Evaluating the searching capabilities of e-commerce web sites in a non-English language: A Greek case study

Purpose ‐ The purpose of this work in progress is to build a methodology for evaluating the searching capabilities of e-shops. The emphasis of the evaluation is on ease of use and on the characteristics THAT influence the retrieval of products in non-English queries. Design/methodology/approach ‐ Initially an evaluation model is built in the paper, based on previous studies and on the attributes of worldwide search engines. Next, this model is applied in the evaluation of the searching effectiveness of Greek e-shops with the aid of real users who define the importance of each criterion of the model. The results of this review are then presented and analysed. Findings ‐ The methodological evaluation revealed several inefficiencies of the local search engines related to interface issues and most importantly to their searching effectiveness. The evaluation showed that the search engines do not take account of the morphology of the queries, which is significant in a non-English and non-Latin language like Greek, and thus user searches fail. The user assessment of the importance of the attributes of the evaluation model helps search engine developers to realize the usefulness of the facilities they provide and the user required options. Originality/value ‐ The methodology described can be used for evaluating the searching effectiveness of local search engines and for designing quality search tools for e-shops.