eBUSINESS REPORT

[SUBMITTED BY] Amit Kalaniya Ankur Verma

Balvinder Singh

Bhavya Pabby Rajat Kumar

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................................... 2

About the website ......................................................................................................................... 3

Business Models ............................................................................................................................ 4

Strategy ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Context.......................................................................................................................................... 6

Content .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Community ................................................................................................................................... 8

Customization ............................................................................................................................... 9

Communication ............................................................................................................................. 9

Connectivity ................................................................................................................................ 10

Commerce ................................................................................................................................... 10

Fit and Reinforcement ................................................................................................................. 11

Back end mechanism ................................................................................................................... 12

WAMP ........................................................................................................................................ 12

CMS ............................................................................................................................................. 13

PHP ............................................................................................................................................. 13

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank our professor Mr. Amit Kumar Bhardwaj for his support and

guidance in making this project a success. His effective teaching in the class enabled us to

successfully develop our first website incorporating all the necessary C’s. Without his

guidance such an initiative would not have come to fruition.

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About the website

The website SALES POINT incorporates the functionality to display a catalogue of products and

accept online payments in its web design. It is an online shop e-commerce solution that offers a wide

range of out-of-the-box features that allow online stores to be setup fairly quickly with ease.

Unlimited number of categories, sub-categories, products and options.

Item discounts based on quantity ordered.

Order discounts and promotional codes with single or multi use discount codes.

Products can be linked to multiple categories and have multiple options.

Set the order in which products display.

Options can be individually set to Optional or Required.

Options can be given a weight which will be factored into the shipping cost

calculations along with the Product weight.

Support for "text" options which allows a customer to enter text when they order a

product.

Digital Downloads are fully supported. All downloads are done through a script that

checks the order status before allowing the download.

Store can be run in "Catalog Only" mode. This way, the store acts just like an online

catalog, without any links to a shopping cart.

Ability to choose the "Featured Products" on your homepage.

Tax-free products and options.

Support for product Ratings & Reviews per product.

Support for product suppliers

Support for product manufacturers

Support for product brands

Maintain inventory levels by product and product options.

Multiple product images

Zoom product images (multiple zoom options)

Integration with social media website

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Business Models

B2C (Business to Consumer) models have been tried and tested during the first generation of

E-commerce boom, but the newer trends are toward B2B (Business to Business) and Click-

and-Mortar models. B2B provides advantages of close integration and communication with

partners and suppliers, Click-and-Mortar provide takes advantage of offline and online

channels being established in physical store locations but at the same time offering onlne

commerce convenience.

Companies have quickly realized that E-commerce sites are more than digital storefronts that

display products and allow customers to place an order. Business processes should extend to

the back-end with systems in place to optimize the company’s supply chain and distribution

system. A holistic approach will offer the company insights on creating maximum

efficiencies to support all business processes. E-commerce business models are more than

technology solutions. The right strategy focuses on a company’s core services and products,

and one that encompasses the entire e-business value chain. Although technology plays an

important part in the business goals, technology by itself is a means to an end rather than the

end itself. If used properly, technology can be used to leverage the e-marketplace for

competitive advantage in today’s fast paced economy.

The traditional model of Manufacturer -> Wholesaler/Distributor -> Retailer -> User is being

disintermediated by providing a direct link between Manufacturer and End User (e.g. Dell).

Companies are extending E-commerce capabilities of electronic storefronts to back-end

processes using Supply Chain Management and Enterprise Resource Planning software.

Supply Chain Management is the process of tracking the availability, delivery, and pricing of

supplies and materials required to meet customer demands for goods. Part of supply-chain

management process includes forecasting which helps managers determine how quickly they

can get necessary supplies and at what cost. Results are arrived at by looking at orders,

inventories, production capacity, transportation availability, and other factors that affect cost

of material. Enterprise Resource Planning is more complex and integrates order entry,

monitoring inventory, and balancing financial records. Companies deploying ERP software

that include functions of supply chain management, planning, warehousing, and

transportation can make more knowledgeable decisions. Web based Supply Chain

Management and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications are being deployed by

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corporations for significant cost savings. For companies that had operational centers all over

the world, sharing data between facilities was a very complex task. The ubiquitous nature of

Internet has provided an opportunity to share supply chain data by consolidating information

and providing access to it in real-time for planning decisions.

Strategy

Online and offline business strategies differ significantly. Companies planning to enter the e-

commerce arena must have proper strategies to ensure their profitability, growth, and survival

in the electronic marketplace. The business plan must traverse all parts of the organization

and systems must be in place to react quickly to changing market conditions. Stovepipe

processes must be replaced by integrated and collaborative environment that generate more

value. Outsourcing technology to Application Service Providers may be an option for

companies whose core competencies lie in business and not in technology. Technology must

be a support mechanism for business and optimize information flow internally and externally

to leverage efficiencies and strategic advantage in every aspect of business.

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Context This basically refers to the site look and feel. The site may be

• Functionality Oriented: Where the enabling of the function of the site is the prime objective

of the site

• Aesthetic Oriented: The aesthetic aspect of the web pages is given priority

• Hybrid: The site is to be both aesthetically pleasing and functionally efficient

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Content

This is the offering mix of product and services on the site. This can be images, videos,

documents, links and/or downloadable items about the product and services. It is also about

the promotion and communication messaging. Some of the contents are time sensitive that is

they have an appeal only for a limited time. For example, a news site needs to constantly

update its content to remain relevant.

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Community

This refers to the way the site enable user to user interaction.

Community Classifications

Non-existent - sites that have no community offer no way for users to interact with one

another, on either a one-to-one basis or one-to-many basis.

Limited - sites that offer features such as reading and posting information, stories, or

opinions.

Strong - sites that offer interactive community functions such as chat rooms and message

boards.

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Customization

This is the site’s ability to self tailor to different users or allows the users to personalize the

site.

Communication

This is the site-to-user communication. It can be of type

Broadcast: This is where the sure communicates the same message to a large group of

users such as mailings, news feeds, marketing material, content update notification

Interactive: This is a more one to one between the site and the user such as user input, e-

commerce dialogue and customer-service.

Hybrid: A combination of the above. An example can be a news site where there news is

broadcast, but the reply relative to the news would then be interactive.

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Connectivity

How the site links to other sites. Sites content can link to other sites. This new content can be

placed in the same site to retain attention on site or be a path way out of the site. Example can

be referrals, web rings and affiliate programs.

Commerce

This allows for the users to trade online. Typically, e-commerce sites have a registration to

store information, Preferences, Shopping Cart to hold items, Security, Instant Credit Card

approval, Order tracking, Delivery Options.

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Fit and Reinforcement

The web sites design will depend on the company strategy and the positioning in the

company wants. The web sites website's success depends not only on how well it implements

each of the 7Cs but also upon how well all of the 7Cs work together to support the value

proposition and business model. This is called the “Fit and Reinforcement” Fit – How the

7c’s individually support the business model Reinforcement – How they all tie together. All

elements should work together in synergy to reinforce their unique selling proposition.

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Interface elements Meaning/Types in Web 2.0 E-commerce

sites (ECS)

1: Context The Web 2.0 Web sites have layouts that are more

dynamic. The performance and dynamism increase

greatly by the use of technologies such as AJAX and

FLASH.

Linking between

pages, coloring, graphics, animation,

Query/response

2: Content Collective Intelligence mix is the new addition which deals with all traditional three “mixes” with

users participating in the generation of the content.

This is typical of Web 2.0 applications. Browsin

g of products

3: Community Collaborative communication may be enabled via

non-interactive and, most likely, interactive

communication mechanisms. Interactive

(Buyer-to- vendor emails)

4: Customization The content of the site can now be tailored in a

collaborative manner, since the content will be user-

generated. Also the customization can be done in

more dynamic fashion (desktop-like feel).

Personalization

(My page, Watch list)

5: Communication Site-to-user communications: Broadcast,

Interactive, Hybrid, and Push/Pull (e.g., RSS) Hybrid

6: Connection Lots of content from external sites may be pulled

in the form of blogs, advertisements, mash-ups, etc. Online ads

7: Commerce Deals with the interface that supports the various

aspects of e-commerce, such as shopping carts,

security, order tracking, affiliates and advertisements,

etc.

Shopping

cart, security, orders thru affiliates, order

tracking, delivery options

Back end mechanism

WAMP

WAMPs are packages of independently-created programs installed on computers that use a Microsoft

Windows operating system.

WAMP is an acronym formed from the initials of the operating system Microsoft Windows and the

principal components of the package: Apache, MySQL and one of PHP, Perl or Python. Apache is a

web server. MySQL is an open-source database. PHP is a scripting language that can manipulate

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information held in a database and generate web pages dynamically each time content is requested by

a browser. Other programs may also be included in a package, such as phpMyAdmin which provides

a graphical user interface for the MySQL database manager, or the alternative scripting languages

Python or Perl.On the other hand we have LAMP which is same as WAMP but for Linux operating

system.

CMS

A content management system (CMS) is the collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a

collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based. The procedures

are designed to do the following:

Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share stored data

Control access to data, based on user roles (defining which information users or user groups

can view, edit, publish, etc.)

Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data

Reduce repetitive duplicate input

Improve the ease of report writing

Improve communication between users

In a CMS, data can be defined as nearly anything: documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers,

scientific data, and so forth. CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, revising, semantically

enriching, and publishing documentation. Serving as a central repository, the CMS increases the

version level of new updates to an already existing file. Version control is one of the primary

advantages of a CMS.

PHP

PHP is a general-purpose scripting language originally designed for web development to

produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source

document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates

the web page document. It also has evolved to include a command-line interface capability

and can be used in standalone graphical applications.[2] PHP can be deployed on most web

servers and as a standalone interpreter, on almost every operating system and platform free

of charge.[3] PHP is installed on more than 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.