E- Commerce

Lectureslides – 4

© 2021 Er. Santosh Panth

Building E-commerce System
E-commerce Website/Software, Building Catalogs: Static, Dynamic,
Building Shopping Cart, Transaction Processing, Development of E-
commerce Website/Software: Databases, Application Programs, Integration
with ERP Systems, Integration with Payment Gateways, Using Open
Source CMS for Development of E-commerce Applications
E-commerce Website/Software
• All electronic commerce solutions must provide
– Catalog display, shopping cart capabilities and transaction
processing
• Larger complex sites may include software with added features and
capabilities
E-commerce Website/Software

FIGURE : Basic electronic commerce site architecture

Building Catalogs
• Catalog organizes goods and services being sold
– May organize by logical departments
• Web store advantage is a single product may appear in multiple
categories
• Catalog is a listing of goods and services
– Static catalog is a simple list written in HTML
• Must edit HTML to add or delete items
– Dynamic catalog stores information in a database with photos,
detailed descriptions and a search tool for locating item and
determining availability
– Both located in third tier of Web site architecture
Building Catalogs : Best Practices
1. Create brand trust with quality product
information
2. Tag and categorize your digital product
catalog
3. Map your catalog management process
4. Suggest related and alternative products
5. Manage your e-commerce product
catalog database
6. Select a catalog management tool
7. Personalize your B2B e-commerce
product catalog
8. Balance your offline and online catalogs

Source : https://www.sana-commerce.com/blog/ecommerce-
catalog-management-best-practices/
Shopping Cart
• Early electronic commerce used forms-based shopping
– Shoppers selected items by filling out online forms which was
awkward if ordering more than one or two items and error prone
• Electronic shopping carts are now standard
– Keep track of items customer selected and allows them to view
cart contents, add and remove items
– Ordering requires a simple click which executes the purchase
transaction
• Screen asks for billing and shipping information
Shopping Cart (Cont.)
• Web is a stateless system that does not retain information from
one transmission to another
– Shopping cart software must store information
• Cookies allows information to be stored and retrieved
• If browser does not allow cookie storage software
automatically assigns temporary number
• Dynamic pricing management software adjusts prices in real time
based on variables seller chooses
• Promotion management software allows sellers to create special
offers on specific products
Shopping Cart (Cont.)
• Fulfillment integration software connects seller’s shopping cart to
fulfillment provider’s computer
– Shipping automatically triggered at completed sale
• Product review management software allows customers to
post reviews of products
• Product recommendation triggers are tools that respond to
customer’s product selection
– Provides suggestions for related products, refills
• Abandoned cart management software enables shopping cart to be
retained for later when customer session is terminated
Shopping Cart (Cont.)

FIGURE Typical shopping cart page

Transaction Processing
• Occurs when shopper proceeds to virtual checkout counter by clicking
the checkout button
– Electronic commerce software performs calculations
• Web browser software and seller’s Web server software switch into
secure communication state
– Electronic commerce software communicates with accounting
software sales and inventory modules
– FedEx and UPS shipping rate software integrates with electronic
commerce software
• Other calculations include coupons, promotions, time-sensitive
offers
Transaction Processing (Cont.)

Batch processing – method of computerized processing in which

business transactions are accumulated over a period of time and prepared
for processing as a single unit

On-line transaction processing (OLTP) - method of computerized

processing in which each transaction is processed immediately and the
affected records are updated
Transaction Processing (Cont.)
• Online transaction process (OLTP) is secure and password protected.

• Three steps involved in the online transaction are registration, Placing

an order, and, Payment.

There are three stages of Online Transactions

1. Pre-purchase/Sale: In this stage, the product or service is advertised

online with some details for the customers
2. Purchase/Sale: When a customer likes a particular product or service,
he/she buys it and makes the payment online
3. Delivery Stage: This is the final stage where the goods bought are
delivered to the consumer
Data Processing Activities Common in Transaction
Processing Systems
• Data collection: Capturing data
necessary for the transaction
• Data editing: Check validity and
completeness
• Ex: 400 hours/week instead of 40
hours/week
• Data correction: Correct the wrong data
• Data manipulation: Calculate,
summarize
• Data storage: Update transactions
• Document production and reports:
Create end results (paychecks)
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Database
• Highly structured information stored on a computer
• Business rules are how the company does business
• Database management software allows users to enter, edit, update,
retrieve database information
• Distributed information systems are large systems storing data in
many different physical locations
– Distributed database systems are databases within distributed
information systems
• MySQL database is open-source software owned by Oracle and
maintained by group of programmers
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Application Programs
• Applications programs are the computer programs written in server side
programming language that manage, process, manipulate and render
data in the applications

• There are various programming languages used to build e-commerce

applications such as PHP, .NET, JSP, Python etc.
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Enterprise Application Integration
• Application software (application) is a program that performs specific
function like creating invoices
• Application server (computer) takes request messages
received by Web server
– Runs application program performing action based on request
message’s contents
– Actions determined by business logic rules such as verifying
customer password upon log in
– Enterprise application integration is a creation of links among
scattered applications so business logic can be interconnected
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Enterprise Application Integration (Cont.)
• As information is transferred from one application to another program
data formats differ
– Must edit and reformat often using XML data feeds
• Page-based application systems return pages generated by
scripts containing rules
– Present data on Web page with the business logic
• Component-based application systems separate presentation logic
from business logic
– Logic components created and maintained separately
• Updating and changing system elements much easier
 Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration With ERP System
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is often an integral part of
a company's operations. Platforms like Oracle, SAP, and Sage give
businesses a single solution for managing different processes.

• They may provide a centralized place to manage information but they

have their limitations and can be difficult to use.

• When you integrate your ERP and e-commerce systems, you enable
the communication of vital data between the two. This helps automate
once manual processes. Without the need to manually transfer
information between systems, companies can benefit from greater
efficiency and reduced errors.
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration With ERP System

What is ERP ?
 Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration With ERP System
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software are business systems
integrating all facets of a business
– Accounting, logistics, manufacturing, marketing, planning, project
management, and treasury functions
• Two major ERP vendors: Oracle and SAP
– ERP software installation costs between $1 million and $10 million
for a midsize company
• Smaller online businesses can purchase products like NetSuite that
offer ERP system subscriptions
– Called software as a service (SaaS)
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration With ERP System

FIGURE : ERP system integration

with EDI
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration With ERP System
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration With ERP System
 Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration with Payment Gateways
• Examples of specific business benefits include
• Improved business insight from real-time information generated by reports
• Lower operational costs through streamlined business processes and best
practices
• Enhanced collaboration from users sharing data in contracts, requisitions, and
purchase orders
• Improved efficiency through a common user experience across many business
functions and well-defined business processes
• Consistent infrastructure from the back office to the front office, with all business
activities having the same look and feel
• Higher user-adoption rates from a common user experience and design
• Reduced risk through improved data integrity and financial controls
 Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration with Payment Gateways
• Payment Gateway (PG) is a provider of the software service which enables a fund
transfer authorization between an eCommerce merchant and a client, charging a
percent of the transaction’s value.

• Ecommerce payment gateways are used to handle payment transaction services

through a secured gateway to make a payment for the customer orders.

• The Gateway is also responsible for securing the details of the chosen payment
method (for example, encrypting the credit card).

• To allow the payment between service providers and ecommerce store, ecommerce
payment gateways use integration services which help to connect the payment
gateways in different types according to your particular need
Development of E-commerce Website/Software:
Integration with Payment Gateways
Open Source CMS for Development of E-commerce

When you open an online shop, one of the most important decisions you mustmake
is which platform (or CMS or frameworks) you’re going to choose to design it.

To make the right choice, you must make sure that it:
• Can be set up easily
• Can be updated conveniently.
• Is inexpensive.

• There are various open source cms/frameworks developed in various

• programming languages such as PHP : Laravel, Codeigniter, Zend, Python :
• Django, Java : Grails etc.