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IS480 Team wiki: 2012T1 Shopaholic Project Overview

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Revision as of 23:59, 16 September 2012 by Shuneng.lau.2009 (talk | contribs)
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Our Team   Project Overview   Project Management   Development   Learning Outcome   Documentation


Introduction   Spree Business Logic   Goals   x-Factor

Singaporean's Definition of Spree

Consolidation of a mass order for an online merchant, usually by an individual who wishes to purchase some items from a particular merchant, and hopes to reduce the cost of shipping by spreading the cost over more items.

Role of Organizer - Open Sprees to take in orders. When Spree is closed, organizer will make purchase from Merchant, and ship items to their address. After which, organizer will repack items and re-distribute to all participants of the spree.

Role of Participants - Submit orders for a particular merchant in a spree. Make payment to the organizer for items he/she wishes to purchase.



Why People Spree?

  • Merchant do not have a store front in Singapore


  • High Shipping Cost. It is more cost effective to spread the cost of shipping over more items.


  • Merchants do not accept Foreign Credit Cards. People would need to engage concierge services, which charges about 5% of the total cost of the items for every order placed with a particular merchant. It would also be more cost effective to spread the concierge service charges amongst the spree-ers


  • Merchant do not ship directly to Singapore. In order to get the items from the merchant, one would need to engage courier services such as Vpost, Borderlinx and Comgateway which provides you with a US/UK/China address. Afterwhich, one may proceed to place the order with the merchant for the item to be shipped to the given address, which would then be forwarded to your address in Singapore. Since not everybody has an account, they would choose to join sprees to get the items they want from the particular merchant.

Our Motivation

Limited by the brands that are being imported in Singapore, many of us flock to shop online to get our hands on items that cannot be found in Singapore. Also, because prices of many international brands found in Singapore are being marked up greatly, most prefer to purchase these items online to seal the best deals. However, due to steep shipping costs incurred, it may not be so worthwhile to buy the items online after all. Hence, this motivates people to start sprees where orders are aggregated to one bulk purchase so that the shipping costs are split amongst the involved parties. However, the current situation for sprees in Singapore is mostly unregulated and disorganized. Managing these sprees is a manual and tedious affair. We aim to redesign the online social shopping experience, making it such an easy and simple process that it becomes an extension of yourself. Shopping as a group will be done effortlessly without the hassle, so that the joy of the retail experience can shine through untainted by any unwanted issues.

Business Model

Current Spree Model - Spree Organizer

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

Register as a Spree Organizer with moderator of Blog/Forum

Check mark.png


Post opening of Spree on Forum and Blogs

Shopaholic Current Step 2.png


Close Spree.
Manually compile spree details on Spreedsheet

Shopaholic new Step 3.png

Manually verify each payment made. Email Invoice.
[Approx 2.5 Hours]

Shopaholic new Step 4.png
Step 5 Step 5 (If item Unavailable...) Step 6 Step 7

Place order with merchant. Update status of Spree on Forum/Blog



Shopaholic new Step 5.png


Manually Process Refunds.
[Approx 6 Mins]


Shopaholic Refund.jpg


Wait 1 to 2 weeks for item to be shipped to Singapore

Send periodic email updates to participants to update them on Spree Status

Shopaholic now Step 6.png

When item arrives, repack parcels to send out to respective participants of the spree

Shopaholic Current Step 8.png

Current Spree Model - Participants

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

Browse Merchant Sites for items to purchse

Shopaholic Current Step 1.png


Search Forums and Blogs for Open Sprees to join

Shopaholic Current Step 2.png


Factors to consider when Joining Sprees:

  • Time Taken for Item to Arrive
  • Items accepted by Spree Organizer
  • Exchange rate offered by Spree Organizer
  • Shipping/Handling Cost
  • Postage/Handling Fee

Fill up Form with details of item you wish to purchase
[Approx 5-7 Minutes]

Spree-form-part 1.png
Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 Step 8

Proceed to make payment to Spree Organizer

[Approx 6 Mins]

Spree-form-part 2.png


Fill up remainder of form with payment details

[Approx. 3 Minutes]



Shopaholic Current Step 4.png


Wait at least 48 Hours or until Spree closes for Spree Organizers to Verify Payment


Shopaholic curent Step 7.png

Wait for item to be posted to your own home
[2-4 Weeks]



Shopaholic Current Step 8.png

Our Goals

For Participants

Participants Goal 1 - Reduce time taken to capture an order (1 item)

Before After
Shopaholic Goal 1 - order fufilment (Before).jpg
Shopaholic Goal 1 - order fufilment.jpg

Manual input of details into form

Currently Spree Organizers recieve about 3 orders with Errors for each spree.

Item details captured with just a click


Participants Goal 2 - Reduce Calculation Error

Before After
Shopaholic Goal 2 - calculation(before).jpg
Shopaholic Goal 2 - calculation(after).jpg

Spree Participants manually calculates amount he/she need to pay Spree Organizer

Currently Spree Organizers recieve about 3 orders with Errors for each spree.

Spree Organizer sets:

  1. Exchange Rate
  2. Cost of shipping per item unit
  3. Handling Fee

Total amount spree participant is required to pay is auto calculated. No Errors

Participants Goal 3 - Ease Payment Procedure

Before After
Shopaholic Spree Participants Payment Goal (Before).jpg
Shopaholic Spree Participants Payment Goal (After).jpg

Makes payment to Spree Organier, then fills up remainder of order form with payment details Process takes about 9 minutes

Spree participants make payment directly to us. No need to add multiple payee when joining a spree with a different Spree Organizer each time Spree Organizer will be guranteed payment from spree participants.

Process takes about 2 minutes

For Spree Organizer

Spree Organizer Goal 1 - Ease order consolidation

Before After
Shopaholic Goal 3 - order consolidation(before).jpg
Shopaholic Goal 3 - order consolidation(after).jpg

Spree Organizer manually Copy & Paste each order to be consolidated into an excel sheet

Currently Spree Organizers recieve about 3 orders with Errors for each spree.

1 Click to view orders, which have been consolidated by system


Spree Organizer Goal 2 - Ease Fund Collection Process

Before After
Shopaholic Spree Organizer Goal 2 - Ease Fund Collection Process (before).jpg
Shopaholic Spree Organizer Goal 2 - Ease Fund Collection Process (after).jpg
  1. Manually verfies each payment made
  2. Sends acknowledgement to each Spree Participant

1 Click to confirm payment, and invoice is automatically generated and sent to Spree Participants



Own Benchmark For Success

Goal 1 - Implement seamless integration of Plugin for 10 Merchant Sites

Apparels & Accessories Kids Health & Beauty
Forever21 Disney Store Drugstore.com
GoJane Beauty.com
G.A.P / Old Navy E.L.F
Victoria Secrets
River Island
La Senza

Goal 2 - Technical Support


Our framework is able to support a new site within 24 hours, when a request is sent by a Spree-er.


Goal 3 - Supporting Platforms

Windows Mac OS
Chrome Chrome
Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox
Safari Safari

The X Factor

Shopaholic-walkthru.gif


Inspired by:

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