LRAP: Layered Ring Based Adaptive and Personalized Usability Model for Mobile Commerce Apps

Abstract

Usability is one of the most important characteristics of software applications, especially when it comes to mobile shopping applications. There is a great deal of shift from traditional shopping to online shopping because it benefits both parties i.e., customers as well as businessmen. In such a scenario, the usability factor can play a very vital role in the business industry. If a client stops using a mobile shopping app because it is not user-friendly, it can badly damage the annual revenues especially when hundreds of alternatives are available and there is tough competition. Therefore, to keep existing customers intact and to attract new customers, it is very important to provide a user-friendly mobile app to customers. This paper considers a large variety of online customers with diverse requirements. background and constraints and evaluate the usability of existing mobile e-commerce apps to identify the problems people face with existing applications and do a systematic review of existing shopping apps. Then, we propose a personalized and adaptive usability model for mobile commerce apps considering the neglected user type i.e., illiterates and people with tactile disabilities. The proposed model LRAP is a layered approach from generalization to specification and it can be considered an extension of the famous PACMAD usability model. Besides this, we also suggest a combining score tool which will be helpful in measuring the usability of any app. Participant-based usability evaluation is the major technique used to identify the design problems in existing mobile commerce apps. Major design issues identified in mobile commerce apps include poor navigation and lack of personalization for illiterates and people with tactile disabilities.