chapter4_buildingecommercewebsite

8/10/2019 Chapter4_BuildingECommerceWebSite

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Chapter 4Building an E-commerce Presence:Web Sites, Mobile Sites, and Apps


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Class Discussion

Tommy Hilfiger Right-Sizes Its Web Store

What are the factors you should take into accountwhen sizing a Web sites infrastructure?

Why are peak times an important factor toconsider?

What reasons were behind Hilfigers choice of ATG

for its Web site solution?How can operators of smaller sites deal with theright-sizing issue?

Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-3


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Building an E-commerce Site:

A Systematic ApproachMost important management

challenges:Developing a clear understanding of businessobjectives

Knowing how to choose the right technology toachieve those objectives



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Pieces of the Site-Building Puzzle

Main areas where you will need tomake decisions:

Human resources and organizationalcapabilitiesCreating team with skill set needed to build andmanage a successful site

Hardware/softwareTelecommunicationsSite design



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The Systems Development Life Cycle

Methodology for understandingbusiness objectives of a system and

designing an appropriate solutionFive major steps:1. Systems analysis/planning

2. Systems design3. Building the system4. Testing

5. ImplementationCopyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-6


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Web Site Systems Development Life Cycle

Figure 4.2, Page 203Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-7


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System Analysis/Planning

Business objectives:List of capabilities you want your site to have

System functionalities:List of information system capabilities neededto achieve business objectives

Information requirements:Information elements that system mustproduce in order to achieve business objectives



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Table 4.1, Page 204Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-9


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Systems Design:

Hardware and Software PlatformsSystem design specification:

Description of main components of a systemand their relationship to one another

Two components of system design:Logical design

Data flow diagrams, processing functions, databases

Physical designSpecifies actual physical, software components,

models, etc.Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-10


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Logical Design for a Simple Web Site

Figure 4.3 (a), Page 206Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-11


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Physical Design for a Simple Web Site

Figure 4.3 (b), Page 206Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-12


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Build/Host Your Own vs. Outsourcing

Outsourcing: Hiring vendors to provideservices involved in building site

Build own vs. outsourcing:Build your own requires team with diverse skill set; choice ofsoftware tools; both risks and possible benefits

Host own vs. outsourcing Hosting : Hosting company responsible for ensuring site isaccessible 24/7, for monthly fee

Co-location : Firm purchases or leases Web server (with controlover its operation), but server is located at vendors facility



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Choices in Building and Hosting

Figure 4.4 Page 207Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-14


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Insight on Business: Class Discussion

Curly Hair and Appdicted:Getting Started on the Cheap

How does a small, niche Web site becomeprofitable?

What is the primary source of income forthese kinds of sites?

What benefits are there to starting abusiness in a recession?



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Testing, Implementation, and

MaintenanceTestingUnit testing

System testingAcceptance testing

Implementation and maintenance:

Maintenance is ongoingMaintenance costs: Similar to development costsBenchmarking



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Factors in Web Site Optimization



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Web Site Budgets

From $5,000 to millions of dollars/yearComponents of budget:

System maintenanceSystem developmentContent design and development

HardwareTelecommunicationsSoftware



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Simple vs. Multi-tiered

Web Site ArchitectureSystem architecture

Arrangement of software, machinery, and tasks in aninformation system needed to achieve a specificfunctionality

Two-tierWeb server and database server

Multi-tierWeb application serversBackend, legacy databases



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Two-Tier E-commerce Architecture

Figure 4.9(a), Page 217Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-20


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Multi-tier E-commerce Architecture

Figure 4.9(b), Page 217Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-21


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Web Server Software

ApacheLeading Web server software (66% of market)Works with UNIX, Linux OSs

Microsofts Internet Information Server(IIS)

Second major Web server software (16% ofmarket)Windows-based



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Site Management Tools

Basic toolsIncluded in all Web servers, e.g.,

Verify that links on pages are still validIdentify orphan files

Third-party software for advancedmanagement

Monitor customer purchases, marketingcampaign effectiveness, etc.WebTrends Analytics 10, Google Analytics



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Dynamic Page Generation Tools

Dynamic page generation:Contents of Web page stored as objects in database andfetched when needed

Common tools: CGI, ASP, JSP, ODBCAdvantages

Lowers menu costsPermits easy online market segmentationEnables cost-free price discriminationEnables Web content management system (WCMS)



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Application Servers

Web application servers:Provide specific business functionality requiredfor a Web siteType of middleware

Isolate business applications from Web servers anddatabases

Single-function applications being replaced byintegrated software tools that combine allfunctionality needed for e-commerce site



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E-commerce Merchant Server Software

Provides basic functionality for online salesOnline catalog

List of products available on Web site

Shopping cartAllows shoppers to set aside, review, edit selections,and then make purchase

Credit card processingTypically works in conjunction with shopping cartVerifies card and puts through credit to companysaccount at checkout



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Building Your Own E-commerce Site

Options for small firms

Hosted e- commerce sites, e.g., Yahoos

Merchant SolutionsSite building toolsE-commerce templates

Open-source merchant server softwareEnables you to build truly custom sitesRequires programmer with expertise, time



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Choosing the Hardware for an

E-commerce SiteHardware platform:Underlying computing equipment that system uses toachieve e-commerce functionality

Objective:Enough platform capacity to meet peak demandwithout wasting money

Important to understand the factors thataffect speed, capacity, and scalability of a site



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Right-Sizing Your Hardware Platform:

The Demand SideDemand is the most important factoraffecting speed of site

Factors in overall demand:Number of simultaneous users in peak periodsNature of customer requests (user profile)Type of content (dynamic vs. static Web pages)

Required securityNumber of items in inventoryNumber of page requestsSpeed of legacy applications



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Degradation in Performance asNumber of Users Increases Resource Utilization

Figure 4.11(a), Page 229Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-34


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Degradation in Performance asNumber of Users Increases Number of Connections

Figure 4.11(b), Page 229Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-35


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Right-Sizing Your Hardware Platform:

The Supply SideScalability:Ability of site to increase in size as demand

warrantsWays to scale hardware:

Vertically

Increase processing power of individual componentsHorizontally

Employ multiple computers to share workload

Improve processing architectureCopyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-36


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Vertically Scaling a System



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Horizontally Scaling a System

Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

Figure 4.14, Page 232Slide 4-39


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Other E-commerce Site Tools

Web site design: Basic businessconsiderations

Enabling customers to find and buy what they need

Tools for Web site optimizationSearch engine placement

Metatags, titles, contentIdentify market niches, localize siteExpertiseLinksSearch engine adsLocal e-commerce



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Personalization Tools

PersonalizationAbility to treat people based on personalqualities and prior history with site

CustomizationAbility to change the product to better fit theneeds of the customer

Cookies:Primary method to achieve personalization



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The Information Policy Set

Privacy policySet of public statements declaring how site willtreat customers personal information that isgathered by site

Accessibility rules

Set of design objectives that ensure disabledusers can affectively access site

Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4-46Slide 4-46


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Developing a Mobile Web Presence

Three types of mobile e-commercesoftware

Mobile Web siteMobile Web appNative app

Planning and building mobile presenceAs with regular Web site, use systemsanalysis/design to identify unique and specificbusiness objectives



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Developing a Mobile Web Presence

Design considerationsPlatform constraints: Smartphone/tablet

Performance and costMobile Web site:Least expensive

Mobile app:Can utilize browser API

Native app:Most expensive; requires more programming



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Insight on Society: Class Discussion

Designing for Accessibility in aWeb 2.0 and Mobile World

Why might some merchants be reluctant to maketheir Web sites accessible to disabled Americans?

How can Web sites be made more accessible?

Should all Web sites be required by law to provideequivalent alternatives for visual and sound

content?What additional accessibility problems do mobiledevices pose?



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