In order for me to graduate, I had to do research on a topic and write a thesis about it. I wanted to do something that involved the relatively new developments on responsive web design.
Many companies who sell their products online (e-commerce) still have no idea what to do for their mobile visitors. Some companies build apps for multiple platforms, some build specific
mobile webshops and others do not optimize for mobile at all. I wanted to push the boundaries and came up with a concept which uses a responsive design but also uses some specific mobile features (like GPS). In the end, it turned out that the concept brought the online world (webshop) closer to the offline world (retail store).
I created a (static) concept which looks like a pretty normal webshop at first. When a user decides to add the product to the cart, he will be given a choice. Instead of just adding the product to the online cart, the webshop will ask for the current location (using the HTML5 Geolocation API). If the product is "in stock" at a nearby store, the store will show up in an overview where the user can place the order inside the store. Once the user arrives at the store, following the route given by the webshop, the order will most likely be ready. In this way the user no longer has to wait for the product to arrive at his address, which may take 3-5 days.
[caption id="attachment_460" align="aligncenter" width="277"] The concept store, viewed on a mobile device.[/caption]
If you're interested in this concept, you might want to read my complete thesis (pdf - 5.5mb, in Dutch).