This page is a summary of key concepts relating to the Internet and electronic commerce.
Types of E-Commerce Applications
 | B2C (Business to Consumer) - relationship between a business to convey goods and or services to a consumer via the Internet. Includes Customer Relationship Management (CRM) which includes customer service and support, data collection and analysis, marketing, and sales applications. |
| B2B (Business to Business) - relationship between 2 or more businesses using the Internet for the relationship channel. Two models: 1) Vertical - provides goods/services across industries; 2) Horizontal - goods/services within an industry. |
| M-C (Mobile Commerce) - specialized aspect of e-commerce based on use of mobile telecommunications systems. |
| C2C (Consumer to Consumer) - conveyance of goods/services via the Internet between traditional consumers via auctions conducted by third parties (e.g., E-Bay). |
| C2B (Consumer to Business) - consumers negotiate with businesses to establish pricing (e.g., airfares, etc.). |
Money and the Net
Key Terminology
| EDI - Electronic Data Interchange: exchange of documents (e.g., orders, quotes, bills of lading, etc.), typically between companies. |
| EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer: transfer of electronic payments (e.g. direct deposit of pay) across secure networks. |
| VAN - Value Added Network: privately maintained networks dedicated to EDI between business partners. |
| Digital Signature: electronic signature based on encryption and the use of sender's private key. |
| Private Key: used to encrypt a message but kept private to the originator. |
| Encryption: process of encoding information. |
| SSL - Secure Sockets Layer: provides authentication between servers and browsers, operates between the application and TCP/IP transport levels of of OSI. Often implemented as an HTTPS service. |
Key requirements for payment systems:
| Confidentiality - disclosure to those with a clearance AND a need to know. |
| Integrity - information or use of information will not be altered from its original purpose. |
| Authentication - proof that parties involved in a transaction are who they claim to be. |
| Authorization - proof that funds exist to support the transaction. |
| Privacy - protection of the buyer based on use of a receipt only for tracking purposes. |
Types of electronic payments:
| Credit cards - uses name, number, and expiration date - requires encryption to protect the information. |
| Wallet - support (helper) application that communicates credit card information from the browser to the server and onto the credit card agency. Often uses PINs identify the credit card user. |
| Electronic Checking - acts as an electronic version of a paper check. Advantages include encoding, speed, and accuracy. |
| Digital Cash - often based on a token system (bank gives tokens for money) which are managed/used electronically. Ideal for small transactions, may have regulatory issues (based on amount and how used). |
EDI Notes:
| Been around since the 60's |
| Often built on large private networks (high security, reliability, often monolithic). |
| Often use complex encryption algorithms (all documents are encrypted for security) during transmission. |
| Web offers opportunity but issues include many security issues. |
The Online Catalog
Critical to e-commerce sites!
Usually built on a database - two critical issues:
| Keeping it current |
| Providing user accessibility |
Shopping Carts
Tracking the sale in real time. Keep track of items that the user has indicated an interest in. May include: product name, identification number, quantity, quality. User will use this to conclude a transaction. User may walk away from transaction (sale is not complete until purchase is made).
Web servers, by nature, are asymmetric -- they do not keep track of information from page to page.
Shopping carts may have to span many hits (pages) till user is finished.
Various information tracking strategies can be used to implement a shopping cart:
| Cookies on user machine |
| Dynamic data storage (session persistent variables) |
| Database storage (via database or file) |
User perspective:
| Critical - must be easy to use. | ||||
| Assume nothing about the end user (technology skill or product familiarity). | ||||
| Various shopping strategies may be used (even more than one):
| ||||
| Text and graphics are common techniques. Graphics can be time consuming to download and may be misleading. |
Developer perspective:
| Need to correlate catalog to inventory (or availability of inventory). |
| Need to keep catalog current (purge old inventory). |
| Keep information current (pricing, availability). |
| Image-based systems can be complex to organize. |
| May need to correlate FAQs. |
Shopping cart functions (summary):
| Present organized strategy for user to "browse" products. |
| Allow user to add, delete, and update selections (e.g., change quantities, etc.). |
| Allow user to walk away and terminate shopping (do not tie up system resources). |
Ordering and Fulfillment
Correlate shopping cart to user information, payment, and shipping.
User information:
| Name, address, phone, etc.. - enough to validate customer identity and ship the product, be careful about prying. |
| Shipping destination (if different). |
|
Product information (shopping cart - see above):
| Items |
| Quantity |
| Qualitative factors if applicable |
| Shipping instructions (type delivery service) |
| System generated cost (including delivery, taxes, etc.) |
Payment information:
| Method of payment |
| Card number, expiration date, digital cash account number, etc. |
| Secure mode should be used to send information. |
Conclusion/follow-up:
| Receipt generation. |
| E-mail follow-up for verification. |
| Delivery tracking information. User may want to check order status, delivery information. |
User perspective:
| Cookies/database may be used to keep customer information to speed up process (privacy issues apply). |
| Too much prying may be a turn-off. |
| Do not expect users to understand security issues. |
Implementation issues:
| Privacy, authentication are critical. |
| Payment follow-up (immediate, delayed) -- need to validate/approve prior to shipping. |
| Need to verify product availability. |
| Database issues - information privacy, accessibility to warehouse and shipping. |
Electronic Customer Support
An extension of classic customer support activities:
| Warranty registration |
| FAQ, product information, technical support |
| Repair initiation and tracking |
| Update (e.g., software drivers, files, etc.) |
| User notification (via e-mail) |
Issues:
| Similar to catalog -- accessibility/"searchability" (user), keeping it current (implementation) |
| Security of access (only let the buyers in) |