2.0 Introduction E-Commerce?
The word eCommerce seems to be one of those terminologies that technology geeks use and there is a tendency for us regular mortals to be put off by ‘big grammar’. Therefore, let’s break it down to its simplest form; understand the origin of the word, and how it is used today.
E-Commerce stands for electronic commerce. The ‘electronic’ component of it comes from the use of electronic devices to engage in ‘commerce’ activities. The English word ‘commerce’ is derived from the French word of the same pronunciation ‘commerce’, which in turn was derived from the Latin word ‘commercium’. Commercium was formed by two Latin words of ‘com’ which means ‘together’ and ‘mercium’ (from ‘merx’) which means merchandise. Therefore, from the etymology of the word ‘commerce’ we can derive that the original intention of the word is the coming together to trade in merchandise.
E-Commerce started way back in the 1960s when organizations began to use Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to transfer documents of their business back and forth. The 1990s saw the emergence of online shopping businesses, which is quite a phenomenon today. It has become so convenient and easy, that anyone can shop for anything right from a living room, with just a few clicks. This has evolved more with the emergence of smartphones, were now, you can shop from anywhere and anytime, with a wireless device connected to the Internet. Now you can search for almost any product or service online, without having to go anywhere physically. The history of E-commerce can be traced back to the days of invention of electronics,
electricity and the invention of the world wide web. But could be said that it came into existence in the year 1991 after the internet became usable for commercial purposes.
The E-commerce involved the usage of technologies like Electronic Data Transfer (EDI) and the Electronic Funds Transfer for the commercial Transaction. Exchange of business data in an understandable format is called the EDI and anteceded the internet today.
In the 1980's there was an intensification of the credit cards, ATMs and telephone banking. This marked the beginning of E-commerce. And in the early 90's there was an enterprise resource planning, data warehousing and data mining. Though the internet was quite popular in the early days, there weren't enough security protocols which were developed at later stages in 1994. This was a time when the history of E-commerce reached new heights and the security protocols permitted easy, rapid and persistent access of the internet. There was a web browser developed in 1992 called the MOSAIC BROSWER which was named NETSCAPE. The history of
E-commerce had broadened after the invention of this browser.
North American business-to-business E-commerce transaction grew from $11.5 billion in 1998 to $44.5 billion in 2000.
2.0.1 RELEVANCE OF ECOMMERCE IN OUR SOCIETY
At the close of the 20th century, retail transactions made up the largest part of E-commerce. Consumers purchased devices, airline tickets, food, clothes and other commodities over the internet. E-commerce.
E-commerce technology is different, more powerful than previous technologies, brings fundamental changes to commerce and It's a sector that is currently in growth.
It’s relevance in the society includes;
1. It serves as a boost in productivity for each individual and by extension a boost in the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
2. Reduced prices on goods and services due to standardization of information 3. More disposable income to households from savings on standardized prices
4. Establishment and growth of more local organizations due to increased market access 5. Job creation as a direct consequence of the establishment of more local organizations.
6. It encourages the adoption of an easy internet life. E-commerce business operates on the internet platform and today with the internet’s power, you could get far more customers than you could by running an actual shop.
7. E-commerce business reduces destination barriers. With the internet, distance never becomes an issue because the consumer can buy anything that he wants with the click of a mouse.
8. It helps people to actually perform more activities within a limited space of time. 9. Helps in reducing total expenses of citizens in a society. When compared to running an
10. E-Commerce stores are known to offer goods and services that are equal in price and sometimes even cheaper than those found in traditional stores. Essentially, e-commerce stores are now contributing to the democratization of prices in Nigeria.
According to a July 2014 report from the Business Advisory Division of Phillips Consulting Limited online shopping in Nigeria increased from N49.9billion in 2010 to N78 billion in 2012. With consistent year-on-year growth of 25% in this sector, it is expected that online shopping will hit N152.3 billion by 2015.
Data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector (FMCG) of the economy accounted for 9% of Nigeria’s GDP which is more than the contribution of the Oil & Gas sectors to GDP and second only behind Agriculture.
The growth in the ecommerce industry seems more remarkable when you consider that only 38% of the Nigerian population has embraced online shopping.
2.1 E-COMMERCE FRAME-WORK?
The term e-commerce framework is related to software frameworks for e-commerce applications. They offer an environment for building e-commerce applications quickly.
E-Commerce frameworks are flexible enough to adapt them to your specific requirements. As result, they are suitable for building virtually all kinds of online shops and e-commerce related (web) applications.
An e-commerce framework must;
1. allow replacing all parts of the framework code 2. forbid changes in the framework code itself 3. contain bootstrap code to start the application 4. be extensible by user-written code
E-Commerce frameworks should
1. define the general program flow 2. consist of reusable components 3. be organized in functional domains
Furthermore, they implement the general program flow e.g. how the checkout process works. Contrary to monolithic shop systems, existing program flow can not only be extended but completely changed according to your needs.
E-Commerce framework architecture
E-commerce frameworks must be based on a strong architectural model. Usually, they make heavy use of interfaces and design patterns like
Dependency Injection (make components independent of used object implementation) Factories (create objects at a central place that instantiates the actual implementation) Decorators (dynamically add functionality to existing objects)
Publish/Subscribe model (notify listening objects about changes instead of polling for updates)
DESIGN PATTERN
A “design pattern” is re-usable solution that solves similar software design problems in an elegant way. They require programming language templates which enforce public class methods and their signatures called “interfaces”.
The basic requirement is independent, side-effect free components that form the building blocks. One or more components care about the functionality of a business “domain”. Such a domain can be the HTML front-end, a JSON REST API and the administration interface.
2.1.2 BASIC CONCEPT AND THEORY OF E-COMMERCE
Some fundamentals used in business economics and strategies dominating sales. Focus on these basics and evaluate your chances to build effective digital products.
Meaning of e-commerce
E-Commerce stands for electronic commerce. E-commerce involves transactions which provide customers with goods or services are done via electronic devices and the internet. This channel of communication adds to the features of data management, advertising, sales channels etc. which frame a full cycle of commerce operations, namely payments, delivery, and refunds. E-commerce industry has witnessed a boom and opens opportunities for not only e-trade but even online auctions and direct sales platforms. It has a wide domain and includes e-banking through e-wallets and e-money as well as e-marketing and many other aspects that are quite useful for users.
E-commerce activity is influenced by the quality of the product or service, content, channels used for providing information on the electronic medium. So, it is evident that we can’t ignore UI/UX design as it is these logical and systematic transitions, fluid micro interactions, prompt feedback, catchy presentation and quick payment flow, which will affect the scaling profits of the business dwelling on an e-commerce platform. Designers should always keep their focus on operational simplicity, effectiveness.
eCommerce websites
These are online portals that facilitate online transactions of goods and services through means of the transfer of information and funds over the Internet. In the early days, e-Commerce was done partially through emails and phone calls. Now, with a single website, anything and everything that a transaction needs, can be executed online.
There are different e-Commerce websites for every field. The most common type is retail selling, but there are many others too, like auction websites, business-to-business services, music portals, consultancy websites, finance management websites, and the like.
Different Types of eCommerce
Different e-commerce websites are labelled or referred to differently, based on the function they fulfil.
Business-to-Business (B2B): Electronic transactions of goods and services between companies.
Business-to-Consumer (B2C): Electronic transactions of goods and services between companies and consumers.
Consumer-to- Consumer (C2C): Electronic transactions of goods and services between consumers, mostly through a third party.
Consumer-to-Business (C2B): Electronic transactions of goods and services where individuals offer products or services to companies.
Business-to-Administration (B2A): Electronic transactions of goods and services between cSompanies and public administrations.
Consumer-to-Administration (C2A): Electronic transactions of goods and services between individuals and public administrations.
Web Server
A web server is used to host an e-commerce website. All the Html, JavaScript, PHP files, databases, media files that make up the entire website are stored on this server. The web server runs on Windows or Linux operating system. Managing a web server is a very specific job. The website development companies host the site on their own web server or pay a hosting company to provide space on a secure web server.
Server Software
When a user visits any website on a web browser, the web server knows the client is requesting some specific information. So it processes that request and serves the correct files to the client. The web browser then displays these files to the user.
There are many types of server software available including application software, database server, file server software and cloud computing software. The popular web server software includes Apache and Windows IIS. Server software can either use on a physical server or on a virtual / cloud server.
Web Tools
A web authoring tool is used to create the front end of an e-commerce website. They range from basic HTML text editors (like Notepad++) to more complex graphic authoring tools and CMS (content management system) with built-in frameworks and debugging tools.
Html files are created by Dreamweaver along with the CSS (cascading style sheet) which enhance the visual appearance of the site. Another web authoring tool would be Visual Studio .net that can be used to make the sites which have integrated databases in it. Graphic design packages are also web authoring tools which design the skin for a user interface.
Database System
A database is an integral part of an e-commerce website. The database is used to store the information about the products and services of the website such as pricing, description, image, details, and sales. In addition to this, the customer details are also stored in the database like what they ordered, their payment details, shipping details, and contact information.
It is necessary to program the website to connect securely to the database so that all the orders are processed correctly and your business runs smoothly. Technologies like PHP and MySQL are the communication route between the website and the DBMS (database management system).
Networking
TCP (transfer control protocol) and IP (internet protocol) define as how computers should connect with each other through the internet and how they share information. Common TCP/IP protocols are HTTPS, HTTP and FTP. We use these protocols to access the website without even realizing it. FTP (file transfer protocol) used to download files from a browser.
HTTPS (where the “S” stands for security) responsible for the secure communication between a server and a browser like an account information or personal information.
Browser Compatibility
A web browser is a software application that is used to locate, receive and display content received from the web servers. Popular web browsers include Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Safari. Web developers and Web development agencies test the website see how it displays on multiple browsers across multiple devices and screen sizes before launching the website.
The Tip: To analyze website traffics, use tools like Google Analytics to get an idea as what browsers people are using and which one is the most popular.
Ports
Ports allow one device to connect with the other through a different and unique IP address. A device can have more than one port.
Port 25 (SMTP) is usually reserved for email. It is used to transmit data from remote email servers. If that port is blocked no emails can be sent. Some other common port numbers are 80(HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), 21 (FTP), 22 (SSH). Firewalls can often block a port to tighten the security.
Domain Names
Domain names link to a company or a brand. Successful e-commerce companies have
recognizable domain names. If you have any smaller business then it is best to select the domain name as per your business name. This would help to rank highly in search engines.
If a business becomes successful online, it is important to protect the brand by doing multiple registrations of domain names such as .com, .net, .uk, .org, .co
EVOLUTION OF E-COMMERCE SYSTEMS
Since the beginning of (internet) e-commerce around 1995, a lot has changed on the technology side. The first generation of e-commerce systems evolved from existing ERP and related
systems. This was followed by the generation of standalone shop systems between 2004 and 2008. E-commerce frameworks are the latest generation of e-commerce systems and started around 2012.
Hybris, the shop system owned by SAP is one of the representatives of the generation. It’s strongly connected to the SAP ERP system and Hybris is mainly a shop front-end for SAP. Customer relationship (CRM) and content management (CMS) tools are available in the ERP system but very limited.
The Magento shop system represents the generation of standalone e-commerce systems. They usually contain CRM and CMS and some other functionality but also only at a very basic level. They might be enough for the smallest shops but are unusable for shop owners who run for real profits.
e-commerce related tasks, they connect to specialized systems and exchange data in both ways. Thus, shop owners can choose the best systems for their needs.
