Contents

MODULE-1 INTRODUCTION TO E-COMMERCE ....................................................................................... 2

MODULE 2: TYPES OF E-COMMERCE ...................................................................................................... 5
MODULE 3. FRAMEWORKS AND ARCHITECTURES ................................................................................. 9
MODULE 4: ECM PRESENCE: WEBSITES, MOBILE SITES AND APPS ...................................................... 13
MODULE 5 IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE .................................................................................................. 18
MODULE 6: SECURITY & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT ....................................................................... 19
MODULE 7. E-PAYMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 25
MODULE 8. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................ 29
MODULE-1 INTRODUCTION TO E-COMMERCE
• Commerce- Commerce is a division of trade or production that deals with the
exchange of goods and services from the producer to the final consumer. It comprises
trading something of economic value such as goods, services, information, or money
between two or more entities.
• E-Commerce- Commonly known as Electronic Marketing it is the process of buying,
selling, or exchanging products, services, or information via computer networks. E-
commerce is the purchasing, selling and exchanging goods and services over
computer networks (internet) through which transaction or terms of sale are
performed Electronically”.
• E-Business- The term <E-Business> was coined by IBM’s marketing and Internet
team in 1996.” E-Business refers to business with help of the Internet i.e. doing
business with the help of the Internet network. Electronic business, or E-Business, is
the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all
the activities of the business.
Commerce constitutes the exchange of products and services between businesses,
groups, and individuals and can be seen as one of the essential activities of any
business. Electronic commerce focuses on the use of ICT to enable the external
activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups, and other
businesses
• History-??
• Process of E-commerce-
1. A consumer uses a Web browser to connect to the home page of a
merchant's Web site on the Internet.
2. The consumer browses the catalog of products featured on the site and
selects items to purchase. The selected items are placed in the electronic
equivalent of a shopping cart.
3. When the consumer is ready to complete the purchase of selected items, she
provides a bill-to and ship-to address for purchase and delivery
4. When the credit card number is validated and the order is completed at the
Commerce Server site, the merchant's site displays a receipt confirming the
customer's purchase.
5. The Commerce Server site then forwards the order to a Processing Network
for payment processing and fulfillment.
• Why use E-Commerce-
1. Global reach- it expands the marketplace to national and international
markets
2. Low Entry Cost- with minimum capital outlay a company can easily and
quickly locate the best suppliers, more customers, and the most suitable
business partners worldwide without relying on physical infrastructures like
stores
3. Cost reduction- decrease in the cost of creating, processing, distributing,
sorting, and retrieving paper-based information, high printing and mailing
costs, and other transaction costs
4. Vendor specialization- it allows a high degree of specialization that is not
economically feasible in the physical world example a store that sells only dog
 toys (dogtoys.com) can operate in cyberspace but in the physical world such a
store would not have enough customers
5. Secure market share- ECommerce activities mostly happen online.
Eventually, an online store has more visibility, and a vast number of people
from any place can easily access the eCommerce site. As a result, you can
generate more leads, constant traffic growth, and finally, a loyal group of
customers.
• Advantages of E-commerce
a) Advantages to organizations
1. Using e-commerce, organizations can expand their market to national
and international markets with minimum capital investment. An
organization can easily locate more customers, the best suppliers, and
suitable business partners across the globe.
2. E-commerce improves the brand image of the company.
3. E-commerce helps organizations to provide better customer service.
4. E-commerce helps to simplify business processes and makes them
faster and more efficient.
5. E-commerce reduces the paperwork.
6. E-commerce increases the productivity of organizations
b) Advantages to customers
1. It provides 24x7 support. Customers can enquire about a product or
service and place orders anytime, anywhere from any location.
2. E-commerce application provides users with more options and quicker
delivery of products.
3. E-commerce application provides users with more options to compare
and select cheaper and better options.
4. A customer can put review comments about a product and can see
what others are buying or see the review comments of other customers
before making a final purchase.
5. E-commerce provides options for virtual auctions.
6. It provides readily available information. A customer can see the
relevant detailed information within seconds, rather than waiting for
days or weeks.
7. E-Commerce increases the competition among organizations and as a
result, organizations provide substantial discounts to customers.
c) Advantages to society
1. Customers need not travel to shop for a product, thus less traffic on the
road and low air pollution.
2. E-commerce helps in reducing the cost of products, so less affluent
people can also afford the products.
3. E-commerce has enabled rural areas to access services and products,
which are otherwise not available to them.
• Disadvantages of e-commerce
a) Technical disadvantages
1. There can be a lack of system security, reliability, or standards owing
to poor implementation of e-commerce.
 2. The software development industry is still evolving and keeps
changing rapidly.
3. In many countries, network bandwidth might cause an issue.
4. Special types of web servers or other software might be required by
the vendor, setting the e-commerce environment apart from network
servers.
5. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to integrate an e-commerce software
or website with existing applications or databases.
6. There could be software/hardware compatibility issues,
b) Non-technical disadvantages
1. Initial cost: The cost of creating/building an e-commerce application
in-house may be very high.
2. User resistance: Users may not trust the site being an unknown
faceless seller. Such mistrust makes it difficult to convince traditional
users to switch from physical stores to online/virtual stores.
3. Security/ Privacy: It is difficult to ensure security or privacy on online
transactions.
4. Lack of touch or feel of products during online shopping is a
drawback.
5. E-commerce applications are still evolving and changing rapidly.
6. Internet access is still not cheaper and is inconvenient to use for many
potential customers, for example, those living in remote villages.
• 5C’s of E-Commerce
1. Commerce- In electronic marketplaces there is a matching of customers and
suppliers, an establishment of the transaction terms, and the facilitation of
exchange transactions. With the broad move to Web-enabled enterprise
systems with relatively uniform capabilities as compared to legacy systems, a
universal supply-chain linkage has been created.
2. Collaboration- The Web is a vast nexus, or network, of relationships among
firms and individuals. More or less formal collaborations are created or emerge
on the Web to bring together individuals engaged in knowledge work in a
manner that limits the constraints of space, time, national boundaries, and
organizational affiliation.
3. Communication- As an interactive medium, the Web has given rise to a
multiplicity of media products. This universal medium has become a forum for
self-expression (as in blogs) and self-presentation.
4. Connection- Common software development platforms, many of them in the
open-source domain, enable a wide spectrum of firms to avail themselves of the
benefits of the already developed software, which is, moreover, compatible
with that of their trading and collaborating
5. Computation- Internet infrastructure enables large-scale sharing of
computational and storage resources, thus leading to the implementation of the
decades-old idea of utility computing.
MODULE 2: TYPES OF E-COMMERCE
• Business model- a business model is a method of doing business by which a
company can generate revenue to sustain itself. Business models are a subset of
business plan
• Business-to-Business (B2B)- B2B stands for Business to Business. It consists of the
largest form of eCommerce. This model defines the Buyer and seller as two different
entities. It is like a manufacturer issuing goods to a retailer or wholesaler. example
Dell sells computers and other associated accessories online, but it does not
manufacture all the products that are sold. So, Dell procures the products that they
don’t manufacture from other businesses, Heinz selling ketchup to Mcdonalds’.
• Business-to-Consumer (B2C)- It is the model taking business and consumer
interactions. The basic concept of this model is to sell the product online to
consumers. B2c is the direct trade between the company and consumers. It provides
direct selling online. For example: if you want to sell goods and services to customers
so that anybody can purchase any products directly from the supplier’s website, Dell
selling me a laptop.
• B2G E-commerce- Business-to-government e-commerce or B2G is generally defined
as commerce between companies and the public sector. It refers to the use of the
Internet for public procurement, licensing procedures, and other government-related
operations. Business pay taxes, file reports, or sell goods and services to Govt.
agencies.
• Business-to-Employee (B2E)- Business-to-employee (B2E) electronic commerce
uses an intra-business network that allows companies to provide products and/or
services to their employees. Typically, companies use B2E networks to automate
employee-related corporate processes.
1. Online Insurance Policy Management
2. Online Supply Request
3. Special Employee Offers
4. Employee Benefits Reporting
• Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)- Many sites are offering free classifieds, auctions,
and forums where individuals can buy and sell thanks to online payment systems like
PayPal/PayTM/GPay where people can send and receive money online with ease.
Example- eBay's auction service is a great example of where person-to-person
transactions take place every day since 1995. Online Auctions like OLX & Quikr
• M-Commerce- M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods
and services through wireless technology-i.e., handheld devices such as cellular
telephones example Mobile Ticketing, Information Services, Mobile Banking
• Types of E-commerce businesses
1. Access provider- The access provider ensures (technical) access to the
Internet. We should have in mind, that somebody has to pay the access
provider so that we can get access to the Internet. In many areas of the world,
it is a privatized business, though sometimes in the political arena access to the
Internet is declared as a modern human right. Traditional business models,
which are somehow similar to the business of an access provider, are operators
of technical infrastructure, e.g. telephone networks, car highways, or railways.
 2. Search engine- Search engines are the most used software on the Internet.
They are the starting step for many Internet-based activities, not only but of
course, also if somebody is looking for a business opportunity. A traditional
and similar business model is given by the so-called “yellow pages”, where
firms are listed and grouped according to branches and locations.
3. Online shop- An online shop is a website, where you can buy products or
services, e.g. books or office supplies. Traditional and similar business models
are direct mail selling (no shop facility, offering of goods via a printed catalog,
ordering by letters or telephone calls) and factory outlets (producer has own
shop facility, does not sell his products via merchants).
4. Content provider-Content providers offer content, a completely digital good,
e.g. information, news, documents, music. A specific variant of a content
provider is the information broker, who is a trader of information. Traditional
business models in this area are newspaper publishers, magazine publishers,
radio and television broadcasting services, or publishing companies.
5. Portal- A portal is a website, which provides a set of services to the user so
that he/she sometimes thinks that he/she is using a single but very complex
software system. Portals are often used in big organizations to control the
access of employees to the different ICT systems; each employee gets a
specific menu of “his”/“her” applications. Also, content providers use portals,
though in the narrow sense that they only deliver content and no application
systems.
6. Online marketplace/electronic mall- An online marketplace is a website,
where suppliers and potential customers can come together like on a real
marketplace in a small town. An E-Mall is a set of online shops, which can be
found on one website. Examples of traditional and similar business models are
shopping centers, omnibus orders (One person is customer of the shop and
buys for a group of people), marketplaces and buying associations.
7. Virtual community- A virtual community is a platform for communication
and the exchange of experience. It is similar to a virtual club or association.
8. Information broker- An information broker collects, aggregates, and
provides information, e.g. information concerning products, prices,
availabilities or market data, economical data, and technical information.
Traditional and similar business models are magazines running tests of
computers, cars, consumer goods, and restaurants.
9. Transaction broker- A transaction broker is a person or an organization to
execute sales transactions. Sometimes those brokers are used to hide the real
customer from the supplier. A transaction broker is an agent who is an expert
in a specific area and can take over parts of a business.
10. Online service provider/cloud service provider (CSP)- An online service
provider provides services, which can be run electronically, e.g., application
software services or ICT infrastructure services like storage or backup
services. If this organization uses so-called cloud technologies, it is called a
cloud service provider
• CRM- Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or
other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data
 analysis to study large amounts of information. The goal is simple: Improve business
relationships to grow your business. A CRM system helps companies stay connected
to customers, streamline processes, and improve profitability
• B2B Challenges-
1. Brand is not digital-first- A terrible social media presence that either only
contains posts about the company and links to news articles about the
company, or takes months to message someone back and ignores comments,
unnoticeable technical issues in the back end that are ruining its visibility in
search results, website takes very long time to load and once loaded the
required information is not there
2. cutting costs on marketing technologies- Marketers cannot execute as well
or as efficiently without content creation tools, content management tools,
marketing automation systems, account-based marketing systems, lead
management tools, data management tools and reporting tools.
3. Giving competitors and distributors website traffic-Many third-party
distributors have already taken the lead in the B2B space online. They are
outranking the actual brands in the search results. They are paying for
shopping and text ads on Google and Bing to show before users even see your
organically ranking pages.
4. Fulfilment challenge- The values of orders for the B2B e-commerce are quite
higher in comparison to the B2C transactions, which shows that the sellers buy
the products in the bulk form from the B2B marketplace. However, customers
cannot place multiple single products in their shopping cart at the same time
with the default Magento feature. Hence, simplify B2B order placement to
drive more sales.
5. Payment challenge- the B2B transactions are quite large in volume and the
company can’t spend such a large amount so the buyers request some
repayment period. Some companies have investors while others have no funds
for this credit line extension. It has been noted that the credit lines can bring a
boost in the average order size that leads to the reorders. The B2B marketplace
can introduce a system that shows the credibility of the buyer and allow them
a grace period on such a basis.
6. Pricing challenge- Pricing can be account specific, volume related and may
also contain promotions, which might be order, brand, customer, channel or
time specific. The pricing needs to be aligned to the back end billing engine
and, depending upon the accounting rules applied, may require an exact match
to a number of decimal points. Price increases, either industry or tax
motivated, are having an impact on the re-ordering process and are forcing
companies to think carefully about the relationship between their back end
systems and the ordering engine. In a global platform, pricing tends to be
localised, and may be at the discretion of the salesman. From a platform and
architecture point of view, customers, prices and products are normally
mastered in the back end billing and ERP systems, often with a manual
override if bespoke prices have been agreed with a customer.
• B2C challenges
1. Competition- staying at par with the competitors is a major challenge that
eCommerce business owners need to overcome. They need to keep up with the
pricing, products, and services – all competing for the same target audience.
For B2C brands, social media is their top channel for acquiring new
customers. But with increasing competition, the cost per 1,000 impressions on
social platforms like Facebook has gone up dramatically. More companies are
fighting for the attention of the same people. Furthermore, because the data is
not shared in a uniform way across platforms, companies may invest heavily
in one channel without realizing that it doesn’t yield high-value customers.
2. Customer Identity - Verifying the right identity of a visitor to the website is
another major challenge faced by many eCommerce store owners. There are
chances the information they enter is not genuine or they are not interested in
buying from your store. This happens mostly in cases of cash-on-delivery
purchases. If a customer decides to add fake contact details to order a cash-on-
delivery item, it causes a major revenue loss for the seller
3. Abandoned Shopping Cart - Statistics suggest that nearly 68% of shoppers
abandon their cart before making a purchase. This can be a huge loss for
merchants, especially for those in the small to mid-size segments. Some
industries witness cart abandonment as high as 83.6%.
4. Sustainability- Nowadays, more and more people are inclined towards
sustainability. They prefer shopping from brands that take a sustainable
approach in making sales. Many eCommerce businesses are still struggling
with making a sustainable brand as a number of factors are taken into account
when it comes to contributing to a healthier planet. Returned items alone cause
carbon emissions equivalent to burning around 250 Kgs of coal, and the
defective ones are dumped in landfills causing further pollution.
5. Product Returns and Refunds- over 60% of customers look at online store’s
return policy before making a purchase, 48% of shoppers will come again to
shop if the returns and exchange process is seamless. It’s a tricky scenario for
merchants to ensure customer satisfaction when they want to return an item
they did not want to keep.
6. Omnichannel Shopping Experience It’s a major challenge for eCommerce
businesses to match up to the expectations of shoppers where they want to
avail ordering from multiple platforms- e-com marketplaces such as Amazon,
Instagram store, Facebook store, and of course the good old-fashioned brick
and mortar store. The omnichannel shopping experience has become a must
deliverable for a growing business to avoid opportunity losses. New
businesses that have set up these channels have an edge over their competitors.
7. Retention- Product analytics platform like Amplitude that highlights what
user actions are associated with retention. By tracking users across multiple
channels, B2C companies can deploy retention campaigns based on the
frequency of purchases or specific activities.
MODULE 3. FRAMEWORKS AND ARCHITECTURES
• Fundamental Sales Process
a) Information step:
1. Search for products and services: by the customer,
2. Search for potential suppliers: by the customer,
3. Search for potential customers: by the supplier,
4. Communicate an offering: by the supplier,
5. Communicate a need: by the customer
b) Initiation step:
1. Get into contact: either with the customer or the supplier,
2. Request for delivery or service: by the customer,
3. Offer for delivery or service: by the supplier,
4. Assess supplier: by the customer,
5. Assess customer: by the supplier,
c) Contract conclusion step:
1. Negotiate offer: by supplier and customer,
2. Negotiate contract: by supplier and customer,
3. Place an order: by the customer,
4. Confirm order: by the supplier
d) Delivery/fulfillment step:
1. Proceeding for physical goods:
2. Pack goods: by the supplier,
3. Load goods: by the supplier,
4. Ship goods: by the shipping agent,
5. Unload goods: by the shipping agent,
6. Unpack goods: by the customer or the shipping agent or a specific
service provider,
7. Assemble complex equipment at the customer’s site: by the shipping
agent or a specific service provider,
8. Accept delivery: by the customer,
9. Approve contract fulfillment to authorize billing: by the customer
e) Proceeding for physical services:
1. Build and maintain service fulfillment capability: by the supplier,
2. Come together physically because the customer must be an active part
in service delivery: by the supplier and the customer,
3. Define service levels: by the supplier, possibly after a negotiation with
the customer,
4. Add service level agreement to contract: by the supplier,
5. Accept service fulfillment: by the customer,
6. Approve contract fulfillment to authorize billing: by the customer
f) Proceeding for digital goods:
1. Send goods to the customer via the net or provide for download: by the
supplier,
2. Protect goods against unauthorized access (see chapter 6 of this book):
by the supplier,
3. Accept delivery or confirm successful download: by the customer,
 4. Approve contract fulfillment to authorize billing: by the customer,
g) Proceeding for Digital Services
1. Provide service via the net: by the supplier,
2. Define service levels: by the supplier, possibly after a negotiation with
the customer,
3. Add service level agreement to contract: by the supplier,
4. Initiate service provision: by the customer,
5. Accept service fulfillment: by the customer,
6. Approve contract fulfillment to authorize billing: by the customer,
h) Billing/invoicing step:
1. Generate invoice: by the supplier,
2. Generate attachments to invoice (e.g. protocol of service fulfilment, the
protocol of final customer’s approval, certificates, etc.): by the supplier,
3. Forward invoice to customer (via the Web or via postal services): by the
supplier,
i) Payment step:
1. Get money from the customer: by the supplier or a financial services
provider,
j) Service/support step:
1. Provide additional information for the customer (e.g. user manual,
technical documentation, etc.): by the supplier,
2. Conduct customer support (e.g. recommendation for usage, FAQ, etc.):
by the supplier,
3. Manage complaints: by the supplier,
4. Repair: by the supplier or a specific service provider,
5. Manage returns (if repair is necessary, a wrong product has been
delivered or the customer wants to “roll back” the business): by the
supplier in cooperation with the customer,
6. Conduct maintenance (may be part of the product or maybe a separate
service offered by the supplier): by the supplier or a specific service
provider.
• Technology Elements of E-Commerce
1. TCP/IP- TCP/IP is an abbreviation and stands for Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol. This twin protocol describes the transportation of
data on the Internet and was introduced in 1978 by the USA-DoD
(Department of Defence) as a standard for heterogeneous networks. TCP
establishes connections among sending and receiving computers and
handles assembly and reassembly of packets while IP provides the Internet’s
addressing scheme and is responsible for the delivery of packets TCP/IP is
part of the following 5-layer protocol:
a) Network Interface Layer- responsible for placing packets on and
receiving them from the network medium
b) Internet Layer- responsible for addressing, packaging, and routing
messages on the Internet
c) Transport Layer- responsible for providing communication with
other protocols within TCP/IP suite
 d) Application Layer- includes protocols used to provide user
services or exchange data
2. Domain Name System (DNS)- system for expressing numeric IP addresses
(cnet. com’s numeric IP is 216.239.113.101)
3. Uniform Resource Locator (URL)- the address used by a web browser to
identify the location of the content on the Web
4. DNS servers- DNS servers are databases that keep track of IP addresses and
domain names on the Internet
5. Root servers- Root servers are central directories that list all domain names
currently in use for specific domains; for example, the .com root server.
DNS servers consult root servers to look up unfamiliar domain names when
routing traffic.
6. client/server Computing- a model of computing in which client computers
are connected in a network together with one or more servers
7. client- a powerful desktop computer that is part of a network
8. server- networked computer dedicated to common functions that the client
computers on the network need
9. Software as a service (SaaS): Customers use software hosted by the vendor
on the vendor’s cloud infrastructure and delivered as a service over a
network. Leading SaaS examples are Google Apps, which provides common
business applications online, and Salesforce.com, which provides customer
relationship management and related software services over the Internet.
Both charge users an annual subscription fee, although Google Apps also
has a pared-down free version. Users access these applications from a web
browser, and the data and software are maintained on the providers’ remote
servers
10. Platform as a service (PaaS): Customers use infrastructure and
programming tools supported by the CSP to develop their own applications.
For example, IBM offers Bluemix for software development and testing on
its cloud infrastructure. Another example is Salesforce.com’s Force.com,
which allows developers to build applications that are hosted on its servers
as a service
11. public cloud - third-party service providers that own and manage large,
scalable data centers that offer computing, data storage, and high-speed
Internet to multiple customers who pay for only the resources they use
12. private cloud- provides similar options as public cloud but only to a single
tenant hybrid cloud offers customers both a public cloud and a private cloud
13. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)- the Internet protocol used for
transferring web pages
14. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)- the Internet protocol used to send
mail to a server
15. Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3)- a protocol used by the client to retrieve
mail from an Internet server
16. Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)- a more current e-mail protocol
that allows users to search, organize, and filter their mail prior to
downloading it from the Server
17. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)- one of the original Internet services. Part of
the TCP/IP protocol that permits users to transfer files from the server to
their client computer, and vice versa
18. Wi-Fi0- Wireless standard for Ethernet networks with greater speed and
range than Bluetooth
19. Internet of Things (IoT)- Use of the Internet to connect a wide variety of
devices, machines, and sensors
20. Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)- it is (Standard Generalized
Markup Language) SGML that is relatively easy to use in web page
design. HTML provides web page designers with a fixed set of markup
“tags” that are used to format a web page
21. eXtensible Markup Language (XML)- a markup language specification
developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that is designed to
describe data and information
22. Really Simple Syndication (RSS)- the program that allows users to have
digital content, including text, articles, blogs, and podcast audio files,
automatically sent to their computers over the Internet
23. web browser- software program whose primary purpose is to display web
pages
24. web client- any computing device attached to the Internet that is capable of
making HTTP requests and displaying HTML pages, most commonly a
Windows PC or Macintosh
25. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)- a protocol that allows for
transmission of voice and other forms of audio communication over the
Internet
26. Portal- A portal is a central entry and navigation point to provide access to a
virtual area (of applications or services) and to deliver additional
information to the user. It works as an interface between the user and
system(s). Often portals are seen as the platform for an E-Commerce-
strategy. There are two categories of portals:
a) Web portal- A horizontal portal is used as a platform for several
companies in the same economic sector or for the same type of
manufacturers or distributors. A vertical portal (also known as a
“vortal”) is a specialized entry point to a specific market or industry
niche, subject area, or interest. Some vertical portals are known as
“vertical information portals” (VIPs).
b) Enterprise portal- provides a secure unified access point, often in the
form of a Web-based user interface, is a framework for integrating
information, people and processes across organizational boundaries
27. Packets- the discrete units into which digital messages are sliced for
transmission over the Internet
28. packet switching- a method of slicing digital messages into packets,
sending the packets along different communication paths as they become
available, and then reassembling the packets once they arrive at their
destination
 MODULE 4: ECM PRESENCE: WEBSITES, MOBILE SITES AND APPS
• systems development life cycle (SDLC)-a methodology for understanding the
business objectives of any system and designing an appropriate solution
• Systems design-
a) Systems analysis/planning
b) Building the system
c) Testing
d) Implementation
• logical design- It describes the flow of information at your e-commerce site, the
processing functions that must be performed, the databases that will be used, the
security and emergency backup procedures that will be instituted, and the controls
thatwill be used in the system
• physical design- it translates the logical design into physical components, for instance
the physical design details the specific model of server to be purchased, the software
to be used, the size of the telecommunication link that will be required, the way the
system will be backed up and protected from outsiders
• logic design simple data flow diagram- information requests and responses for
sample website

Customer
information
Website customer verify login
HTTP REQUEST Customer database

Accept/reject
requests

Order Catalog database

Display
shipped
catalogue
confirmed
pages

Fulfil order
shipment Purchase/procure order database
• Physical design

• Website building- creating a website. Tools for building website are-

1. Use prebuilt templates- it is the least expensive method e.g. Shopify,
WordPress, google sites
2. Built from scratch- using HTML/HTML5, CGI scripts, SQL database, visual
studio etc
3. Use packaged site building tools- it is the most expensive method e.g. IBM
WebSphere, Sitecore commerce server
• Hosting website- Web hosting is the service of providing and maintaining the
physical servers that all the files that make up a website live on.

• Testing system- testing involves testing the site’sprogram modules one at a time.
system testing involves testing the site as a whole, in a way the typical user will use
the site acceptance testing verifies that the business objectives of the system as
originally conceived are in fact working
• A/B testing- it is also called split testing and involves showing two versions of a web
page or website to different users to see which one performs better
• multivariate testing- it involves identifying specific elements, creating versionsfor
each element, and thencreating a unique combination of each element and version to
test
• benchmarkinga process- process in which the site is compared with those
ofcompetitors in terms of response speed, quality of layout, and design
• Factors in website optimization
a) Page generation (Server response time, device-based accelerators, efficient
resource allocation, resource utilization thresholds, monitoring site
performance)
b) Page content (optimize HTML, optimize image, site architecture, efficient
page style)
 c) Page delivery (content delivery network, edge catching, bandwidth)
• edge catching- it refers to the use of caching servers to store content closer to end
users
• system architecture- A system architecture is the conceptual model that defines the
structure, behavior, and more views of a system. An architecture description is a
formal description and representation of a system, organized in a way that supports
reasoning about the structures and behaviors of the system.
a) Two tier architecture
User requests Web server Content management
for pages server

b) multi-tier architecture- e-commerce system architecture in which the web

server is linked to a middle tier layer that typically includes a series of
application servers that perform specific tasks as well as a backend layer of
existing corporate systems

• Basic functionality provided by web servers

1. Processing of HTTP requests -Receive and respond to client requests for
HTML pages
2. Security services (Secure Sockets Layer)/ Transport Layer Security-Verify
username and password; process certificates and private/public key
information required for credit card processing and other secure information
3. File Transfer Protocol Permits transfer of very large files from server to server
4. Search engine- Indexing of site content; keyword search capability
5. Data capture- Log file of all visits, time, duration, and referral source
6. E-mail- Ability to send, receive, and store e-mail messages
7. Site management tools- Calculate and display key site statistics, such as
unique visitors, page requests, and origin of requests, check links on pages
• Web application servers’ software program that provides specific business
functionality required of a website
1. Catalog display- Provides a database for product descriptions and prices
2. Transaction processing (shopping cart)-Accepts orders and clears payments
3. List server- Creates and serves mailing lists and manages e-mail
marketingcampaigns
4. Proxy server- Monitors and controls access to main web server; implements
firewall protection
 5. Mail server- Manages Internet e-mail
6. Audio/video server- Stores and delivers streaming media content
7. Chat server- Creates an environment for online real-time text and audio
interactions with customers
8. News server- Provides connectivity and displays Internet news feeds
9. Fax server- Provides fax reception and transmission using a web server
10. Groupware server- Creates workgroup environments for online collaboration
11. Database server- Stores customer, product, and price information
12. Ad server- Maintains web-enabled database of advertising banners that
permits customized and personalized display of advertisements based on
consumer behavior and characteristics
13. Auction server- Provides a transaction environment for conducting online
auctions
14. B2B server- Implements buy, sell, and link marketplaces for
commercialtransactions
• Important factors in successful e-commerce site design-
1. Functionality Pages that work, load quickly, and point the customer toward
yourproduct offerings
2. Informational Links that customers can easily find to discover more about you
andyour products
3. Ease of use Simple foolproof navigation
4. Redundant navigation Alternative navigation to the same content
5. Ease of purchase One or two clicks to purchase
6. Multi-browser functionality Site works with the most popular browsers
7. Simple graphics Avoids distracting, obnoxious graphics and sounds that the
usercannot control
8. Legible text Avoids backgrounds that distort text or make it illegible
• Ecommerce common complaints
1. Requiring user to view ad or intro page before going to website content
2. Pop-up and pop-under ads and windows
3. Too many clicks to get to the content
4. Links that don’t work
5. Confusing navigation; no search function
6. Requirement to register and log in before viewing content or ordering
7. Slow loading pages
8. Content that is out of date
9. Inability to use browser’s Back button
10. No contact information available (web form only)
11. Music or other audio that plays automatically
12. Unprofessional design elements
13. Text not easily legible due to size, color, format
14. Typographical errors
15. No or unclear returns policy
• System analysis- System analysis is a review of a technological system, like a
software package, for troubleshooting, development or improvement purposes.
 Through in-depth analysis, analysts can uncover errors in code, accessibility issues for
end-users or design incompatibilities.
Business objective System functionality Information requirement
display goods digital catalogue dynamic texts and
graphics catalogue
provide product product database product description,
information (content) stocking numbers,
inventory levels
Personalise/customize customer on site tracking site log for every
product customer visit, data
mining capabilities to
identify customer paths
and appropriate responses
engage customers in on site blog, user forums software with blogging
conversations and community forum
functionality
execute transaction shopping cart/payment secure credit card
system clearing, multiple
payment option
accumulate customer customer database Name, address, phone,
information and email for all
customers
provide after sales sales database customer ID, product,
customer support date, payment, shipment
date
coordinate ad server, email server, site behaviour log for
marketing/advertising email campaign manager, prospects and customer
ad banner manager linked to email
understanding marketing fight tracking and number of unique visitors,
effectiveness reporting system page visited, products
purchased
provide production and inventory management product and inventory
supplier links system levels, supplier ID and
contact, order quantity
data by product
• Systems analysis for building a mobile presence
1. Driving sales -Digital catalogue
2. product database - Product descriptions, photos, SKUs, inventory
3. Branding- Showing how customers use your products- Videos and rich media,
product and customer demonstrations
4. Building customer community- Interactive experiences, games with multiple
players-Games, contests, forums, social sign-up to Facebook
5. Advertising and promotion-Coupons and flash sales for slow selling items-
Product descriptions, coupon management, and inventory management
6. Gathering customer feedback-Ability to retrieve and store user inputs including
text, photos Video-Customer sign-in and identification, customer database
MODULE 5 IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE
• Ethical aspects of ICT
a. Do not use computer to harm another person
b. do not use unauthorised computer or ideas
c. do not use pirated things
d. do not use cracked version of software
e. use a copyright to maintain security of data and documents
• Overall impacts of ICT on E-Commerce
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)- Machine learning works by giving computers detailed
datasets so that it can learn how to perform certain task. Impacts of technology on
ecommerce can be widely seen with the use of AI. Ecommerce professionals often
use AI. It is mainly because the technology has improved over time making things
possible that were unthinkable before AI was introduced. It allows us to understand
consumer behavior better. Which means it helps retailers increase conversion rates
& build loyalty programs based on individual customer preferences.
2. Virtual Assistants- Voice control devices like Amazon Echo or Google Home are an
excellent way to boost E-commerce business. Through the use of smart home
solutions and voice commerce. E-Commerce is evolving quickly, shopping by voice
becomes more common every day. Thanks to virtual assistants and one can expect a
massive growth in this area in near future.
3. Chatbots & Messengers Marketing- Ecommerce also uses chatbot. But they mainly
help Ecommerce manage their chats with customers and answer questions quickly.
E-commerce professionals can explore the emerging bot economy. Leverage
messaging apps and APIs to power up E-commerce experiences in chatbots that may
talk, work and even sell products on their behalf. E-tailers can use Messaging Apps
API to create bots that engage users in one-on-one conversations. Through
Facebook Messenger, Kik, Telegram, Skype or other popular platforms.
4. Personalization plugins- E-commerce professionals tailor your website so that it
displays the most relevant material or items to your visitors by using personalization
plugins. For example, depending on the time of day a visitor visits your site. The
greetings messages like Good Morning, Good Afternoon, or Good Evening may
appear on the home page.
5. Augmented reality (AR)- it is the usage of computer technology to project layers of
digital content to the real world. the widespread use of smartphones made AR
accessible to everyday consumers. Augmented reality augments the real-world
experience with virtual elements.
➢ In order to overlay digital content in a real-world environment, AR needs a device
with a camera and AR software such as a smartphone, a tablet, or smart glasses.
➢ The AR software uses computer vision to process the video stream captured by the
camera and to recognize objects in the environment. This allows the AR system to
project virtual content to a relevant place.
➢ Then, it displays the digital content on top of the real environment through the
display device in a realistic way.
MODULE 6: SECURITY & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT
• Risk: A risk is the extent of loss, which may happen if a threat occurs. A risk analysis
according to ISO/IEC 27001 (IEC - International Electro-technical Commission, ISO
-International Organization for Standardization) has to run through the following
steps:
1. Inventory of information assets,
2. Determination of protection requirements,
3. Identification and assignments of threats (e.g. supported by the BSI threats
catalogue),
4. Identification and assignment of weaknesses,
5. Determination of potential extent of loss,
6. Determination of probabilities of loss occurring,
7. Determination of risks,
8. Decision on acceptance of risk,
9. Selection of safeguards,
10. Documentation of residual risks,
11. Documented approval of management.
• BASIC RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES- We see a lot of threats, which
could lead to a damage or destruction of ICT systems. Management has to deal with
it. Though the variety of threats and corresponding risks is extremely large there are
only four basic risk management strategies:
1. Avoidance of threats, which means that you are able to completely eliminate
the threat of your management object. Normally you will not be able to
completely avoid a threat.
2. Reduction of threats, which means that you lower the risk resulting from
that threat. In most cases you will be able to reduce the potential amount of
loss. Whether you can change the probabilities of occurrence can only
answered if the specific situation is known.
3. Transfer of risks to a third party, e.g., insurance. This means that the third
party will take over and pay the amount of loss if the risk occurs. You will
have to pay a fee for that.
4. Acceptance of threats, which is selected when you do not have any chance to
change the situation.
• RISK INVOLVED
1. Large-scale data breaches continue to expose data about individuals to
hackers and other cybercriminals.
2. Mobile malware presents a tangible threat as smartphones and other mobile
devices become more common targets of cybercriminals, especially as their
use for mobile payments rises.
3. Malware creation continues to skyrocket and ransomware attacks rise.
4. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are now capable of slowing
Internet service within entire countries.
5. Nations continue to engage in cyberwarfare and cyberespionage.
6. Hackers and cybercriminals continue to focus their efforts on social network
sites to exploit potential victims through social engineering and hacking
attacks.
 7. Politically motivated, targeted attacks by hacktivist groups continue, in some
cases merging with financially motivated cybercriminals to target financial
systems with advanced persistent threats.
8. Software vulnerabilities, such as the Heartbleed bug and other zero day
vulnerabilities, continue to create security threats.
9. Incidents involving celebrities raise awareness of cloud security issues.
• Integrity- the ability to ensure that information being displayed on a website or
transmitted or received over the Internet has not been altered in any way by an
unauthorized party
• Nonrepudiation- the ability to ensure that e-commerce participants do not deny (i.e.,
repudiate) their online actions
• Authenticity- the ability to identify the identity of a person or entity with whom you
are dealing on the Internet
• Confidentiality- the ability to ensure that messages and data are available only to
those who are authorized to view them
• Privacy- the ability to control the use of information about oneself
• Malicious code (malware) includes a variety of threats such as viruses, worms,
Trojan horses, and bots
• Exploit kit- collection of exploits bundled together and rented or sold as a
commercial product
• Maladvertising- online advertising that contains malicious code
• Drive-by download- malware that comes with a downloaded file that a user requests
• Worm- malware that is designed to spread from computer to computer e.g., ramnit,
zotob, melissa, codered
• Ransomware (scareware)- malware that prevents you from accessing your computer
or files and demands that you pay a fine
• Trojan horse- appears to be benign, but then does something other than expected.
Often a way for viruses or other malicious code to be introduced into a computer
system E.G. crytolocker, citadel, zeus
• Backdoor- feature of viruses, worms, and Trojans that allows an attacker to remotely
access a compromised computer
• Bot- type of malicious code that can be covertly installed on a computer when
connected to the Internet. Once installed, the bot responds to external commands sent
by the attacker
• Botnet- collection of captured bot computers e.g., zeus, citadel
• potentially unwanted program (PUP)- program that installs itself on a computer,
typically without the user’s informed consent
• adware- a PUP that serves pop-up ads to your computer
• browser parasite- a program that can monitor and change the settings of a user’s
browser
• spyware- a program used to obtain information such as a user’s keystrokes, e-mail,
instant messages, and so on
• social engineering- exploitation of human fallibility and gullibility to distribute
malware
• phishing- any deceptive, online attempt by a third party to obtain confidential
information for financial gain
• hacker- an individual who intends to gain unauthorized access to a computer system
• cracker- within the hacking community, a term typically used to denote a hacker with
criminal intent
• cybervandalism- intentionally disrupting, defacing, or even destroying a site
• hacktivism- cybervandalism and data theft for political purposes
• data breach- occurs when an organization loses control over its information to
outsiders
• prodidentity fraud- involves the unauthorized use of another person’s personal data
for illegal financial benefit
• spoofing- involves attempting to hide a true identity by using someone else’s e-mail
or IP address
• pharming- automatically redirecting a web link to an address different from the
intended one, with the site masquerading as the intended destination
• spam (junk) websites also referred to as link farms; promise to offer products or
services, but in fact are just collections of advertisements
• sniffer- a type of eavesdropping program that monitors information traveling over a
network-Sniffers enable hackers to steal proprietary information from anywhere on a
network, including passwords, e-mail messages, company files, and confidential
reports. For instance, in 2013, five hackers were charged in another worldwide
hacking scheme that targeted the corporate networks of retail chains such as 7-Eleven
and the French retailer Carrefour SA, using sniffer programs to steal more than 160
million credit card numbers
• man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack- attack in which the attacker is able to intercept
communications between two parties who believe they are directly communicating
with one another, when in fact the attacker is controlling the communications
• Denial of Service- (DoS) attack flooding a website with useless traffic to inundate
and overwhelm the network
• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack- using numerous computers to attack
the target
network from numerous launch points
• SQL injection attack- takes advantage of poorly coded web application software that
fails to properly validate or filter data entered by a user on a web page
• zero-day vulnerability- software vulnerability that has been previously unreported
and for which no patch yet exists
• Heartbleed bug- flaw in OpenSSL encryption system that allowed hackers to decrypt
an SSL session and discover user names, passwords, and other user data
• Vishing attacks- target gullible cell phone users with verbal messages to call a
certain number and, for example, donate money to starving children in Haiti. vishing
attacks exploit SMS/text messages. Compromised text messages can contain e-mail
and website addresses that can lead the innocent user to a malware site. Criminal SMS
spoofing services have emerged, which conceal the cybercriminal’s true phone
number, replacing it with a false alpha-numeric name. SMS spoofing can also be used
by cybercriminals to lure mobile users to a malicious website by sending a text that
appears to be from a legitimate organization in the From field, and suggesting the
receiver click on a malicious URL hyperlink to update an account or obtain a gift card
• Madware—innocent-looking apps that contain adware that launches pop-up ads and
text messages on your mobile device—is also becoming an increasing problem. An
examination of 3 million apps in 2015 that Symantec classified as grayware
(programs that do not contain viruses and are not overtly malicious, but which can be
annoying or harmful) found that 2.3 million of those ads were madware
• IOT HACKING- hack into a Jeep Cherokee through its entertainment system,
sending commands to the dashboard, steering, brakes, and transmission system from a
remote laptop that turned the steering wheel, disabled the brakes, and shut down the
engine
• BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT- Business continuity management
includes ICT continuity management, of course. But it is much more than preparing
the ICT systems for continual operation. Business may break down, even if no ICT
system is damaged or out of operation (e.g. due to disease of employees). In many
cases risks occur which lead to a breakdown of ICT systems as well as other business
resources, e.g. fire in an office building.
• Compliance- In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a
specification, policy, standard or law. Regulatory compliance describes the goal that
organizations aspire to achieve in their efforts to ensure that they are aware of and
take steps to comply with relevant laws and regulations. The reason for the high
attention of management towards compliance (management) is, that if any part of an
organization is not compliant then there is a significant risk for that organization.
Missing compliance can lead to punishment through governmental authorities and a
loss of reputation in the business world.
• GRC MANAGEMENT-Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) are three pillars
that work together for the purpose of assuring that an organization meets its objectives
1. Governance is the combination of processes established and executed by the
board of directors that are reflected in the organization’s structure and how it
is managed and led towards achieving given objectives.
2. Risk management is predicting and managing risks that could hinder the
organization to achieve its objectives.
3. Compliance with the company’s policies and procedures, laws and
regulations, strong and efficient governance is considered to be a key factor to
an organization’s success.
• INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT (ISM)- Security is a status where
a person, a resource or a process is protected against a threat or its negative
consequences. Information security means the security of our information assets.
• OBJECTIVES OF ISM
1. Fulfil organizational duties: give precise, binding and complete orders to your
people; select people carefully with respect to duties and responsibilities;
check what your people do in the daily operation; inform your people about
laws, rules and instructions they have to follow.
2. Build an efficient and transparent organization.
3. Build a professional security, continuity and risk management.
4. Increase efficiency with general and unified rules and methods.
5. Reduce time consumption and costs with security and security audits
integrated into business processes.
 6. Run a continual improvement process to minimize risks and maximize
economic efficiency.Have a good reputation at customers, shareholders,
authorities and the public.
7. Parry liability claims and plead the organization in criminal procedures.
8. Be integrated into the corporate security management system.
• THE ISM PROCESS
a) Initialize:
1. Understand information security requirements,
2. Build information security policy to define overall security objectives,
3. Establish information security representative and organization
b) Analyse and develop
1. information security strategy:
2. Determine protection needs,
3. Analyse threats,
4. Analyse risks,
5. Deduce information security requirements.
c) Plan and implement:
1. Define, what has to be regulated,
2. Define, how it should be regulated
3. Prepare information security concepts,
4. Define policies and guidelines,
5. Prepare for implementation projects,
6. Run initial trainings,
d) Operation and monitoring:
1. Administer activities and manage documentation,
2. Run trainings and increase security awareness,
3. Identify key performance indicators,
4. Conduct audits/assessments.
• ISM ACTIONS- Information security management includes a great variety of
activities, which can be categorized due to the focus of the different activities.
a) Organization:
1. Establish access profiles.
2. Provide and file task descriptions for IT administrators and
information security representatives.
3. Conduct administration of keys.
4. Run evacuation and emergency exercises.
b) Technique:
1. IT security: Implement and operate firewalls, virus scanner, spam
filter, encryption software.
2. Facility management: Install access control system, door locks, fire
detection system, burglar alarm system, emergency power generator,
uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
3. Safety of buildings: Install fences, observation cameras.
c) People:
1. Conduct a professional recruiting and include security aspects.
2. Do a proper placement of employees (duties of employees).
 3. Ensure a careful adjustment to the job.
4. Establish a continuous supervision: rising of awareness, training.
5. Conduct a professional separation of employees.
• ISM – Technology Implications
1. DATA ENCRYPTION
a) Steganography
I. Objective is to hide the existence of a message. Specific
applications of this technology are the transfer of messages or
digital watermarking.
II. Examples of steganographic methods are special terms and phrases
in text documents, sympathetic ink or hiding of information in
image files through setting of single pixels.
b) Symmetric encryption
I. The communication protocol runs as follows: A and B define a
common secret key. Then A encrypts the message and sends the
message to B. B receives and decrypts the message through
applying the key.
Established methods are DES = Data Encryption Standard, AES = Advanced
Encryption Standard, IDEA = International Data Encryption Algorithm
2. Electronic signature- There are some requirements for an electronic
signature, which have their origin in traditional signatures, of course. First it
has to proof the identity of the signer doubtlessly. The signature shall be
applied once only and valid only in connection with the original document.
The signed document must not be changed afterwards; a change must be
visible. The signature must not be rejected. The signer must not deny that he
has signed the document. Three levels of electronic signatures:
a) Basic electronic signature: The signature is added to the document
and is used to authenticate it. The provider of the signature is not
liable for correctness and completeness of certificate data. An
injured party has to prove that there is damage.
b) Advanced electronic signature: This signature is only assigned to
the owner of the signature key. It facilitates the identification of the
owner of the signature key. The advanced electronic signature is
generated by means, which are under full control of the owner of
the signature key. It must be tied to the document in a way so that a
later change of the document is recognized.
c) Qualified electronic signature: This signature is based on a
qualified certificate, which is valid at the time of generation of the
signature. It has been generated with a so-called secure signature
generation unit. The certificate assigns a signature check key to a
specific person and confirms his/her identity. The certificate only is
a qualified certificate if it has been provided by an accredited trust
centre, has been electronically and qualified signed and contains
some specific information, which is defined in the law. To store
signature keys and to generate qualified electronic signatures secure
signature generation units have to be used.
MODULE 7. E-PAYMENTS
• Electronic payment- An electronic payment is any kind of non-cash payment that
doesn't involve a paper check. Methods of electronic payments include credit cards, debit
cards and the ACH (Automated Clearing House) network. The ACH system comprises
direct deposit, direct debit and electronic checks (e-checks)
• Types of money-
1. MONEY IN CASH- Business with money in cash runs as follows:
a) Customer and supplier come together physically (at the same location).
b) The supplier has a product or service offering; the customer has notes
and coins.
c) Both partners exchange product or service and money synchronously.
➢ Prerequisites are:
a) The customer assumes that the supplier is the legal owner of the goods.
b) The supplier assumes that the customer is the legal owner of the money.
c) The customer checks goods; the supplier checks notes and coins.
d) Customer and supplier do not have to know each other.
➢ Problems are:
a) Notes and coins must be accepted by both partners.
b) Notes and coins must be authentic (no bad money).
c) Notes and coins can be lost or stolen or disappear.
2. BOOK MONEY- Today most business transactions are conducted without the
use of notes and coins. We usually do business with book money. Business with
book money runs as follows:
I. Customer and supplier need a banking account; this makes some kind of
bank necessary (the bookkeeper).
II. The bookkeeper guarantees that the account balance is given and he
transfers the money if requested by the account owner. He guarantees
that the account owner can exchange the amount of his account
balance into notes and coins every time.
III. Book money is linked to the banking account and the account owner.
Thus transactions cannot longer be conducted completely anonymously.
IV. The account owner has to pay the bookkeeper for his services
(transaction costs).
V. There is a higher protection against fraud and loss – but of course no
perfect security.
3. E-MONEY-
I. Electronic money is currency that is stored in banking computer systems.
II. Electronic money is backed by fiat currency, which distinguishes it from
cryptocurrency.
III. Various companies allow for transactions to be made with electronic
money, such as Square or PayPal.
IV. The prevalence of electronic money has led to the diminishing use of
physical currency.
V. Although electronic money is often considered safer and more transparent
than physical currency, it is not without its risks.
• Payment challenges
a) Online fraud- fraudsters have found and exploited loopholes in online
payments. This is one of the main reasons that many business owners well
 established or small avoid choosing online modes for payment. in digital
transactions, a card is not physically used, it becomes a card not present
transaction. In most cases, either the payment is not received by the merchant or
more than the actual amount gets deducted from the payer's account.
Solution- usage of fingerprint recognition, increased level of encryption, the
usage of EMV chips, regularly updated norms and passwords, along with
awareness on fraud as well.
b) Chargeback- it is an additional charge that comes into the picture when dealing
with online transactions for payment. These are disputed charges that cause
reduced credit of the merchant. If timely actions are not taken, these money-
based disputes can lead to heavy damage to the reputation of the business as
well as the credit score of the business owner.
Solution- With secured measures being taken and merchants being aware of the
charges, the cases of it affecting business are now reduced. As a merchant or
even a small business owner, what you can do is take all the safety measures
and follow the guidelines set by monetary organisations like the RBI.
c) Challenges Of Online Payment Gateway- a payment gateway is a middleman
that makes sure that the amount from the buyer is securely transferred to the
seller’s integrated bank account in minimum time. They make use of encryption
and technical integration to ensure that data is safe and transactions are
successful most of the time. Expensive processing rates, lengthy application and
onboarding time, unclear fees and pricing models are challenges associated with
it
Solution- there are certain checks that every merchant should be careful with to
ensure the payment gateway is a suitable one for them. Some of the primary
checks are whether or not the gateway is apt for a growing business model,
technical integration, security, compliance, payment gateway fees, and support.
d) User experience challenges: Though the business associate bank account
integrated with payment processors for smooth online transactions, it is a
complex or lengthy process, If the online payment option at a merchant or even
a local business is smooth, it automatically lures the customer. With
transactions happening online, even business owners need an interface that is
easy to use.
Solution- When opting for a payment processor, add it to your checklist to
choose a processor that offers a comprehensive user experience.
• Challenges related to international payments-
1. Due to the large number of intermediaries involved in the process, cross-border
payments are expensive. Each intermediary charges a fee for its services. The costs
associated with regulatory compliance and currency exchange can also
accumulate.
2. cross-border payment systems are frequently targeted by high-level security
threats, as the 2016 theft from Bangladesh's central bank demonstrates.
3. The completion of international payments involves a lengthy series of steps. It
typically takes between two and five days to process international bank transfers,
which is a very long time compared to domestic payments, which are nearly
instantaneous.
 4. Both consumers and businesses are dissatisfied with the lack of transparency in
international payment systems. Many businesses desire payment tracking, which is
frequently impossible for international payments.
• The steps taken by companies to carter these problems-
1. Accepting a variety of payment methods and currencies for international e-
commerce. E-Wallet payment processing, mobile payment processing, and the
acceptance of international credit/debit cards help online merchants compete in
global markets by allowing customers to pay in their native currencies and with
their preferred payment method.
2. sending an email when international payments are processed in your name,
allowing you to easily track them and avoid fraud.
3. They have Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) certification
required for all merchants and businesses, online or offline, that accept credit or
debit cards. 12 criteria must be met by merchants and processors to comply with
PCI DSS standards.
4. having fraud-monitoring tools such as the customer account, validation services,
and purchase tracking, a Level 1 PCI DSS payment processor's risk management
staff can detect fraud before it occurs.
• PAYMENT PROCEDURES
1. PAYMENT PER INVOICE- The course of action is Order, Delivery, sending
an invoice (integrated into delivery, separated from delivery), Payment (after
receipt of delivery, after receipt of invoice, per bank transfer), Confirmation of
incoming payments.
Potential problems are:
a) Delivery without invoice,
b) Invoice without delivery,
c) Deviations between delivery and invoice,
d) No payment by the customer,
e) Delayed payment by the customer.
This payment method should be assessed as follows:
➢ This payment procedure is not an integral part of E-Commerce.
➢ The risk is totally carried by the supplier.
2. PAYMENT PER CASH IN ADVANCE- The course of action is as follows:
Order, Invoicing and sending an invoice, Payment, Delivery after receipt of
payment.
Potential problems are:
a) Duration from payment to delivery,
b) Deviations between payment amount and delivery volume,
c) Confirmation of payment receipt.
This payment method should be assessed as follows:
➢ The payment is not an integral part of E-Commerce.
➢ The risk is completely assigned to the customer.
3. PAYMENT PER CASH ON DELIVERY- The course of action is:
a) The customer orders with C.O.D. He has to specify a delivery address.
b) The delivery is done with an invoice. The supplier forwards the parcel or
letter together with the invoice to his delivery service provider. The
delivery service provider forwards the parcel or letter to the customer.
 c) The cashing is done on delivery. The customer forwards money to the
delivery service provider.
d) Delivery is confirmed by the customer and receipt of cash is noticed.
e) The delivery service provider transfers the money to merchant’s bank.
f) Confirmation of payment by the supplier.
Surrounding conditions are:
➢ The customer must provide delivery and payment data.
➢ The delivery service provider has to take over the cashing function.
There are several potential problems:
a) Delivery is not possible because the customer is not present at the
delivery address,
b) Deviation between delivery and invoice,
c) Availability of cash at the customer,
d) Problem of change money.
This payment method should be assessed as follows:
➢ This payment method is not an integral part of E-Commerce.
➢ The method is risk neutral.
4. PAYMENT PER CREDIT CARD- The course of action is Order, Invoicing,
Payment acceptance by credit card, Delivery, Forwarding of invoice (if not done
via the Web).
Surrounding conditions are:
a) The customer must have a credit card contract with a bank.
b) The merchant must have a credit card acceptance contract with a bank
and must be technically linked to a Payment Service Provider.
Potential problems are:
a) No delivery,
b) Deviation between delivery and invoice,
c) Payment dysfunctions.
This payment method should be assessed as follows:
➢ Payment is guaranteed by the credit card company.
5. E-PAYMENT- E-Payment methods have been developed especially for E-
Commerce and supplement the traditional payment methods. Payment functions
are adopted by specific E-Payment providers to unburden the supplier. E-Payment
uses for the most part well known traditional payment methods and combines or
bundles them to new services. Course of action:
a) Customer initiates a payment at the supplier,
b) Supplier transfers payment request to an E-Payment provider,
c) E-Payment provider leads customer to his payment site,
d) Customer confirms payment,
e) E-Payment provider transfers payment confirmation to supplier,
f) E-Payment provider charges bank account of customer,
g) E-Payment provider creates credit note for bank account of supplier.
Types of E-Payments
• Email based – Paypal
• Wallets – PayTM, Amazonpay
• Cryptocurrency - Bitcoin
MODULE 8. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
• ICT- information and communication technology
• Marketing metrics
a) Display ad metrics description-
1. Impressions-number of times an ad is served
2. click through rate-percentage of time an ad is clicked
3. view through rate-percentage of time and ad is not clicked immediately
but the website is visited within 30 days
4. hits-number of HTTP requests
5. page view-number of pages viewed
6. viewability rate-percentage of advertisements that are actually seen online
7. unique visitors-number of unique visitors in a period
8. loyalty-measured variously as the number of page views, frequency of
single user visits to the website, or percentage of customers who returned
to the site in a year to make additional purchases
9. reach-percentage of website visitors who are potential buyers, or the
percentage of total market buyers who buy at a site
10. recency-time elapsed since the last action taken by a buyer, search as
website visit or purchase
11. stickiness-average length of stay at a website
12. acquisition rate-percentage of visitors who indicate an interest in websites
product by registering or visiting product pages
13. conversion rate-percentage of visitors who become customers
14. browse to buy ratio- ratio of items purchased to product views
15. view to cart ratio-ratio of add to cards clicks to product views
16. cart conversion rate-ratio of actual orders to add to cart clicks
17. checkout conversion rate-ratio of actual orders to checkout started
18. abandonment rate-percentage of shoppers who begin a shopping card
purchase but then leave the website without completing a purchase
19. retention rate-percentage of existing customers who continue to buy on
regular basis
20. attrition rate-percentage of customers who do not return during the next
year after an initial purchase
b) Video advertising metrix-
1. view time- how long does the advertisement actually stay in view while it
plays
2. completion rate- how many viewers watch the complete video
3. skip rate-how many viewers skip the video
c) Email metrix-
1. Open rate- percentage of email recipients who open the email and are
exposed to the message
2. delivery rate- percentage of email recipients who received the mail
3. click through rate-percentage of recipients who click through to offers
4. bounce back rate-percentage of emails that could not be delivered
5. unsubscribe rate-percentage of recipients who clicked unsubscribe
6. conversion rate-percentage of recipe who actually buy