Creating competitive advantage for sportswear business using PIECES framework and e-commerce website design (a case study)

The fact that customers’ need of sportswear has been increasing ever since the pandemic hit while they were trapped at home has encouraged businesses to provide alternative means to deliver their products. MS Store is a sportswear business located in Lhokseumawe, Province of Aceh, that sells various kinds of apparels and accessories for workout and outdoor activities. The constraints faced by the company was that the sales merely rely on the number of customers visiting the physical shop, which has decreased since the pandemic. In addition, they had no sales records for the sold items. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the existing system using PIECES framework in terms of performance, information, economy, control, efficiency, and service; and recommend a design of web-based e-commerce system in order to create competitive advantage for the company. The analysis result indicated 11 weaknesses of the current system that led to the improvement recommendation for the system. Finally, a recommended web-based system was developed through eight primary activities depicted in the context diagram and level 0 data flow diagram (DFD) providing features such as product and stock information, display of product catalog, customers’ shopping basket and invoice, as well as sales report to enhance both the company’s performance and the customers’ satisfaction.