Harambee University

Computer Science Departement

A final project proposal for computer science:

BYT Multi-Vendor Ecommerce Website

Name ID

1. Betslot Tadesse 117362

2. Yared Ayele 117369

3. Temesgen Sisay 117342

Submission Date 15/03/2023

Contents
1.1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................................1

1.2. Background..........................................................................................................................................1

1.3. Statement of the problem......................................................................................................................2

1.4 .Objectives of the project.......................................................................................................................3

1.4.1 General objectives..........................................................................................................................3

1.4.2 Specific objectives..........................................................................................................................3

1.5. Significance of the project....................................................................................................................4

[Link] and Limitation of the Project.....................................................................................................5

1.6.1 Scope of the project........................................................................................................................5

1.6.2 Limitation of the project.................................................................................................................5

1.7. Feasibility Analysis..............................................................................................................................6

1.7.1. Operational feasibility....................................................................................................................6

[Link] Feasibility.......................................................................................................................6

1.7.3. Economic feasibility......................................................................................................................6

1.7.4. Schedule feasibility........................................................................................................................7

1.8. Methodology........................................................................................................................................7

1.8.1. Data collecting methods.................................................................................................................7

1.9. System Analysis and Design Techniques.............................................................................................8

[Link] Oriented Analysis (OOA):...................................................................................................8

1.9. 2. Object Oriented Design (OOD)....................................................................................................8

1.10. Development Environment and programming tools...........................................................................9

[Link] End Design tool...................................................................................................................9

1.10.2. Front End design tool...................................................................................................................9

[Link] Schedule......................................................................................................................................9
[Link] organization.............................................................................................................................10
1.1. Introduction
In the era of technology, the demand for online shopping has increased exponentially. People prefer
online shopping due to its convenience, time-saving, and the variety of products available in a single
place. Multivendor e-commerce websites offer a platform where multiple vendors can sell their
products to the customers. This model of e-commerce has gained immense popularity among
customers and business owners in recent years.

our aim is to create a multivendor e-commerce website that will cater to a wide range of customers
and vendors. The website will provide a seamless shopping experience to customers, along with
numerous features to vendors for listing their products and managing their sales. The proposed
website will be user-friendly, secure, and scalable to accommodate the growing demands of the
customers and vendors.

1.2. Background
The traditional e-commerce or Manual Commerce are both have Some Limitations:

 Limited Product Range: Compared to multi-vendor e-commerce websites,

traditional e-commerce operates in a limited product range. The store can only
market and sell the products of the business owner or a few selected brands.
 Higher Costs: Traditional e-commerce platforms have higher costs when
compared to multi-vendor e-commerce websites. This is because they require
individual development and hosting, which can be expensive.
 Limited Customer Reach: Online stores have a limited audience reach. It is
difficult to attract new customers beyond existing networks, as marketing
initiatives are limited to the store's marketing efforts.
 High Marketing Costs: In a traditional e-commerce model where there is a
limited marketing reach, businesses invest more funds in marketing to attract
customers to their store, increasing marketing costs.
 Limited Customization: Traditional e-commerce platforms often offer limited
customization options. Store owners have fewer opportunities to customize
their websites to meet their specific business goals.

1|Page
  Limited Customer Engagement: Online stores have limited scope for customer
engagement, which is essential to build customer loyalty. Customers may find
the communication process at traditional e-commerce sites impersonal.

Our Proposed System Will Fix the The above Limitations:

The e-commerce world is evolving, with more and more businesses moving towards a multi-
vendor platform. As a result, traditional online stores are becoming less popular with vendors
and customers. There are several advantages to opting for a multi-vendor e-commerce
website over a traditional online store. Firstly, the platform enables vendors to reach a
broader audience, providing more significant sales opportunities than can be achieved with a
single vendor store. Secondly, multi-vendor e-commerce websites offer a greater selection of
products and services, increasing customer choice and satisfaction. Thirdly, vendors can
benefit from the centralized marketing and promotion of their products, with the platform
handling the majority of the marketing efforts. Fourthly, multi-vendor e-commerce websites
offer better cost savings, with reduced development and hosting expenses and minimal
support costs. Finally, multi-vendor e-commerce websites are easier and more cost-effective
to maintain with scalability and customization options. In conclusion, the advantages of
having a multi-vendor e-commerce website over a traditional online store are significant,
providing better opportunities for growth, cost savings, and customer satisfaction.

1.3. Statement of the problem

There are some common problems with traditional ecommerce Such as:

 Limited customer reach: Traditional e-commerce websites are often limited to

reaching customers within their existing networks. This can decrease the store's
potential for growth, leaving out potential customers who may be interested in
their products or services.
 Expensive hosting and maintenance: Traditional e-commerce websites require
individual development and hosting, which can be costly. Additionally,
maintaining and updating the platform can become expensive over time,
especially when compared to modern multi-vendor e-commerce options.

2|Page
  Limited product selection: Traditional e-commerce websites often have a
restricted range of products, as they only market and sell their products or a few
selected brands. This can limit customer choice and satisfaction.
 Single point of failure: Traditional e-commerce websites are highly reliant on the
business owner or manager. If the person in charge goes away or becomes
incapable, the store may suffer. This is especially concerning in cases where there
is no contingency plan in place.
 Limited scalability: Traditional e-commerce websites have limited opportunities
for scaling the business. Growth is often slow and expensive to achieve, resulting
in limited opportunities for startup businesses.

Overall, while traditional e-commerce still has its place in the modern world, it has its fair
share of problems. One solution to these issues is to adopt a multi-vendor e-commerce
platform that provides greater opportunities for scalability, customization, and growth, among
other benefits.

1.4. Objectives of the project

1.4.1 General objectives

The general objectives of multi-vendor ecommerce are to create an ecosystem that enhances
the vendor's reach, improves the customer experience, increases revenue, fosters competition,
provides scalability, and drives marketing efforts..

1.4.2 Specific objective

The specific objectives of the project are:

 Diverse product offerings.

 Efficient product catalog management.
 Differentiated vendor experience.
 Improved vendor performance.
 Enhanced search and filtering options.
 Seamless checkout
 Streamlined customer service.

3|Page
  Maximize competitiveness.
 Maintain Platform Security.

Overall, the specific objectives of a multi-vendor ecommerce platform aim to create a

positive vendor and customer experience that fosters collaboration, drives sales, and builds
trust in the platform over time.

1.5. Significance of the project

Some of the significances of the project are:

 A wide range of Products: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms provide customers

with a wide range of products from multiple vendors, increasing customer choice and
satisfaction.
 Friendly Competition: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms help to foster competition
among vendors, improving product quality, innovation, and pricing for customers.
 Scalability and Cost-Effective: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms are more scalable
and cost-effective than traditional ecommerce platforms because individual vendors
handle most of the fulfillment and shipping.
 Easy Vendor On boarding: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms offer an efficient on
boarding process that makes it easy for vendors to register and start selling quickly.
 Seamlessness: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms offer a seamless shopping
experience for customers, providing everything in one place without the need to shop
from multiple websites.
 Marketing and Branding Opportunities: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms offer
vendors an opportunity to market their products and build their brand on a high-traffic
ecommerce website.
 Improved Customer Service: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms ensure that
customers receive high-quality customer service. It is offered by the vendors, who are
incentivized to offer high-quality after-sales service to ensure repeat business and
positive reviews.
 Enhanced Data Analysis: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms provide valuable
insights into customer behavior and purchasing patterns, helping vendors tailor their
offerings and improve their sales.

4|Page
  Reduced Risk and Fraud: Multi-vendor ecommerce platforms typically feature robust
cyber security measures, helping to reduce risks and fraud by providing secure
payment gateways and data privacy protection.

[Link] and Limitation of the Project

1.6.1 Scope of the project

The scope of this project is clearly stated below as a result of what the system is expected to
perform. The proposed system will cover the following main tasks:

 Vendor on boarding.
 User-Interactive Interface.
 User Management.
 Product catalog management.
 Transaction management.
 Payment gateway integration.
 Shipping and fulfillment management.
 Customer service management.
 Analytics and insights.
 Marketing and promotions.
 Backend administration.
 Security and compliance.
 Responsive for Mobile users

1.6.2 Limitation of the project

 The project may be difficult to apply at the end i.e. our society is most illiteracy and
most live in rural area.
 One of the limitation of our project is we didn’t apply it with Mobile App.

5|Page
1.7. Feasibility Analysis

1.7.1. Operational feasibility

The entire team member, expect that the system which is in development is to be operational.
That is once the system is deployed, it can operate on any of the operating systems.
Therefore, the system will be designed to be operationally feasible that if it is deployed, the
system will operate in any kind of platforms without any mal functionalities.

1.7.2. Technical Feasibility

The entire group members are expected the system to be technically feasible. The system is
going to be developed by technological development technique such as html,CSS, bootstrap,
JavaScript, jQuery, ajax, php, Laravel framework. And the team has the ability to develop
this system without any difficulty since the team has studied the required methodologies and
tools. So, the system will be technically feasible.

1.7.3. Economic feasibility

To identify the economic feasibility of the project the team has done cost-benefit analyses
which enable the team to specify the benefits and costs associated with the project. The
following work sheets specify the costs as well as benefits associated with the project.

Intangible benefits: The following worksheet lists the intangible benefits associated with
the project.

Intangible Benefit

1. Increase Employee Morale

2. Reduce Resource Consumption
3. Increase Management flexibility
4. Provides more timely information

6|Page
1.7.4. Schedule feasibility
All the team members expect that the project will be completed with in the time frame stated, so
that the system will be feasible regarding schedule.

Task name Starting date Finishing Date

[Link] title Dec-10-2022 Jan-02-2023

submission

[Link] submission Mar -06-2023 Mar-15-2023

[Link] Mar -06-2023 Mar-15-2023

specification

[Link] document

[Link] of the
project

[Link] project -
submission

Table 1: time schedule for the project

1.8. Methodology

1.8.1. Data collecting methods.

[Link]. Interview

Conducting interviews with users, vendors, and other stakeholders can provide more in-depth
insights into their needs, concerns, and expectations. This can help to identify pain points and
areas for improvement in the system.

We ask some questions for Example:-

 How do you work currently?

 Have you any computerized system?

7|Page
  Can you describe your experience using the platform as a seller?
What do you like and dislike about the platform?

We get responses from the persons and they also say that, the current system is used manual
system that means all activates performed by agenda. So that the system is complex, more
time consuming and redundant activity.

[Link]. Social Media Monitoring

Monitoring social media platforms can provide insights into how users and vendors are talking
about the multivendor ecommerce system, what they like and dislike, and areas for
improvement.

[Link]. Document Analysis

This technique provides information on how the existing system works. There for documents
related to the existing system of the organization will be assessed.

1.9. System Analysis and Design Techniques

In this project the team will use object oriented system development methodology (OOSD).

This has two phases.

1.9.1. Object Oriented Analysis (OOA):

During this phase the team used to model the function of the system (use case modeling), find
and identify the business objects, organize the objects and identify the relationship between
them and finally model the behavior of the objects.

1.9. 2. Object Oriented Design (OOD)

During this phase the team uses rational rose software to refine the use case model, and to
reflect the implantation environment, model object interactions and behavior that support the
use case scenario, and finally update object model to reflect the implementation environment.

8|Page
1.10. Development Environment and programming tools

1.10.1. Back End Design tool

PHP and MYSQL, with the Laravel Framework running on XAMPP and the Apache server, will be
utilized to create and manage the database system at the backend.

1.10.2. Front End design tool

The user interface will be developed using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, BOOTSTRAP J
QUERY,AJAX, and a text editor/IDE: VS Code. It will be easy to design the front end and
connect it to database realizing rapid application development with constraints on the hand.

1.11. Cost Schedule

The project is economically viable since its expected benefits outweigh the expected cost.
The project has a total return on investment of within seven months estimated software life
cycle.

Quantity Unit Birr Cent in Birr total

[Link] 1 Dozen 600 00 600
[Link] 5 Single 15 00 75
[Link] 1 Single 400 00 400
[Link] 3 Single 24000 00 72,000
Total 73,075
Table 2 the overall cost of the project

9|Page
1.12. Team organization
Three people, including the team leader, made up the project team. Group activates include problem
solving. The group decides on the issue and the strategy, which is much better than individual
decision-making.

GROUP MEMBERS TASKS

Betselot Tadesse Requirement Gathering/ Testing/ Analysis

Yared Ayele Implementation/ Testing

Temesgn Sisay Design/Testing

Table 3: team composition

10 | P a g e