The choice of the thesis topic was guided not only by the client's needs but also by a long-standing interest in technology and a strong fascination with online stores. Having built a few websites and actively maintained them earlier, I felt that I had a lot to share on the subject. The purpose and goal of the thesis were to enhance the client's understanding of the content of online stores through theoretical knowledge, design and create a mock-up style model of an online store and analyse three other online stores in the travel industry using the Benchmark peer-review method. The client operates a small travel business, which offers travel services in Finland and other European countries.

The theoretical foundation of the work consisted of easily accessible and reliable literature and online sources. With the rapid development of online stores, finding up to date sources was a quite straightforward process. The acquisition of information had to be approached critically due to the abundant availability of information, exposing the information-gathering process to several risks, such as unreliable sources. The implementation of the model online store utilized the Figma application, Figma Community UI interface libraries, and Affinity Designer assets.

Through Benchmark peer-review methods and concrete examples of competing online stores in the travel industry were sought for the client, which could be utilized in the development of their site. The basis for the Benchmarking peer-analysis conducted in three different online travel stores had to be adapted slightly, as the client does not have an existing online store to compare practices. In this case, the research principle of “learning from role models” is not fully realized in its original form, but it better suits the research purpose of the thesis. A separate evaluation form was created for data collection. The results obtained from the study were astounding and informative because each online store had integrated differing solutions, strategies, and methods to capture customer attention.

One of the key strengths of this thesis is the narrative progression from the theoretical part to illustrating a model online store and ultimately evaluating the methods of real company online stores. My personal goal was to keep the material as clear and readable as possible so that the client and anyone else could benefit from the information in the thesis after its completion. This goal motivated me to cover each aspect extensively, ensuring a solid foundation for new learning.