A lightweight mobile e-procurement solution for rural small scale traders implemented using a living lab approach

Abstract

Proliferation of mobile technologies usage in emerging regions represents an opportunity for leveraging the benefits of mobile ICTs by rural communities. Despite the availability of reliable mobile connectivity infrastructure and a relatively high penetration of mobile devices in rural areas of emerging economies such as South Africa, the use of mobile phones is primarily for voice communication purpose. Data communication is limited to SMS exchange and recently WhatsApp amongst users who are literate to engage in such services. The foregoing suggests that capabilities offered by mobile data communication are not exploited enough in further contributing to leveraging the ICT literacy levels of rural dwellers taking into account their needs, preferences and competencies. This paper presents a lightweight mobile e-procurement application that was implemented for small scale retailers in a rural area of South Africa to conduct business efficiently and cost-effectively. The application's overall goal was to address challenges faced by rural small scale retailers during stock replenishment. The paper demonstrates how the challenges were addressed by exploiting capabilities offered by mobile web and context of the operating environment including users' profiles. Processes of conceptualisation, deployment and user experience evaluation of the lightweight mobile e-procurement application adopted a living lab approach.