Simple ^eStore
One of the easiest of ways to implement an ^ecommerce solution is to simply offer goods or services for sale on a secured part of a Web site. Most Web sites could be adapted for basic ^ecommerce fairly easily, simply by adding order forms to accept orders and the link to a secure server to accept credit card payments.

The complete ^eStore with transaction processing.
Software products to support complete ^ecommerce applications require a great deal of customisation, and few sellers have the skills required for such work. A commerce server must link a buyer, seller and transaction authorisation agency, and pulling all these players together effectively can be a difficult task.

For these reasons, some sellers chose to outsource all or part of their Web store. It depends on the nature of your business, resources and the availability of relevant skills. The following are the most common options:

Outsourcing of payment authorisation and processing
The major part of your ^eStore is located on your own or your ISPs (Internet Service Provider) server. Once an on-line customer has placed an order the third party is contacted through a secure connection to authorise and process credit card or other form of payment.

Outsourcing of the complete Web store
Your complete Web store is created and maintained on a commerce server which manages the whole process from displaying your catalogue through processing of the orders and payments. The seller just ships the goods.

^eCommerce Platforms

The most important part of any Web store is the software platform that runs it. Previously the software solutions for Web stores were developed from a number of tools to perform all the functions of a Web store.

Curently there is a new technology available, such as Web storefront creation packages or commerce servers, like for example Allaire's Cold Fusion Server 4.5. These products, working with existing Web servers and other applications, provide a platform which runs your store's catalogue, site searches, database for your on-line inventory, customer and order data, process taxes and shipping costs, work with a variety of payment schemes, and process transactions securely. Most ot them provide site analysis and reporting tools for monitoring your site's progress. On the top, many provide wizards or libraries of sample storefronts, as well as authoring tools, to help developers build the site quickly.

From a customer's perspective, they allow visitors to register, log on, browse products, place products in virtual shopping carts, and purchase the goods or services securely.

Most ISPs offer ^ecommerce hosting on various platforms. Many ISPs allow the use of CGI scripts on their servers and there are a number of ready made CGI scripts available that fulfil many of the required functions of a commerce server. There are some limitations to their usefulness. Most of them are written in a programming language called PERL. Perl does have some speed limitations and therefore is only really suited for use in Web stores with light to medium traffic. Some ^ecommerce scripts rely heavily on the use of cookies which some Web users regard as a threat to their privacy and are therefore probably best avoided.

Finally, if you want to quickly establish a Web store and have limited or no HTML skills, there are a number of inexpensive storefront creation programs available, usually hosted by the vendor or a partner ISP. These entry-level products typically provide wizards that walk you through the process of setting up a Web store and then generate the site automatically.

Designing the eStore

To a large extent the design of electronic on-line stores is still a new thing. Much developing time and experimentation is still needed before it is possible to establish exactly what does and doesn't work. And what will work for you may be totally different from everyone else depending on the unique nature of your business.

Important guidelines for a design of effective eStore:

• Fast loading
  Keep the HTML simple, the graphics small and forget about plug-ins and Java applets. Think carefully before deciding to use frames; if you do decide to use them then include a frameless version as well.
  
• Keep it simple
  Don't let too many choices distract the visitor; research into interface design shows that users start to feel overwhelmed when faced with 7 or more choices on a menu so try and stay within this limit.
  
• Use a shopping cart feature
  Virtual shopping carts or shopping baskets enhance the shopping experience by allowing customers to select items for purchase and continue browsing the store before placing an order.
  
• Good and easy navigation
  The eStore should be design such a way that customers can be at the ordering point within three clicks of entering your eStore. Potential customers may enter your site from many directions (i.e. not just your home page) so each page should include full navigation or a clear ink to your home page as a minimum. Your eStore should have the search capabilities that will let users sort by subject, item, or some other category.
  
• Remember the Global Exposure "WWW" stands for World-Wide Web. That means that your store will be accessible to people around the world. The store should include details of what the shipping costs and transit times to international destinations will be. Depending on the type of customers you are expecting and the product or service you are offering, the ^ecommerce solution could be developed in other languages.
  
• Maximize the ordering and payment options Quite simply the more options to order and pay your visitors have more orders your eStore can expect. Important is to offer secure processing of as many credit card types as possible.
  
• Establish credibility Internet scams and rip-offs, although greatly exaggerated by the media, do exist. You will need to convince customers that you are credible and serious business.
  

Few tips:

Include details about your business:
Telephone number and fax numbers
Include testimonials from customers
Offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee
Register your site with Verisign
Register your site with TRUSTe


Offer a personalised service
The level of personalisation is still not readily available particularly to lower budget ^ecommerce solution developments. However, it is possible to provide a degree of personalisation by collecting some basic data from on-line visitors and selecting and presenting information accordingly.


Wide range of on-line sales support
Provide comprehensive information about your product to help customer reach a buying decision. Make sure more information is accessible and available and respond promptly to ^emails (preferably within 24hrs but definitely within 48hrs).

After sale support
Maintain a high level of service after you receive the order:

Idenfify each order with a unique reference number for tracking
Provide on-line tracking of orders or a dedicated ^email address for order progressing
Provide confirmation of despatch of goods
Have an area on your eStore site for ongoing product support



Realistic pricing
Visitors to the On-line stores know that it is cheaper to run business on the Internet and they expect this to reflect into the price of goods and services you are offering to them. The only difference here is a niche market. In order to sell your products, you have to stay competitive. Offer to your customers contests, promotional discounts, coupons and aisl^eend specials and other enticement in order for them to come back.

Receiveing Orders

Currently most Web stores are set up with the expectation that the majority of orders will be received through the Web. The reality is that many customers prefer to use the Web to aid in the selection of a product and then to order by more traditional methods. Therefore, ensure you are able to accept orders in as many different ways as possible.

Payment Transactions

Majority of payments in Web stores are made through traditional credit card transactions. eCommerce Solution should be in a position to accept payment in as many ways as possible in order to maximise your sales.

• Credit cards
  
  Sometimes it can be difficult to obtain a merchant account if you do not have a bricks-and-mortar store or if the majority of your business is via mail order. However, with the growth of Internet and mail order business many intermediaries have started offering merchant accounts. Caution is necessary because a merchant account could cost you a lot more than necessary.

  With the merchant account in place you need to be able to verify each payment. The simplest method is to manually verify each credit card payment through a terminal or software.

  In case the customers are unwilling to wait for manual verification, or the sales volume is high, there is a need for real-time card verification software. Tool like ICVerify is available for DOS, Windows, and Unix, and is integrated with many Web storefront packages. ICVerify collects credit-card information from a Web form and processes the authorisation in real time, depositing the purchase price amount in your merchant account. ICVerify currently requires a dedicated connection to a bank or credit-card processing company, although an Internet-based solution called NetVerify is being developed.

  An alternative credit-card processing scheme, supported by card-issuing banks, is the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol developed by Visa and MasterCard and now backed by American Express (in Canada it is TouchNet service provided by Royal Bank of Canada). Designed for cardholders, merchants, banks and other card processors, these systems use digital certificates to ensure the identities of all parties involved in a purchase. They also encrypts credit and purchase information before transmission on the Internet.

  In the meantime there are other systems put in place by several other companies including CyberCash, Verifone and First Virtual.

  CyberCash and Verifone both use a helper application called a "wallet". In the process of setting up the wallet, the user provides their credit-card information and receives an encrypted code that refers to their credit card in return - credit card numbers are only stored in the Wallet, not at the merchant's server and not by CyberCash or Verifone. When making a purchase at a participating Web store, the wallet passes the code to the merchant. The merchant then hands that code, along with the purchase price, to the wallet issuer who verifies the transaction with the credit-card company and transfers the funds to the merchant along with an authorisation to ship the product.

  First Virtual issues a VirtualPIN to the customer, after they have provided their credit-card number over a voice telephone call - no credit card information is ever transferred over the Internet. Customers can then use their VirtualPIN in lieu of a credit card number. For each purchase, First Virtual sends the user an ^email message asking them to confirm the transaction. Once First Virtual receives the confirmation back, the credit card transaction is processed off the Internet and an ^email sent to the merchant authorising them to ship the goods.

• Digital cash

  Digital cash or ^ecash is nothing more than a string of digits or tokens issued by a bank. To use ^ecash, both users and merchants must have an account with a bank that issues ^ecash. The bank gives them "purse" software for managing and transferring their ^ecash. Users convert funds from their regular accounts into ^ecash and then transfer it to the purse software, where it is stored on the user's hard drive in encoded form until it is spent.

  When making a purchase with ^ecash, the user transmits the relevant amount of tokens to the merchant who relays them to the bank for verification and redemption. Since ^ecash is not a physical object, a complex series of serial numbers are used to assure that each ^ecash "coin" can only be spent once. Users seeking privacy in their transactions can not use credit cards as they are highly traceable. E-cash however, can be made to behave like regular cash through the use of blind signatures which allows banks to check the tokens are valid but prevents them from matching the tokens to the person they issued them to.

  Other advantages of ^ecash are the relatively low transaction costs and the fact that it can be divided into smaller denominations than are used in the real world. This makes it suitable for use in low value transactions such as paying for a stock quote or news article. These small denomination tokens are known as microcash and transactions with them are called microtransactions or micropayments.

  The major disadvantages to ^ecash is that there are currently very few banks that issue it or Web stores that accept it.

• Electronic Checking

  In virtually all aspects an electronic check has the same features as a paper cheque. Indeed, in its simplest form some systems merely require the customer to fill out a form in the Web store. This data is then transferred to the merchant where it is converted in to a paper cheque by using blank cheque forms in a standard office printer; the check is then submitted to a bank for payment as normal.

  A further level of security can be obtained by utilising third parties who provide additional services such as verification.

  The Redi-Check system allows customers to enter their checking account information at a secure sit^e they need never repeat this information to any Internet merchant - and then chooses a unique user name and password. A customer wishing to make a purchase from a participating Web store simply completes the merchant's online order form. The order information is then submitted to Redi-Check's secure server where it is verified.

  The CyberCash PayNow system is basically an extension of their credit card wallet. After users register for the PayNow service, their checking account(s) information is electronically stored in an encrypted format in their wallets. When making a purchase at a participating Web store, the customer elects to use the PayNow system and enters a pr^eassigned user ID and password to review their billing information. The user then clicks on a "pay button" to pay the entire amount of the balance due, or enters the amount he or she wishes to pay. The CyberCash Wallet opens and prompts the user for a Wallet password. The user enters the password, selects a payment instrument, and confirms payment.

• Other Payment methods

Commerce on the Web is still in its infancy, and many customers will wish to use more traditional payment methods. You therefore need to ensure you are able to accept payment in as many ways as possible, for example credit cards via the telephone or COD.

On-line Information Security

Most of the merchants security concerns focuss on the interception of data being passed from the customer to the on-line store. However, the greatest risk arises from the theft of data from the Web store's server after it has been transmitted, either by a hacker or a dishonest employee.

Data and sensitive information being stored on a server that is connected to the Internet should be protected with a firewall. In addition the SSL-protected forms to capture credit card information and other sensitive information is encrypted if it is stored in your local system. That way, if your systems are compromised, the encrypted information - and your customers - will be protected.

Web Store Promotion

Once your eStore setup is completed, your efforts focus on how to make it visible. Your Web store is now online and you need to work hard to entice customers to visit.

eCommerce Solution  "To Do" List:

Search engine and directory submittal
Negotiate cross-links with other sites
Buy links from other sites
Set up affiliate programmes
Researching and posting to relevant newsgroups
Keep refreshing your content
Online advertising via banners
E-mail marketing
Create a signature file
Issue press releases
Print your URL everywhere