Computer Based Shopping Systems

Question 1

Name 2 Advantages to the customer of On Line Shopping

Answer 1

• Don’t have to travel long distances to the shops
• Beneficial to those customers who are disabled
• New, specialised, smaller businesses present themselves on the web, widening the range of goods available

Question 2

Name 2 Advantages to the business in on line shopping.

Answer 2

• A web based business doesn’t necessarily need a high street shop and staff to run it
• Many new business’ have been introduced to the internet, allowing healthy competition
• Cheaper to update a website compared to a catalogue
• Global Marketplace
• Advertising

Question 3

Name 2 disadvantages in on line shopping.

Answer 3

• Loss of social interaction
• Security of website
• Expensive initially
• Lack of customer trust
• Problems when something goes wrong (wrong goods, transport breakdown)

Question 4

What is a Barcode?

Answer 4

A barcode is a series of light and dark bars with differing widths with a code number printed underneath.

Made up of: country of origin code, manufacturer code, the product code, a check digit.

Question 5

State an advantage and a disadvantage of using barcodes for entering product data.

Answer 5

Advantages

• faster to enter data/ can read at any angle
• More accurate as eliminating typing errors
• Low printing costs
• Frees staff to do other tasks as they don’t have to manually price goods

Disadvantages

• Can only be used for input of numbers
• Equipment is expensive
• Corrupted barcodes can cause delays

Question 6

Give 2 benefits to a Just In Time stock control system.

Answer 6

• Smaller storage needed as not much stock held
• Store is better able to respond to changing demand
• Easier to cope with several small deliveries than one big one
• Do not run out of fast selling items
• Less risk of stock being out of date/wasted

Question 7

Give 2 disadvantages to a Just In Time stock control system.

Answer 7

• Expensive to set up
• True stock may differ due to theft
• Cannot respond to unusual or sudden demand
• Communication failure if qualified
• Disruption to transport

Question 8

What is an EFTPOS?

Answer 8

Electronic fund transfer at point of sale.

Paying for something by using a credit/debit card and money is automatically transferred from the customer bank account to the shop bank account.

Question 9

Give one advantage to the customer and one advantage to the company when using EFTPOS.

Answer 9

Customer

• Gives the customer many other services e.g. Cashback
• allows a variety of payment methods, allows special offers E.g. Loyalty cards, vouchers
• Less need for physical security as not have to carry cash

Company

• Money taken straight out of customers account so it’s guaranteed
• Less need for physical security as not have to carry cash NOT TWICE