An evaluation on the usability of E-commerce website using think aloud method

Abstract

The introduction of e-commerce websites have enabled users to shop online. To ensure positive shopping experiences by the users in a highly competitive environment, it is important for e-commerce website designers to design a good and usable site. This study attempts to evaluate the usability of the thepoplook.com website based on the model proposed by Venkatesh & Argawal. However, there is a missing element in the model - the security element. Therefore, this study has identified the problems encountered by users during the process of online shopping offered by thepoplook.com website. In addition to that, this study has also identified elements for evaluation of website usability and determined the importance of security element in evaluating ecommerce website. Think-aloud method was used to evaluate the thepoplook.com website where the respondents are required to answer questions regarding the usability of the website. The findings of the study showed that five attributes have been identified as usability elements used to evaluate the e-commerce website, namely: Ease of Use, Made-to-Medium, Emotion, Content and Security. The findings confirmed that security is the one of the important elements that the users consider in using e-commerce website. Web site designer must consider security elements as a crucial part in developing an e-commerce website, since it will give users confidence to buy from the website. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.