Electronic Commerce Software Chapter 4 Electronic Commerce Software Electronic Commerce

Objectives Desirable 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

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

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

Catalog Display Definition: a static listing of goods and services 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!

Large Electronic Commerce Site Figure 4-1

Small Electronic Commerce Site Figure 4-2

Shopping cart Represents an improvement over forms-based shopping 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

Using a Form to Enter an Order Figure 4-3

How Shopping Carts Work The 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

Transaction Processing Mechanism Required 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

An Electronic Commerce Shopping Cart Figure 4-4

E-commerce Tools Inexpensive hosted e-commerce solutions 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

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

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

Marketing Smarts Critical to obtain visibility to get traffic to your site Web malls will list your site in a portal-style 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

Hosting Services Good 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

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

BizLand.com’s Hosting Service Figure 4-6

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

LinkExchange Figure 4-7

Full-Service Mall-Style Hosting Offers 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

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

Editing a Yahoo!Store Storefront Page Figure 4-8

An Item’s Order Page Figure 4-9

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

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

GeoShops’ Home Page Figure 4-11

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

ShopBuilder Web Page Sales Statistics Figure 4-12

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 Tracks inventory levels, list of transactions, enters new products, discount rules

INTERSHOP Home Page Figure 4-13

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++

Net.Commerce Home Page Figure 4-14

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

Site Server Commerce Edition Home Page Figure 4-15

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

Large E-Business System Architecture Figure 4-16