E-Commerce Fundamentals Small Business Information Systems BUS 494 Professor Barry Floyd

Questions  Internet purchases: –What have you bought over the internet?  If nothing, what would you buy?  If something, why did you use the internet? –What won’t you buy over the internet? Why?

Agenda  Business to Consumer: Building a site  Creating a web site at Cal Poly  See assignment

E-Commerce in a nutshell 1Find a Domain Name 2Build The Site 3Find a Host 4Accept Payments 5Secure The Site 6Promote The Site 7Maintain The Site 8Keep Customers 9Globalize The Site 10Stay EducatedFind a Domain NameBuild The SiteFind a HostAccept PaymentsSecure The SitePromote The SiteMaintain The SiteKeep CustomersGlobalize The SiteStay Educated /build/article/0,,10362_867521,00.html

Find a domain name  Choose one no one else has  Makes sense for your business  Purchase from various folks 

Build the site  Web designers  Storefront builders  Auction Builder  For example, look at:

Find a host  Find someone reliable  Low cost  Good support  Check out

Accept payments  Credit card –Merchant Account –3 rd party processor  Paypal –

Secure the site  Allows folks to know who you are and to provide encryption of data transfers between client and server

Promote the site  Make certain that customers can find you!  Need to show up on search engines – http:// 27 – ndex.htm ndex.htmhttp:// ndex.htm  Align with other partners –Place ads on their pages

Maintain the site  Track who’s using it  See what pages are being viewed and for how long –

Keep customers  Assess who your customers are  Determine what information you can collect about them  Use the information to assist them use your site  Don’t lose customers.. – rticle/0,,10363_ ,00.html

Globalize the site  Language  Culture

Stay educated  What are the trends?  Demographics of users?  What will customers buy?

Other Types  B2C – Business to consumer  B2B – Business to business  C2B – Consumer to business  C2C – Consumer to consumer

Kinds of e-tailers  Store, catalog and web site  Catalog and web site  Web site

Keys to success in Business to Consumer E-Commerce  Commodity-like its work best  Digital products best of all  Attracting and retaining customers  Remember the importance of merchandising  You must execute well  Watch the competition

Summary  Take time to know your customer  Understand role of technology and how it adds value to your customer’s purchasing decision/use.  Understand the steps in Business Web Site creation

Hands On  Creating a web site at Cal Poly