Chapter 4
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Electronic Commerce
Software
Electronic Commerce
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Objectives
 Desirable
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functions of E-commerce
software and ISP-hosted solutions
 Types of traditional and electronic
stores
 Software packages for small, medium,
and large e-commerce sites
 Characteristics of several electronic
commerce sites
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What kind of software solution is
necessary for your needs?
 Range
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of pricing options, from almost
nothing to more than $100,000
 Factors that determine E-commerce
software needs:



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Enterprise size and projected traffic & sales
Budget
Target commerce audience
Technical ability, training, and equipment
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E-commerce Requirements
 All
e-commerce solutions must provide
at minimum:
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



A catalog display
Shopping cart capabilities
Transaction processing
Tools to modify and add to the store catalog and
storefront display
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Catalog Display
 Definition:
a static listing of goods and
services
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Small storefronts (less than 35 items) can
have minimum navigation and
organization
 Large storefronts must categorize items,
and provide several methods of finding
items (i.e. search engines)
 Rule: Never stand in the way of a
customer who wants to purchase!

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Large Electronic Commerce Site
Figure 4-1
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Small Electronic Commerce Site
Figure 4-2
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Shopping cart
 Represents
an improvement over
forms-based shopping
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

Forms were awkward and time-intensive
Not user-friendly, confusing and error-prone
 Shopping




carts
Keeps track of items selected
Items can be added or removed
All item identification is stored automatically
Running totals are kept
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Using a Form to Enter an Order
Figure 4-3
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How Shopping Carts Work
 The
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Web is a stateless system- unable
to remember from one transmission to
another

Therefore, shopping carts must store information
about each shopping cart, to avoid mixed-up
purchases. Methods used include:
 Cookies- stored information on a shopper’s
hard drive
 Temporary numbers added to the end of a
shopper’s URL
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Transaction Processing
Mechanism
 Required
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when the shopper clicks the
checkout button
 Usually, browser changes to Secure
Sockets Layer (SSL)
 Software calculates tax, shipping
charges, discounts


Some software packages connect directly with
shippers to get shipping costs
Connected with seller’s internal accounting
system to allow tallying of Web sales
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An Electronic Commerce Shopping Cart
Figure 4-4
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E-commerce Tools
 Inexpensive
hosted e-commerce
solutions

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
Can create a storefront in less than 1 hour
Fees vary, but some allow online business for a
few hundred dollars a month; one-time setup fees
can be up to $200
 All charge monthly fee based on number of
items for sale
 Mid-range


systems
Prices range from $1000 to over $5000
Connect into database servers, but are not
included in the commerce server price
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E-commerce Tools
 Large
business solutions
Business-to-consumer transactions
 Business-to-business transactions require
additional tools:

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 Encryption
 Authentication
 Digital
signatures and signed receipt notices
 Ability to connect to existing legacy systems
including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
software
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Business-to-Business
Commerce Server Topology
Figure 4-5
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Marketing Smarts
 Critical
to obtain visibility to get traffic to
your site
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Web malls will list your site in a portalstyle directory
 Least expensive method for getting
visibility is obtaining and registering your
own domain name

 Make
the name say something about your
business

Use Meta tags and search engines
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Hosting Services
 Good
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for businesses unprepared to
obtain all the hardware and software
necessary for a Web presence

Advantages
 Spreads
costs of a large website over several
“renters”
 Host provides all expertise, registration,
payment processing, shipping, and taxes
 Lowers costs because other “tenants” share
hardware and software infrastructure
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Basic Packages
 Fundamental
host services
Free or low-cost for small businesses (less
than 50 products and low order volume)
 Do not include shopping carts or
transaction processing
 Host makes money by placing advertising
banners on storefronts
 Provide templates for constructing a
commerce site, although unsophisticated

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BizLand.com’s Hosting Service
Figure 4-6
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Banner Advertising
Exchange Sites
 Help
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electronic merchants promote
their stores online
 Banners are mutually exchanged
instead of selling advertising space
 Provide ad monitoring software to help
determine their advertising clickthrough count
 Provide helpful articles on a variety of
advertising topics
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LinkExchange
Figure 4-7
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Full-Service Mall-Style Hosting
 Offers
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online stores good service, good
Web creation tools, and no banner
advertising clutter
 Charges a higher monthly fee than
basic service providers
 Provides shopping cart software
 Comprehensive customer transaction
processing, including credit card
acceptance
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Successful Store Builders and
Hosting Services
 Yahoo!Store
Monthly fees that vary between $100 $700
 Provides store fronts for very small
businesses, as well as The Shaper Image
and Rolling Stone
 Web-based editing of storefronts
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Editing a Yahoo!Store Storefront Page
Figure 4-8
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An Item’s Order Page
Figure 4-9
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Management, Reporting, and Site Settings Page
Figure 4-10
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Successful Store Builders and
Hosting Services
 GeoShops
Product of GeoCities
 Similar to Yahoo!Store
 Basic plans cost $25
 Transactional Processing costs $100
monthly, plus 55 cents per-transaction fee,
and a set-up fee of $195
 No long-term contracts

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GeoShops’ Home Page
Figure 4-11
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Successful Store Builders and
Hosting Services
 ShopBuilder
Credit card transactions
 Tracks sales trends
 Computes and graphs statistics

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 Items
sold
 Customers who visit
Generates and sends receipts by e-mail
 $20 - $250 monthly fee, depending on
number of items

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ShopBuilder Web Page Sales Statistics
Figure 4-12
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Midrange Packages
 INTERSHOP
Merchant Edition
$5,000 package, providing over 50
storefront templates, set-up wizards, good
catalog and data management tools
 Web-based store managing and editing
 Special notice goes to the inventory
manager

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 Tracks
inventory levels, list of transactions,
enters new products, discount rules
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INTERSHOP Home Page
Figure 4-13
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Midrange Packages
 Net.Commerce
Start
Produced by IBM
 Costs $5,000
 Scalable to grow as your company grows
 Site building wizards
 Accommodates electronic download
products
 Requires some knowledge of JavaScript,
Java, or C++

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Net.Commerce Home Page
Figure 4-14
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Midrange Packages
 Site
Server Commerce Edition
Published by Microsoft
 Site Foundation Wizard
 Store Builder Wizard
 Tools for the commerce cycles

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 Engaging
the customer
 Transacting an order
 Analyzing the sales information
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Site Server Commerce Edition Home Page
Figure 4-15
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Enterprise Solutions for
Large Firms
 IBM’s
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Net.Commerce Pro
 Netscape’s Netscape CommerceXpert
 Oracle’s Internet Commerce Server
 Intel & SAP’s Pandesic Web Business
Solution
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Large E-Business System Architecture
Figure 4-16
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