes, that as
Software Engineering Institute and Csiro adopted the new term DevOps which is a cross-
functional combination of the terms and concepts for development and operations.
The key principles of DevOps are characterized by shared ownership, automation, and
immediate feedback. DevOps is defined as a set of practices intended to reduce the time
between committing a change to a system and the change being placed into
normal production while ensuring high quality (Leonard Joel: A software engineer and
a researcher at the Software Engineering Institute(SEI).)For this project, the iterative
waterfall method which is an extension of the waterfall was used to structure, plan and
organize the process of the system development. It allows the developer to take a step
back to adjust requirements if necessary and helps in error detection and feedback during
the development. The first phase began with initiation when requirements are gathered
and analyzed followed by a feasibility study. The diagram below illustrates the main steps in
the methodology used

3.2 Feasibility
Since the project represents significant investments, a feasibility report was created to
ensure it meets the financial goals. This evaluates the practicality of this project plan to
decide whether or not the main goals of this project will be achieved. Analysis was
performed on the social, financial, and technical impacts of the project as well as the risks
involved. Some areas of concern were the market, usage, accessibility, and location.

3.3.1 Technical Feasibility

The project objective proposed that it should have a variety of products with different
categories. Through this, more businesses would join the platform to extend their
marketing strategies. Gaining access to existing resources and technology that are essential
for completing the user’s needs in the project within the constraints present helped in
assessing and ensuring there is the stability of the technology employed to avoid future
failures caused by unstable or fluctuating technology. The project was considered to be
technically feasible

3.3.2 Market feasibility

The project deliverables were found to be effective after extensive research on market
gaps. The evaluation determined the project has passed market feasibility after-sales
projections of most businesses were low due to the lack of social marketing techniques.
3.3.3 Operational Feasibility
The research on organizational structure determined the project to be operationally
feasible. The team to be included in the project management had enough skills and
competence and they meet requirements to complete the required tasks.
3.3.4 Financial feasibility
The cost-benefit analysis was conducted on the project scopes and the project was found
to be fiscally viable. The research showed a high return on investment with fewer financial
risks. It include the cost of the software development and the software. It concludes that
the long-term advantages offset the short-term expenses and constraints making it
commercially viable and will succeed.

3.4.1 Data Collection Data

Sources Data was gathered from both primary and secondary sources. That is primary
data, which was gathered from the respondents in the auto industries, and the secondary
data sources like the internet, -textbooks, magazines, and journals. It also involved in the
data collection, computing results, and findings of customers through the use of
questionnaire and interviewing. Secondary Data Secondary data was obtained through
reviewing the literature of the already published information from the internet,
journals, newspapers, and other relevant documents.

3.4.2 System Specification

The following are the requirements needed for the system. The system runs only on the
web platform and therefore the requirements are to be met for expected performance.

3.4.3 User requirements

3.4.3.1 Functional Requirements

1. Register and manage user account: To log in and access all the features,
this application should allow the new user to create an account. Requirements for
registration are name, phone number, and password. Each registration may have a
unique phone number and password. Besides that, admins and users can
manage their account information from settings.

2. Login: This application only allows registered users to log into the system. Both user sand
admins must enter a verified phone number and a valid password. With a valid yet correct
password, only then users and admins can log in to access all of the features.

3. Add and maintain products: This application should allow the admin to add
new products according to the categories by providing the product images, description,
and product price. Moreover, the admin should be allowed to manage the products such as
modifying the product details or deleting a specific product.

4. View products: This application should allow users to browse through the listed
products by scrolling down the page. All the products should be displayed with the product
 image, description, and product price as well. Users are allowed to specify the number
of specific products or items before adding them to the cart list.

5. View Cart List: The system should allow users to look back on those products which
they had added to their cart list previously. Furthermore, users can add more items or
products to an existing cart list and even delete products from the cart list.

6. View profile: The application should allow users to manage their profiles. For example,
uploading profile images, providing their full name or address, and also setting security
questions in case they forget their password after signing out from the application.

7. Search for products or brands: This application should allow users to search
for specific products and their brands by entering keywords.

8. Image processing: This application can analyze and recognize the images with
a machine learning model that further helps the user to identify the products using the
camera.

9. Deliver message: This application should allow conversation between users and admin.
Users can send emails to the admin for any queries.

10. Reset password: This application allows users to click on the “Forget Password” that will
redirect them to the page to reset their password in case they forget the password.

11. Logout application: This application should allow users and admins to perform logout
action by clicking the logout button in settings.

3.4.3.2 Non-functional Requirements

a. Usability: This program should provide useful functions and features so that users can learn
and perform their intended tasks easily. Users can easily get familiar with the application in a
relevantly short time.

b. User friendly: This program should have a minimalist user interface and provides
interactive user experiences for the user.
c. Finger friendly: This program should provide sufficient space for users to conveniently tap or
click the button with their fingertips.

d. Data integrity: This program makes use of Firebase Real-time Database to store data securely
on Google cloud servers and synchronized to any linked device in real-time.

e. Feedback: This program should provide instant feedback for every interaction through text or
sound. Effective push notifications can draw users back into the product or even alert users that
they have incoming messages.

f. Extensibility: This program should be able to extend with extra functionality or features and
make the modification of existing functionality available all the time.

g. Effectiveness: This program should provide functionality that allows users to shop for a
variety of products from different companies.

h. Performance: The program should allow users to perform image processing by capturing
photos and be able to classify and recognize the products in a rational time.

3.5 Specify Logical Design and Physical Design

3.5.1 Logical Design

These are data flow diagrams that describe the flow of information on this eCommerce site,
processing functions that must be performed, and databases that will be used.
3.9 Testing

Several kinds of testing were performed on the modules. Each module was tested separately
before integration testing was done for the next module.

Type of tests conducted:

a. Unit Tests : These are isolated tests that test one specific function. Using Django to develop
applications comes with the advantage of an inbuilt shell. Developers can import modules and
test how they work.

b. Integration Tests: , meanwhile, are larger tests that focus on user behavior and testing entire
applications.

The main aim of the testing is to make sure that the system works as it was designed to. Testing
identifies errors within a system and thus action can be taken to correct the errors and ensure
the system performs optimally.

After successful completion of the project and complete module integration testing, the system
is deemed to work as it is intended.
3.10 Conclusion and Recommendation

The product information is stored in a database on the server-side. The customer information is
processed by the server, and the products customers are interested in is sent to them. The
website is to be developed into two modules; one covers the customer and their related
attributes and the second provides easy user access and maintains security and privacy.

3.10.1 Conclusion

The project is deemed successful because users are able to successfully:

1. Place orders.

2. view details.

3. View products in stock.

4. Pick their preferred method of electronic payment.

The system also provided contact details so that clients can communicate with the business
owners. The system provides an easy-to-use interface that makes it appealing to users.

3.10.2 Recommendation

With the time, the number of users may grow to include an even larger number than is
predicted at the start of the business. Facebook plugins and other social platforms were
intergraded for logins only. There is a need for more to be done to improve marketing
strategies. A bot with machine language capabilities can be created to answer basic queries as
may be posed by new and existing clients. This will aid in the reduction of feedback time for
basic queries and product requests.

References

i. Kalakota, R. and Whinston, A.B. (1996). Frontiers of the Electronic Commerce,

Addison Wesley Longman Publishing, Redwood City, CA, USA.
ii. Turban, E. Lee, J., King, D. and Chung, H.M. (2000). Electronic
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Commerce in Developing Countries (I.T. - Management).
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consumer behavior in the pandemic process.
v. v. Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge,(PMBOK Guide), Fourth Edition.
vi. vi. Nemat Alla, M. M.; Khedr, A.-H. A.; Serag, M. M.; Abu-Alnaga, A. Z.; Nada, R.
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vii. Dan, C. (2014) ‘Electronic commerce: State-of-the-art.’ American Journal of
Intelligent Systems
viii. Pandey, D. and Agarwal, V. (2014) ‘E-commerce transactions: An empirical
study.’ International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and
Software Engineering,
ix. ix. Gupta, A. (2014) E-Commerce: Role of E-Commerce in Today’s Business.
International Journal of Computing and Corporate Research
x. Digital Ocean Docs: docs.digitalocean.com
xi. IBM docs: Enterprise security solutions

Major links:

i. https://www.researchgate.net
ii. https://docs.digitalocean.com
iii. https://www.ibm.com/security
iv. https://www.sei.cmu.edu
v. https://www.csiro.au

APPENDIX
Questions asked in the questionnaires
1. What is the preferred method of payment?
2. Upcoming trends in payment methods and currencies?
3. What is the preferred mode of delivery?

Questions asked in the interviews

1. What is the preferred method of payment?
2. Upcoming trends in payment methods and currencies?
3. What is the preferred mode of delivery?