BUILDING AN E-COMMERCE WEBSITE FOR A TRADITIONAL RETAIL FOOTWEAR SHOP (ES-STORE)

Abstract The evolution of technology has impacted the world significantly; in government, industries, and sports. Business activities such as buying and selling have equally received their share of the technology boom. Despite the utility of technology in modern times, many traditional businesses have failed to incorporate technology in their daily activities. Es-Store is no exception. In the typical routine of Es-Store, people travel from the outskirt of Accra towards the central part to transact business with Es-Store. The uncertainties associated with the availability of the specific type of brands of footwear is a concern to potential customers, and often, customers are disappointed after traveling long distances without getting their desired footwear. Mr. Emmanuel Osei, the shop owner of Es-Store, spends huge part of their business capitals on stocking his shops with products customers sometimes do not need, leading to a slow market. Mr. Osei makes significant losses when the products in their heavily stocked shop begin to wear out. The benefits of online platforms in transacting businesses cannot be overemphasized considering the challenges above. People can obtain product information, availability, prices, and access delivery options. On the other hand, business owners can build a database of past and future customer details, preferences and trends in sales and shift supplies to respond to the shift in customer demands. In this project, I develop a web-based platform for Es-Store using technology tools such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), Javascript, Ajax, CSS (Cascading Style Sheet), and MySQL (Structured Query Language). I hope that Es-store and all other traditional retail shops will leverage this platform to enhance their operations and increase their profit margins.