Hull University Business School at Scarborough Calls for Bids to Develop a Web Based Virtual Market Solution for Market Traders in Scarborough Scarborough Borough Council and the University of Hull have recently secured funds from the Coastal Communities Fund for the redevelopment and remodelling of the Scarborough Market. The overall aim of this collaborative project is to boost Scarborough's economic performance through the redevelopment and modernisation of Scarborough Market to provide a vibrant 21st century workspace for Scarborough's artisan movement and local producers. The project will create 30 new business spaces, 60 indirect new jobs, 20 new retail apprenticeships and safeguard 78 jobs. The modernised Scarborough Market Hall will also host regular events and as such it will become an important all year, all weather visitor attraction. As part of this project, Hull University Business School and the School of Drama, Music and Screen will be developing Online Infrastructure for the Scarborough Market, which will comprise development of a virtual market and development of an online market intelligence system. While the virtual market concept will promote local producers to a wider regional and national market, the online market intelligence system will ensure sustainability of local businesses and their positive contribution to the sustainable economic growth in the community. As a major component of this process Hull University Business School invites bids to develop the web based platform which delivers a virtual market solution for traders in Scarborough s Market Hall and beyond. Expected outputs: 1. An extensible web based e-commerce platform facilitating multi-trader sales for businesses in the Market Hall and beyond, providing: A Virtual Market - A web based virtual market platform enabling traders products to be found simply and easily then purchased by customers for pick-up or delivery.
- A shop within a shop context enabling traders to customise where applicable their online presence within the platform e.g. through their own branded page. This may go down as far as product pages with vendors constructing specific pages for items. Traders should also be able to point individuals to their websites or other pages. - Clear display of individual items with associated content such as description and pricing. - Mechanisms to enable customers to display products in list or grid format or in ways which work best for the platform. - Facilitation of the market concept enabling the sale of individual items by more than one trader e.g. two traders may sell oranges etc. - Use of a Content Management System approach which provides simple and straightforward mechanisms for traders to update their goods. - Shopping cart management enabling customers to generate lists of items for purchase and then to purchase goods. The shopping cart should incorporate standard features like add/remove from cart and should allow discounts to be applied etc. Customers should have the opportunity to make changes to delivery etc and on completion of shopping cart action customers should receive a clear itemised receipt for their purchases which should identify clearly market traders from whom their goods have been purchased. - Traders should be given some licence to differentiate their goods via the platform enabling customers to make choices other than price choices on the basis of the differentiation e.g. organic produce ; hand-made ; locally sourced ; safety compliant etc. Consideration needs to be given to whether this differentiation is managed by a global list of specific meta-data for this function. - Stock management should be facilitated through a range of data which traders can enter with respect to each specific product e.g. product codes; descriptions; product categories; product value etc. - Ability to enable vendors to identify products as New ; On Sale ; Reduced ; Best Seller ; Last Item ; Unique Item ; Refurbished etc. - Ability to browse products by category; by price range; by vendor; and other attributes; or multiple variations thereof. - An appropriate search function enabling access to items through a range of search attributes e.g. by vendor; product name; product code etc. - Ability for customers to provide required data with respect to purchases made (either before or after sale of goods) e.g. customers may need to message the trader with information about the product, or to customise a product etc. Customisation should also be enabled through the shopping cart. This may include making an appointment for a fitting or viewing (e.g. clothes) in the physical establishment. Customer Interfaces and Account Management - Account registration services enabling new customers to register; existing customers to log-in and customers who have forgotten their identifiers to recover their access through a secure mechanism. - An account interface for customers enabling them to perform a variety of customer related tasks e.g. updating their information; viewing their order status and history; cancelling orders or items (which have not been
processed); complaining about items or services; marketing/communication preferences etc. - Corporate account registration and administration along similar lines to customer account tasks. - Purchase order management. - Provide opportunities to create wish-lists from trader content; shopping lists of regular purchased items etc. - Suggestions of similar products that customers have purchased. Trader Interfaces and Account Management - Provision of simple usable interfaces for traders in the construction of their own branded spaces within the platform and in listing their items for sale through the virtual market. - Linkage in where applicable to suitable EPOS platforms for small enterprises. - Ability to provide discount services including special offers, promos, and offer codes at platform, trader and item levels. - Ability for customers to exchange customer service related messages with individual traders. - Ability for traders to discount or refund items purchased by customers with an impact on service fees (e.g. lower service fees post reduction). - Ability to manage returns online. - Ability for customers to log problems with an order and for traders to manage this process. - Ability for traders to obtain an overview of their account and account performance. Marketing and Communications - Support targeted mailing to customers at market and vendor level. The mailing engine should provide mechanisms for traders to be able to filter their targeted mailing based on previous customer purchases, potentially customer preferences (if such are stored) and regular customer search categories/queries. - Well-designed landing page for the web platform which contains features about the Market, the vendors and the market vaults. - Content should include material about delivery and collection coupled with information about getting to the Market. - Legal and other content should also be accessible. - Consideration of SEO requirements to ensure the Market is well positioned in local and regional food and entertainment searches. Administration and Management Requirements - A service fee based approach to platform delivery with vendors either paying a monthly or annual fee for service provision, traders paying for a block of sales, or traders paying per item sale. Items should be free to list encouraging large product catalogues and increasing choice but fees should be charged on sale of goods. - Provision of interfaces for administrators of the site to make changes globally across site pages.
- Well documented products (e.g. source code and platform materials) aiding continued maintenance and management of the platform over the duration of its lifetime. - A reporting engine providing accounts and management related data for the web platform including items such as: sales by trader (volume; value; fee etc); number of site visits (at item; trader; and virtual market levels); number of complaints (at item; trader; and virtual market levels) etc. - Clear data model providing potential for additional data extensibility particularly in relation to trader items. - An appropriate payment processing procedure should be implemented in the solution provided. Platform requirements (Technology and Support) - A multi-platform solution which works appropriately on desktop, tablet and mobile based technologies. - Strong security providing a platform compliant with UK and EU sales regulations enabling the platform to operate and be managed by a specified organisation. - Support versioning and change logs for version management. - Template pages should be built using professional web standards based solutions, be compliant with respect to disability legislation and be delivered to a high standard of quality. - Training of a collection of users both administrators and traders. - Domain name consideration and delivery which positions the Market well to attract commerce. - Linkage to be constructed between the market commerce platform and market intelligence system platform to be generated by the University of Hull. Engagement - Engagement with the project management team and clear planning most probably using an agile method of project process. - Engagement with the developer of the market intelligence system developed at the University of Hull. - Engagement with potential customers in the delivery of the platform, testing interfaces with the potential user community. - Engagement with the traders with respect to the proposed solution and interaction with them with respect to the building of interface(s). Research Process and Timescale: The virtual market solution is to be ready for trial by the end of February 2016 and that it will be going live by the end of June 2016. It is expected that the selected organisation will maintain regular contact with the University of Hull project team and maintain dialogue with the developer of the market intelligence system developed as part of the market project. It is also expected that the selected organisation will liaise with stakeholder organisations in delivering a solution which takes into account, further specific
trader based requirements. This liaison will be expected to occur on a regular schedule throughout the duration of the project. Budget: 30-40,000 (to include development of the above platform, documentation, initial user training, domain name delivery, and a delivered solution). Bid documents: The bid should include information regarding: The proposed process of organizing and managing the development of the software, including the chosen software development process and clarity over development technologies and any potential third party software to be used (including an understanding of licensing). Details about the software solution proposed including its ability to meet the requirements proposed above. Details and general background of your firm. The key person(s) involved in the project, including details of experience delivering similar assignments. The estimated number of days that will be spend on this project up to our allocated budget of 40,000. Detailed costs with clear project planning. Details of how quality assurance will be maintained; Details of your firm s professional indemnity insurance; Two referees from whom references for similar work maybe sought. It is expected that these referees will relate to reference solutions which have been developed by your organisation. Selection criteria: Criteria Competence in grasping the nature of the project and its potential impact. Qualifications and experience of the organisation and individuals involved in delivering the solution. This should include experience of working on similar projects in intensive timescales. Quality of the solution proposed and perceived potential for the solution to deliver the expected requirements above. This will include evaluation of the methodology to be used, proposed technology plan, quality control methods, match of plan to requirements, and other development related factors. Weighting 35%
Experience of communicating with stakeholders and involving stakeholders in development processes. Experience with Data Protection, legal issues and security concerns in delivering similar ecommerce based platforms. Effective project and business planning skills as demonstrated by a realistic and viable initial outline budget for the project. Completeness of bid documentation (as per section bid documents ) Any added value offered by the development organisation. 5% Intellectual Property It is expected that the Client will hold all intellectual property rights in the design, development and implementation of the above solution, including but not limited to, source code, product, domain names, copyright and trademarks rights. The Developer agrees not to claim any such ownership of the intellectual property constructed through development of the solution at any time prior to or after completion of delivery. Should solutions be proposed which have other licensing requirements (e.g. using proprietary and/or open source software) these should be clearly highlighted at the proposal and contracting stages. Deadline for bids: Monday 4 th September 2015, 5 p.m. Interviews are expected to be held on 17 th September 2015 in Scarborough. All communications, including request for information and bid submission, should be sent to Dr Darren Mundy d.mundy@hull.ac.uk