1. Electronic Commerce Software
Chapter 4
Electronic Commerce Software
Electronic Commerce

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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!

6. Large Electronic Commerce Site
Figure 4-1

7. Small Electronic Commerce Site
Figure 4-2

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. An Electronic Commerce Shopping Cart
Figure 4-4

13. 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

14. 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

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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. BizLand.com’s Hosting Service
Figure 4-6

20. 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

21. LinkExchange
Figure 4-7

22. 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

23. 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

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

25. An Item’s Order Page
Figure 4-9

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

27. 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

28. GeoShops’ Home Page
Figure 4-11

29. 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
$20 - $250 monthly fee, depending on number of items

30. ShopBuilder Web Page Sales Statistics
Figure 4-12

31. 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

32. INTERSHOP Home Page
Figure 4-13

33. 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++

34. Net.Commerce Home Page
Figure 4-14

35. 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

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

37. 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

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