E-commerce and Mobile Self-service programs
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A mobile self-service can be described as a program or application created by a product or service provider to assist in ease to the consumer for access of the services rendered (Shank and Lyberger, 2014). It constitutes web pages and applications designed to fit and function in mobile phones with efficiency. This is made possible by the creation of interfaces that operate in congruence with the market available channels such as web browsers, mobile phone application systems and programmed internet provision channels. Sports R Us is a professional athletic training and coaching, and providing camping activities to the Chicago suburban community. This essay is aimed at exclusively and extensively discussing the importance of mobile self-service technology and the most appropriate program design that can be created for use by the company, Sports R Us.

Question 1 a) Purpose and Role of a Mobile Self-service i. It provides consumer service care portals through mobile web browser and browsing and through smartphone applications. Sport R Us is to consider developing portals and applications on their brand to ensure their services are available through mobile phone and tablet applications. ii. It improves and ensures that a state of uniform delivery of services is attained by involving all available channels of communication in the market. A mobile self-service technological platform ensures that access of a company’s information and services is eased as web pages, applications and messaging arenas are included. Suitability of use on all mobile devices is a priority in ensuring efficiency. iii. Mobile self-service provides users and customers with operation options beyond phone calls and normal short messaging services. Web browsers, web content, applications, eBooks and internet messaging services are considered when availing a self-service program. Through this, the flexibility is achieved, depending on a customer’s access to devices. Therefore, Sport R Us can easily and effectively monitor the training patterns and progress in development of their clients. iv. The technology ensures personalized access of company and consumer data necessary for the company’s development in form of real-time results. With the ease of getting the data through customer and system feedback mechanisms, the organization’s departments can easily get information about the use and view of the company’s services through customer service ratings. Sports R Us will benefit from a mobile response system as it will assist in understanding how consumers perceive their services. v. Location based services are integrated in a mobile self-service to enhance customer experienced according to their demographic location. Due to the high number of customers involved, programs enable detection of customer location has been incorporated. It helps in availing the services to clients in regards to their locations hence improving service provision. Sports R Us should use these services to understand the frequency of access of the self-services according to their organizations hence understanding which areas to intensify their services and which to improve or quit. vi. Using of mobile self-service technology is aimed at strengthening the organizational function of creating leverage on existing mobile service and business investments (Andam, 2014). By use of this technology, the organization gains more and stronger anchorage of its operations in the market areas it has invested on, thus yielding more profits. By Sports R Us incorporating this mode of improving customer interactions, its sets a playground that places it at a position of a higher competitive advantage compared to other players in the industry. vii. A mobile self-service technology platform has the role of easing the development of subsequent applications. With its already developed platform, the creation of applications has eased as they are based on a HTML5 mobile platform. They operate in congruence with the mobile phone, tablet or notebook operating systems hence giving the customers a unique experience. This in the long run creates a repeated desire for the customer to keep logging in to the service provider’s application or web portal. Sport R Us should create applications based on the JQuery and HTML5 frameworks to check on ease of access by customers. b) Target Segment in the Market
Through training and developing skills in its clients, Sport R Us attracts a wide range of customers. Young and energetic persons are part of its target audience. These include young children from the age of five, onwards. With young people being the youngest to train for athletics and sporting activities, they form a large part of their target group. Outsourcing is done, health-wise, to determine the fittest and most suitable individuals for the intense activities and who to train for keeping the body fit. Within the youth too, there are the individuals who have a low self-esteem and are weak socialists and poor leaders. By being trained for fitness, body and mind, the target group in the youth is subjected to activities that improve their social capabilities and hence develop leadership skills. Good leaders are also known to be working out or have an athletic history.
The company targets modern middle aged families that love picnics and camping activities. Through their section that offers team building activities, they have set up camping and picnic sites for the various types of families.
The target markets for the company’s mobile self-service platform includes children and families with ease of access to mobile phones, tablets, notebooks or laptops and are frequent internet users. c) Audience needs and wants The audience to be catered for needs a fast and efficient program that does not tamper with the phones activities and does not in any way negatively affect the performance of the mobile device. For an idea to be successful, its implementation must create awareness of its existence to the customers and evoke a streak of desire to anyone who sees it. The audience needs a mobile self-service that is easy to access and operate. Heavy applications are discouraged and should at all costs be avoided as they prove strenuous to operate and unpleasing. This creates a negative attitude to the user and may end up uninstalling the application or quitting the self-service program. d) Resources Necessary to Achieve the Desired Outcome A dedicated and strategic team of software engineers, programmers and marketers are the most vital resources to achieving the desired outcomes planned. With strategic and motivated personnel, the idea growth and implementation will be fast and efficient as they will critically analyze all possibly workable solutions and choose the best. A good marketing manager and a devoted marketing team, creating awareness of Sports R Us’ mobile self-services will be easy and highly effective as a larger number and variety of the target audience will be approached. Good and up-to-date machinery, technological frameworks and program creation applications or software will be of necessity to the success of the programs. To create a suitable, comprehensive and user friendly mobile self-service program, the best and latest equipment are required and thus Sport R Us should consider presenting the program developers with the most efficient products on the market. e) Design of the Website for mobile devices The company website is expected to be accessible with ease through mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets not books, kindles and laptops. Formatting the program codes to meet JQuery and HTML5 guidelines would prove a favorable factor for the websites smooth performance. Tailoring the interface to work with different browsers is a major factor to consider. The current browsers majorly used include; Google Chrome, Safari browser, web browser, Mozilla Firefox and UC browser. The website’s display colors should be categorically chosen to ensure a color that is pleasing to the target audience is selected for it to attract and impress the users. The company can consider outsourcing for a designer or professional in human behavior who understands how different human beings react to different colors and modes of display hence assist and contribute to the creation of a customer friendly onscreen display. The content should be regulated in such ways that favor the display of content. F a device has a small screen; the content displayed should be less per scroll while for larger tablets, kindles and laptops, more content can be displayed due to the availability of more space. f) Interfaces Applicable to Mobile Devices i. Command Line User Interface. This allows for text, visual or verbal commands where the user gets a reply in relation to the question asked or comment placed. For example, Siri command for Apple devices. ii. Graphical User Interface. This is involved with setting up of the graphics display and enhancing onscreen displays to ensure clear and more vivid content. iii. Multi-touch User Interface. This is tasked with the function of designating operations through use of more than one finger. iv. Sensor-based User Interface. Sensors are includes in the mobile device’s screen to enable detection of the set commands, for example, above air phone swiping by Samsung note devices. 2 a. Sports Homepage for a mobile device

b. Self-service mobile webpage.

3. Recommend one prototype that could be created Creation of a mobile-based application would serve as an efficient and effective test prototype for the functionality of the website. The efficiency displayed by an application is its inbound ability to maximize on proficiency and ensure real time monitoring of users and user experience by the company management. Better analysis on the suitability of a self-service program would present the opportunity to strategically project on the growth and development of the company, customer wise. 4. Determine the type of evaluation method to use in a Web design for the best user experience i. User Testing. It is the most effective method of evaluating user experience as it involves having chosen individuals from the target market samples the prototypes. It can be either face to face or online. It offers real and true data as it concentrates on fully and genuinely involving the test person for honest and relatively more accurate results. ii. The website speed. Rating, time-wise, the speed at which webpages respond gives clear information on how the user likes it. iii. Navigability. Ease of access of information and information search is looked at to determine. iv. Eye tracking. Involves recording the eye movement of the site samplers and gauging where their eyes look at first and their choices of action on the website. 5. Provide key details of how the mobile self-service will be implemented on various mobile devices According to Tojib and Tsarenko (2012), the following are key details of how a mobile service should be implemented; i. Use of mobile based applications that contain content for the company or service provider. ii. Web pages that sync with mobile-optimized browsers and webpages allow for efficiency, readability and ease of navigation. iii. The incorporation of customer feedback systems or programs are to be included in the implementation for customer satisfaction.

References
Shank, M. D., & Lyberger, M. R. (2014). Sports marketing: A strategic perspective. Routledge.
Andam, Z. R. (2014). e-Commerce and e-Business.
Tojib, D., & Tsarenko, Y. (2012). Post-adoption modeling of advanced mobile service use. Journal of Business Research.