Unit 2 Building E-Commerce Website, Mobile Site and Apps

Systematic Approach To Build An E-commerce

Building a successful e-commerce presence requires a keen understanding of business,

Technology, and social issues, as well as a systematic approach.

Challenges:

1. Developing a clear understanding of business objectives

2. Knowing how to choose the right technology to achieve those objectives.
3. Be aware of the main areas where you will need to make decisions.

Main factors to consider

– Management
– Hardware architecture
– Software
– Design
– Telecommunications
– Human resources

The Systems Development Life Cycle:

To tackle a complex problem - To proceed systematically through a series of steps.

The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is a methodology for understanding the business
Objectives of any system and designing an appropriate solution.

Five major steps-

1. Systems analysis/planning
2. Systems design
3. Building the system
4. Testing
5. Implementation
1. Systems analysis/planning-
Identify business objectives, System functionality, and Information requirements.
To identify the specific business objectives for your site, and then develop a list of system
Functionalities and information requirements. Business objectives are simply capabilities you
want your site to have. System functionalities are types of information systems capabilities
you will need to achieve your business objectives. The information requirements for a system
are the information elements that the system must produce in order to achieve the business
objectives.

2.System Design: Hardware and Software Platforms:

A system design specification is a description of the main components in the system and
their relationship to one another.
Two components of system design:
1. Logical design
2. Physical design

1.Logical design-A logical design includes a data flow diagram that describes the flow of
information at your e-commerce site.
 Logical Design for a Simple Web Site

2.Physical design-A physical design 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 telecommunications link that will be required, the way
the system will be backed up and protected from outsiders, and so on
3. Building the System-In-house versus Outsourcing
Outsourcing means that hire an outside vendor to provide the services involved in building
the site rather than using in-house personnel.

If elect to build your own site, there are a range of options.

A content management system (CMS) is a database software program specifically designed
to manage structured and unstructured data and objects in a website environment. A CMS
provides web managers and designers with a centralized control structure to manage
website content.
Tools: Google Sites, Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly.

4. Testing the System

As much as 50% of the budget can be consumed by testing and rebuilding.

Types of Testing

1.Unit testing-Unit testing involves testing the sites program modules one at a time.

2. System testing-System testing involves testing the site as a whole, in the same way a
typical user would when using the site.

3. Acceptance testing-Acceptance testing requires that the firm’s key personnel and
managers in marketing, production, sales, and general.

4. A/B testing (or split testing).- This form of testing involves showing two versions (A and
B) of a web page or website to different users to see which one performs better.

5. Multivariate testing-Multivariate testing involves identifying specific elements, or

variables, on a web page, such as a headline, image, button and text, creating versions for
each element, and then creating a unique combination of each element and version to test.

4. Implementation and Maintenance:

The long-term success of an e-commerce site will depend on a dedicated team of employees
(the web team) whose sole job is to monitor and adapt the site to changing market
conditions. The web team must be multi-skilled; it will typically include programmers,
designers, and business managers drawn from marketing, production, and sales support.
One of the first tasks of the web team is to listen to customers. Feedback on the site and
Respond to that feedback as necessary
A second task is to develop a systematic monitoring and testing plan to be followed weekly
to ensure all the links are operating, prices are correct, and pages are updated
E Commerce Website Optimization

E Commerce website optimization is the process of improving the performance and

effectiveness of a website in order to enhance its ability to attract and retain visitors, and
achieve specific business objectives. This can be achieved through a variety of techniques
and strategies that aim to optimize the website's design, content, and technical aspects.

Benefits of website optimization

1. Better user experience

The primary focus of website optimization is to help users achieve their desired goals on your website.
Whether they want to learn more about your product, navigate through the various offerings, or get in
touch with a representative, website optimization makes it easier for users to complete the desired
actions.

2. Improved visibility on SERPs

Ranking higher on search engines is tough, especially when your competitors are targeting similar
audiences and keywords. However, the key to grabbing that top spot on Google includes a
combination of factors such as delivering valuable content, including relevant keywords, improving
the page speed, ensuring mobile responsiveness, and so on.
3. Higher conversion rates
The primary focus of any website is to convert visitors into customers. Website optimization helps you
achieve this goal as it involves analyzing user behavior, using A/B testing to find the best version of a
page or element, and optimizing key funnels that drive conversions.

4. Discover friction points

While website optimization boosts user engagement and improves the overall experience, it also helps
you identify the problem areas on your website.Also known as friction points; these problem areas
prevent your visitors from having a seamless experience on your website.

5. Gather insights into visitor behavior

Website optimization involves analyzing user data and metrics to identify areas for improvement and
track performance over time. By leveraging both quantitative and qualitative analysis, you gain
valuable insights into user behavior, preferences, and trends.

E-commerce Architecture /System Design for E-commerce Website

1. Client-Server Architecture
2. Two-Tier Architecture
3. Three-Tier Architecture

1. Client-Server Architecture

In this architecture, the client (browser) sends the requests to the server, and the server processes the
request if a request is valid then it responds with the requested data to the client. The client hosts the
user interface (UI) while the server hosts the business logic and database.
Advantages:
 This architecture has a clean separation of concerns between the client and server.
 The server becomes overloaded with many client requests.
 It is easy to manage, and the data can be easily delivered to the client.
Disadvantages:
 Clients systems can get a virus or any malicious scripts if any are running on the server.
 Extra security must be added so that the data does not get spoofed in between the transmission.
 The main problem can be server down. When the server is down, the client loses its connection
and will not access the data.

2. Two-Tier Architecture

The two-tier architecture have consist of mainly two components:

1. Client layer: It consists of the web browser, mobile application, or the other UI that user interacts
with. This front-end client makes requests to the server.
2. Server layer: It handles both the application logic and data storage/management.This single
back-end server acts as a both the application server and the database server.

3.Three-Tier Architecture

The three-tier architecture is best architecture to develop a good E-commerce site. In three-tier
architecture we seprates database and server that eliminate the problems we found in two-tier
architecture. Three-tier architecture separates the presentation(UI), business logic and data storage
layer into three distinct tiers.
 Client tier: Client tier is frontend layer consisting of components like a web browser, mobile
application or other interfaces. This layer sends the users request and displays the response of
server.
 Middel tier: This application server layer handles all the business logic and computational tasks.
It receives requests from the client, communicates with the database to get or update data,
performs calculations and other application specific tasks, and passes results back to the client.

 Data tier: This backend layer consists of the database servers that store and manage data. It can
be a relational database like Oracle or a NoSQL database like MongoDB. The application server
uses protocols like JDBC, ODBC to interact with this database tier.

Advantages:
 Separation of concerns between tiers makes application modular, flexible and easier to
maintain.
 Each tier can scale independently to handle increasing loads.
 Web server can connect to multiple app servers, which in turn can connect to multiple
database servers, allowing high scalability.
 Supports redundancy and failover capabilities for high availability.
Disadvantages:
 It can introduce complexity into a project. Managing three separate layers (presentation,
application, and data) can be challenging, especially for small-scale applications, and it
might lead to increased development and maintenance costs
 The additional layers can introduce performance overhead. Each request or transaction
has to pass through the different tiers, which can slow down the system, particularly if
there’s a lot of data to be transferred between layers
 Scaling can be more challenging in a three-tier architecture. While it’s possible to scale
each layer independently, it often requires significant effort and resources to ensure that
the system scales seamlessly
 Communication between layers can introduce latency in the system. When requests and
responses need to traverse multiple layers, it can result in slower response times

Web Server Software:

All e-commerce sites require basic web server software to answer requests from customers for HTML
and XML pages. When you choose web server software, you will also be choosing an operating system
foryoursite.s computers.
1.Apache
 Leading Web server software (47% of market)
 Works only with UNIX, Linux Oss
2.Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS)
 Second major Web server software (25% of market)
 Windows-based
Site Management Tools
Site management tools are essential if you want to keep your site working, and if you want to
understand how well it is working. Site management tools verify that links on pages are still valid and
also identify orphan files, or files on the site that are not linked to any pages. A site management tool
can quickly report on potential problems and errors that users may encounter

Website Management

Website management is facilitated by the Site Management Tools user interface on the website. You
can manage content by dragging and dropping new content, editing or removing existing content,
and rearranging content by dragging it from one location to another.

You manage content directly on the pages of your website. This lets you preview content changes in
real-time. Site Management Tools uses NetSuite roles and permissions so that only an authorized user
assigned a role with website management permissions can manage content.

Types of Content

 SMT Image Content Type — Home page banners or main images, promotional notifications or
content such as, Free Shipping, and images that link to product categories are all examples of
image content. Each image can have a link that leads to another URL, such as a facet listing of
products or a product detail page
 SMT Text Content — Headers for images or merchandising zones, blocks or paragraphs of
text, text in header or footer areas, and hypertext links are examples of what you can achieve
with text content.
 Merchandising Zone Content — Merchandising rules are product listings defined in NetSuite.
The rule determines the products included in the list, the order of the products, and the
number of products to display. A merchandising zone defines the area where that product
listing is displayed on a web page. There are two merchandising zones you can choose from,
the legacy merchandising zone and the enhanced merchandising zone.
 HTML Content — Videos, social widgets, and forms are examples of the type of content you
can use with the HTML content type.
Dynamic Page Generation Tools
E-commerce sites must intensively interact with users who not only request pages but also request product, price,
availability, and inventory information.
Example: Amazon.
E-commerce sites are just like real markets.they are dynamic. News sites, where stories
change constantly, also are dynamic.

Common tools: Common Gateway Interface (CGI), Server Pages (ASP), Java Server Pages (JSP), or other server-
side programs.

Advantages
 Lowers menu costs
 Permits easy online market segmentation
 Enables cost-free price discrimination
 Enables Web content management system (WCMS)

Application Softwares
Web application servers are software programs that provide the specific business functionality required of a
website.The basic idea of application servers is to isolate the business applications from the details of displaying
web pages to users on the front end and the details of connecting to databases on the back end.
E-commerce Merchant Server Software-
Provides basic functionality for online sales.The Basic plan also includes a mobile storefront, search engine
optimization tools, socialmedia support, and a variety of other marketing tools.Open source software is software
developed by a community of programmers and designers,and is free to use and modify.

Choosing an E-commerce Software Platform:

The following are some of the key factors to consider:

 Functionality, including availability on an SaaS basis

 Support for different business models, including m-commerce
 Business process modeling tools
 Visual site management tools and reporting
 Performance and scalability
 Connectivity to existing business systems
 Compliance with standards

Choosing the Hardware for an E-commerce Site

1. Hardware platform:
Underlying computing equipment that system uses to achieve e-commerce functionality

2. Objective
Enough platform capacity to meet peak demand without wasting money

Developing A Mobile Website And Building Mobile Applications

A mobile website is a version of a regular website that is scaled down in content and navigation so that users can
find what they want and move quickly to a decision or purchase.Like traditional websites, mobile websites run on
a firm.s servers, and are built using standard web tools such as server-side HTML, Linux, PHP, and SQL.
Like all websites, the user must be connected to the Web and performance will depend on bandwidth.

Planning and Building a Mobile Presence

Identifying the business objectives, and from these, deriving the information requirements of mobile presence
Mobile Presence: Design Considerations
Designers need to take mobile platform constraints into account when designing for themobile platform.
Mobile first design beginning the e-commerce development process with a mobile presence
rather than a desktop website.

Responsive web design (RWD) tools and design techniques make it possible to design a website that
automatically adjusts its layout and display according to the screen resolution of the device on which it is being
viewed, whether a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. RWD tools include HTML5 and CSS3 and its three key design
principles involve using flexible grid-based layouts, flexible images and media, and media queries. RWD uses the
same HTML code and design for each device, but uses CSS to adjust the layout and display to the screenís form
factor. RWD sites typically work well for sites that primarily deliver content.

Adaptive web design (AWD) or adaptive delivery or responsive web design with server-side
components (RESS))
The server hosting the website detects the attributes of the device making the request and, using predefined
templates based on device screen size along with CSS and JavaScript, loads a version of the site that is optimized
for the device

Advantages:
1. Faster load times
2. The ability to enhance or remove functionality on the fly.
3. A better user experience, particularly for businesses where user intent differs depending on the platform being
used.
4. A variation on AWD uses a cloud-based platform to provide similar functionality
Cross Platform Mobile App Development Tools
1. Appery.io- a cloud-based platform that enables you to a drag-anddrop visual builder tool to create HTML5
apps using jQuery
2.Mobile. Appery.io-It supports Android, iOS, and Windows Phone applications.
3.Codiqa- It is a similar tool that is even easier to use. It also provides a drag-and-drop interface and builds an
app with 100% HTML5 components, without the need to do any coding.
4.Conduit is a free mobile app builder that allows you to include a variety of functionality,including e-commerce,
notifications, and a social feed
5.PhoneGap-is a mobile development framework that uses software called Apache Cordova to enable building
hybrid mobile applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.