Chapter 4 4 Electronic Commerce Software Electronic Commerce

Chapter 4 4 Electronic Commerce Software Electronic Commerce 1

Objectives u Desirable 4 functions of E-commerce software and ISP-hosted solutions u Types of traditional and electronic stores u Software packages for small, medium, and large e-commerce sites u Characteristics of several electronic commerce sites 2

What kind of software solution is necessary for your needs? u Range 4 of pricing options, from almost nothing to more than $100, 000 u Factors that determine E-commerce software needs: l l Enterprise size and projected traffic & sales Budget Target commerce audience Technical ability, training, and equipment 3

E-commerce Requirements u All e-commerce solutions must provide at minimum: 4 l l A catalog display Shopping cart capabilities Transaction processing Tools to modify and add to the store catalog and storefront display 4

Catalog Display u Definition: services 4 a static listing of goods and Small storefronts (less than 35 items) can have minimum navigation and organization l Large storefronts must categorize items, and provide several methods of finding items (i. e. search engines) l Rule: Never stand in the way of a customer who wants to purchase! l 5

Large Electronic Commerce Site Figure 4 -1 4 6

Small Electronic Commerce Site Figure 4 -2 4 7

Shopping cart u Represents an improvement over forms -based shopping 4 l l Forms were awkward and time-intensive Not user-friendly, confusing and error-prone u Shopping carts l Keeps track of items selected l Items can be added or removed l All item identification is stored automatically l Running totals are kept 8

Using a Form to Enter an Order Figure 4 -3 4 9

How Shopping Carts Work u The 4 Web is a stateless system- unable to remember from one transmission to another l Therefore, shopping carts must store information about each shopping cart, to avoid mixed-up purchases. Methods used include: u Cookies- stored information on a shopper’s hard drive u Temporary numbers added to the end of a shopper’s URL 10

Transaction Processing Mechanism u Required 4 when the shopper clicks the checkout button u Usually, browser changes to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) u Software calculates tax, shipping charges, discounts l l Some software packages connect directly with shippers to get shipping costs Connected with seller’s internal accounting system to allow tallying of Web sales 11

An Electronic Commerce Shopping Cart Figure 4 -4 4 12

E-commerce Tools u Inexpensive hosted e-commerce solutions 4 l l 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 u All charge monthly fee based on number of items for sale u Mid-range systems l Prices range from $1000 to over $5000 l Connect into database servers, but are not included in the commerce server price 13

E-commerce Tools u Large business solutions Business-to-consumer transactions l Business-to-business transactions require additional tools: l 4 u Encryption u Authentication u Digital signatures and signed receipt notices u Ability to connect to existing legacy systems including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software 14

Business-to-Business Commerce Server Topology Figure 4 -5 4 15

Marketing Smarts u Critical to obtain visibility to get traffic to your site 4 Web malls will list your site in a portalstyle directory l Least expensive method for getting visibility is obtaining and registering your own domain name l u Make the name say something about your business l Use Meta tags and search engines 16

Hosting Services u Good 4 for businesses unprepared to obtain all the hardware and software necessary for a Web presence l Advantages u Spreads costs of a large website over several “renters” u Host provides all expertise, registration, payment processing, shipping, and taxes u Lowers costs because other “tenants” share hardware and software infrastructure 17

Basic Packages u Fundamental host services Free or low-cost for small businesses (less than 50 products and low order volume) l Do not include shopping carts or transaction processing l Host makes money by placing advertising banners on storefronts l Provide templates for constructing a commerce site, although unsophisticated l 4 18

Biz. Land. com’s Hosting Service Figure 4 -6 4 19

Banner Advertising Exchange Sites u Help 4 electronic merchants promote their stores online u Banners are mutually exchanged instead of selling advertising space u Provide ad monitoring software to help determine their advertising clickthrough count u Provide helpful articles on a variety of advertising topics 20

Link. Exchange Figure 4 -7 4 21

Full-Service Mall-Style Hosting u Offers 4 online stores good service, good Web creation tools, and no banner advertising clutter u Charges a higher monthly fee than basic service providers u Provides shopping cart software u Comprehensive customer transaction processing, including credit card acceptance 22

Successful Store Builders and Hosting Services u Yahoo!Store Monthly fees that vary between $100 $700 l Provides store fronts for very small businesses, as well as The Shaper Image and Rolling Stone l Web-based editing of storefronts l 4 23

Editing a Yahoo!Storefront Page Figure 4 -8 4 24

An Item’s Order Page Figure 4 -9 4 25

Management, Reporting, and Site Settings Page Figure 4 -10 4 26

Successful Store Builders and Hosting Services u Geo. Shops Product of Geo. Cities l Similar to Yahoo!Store l Basic plans cost $25 l Transactional Processing costs $100 monthly, plus 55 cents per-transaction fee, and a set-up fee of $195 l No long-term contracts l 4 27

Geo. Shops’ Home Page Figure 4 -11 4 28

Successful Store Builders and Hosting Services u Shop. Builder Credit card transactions l Tracks sales trends l Computes and graphs statistics l 4 u Items sold u Customers who visit Generates and sends receipts by e-mail l $20 - $250 monthly fee, depending on number of items l 29

Shop. Builder Web Page Sales Statistics Figure 4 -12 4 30

Midrange Packages u INTERSHOP Merchant Edition $5, 000 package, providing over 50 storefront templates, set-up wizards, good catalog and data management tools l Web-based store managing and editing l Special notice goes to the inventory manager l 4 u Tracks inventory levels, list of transactions, enters new products, discount rules 31

INTERSHOP Home Page Figure 4 -13 4 32

Midrange Packages u Net. Commerce Start Produced by IBM l Costs $5, 000 l Scalable to grow as your company grows l Site building wizards l Accommodates electronic download products l Requires some knowledge of Java. Script, Java, or C++ l 4 33

Net. Commerce Home Page Figure 4 -14 4 34

Midrange Packages u Site Server Commerce Edition Published by Microsoft l Site Foundation Wizard l Store Builder Wizard l Tools for the commerce cycles l 4 u Engaging the customer u Transacting an order u Analyzing the sales information 35

Site Server Commerce Edition Home Page Figure 4 -15 4 36

Enterprise Solutions for Large Firms u IBM’s 4 Net. Commerce Pro u Netscape’s Netscape Commerce. Xpert u Oracle’s Internet Commerce Server u Intel & SAP’s Pandesic Web Business Solution 37

Large E-Business System Architecture Figure 4 -16 4 38