Mini Project – Shopping Cart Development

Author: University of HertfordshireDate created:Date revised: 2009

AbstractThe following resources come from the 2009/10 BSc in Internet Technology and E-Commerce (course number 2ELE0076) from the University of Hertfordshire. All the mini projects are designed as level two modules of the undergraduate programmes.

The objectives of this module are to examine the structure of shopping cart on e-Commerce websites and understand various usage of shopping cart:

Identifying successful usage of shopping cart on e-Commerce websites Identifying different types of programming languages used for creating shopping cart Analysing different structures of shopping cart Using one of the chosen language to create a shopping cart for an online book store website.

This project requires examination of several famous e-Commerce websites and their individual usage of shopping cart. Students are required not only understand the successful examples on shopping cart usage, but also create their own shopping cart for an e-Commerce website.

In addition to the resources found below there are supporting documents which should be used in combination with this resource. Please see:Mini Projects - Introductory presentation. Mini Projects - E-Log.Mini Projects - Staff & Student Guide.Mini Projects - Standard Grading Criteria.Mini Projects - Reflection.

You will also need the ‘Mini Project- Shopping Cart Development’ text document.

© University of Hertfordshire 2009. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

Contents

What is E-Commerce? The well established Internet and the WWW Why is the WWW so important to business? Intranet, Internet & Extranet Why should we use e-commerce? What goods and services can be provided via the Internet? Current problems of e-commerce B2A to B2Z Electronic Payments Principle Methods of Making Payments Electronically What is Electronic Cash? Problems with Giving Credit Card Information Over a Network What is SET? What is EDI? Background Reading B2C Solutions The most common applications of B2C, include: 1. Advertising, Online Publishing, Push Technology 2.Cyberbanking, Personal Finance and Stock Trading 3. The Job Market, Auctions, Bids and Bartering 4. Travel and Real Estate

5. Electronic Retailing & Malls B2B Models 1. B2B Definition 2. B2B Models 2.1 B2B Exchanges 2.2 B2B Service Providers 3. Intranet Commerce 3.1 Efficient Transaction Entry 3.2 Common Transaction Processing 3.3 Consistent Internal Controls 4. The Extranet Other B2B Activities Good Practices 5. Electronic Document Interchange 5.1 EDI 5.2 EDI Special Characteristics 5.3 Advantages of EDI 5.4 Disadvantages of EDI 5.5 Conclusion of EDI Mini Project Preparation Day Credits

What is E-Commerce? Electronic Commerce is referring to

commercial activity conducted over telecommunications networks, specifically the Internet, for data exchange.

Not on other forms of remote transactions like ordering a taxi or pizza over the telephone, paying by credit card for cinema tickets over the telephone.

The well established Internet and the WWW

A range of functions has been developed for the Internet.

For example, gopher, telnet, bulletin board.

Gopher – A menu based system for exploring the Internet. Options are selected using a structured menu approach until you obtain the information you require.

The well established Internet and the WWW

Telnet – An Internet protocol that allows you to log in to another computer systems net.

Bulletin Board System – BBS An online service which can be

completely standalone – these can be support BBSs for computer hardware or software suppliers or corporate BBSs for feedback and discussion.

Why is the WWW so important to business?

Potential benefits: Ability to reach global markets. Rapidly growing audiences. Ability to reach varying consumer

profiles. Increased sales. Increased profit ratios of whole

operation.

Why is the WWW so important to business?

Potential benefits: Provide an edge over competitors. Cost savings. Shortened supply chains. Faster communications. Enhanced access to information and

knowledge.

Intranet, Internet & Extranet

What is a Intranet? What is a Extranet?

Where is the overlap?

Intranet vs. Extranet

Why should we use e-commerce?

Marketing can be supported by a well designed and well maintained presence on the WWW.

Communications with customers, suppliers and staff can be greatly facilitated by the use of web pages, e-mail and now even more advanced systems integration replacing traditional electronic data interchange (EDI).

Why should we use e-commerce?

Orders can be placed and accepted electronically.

Payments can be made. In some cases the product or service

can be delivered over the network. New customers can be reached in

other countries.

EDI EDI – A generic term to describe

processes in which commercial data is exchanged between different organisations’ computer systems.

A number of proprietary and international standards exist for EDI including the EDIFACT standard.

What goods and services can be provided via the

Internet? News and information services Ability to compare prices Expert advice Soft products

What goods and services can be provided via the

Internet? Hard products – theatre tickets,

airline tickets, holiday bookings etc Added value information e.g.

delivery status Electronic mail systems Archives

Current problems of e-commerce

How do you prove the identity of the parties concerned in a business transaction?

How can financial data be exchanged securely?

There are legal concerns related to contracts, IPR and other matters.

Current problems of e-commerce

Regulatory issues related to taxation and other matters.

There are also issues relating to data protection.

Businesses must put significant effort into maintaining their e-commerce systems.

B2A to B2Z B2A Business to B2B Business to B2C Business to B2D Business to B2E Business to B2F Business to

B2A to B2Z B2GBusiness to B2H Business to B2I Business to B2J Business to B2K Business to B2L Business to B2MBusiness to

B2A to B2Z B2N Business to B2OBusiness to B2P Business to B2QBusiness to B2R Business to B2S Business to B2T Business to

B2A to B2Z B2U Business to B2V Business to B2W Business to B2X Business to B2Y Business to B2Z Business to

Electronic Payments

Principle Methods of Making Payments

Electronically Three basic methods are used to

authorise payments electronically.

Electronic cards Via credit/charge/debit card Using EDI

Principle Methods of Making Payments

Electronically Each of these approaches can be

implemented in different ways and there will no doubt be a set of standards emerging from the exposure of these different implementations to marketing activity combined with end-user acceptability.

This has already happened to a great extent with EDI, which has been used for B2B transactions for many years.

What is Electronic Cash? There is a widespread familiarity and general

acceptance of the concept of electronic cash as a result of the introduction of telephone cards in the 1980’s.

The concept is that a card can be purchased which holds, in a coded form, a level of credit.

This can be used to make telephone calls until the remaining credit is reduced to zero.

What is Electronic Cash? This is relatively easy to implement

when dealing with one large and well known supplier, selling one service and the initial credit investment is small.

The extension to multiple suppliers with different products and services is more complicated since it not requires the active co-operation of many parties.

What is Electronic Cash? Given the appropriate hardware

there is no technical difficulty with performing such transactions on-line.

The biggest obstacle to the acceptance of such schemes is the extent to which the ‘electronic money’ is credible.

Individuals will only accept it when they are quite comfortable that they can pay it into their bank account or use it to make payments themselves.

Problems with Giving Credit Card Information Over a

Network It is now possible to travel the world and

make purchases and payments locally using the same credit, charge or debit card. Certain of these cards are now universally accepted.

As a result they provide an obvious medium for making payments remotely whether by telephone, fax, traditional mail or over the Internet.

Problems with Giving Credit Card Information Over a

Network One of the principal objections to their use

over the Internet has been and remains the concern that card details presented as a part of a transaction might be accessed and recorded by unauthorized individuals and subsequently used fraudulently.

There is no evidence that this is more likely to happen when using the Internet than when giving the same information over the phone or to an unknown shop assistant or waiter.

What is SET? SET – Secure Electronic Transaction

– has been developed to protect payment card purchases over electronic networks.

The SET protocol was originally developed by Visa and MasterCard which the assistance of a number of major players in the IT business world including IBM, GTE, Microsoft and Netscape.

What is SET? SET allows individuals to submit payment

card details in order to make payments for goods and services and ensures a number of security aspects related to the transactions:

Confidentially – this is guaranteed by the use of encryption.

Integrity – the data passing between the parties to the transaction cannot be changed without detection. This is achieved by the use of digital signatures.

What is SET? Cardholder Authentication – this allows the

merchant to ensure that the cardholder is a legitimate user of the payment card account.

Merchant Authentication – ensures that the merchant has an agreement with an acquirer (the financial institution that processes card payments).

What is SET? When a payment is made using SET the

card information is sent to the merchant by the cardholder and the merchant requests payment authorisation from the acquirer.

In this process the merchant does not have direct access to the cardholders card details. The encrypted card details are passed to acquirer who alone is able to decrypt them and authorise the payment.

What is SET? SET restricts the access to sensitive

financial information to those who have a need to know and it is consequently more secure than other payment protocols which give the merchant access to card details.

What is EDI? EDI – Electronic Data Interchange – A

generic term to describe processes in which commercial data is exchanged between different organisations’ computer systems. A number of proprietary and international standards exist for EDI including the EDIFACT standard.

EDI has been in use for many years as a B2B tool for the efficient execution of many common business transactions.

What is EDI? The exchange, using digital media, of

structured business information, particularly for sales transactions such as purchase orders and invoices between buyers and sellers.

It essentially handles the transfer of business documents between computers and covers most standard documents such as purchase order invoices and dispatch notices.

What is EDI? EDI has gained fairly widespread use

because a set of standards (UN/EDIFACT) has developed which cover the communication of the necessary information.

Interface programs are then used to translate to and from this standard in order to allow the transmitted information to be used within the local environment.

What is EDI? It has proven to be a much cheaper way

to operate than the paper based systems it displaces.

Communication between partners using EDI will be via a secure network. With the development of the Internet there has been a growth in interest in using EDI over the global infrastructure that this provides. There are security concerns associated with the use of the Internet.

Background Reading Electronic Procurement

The electronic integration and management of all procurement activities including purchase request, authorisation, ordering, delivery and payment between a purchaser and a supplier.

B2C Solutions

The most common applications of B2C,

include: Home banking

Which bank is the most popular one in UK?

Buying stocks and bonds Conducting personal finance

transactions Finding jobs Buying at electronic auctions

The most common applications of B2C,

include: Organising travel Purchasing real estate Buying items at retail stores Electronic mails “What do people do in electronic

commerce and how are they making money?”

1. Advertising, Online Publishing, Push

Technology 1.1 Advertising – advertisement and

dissemination of product or service information are currently the largest commercial activities on the Internet.

The organisation’s own web site Other organisations’ web sites Electronic publisher’s web sites

1. Advertising, Online Publishing, Push

Technology Electronic commerce vendors’

pages (AOL, Netscape or Yahoo) Information kiosks Electronic mails Newsgroups Other innovative approaches

1. Advertising, Online Publishing, Push

Technology Advertising on the organisation’s

own web site Designing the web site and the Ads Interactive advertising and marketing Electronic catalogs Combining advertisement and

entertainment Advertising on somebody else’s web

site Measuring the effectiveness of

advertisements

1. Advertising, Online Publishing, Push

Technology 1.2 Electronic Publishing

Online publishing is the electronic delivery of newspapers, magazines, news, books and other information via the Internet.

1. Advertising, Online Publishing, Push

Technology Online archive approach (

www.zdnet.com, Ziff-Davis Publishing)

New medium approach (real-time news delivery)

Edutainment (interactive combination of education and entertainment)

News on demand (Dow Jones provides ’customclips’, dis.dowjones.com)

1. Advertising, Online Publishing, Push

Technology 1.3 Push Technology What means Information Overload? Push technology is an approach

designed to deliver only the information users want or need.

Preference Profile – myahoo. Customisation

2.Cyberbanking, Personal Finance and Stock Trading 2.1 Cyberbanking also known as electronic

banking, virtual banking, home banking, online banking and Internet banking. It includes various banking activities conducted from home, a business or on the road instead of a physical bank location.

Why is a bank getting involved in shopping? International and multiple-currency banking

(Hong Kong Bank, Mark Twain Bank)

2.Cyberbanking, Personal Finance and Stock Trading 2.2 Personal Finance Online Bill paying and electronic check writing Track bank accounts, expenditures and

credit card Portfolio management, including reports

and capital gains (losses) computations Investment tracking and monitoring of

securities Quotes and trade line historical and

current prices

2.Cyberbanking, Personal Finance and Stock Trading Budget organisation Record keeping of cash flow and profit

and loss computations Tax computations Retirement goals, planning and budgeting

Online stock trading (Charles Schwab, www.schwab.com/schwabonline and PC Financial Networks, www.pcfn.com)

3. The Job Market, Auctions, Bids and

Bartering This is also below to B2B 1.1 The Job Market

Job seekers (Job Center, www.jobcenter.com)

Job offerers Recruiting firms (Career Mosaic,

www.careermosaic.com)

3. The Job Market, Auctions, Bids and

Bartering 3.2 Auctions

Auctioning cars to dealers (Manheim online, www.manheim.com)

On sale Art auctions Airlines (Cathy Pacific,

www.cathy.usa.com)

4. Travel and Real Estate 4.1 Travel – www.travelocity.com 4.2 Real Estate You can view many properties on the screen,

saving time for you and the broker. You can sort and organise properties

according to your criteria and preview the exterior and interior design of the properties, shortening the search process.

You can find detailed information about the properties and frequently get even more details than brokers will provide.

4. Travel and Real Estate 4.2 Real Estate You can view many properties on the

screen, saving time for you and the broker.

You can sort and organise properties according to your criteria and preview the exterior and interior design of the properties, shortening the search process.

You can find detailed information about the properties and frequently get even more details than brokers will provide.

5. Electronic Retailing & Malls

Electronic retailing is direct sale through electronic storefronts, usually designed around a catalog format.

Two types of vendors on the web: Solo storefronts – maintain their own

Internet name and web site and may or may not be affiliated with electronic malls. Extensions of physical stores Online business

5. Electronic Retailing & Malls

Electronic malls – also known as cybermall, a collection of individual shops under one Internet address.

Metamalls – provide one-stop shopping over multiple malls.

B2B Models

1. B2B Definition B2B E-Commerce is defined as

buying, selling, partnering, bartering or trading conducted between two or more businesses.

2. B2B Models B2B Exchanges B2B exchanges allow businesses to buy,

sell, auction, barter and distribute products and services.

B2B Service Providers These e-businesses help other

businesses improve policies, procedures, customer service and general operations.

2.1 B2B Exchanges B2B exchanges cuts costs while improving

efficiency.

E.g. TradeAccess www.tradeaccess.com A site helps businesses from relationships

and facilitate negotiations. The site aggregates all of the

documentation and materials appropriate for a specific contract and negotiates the terms over the web.

2.1 B2B Exchanges Another kind of B2B exchange is

available online at www.eWork.com. Online company that can help a business

exchange human resources. The site allows businesses to exchange

employees to complete short-term projects.

eWork can search its databases and find qualified professionals to help you complete all of your projects.

2.2 B2B Service Providers B2B service providers make B2B

transactions on the Internet easier. E.g. Ariba www.ariba.com, solutions include supply

chain management, procurement, logistics, customer service features and many others.

www.Freemarkets.com is a B2B marketplace connecting buyers and sellers.

Any other example you can think?

3. Intranet Commerce The use of intranet is increasing rapidly

not only as an internal communication system, but also as a facilitator of electronic commerce.

Intranet can facilitate electronic commerce inside a corporation.

For example, they can be used to sell corporate products to employees, or to sell or trade services and products among business units.

3. Intranet Commerce Examples within the university: Selling Merchandise PC equipment sales Online booking systems (room, equipment,

catering)

Intranets can facilitate external trade as well.

Intranet can facilitate transaction processing in the following ways:

3.1 Efficient Transaction Entry

Wherever appropriate, data needed by systems to support financial functions are entered only once and are updated through electronic means, consistent with the timing requirements of normal business or transaction cycles.

This also reduces errors.

3.2 Common Transaction Processing

Common procedures are used for processing similar kinds of transactions throughout the system, enabling these transactions to be reported in a consistent manner.

3.3 Consistent Internal Controls

Internal controls over data entry, transaction processing and reporting are applied consistently throughout the system to ensure the validity of information and the protection of financial resources.

4. The Extranet The extranet is a network that links

business partners to one another over the Internet by typing together their corporate intranets.

The term “extranet” comes from “extended intranet”.

The main goal of extranets is to foster collaboration between organisations.

4. The Extranet An extranet uses the same basic

infrastructure components including servers, TCP/IP protocols, email and web browsers as the Internet.

It basically makes communication over the Internet secured.

Extranet links the company’s intranet with suppliers, customers and trading partners.

4. The Extranet Extranet may be allow inventory

databases to be searched by outsiders, or to transmit information on the status of an order.

An extranet enables people who are located outside a company to work together with the company’s internally located employees.

4. The Extranet An extranet, like an intranet is typically

protected by a firewall and is closed to the public.

It is open to selected suppliers, customers and other business partners, who access it on a private wide-area network over the Internet or on a virtual private network (VPN), which increases security and functionality.

Other B2B Activities Because of the diversity of B2B

transactions, there is no one support system for all occasions.

Instead, systems exist that support segments of this huge field.

Some of these segments are restricted to one industry, while others are confined to a certain type of product or service.

Good Practices General Electronic and Corporate

Electronic Commerce

Cisco Systems online

Countrywide Home Loans of Pasadena, CA

Hewlett Packard using EDI

5. Electronic Document Interchange

EDI is the system that uses standardised electronic forms to facilitate transactions between businesses and their customers, suppliers and distributors.

EDI is the electronic movement of specially formatted standard business documents, such as orders, bills, and confirmations sent between business partners.

5.1 EDI EDI allows one company to offer direct

deposit paychecks. Not only is this better for employees,

but the time and expense to stuff and distribute paycheck envelopes are significantly decreased.

Like email, EDI allows sending and receiving of messages between computers connected by a communication link.

5.2 EDI Special Characteristics

Business transactions messages

EDI is used primarily to electronically transfer repetitive business transactions.

These include purchase orders, involves, approvals of credit, shipping notices, confirmations, and so on.

In contrast, email is used mainly for non-standard correspondence.

5.2 EDI Special Characteristics

Data Formatting Standards

Since EDI messages are repetitive, it is sensible to use some formatting (coding) standards.

Standards can shorten then length of the messages and eliminate data entry errors, since data entry occurs only once.

The international standard developed by the United Nations is called EDIFACT.

5.2 EDI Special Characteristics

EDI Translators An EDI translator does the conversion of

data into standard format.

Private lines versus the Internet In the past, EDI ran on expensive value-

added network. These networks provided sufficient security and capacity.

5.2 EDI Special Characteristics

However, their implementation was confined to large trading partners.

There were also problems of compatibility. As a result, large companies doing business with thousands of other companies were unable to place most of them on the EDI.

This situation is changing rapidly with the emergence of Internet-based EDI.

5.3 Advantages of EDI EDI enables companies to send and

receive large amounts of routine transaction information quickly around the globe.

There are very few errors in the transformed data as a result of computer-to-computer data transfer.

Information can flow among several trading partners consistently and freely.

Companies can access partners’ databases to retrieve and store standard transaction.

5.3 Advantages of EDI EDI fosters true and strategic partnership

relationships since it involves a commitment to a long-term investment and the refinement of the system over time.

EDI creates a complete paperless TPS (Transaction Processing Systems) environment, saving money and increasing efficiency.

The time for collecting payments can be shortened by several weeks.

5.3 Advantages of EDI Data may be entered offline, in a batch

mode, without tying up ports to the mainframe.

When an EDI document is received the data may be used immediately.

Sales information is delivered to manufactures, shippers and warehouses almost in real time.

EDI can save a considerable amount of money.

5.4 Disadvantages of EDI A company may have to use several EDI

translators. High cost for setup and transactions:

smaller organisations cannot afford the cost associated with setup and maintenance of an EDI solution using a VAN. (The VAN is used as a medium for transferring messages from one organisation to the other, the VAN services may be expensive.)

There could be security problems on the networks.

5.4 Disadvantages of EDI There could be communication problems

with some of the business partners. EDI messages are a subset of all the

types of data that organisations may want to exchange.

EDI does not facilitate online access to information, which may be required for applications such as self-service.

Internet-based EDI solves these problems, except for security, which is a serious shortcoming.

5.5 Conclusion of EDI EDI (Electronic Document Interchange)

allows organisations to exchange documents (e.g. purchase orders, sales orders, etc) using standards (such as X.12 or EDIFACT – Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport) and VANs (Value-added networks) for communication.

EDI standards allow software vendors to include functionality in their software that will support EDI and communicate with other applications.

Mini Project Preparation Day 1. What is e-Commerce and what is

shopping cart? Discuss different categories of e-Commerce

model and their features 2. Name technology/programming

languages that can create shopping cart Discuss different structures of shopping cart

applications 3. What are the technical requirements for

shopping cart to link with payment systems?

This resource was created by the University of Hertfordshire and released as an open educational resource through the Open Engineering Resources project of the HE Academy Engineering Subject Centre. The Open Engineering Resources project was funded by HEFCE and part of the JISC/HE Academy UKOER programme.

© University of Hertfordshire 2009

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