You are on page 1of 19

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Unit 1

Introduction to e-Commerce

Structure: 1.1 Introduction Learning objectives 1.2 e-Commerce or Electronic Commerce An Overview 1.3 Electronic Commerce Cutting edge 1.4 Electronic Commerce Framework Selecting the best e-commerce framework Electronic commerce and media convergence The anatomy of e-commerce applications e-Commerce applications Multimedia storage servers 1.5 Summary 1.6 Glossary 1.7 Terminal Questions 1.8 Answers 1.9 Case-Let

1.1 Introduction
Electronic commerce, also termed as e-commerce, is a process of buying and selling of goods or services using electronic systems. These electronic systems can be either the Internet or other computer networks. e-Commerce is also known as e-business. The World Wide Web plays a major role in the implementation of e-commerce in most of the organisations. This unit introduces you to the concepts of e-commerce. It also helps you understand how electronic commerce acts as a cutting edge. In this unit, we will discuss the framework of electronic commerce and the role of media convergence in electronic commerce. We will also discuss the different applications of e-commerce and the anatomy of e-commerce applications. We shall also study about multimedia storage servers. Learning objectives After studying this unit, you should be able to: Describe e-commerce. Define the e-commerce framework.
Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 1

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Analyse the role of media convergence in e-commerce. Explain the anatomy of e-commerce applications. List the different types of e-commerce applications.

1.2 e-Commerce or Electronic Commerce An Overview


Often referred to as simply e-commerce, electronic commerce1 refers to business that is conducted over the Internet using any of the applications that rely on the Internet, such as e-mail, instant messaging, shopping carts, Web services, UDDI, FTP, and EDI, among others. Electronic commerce can be between two businesses transmitting funds, goods, services and/or data or between a business and a consumer. Electronic Commerce or e-commerce is the latest concept in todays business scenario. Broadly speaking, the e-commerce business methodology addresses the needs of organisations, retailers and consumers to reduce the costs, while improving the quality of service and increasing the speed of delivery of goods. Today, e-commerce refers to buying and selling of information, products and services through computer networks. However, in the future, it may refer to carrying out business transactions through any of the myriad of networks that make up the Superhighway or I-way. Business-to-Business or B2B e-commerce is a process of conducting electronic commerce between businesses. The e-commerce option is exercised in many companies that carry out B2B transactions. On the other hand, business-to-consumer or B2C is a process of conducting electronic commerce between businesses and consumers. The best example for B2C is electronic commerce implemented by companies such as Amazon.com, wherein a customer is directly online to the sellers computer using the internet. In Amazon.com, the business transactions are done both electronically and interactively in real-time for new books.

1.3 Electronic Commerce Cutting edge


As we now know the concept of e-commerce, let us discuss how e-commerce acts as a cutting edge in the present days business world.
1

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/electronic_commerce.html

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 2

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Electronic commerce can also be defined as a modern business technique, and it acts as a cutting edge2 for business. It deals with the organisational requirements, trade, and customers to reduce the costs while improving the product quality and also increasing the speed of product delivery. The traditional business scenario is varying quickly because the customers and businesses search for flexibility to change business partners, proposals, and networks. When deciding on business approaches, most of the companies are looking outside and also within their organisations. These activities include setting up private electronic connections to customers, dealers, distributors, industry groups, and also opponents. This is done to improve the competency of business communications, to assist in expanding the market share, and to preserve long-standing feasibility in today's business environment. Numerous networks make up the Information Superhighway (I-way). The Information Superhighway can develop this trend to another level in total. It also facilitates businesses to exchange information. This process is done continuously between varying customer groups, suppliers, and research partners in both commercial and academic world on an international basis. The importance of e-commerce is based on the truth that time is the most essential feature. Time plays a vital role for both business and customers in commercial markets. With e-commerce, more business dealings are handled on the same day as very less time is spent on each deal from the business standpoint. This will also help the customer to save more time during their transactions. Hence, in this case, e-commerce helps in replacing the traditional commerce technique where a single transaction costs valuable time. With the help of e-commerce, an order is placed and then executed through internet quickly, without any difficulty. For example, traditional banking processes take more time whereas, at present a banking transaction is done via the Internet and the time spent is also less. Thus, it is proved that e-commerce is helpful to both businesses and customers, as payments and documentation are done with better effectiveness. e-Commerce is a more commercial and cost effective method than traditional commerce method. This is because by using e-commerce, the
2

http://www.e-commerceprogram.com/

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 3

e-Commerce

Unit 1

dealers of products can save on the selling expenses, which they can use for expanding their business. For example, Dell, a big computer enterprise adopts such a technique to carry out their transactions using internet, without the involvement of any third parties. Internet advertisement is cheaper, as compared to a roadside poster or promotion through television commercials. The total expenditure required to for business dealing in e-commerce is considerably less than a traditional commerce method. For example, only a head office is required to manage an e-commerce business rather than a head office with many branches. Other than that, the expenses for staff, maintenance, communications, and office rental is replaced by a single web hosting for the e-commerce industry. Connectivity plays a significant part for both customers and business because it is the major factor which determines the entire business. From the business perspective, e-commerce offers more improved connectivity for its customers, as their personal websites can be accessed almost from any place via Internet. Hence, more customers can be in touch with the company's transactions, which results in removing the restrictions with respect to physical location. From the customers point of view, e-commerce is a very convenient and suitable method because: They can look through the entire list of catalogues without any disturbance. They can evaluate costs between products, and brands and also purchase from another country. This can be done while at home or at work, without moving a single inch from their chair. e-Commerce is more convenient for both customers and business, as online business has less formalities compared to traditional commerce techniques. In the international market scenario, e-commerce has given rise to various opportunities for many companies and financiers. For example, because of the success of e-commerce, more funds are invested in electronic securities, internet services, business plans, and new technologies. As a result, various e-commerce markets have evolved, improving the global market.

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 4

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Activity 1: List some of the innovations that you are familiar with that have emerged since the usage of e-commerce in recent business environment. Hint: Internet marketing Self-Assessment Questions 1. __________ refers to business that is conducted over the internet using any of the applications that rely on the Internet. 2. _________ e-commerce is a process of conducting electronic commerce between businesses. 3. Numerous networks make up the ________. 4. The importance of e-commerce is based on the truth that time is the most essential feature. (True/False)? 5. ________ plays a significant part for both customers and business because it is the major factor which determines the entire business.

1.4 Electronic Commerce Framework


A framework can be defined as a structure for supporting or attaching something else, particularly a support that is used as the foundation for something being created. Hence, an e-commerce framework comprises the set of infrastructure required for carrying out the e-commerce business. This set of infrastructure typically includes the network requirements and the different software applications that are for e-commerce. The e-commerce vision summarised above assumes a series of essential infrastructure services and values steady with a broad architectural framework. This framework must allow flexibility, interoperability and directness necessary for the successful development of electronic commerce. The e-commerce framework offers a set of options to the customers. Most of the electronic commerce plans have different strategies for security and privacy, their skill to deal with the payments, and their usability to different transactions. They also vary in their business models. Such variations promote innovation and allows for supplier and customer options. But yet, you need a broad framework to gain wide acceptance. This includes the following requirements and peculiarities of carrying out various business forms in this upcoming electronic environment.

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 5

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Interoperability: Electronic commerce is based on a common set of required services and standards that allow interoperability. Service providers and application designers use these services and standards as building blocks. They achieve the goals and objectives of e-commerce by combining, enhancing and customising these building blocks as per the requirements. Maximum flexibility for innovation: The innovation in e-commerce will grow and be established in ways that are impossible to visualise. This will result in evolution of new services and businesses. We can already see that many electronic marketplaces are giving rise to new openings for new services and businesses. Existing services and products will be specified and adapted. Hence, the electronic commerce framework plays a vital part in adapting the changes and then later dealing with the new applications. Information-intensive products: It is observed that the most important set of products that are sold through e-commerce are the pure information products. For example: electronic journals, catalogues, videos, interactive video games, software programs, electronic coupons, and so on. They also include electronic keys to cars, hotel rooms, storage sections, and airport boarding gates. Some of these products can be designed or modified by a customer. For example, customers want their own selection of articles to be attached in an electronic book, or modify their own clothing designs. This capability calls for a customer-driven activity a design phase, to the purchase cycle. Hence, it is necessary to have all the activities in the process of the transaction designing, customising, ordering, billing, payment and distribution tightly integrated and happening simultaneously. New revenue collecting techniques: We already know about the traditional techniques of revenue collection, for example, payment upon receipt, advance payment, and so on. At present, electronic commerce supports more improved methods of revenue collection. For example, an information product service provider will allocate the product broadly and then charge on a usage basis -- which means charging the customer only when the information is used. This information can be a software program, a digital record, or an electronic key used to open and start a rental car. Meterware is a new strategy implemented in recording and billing customers constantly depending on their product usage. Along with

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 6

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Meterware, electronic cash and cheques also help in gaining new customers and sharing products. Legacy systems: The legacy systems that are prevailing in electronic commerce field include mainframe-based agreement, paper cheques, and payment systems, and so on. An electronic commerce infrastructure gains success only when it allows the user to easily shift from traditional systems to innovative, electronic systems, and applications and processes. Transaction devices: e-Commerce dealings include different kinds of legacy and recently formed devices, media, and systems over which transactions take place. Hence, it is necessary that e-commerce adapts the technologies and devices required for reaching and maintaining the mass market. We can conclude that an electronic commerce framework developed with all of these needs and considerations in mind will form a strong basis for an extremely useful and effective electronic commerce infrastructure. 1.4.1 Selecting the best e-commerce framework Deciding on the best e-commerce framework is one of the major challenges for any organisation. The framework should be selected based on the three evaluation points: Features. Requirements. Luxuries. Figure 1.1 explains the three evaluation points of e-commerce framework.

Figure 1.1: Three Evaluation Points of e-Commerce Framework

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 7

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Features are those elements of the framework that make it more prominent and clear from other offerings. Requirements are the basic requirements of the framework that allow it to do its work. If one among these is lost, then it becomes difficult to use a particular framework, even with the presence of any other features. Luxuries are the components whose presence is not so important, but they are required to make the case for a framework that comes at a bonus price. The luxury components add something extra to the system to make it worthy of the premium price. The three important factors to look for in any e-commerce framework are: Template management. Core framework functionality. Search engine features. The framework should be adaptable in order to be able to cope with future evolution of the site and market. At the same time, it should be able to support the existing business and make it as easy as possible. You cannot create content that will be suitable for submission to search engines, unless you achieve good integration with search engine optimisation functions. Failing to do so will lead to your site creator spending considerable time preparing submission pages instead of making use of that valuable time for extending the site. So long as you can balance between the cost and the benefits, it is worth paying the extra amount to have a framework that saves you from all that work involved in maintaining the infrastructure and processing payments. The end result is profitability, as expensive manual work is removed from the process. 1.4.2 Electronic commerce and media convergence By now you must be familiar with the e-commerce framework. Let us now discuss the role of media convergence in e-commerce. Media Convergence3 is a process of interlinking of computing and information technology organisations, telecommunication networks, and

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1425043/media-convergence

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 8

e-Commerce

Unit 1

content providers from various media. These media include journals, newspapers, music, television, radio, and entertainment software. Media convergence conveys jointly the three Cs and they are computing, communications, and content. Convergence happens at two major levels: 1. Technologies: Creative content is transformed into industry-related digital forms for delivery. This is done via broadband or wireless networks to exhibit on various computer or computer-related devices and also on cellular telephones to personal digital assistants (PDAs) to digital video recorders (DVRs). 2. Industries: Companies that are spread all over the business spectrum starting from media to telecommunications to technology, combine or create strategic agreements. The purpose of these alliances is to expand new business models that can yield profit from the emerging customer expectations of availability of content. We all are aware that there is a rapid growth with respect to usage of electronic applications and the internet and people, all over the world, have entered the digital age because of technological development. Most of the media-related organisations are experimenting with new openings and concerns - afforded by what is termed as "convergence". The act of combining together of different media and integrating new personalised services is both inspiring and overpowering. The implementation of high-quality computers, changing to digital platforms, and formation of high-speed computer networks has helped us with new ways of doing things. The old explanations that provided division between TV, Radio, Cable, Newspapers, and Films are gone forever. During 1990s, there was evolution of ownership convergence which resulted in creation of media-based multinational companies. For example, Disney, Viacom, Sony, and so on. From the customers perspective, the Internet has also changed our favourite delivery systems, which include newspapers that provide video and TV that offer interactive conversations, and radio that offers web-cams. Media convergence has a major part to play in the field of e-commerce and information technology. Media convergence is particularly a blending of television, personal computer, and telecommunications. This helps in providing a high-speed Internet access, traditional television programs and
Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 9

e-Commerce

Unit 1

interactive services in a single box. The convergence at a technological level will facilitate audio, video, and data to be conveyed to customers using a single pipeline. This pipeline may be in the form of wire which could be cable or DSL, or may be wireless. This will help the customers to not only access the Internet from a single box, but also access high-speed networks through various access points including TVs, PCs, mobile phones and other mobile devices, public booth, and home appliances. Activity 2: Visit http://syntaxclothes.com/ and collect information on the major factors they consider in creating an e-commerce framework. Hint: Template management Self Assessment Questions 6. The _________ in e-commerce will grow and be established in ways that are impossible to visualise. 7. ________ is a new strategy implemented in recording and billing customers constantly depending on their product usage. 8. A process of interlinking of computing and information technology organisations, telecommunication networks, and content providers from various mediums is _________. 9. Creative content is transformed into industry-related digital forms for delivery. (True/False). 10. The convergence at a ________ level will facilitate audio, video, and data to be conveyed to customers using a single pipeline. 1.4.3 The Anatomy of e-commerce applications In the previous section, we discussed about e-commerce and media convergence. Let us now discuss about the anatomy of e-commerce applications. Currently, the best and the easiest form of interaction between businessmen and customers is the Internet. Online buying & selling of products, which includes websites, is gaining popularity because of rapidly advancing technology-related concepts. Online business is developing quickly through different software that allow customers to perform buying and selling activities without much difficulty.

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 10

e-Commerce

Unit 1

As discussed in the previous sections, e-commerce applications comprise multimedia content and multimedia storage servers as well as the information delivery system, the devices that function as interfaces for various e-commerce applications and the network service providers that serve as access points. 1.4.4 e-Commerce applications As you must have understood by now, a number of software and hardware applications are used to carry out the e-commerce transactions. Some common e-commerce applications include: Email. Enterprise content management. Instant messaging. Newsgroups. Online shopping and order tracking. Online banking. Online office suites. Domestic and international payment systems. Shopping cart software. Teleconferencing. Electronic tickets. Some of the benefits of e-commerce applications include: Expanding geographical reach. Expanding customer base. Increasing visibility with the help of Search Engine Marketing. Providing the required business information to customers. Making the website available 24/7/365. Building customer reliability. Reducing marketing and advertising expenses. Collecting customer data. Increasing sales. e-Commerce applications must have the skill to deal with the activities involved in a business. Those skills include accepting and managing payments, handling the checkout pipeline, and choosing, collecting and distributing products to customers. Apart from these, companies use the
Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 11

e-Commerce

Unit 1

applications to improve the online experience of customers and in turn enhance customer traffic. Electronic Payment Systems An electronic payment system (EPS)4 is a system of financial exchange between buyers and sellers in the online environment that is facilitated by a digital financial instrument (such as encrypted credit card numbers, electronic cheques, or digital cash) backed by a bank, an intermediary, or by legal tender. EPS plays an important role in e-commerce because it is necessary to close the e-commerce loop, since billing and payment are the last activities in any sales transactions. In developing countries, the underdeveloped electronic payments system is a serious impediment to the growth of e-commerce. In these countries, entrepreneurs are not able to accept credit card payments over the Internet due to legal and business concerns. The primary issue is transaction security. Search Engines: A Search engine is a program which accesses a vast record of information on the World Wide Web. It includes individual words in web files and location of the files containing the words. For example, you are the user of a search engine and you want to find a file, then type a query. This is followed by a group of keywords connected by Boolean connectors such as and and or. In some cases, a natural language sentence is also used. Once you enter your query and do a search, the search engine will throw up all the files that contain the keywords that were used in your search. For example, the query Java & compiler will return with the addresses of all those web files that have the words Java and compiler. Other commercial websites Other commercial websites used in e-commerce include: Anonymous remailer: It is a website which allows you to send an email anonymously or secretly to some recipient. Link checking sites: The site to which you submit the address of a web page is a link checking site. It will save this address in a database and

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/E-Commerce_and_E-Business/ e-Commerce_Applications:_Issues_and_Prospects

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 12

e-Commerce

Unit 1

then at times verify if the document is still available. If it notices that a document is not available, then it sends an email to the customer who had requested the site to observe the document. Archive sites: The websites that offer customers a facility to store their files or documents at a safe location are archive sites. This site protects against any harm being done to the computer or fear of losing some important data. Archive sites users need to register with it using a login name and a password. The users are then asked to follow a set of instructions that help them to carry out the process of gathering their files together to be sent to the remote location. Change notification sites: Variations on link checking sites are change notification sites. In this site, the customer is informed when the document is altered, but not when a web document is unavailable. For example, you visit a tourism website and when browsing, you see a page which contains an advertisement about some holiday package to a particular destination. With the help of this application, you can keep abreast of any updation to that particular page. E-mail providers: The sites which offer free email facilities, which provide a facility of sending anonymous mail and constructing mailing lists are e-mail providers. E-mail providers are very useful for the users who cannot afford the usual mailing software. This site is also helpful for frequent travellers who can visit such sites from any part of the world. The major drawback of this site is that it is slow as compared to conventional mailing services such as Microsoft Outlook and Eudora.

Anatomy of an e-commerce Website Consider an e-commerce website as a storefront for products or services that you wish to sell online. Your main task is to convert your website user into actual customers. You must have a lot of interesting content and products on your website to attract search engines and also to notify potential customers. Given below are the main parts of an e-commerce site: Online product catalogue is the main place used to store and handle the information about products or collection of products. Shopping cart is a commonly used interface that customers apply to pick products that they want to purchase. The shopping cart helps in
Page No. 13

Sikkim Manipal University

e-Commerce

Unit 1

maintaining information about the products that your customer wishes to buy and also support them with the checkout process. Checkout system gathers required payment details from the customer, which also include shipping & billing addresses, credit card details, or other payment mechanism details. It may also be organised to present shipping rates, taxes, vouchers, or estimate other variations to arrive at the final cost. Payment gateway is a protected service that moves payment and credit card details from your website to a merchant account assigned by a bank or financial organisation that deals with online transactions. It also handles any response or the feedback that is got from the bank, for example, when a customer has inadequate funds or is using an invalid credit card. Merchant account is a special bank account that permits your website to allow online payments to be done through credit or debit cards. The banks that have merchant account facility charge changing fees per transaction and transaction types. Fulfilment is when the order is worked through e-commerce website and then results in a completed order that is shipped out.

1.4.5 Multimedia storage servers Due to recent advancement in communication and technologies, it has become possible and economically practical to offer online access to various information sources such as books, magazines, pictures, video clips, and scientic data. The planning of such services includes providing multimedia storage servers that are linked to customer sites with the help of high-speed networks. Customers of such services are allowed to recover multimedia objects from the server for real-time playback at their own sites. Moreover, the recovery can be interactive, which means that customers may stop, break, continue, and also record and correct the media information if they have the consent to do so. The design of such multimedia services varies considerably from traditional text/numeric storage and recovery services. This is because of two basic features of digital audio and video: Real-time storage and retrieval: Both audio and video media are repeatedly referred to as continuous media (CM). This is because they
Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 14

e-Commerce

Unit 1

consist of a series of media quanta, for example, video frames or audio samples which communicate the meaning only when accessed constantly in time. Additionally, a multimedia object usually includes some media constituents whose playback is temporally coordinated. Large data transfer rate and storage space necessity: Playback of digital video and audio transfer data at a very high rate. Therefore, a multimedia service has to give useful mechanisms for storing, recovering, and controlling data in huge quantities at high speeds.

As a result, the crucial components in the design phase of such multimedia services include: Multimedia storage servers that help in supporting continuous recovery of media information from the storage subsystem. Network subsystems that guarantee synchronous and appropriate delivery of media information to the display sites. Some of the multimedia objects include images, text, audio, and video. Multimedia storage servers assist in providing access to these multimedia objects. The design of such servers primarily varies from usual servers because of: Real-time storage and retrieval requirements. Large storage space and data transfer rate needs of digital multimedia. There is development of various multimedia applications because of rapid progress in the fields of communication, compression technology, and also Internet. Examples for such applications are interactive multiplayer games, distance education, online virtual worlds, and so on. These applications vary from the usual applications in two ways and they are: 1. Firstly, they provide storage, transmission, and processing of heterogeneous data types which include text, image, audio, and video that vary in their features (for example, size, data rate, real-time requirements, so on). 2. Secondly, different from conventional best-effort applications, these applications require varied performance requirements for example, regarding timeliness on the networks and operating systems.

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 15

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Activity 3: Make a list of some common e-commerce applications that you are familiar with. Hint: Online shopping and order tracking Self Assessment Questions 11. A ________ is a program which accesses a vast record of information on the World Wide Web. 12. A website which allows you to send an email anonymously or secretly to some recipient is ________. 13. The site to which you submit the address of a web page is _________. 14. ________ are very useful for the users who cannot afford the usual mailing software. 15. _________ is a protected service that moves payment and credit card details from your website to a merchant account. 16. ________ are linked to customer sites with the help of high-speed networks.

1.5 Summary
Electronic commerce or e-commerce deals with purchasing and selling of products or services via electronic systems. These electronic systems are mostly in the form of Internet. There are different names given to electronic commerce, which include e-commerce and or e-business. The Internet has been extremely helpful in carrying out trade electronically. The traditional business situation is changing quickly as the customers and businesses search for flexibility to change business partners, plans, and networks. The companies are searching for activities outside and also within their organisations to decide on business strategies. These activities include setting up private electronic connections to customers, dealers, distributors, industry groups and also opponents. Electronic commerce plans have different approaches for their security and privacy, their ability to handle payments, and their usability to different transactions. They also vary in their business tactics. The e-commerce framework comprises the exclusive hardware and software requirements that make the business transactions happen on the
Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 16

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Internet. It includes some specific applications like search engine, online payment applications, online shopping carts and so on. Media convergence plays a crucial role in e-commerce and information technology. Media convergence refers to a merger of television, personal computer, and telecommunications into a single box. This facilitates the users to have high-speed Internet access, traditional television programs, and interactive services in a single application. Multi-media servers play a very important role in e-commerce, as they are required to store and transform all forms of information like data, voice, music and video.

1.6 Glossary
Term Anonymous Convergence Interoperability Peculiarity Teleconferencing Description Having no recognition, name, identity, or known source The occurrence of two or more things coming together The capability to exchange and use information A weird or strange feature A meeting of people who are in different locations held using telecommunications equipment as closed-circuit television

1.7 Terminal Questions


1. Explain briefly how e-commerce acts as a cutting edge in todays business world. 2. Explain any three requirements needed to create a broad e-commerce framework and also to perform various business activities. 3. Explain briefly the role of media convergence in e-commerce. 4. List some common applications related to e-commerce. 5. Explain briefly any three commercial websites. 6. Explain the main parts of an e-commerce site.

1.8 Answers
Self 1. 2. 3. 4. Assessment Questions Electronic commerce Business-to-Business Information Superhighway. True
Page No. 17

Sikkim Manipal University

e-Commerce

Unit 1

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Connectivity Innovation Meterware Media Convergence True Technological Search engine Anonymous remailer Link checking site E-mail providers Payment gateway Multimedia storage servers

Terminal Questions 1. Refer section 1.3 Electronic Commerce Cutting Edge. 2. Refer section 1.4 Electronic Commerce Framework. 3. Refer section 1.4.2 Electronic commerce and media convergence. 4. Refer section 1.4.4 e-Commerce applications. 5. Refer section 1.4.4 e-Commerce applications. 6. Refer section 1.4.4 e-Commerce applications.

1.9 Case-Let
Patrick Allis International: Serving multiple customers Patrick Allis International is the worlds leading designer and distributor of clothing, accessories, and perfumes. The products are sold in departmental stores, and also online and in the companys own retail stores. Before Patrick Allis International thought of starting a new online presence, it already had a brochure website. But this site had many issues which included outdated and useless design and images, branding problems, and also lacked interactivity. It was very difficult to revise and update the site because there was no integrated content management system. Hence, this demanded Patrick Allis to create a new online presence to have a proper interaction with visitors, financiers, and also job seekers. Hence, they consulted Trinity Partners to find the solution for this problem.

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 18

e-Commerce

Unit 1

Solution: Trinity Partners initiated the process with an established Website Requirement Specification (WRS) stepwise approach and methodically implementing research & strategy, designing and information architecture. Both Patrick Allis International and Trinity Partners defined all the goals for the new site which included enhancing the customer experience, improving the interaction with various customer groups, and also competently promoting the companys multiple brands. Then Trinity Partners designed the new site, setting up a clear, userfriendly navigation, and also creating attractive visuals, with stylish flash images to give an aesthetic look for advertisements. Success: Patrick Allis International now has developed an influential online communication tool it had imagined. This in turn has helped in improving the interaction with visitors, financiers and job seekers. It has also helped in increasing the brands visibility and also enhancing recognition. Questions: 1. What were the problems faced by Patrick Allis International from the companys brochure website? Hint: Outdated and useless design and images. 2. What were the goals defined by both Patrick Allis International and Trinity Partners for creation of new site? Hint: Enhancing the customer experience. http://www.ecommercepartners.net/Case-Studies/Perry-Ellis.shtml References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_commerce http://www.e-commerceprogram.com/ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1425043/mediaconvergence

Sikkim Manipal University

Page No. 19

You might also like