Assignment A Sharanjeet Kaur
Purpose and Principles of website product, Performance Factors
Amazon and eBay
The two websites that I’ll be comparing and contrasting are amazon and eBay.
Amazon.com is a vast Internet-based enterprise that sells books, music, movies,
housewares, electronics, toys, and many other goods, either directly or as the
middleman between other retailers and amazon’s millions of customers. eBay is one of
the oldest and most successful e-commerce websites on the Internet, but it doesn't sell
any items itself. Instead, it allows users to list items for sale, which other users can then
bid on in auctions. Recently, eBay has also added options to buy items at face value, or
submit price offers for them.
Both sites have a purpose to provide individuals the ability to browse through available
products listed for sale or auction through each company's online storefront as
amazon’s target audience is between 18-44 who prefer shopping online for
convenience, fast delivery, and competitive prices and therefore the website does meet
the needs of the audience as people are able to use it and its design is for intended
audience and eBay’s website is designed for it target audience 25-34 in which the
majority of users are males, over half of the users don't have kids and also lack college
experience.
Both websites are large and very complex and contain large amounts of information and
data on them. However, the comparison that will be made will be from the website's
main home page which is one that is first seen when entering the website from a search
engine. The comparison will focus on the design principles of a website which are the
key concepts to a great website design.
,Amazon has a very simple design with a search bar at the top of the screen which has
links to all of the products pages, this makes it easy for the users to navigate around the
website, it also has a category drop down list on the search bar. On both sides of the
search bar you can select your country and select your address for the delivery. You
can sign in or create an account by selecting the option which is in the same line as the
search bar at the top and you can also check your returns and orders at the same
place. This is beneficial as customers are able to quickly find what they need, this will
then increase sales and product interest amongst their target audience. The lettering is
normal and simple which makes it easy to understand, they have used normal black
coloured text on the white backgrounds and they have also used blue coloured text for
the links. Underneath the image of the product it has a row of several more images of
the same product for the customers if they want to see more about the product. Their
homepage has a clear and simple design which is great for drawing attention to the key
information. It uses images and bright coloured links as a way to draw attention as this
is important for getting the message across and engaging with their customers. (In the
images below (on the left) you can see the drop-down list feature of amazon and (on
the right) you can see the advanced search feature of eBay).
eBay has a very simple design as well just like amazon, it has a search bar at the top of
the screen which has links to all of the products pages. It has a category drop down list
just like amazon and it has another drop down list at the beginning of the search bar for
shopping by different categories. Customers can go through the different categories to
look at different things and the things that they want to buy. Advanced search on eBay
offers you a range of options to narrow down your search results, whether you're
looking for an item or a store. It is next to the search bar on the right side. You can
, select options from items or shops and then you can choose the filters you'd like to
apply by ticking the boxes or entering your keywords.
The difference between the layout of the websites can be seen while visiting a particular
product as on amazon the description of the product is shown right under the price of
the product and its availability, where people can view the information about the product
and decide whether they want to buy it or not. Unlike on eBay, the description of the
particular product is shown at the end of the web page which might make customers
think that there is no description provided and they might decide not to buy the product,
which can turn into a disadvantage for the business. The detailed images of the product
are provided and can be viewed more clearly and bigger on both of the websites. The
category drop-down lists on both of the websites lets you select the different types of
products that you want to shop. It's available on both of the websites.
Quick Summary
Similarities Differences Advantages of their design Disadvantages of their design
They both have There is a difference Amazon uses warm For eBay in the products
similar layouts of the in the layout and colours like black, orange window the description of the
home page. The way design while you visit and blue for their websites, products is at the bottom of
the home page is a specific product. which makes it look nicely the page which is not useful
designed is similar, it The description of laid out. For eBay it has a or helpful for the customers.
is easier to navigate the products on special feature for For amazon, it does not have
for the customers. amazon is right next advanced search which a notification bell on the
to the product but on can be very helpful for the website as eBay has.
eBay the description customers.
of the product is at
the end of page.
Purpose
The amazon website is designed for commerce. It is designed to allow consumers to
purchase products from them. They can do this by using their credit card or using other
payment methods such as net banking and debit cards. According to the search engine
journal there are a few main features of a commerce website that should be visible. A
few of these features are the high resolution imagery which loads fast, the ability to view
customer reviews, promotions of special offers, a shopping basket, frequently asked
questions, and security tags such as SSL (secure socket layer) that provides protection
, from sensitive data being intercepted during transition. The following features listed
above are all viewable on amazon and support the purpose of the website which is to
sell products.
The second purpose of amazon is to continually raise the bar of the customer
experience by using the internet and technology to help consumers find, discover and
buy anything, and empower businesses and content creators to maximise their
success. Amazon believes that digital empowerment for customers and businesses
improves living standards for people up and down the country and drives our economic
competitiveness and productivity in a global economy. In their mission statement they
say that they will continue to push at the boundaries of how technology – digital
infrastructure and services – can improve the customer experience and help make the
economies of the countries where we operate more competitive on the global stage.
The purpose of eBay is to pioneer new communities around the world built on
commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity. eBay creates inspiring
ecommerce experiences for our buyers, sellers and developers. Embracing innovation
has been a cornerstone of our growth and customer loyalty, encompassing technologies
such as AI, computer vision, natural language processing and machine translation.
eBay is an online shopping site that's best known for its auctions and consumer to
consumer sales. It's also extremely popular for online merchants to use as a sales
channel. eBay's available in many different countries. As an online auction and
shopping website, eBay provides virtual marketplaces for selling goods and services in
addition to commerce platforms, online payments services and online communications
offering to individuals and small businesses.
Quick Summary
Similarities Differences Advantages of their design Disadvantages of their design
They both have They both have Their designs The websites both are
relevant features, clearly very distinct accommodate the different multipurpose which means
they need to be purposes which are purposes. This allows the that it isn’t always clear what
identified as a different. website to function very the purpose is on the web
product or service well. page.
website.
