Effective, efficient and reliable postcode alternative system in the context of online shopping for solving the problem of home delivery service in Jordan

Abstract

The home delivery service is considered as the bottleneck of online shopping and plays an important role in the success of such business application. A lack of postcode system in the developing countries, Jordan specifically, is one of the main challenges that face delivery couriers and e-retailers. The main aim of this PhD project reported in this thesis is the development of a novel postcode alternative system to enable online shopping and home delivery service of purchased goods in Jordan. The system incorporates two modules: the front-end and the back-end module. The front-end module is combined of two platforms: desktop and smart phone platforms and can be used by online shoppers; the back-end module is designed to be used by retailer/delivery courier as the system administrator. Two studies were conducted in this research; the first study was aiming to understand the problems that face e-consumers when shopping online and the work behaviour of the delivery system in Jordan. Whilst; the second study was aiming to evaluate usability of the designed system. Data was collected by conducting an experimental sessions and distributing questionnaires among three samples of people (consumers, retailers, and delivery couriers). The findings of these studies showed that there was a concern from consumers-side in describing their delivery address to the retailer/delivery courier. In addition, there was a concern from retailers and delivery couriers-side in finding the delivery address location. Furthermore, a user testing was conducted on both modules by involving a number of participants according to the relevance of their use of the system to evaluate the usability of the system. In the evaluation, it was demonstrated that the system makes an important contribution for solving the problem of home delivery service and improving online shopping in Jordan.