What about online store software solutions? : An evaluation study comparing the administrative side of two online store software solutions with criteria from web design, usability and online shopping.

Abstract: Online stores today need to be attractive to compete on the rapid growing market of online businesses. Standardized online store software solutions sold from IT companies to small businesses are also growing making it easier for anyone creating an online store. Less attention has been paid to how well these software solutions help the administrators to create a competitive online store regarding the administrator’s limited knowledge about usability and web design. This research intends to develop knowledge about how well two online store solutions perform from evaluation criteria within online shopping, usability and web design and how an online store solution for small businesses can benefit from a comparison with another online store solution sold to a larger range of businesses. The two products are evaluated and compared through Heuristic evaluations and A/B testing with 5 usability experience (UX) experts and analyzed with Trend analysis. The results show strengths in the solutions where they both were easy to learn, had easy access to help and good tools for creating loyal customers and weaknesses in inspiring, navigation and lack in mobile adaption. The findings suggest how the online store solution for small businesses can improve their statistics and design colors from the comparison of the larger product. A limitation in the study is that all evaluators come from the same team. For future work more cultural studies can be conducted for online stores in western countries, and user tests with administrators of online shops.