ARMY INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(AIBA)

Topic: “Usability Analysis of Bangladeshi E-commerce Websites in

perception of proposed usability analysis framework.”
Course Name: Research Methodology
Course Code: BUS 3601

Prepared by Supervised By
MD.Tuhin parves Afzal Hossain
ID-B3160B005 Assistant Professor
BBA -3 AIBA, Savar

Date of Submission:10th May,2018

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

10-05- 2018

1
Afzal Hossain
Assistant professor,
Army Institute of Business Administration,
Savar Cantonment.

Subject: Submission of Research paper on “Usability Analysis of Bangladeshi E-commerce

Websites in perception of proposed usability analysis framework.”
Dear Sir,

Here is the research that I assigned on the topic as per your request. The assignment has been
completed by the knowledge that I have gathered from the course “Research Methodology”.

I am thankful to all those persons who provided me important information and gave me valuable
advices. I would be happy if you read the report carefully and I will be trying to answer all the
questions that you have about the report.

I have tried our label best to complete this assignment meaningfully and correctly, as much as
possible. I do believe that my tiresome effort will help you to get ahead with this sort of venture.
In this case it will be meaningful to me. However, if you need any assistance in interpreting this
assignment please contact me without any kind of hesitation.

Thanking you.

Yours obediently,

Tuhin Parves
ID:B3160B005

BBA-03
Army Institute of Business Administration, Savar Cantonment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I consider it as my privilege to express gratitude & respect to all those who guide & for the
blessings given to me to successfully complete the thesis work, inspired me in the completion of
the thesis, First I would like to thank the almighty for the blessings given to me to successfully
complete the work.

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I express profound gratitude & sincere thanks to my supervisor Afzal Hossain, Assistant
professor, Army Institute of Business Administration, Savar Cantonment. I would like to thank
him for his marvelous regulation.

Last, but never the least, we also keep on record the moral & emotional support provide by our
parents and family throughout the period.

-------------------------------
Date and signature
Tuhin Parves
ID-B3160B005
BBA-3

DECLARATION
I hereby, declare that this paper has been prepared by me and not been previously submitted to
any other sources or persons.

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The work does not breach any copyright and all the information collected is valid from diverse
outer sources.

-------------------------------
Date and signature
Tuhin Parves
ID-B3160B005
BBA-3

SUPERVISOR’S CERTIFICATE

To whom it may concern

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This is to certify that the research work, which is being presented in the dissertation entitle
“Usability Analysis of Bangladeshi E-commerce Websites in perception of proposed
usability analysis framework.” submitted by MD. Tuhin Parves in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the course of BUS 3601: Research Methodology Army Institute of Business
Administration, Savar. This research work has been carried out under my supervision.
I wish him all the best in all future endeavors.

Supervisor

______________________
Afzal Hossain
Assistant professor,
Army Institute of Business Administration,
Savar Cantonment
Abstract
The study evaluates some selected E-commerce websites in Bangladesh from the usability
perspectives. One online automated tools, namely, html toolbox and web page analyzer were
used to test the Usability of these websites. Tools were used to measure the websites’ internal

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attributes which cannot be perceived by the users such as html code errors, download time, and
size of the html pages. The questionnaire was developed and designed based on the 5 usability
criteria divided into five categories. Each category deals with one usability aspect. The study
showed that users are not satisfied by overall usability level of these websites and few of them
are satisfied with the available features. However, there are some weaknesses in some aspects of
the design, interface, and performances. Websites’ internal features are identified and
suggestions are provided in the study to enhance the usability of these websites.

Table Of Contents

Letter of Transmittal ii
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Acknowledgement iii
Declaration iv
Supervisor’s Certificate v
Abstract vi
Chapter-1:Introduction 2
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Ecommerce websites Usability
1.3 Websites Usability: Bangladesh Perspectives
1.4 Limitations of the Sudy

Chapter-2: Literature review 5

Chapter-3: Methodology of the Study 7
3.1 Flowchart
3.2 Proposed Usability Analysis Tools
Chapter-4:Data Analysis & Findings 9
4.1 Data FIndings
4.2 Data Analysis
Chapter-5: Conclusion 12
6.1 Limitations
6.2 Conclusion
6.3 Recommendation
References 15
Appendix 16

1. INTRODUCTION

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The latest revolution of internet is not only dropping the global partition but also converting
culture into knowledge-based culture all over the world. Brusquely subsequent to the
commercialization of the internet, the multimedia module of the internet (web) managed the
extraordinary development. As a part of this development, businesses and folks rushed to
consign web pages and content on the web. In recent times, a propagation of electronic websites
with a incredible quantity of information either with higher value, or with lower value, as well as
sites that are out-and-out deceptive are seen. The outburst of the web has set the necessity of
measuring criteria to assess the features related to the quality in use, such as usability and
accessibility of a web application. The objective is to make the website useful, profitable, user
linkable, and accessible. Consciousness of excellence concerns has nowadays influenced every
business sector. As a result, it is essential for every organization to have the aptitude to construct
a measurement of the quality of their e-services to get better their features over time and
yardstick against rivals and the finest application in any industry. The present study focuses on
usability of some e-commerce websites in Bangladesh. Nowadays, more organizations in
Bangladesh are constructing their own web pages to form awareness and endorsing their services
to the user community. As a result, there are rising concerns about the ways in which websites
are developed and the quality delivered. Electronic commerce or e-commerce is a term for any
type of business, or commercial transaction that involves the transfer of information across the
internet. E-commerce has grown rapidly Worldwide and also in Bangladesh. At present internet
services are available in Bangladesh. Its usage for e-commerce by Bangladeshi producers to
expert as well as to access inputs will be dependent on their willingness and ability to use this
medium as well as that of the buyers of final products and the sellers of intermediate goods and
services. In Bangladesh, among the dimensions of e-commerce, there is a limited application and
use of B2C e-commerce. But a significant portion of total ecommerce websites are engaged in
C2C e-commerce which is auction based commerce between consumers to consumer. Other
fields are not yet much developed in Bangladesh. There are many reasons behind this one simple
reason this country is not so developed and most of its citizens are poor and uneducated. It is
quite natural that there are few customers who is willing and can shop in internet. It might take
years to be developed in this sector in Bangladesh, but there are evidence found that it is also
growing rapidly and soon will reach at a prosperous stage. There are over 2 billion internet users
Worldwide in 2011 and it is forecast this number will exceed 3 billion by 2015 and the world
B2C e-commerce industry generated between $400 billion and $600 billion in 2010 according to
yStats.com, which estimates the market will generate somewhere from $700 billion and $950
billion in 2015. Social media continues to fuel the B2B e-commerce market, which aims to boost
electronic business process efficiency, reports T systems. E-commerce is being considered as a
separate, profitable field business and intermediary actors are updating their B2B business
models, while embracing aspects of social media. Besides, competitive advantages determine
whether a company can move forward, E-commerce is the right tool for gaining competitive
advantage now-a-days in Bangladesh. Some restrict the definition of ecommerce only to internet
rather telecommunication and telecommunication based tools are also involved in ecommerce
activities. In Bangladesh perspective, the broader definition is accepted to all. Like traditional
commerce, e-commerce does not involved only in buying and selling of goods and services
rather includes intercompany and inter-company functions like negotiations and transactions,

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manufacturing and marketing etc. using email, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), fax, file
transfer, video conferencing etc. depending on the involvement with electronic means, a
company can be either a complete or partial e-commerce user. Much debate surrounds the
blooming e-commerce industry in Bangladesh, with different views on whether the proliferation
and growth of e-commerce companies and the valuation that some of them have generated is
merely a bubble or just the tip of the iceberg. Right now more than 6.5 million people are using
Internet in the country with the help of around 200 private registered Internet Service Providers
(ISP) and dial-up services and the cost of using Internet is low. The increasing number of user of
Internet creates more opportunity of ecommerce in the recent years. Around 100 million people
use mobile services and 15 or 20 percent people take mobile banking services. According to data
of Bangladesh Bank, about 1million mobile users take the mobile banking services and roughly
over 100 core transactions are made through the mobile banking every month. In Bangladesh
have more than 2500 e-commerce websites and 1 million digital buyer overall and 50% of them
are from Asia market. It is clear that e-commerce industry is growing at a rapid pace in
Bangladesh. Major retailers are now opening their own websites which complement their
traditional bricks-and-mortal outlets. Some retailers operate solely over the Internet, especially in
F-commerce (Face book commerce). Online retailers often sell products and services at a
significant discount to those offered by traditional outlets. Buying online is convenient.
Consumers can make their purchases from the comfort of their own homes and have them
delivered to their doors. In the near future the boundaries between “conventional” and
“electronic” commerce will become increasingly blurred as more and more businesses move
sections of their operations onto Internet.

1.1 Objectives
 To know the usability of e-commerce websites of Bangladesh
 To provide a framework
 To recommend the possible ways to improve

1.2 E-Commerce Websites Usability

E-Commerce or Electronics Commerce is a methodology of modern business which addresses

the need of business organizations, vendors and customers to reduce cost and improve the
quality of goods and services while increasing the speed of delivery. E-commerce refers to
paperless exchange of business information using following ways.

 Electronic Data Exchange (EDI)

 Electronic Mail (e-mail)

 Electronic Bulletin Boards

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  Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)

 Other Network-based technologies

1.3 Websites Usability: Bangladesh Perspectives

Developing a website should be passed through several design guidelines to ensure that the
website can achieve the purposes and goals intended to be accomplished. Additionally, an
organization’s website is a gateway to its information, products, and services. As such, it should
ideally be a reflection of the needs of the clients it serves. Unfortunately, website design is often
driven by technology, organizational structure, or business objectives, rather than by users needs.
However, in recent years, website owners and developers have gradually begun to acknowledge
and address the issue of usability.8 Based on the International Standards Organization (ISO)
definition of usability, Powell9 defines website usability as “the extent to which a site can be
used by a specified group of users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and
satisfaction in a specified context of use”. Note that this definition applies equally well to
webpage usability. It also implies that usability is user and task-dependent, as well as being
related to how well the user is able to accomplish what they set out to do, how efficiently the
user can do this, and how satisfied the user is during and after the process. Powell9 also recounts
Nielsen’s10 usability guidelines for determining the usability of a website:
Learn ability: How easy it is to learn to use?
Remember ability: How easy it is to remember how to use?
Efficiency of use: How much work does user require to do?
Reliability in use: Does it work correctly and help user perform tasks correctly?
User satisfaction: Is the user generally satisfied as a result of using the site?
Likewise, McLaughlin & Skinner11 break usability down into six related but distinct
components:
Check ability: The system has or allows checks that ensure the correct information is going in
and out of it.
Confidence: Users have confidence both in their capability to use the system and in the system
itself.
Control: Users have control over the operation of the system, particularly of the information fed
into and out of the system. Ease of use: The system is easy to use. Speed: The system can be
used quickly.
Understanding: The system and its outputs are understandable.
2. Literature Review

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Many researchers have researched over role of usability analysis of ecommerce sites, how does
work and the significance of ecommerce sites
According to Armstrong & Kotler, 2009 business internet marketing is growing very fast which
we can say b2b. The major differences between online and physical marketing is the customer
interaction, in physical marketing system there needs less interaction between customer and the
marketer but in case of online shopping there require more effective customer interaction,
communication between customer and the marketer is more close here.
According to Hill & Alexander, 2000 In case of paying bill, order receiving, making order all
these are totally different of the online shopping from the traditional shopping. It is very
important to understand the customer loyalty and satisfaction and in case of online shopping
system it is very important to gain the customer loyalty as we all know that there is some vague
concept regarding the payment system of online shopping. In other word we can say that
accompany is more successful which makes customer satisfied on the other hand we can say that
the more customer are satisfied the more company is successful
According to Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S., 2000.With respect to Bangladesh, e-commerce has
grown tremendously in the recent years. This is one of the reasons that motivated me to
specifically choose Bangladesh for my research. According to the financial express, a business
related newspaper publishes in Bangladesh; online shopping is growing very fast in Bangladesh
and within next 5 years online shopping will rise to 40 percent in Bangladesh. There are lots of
research work has been done before based on this topic which I will discuss in the next part.
Online shopping is one of the most widely used world in the business world. It is very common
in developing and developed countries. Now virtual store, market space are very commonly used
word. In Bangladesh during last five years online shopping has grown very fast. There are lots of
online shopping website has been developed like cell bazaar, Bikroy.com etc. In the past decade,
there has been a dramatic change in the way consumers have altered their way of shopping.
Although consumers continue to purchase from a physical store, consumers feel very convenient
to shop online since it frees the customer from personally visiting the store. Online shopping has
lots of advantages like it saves time, energy of the consumer while buying. In case of online
shopping buying decision can be made on home by comparing the products with the competitor’s
products with lots of variety. As I mentioned earlier that online shopping provides lots of
advantage, among all the advantage two advantage is most important or these two advantages is
noteworthy, one is lots of product variety and availability of much supplier so that price
advantage can be prevail in the online shopping.
The research by Chiew & Salim26 focused on developing a web-based tool (called WEBUSE)
which consists of 24-questions for evaluating the usability of websites. The report generated by
the tool indicates how good the website with respect to usability is. The researchers claim that
WEBUSE is suitable for the evaluation of all types of websites and for any domain. The tool can
assist webmasters to improve their websites based on the response provided by the visitors of the
intended websites.

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Corry27, et al. conducted a usability evaluation of an existing Midwestern University Website.
An analysis was conducted to restructure the information contained in the current Website; a
prototype was developed and tested against the existing site. Usability was based on the ability of
subjects (such as students, parents, and faculty) to quickly and accurately locates answers to a set
of questions. While the study worked well, the metrics used to measure usability were limited to
task completion time and the number of user errors.

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3. Methodology of the Study
The quantitative survey method has been used to find the usability of the following Bangladeshi
e-commerce websites. These websites have been selected considering their prominence and
popularity among the stakeholders.
 Sohoz.com
 Ekhanei.com
 Bikroy.com
 Foodpanda.com
 Rokomari.com
 daraz.com.bd
3.1 Flowchart

Proposed Usability Analysis Tools/Framework

For analysis of e-commerce websites I need to ensure the tools first. There are many tools in
websites I only take one from the all tools. And that is Gtmatrix.com. Because it is easy for
evaluation. I also make questionnaire so that we can easily survey from the users.

 Measure with Evaluation Tools: After choosing the tool we concerned 7 e-commerce
websites for evaluating. We do it by coping their URL and paste it on our selective tool.
Then we got our result.
 Take The Result: After getting the result we need to ensure that weather the result is
positive or weather the result is negative. We already know that how e-commerce
websites help us for daily necessity. So we need to find the errors regarding this.

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 Take the result from survey: We make a online questionnaire basis of 6 questions to
find out exact position of the users. There are 6 questions and depends on the question the
answer can be Agree and Disagree. After the end of our survey we got result from the
questionnaire and it also can be positive or can be negative.

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4. Data Findings & Analysis
4.1 Data Findings
4.1.1 Findings from Software Based usability test: We focus on 6 e-commerce websites
popular in Bangladesh. There are several tools for usability test. But we use gtmetrix.com.
Findings data are given below:

Table-1. Result for usability analysis of Bangladeshi ecommerce website

Name Page speed Yslow score Full Loaded Total Page

Score Time Size
sohoz.com 96% 89% 1.1s 266kb
ehanei.com 90% 80% 2.6s 185kb
bikroy.com 81% 85% 8.4s 514 kb
fooodpanda.co 70% 69% 17.3s 1.64kb
m
rokomari.com 50% 49% 10s 1.96kb
daraz.com.bd 48% 72% 25.2s 2.51kb
Average 77.5% 74% 10.76s 161.85kb

Data of table Calculated by Gtmatrix.com in 4th October 2018 at 8pm

4.1.2 Findings from questioners based website evaluation:
Table-2 Evaluation of websites by users
Features Agree Disagree
Satisfactory Content 62.5% 37.5%
Readability 75% 25%
User interface design 50% 50%
Browser Usability 50% 50%
Mobile usability 62.5% 37.5%
Fulfilled customers 87.5% 12.5%
expectation

4.2 Data Analysis

4.2.1 Data Analysis from Software Based website usability Test:

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Page Speed: Page Speed Insights measures the performance of a page for mobile devices and
desktop devices. It fetches the url twice, once with a mobile user-agent, and once with a desktop-
user agent. The Page Speed Score ranges from 0 to 100 points. The average score of 6
ecommerce website is 77.5%. Page Speed Insights only considers the network-independent
aspects of page performance: the server configuration, the HTML structure of a page, and its use
of external resources such as images, JavaScript, and CSS. Implementing the suggestions should
improve the relative performance of the page.

Yslow: YSlow is a tool that analyses your page and tells you why it's slow. You can significantly
reduce the page loading times and improve the user experience by running the tool and
implementing its checklist-style suggestions. It also happens to be free and open source. The
average is 74%

Full Loaded Time: Page load time depends on several factors such as: the size of the HTML file
and any frames it references, the number and size of the images, the use of HEIGHT and
WIDTH attributes with image and table tags, the number of servers that must be contacted to
download files and images, and the speed of the user’s modem. For the websites covered in this
study Very few of the ecommerce website have standard loading time.

Total Page size: For individuals and webmasters evaluating the usability of a site, knowing the
total page size is an important step to creating a user friendly page, this tool is a valuable
resource to help. When people refer to web page size, they are talking about the overall size of
the page and its HTML code, videos, images and other files. Larger pages are not a hindrance as
long as the HTML file is coded in a way that allows for smaller rendering times..

4.2.2 Data Analysis from Questionnaire-based Website Evaluation

For this survey, we make questionnaires’ and published in some of Facebook group 64% people
are attend in this survey. From this 44% are mobile users. Table 2 presents a summary of the
results obtained from the questionnaire-based evaluation method. It reveals that the summary of
the, agree and Disagree features of the websites by the users. Table 2 shows the six usability
features which are mainly related to the external attributes of the ecommerce web sites. Each of
the features focus different attributes of the website including information, content, services,
effectiveness and decoration. Satisfactory Content- Agree 62.5% , Disagree37.5%. Readability-
Agree75%, Disagree25%, Browser Usability- Agree 50%, Disagree50%. Mobile usability
agree62.5%, Disagree 37.5%

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 Questi onary Base WEBSITE Evaluati on
Agree Column1

88%
75%
63%

63%
50%

50%
38%

38%
25%

13%
S a ti s f a c t o r y R ead ab i l i t y B r r o w ser Mo b i l e Usab i l i t y F u l fi l l C u s t o m e r
C o n t en t Usab i l i t y E x p e c t a ti o n

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5. Conclusion
5.1 Limitation of ecommerce sites: E-Commerce limitation can be broadly classified in two
major categories:

 Technical disadvantages
 Non-Technical disadvantages

5.1.1 Technical Disadvantages

 There can be lack of system security, reliability or standards owing to poor implementation
of e-Commerce.
 Software development industry is still evolving and keeps changing rapidly.
 In many countries, network bandwidth might cause an issue as there is insufficient
telecommunication bandwidth available.
 Special types of web server or other software might be required by the vendor setting the e-
commerce environment apart from network servers.
 Sometimes, it becomes difficult to integrate E-Commerce software or website with the
existing application or databases.
 There could be software/hardware compatibility issue as some E-Commerce software may
be incompatible with some operating system or any other component.

5.1.2 Non-Technical Disadvantages

 Initial cost: The cost of creating / building E-Commerce application in-house may be very
high. There could be delay in launching the E-Commerce application due to mistakes, lack
of experience.
 User resistance: User may not trust the site being unknown faceless seller. Such mistrust
makes it difficult to make user switch from physical stores to online/virtual stores.
 Security/ Privacy: Difficult to ensure security or privacy on online transactions.
 Lack of touch or feel of products during online shopping.
 E-Commerce applications are still evolving and changing rapidly.
 Internet access is still not cheaper and is inconvenient to use for many potential customers
like one living in remote villages.

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5.2 Conclusion
The present study showed in general that usability features of the ecommerce websites in
Bangladesh not so good. But it is satisfactory. At user end, it failed to meet the user demands
and expectations. At the same time web-based diagnosis tools reveal that internal qualities of
these websites are not ideal. By evaluating the usability aspects of these websites we can
improve the usability of these websites. Universities webmaster should pay more attention to the
ecommerce web design and content to make them more attractive to the user community. This
study has been exploratory and there is a scope for future usability research in this area. It would
be useful to carry out a more comprehensive study covering more institutions and more diagnosis
tools to measure the usability of the university websites in Bangladesh. The present study
findings open the door to further studies of this area in future.
Advantages of e-commerce are cost savings, increased efficiency, and customization. In order to
understand electronic commerce it is important to identify the different terms that are used, and
to assess their origin and usage. These include information overload, reliability and security
issues, and cost of access, social divisions and difficulties in policing the Internet. Successful
ecommerce involves understanding the limitations and minimizing the negative impact.

5.3 Recommendation

Errors are places where page does not follow the rules for proper HTML coding. These problems
may cause page to display incorrectly under different browsers. There were 16.3 html code errors
in the websites covered in this study and it needs to use good coding practices. Compatibility
problems are places where it uses an HTML tag or attribute that is not part of the HTML 4.0
standard and may not be supported by all browsers. The best way to view web site in various
browsers is to download and install each one. However, not all may be compatible with
operating system. Some of the tools, namely, Browser Shots, Cross Browser Testing.Com,
Browser Camp and Adobe Browser Lab allow viewing site in different web browsers, just as
they would actually appear.
The number of HTML files is appropriate for these websites and the total size of this HTML file
is 161220 bytes, which is more than 50 K and not appropriate. Reducing photos, mp3, video, and
web pages may make the size of HTML standard.
The study covered various aspects of usability, some of which have been meeting the user
expectations. It has been pointed out that some features of evaluation have satisfied the users but
most of the users 40.19 %) are strongly dissatisfied with the features of these websites. This
finding suggests that website authority needs to focus on these categories for better usability of
these websites by the users.
Result of the content, organization, and readability; navigation and links; user interface design;
performance and effectiveness, and educational information categories are not satisfactory at the
user’s point of view of these university websites. The questionnaire-based evaluation findings
reveals that these websites should be designed based on more content; incorporate more
educational information; and priority should given for designing user friendly websites.

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References
1. Afzal Hosaain, Kazi Hassan Robin & MD Mahmudul Hasan Rafee, Usability evalution
of Bangladeshi job portals from users’ perspective: in light of proposed usability analysis
framework, March, 2016.
2. Hasan, L. &Abuelrub, E. Assessing the quality of web sites. Appl. Comp. Inform., 2011,
9, 11–29.
3. Shacklett, M. Gauging web site performance. Credit Union Maga., 2001, 67(6), 60-62.
4. Fogg, B.J.; Marshall, J.; Laraki, O.; Osipovich, A.;Varma, C.; Fang, N.; Paul, J.;
Rangnekar, A.; Shon, J.; Swani, P. &Treinen, M. What makes web sites credible? A
report on a large quantitative study. Comp.Human Interaction, 2001, 3(1), 61–68.

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 5. Mich, L.; Franch, M. &Gaio, L. Evaluating and designing web site quality, feature
article. IEEE Multimedia, IEEE Computer Society, USA, 2003.
6. Kirakowski, J. Questionnaire in usability engineering:A list of frequently asked
questions. Ed. 3. Human Factors Research Group, Ireland, 2000.

Appendix

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Fig-1

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Fig-2

Fig-3

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