Constructing frugal sales system for small enterprises

Abstract

In the current study, the authors report on the application of the design science methodology to construct, utilize, and evaluate a frugal information system that uses mobile devices and cloud computing resources for documenting daily sales transactions of very small enterprises (VSEs). Small enterprises play significant roles in the socioeconomic landscape of a community by providing employment opportunities and contributing to the gross domestic product. However, VSEs have very little access to innovative information technologies that could help them manage their challenges that are restricting their effective growth, sustainability, and participation in a knowledge economy. The results of a field-evaluation experiment, involving 22 VSE entrepreneurs using a newly constructed system, MobiSales, disclosed that user behavior, which demonstrates confidence, excitement, enthusiasm, energy, and trust varied when employing a mobile electronic device for social interactions, as compared to using it for business transactions.