UNIT 2: Elements of E-Commerce

Que: Explain various elements of E- Commerce Website?

 The basic Internet elements used for e-Commerce are:

 The client system using a browser;

 The server holding the e-Commerce application;

 Links from the Internet application to back office systems (databases).

Browser Internet
Internet Application
Client Server

Back Office
Systems
Various Elements of Successful E-commerce Site:

1. Visibility: Getting the site noticed and the online customer visiting the store.
2. Ease of Use: Once the customer arrives at the site they have to be able to find what they want without any
disturbance.
3. Responsive Design: E-commerce websites that have responsive design to ease the access from any
gadget like mobile phones, tablets and likewise are getting excellent response and proving to be more
successful than the ones that are not. Responsive design is one important element of successful e-commerce
website building.
4. Order Processing: Online orders have to be processed. Logically electronic orders are linke into
computerized back office system (databases).
5. Easy Navigation: Users be likely to leave the website as soon as they find any website difficult to navigate.
Your e-commerce website can be a success if you focus on navigation to make it easier for the viewer/customer
to get what s(he) is looking for.

7. E-Commerce Icons: There are numerous e-commerce icons available on the web, choose wisely to suit your
website design making it easier for the user to understand what a particular icon means. From payment icons to cart, deals,
price tags and likewise should be chosen with extra care keeping the target audience in mind.
 8 .Easy Payment: Definitely this is one of the most important element of a successful e-commerce website.
We all love it if we get the ease of payment while buying the stuff online. Focus on this element too while
building an e-commerce website.

9. Security/Trustmarks: No matter how small, these might appear to be but the trustmarks are a sign
security, guarantee leaving the impression on the consumer that its safe to shop from your online store.
Trustmarks that come from Network solutions, McAfee, Verisign, BBB, TRUSTe, GeoTrust can be included as
these are accreditation certificates that give customers a sense of security and gives them confidence in
sharing their private information.

10. Delivery System: With internet e-commerce there has to be system of Home delivery. It also promise to
deliver before or in time products to customer.

11. After Sales: Queries and faults need to be processed online in time. Customer may not wait for response for
his queries.

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Que. Discuss the term E-Visibility?

E-Visibility
e- Visibility is the ways by which the customer can enter the website. This makes the presence of the
website in the minds of the customer.

Different ways of advertising a web presence and getting customers in through the door includes:

 Site Name
 Conventional Advertising
 Portals
 Malls
 Search Engines
 Links
 Personal Recommendations
Site Name:

The surest way of finding an e-commerce site is the url. If the url is simple and the punters can
remember it, then the site is made.

A sensible simple site name can be guessed by users and might be easily remembered. One such example is
britishairways.com. Here the name of website can be guessed easily so that it makes the visitors of website to
access the site easily.

Conventional Advertising:

An irony of e-Commerce is the apparent urge to advertise them through conventional media: in the
newspaper, on the television and even on the carrier bags used in real shops.

Conventional advertising of internet addresses has a threshold effect:

 It boosts the image of the organisation and any conventional facilities it might have- it gives an air on
modernity and high-tech.
 It lets the customer know that the organisation has internet facilities
 It can give users access via the url. A little difficult if it is a complex url that is flashed on a TV screen
or is printed on a bag that has been thrown away.

Portals:

On loading the browser and connecting to the web the user is presented with a first page. This page is
the portal, the place from which to access the facilities of the internet.

The portal is a valuable piece of property. It is the one place through which all users are likely to pass. An advert
on a popular portal is the web equivalent of a TV advert at half time in the cup final - it is seen by millions. An
advert on a popular web search engine is a similar piece of property.

Adverts on the portal can be banners, little boxes or background. Portals provide a menu of services and
inclusion in that list is another way of picking up business.

Malls

An internet shopping mall models itself on the conventional shopping mall, a lot of shops, under one roof with a
pleasant shopping atmosphere. To own a shop in a conventional mall is usually a good way of getting noticed by
customers. The intention of an internet mall is the same, hopefully the customers who have been there before
come back again, look around, see new shops and the interest in the location increases to the benefit of all the
shops in the mall.

An Internet mall can, like its conventional counterpart, provide common services.

Possibilities includes the following

 Shared advertising - Publicising the mall and hence attracting customers to all the shops.
  Common facilities - the mall will very probably provide the software to link the shop to the back
office and facilities like security and credit card processing can be common.
 e-cash - the mall can provide or join an e-cash service that is useable in all the stores.
 Common customer files so that publicity can be sent out to a wide range of users.

Search Engines

A search engine is a standard way to find any internet site and that includes e-shops. A successful e-shop
could do with appearing in that top ten list of hits whichever search engine the user uses and whatever relevant
term the user might choose to search on.

A site owner, who knows the trick of business, can submit information to a search engine that ensures they get
listed - some sites submit multitude of entries to ensure their prominence and to ensure that they would be
found using a variety of keys.

The search engines list only a small number of the sites that are out there on the internet. About 15% of the web
sites is all that the best of the search engines manage and as the internet expands, the task does not get any
easier.

Links:

Online adverts on the web are also links to the site - hypertext links. Links are included on a variety of
other sites with a variety of deals being done. Some links are paid for, some are mutual arrangements and there
are those odd individuals who just have to share their shopping experience with all.

Links can be a good way of getting customers better than rare hit and miss nature of searching.

Personal Recommendations

The final way of getting customers onto the site is the personnel recommendation. The satisfied customer will
bookmark the site, come back to the site again and recommend it to their friends.

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Que. Discuss the term E-Shop?

E-Shop:
Online shopping (sometimes known as e-tail from "electronic retail" or e-shopping) is a form of
electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet
using a web browser. Alternative names are: e-web-store, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store,
online store, online storefront and virtual store. Mobile commerce (or m-commerce) describes purchasing from
an online retailer's mobile optimized online site or app.

An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar
retailer or shopping center; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. In the case
where a business buys from another business, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping.
The largest of these online retailing corporations are Alibaba, Amazon.com, and eBay. Typically following
services are provided by E-Shops to increase sales and customer support.

Electronic Catalog:
Electronic catalog is equivalent of a retail store or hard-copy catalog of a merchant. It contains
all items that the merchant sells, and the items are typically organized in categories or by some common
attributes of items. For example, a publisher may organize its books by subject, author, ISBN number,
keyword, and so on. From the application point of view, an electronic catalog might be a simple
relational database stored in the merchant’s computer.

Catalog Browsing:
Catalog browsing is a capability of the consumer provided by the merchant to search for
products in the electronic catalog of the merchant. From the application point of view, this might be a
form displayed on the consumer’s desktop that provides searching capability of items from the
merchant’s database according to certain attributes of the items.

Shopping Cart:

Shopping cart is a dynamic storage area where a consumer can select or deselect products of his
or her choice. From an application point of view, this might be items that are added or deleted from an
order table in the merchant’s database.

Checkout:

Checkout involves final selection of items by the consumer from the shopping cart and a
response from the merchant regarding the itemized cost of products, tax, and total cost of the purchase.

Depending on the merchant, it might also involve collecting some information of the consumer
including payment options.

From an application point of view, this might involve displaying a form with the selected items
and the price from the order table as well as a request of information for payment.

Payment:
In this process, the consumer provides some personal information including shipping address
and selects an option for payment.

Typically, this is a Web form that is completed by the consumer and submits it for payment
processing. Depending on the merchant, there are also marketing information that are included in this
form.
Payment Processing:
Payment processing is the functionality of the merchant. For real-time credit card processing, it
requires interaction between the merchant computer and a third party computer such as that from an
automatic clearing-house.

Various other methods such as collecting credit card information off-line or charge on delivery
may be used. In this paper, we will consider that the merchant has already set-up an account with a
financial institution that provided a credit card processing machine.

Thus the merchant is collecting the order from the Internet clients and then processing the
credit cards manually for each order. If the charge is cleared, then the merchant processes the shipment.

Receipt:
The path to getting a receipt may not be as simple as a retail store unless a merchant is using an
on-line credit card processing. In most cases, the receipt might be an acknowledgement of the
order. This might a Web page displayed to the consumer’s desktop and/or an automated e-mail
message sent to the consumer.
 Shipment Processing:
Normally a third party is involved for shipment processing such as UPS, FedEx. Thus
communication between the merchant e-commerce system and the shipping company computer needs
to be established. The communication can be done through the Internet or through a value added
network (VAN).

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Que. Explain in brief Online Payment Systems in EC?

Online Payment Systems:

E-Commerce or Electronics Commerce sites use electronic payment where electronic payment refers to
paperless monetary transactions. Electronic payment has revolutionized the business processing by reducing
paper work, transaction costs, labour cost. Being user friendly and less time consuming than manual
processing, helps business organization to expand its market reach / expansion. Some of the modes of
electronic payments are following.

 Credit Card
 Debit Card
 Smart Card
 E-Money
 Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)
Credit Card
Payment using credit card is one of most common mode of electronic payment. Credit card is small plastic card with a
unique number attached with an account. It has also a magnetic strip embedded in it which is used to read credit card
via card readers. When a customer purchases a product via credit card, credit card issuer bank pays on behalf of the
customer and customer has a certain time period after which he/she can pay the credit card bill. It is usually credit
card monthly payment cycle. Following are the actors in the credit card system.

 The card holder - Customer

 The merchant - seller of product who can accept credit card payments.
 The card issuer bank - card holder's bank
 The acquirer bank - the merchant's bank
 The card brand - for example , visa or mastercard.
Credit card payment process
Step Description

Step 1 Bank issues and activates a credit card to customer on his/her request.

Step 2 Customer presents credit card information to merchant site or to merchant from whom he/she
want to purchase a product/service.
Step 3 Merchant validates customer's identity by asking for approval from card brand company.

Step 4 Card brand company authenticates the credit card and paid the transaction by credit. Merchant
keeps the sales slip.

Step 5 Merchant submits the sales slip to acquirer banks and gets the service chargers paid to
him/her.

Step 6 Acquirer bank requests the card brand company to clear the credit amount and gets the
payment.

Step 6 Now card brand company asks to clear amount from the issuer bank and amount gets
transferred to card brand company.

Debit Card
Debit card, like credit card is a small plastic card with a unique number mapped with the bank account number. It is
required to have a bank account before getting a debit card from the bank. The major difference between debit card
and credit card is that in case of payment through debit card, amount gets deducted from card's bank account
immidiately and there should be sufficient balance in bank account for the transaction to get completed. Whereas in
case of credit card there is no such compulsion.

Debit cards free customer to carry cash, cheques and even merchants accepts debit card more readily. Having
restriction on amount being in bank account also helps customer to keep a check on his/her spendings.

Smart Card
Smart card is again similar to credit card and debit card in apperance but it has a small microprocessor chip embedded
in it. It has the capacity to store customer work related/personal information. Smart card is also used to store money
which is reduced as per usage.

Smart card can be accessed only using a PIN of customer. Smart cards are secure as they stores information in
encrypted format and are less expensive/provides faster processing.Mondex and Visa Cash cards are examples of
smart cards.

E-Money
E-Money transactions refers to situation where payment is done over the network and amount gets transferred from
one financial body to another financial body without any involvement of a middleman. E-money transactions are
faster, convenient and saves a lot of time.

Online payments done via credit card, debit card or smart card are examples of e-money transactions. Another popular
example is e-cash. In case of e-cash, both customer and merchant both have to sign up with the bank or company
issuing e-cash.
Electronic Fund Transfer
It is a very popular electronic payment method to transfer money from one bank account to another bank account.
Accounts can be in same bank or different bank. Fund transfer can be done using ATM (Automated Teller Machine) or
using computer.

Now a day, internet based EFT is getting popularity. In this case, customer uses website provided by the bank.
Customer logins to the bank's website and registers another bank account. He/she then places a request to transfer
certain amount to that account. Customer's bank transfers amount to other account if it is in same bank otherwise
transfer request is forwarded to ACH (Automated Clearing House) to transfer amount to other account and amount is
deducted from customer's account. Once amount is transferred to other account, customer is notified of the fund
transfer by the bank.

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Que. Explain in brief Delivery of goods and services?

Delivery of goods and services:

Delivery is the process of transporting goods from a source location to a predefined destination. There are
different delivery types. Cargo (physical goods) are primarily delivered via roads and railroads on land, shipping lanes
on the sea and airline networks in the air. Certain specialized goods may be delivered via other networks, such
as pipelines for liquid goods, power grids for electrical power and computer networks such as
the Internet or broadcast networks for electronic information.The general process of delivering goods is known
as distribution.

E-shops deliver all our online home wares orders to you either via India Post Parcel Service. All online
homewares orders will be shipped the next business day following receipt of payment. The Shop uses the best quality
packing material to protect items for the journey from our nest to yours, to ensure your items arrive in the same
condition as when they left us. Following are the goods delivery services-
India Post:
India Post does offer one of the most competitive logistics solutions and they top it up with one of the most
expansive serviceable areas. India Post offers an EPP service which works out best for small businesses and
entrepreneurs sending consignments all across India which weight less than 35 kg. Pickup facility is offered free of cost
for all consignments weighing less than 35kg, under this scheme. Though their rates are on par with other private
players, their good service and domestic reach make it worth it.

Packets or Parcel or Home delivery:

Such service provides facility of delivering goods at home with from merchant store to customers home. It
restricted to limited area pin codes.

Local Delivery:

Local delivery is a simple shipping method for delivering orders locally. The fee can be specified based on a
percentage of the cart total, a flat fee, or it can be free. The taxes for Local Delivery are based on the store location
settings. If your tax rules are based on postcodes / zip codes then you will need to use a function to make sure the
store postcode / zip code is included.

Collect your own parcel:

Local Pickup is a method that allows the customer to pick up their order themselves. This new service allows us
to dispatch your items to a partnered pickup point instead of your address. You can then go to the pickup point to pick
up your delivery at your own leisure, offering you much more freedom and security if you don’t think you will be home
to receive a delivery, or don’t want goods delivered to your address.

The excellent thing about this service is that you are never far from a pickup point, with many shops, post
offices, and warehouses all being part of the ‘collect your parcel’ network! The shipping time of 'Collect your parcel' is
the same as with other shipping methods.

Electronic delivery:

Electronic services delivery or ESD refers to providing government services through the Internet or other
electronic means. It is related to e-services and e-government. One of the key advantages of electronic delivery is that it
is no longer necessary to go to the post office in person to pick up a delivered document. After registering with an
electronic delivery service, business employees or their representatives can retrieve documents online, 24 hours a day,
7 days a week. Electronically delivered registered mail is held for at least 14 days. Just like conventionally delivered
mail, holds can be put on delivery for short periods of time, for example, for holiday periods or sick leave. During this
time, any mail that has an expiry date attached to it will not be delivered. However, with electronic delivery, it is
possible to pick up mail even while on holiday because the Inbox can be checked almost anywhere, thanks to the
Internet.

No Delivery of Goods:
When a business accepts your payment for products or services they must supply them to you within the
timeframe they have indicated or if no time was specified, within a reasonable time.

Ex. E-ticket. E-Receipts, E-Magazine.

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Que. Discuss the term After-sales service and its techniques?

After-sales service
A sale is the first step to increasing your sales, not the last. Providing good after-sales service shows your
customers you want to build a long-term relationship with them, earn their loyalty and keep their business.
Many successful businesses use after-sales service strategies to consolidate sales, build customer relationships
and grow their profits. Providing after-sales service keeps your customers coming back to you and encourages them to
refer your business to others.
After-sales service includes what you do at the point of sale, including your customer service and selling
techniques. It also includes how you follow up after the customer has left, such as providing follow-up contact and
effectively dealing with complaints.
After Sales Service Techniques

Sales Professionals need to stay in touch with the customers even after the deal. Never ignore their calls.Call them
once in a while to exchange small talk.

Give them the necessary support. Help them install, maintain or operate a particular product. Sales professionals
selling laptops must ensure windows are configured in the system and customers are able to use net without any
difficulty. Similarly organizations selling mobile sim cards must ensure the number is activated immediately once
the customer submits his necessary documents.

Any product found broken or in a damaged condition must be exchanged immediately by the sales
professional. Don’t harass the customers. Listen to their grievances and make them feel comfortable.

Create a section in your organization’s website where the customers can register their complaints. Every
organization should have a toll free number where the customers can call and discuss their queries. The customer
service officers should take a prompt action on the customer’s queries. The problems must be resolved immediately.

Take feedback of the products and services from the customers. Feedback helps the organization to know the
customers better and incorporate the necessary changes for better customer satisfaction.

Ask the customers to sign Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) with your organization. AMC is an agreement
signed between the organization and the customer where the organization promises to provide after sales services
to the second party for certain duration at nominal costs. The exchange policies must be transparent and in favour
of the customer. The customer who comes for an exchange should be given the same treatment as was given to him
when he came for the first time. Speak to him properly and suggest him the best alternative.

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Que. Enlist and explain Internet e-commerce security requirements?

Internet e-commerce security

Security is an essential part of any transaction that takes place over the internet. Customer will loose his/her
faith in e-business if its security is compromised. Following are the essential requirements for safe e-
payments/transactions −

 Confidential − Information should not be accessible to unauthorized person. It should not be intercepted
during transmission.

 Integrity − Information should not be altered during its transmission over the network.

 Availability − Information should be available wherever and whenever requirement within time limit
specified.

 Authenticity − There should be a mechanism to authenticate user before giving him/her access to required
information.
  Non-Repudiabiity − It is protection against denial of order or denial of payment. Once a sender sends a
message, the sender should not able to deny sending the message. Similary the receipient of message should
not be able to deny receipt.

 Encryption − Information should be encrypted and decrypted only by authorized user.

 Auditability − Data should be recorded in such a way that it can be audited for integrity requirements.

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Que. Explain Major security measures or techniques in brief?

Major security measures are following −

 Encryption − It is a very effective and practical way to safeguard the data being transmitted over the
network. Sender of the information encrypt the data using a secret code and specified receiver only can
decrypt the data using the same or different secret code.

 Digital Signature − Digital signature ensures the authenticity of the information. A digital signature is a e-
signature authentic authenticated through encryption and password.

 Security Certificates − Security certificate is unique digital id used to verify identity of an individual
website or user.

 Trusted Third party Security:

In cryptography, a trusted third party (TTP) is an entity which facilitates interactions between two
parties who both trust the third party; the Third Party reviews all critical transaction communications between the
parties, based on the ease of creating fraudulent digital content. In TTP models, the relying parties use this trust to
secure their own interactions. TTPs are common in any number of commercial transactions and in cryptographic digital
transactions as well as cryptographic protocols, for example, a certificate authority (CA) would issue a digital identity
ceritificate to one of the two parties in the next example. The CA then becomes the Trusted-Third-Party to that
certificates issuance. Likewise transactions that need a third party recordation would also need a third-party repository
service of some kind or another.

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