E-Commerce Investigation – Ebuyer.com
Points of Interest:
The Buying Process - Selecting the Product, More Product Information,
Checking Out, Login, Address, Payment, Entering Details, Completion, Order Confirmation
Ebuyer are the UK’s largest independent online retailer of computers, components and electronics. Ebuyer allows users to purchase a wide variety of goods through their e-commerce site. Ebuyer.com purely operates as a website as opposed to having a physical shop along side it.
Welcoming the User:
Every time somebody visits Ebuyer.com, it automatically changes the home page for every visit, often changing which products it displays on the home page (See example below). For the company (Ebuyer), this allows them to show any special offers/deals they may have. However, what is a bit more sophisticated than this is they way that the offers are presented from visitor to visitor. Instead of Ebuyer filling up pages of offers (obscure and confusing), they present a randomly selected few offers to present to the customers. This allows Ebuyer to show offers in a user friendly way which is more likely to attract sales than culturing them up in a page. For a customer, this allows them to easily view any offers/deals as apposed to manually searching for them. This type of advertising can be very effective when used right, something Ebuyer has mastered. As the offers are on the home page, visitors can’t help but see them.
Another feature in Ebuyer’s home page is a list of “popular products” (see right). 
The list is compiled of Ebuyer’s top selling products. They also include popular product lists for each section; so for instance, on the memory section it will say the most sold memory modules. As with the offers on the home page, this is another clever piece of advertising. If for instance a customer is un-decided about which product he/see wants, instead of the leaving Ebuyer, they have a list of recommended products. Customers in this type of position are likely to therefore select a product from the “popular list”.
The Navigation System:
Ebuyer have chosen to adopt a system where by the product categories appear on the users own accord. As you can see below, users in fact have to hover over the “See all Product Categories” button to see every menu. I think that Ebuyer have chosen to do this so as the users are not overwhelmed with many options. The other picture is showing the expanded menu allowing users to select from a whole range of different categories (See examples below). In my view (as a customer), an e-commerce website which offers good navigation is a huge selling point. If I come across a site with poor navigation then I am most likely to skip that site. I feel that Ebuyer have taken similar views into account when building a user friendly navigation system.
Other Forms of Navigation: 
The other way to search Ebuyer is by categories (manually searching) using a similar menu (as seen above) at the side of the page and in fewer sections. This allows users to access products in arguable a simpler way than the other manual searching option. (See example below)
>Back to top
Specific Searching:
Ebuyer allows two ways of searching for a specific product name/specification. The first way is to search by the name of the product or particular keyword. The second way is using the “Advanced Search” option. This allows users to search with “all of the terms, exact term and with none of the terms”. (See searching fields below)
Here is an example of a search carried out entering data into the “exact term” field. As you can see, it searches for products under to name and also refines them into how many of those products in what categories. (See screenshot below)
The Buying Process:
Here is a step by step way to purchase and order an item from Ebuyer.
1. Selecting the Product
I have chosen to look at Ebuyer's top selling product found on the top of its “popular products” list. (See example below)
2. Product Information
I then click on the product to view more information about it . Ebuyer include a lot of information about products they sell. In this instance, I can find out information such as the product specification and the ability to view more images. Ebuyer also include some more complex features as extras related to the product. These include “compare, add to wish list, more from manufacture and send to friend”.
Viewing more products from the same manufacturer is once again good tactics by Ebuyer to help improve overall sales figures. If I view a laptop for instance and then view more by the same manufacturer (say HP) then I may be tempted to purchase more laptop accessories or even a more expensive laptop altogether. Ebuyer use this to help incite people into buying products they may not have originally set out to purchase.
The compare tool basically allows users to compare up to five similar products side by side. This can be particularly handy if you don’t know much information about the product but want to find out what other products are similar. The "add to wish list" tool will create a virtual list of what you may want to buy in the future. The feature works by storing your wish list into your computer's cookies so that whenever you visit Ebuyer from the same computer you compiled your wish list from it will be there when you visit the site again.
More from manufacturer allows users to find out more products made by the same manufacturer. This tool can be useful if you are particularly fond of a brand/make and want to see what other products you can buy from them. The send to friend option allows users to send the link of the product directly to an e-mail address through Ebuyer.
At the top of the product page there is also a review system. It works where by registered users (you need to be registered to order from Ebuyer) can write comments/reviews on any products they want and also rate the product out of five. This is a very handy tool so that potential buyers get more of an idea of what they are exactly purchasing. The reviews may range from very positive to very negative such as including all the problems with a product. From a business point of view, a review system is almost like having employees working for the company for free. The first point is that users may say “don’t buy this product, it never works”. So, this means that users can be warned off the product instead of them buying it and Ebuyer having to deal with any complaints. Another plus point to the review system that it brings is how other users may recommend similar/better products. This piece of advice can encourage a customer to spend more than they original wanted to.
Just before we buy the product we have to decided quantity. Fortunately, Ebuyer says how many are in stock and when they can be shipped.
Once we have decided on the product we should press the “buy” button which then adds the product to the shopping basket. You can view your shopping basket items in the top right hand corner of any page.
3. Checking Out
As I mentioned before, we can checkout any time whilst browsing through Ebuyer. Ebuyer has four main checkout processes (excluding registration). These are Cart, Address, Payment and Complete. You can choose when you wish the product to be delivered by selecting from a list of dates. It also displays extra information such as the approximate package weight. (See example below)
4. Login
The next stage is to login to your Ebuyer account. When logging in, Ebuyer wants you to enter your e-mail, username and password. (See below for Ebuyer’s login screen). It is the “remember me” button that causes controversy across many sites with this facility. As the tool uses cookies (a way of remembering data on a computer), people say that this can be an intrusion of privacy as cookies have to be written to the PC. Another point that people argue about the whole user account concept is that their private data (such as address and credit card details) are stored on a remote server. This could mean that if someone “hacks” into their account the hacker may buy mass amounts under their credit card or even forward their detail onwards.
The whole concept of buying online is that it is quick and hassle free. Having a login system meets these criteria perfectly. If users have a login name, password and email then they can simply login and purchase goods whenever they want instead of them having to re-type their details every time they want to purchase something. This not only helps customers but helps Ebuyer at the same. E-commerce website's main aim is often to maximise profits. Allowing users to buy products easily is a way of boosting sales. Often the business theory of “the easier it is to buy something, the more sales you will make” can be applied here. If a user has to type in a lot of details, then this can make them think more and hesitate buying product(s). If buying things takes seconds then this gives customers less time to think and less time to change their minds.
5. Address
This takes you to the “address” section of the checking out process. When you register with Ebuyer you are required to fill out a shipping/billing address so when you go to purchase the goods it automatically finds the address you registered with. (See below)
6. Payment
Next is the payment process. You must select from the following payment methods of: Visa/Master Card, Switch/Maestro, Finance/Edge Card and PayPal.
7. Entering Details
In the following stage, as this is the first order from Ebuyer, you must enter all of your credit card details. Following your first order from Ebuyer, you can choose whether or not to store your payment details for future reference so as the next time you log onto Ebuyer you don’t need to get out your credit card again as all the details will already be stored under your account. (See below example of payment screen with Visa/Master Card)
8. Completion
After you have safely submitted your payment, you will see conformation of the order appearing on screen as well as an e-mail sent to you confirming your order and details. To ensure that the payment is safe, Ebuyer uses a 128 bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security. Having security (the padlock icon) can in fact encourage users more. I for one don’t really trust giving my details to sites without any form of security. Having security on the site gives me more confidence and trust in the company to securely handle my date. This can help decrease the threat of e-crime (see security threats for more information).
9. Order Confirmation
After you have placed the order, in your confirmation e-mail you will receive a tracking number. This will enable you to make use of Ebuyer’s tracking system where you can track your order and its expected delivery date.
Collection of Customer Data
How do Ebuyer collect customer data? That is a question which only people inside Ebuyer know the exact answer to and would be very reluctant to release information on. There for, the following are assumptions I am making about Ebuyer.
I believe that Ebuyer do collect information about its customers. What I think they do is monitor customer's behavior through the site and try to target them coordinating to their behavior. For instance, if it shows on Ebuyer’s logs that very few customers have been looking at motherboards then Ebuyer may start offering special offers on motherboards and/or advertise them more through newsletters and on their home page. Another way they may analyse customer data is by looking at the most bought (popular) products and offer special deals on accessories for them. E.g. if customers are buying iPods then ebuyer could then sell them speakers at a reduced rate.
I don’t believe capturing customers data like this is wrong nor an invasion on people’s privacy. This is because I think Ebuyer have a right to see customer activity on their site as any website manager would be.
Looking at more how Ebuyer could improve their customer data collection technique I believe that there is room for improvement. Although Ebuyer do send out newsletters I don’t personally think they send out enough. A lot of time to view special offers you have to visit Ebuyer directly instead of them e-mailing you the offers. Another way that Ebuyer could capture more customer details is by advertising on popular IT websites. If Ebuyer did this then if people clicked on the links to Ebuyer then they could tell what websites it’s customers go on and perhaps offer products relating to those sites.
Points of Improvement:
Ebuyer is a fabulous e-commerce site, however there are several points that I feel should be change around the site.
- Prices including VAT should be listed in the bolder text rather than prices without VAT as this can be very misleading
- The searching system could be finer tuned as when you search you can end up with some very un-related results
- When having to log in, I think that the field to log in should only be two (i.e. email and password) as having to remember so many fields can be a little confusing.
Overall View:
Ebuyer works seamlessly and operates just how a large e-commerce websites should. When using it, there is a very good sense of ease about it allowing you to find just about any product you want on Ebuyer.
In a design perspective, Ebuyer has been designed with a very clean layout allowing products to be viewed as easily as possible. Ebuyer also has nice subtle design aspects such as it's menu system. With a professional design scheme such as that Ebuyer have used it generally makes customers feel happier and safer shopping with a “professional looking” company. Yet another feature about Ebuyer is the way it can automatically pick up your stored data from your user login. This allows the whole “shopping experience” with Ebuyer to be as personal as possible. The user login also allows users to read through months if not years of their history such as past orders.
As I mentioned above, Ebuyer isn’t without its faults. Ebuyer’s pricing scheme is a little mis-leading to say the least as it shows all of it's prices excluding VAT (so basically shows the “cheaper” price). However, just below it in smaller writing it displays the price including VAT. Another point of improvement to Ebuyer is that they could have a much more refined search engine. When searching through Ebuyer in most cases it can display pages and pages of un-related results, this can be a little frustrating for many customers. The final point of improvement to Ebuyer is that their login screen requires too many credentials. On the login screen you have to enter a username, e-mail and password. Many rival e-commerce companies only tend to use either a username/e-mail and password. Having said this, this could be just one of Ebuyer’s many measures to enhance it's security features.