Electronic Business on the Internet - Tutorial -

1. Electronic Business on the Internet - Tutorial - How to Make Your Own E-Commerce Site: The Design Engineer Viewpoint Marjan Mihanovic, marjanm@eunet.yu Dusan Dingarac, dingo@sk.co.yu Zoran Horvat, zoranh@eunet.yu Miodrag Stefanovic, mik42@yahoo.com Prof. Dr. Veljko Milutinovic, vm@etf.bg.ac.yu Authors:

2. What will you learn from this tutorial? This Tutorial will guide you through the following sections: • INTRODUCTION • You will become familiar with some basic techniques and terminology. • YAHOO! Store • The easiest way to make your business Internet-enabled • ecBuilder • Software package, intended for creating more advanced eCommerce solutions, still very easy to use. • SSL • What is Secure Socket Layer, and why is it so important? • Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition • The most powerful tool, for the large and most advanced e-commerce solutions. • E-Xact Online Payment System • How does payment transaction really works.

3. Introduction to E-Commerce E-Business - The shape of things to come

4. Introduction • E-business has made lots of innovations in modern business. • Today, the most important way of doing E-business is over the Internet. • Old kinds of E-business systems are either canceledor improved so they can work over the Internet. • In the next two years one percent of World Trade will go over the Internet(billions of dollars).

5. Introduction • By using modern techniques such as: • World Wide Web (WWW) • Intranet • Extranet • Virtual Private Network (VPN) • Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption • Business over the Internet is openinga whole new world of opportunities:

6. Introduction • Better communication inside company (Intranet) • Geographical location of company partsbecame transparent (VPN) • Collaboration with distributors and suppliers on scheduling • Forecasting, and just-in-timereplenishment of supplies (Extranet) • Telecommuting (employee can do his/her job from home)...

7. Introduction • The most interesting part of E-business over the Internet (also called I-business)is E-commerce over the Internet (I-commerce) • Over 170 000 000 people, that were using Internet on 1.1.2000.,can be potential customers • Number of Internet users doubles every three years • The most important thing for I-commerce is web store;a place where you can show and sellyour goods to Internet users.

8. Web store • Having web store is much cheaper than having a classical one • For web store you don't have to pay dozens of bills: • rent • electricity • water • city taxes • cleaning... • You don't need to worry if your store is in a good location for customers • Also, you don't need any salesmen.

9. Web store • Your store is working non-stop: • 24 hours per day • 7 day per week • 365 (366) days per year • Your customers from all over the worldcan spend their money without any time-zone limits.

10. Web store • Internet is one giant marketwhere you can sell your goods to anyone, anywhere • A number of countries that had been marginalizedby their geographical positiontake extremely active interest in E-commerce • With E-commerce those countries can move to the center of the virtual geography • With your own Web storehundreds of millions of peopleare just one click away from your business.

11. Web store • Let us see what is needed to open a new web store: • 1. Getting an Internet Merchant Bank Account (account that enables credit card transactions over the Internet) • 2. Web Hosting (getting WWW space with some Internet provider) • 3. Obtaining a Digital Certificate (obtaining initial keys for encryption, etc…) • 4. Finding a Provider of Online Transactions (middleman between your customer and your bank) • 5. Creating or Purchasing a Shopping Cart Software (getting hold of the web store infrastructure: sw-shelves, etc…)

12. Internet Merchant Bank Account • In order to be able to acceptcredit cards over the Internet,you must apply to your bankfor an Internet Merchant Bank Account • Depending on which country you live inand what bank you are with,this can be relatively easy or somewhat difficult.

13. Internet Merchant Bank Account In the U.S.A.: • In the USA, this is a fairly simple procedure • Many banks offer Internet Merchant Accounts,and most Online Transaction Providers will support them • Contact your bank for details.

14. Internet Merchant Bank Account Internationally: • Majority of Online Transaction Providers are located in the USA • They are restricted in their abilityto interact with banks outside their own country • International merchants have very little choice • An international merchant has to find a way: • to get a US merchant account • to find a local Online Transaction Provider • or utilize one of the few companiesthat services the international market

15. Internet Merchant Bank Account • Many banks outside the UShave very restrictive policiesregarding Internet accounts • Luckily, the situation is improving • Most Online Transaction Providers will help you with this if you get in touch with them. • EU has recently adopted a recommendation aimed at making E-commerce easier(liberal domain assignments, int’l Internet banking, etc…)

16. Internet Merchant Bank Account • Keep in mind when you apply for a Merchant Bank Account: • A US merchant account can takeup to a month to come through • If you already have a merchant bank account,you will probably also need to upgrade itto an Internet account • Ensure that your bank accepts Internet merchant accountsand has credit card processors that can connect toFDC, Paymentech, or CyberCash (alternative payment methods) • Your account must be able to handleCard Not Present transactions (important!).

17. Web Hosting • Web hosting is a very important step in this process • This is how you gain a presence on the Internetin the first place • It is important that the web hosting companyis capable of providing you with the level of servicethat you need to maintain your Web store • A few things to look for are: • Good uptime (over 99,5% guarantied) • Good technical support (your store is working non-stop) • Fast connection to the Internet • Staff that is knowledgeable about E-commerce • Compatibility with major E-commerce providers • Classified statistics of access to your Web site

18. Web Hosting • It is always good to spend some timewhen choosing a Web hosting company • There are many 'fly-by-night' businesses out there(if you are working globally, night jobs are not wanted) • For the money you're spending,make sure that the company is reputable.

19. Obtaining a Digital Certificate • A digital certificate (SSL Server Certificate),enables SSL on the Web server • SSL protects communications,so you can take credit card orders securely • It ensures that hackers cannot eavesdrop on you • Any E-commerce company will require youto have SSL before you can use their services • For most people obtaining a digital certificate is not a problem • For a minimal fee,one can usually use the certificate owned bythe Web hosting company where your page resides.

20. Obtaining a Digital Certificate • If you are a larger company, however,you may want to get your own digital certificate(for CC processing and/or for processing of sensitive data) • A certificate costs about $150.00 per yearand can be obtained from • Verisign (http://www.verisign.com)or • Thawte (http://www.thawte.com)

21. Provider of Online Transactions • Before you start looking for a provider,you should stop for a momentand consider what exactly you need • How many transactions do you expectto be completed in a month? • How many products do you haveto put on your web site? • How complex does the software need to be? • How much are you willing to spend?

22. Provider of Online Transactions • There are a lot of online transaction providers • They offer all kinds of packages • Decide on a provider's package that fits your needs • This is perhaps the most important aspectin creating an E-commerce Web site.

23. Shopping Cart Software • Shopping cart software is the most popular and the most widely used concept of Web store architecture • There are many other types of softwarethat you can use in your store,such as catalog software or a flat order form • Creating or purchasing a Shopping Cart Software? • Creating can be very complicated without proper tools • Creating can be very expensive.

24. Shopping Cart Software • Many Online Transaction Providers will have shopping cart software that comes with their service, but it can often be very expensive • Another possibility is a package that offers it as a rental included in the monthly service charge, or one that offers a simple flat order form • Maybe purchasing of good tools is the best solution(ecBuilder or Microsoft SSCE; Yahoo! Store is a ready-to-use Web store).

25. Shopping Cart Software • Generally it is possible to find three different types of Web store • Three types of Web store creating and shopping cart software are best represented with three examplesdiscussed later in this tutorial: • 1) Yahoo! Store • 2) EcBuilder • 3) Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition

26. Credit Card • The most widely used way of purchasingover the Internet is Credit Card • The consumer surfs the Internet to the merchants Web site, where he/she decides he/she wants to buy something. • The consumer is moved to the online transaction server, which ensures security. • Transaction (credit card billing) is passed through private gateway to a CC Processing Network, where it is completed (or denied).

27. Credit Card • System of validating card dataand making a transaction is shown on this picture Other Merchant Sites Bank Internet Bank Consumer Merchant Site Online Transaction Server Bank Bank Consumer Other Merchant Sites issuing and acquiring banks Consumer Private Gateway

28. Electronic Cash • Contrary to Credit Card, Electronic Cash is informational equivalent of physical banknotes and coins. • It is perfect for so-called micropayments(such as paying $0.10 for the one-time use of softwareor $0.19 for reading a literary essay) • Electronic Cash can offer such benefits as • anonymity of the buyer • global acceptance... but Credit Card will be dominant for at least the next few years.

29. Marketing... • When the Web store is ready for customers,marketing your site is very important: • Submit your site to as many search engines as possible • Try finding Web sites with similar themesand make deals to create reciprocal links • Create an advertising bannerand purchase space from a popular Web site to display it • Put your URL in the signature file of your emailand the header of all business correspondence • Word of mouth is very powerful on the Internet;tell all of your friends about your page • Avoid spamming - it is a sure way to get a very bad reputation.

30. ... and Planing • Investigate the web sites that are possible rivalsand formulate a strategy for competing against them • If you anticipate a lot of growthin the amount of orders coming through your site,figure out how you are going to cope withthe increased load before you get swamped.

31. Yahoo! Store

32. Introduction to Yahoo! Store • Yahoo! Store is a powerful tool for building e-Commerce sites.It can be accessed on the Internet address http://store.yahoo.com/. • Basic advantages • Low cost for small stores, thus highly applicable to small business solutions • Intuitive interface, easy to use • Results are visible immediately • Powerful support provided by Yahoo! on a number of topicsconcerning e-Commerce and e-Business

33. Introduction to Yahoo! Store • Basic disadvantages • Cannot create original look of the e-Commerce site; sites on Yahoo! Store look similar to each other no matter what effort was taken for visual design. That is because all sites are forced to have the same structure, and only graphical elements and their arrangement on the screen may be partially different • Company still needs its own server in order to use most advanced capabilities of Yahoo! Store (e.g. custom functions for tax and shipment calculation). If company owes a server (virtual or real), it can use other tools (such as ecBuilder) to create more flexible e-Commerce site. • Yahoo! Store certainly cannot fulfill all e-Business demands asked by big companies

34. Registering With Yahoo! • Yahoo! Store IDs are maintained on the level of Yahoo!(not on the level of Yahoo! Store),so once you get an ID, you can access all Yahoo! services • Obtain Yahoo! ID by registering at http://www.yahoo.com/or at http://store.yahoo.com/. • This ID offers pass to Yahoo! services like: mail at mail.yahoo.com, e-Commerce at store.yahoo.com, etc. • If you are already using some of Yahoo! services, you do not need to register again; just use the same ID to create the store. • Once logged on, the welcoming screen will be shown. • You may take a look at some featured stores by clicking on appropriate links, or you can take a search in order to find some specific store by using the Search field.

35. Creating the Store • First step in creating your own store is to click on Create a Store link. • This action leads to the store editor.

36. Creating the Store • In order to create a store, the user is prompted for: • ID of the site - this field also becomes the address of the site; complete address of your store after publishing will be http://store.yahoo.com/xyz, where xyz is ID you typed. It should be clear that once entered ID cannot be changed later since it is the WWW address, as well: user must be very careful when selecting this item. It also has to be checked whether the specified ID is already in use: if so, another ID should be entered. • Name of the site - this field is in fact the name of the company. Whatever is written as name, it will be shown at the top of the front page of the site.

37. Creating the Store – Final Step • Suppose at this moment that we are featuring a company named Raspberries, Inc., which offers ecological fruit: raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. • Each fruit is offered in a number of forms: fresh, frozen, juice, etc. • First we want to create the store for our company: we may type rasp in the ID field, and Raspberries, Inc. in the name field. • Thus, our WWW address will be: http://store.yahoo.com/rasp, and heading on our front page will read Raspberries, Inc.

38. Instructions by Yahoo! • After clicking at the Create button, a screen with instructions will be shown. There you will find some important information about your future store: • An account we have just created is temporal; transforming this account into real one will be presented later. • This temporal store will be treated for ten days, and after that it will be automatically deleted. (Whenever you log onto your store, current day countdown will be shown, just to remind you that your store will be deleted if account is not transformed.) • During the test period of ten days, the site will be fully operational,except that orders from customers will be scrambled; it means that your temporal account cannot be used to make profit until it is converted into a real account(the submitted CC# will not be visible to the store owner, etc...).

39. Types of Pages on the Store • Each store has three types of pages: • Front page - the first page of the site • Section pages - each section presents separate items for sale, showing only the most necessary properties of each item (such as price) • Item pages - each item is represented on a separate page, containing all important data (price, design, size, quantity, etc.) • Links to section pages are provided on the front page. • Each section page contains names and pictures (if provided) for items in that section. • By clicking on some item, the appropriate item page is loaded. • Items can be put directly onto the front page, without creating sections at all. This option is preferable when only a few items are offered.

40. Preparing to Edit the Store • After signing with Yahoo!, the screen with options will be shown. • The key page;each one of the 8 sections contains links to vital activities • Only manager can access this page; not the shopper.

41. Selecting the Interface • At this moment, we are interested in the Edit section, which allows us to edit our store. Three options in this column represent three types of interface: • Simple Interface - shows only the necessary options for store building • Regular Interface - shows some additional options, which allow the user to create a better visual look of the store • Advanced Interface - shows the complete Yahoo! Store functionality; its use is recommended to experienced programmers only. • The three options differ in the amount of tools available for edit • Only the last option allows links to other sites for extra functions • In the Edit section, click to link Simple, in order to step into Simple Interface for store building.

42. Simple Interface at First Glance • After stepping into Simple Interface, a line with options will be shown at the bottom of the screen. • Also, online help will be available. Click to Hide Help button, if you want to remove help from the screen. • It is recommended for new users to leave online help visible for a while. • Online help is initially shown for Simple Interface, and for Regular and Advanced Interface it is initially hidden. • In all interfaces, help can be toggled on/off with a single click.

43. Initial Look of the Front Page • Now we shall add content into our store: we should create sections for different kinds of items, and then fill each section with appropriate items. • Before sections and items are added, our front page shows only the heading. • Font, size, face color, and background color are all set to defaults. • We shall see later how these properties can be changed in order to meet our special demands.

44. Menu Bar at the Front Page • The line with options at the center of the page is context-sensitive. • Previous figure shows its look at the front page of the store. It will look partially different on section and item pages. • Light yellow buttons on the bar are available. Grayed buttons are unavailable. For instance, last button which reads Published shows that our site is currently published and another publishing is meaningless. When we make some changes, this button will read Publish and will be available. • The first button is Edit. It allows us to edit the current page, in this case the front page. This option will be used to change some general aspects of the front page.

45. Page Variables • If we click the Edit button at the front page, another page with properties of the front page will load. • Properties are referred as Variables. • Each page contains a number of variables that describe all relevant details of its look and structure. • The site creation activity boils down to the changing of the values of relevant Variables!

46. Variables for Front Page • Field names on this form are self-explanatory: • Page-title shows title of the browser window • Page-elements is the list of elements that should be shown on the front page • Image field allows us to upload an image,which will substitute the name of the company • Image-format shows three possible positions of the image: left, banner, and unconstrained • Buttons field is also a list, containing buttons that should be shown on the left margin of the front page • Message contains text that should be written under the store title. • Some other fields will be explained later.

47. Changing Some Variables • At this step, we will enter the page title and the logo message. • Let page title be: Green food from Serbia. • If no page title is entered, store title will be used instead (in our case, Raspberries, Inc.). • Message might be assumed as company motto, e.g. Our fruit knows of no chemistry. • We also may upload a title image by pressing the Upload File button at the appropriate row. If this image is loaded, it will be used instead of the store title, i.e. instead of Raspberries, Inc. • Note that page loading time will be longer when the uploaded image is bigger. It is highly recommended to upload images smaller than 20kB, in order to keep high performance.

48. Creating New Section • Now we may create sections on our front page. • We will make three sections: • Fresh Fruits • Frozen Fruits • Finished Products • In order to create a section, you should click onto the New Section button on the menu bar. • Then, you will be prompted for name and caption of the new section.

49. Creating New Section • To finish section creating, click the Update button. • In the same manner, another two sections can be created. • After each section is created, appropriate section page is loaded. • In order to return to the front page, click Home button at the left margin on the section page.

50. Selecting General Look of the Page • Now we may take some time to change the general look of the front page. • The simplest way to do this is to click the Look button on the menu bar. • After that, another line with buttons will load, containing general templates. • Each look can be selected by simple clicking on the appropriate button. You may feel free to experiment with different styles, in order to find the one which best fits with your store style.