Estore
Introduction
This report is based on the case study eStore at Shell Canada Limited (Saunders, 2006).
This case looks at how a traditional business can enter the eBusiness market. This report will look at the challenges that faced Shell Canada, measurements they could have employed to measure the progress of eStore deployment and suggestions for dealing with the future challenges facing Shell Canada.
Report Overview
Due to financial pressure to reduce costs, Shell Canada deployed an eCommerce solution (eStore) to its agricultural customers.
Shell Canada, with the support of the parent international company, developed and trialed an eCommerce solution. They employed the services of experts in the field of eBusiness and IT to integrate systems, applications and provide the eStore service that would enable their customers to do their transactions online.
Many customers had difficulty using the web service, and few saw any benefit for themselves to use the web service over their current methods of transaction such as phone, fax and through sales representatives.
Why Shell Canada is experiencing low use of eStore
E-Store’s low use can be linked to overlooking the impact of the change on end users. The key factors that restrained the growth of E-store can be summarized as follows:
Ease of use (user interface)
Consultant found many issues in graphical interface that included
• Remembering URL
• Strict password policy
• Confusing login panels
• Notifications from non-eStore email address.
• Non-working menu links
• Long delay without any progress indicator
Brand Confusion
The system was branded as ‘eStore’ but product it self was not only store but offered many other services too. Brand name did not reflect benefits that this system could provide to the customers. So customers were not aware of these features and did...
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