A Brief Look at E-Commerce

The purpose of this appendix is not to give you everything you need to know about FrontPage and e-commerce it is to provide you with a simple understanding of the essential elements of FrontPage and suggest possibilities and solutions for how some products can help you develop an e-commerce solution for your Web site. You will need to do your homework to find which products and solutions are ideal for your situation.

A lot of great information exists in this appendix, as well as links to many of the top e-commerce providers on the Internet today. It is a big Internet filled with a lot of great information, so make sure to do your homework before you step into this exciting world.

Many people go online for the very purpose of conducting commerce on the Internet. Being the "next Amazon" seems to be the dream of many, and FrontPage can help you in your quest.

There are products and services for e-commerce that integrate directly with FrontPage, and there is also a wealth of e-commerce products that could easily integrate with any FrontPage Web site. Because of FrontPage's easy integration with existing sites and technologies, the entire world of e-commerce is open to the FrontPage user.

NOTE

The e-commerce landscape is always changing players and pricing. Although the links used in this chapter are dynamic and will be updated when needed, pricing and package elements are obviously subject to change without notice.


E-Commerce is, simply, the act of conducting some element of commerce online. It could be something as simple as a local deli providing a faxable menu from its Web site to the completely integrated online-only store with millions of product in its inventory.

TIP

I've seen too many overly enthusiastic Internet entrepreneurs purchase expensive e-commerce systems before they understood the complexity (online and off) of integrating e-commerce with their Web sites.

Doing your homework before starting this process is even more important when dealing in the world of e-commerce because the money to be lost on a bad mistake is considerable and can affect such issues as your company's standing with your bank and credit rating.


Companies have popped up to provide e-commerce assistance to the small and large business, and many established institutions that seemingly swore off the Internet years ago are now providing tools for their client base to conduct commerce online.

The Elements of E-Commerce

  • Product: To sell online, you need something to sell. This can be anything from services, to information and groceries, to plane tickets.

  • Forms Processing: You are going to need a way for the customer to express which products he desires and where to send them to. Data is entered online and needs to be processed in such a way that you know what to do with it. This could be anything from taking his credit card information to taking a phone number so that you can call to finalize an order.

  • Payment Processing: If you are conducting e-commerce, you need some way for the customer to pay you. This can be anything from having him send you a check to you taking his credit card or checking information online.

    TIP

    The funds transfer element of the e-commerce equation has attracted everyone from the most respectable banks to the most cunning of thieves. Be careful when you figure out who you want to handle your money and how much they charge you for the honor.

    I've personally gone through three e-commerce vendors before I realized why my bank, Wells Fargo, has been around for so long.


  • Security: If you are going to take sensitive information over the Internet such as a credit card or checking account number, the customer is going to want assurance that no one other than your company will have access to that information.

  • Privacy Policies: If you take sensitive information online, it will not only be important to the customer that you don't give his information to the wrong person, but he will also want to know what you'll be doing with the information within your own company.

Shopping Carts

The most popular paradigm for e-commerce is the shopping cart method. Shopping cart software helps bridge the gap between shopping online with a model the traditional customer can relate to. In this approach, users work through a Web site as they would any store, "placing" items in their carts until they are ready to check out. At that point, delivery and contact information is collected.

Shopping carts are seen on the most popular e-commerce sites such as Amazon.com.

Because of the nature of online shopping, shopping cart software resides on the server. Several Web design products can interact with the shopping cart software many of which integrate directly with FrontPage. At the end of this appendix, we discuss several such solutions.

No Shopping Carts Here

Shopping carts are not the only option for e-commerce. If you sell a single product, there is no need to overwhelm your audience with information that doesn't matter or an unnecessary shopping cart. In addition, it might not be which products and at what price your customer is looking for but information on quantity and availability. Shopping carts traditionally can't meet these needs and requirements.

Numerous extremely successful online merchants don't have a shopping cart system they find that a simple order page meets all their needs.

Take a look at the site for Audio Generator (http://audiogenerator.frontpagelink.com). Because he sells a single popular service, his order process is a single Web page order form. Imagine how much more complicated things would be if you had to put the service in your cart and then "check out" to purchase it.

Another example is at FrontPage Cart (http://frontpagecart.frontpagelink.com). The site sells a shopping cart system design for FrontPage users, but if you purchase the product, you are taken to a simple order page.

I should point out that FrontPage Cart provides the means to sell online via both a shopping cart and an order form.


Payment Processing

The final part of any shopping experience is the means by which funds are transferred from the buyer to the seller.

It is not necessary for this process to take place online. Some e-commerce engines end the process by giving the customer an order number and the address to send the check to or provide a toll free number to call to finalize the order. Others provide information on who to contact to make payment.

For those wanting to receive payment online, a payment processing service is required. This service might work in conjunction with your e-commerce solution or independently at your Web site. The level of automation in payment processing can be considerably different from one site to another.

Several payment processing services are mentioned at the end of this appendix.

Choosing the Right E-Commerce Solution for You

In choosing the "right" e-commerce solution for you, you need to understand each of the e-commerce elements mentioned previously, how they interact and integrate with FrontPage, and what the best solution for that element is for you and your situation.

In some cases, the right solution will be a publicly available product. We'll discuss many of them in the rest of this appendix. In other instances, you might have to modify an existing product or create a solution of your own.

For some, total automation from start to finish is the only possible option for an e-commerce solution. Where would Amazon be today if its employees were entering orders into their fulfillment system by hand? For others, the complexity of their product and client would make such automation impossible.

Some budding entrepreneurs uncover the simple realization that it is too much to handle. Others realize that the technology available makes possible and creates new entities that simply wouldn't have been possible a few years back.

No one-size-fits-all simple solution exists to e-commerce issues, whether they integrate with FrontPage or not.



Special Edition Using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
Special Edition Using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
ISBN: 0789729547
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 443

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