Ecommerce Dissertation help

[tomarrandale]

I'm about to commence my dissertation and i'm certain i want to do it within ecommerce as its the field i know most in and also the field where i see myself working soon,

The trouble is i'm stumped on what to investigate and write about/solve. Does anyone know of any issues that need investigating? or any areas that'd be interesting and fun to investigate! Any help will be greatly recieved!

Thanks

Regards

Tom Arrandale

[SillyJokes]

I've heard there is a severe problem with missing shift keys on new keyboards. Maybe you could look into that.

[dan_moore]

Maybe not something that still needs to be solved, but you might find looking into cryptography and how transactions are secured (cipher strength) of interest.

After all, ecommerce would be a non-starter if a solution hadn't been found with regard making transactions secure to all intents and purposes - security being an essential part of any successful ecommerce solution.

[SillyJokes]

Ok, seriously, you don't say what you are studying so it could be software, marketing, usability, economics.

You want it to be interesting and fun. I can't knock that, my dissertation was on surfing in Cornwall and I run an online joke and party shop. Life can be interesting and fun.

For your dissertation I suggest improving Search or Usability on e shops.

[WomenXtra]

you could look into the security side of things and how to help those people who are against buying online due to the security. I guess thats one aspect, but very very important to businesses online. we need more people who are willing to give buying online a chance. you could also argue that credit card covers) cost nothing and will protect the consumer if there was online fraud.

you will need to look into the age groups who are more likely to buy online..and which business they tend to buy from. A friend of mine, his dad would NEVER buy a big product from the web. what I mean by big , not money wise, but size wise. for example: a washing machine or a fridge.

[dataferret]

If it were me I would be writing about the DIFFERENCES between physical world shops and online shops, how the high street is losing the fight against the online markets and how you predict they will evolve and integrate the Internet into their business model.

This would address the entire spectrum of e-commerce and give you plenty of scope to diversify your argument. Given the online markets are led by big business (who have big budgets) and consumers, but the small trader can now compete in this playing field, it follws big business will begin to react to the current threats and respond with new ways to cut costs, integrate their online shops, improve warehousing etc.

One typical example would be where the online shops move 90% toward an internet only store and all transactions are processed online. The high street stores would become more of a showroom so people still have the tactile presence of a product, but the actual back-end processes are more warehouse based. This would reduce costs because there is less stock to carry, less stock to distibute around to stores and the delivery processes become centralised. Also, collection of user data is better managed from the internet and this means marketing is more specific.

As you can see, there are many ways you can direct your investigation and predicting the future trends can be really good fun. It is also a unique approach and would probably guarantee a high mark for its originality.

Remember me when you get the top marks and the ensuing top job. I may need a job myself one day LOL

[benmcclaren]

Interesting question. I did a stint of lecturing a few years back on an IT degree course and now develop e-Commerce sites so this interests me a bit!

As well as depending on the subject you're studying, it also depends what level you're studying at. If it's a bachelors's degree then the work doesn't need to find out anything new but does need to be original. If it's a master's then you need to find out something new.

Presuming it's a bachelors then going the extra mile and finding out something new will really improve your chances of getting the higher grades.

If you're on a course which has a focus on the development side of software then definately go for a dissertation that involves developing software or a website. You don't have to but it gives you a lot more to write about.

If it doesn't focus on development then go for something that is either topical or addresses a known issue to which you can provide solutions.

Security is definately an issue as mentioned by WomenXtra but this coule be hard to address if your focus is on development.

I saw a website by a company in Birmingham (theinternetcentre) that had put together a site where you can drag and drop products from the page into a basket to try and improve the experience of the user and make the system feel more like real life. The product has disapeared from their website but developing a protoype like this and doing a study on users to see if it is more intuitive could be a good one?

It all depends on what your focus is tho...

Tell us more!

Thanks,

Ben

[tomarrandale]

Thanks for all your ideas

I have submitted my first proposal now - although i have a week to change it. The drag and drop idea sounds interesting..

My proposal is to develop an ecommerce website using dreamweaver/PHP/MySQL, and researching viewing the site on different devices/platforms - eg. PDA's, mobiles etc..

Do you think this has potential?

I'm really in two minds on whether to keep in or not !!

Regards

Tom

Ps. It is a BSc

[Dawg]

Thread Hijack alert! Sorry.

Mr McClaren;
work doesn't need to find out anything new but does need to be original.

The difference is?:|
Surely if work finds something new it is original, and if work is original it new, fresh, novel?

[The Wholesale Forums]

Ps. It is a BSc
There are hundreds if not thousands of BSc degrees. Which is it? :redface:

Does it not have to be a bit more than just - creating a website and seeing what its usability is like on other visual devices? (Useability is a huge sector, it might be worth directly targetting something specific.)

[tomarrandale]

The Bsc is: Computing with Multimedia.

I know there is a current issue regarding the rendering of websites on different browsers - this is one area i was maybe gonna look at. As for your comment on maybe focusing in on one area - what do you suggest.

My site is to be an ecommerce site selling bathrooms, which i have an actual client for

[The Wholesale Forums]

As for your comment on maybe focusing in on one area - what do you suggest.
Well, the broader you are the least marks I think you will get. If you get really specific on a certain issue and make it really good then you should get good marks. I mean you could be specific across all usability issues but I think that will be too much work.

For example, you could look at 'user experience' - Like specifically working on making the site for people to enjoy using. That's just an example and might not work due to your chosen website model, but food for thought none the less.

Anthony

[EddieUnitech]

WOW so much to choose from!!
Hmmm
What about looking at the pros & cons of DIY off the shelf software & building something from scratch. You can then see what are the benfits, pitfalls etc are. One option could be to build the same business but using 2 different techniques and seeing the results feedback etc.

We offer students an offer with our e-commerce software via the NUS at http://www.nusonline.co.uk/extra/technology/ (http://www.nusonline.co.uk/extra/technology/) & follow the link for Unitechnology.

Good luck with dissertation.

Eddie
www.unitechnology.co.uk (http://www.unitechnology.co.uk/)

[xstezx]

I am also starting a Bcs dissertation on e-commerce. My topic so far has kept changing as i am struggling to find a 'gap' in the research that has been done surrounding an issue. My current topic is 'Building brand loyalty to gain a competitive advantage in ecommerce'. I can't think of any gaps in research that haven't been done and how i would go about doing this research. Has anyone got any advice to help me move forward in this project? :| I am still willing to change the topic if someone has another idea :rolleyes: