A Design Framework for Mobile Social Commerce By Ilyas Eray Kucukcay Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfilment of the degree requirements of Master of Science in Systems Science University of Ottawa Ottawa, Ontario, Canada April 2014 © Ilyas Eray Kucukcay, Ottawa, Canada 2014 Page | I Abstract The use of mobile devices and social media has been increasing dramatically and becoming critical for B2C businesses. Such businesses need to consider implementing e-commerce services in the mobile environment with social integration to satisfy their customers’ needs. Concepts like mobile commerce and social commerce are already being used extensively by many businesses. However, there are no clear guidelines in the literature on how to use mobile and social characteristics together for B2C e-commerce. Fusing these two concepts is what we call mobile social commerce (ms-commerce). In this thesis, we performed a thorough literature review to identify the characteristics of ms- commerce. The findings enabled us to first devise a proper definition for ms-commerce as the concept of performing online commercial activities in a mobile environment with the help of contributions from customers. Second, elements of the building blocks of ms- commerce, namely business models, m-commerce and s-commerce were identified based on commonly accepted fundamentals of the related concepts. Each building block has a critical role in increasing the value and efficiency of the product/service being delivered online by B2C businesses. We propose a mobile social commerce design framework along with a modular design model consisting of a generic class diagram that can be used for designing and developing ms- commerce applications that fit the specific needs of businesses. Businesses can choose the right elements to integrate in their ms-commerce application with the purpose of increasing the efficiency and integrating the social participation of customers. Three different scenarios were devised, and three mobile app prototypes were developed to support them, using the design model of our proposed framework. Finally, in light of our experience in developing ms-commerce applications, we discussed and contrasted the three different mobile development strategies, namely native, hybrid and web-based. Page | II Acknowledgements It is a pleasure for me to thank all people who helped and encouraged me to write this thesis. First of all, I would like to give my sincere gratitude to Dr. Morad Benyoucef for his wonderful and effective guidance and supervision throughout conducting this research. It was an outstanding experience and it wouldn’t be possible without his support and experience. I also would like to thank my friends and colleagues, Onur, Burcu, Zhengyang and Amir for their friendship, help and support. Special thanks to Justin, who was always there to support and understand me with patience, support and tolerance. I am indebted to my parents, Ani Tais and Can; sisters, Miray and Selin; and Herman as I wouldn’t be able to conduct my studies without their help for all these years. I thank them all for their full support and love. This thesis is also a future reference to my beloved niece and nephew; Kayla and Ares for motivating them to be hard-working and self-disciplined individuals. I want them to know that they can accomplish anything they want as long as they never give up, and keep working hard for their dreams. Page | III List of Acronyms Acronym Definition API Application Programming Interface APNS Apple Push Notification Service B2B Business-to-Business B2C Business-to-Customer C2C Customer-to-Customer CSS Cascading Style Sheet CCP Credit Card Provider DSL Digital Subscriber Line DSRM Design Science Research Methodology GCM Google Cloud Messaging GPS Global Positioning System HTML Hypertext Markup Language IDE Integrated Development Environment IP Internet Protocol LBS Location-based Services OS Operating System QR Quick Response SDK Software Development Kit SMO Social Media Optimization SMP Social Media Platform SMS Short Message Service UI User Interface UML Unified Modeling Language URL Uniform Resource Locator UX User Experience WLAN Wireless Local Area Network WOM Word-of-Mouth Page | IV Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. II Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. III List of Acronyms ................................................................................................................................. IV Chapter 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Major Underlying Concepts .................................................................................................. 2 1.2. Research Questions ................................................................................................................ 4 1.3. Research Motivation .............................................................................................................. 5 1.4. Research Objectives............................................................................................................... 7 1.5. Research Contribution ........................................................................................................... 8 1.6. Research Methodology .......................................................................................................... 9 1.6.1. Definition of Design Science Research ......................................................................... 9 1.6.2. Design Science Research Methodology Process ......................................................... 10 1.7. The Organization of Thesis ................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 2. Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 15 2.1. From E-commerce to Mobile Social Commerce ................................................................. 15 2.1.2. Mobile Commerce (m-commerce) ............................................................................... 18 2.1.3. Social Commerce ......................................................................................................... 20 2.2. Business Models .................................................................................................................. 27 2.3. Mobile Social Commerce .................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 3. Building Blocks of Mobile Social Commerce ............................................................. 37 3.1. E-commerce Business Models ............................................................................................. 37 3.1.1. E-tailer Business Model ............................................................................................... 37 3.1.2. Portal Business Model ................................................................................................. 38 3.1.3. Content Provider Business Model ............................................................................... 39 3.1.4. Transaction Broker Business Model ............................................................................ 39 3.1.5. Market Creator Business Model .................................................................................. 40 3.1.6. Service Provider Business Model ................................................................................ 40 3.1.7. Community Provider Business Model ......................................................................... 41 3.2. Unique Characteristics of Mobile Commerce ..................................................................... 41 3.2.1. Mobility ....................................................................................................................... 43 3.2.2. Ubiquity ....................................................................................................................... 47 Page | V 3.2.3. Context-Sensitivity ...................................................................................................... 48 3.3. Contribution of Social Commerce Solutions ....................................................................... 51 3.3.1. Social Shopping ........................................................................................................... 52 3.3.2. Ratings and Reviews .................................................................................................... 53 3.3.3. Recommendations and Referrals ................................................................................. 53 3.3.4. Forums and Communities ............................................................................................ 54 3.3.5. Social Media Optimization .......................................................................................... 55 3.3.6. Social Ads and Apps .................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 4. Mobile Social Commerce Design Framework ............................................................. 59 4.1. Conceptual Perspective .......................................................................................................