Building an E-commerce Presence
Lesson Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
Describe the questions and the steps that should be taken in
developing an e-commerce presence.
Explain the process that should be followed in building an e-
commerce presence.
Describe the major issues surrounding the decision to
outsource site development and/or hosting.
Identify additional tools that can improve Web site
performance.
Explain the important considerations involved in developing a
mobile Web site and building mobile applications.
2
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
Things to consider:
What’s the idea?
Where’s the money?
Who and where is the target audience?
Characterize the marketplace
Where is the content coming from?
Know yourself—SWOT analysis
Develop an e-commerce presence map
Develop a timeline: Milestones
How much will this cost?
4
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
What’s the idea?
– Vision – Strategic analysis
– Mission statement – Marketing matrix
– Target audience – Development timeline
– Intended market – Preliminary budget
space
5
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
Where’s the money?
– Business model(s):
• Portal, e-tailer, content provider, transaction broker,
market creator, service provider, community provider
(social networks)
– Revenue model(s):
• Advertising, subscriptions, transaction fees, sales, and
affiliate revenue
6
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
Who and where is the target audience?
– Describing your audience
• Demographics
– Age, gender, income, location
• Behavior patterns (lifestyle)
• Consumption patterns (purchasing habits)
• Digital usage patterns
• Content creation patterns (blogs, Facebook)
• Buyer personas
7
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
Characterize the marketplace
– Demographics
– Size, growth, changes
– Structure
• Competitors
• Suppliers
• Substitute products
Where is the content coming from?
– Static or dynamic?
8
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
Know yourself—
SWOT analysis
– Once you have
conducted a SWOT
analysis, you can
consider ways to
overcome your
weaknesses and build
on your strengths.
9
SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis describes your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
Develop an e-commerce presence map
– Your potential customers use various devices at
different times during the day, and involve
themselves in different conversations depending on
what they are doing—touching base with friends,
tweeting, or reading a blog. Each of these are “touch
points” where you can meet the customer. You have
to think about how you develop a presence in these
different virtual places
11
E-commerce Presence Map
An e-commerce Web presence requires firms to consider the four different kinds of
Web presence, and the platforms and activities associated with each type of presence.
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
Develop a timeline: Milestones
– Where would you like to be a year from now?
– It’s a good idea for you to have a rough idea of the
time frame for developing your e-commerce
presence when you begin.
13
E-commerce Presence Timeline
14
Imagine Your
E-commerce Presence
How much will this cost?
– Simple Web sites: up to $5000
– Small Web start-up: $25,000 to $50,000
– Large corporate site: $100,000+ to millions
15
Components of a Web Presence Budget
While hardware and software costs have fallen dramatically, web sites face significant
design, content development, and marketing costs.
16
Building an
E-commerce Presence:
A Systematic Approach
Building an E-commerce Site:
A Systematic Approach
Most important management challenges:
– Developing a clear understanding of business
objectives
– Knowing how to choose the right technology to
achieve those objectives
18
Pieces of the E-commerce Site-building Puzzle
Building an e-commerce Web site requires that you systematically consider the many factors that go
into the process.
19
Systems Development
Life Cycle (SDLC)
Systems development life cycle (SDLC)
– methodology for understanding business objectives of a
system and designing an appropriate solution
Five major steps:
– Systems analysis/planning
– Systems design
– Building the system
– Testing
– Implementation
20
Web Site Systems
Development Life Cycle
SDLC – Phase 1:
Systems Analysis/Planning
Systems Analysis/Planning – identify business objectives,
system functionality, and information requirements. “What
do we want this e-commerce site to do for our business?”
Business objectives:
– List of capabilities you want your site to have
System functionalities:
– List of information system capabilities needed to achieve
business objectives
Information requirements:
– Information elements that system must produce in order to
achieve business objectives
22
SDLC – Phase 2:
System Design
System Design – “How can all the functionality
and information requirements be delivered?”
System design specification:
– Description of main components of a system and their
relationship to one another
Two components of system design:
Logical design – data flow diagrams, processing
functions, databases
Physical design – specifies actual physical, software
components, models, and so on 24
Logical Design for a Simple Web Site
(a) Simple Data Flow Diagram
This data flow diagram describes the flow of information requests and responses
for a simple Web site.
Physical Design for a Simple Web Site
(b) Simple Physical Design
A physical design describes the hardware and software needed to realize the logical design.
SDLC – Phase 3:
Building the System
Building the System: In-House vs. Outsourcing
Outsourcing – hiring vendors to provide services involved in
building site
Build own vs. outsourcing
– Build your own requires team with diverse skill set; choice of
software tools; both risks and possible benefits
Host own vs. outsourcing
– Hosting: Hosting company responsible for ensuring site is
accessible 24/7, for monthly fee
– Co-location: Firm purchases or leases Web server (with
control over its operation), but server is located at vendor’s
facility
27
SDLC – Phase 3:
Building the System
Building the System: In-House vs. Outsourcing
Advantages of building a site in-house include:
The ability to change and adapt the site quickly as the
market demands
The ability to build a site that does exactly what the
company needs
28
SDLC – Phase 3:
Building the System
Disadvantages of building a site in-house include:
The costs may be higher.
The risks of failure may be greater, given the complexity
of issues such as security, privacy, and inventory
management.
The process may be more time-consuming than if you had
hired an outside specialist firm to manage the effort.
Staff may experience a longer learning curve that delays
your entry into the market.
29
Choices in Building and Hosting
You have a number of alternatives to consider when building and hosting an e-commerce site.
The Spectrum of Tools for Building our Own E-commerce Site
31
Costs of Customizing E-commerce Packages
While sophisticated site development packages appear to reduce costs and increase speed
to market, as the modifications required to fit the package to your business needs rise, costs
rise rapidly.
32
Key Players: Hosting / Co- location / Cloud Services
Global Business Services
SDLC – Phase 4:
Testing
Testing is required whether the system is outsourced or built in-house.
Unit testing
– involves testing the site’s program modules one at a time.
System testing
– involves testing the site as a whole, in the same way a typical user would
when using the site.
Final acceptance testing
– requires that the firm’s key personnel and managers in marketing,
production, sales, and general management actually use the system as
installed on a test internet or intranet server.
– This acceptance test verifies that the business objectives of the system as
originally conceived are in fact working.
34
SDLC – Phase 5:
Implementation & Maintenance
Implementation and maintenance:
Maintenance is ongoing
Maintenance costs = similar to development costs
Studies of traditional systems maintenance have found that out
of the total maintenance time:
20% = debugging code and responding to emergency situations
20% = changes in reports, data files, and links to backend
databases
60% = general administration (making product and price changes
in the catalog) and making changes and enhancements to the
system
35
SDLC – Phase 5:
Implementation & Maintenance
Web Team Tasks:
1. Listen to customers’ feedback on the site and respond to
that feedback as necessary
2. Develop a systematic monitoring and testing plan to be
followed weekly to ensure all the links are operating, prices
are correct, and pages are updated.
3. Benchmarking and keeping the site current on pricing and
promotions.
Benchmarking – a process in which the site is compared with
those of competitors in terms of response speed, quality of
layout, and design
36
Factors in Web Site Optimization
Web site optimization requires that you consider three factors: page content, page generation, and
page delivery.
Other E-commerce
Site Tools
Basic Considerations
Web site design: Basic business considerations
– Enabling customers to find and buy what they need
Tools for Web site optimization
– Search engine placement
• Metatags, titles, content
• Identify market niches, localize site
• Offer expertise
• Links
• Buy ads
• Local e-commerce
39
E-commerce Web Site Features That Annoy Customers
The Eight Most Important Factors In Successful E-commerce Site Design
Tools for Interactivity &
Active Content
Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts—a set of
standards for communication between a browser and a
program on a server that allows for interaction
between the user and the server
Active Server Pages (ASP)—a Microsoft tool that also
permits interaction between the browser and the
server
Java applets—programs written in the Java
programming language that also provide interactivity
42
Tools for Interactivity &
Active Content
JavaScript—used to validate user input, such as
an e-mail address
ActiveX and VBScript—Microsoft’s version of
Java and JavaScript, respectively
Cookies—text files stored on the user’s hard
drive that provide information regarding the user
and his or her past experience at a Web site
43
Tools for Interactivity &
Active Content
Other tools:
ColdFusion
PHP, Ruby on Rails, Django
Web 2.0 design elements:
– Widgets, mashups
44
Personalization Tools
Personalization
– Ability to treat people based on personal qualities
and prior history with site
Customization
– Ability to change the product to better fit the
needs of the customer
Cookies
– Primary method to achieve personalization
45
Information Policy Set
Privacy policy
– Set of public statements declaring how site will
treat customers’ personal information that is
gathered by site
Accessibility rules
– Set of design objectives that ensure disabled users
can effectively access site
46
Developing a Mobile Web Site
& Building Mobile Applications
Developing a Mobile Web Site
& Building Mobile Applications
Three types of m-commerce software
– Mobile Web site
• Responsive Web design
– Mobile Web app
– Native app
– Hybrid app
• Runs inside native container
• App distribution
• Based on HTML5, CSS, Javascript
48
Planning & Building
a Mobile Presence
Identify business objectives, system
functionality, and information requirements
Choice:
– Mobile Web site or mobile Web app
• Less expensive
– Native app
• Can use device hardware, available offline
49
Systems Analysis for Building a Mobile Presence
50
Mobile Presence
Design Considerations
Platform constraints
– Graphics, file sizes
Mobile first design
– Desktop Web site design after mobile design
Responsive Web design (RWD)
– CSS site adjusts layout of site according to device screen
resolutions
Adaptive Web design (AWD)
– Server delivers different templates or versions of site optimized
for device
51
Unique Features That Must Be Taken Into Account
When Designing a Mobile Web Presence
Cross-Platform Mobile
App Development Tools
Objective C, Java
Low cost, open-source alternatives
– [Link]
– Codiqua
– PhoneGap
– MoSynch
– Appcelerator
53
Performance and Cost
Considerations
Mobile first design: Most efficient
Mobile Web site:
– Resizing existing Web site for mobile access is
least expensive
Mobile Web app:
– Can utilize browser API
Native app:
– Most expensive; requires more programming
54
Lesson Summary
55
Lesson Summary
E-commerce presence -- things to consider:
– What’s the idea?
– Where’s the money?
– Who and where is the target audience?
– Characterize the marketplace
– Where is the content coming from?
– Know yourself—SWOT analysis
– Develop an e-commerce presence map
– Develop a timeline: Milestones
– How much will this cost?
56
Lesson Summary
SDLC phases:
– Systems analysis/planning
– Systems design
– Building the system
– Testing
– Implementation
Other e-commerce site tools
– Tools for web site optimization
– Tools for interactivity & active content
– Personalization tools
– Information Policy Set
57
Lesson Summary
Important considerations involved in developing a
mobile Web site and building mobile applications
– It is important to understand the difference between a
mobile Web site, mobile Web apps, and native apps.
– The first step is to identify business objectives, since they
help determine which type of mobile presence is best.
– Design should take into account mobile platform
constraints.
– Developing a mobile Web site is likely to be the least
expensive option; mobile web apps require more effort
and cost; native apps are likely to be the most expensive to
develop.
58
Reference
Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2017).
E-commerce. Business. Technology.
Society. (Global / 13th ed.). Harlow, UK:
Pearson Education Limited.
59
