Libri is an online marketplace that allows users to buy and sell both new and old textbooks, currently in developments by Hominibus Software Development (HSD). HSD aims to develop an efficient way to trade textbooks online through its minimalist design via an android mobile application. The app offers easy navigation for the user to efficiently buy and sell their second-hand textbooks. The interface’s simplistic and minimalistic approach allows any user to understand the concepts needed to buy and sell their textbooks using the mobile application. Libri also provides an alternative and reliable way to for students to acquire second hand textbooks without the expenses of purchasing brand new textbooks at a retailer.
Libri is mainly targeted at university and potentially high school students, but Libri is not necessarily limited to a student audience. Any user seeking to sell their old textbooks or buy a second-hand textbook would be a potential customer. However, the app will only be available to android users as it will be primarily developed in android studio.
Problems that the system will face is that our company has no budget. We will also be developing in waterfall which means we cannot go back to any phase. We will be developing in Android which means a piece of our market will not be able to use the system. Hominibus Software Development has identified a gap in the market as there is currently no platform for student to buy and sell their textbook online. Libri offers several features that are aimed at providing high quality service and reliable transactions, making the application truly unique. Graduates and current students generally struggle to find a way to efficiently sell their textbooks for a reasonable price and similarly student often struggle to source and purchase textbooks at the lowest price. Many students are also forced to purchase new textbooks every year because they simply are unable to find senior students with the second-hand textbooks they require. Libri aims to rid students of textbooks they no longer require and return some of their initial investment while affording other students the opportunity compare prices and quality of textbooks and purchase textbooks at a lower cost. The extremely high prices in new textbooks are becoming a national problem as these textbooks are simply not affordable to the average student (Nkosi, 2014). Hominibus has identified that developing the application with no budget, using the waterfall model and only on an android platform will result in the following problems: No modules in our program can be outsourced. If a mistake is made in any of our previous deliverables we cannot go back and correct it. A large portion of the market will not be able to use the application.
- No budget - the system will need to be developed fully in-house.
- All work will need to be carefully analysed before submission. Our emphasis will be on planning and analysis to ensure our project will be feasibly before design and development.
- The loss of IOS users is minimal compared to the gains of Android because there are more Android than IOS users in South Africa (McKane, 2018). The app may be ported over to IOS and other operating systems at a later stage to capitalise on the full market.
The aim of this project is to develop a textbook marketplace system to allow students to buy and sell textbooks.