AN APPLICATION FOR ONLINE COMMODITY AND DELIVERY SYSTEM

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ABSTRACT

Individuals shop regularly including weekday and weekends but most people find their free time on weekends to shop for important products like groceries. Studies show that about 60 million people shop on weekends and online in Nigeria. The difficult part of shopping online is the act of waiting on long queues and with the recent pandemic, people are now more reluctant to join those queues. The purpose of this project was to create an E-Commerce mobile application that is dedicated to enabling customers purchase goods and shop effectively online during the Covid-19 pandemic. The issue of the pandemic and the goal of reducing physical contact has motivated several vendors to participate in online shopping. Even before the current pandemic, the SARS pandemic of 2003 brought about a rise in E-Commerce. This brought about the birth of the likes of Ali-Baba. Nigerian E-Commerce companies followed suit years later with the likes of Jumia and Konga. E-Commerce represented a massive economic push of buying goods and offering services through online platforms. It provided customers the ability to also make online payments securely without any issues. Following the requirements and specifications, the application was created in a way that focuses on the customer ordering commodities from the comfort of their homes. The end user would be able to place their order online, get billed, and make payment to have their goods delivered. The commodities that have been listed on the application included grocery, vegetable and fruit, medicine, health and body care. The application provides customer with options of selecting vendors according to their location. The application also permits vendors that do not have physical stores to sell their products. In this project, the application would help people avoid standing on long queues and catching the virus: 1) The application will allow them choose their products of choice into their shopping cart, 2) Confirm that the products selected are what they wish to purchase 3) Confirm the purchase and pay for the products using pay stack or cancel the purchase

4) A receipt is generated for the purchased items including date and time of delivery. Once payment is made, the customer receives an order confirmation in their e-mail. The application also stores the customer previous shopping list to make it easier for them to select the same products and fulfil their shopping needs. The application product search feature will also enable the user know when quickly whether a product is out of stock. The software has been developed using Erwin, Visual Paradigm, Android Studio, Heroku, Cloudinary, Github, Laravel and Flutter. Also, third party API’s and Licences like Pay stack was implemented for secure payment. This E- Commerce application has been designed to be in a mobile platform and to run on android devices. Chapter 1 introduces the project topic including the scope of the study together with the aims and objectives. Chapter 2 introduces the literature review including historical overview and similar E-Commerce application products. Chapter 3 involves the analysis and design of the application, methodology and the requirement specifications. Chapter 4 is the testing of the application with its main features and a user guide for the end user. Chapter 5 includes the limitations of the application and the recommendations to help solve these limitations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………………………. VII

LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………………………. XI

LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………………… XII

LIST OF ABBREVIATION………………………………………………………………………… XIII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………… 1

CHAPTER 2:  LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………. 8

CHAPTER 3: REQUIREMENTS, ANALYSIS, AND DESIGN……………………… 12

3.8.2.8 Check Item Quantity………………………………………………………………………… 26

CHAPTER 4:  IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING……………………………………. 40

CHAPTER 5:  DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 58

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………………………. 62

APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………………………………… 65

DETAILED PROJECT DOCUMENTATION……………………………………………… 65

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 3.1: FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATIONS………………….. 16

TABLE 3.2: NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATIONS              18

TABLE 3.3: LOGIN USE CASE NARRATIVE………………………………………………. 22

TABLE 3.4: BROWSE CATEGORY USE CASE NARRATIVE………………………. 23

TABLE 3.5: SEARCH PRODUCTS USE CASE NARRATIVE………………………… 24

TABLE 3.6: VIEW PRODUCT USE CASE NARRATIVE……………………………….. 25

TABLE 3.7: ADD PRODUCTS TO CART USE CASE NARRATIVE………………. 25

TABLE 3.8: CHECK ITEM QUANTITY USE CASE NARRATIVE………………… 26

TABLE 3.9: REMOVE PRODUCT FROM CART USE CASE NARRATIVE…… 27

TABLE 3.10: CHANGE QUANTITY USE CASE NARRATIVE……………………… 28

TABLE 3.11: CHECKOUT USE CASE NARRATIVE……………………………………. 29

TABLE 3.12: PAYMENT METHOD USE CASE NARRATIV………………………… 30

TABLE 4.1: TEST SUITE PERFORMED FOR USER LOGIN…………………………. 48

TABLE 4.2: TEST SUITE PERFORMED FOR PRODUCT INPUT………………….. 49

TABLE 4.3: TEST SUITE PERFORMED FOR HOME PAGE………………………….. 50

TABLE 4.4: TEST SUITE PERFORMED FOR SORT PRODUCT……………………… 51

TABLE 4.5: TEST SUITE PERFORMED FOR SHOPPING CART PAGE…………. 52

TABEL 4.6: TEST SUITE PERFORMED FOR CATEGORY PAGE…………………. 53

TABLE 4.7: TEST SUITE PERFORMED FOR CHECKOUT PAGE…………………. 54

TABLE 4.8: TEST TRACEABILITY MATRIX………………………………………………… 55

TABLE 4.9: TEST RESULTS…………………………………………………………………………. 56

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 3.1: APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE (CUSTOMER’S VIEW)……….. 19

FIGURE 3.2:  APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE (ADMINS VIEW)………………. 20

FIGURE 3.3: APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE (VENDORS VIEW)…………….. 21

FIGURE 3.4: USE CASE DIAGRAM…………………………………………………………… 22

FIGURE 3.5: USER INTERFACE DESIGN DIAGRAM………………………………… 32

FIGURE 3.6: ACTIVITY DIAGRAM……………………………………………………………. 32

FIGURE 3.7: DATA FLOW DIAGRAM………………………………………………………… 33

FIGURE 3.8:  ENTITY RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM…………………………………….. 34

FIGURE 3.9: SPLASH SCREEN PAGE…………………………………………………………. 35

FIGURE 3.10: HOME PAGE………………………………………………………………………… 36

FIGURE 3.11: MENU PAGE………………………………………………………………………… 36

FIGURE 3.12: LOGIN PAGE……………………………………………………………………….. 37

FIGURE 3.13: REGISTER PAGE………………………………………………………………….. 38

FIGURE 3.14: PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE…………………………………………………….. 38

FIGURE 3.15: CHECKOUT PAGE……………………………………………………………….. 39

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CPU                    Central Processing Unit

ERD                    Entity Relationship Diagram

IT                         Information Technology

REQ                    Requirements

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

   Overview

The society we live in has changed immensely since the introduction of the online commodity and delivery systems. This is generally known as E-Commerce. From business to communication, from shopping to travelling. This method of communication has brought about easier ways of doing business and it has allowed companies promote and sell their products to a wider range of new markets by overcoming geographical borders. This has provided consumers of these products a wider market of choices when they have access to internet technologies. Mobile devices with access to internet have given companies an opportunity to reach their consumers in more diverse ways.

According to (Alquatani & Goodwin, 2012) E-Commerce represents an economic movement of buying and selling goods and services through online platforms. They usually include a wide range of activities like retail stores, online payments etc. All these usually occur through three main transaction categories which includes business to business, business to customer and customer to customer (Alquatani & Goodwin, 2012). A subdivision of E- Commerce called Mobile Commerce or M-Commerce represents the activities mentioned above like online payments which are easily performed using portable devices like phones, tables and smart watches (Chmielarz & Parys, 2017).The increase in the usage of mobile devices in performing economic activities in online environments led to the development of E-Commerce.

E-Commerce was designed to ease the process of completing specific orders which includes online order, online billing and payment on delivery. E-Commerce has shortened the steps required to place an order, from adding products to the cart to completing payment and choosing the delivery method (Pantelimon & Georgescu , 2020). The rise of E-Commerce has also subsequently influenced the creation of adjacent fields such as electronic marketing, software development, user interface and user experience development (Bhati Anam, et al.,

2020). The global E-Commerce market grew in 2014 from $117b to $469b in 2019, this has been as a result of the exponential growth in the usage of mobile phone users (Markets and Markets, 2020) . The E-Commerce market is expected to grow in huge numbers and there are expectations for further financial investments due to the increase in use of smart phones and devices that are internet enabled. These days’ mobile applications play a huge role in the E-Commerce scene as they are optimized and require lesser steps to complete an order. Several articles have discussed the importance of user experience in the E-Commerce market of today and user interface developers have become more specialized to designing user friendly interfaces (Research and Markets, 2020). There are several of E-Commerce mobile applications in the shopping world in the market which ranges from mobile retailing to mobile shopping. Majority of online vendors have caught up to the trends and are now implementing mobile applications to internet enabled devices for their businesses and this has brought about a rise in their customer portfolio.

This paper will review how Covid-19 has impacted the use of E-Commerce in the business world. This will involve the development of an E-Commerce application for online shopping and delivery. Moreover, the focus will be on developing a sophisticated application that would enable customers order goods from their comfort of their homes and get it delivered with several payment options like pay on delivery or online payment amid the pandemic.

   Background and Motivation

Coronavirus has drastically changed the trend in the world. This change has affected every business and how trading is done. Coronavirus has significantly impacted the whole E- Commerce world (Pantelimon & Georgescu , 2020). According to, (Bhati Anam, et al., 2020) research has shown that 52% of consumers avoid going to crowded areas for shopping and 36% said unless they get the vaccine they would not participate in physical shopping. Ever since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic, many E-Commerce firms have started to experience short term changes that has affected their business. For example, most Americans have adopted E-Commerce as a mode of shopping during the pandemic due to

the closure of physical stores (Ovorekia, 2020) . The outbreak has led to a major change in business conditions for several companies.

Overall, sales through E-Commerce has increased because of corona virus and that can be seen in the 74% increase in Walmart’s E-Commerce grocery shopping (Bhati Anam, et al., 2020). E-Commerce has also increased in most developing countries like Nigeria and Pakistan. In the case of Pakistan, e-commerce has increased rapidly at a 10% rate daily (Bhati Anam, et al., 2020). Retail sales through E-Commerce shows that Covid-19 has a significant impact on it and sales are expected to reach $6.5 trillion by 2023 (Jones, 2020). Companies that have taken the step to invest courageously into the E-Commerce segment of their business can capture the market and emerge market leaders after the pandemic. For most organizations, now is the time to launch that digital market place, click and collect universe. According to (United Nations, 2020), a senior retail contributor pointed out in Forbes that nobody knows what to expect next from the corona virus but when it comes to how people shop, there is a lot of uncertainty. The outcome of the pandemic would make retailers who have never really developed E-Commerce capabilities to change their narrative and instigate a massive push towards getting their operations online into reasonable shape.

(Skeldon, 2020) Stated that retail sales on mobile applications were up 30% compared to the first quarter of 2020 and 25% stronger than the last quarter of 2019 Pre-Covid. Globally, E-Commerce is driving customer shifts to online shopping where shoppers have spent 1.6 trillion hours on their mobiles in 2020 thereby producing growth in E-Commerce that could have taken two to four years (Skeldon, 2020). According to (United Nations, 2020), Covid-19 propelled mobile usage forward and as the holiday season approaches together with 2021, businesses who prioritize E-Commerce would outlast competitors as it represents an important driver for revenue growth. Statistics from (Oven & Hicintuka, 2020) , identified that E-Commerce has increased overall by 25% but however , companies that use this should be willing to adapt to the changes that has been brought by the Covid-19 pandemic by modifying their marketing format and business model to gain customer satisfaction. Several E-Commerce sellers have started developing sale strategies

due to the pandemic (Oven & Hicintuka, 2020). Although the pandemic has produced a significant business opportunity, delivery delays are one of the issues that has been faced during this period and it has created demand uncertainty (Denger, 2020). It is therefore important that companies that optimize E-Commerce as a way to give their customers a penultimate experience. It is important that customers are given value by offering modes of quick and affordable shipping (Fleming, 2020). Other ways this can be done is tracking their package with notifications and alerts to keep them informed of their delivery. The companies could also improve customer value by offering broader shipping choices like free and discounted shipping. At this instance, it is hard to predict the final outcome of Covid-19 Pandemic, it can be seen that e-commerce can be leveraged to offer people a more relaxing experience amid all the chaos.

   Statement of the Problem

Covid-19 is still current and there is lack of adequate research about it and its relation to E-Commerce. What is known so far is that it affects most companies. A report by (Frost & Sullivan, 2020) stated that the outbreak is not only a health crisis but also an economic one. A lot of business are suffering immensely due to the impact of the pandemic on china as most companies do their business through China. Covid-19 is also bound to have consequences for consumers but many retailers have different opinions regarding its impact. (Oven & Hicintuka, 2020) Stated that in a survey of 304 E-Commerce retailers 32% believed that Covid-19 would bring down their businesses while 30% believed it would bring it up. This study further reiterated that online retailers have to adapt to the current change in the business environment brought about by the pandemic. A lot of retailers have closed their physical stores, most especially in Nigeria. Most of them have displayed Covid-19 messages on their websites. Offline retailers and consumers are now becoming more dependent on digital commerce strategies and digital tools in other to keep business and shopping going (Abdin, 2020).

Businesses are having a great opportunity at this tie through E-Commerce as consumers do not want to go outside and expose themselves to the virus. So therefore, digital tools are a great option to receive orders, distribute orders and produce after sale service.

Therefore, an appropriate E-Commerce mobile application that would assist in receiving online orders, online payments and quick delivery of the products ordered would be implemented. This application developed in this thesis would accomplish this need.

   Aim and Objectives

The Aim

The aim of this project is to develop a mobile application that would enable customers order commodities from the comfort of their homes amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This system would have three phases which includes online order, online billing and payment on delivery and finally the home delivery. The payment can be made online , after the customer have made their order, it should take the vendor two hours to deliver the items to the customer after the order and the order must not pass a day before it is delivered to the customer. Each commodity billing is based on the vendors the commodity it is gotten from and the system would not restricted to a geographical location, the customer just needs to select which of the location they are in. The commodities would be in four categories which includes grocery, vegetable and fruit, Medicine, Health and body care. This system can also be used after the pandemic is over.

The following objectives have been outlined to achieve the above stated aim of the thesis

  • Evaluate existing Literature relating to E-commerce during Covid-19
    • Analyze the impact of Covid-19 on E-Commerce.
    • Development of an E-Commerce mobile application
    • Validation of the results

   Significance of the Project

As mentioned earlier, there is currently little or no literature detailing the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on E-Commerce or the solutions to it. Therefore, the implementation of this project and the mobile application that follows suit would potentially benefit the business world during this pandemic considering nobody knows when it ends. The research would add substantial knowledge not only to the business world but also to academia by providing information and technical specifications that are somewhat scarce to organizations in Nigeria. There would be a detailed report on the implementation of this project which would also leave room for further improvement. Considering this is new literature, this project stands as the first of its kind and therefore opens a new a momentous avenue for this research area. The E-Commerce application has been basically designed to contribute more to the Nigerian society by helping decrease the spread of the Covid-19 Pandemic. With this mobile application, the rate of spread of the pandemic in Nigeria would be easily controlled and this helps to create a safer environment while also helping businesses to thrive in this difficult times. This application not only makes shopping from home easier and faster but also ensures the continuous growth of the economy.

   Project Risks Assessment RISKS

  • Loss of work due to equipment failure.
    • Unavailability of necessary software’s and API’s.
    • Change in version of tools to be used in application design.

   Scope/Project Organization

The scope of this research involves how much Covid-19 has affected businesses and their customers. The research is focused on the e- commerce space in Nigeria. There is an intricate study of how much the e-commerce space in Nigeria can strategize during the

pandemic to avoid loss of lives and loss of business. The scope would also creating a mobile application that would:

  • Cover the ability to make orders comfortably from home
    • Receive orders in suitable time
    • Make payment for orders through safe channels
    • Computational cost, because the application should be able to run on a mobile device.

Chapter one is an outline of the introduction to the project, the background of study, the problem statement, scope of work and the aims and objectives. Chapter two is a review of the pertinent literature. Chapter three discusses the research methodology which entails the design, analysis and the approach that would be taken to analyze the research. Chapter four deals with the implementing the requirements of the application, evaluating it and testing it. Chapter 5 is the conclusion limitation, and suggested improvements for the system.