COMP2113 Electronic Commerce Richard Henson University of Worcester April 2008

Week 6: On-line Shopping n Objectives:  Explain the features of B2C systems for handling on-line ordering and payment  Describe the stages required to achieve an on-line order  Identify these stages in a pre-prepared simple but effective on-line shopping system  Explain important considerations when planning to receive payment on-line

Three stages of buying n Whether happening face-face, by mail order, or through the web, the following three stages usually occur:  customer (usually) looks at goods  vendor lets customer know total price of goods chosen  customer pays for goods (or leaves without making a purchase)

Buying on-line from a website n All about the website… n Functionally (and legally) MUST include:  web pages showing details of products (product pages)  web pages and system giving cost detail and total cost of order (shopping cart)  web pages for managing on-line payment

The Home Page n Equivalent of a shop window n Needs to:  be attractive to users – potential customers (marketing!)  provide a balanced colour scheme & text font which will be replicated throughout the site…  provide links to all features of the site, including product pages

Product Pages n As an absolute minimum, a product page should include:  picture of product  price  drop-down menu for quantity  at least one mouse-click option to buy »preferable also for customer to click on product image to make a purchase

On-line Ordering n Can be achieved via the www in a number of ways:  data noted by customer and sent manually via »requires effort on the part of the customer…  HTML or Web forms on the shopping pages linked to an on-line product database capture data and send it via  A more sophisticated forms system creates the on-line order »captures customer’s personal data securely »links to a secure payment system

Order via n Now considered as primitive…  but better than nothing  provided that s are checked regularly! n Two possibilities:  customer creates from scratch using address given on home page  using a HTML mailto command, which allows the message header to be generated automatically n In either case, this is a manual system requiring the vendor to physically read the message and send a reply...

Process of ordering via n Customer:  initiates communication by sending an unstructured message requesting product(s) displayed on website n Vendor:  replies with an ed order »may have be inputted by hand  requests an address for sending the request for payment n Payment needs to be manual:  shouldn’t send credit card details by

Order via a Simple HTML form n Customer presented with product list as a form on the web page n Just needs to select qty of each product required and submit the completed form to either the vendor’s address or direct to the vendor’s own server  because the information is structured, it can be read, processed, and stored automatically by software at the server end  vendor system can also automatically get back to the customer to continue the buying process…

Order via real-time on-line forms system (Shopping Cart) n The cart….  Collects the order based on mouse clicks on shopping pages  Stores, processes, displays the order  Captures customer details  Displays on-line invoice for customer, including tax and any other extra costs  Provides payment options for the customer to complete their order  s a copy of the online invoice to the customer

More about Shopping Cart software n Written in a combination of:  HTML  a client-side scripting language »E.g. Javascript »VBScript  Scripts running on the vendor’s web server (server-side) »interaction with server each time new data is entered

Further requirements of a full B2C e-commerce system n B2C e-commerce sites also seek to provide customers with up to date information  e.g. price changes  new products in stock  changes to existing products n Can only be achieved by linking the web site to a product database on a web server  database records for products should themselves be easily updated from an online form

Server side web programming n Already cover “web scripting” (client side) n Shopping Cart implementation requires “server scripts” running on web servers n Current popular types of script:  php (PHP Hypertext Preprocessor) often on a breed of Unix  asp.net (Active Server Pages) often on Windows 2000, XP, or 2003 Server systems n More this in the practical, and next week...

Typical Implementation of Server-side Shopping Cart n Most commonly used (and most successful) B2C e-commerce implementation:  Web page displays live data from organisational web server  Customer selects product(s) and qty from on-line form  Costs, including VAT and any extras automatically included on on-line invoice  Customer can choose to buy (or not!) directly by simply clicking a screen button  System requests customer details and means of payment before continuing…

Capture of Customer Details n Essential to deliver the goods… n Needs to include address to inform customer of progress of order  details need to be stored so as not to infringe the 1998 Data protection Act n Customer data capture could be combined with choice of username/password for future login site authentication purposes  should not be used for bank details authentication  a fraudster could guess username/password…

On-line Payment Systems n Require a reliable means of authentication of the user, to establish TRUST n Most effectively done through an on-line link to the International banking system n Authentication requires confirmation of:  Name  type of account  account number  other information, depending on the type of account

B2B Payment Systems n B2B systems around for some time…  made use of EFT (Electronic funds Transfer) from the outset n Both buyer and seller need to contact relevant bank computer:  for authentication purposes  to transfer funds n On-line banking system highly secure:  512 bit encryption  virtual private network (VPN)

B2C Payment Systems n Websites and http are NOT secure n Payment data may take place FROM the web site, if made secure  no easy matter requires secure protocols: »http-s (secure) »SSL  safer to transfer to a secure site for data capture n Most popular method of authentication and payment is credit/debit card  relevant bank computer needs to be contacted  similar authentication and funds transfer systems as for B2B

Security on B2C Payment Systems n Lot of concern about security of B2C authentication and transactions n Use of VPNs, encryption and secure protocols make it extremely unlikely that data will be intercepted en route n Some concern about the “secure servers” of merchant service providers n Such servers hold e.g. credit card numbers stored in an encrypted format

Secure Merchant Servers n Server security a a matter of:  configuration and management of the server software  setting appropriate user privileges and file security  auditing of all access to confidential data  appropriate monitoring of attempted entry to the system by “invalid” users n Probably a lot safer to have credit details here than written down by a stranger at the other end of the telephone line…

Keeping the Customer Informed! n Relatively easy to produce a system that will keep the customer informed by about the processing of their order  especially important, bearing in mind that customers may be from overseas n Can program the system to send messages at various trigger points:  credit details are authenticated  order is paid for  order is “picked” »from the database »physically from stores  order is dispatched

Completing the customer shopping experience… n Important to have:  A means of giving the customer a record of their order: »by web page as well by … (“fail-safe”) n A corporate “thank you” page  equivalent to the polite “goodbye” when a customer leaves the shop – especially if they have made a purchase…

Producing web pages for e- commerce n By now, you should be able to use HTML (or an Authoring package) to produce simple web pages n You should also be able to implement mailto, simple forms, and frames n You should be at the point of using small JavaScript applets in HTML programs to provide processing ability or special effects n You should be becoming aware that using JavaScript makes the whole thing much more complicated!

Who can create e-commerce websites? n Producing an e-commerce site from scratch requires:  Good communication and analysis skills  Web page design skills  Some programming skills  Database knowledge  Client-server networking skills

(example of how to design shopping pages) n A variety of page items  e.g. buttons, text, pictures etc. that can be changed n “Instant” shopping cart system:  automatically displays “shopping basket” whenever forms data is added  handles tax and shipping  links with third party payment handling system (merchant services provider) »security handled by a “trusted” third party

Demo Sites n Page designs can be used as templates  also contain embedded client-side JavaScript to interface with the shopping cart system…  manipulation may need programming knowledge…  should be noted that the shopping system on most systems uses server-side scripting, and not necessarily written in JavaScript n To access demonstration sites:  locate demos share on relevant server  double click on index.html in the shop assistant demos folder (itself within the program files folder)

Bookshop Demo Site (example) n Navigation:  forward (buttons at the bottom of the page)  back (hyperlinks at top and bottom) n Further forward navigation enables the customer to order the book in at least two ways  “hot” image of the book (i.e. you can click on it) n Buttons bunched together - bottom of all product pages:  Order this Book  3 Copies for 2 Offer  Review Basket

Bookshop Demo Site n Each page is customizable for those with JavaScript expertise... n Other features to note:  heading – to reflect corporate image, etc.  product pages all have hyperlink to a pop up “more detail” page  the cart display »terms & conditions & “remove item” check box  option to go to payment page - cashier »brings up form for customer data  on-line invoice  bullet pointed help

Demo Site - Handling Payment n Online invoice appears AFTER customer details completed  includes shipping and VAT charges  TOTAL is what the customer will actually pay n If name, address, address fields not satisfactorily completed (validated)  payment method section is blocked…

Where fails miserably… n Product details are stored “client-side”  each product page has its own data  no option for updating data remotely  any updating requires reprogramming of the page… n This is why SERVER SCRIPTING is usually used for shopping sites…  product data held on an easily readable/updateable database  connected via scripts with embedded SQL statements

For next week… More Shopping sites to look at n Woosh! ( “The World of Online Shopping” Woosh!  over 1,000 UK shopping sites n  sites using freecom.net services n n

And… More URL’s to look at n Continental Research.com - profiles of consumers using E-Commerce Continental Research.com Continental Research.com n Zendor.com - logistics firm - back end E-Commerce Zendor.com n TPS - Telephone Preference Service n MPS - Mail Preference Service

Finally… Investigate Server-side scripting n Course practicals will use asp.net  different from asp, which is being phased out… n Needs an Internet Information Service  provided with any XP Professional machine  and any Vista Premium machine…  in each case, not a default installation & needs to be installed n Each of the above is FREE to Worcester Business School students via MSDN