By Mark Yates

Benefits of E-commerceGlobal Marketplace

P2

By having a global presence a business can target a global audience, compared to the local audience attracted by a traditional store.

More people will view your website than they would if you only had a store.

Wide spread advertising.

Benefits of E-commerce24/7 Trading

P2

People are able to visit the site anytime of the day so business never stops running and keeps generating money. This like any store on the high street will make 10x more money.

Benefits of E-commerceLow Start -up & Running Costs

P2

You have very low risk of going bankrupt as its cheaper to run a website than a store as there are no rent costs.

You will have to rent out servers which are cheaper than rent as your website would generate more money than a high street store.

Benefits of E-commerceSearch Facilities

P2

This is an advantage as you don’t have to look for a long period of time, all it takes is keywords and pops straight up onto your page.

The quicker you find something the more likely the customer is to buy the item if found in a short space of time.

Benefits of E-commerceFluid Pricing

P2

This is when prices are increased or decreased quickly depending on circumstances. An example is when selling airline flight tickets, as more are sold and fewer are available, the tickets could become more expensive as the demand rises. Alternatively when selling products like holidays as the time draws closer, the prices could go down to ensure all the places are sold.

Weaknesses of E-commerce & how to address this

Consumer Trust

P2

The consumer find it hard trusting the website as the are lack of proof when using the website.

Weaknesses of E-commerce& how to address this

Lack of Human Contact

P2

Due to a lack of contact between people across the internet some people don’t like purchasing items because they might not believe what the site is telling them, there are ways round this as they do put a contact number on the site.

Weaknesses of E-commerce& how to address thisProduct Description Problems

P2

People who visit the site do not if the product in description is completely legit, they might not receive what has been described.People may leave feedback of all the products sold reassuring people that its legit. Customers are also offered a money back guarantee for up to a certain amount of days.

Weaknesses of E-commerce& how to address thisSecurity issues

P2

There are many different types of security issues such as hacking prevention, virus protection and ID theft, you find information about these listed under the security tabs further in the presentation.

The TechnologyBrowsers

Web Authoring Software

P1

Browsers allow you to type a web site or input information into browsers like Google, explorer, Firefox etc. this may take you straight to the site or will bring up a suggestion.

The web site is already designed for you without you having to do it yourself such as blogger, Google etc. this is code that is already written so when you change something on the site the code is already pre – written allowing you to change it.

The TechnologyDatabase systems

IP addresses

P1

When using amazon after you have signed up for it this can do a number of things for you such as your wish list this allows you to put items in it which you may by on a later date or save your credit card details this is a database where it saves customer information.

This is an address that is assigned to every device that is connected to the internet so that when information is transferred across the net it does go to the wrong place so your data packet is assigned your address this is important as private information is shared through e- commerce.

The TechnologyDomain Names

Multiple Domain Registration

P1

The domain name is used in the web address to direct you to the web site such as www.facebook.com which is the domain name, if it easy to spell users may remember these and go on to it when accessing the net.

Many websites may have a few domain names so that if the user spells it wrong they will be directed to the correct site, this makes it easier for user as they won’t have to remember the correct spelling.

The TechnologyPorts & Protocols

Browser & Platform Compatibility

P1

For a computer on a network it has its own port number allowing the information sent only to that computer which is connected to the port, also if the protocols do not match which is like an agreement the information shared between the site and the computer can not be understood.

There are many different browser that can be used just as there are platforms i.e. Google, Firefox, Opera, Explorer.Platform types, Mac, PC, Mobile phone, I pad.For the customer to reach the site of every possible platform the site must be made to match the lowest possible Spec of hardware so that some customers are not excluded from the web page.

PromotionPaying to be prominent in search engine results

M1

When a customer types in their search name a list of relevant sites come up relating to the search you have entered meaning any site that has something to do with that search, sometimes searches come up that are not as relevant as you may think this is because these sites have had to pay search engines to be at the top of the rankings and listings.

These adds are there depending on the terms of Google search.

PromotionNewsgroups & Forums

M1

Forms discuss certain topics between many people in post form, these are called discussion boards or a more modern way of having group discussions is on Facebook where you can create groups.

PromotionBanners & Pop-ups

M1

Banners and pop ups appear when going on certain sites like YouTube, where when you click on a video an advertisement will play before you the video you want to watch plays this also appears as separate windows. Many anti-virus software come with pop up blocks so you do not get viruses through the pop ups.

PromotionSpam

M1

Spam is emails that come in bulk that send as many emails out to every email possible to reach a wider audience, these emails come through to your Hotmail and your Hotmail comes with a filter that pushes these emails into your junk mail, there are a number of ways they can get hold of your email to spam your account constantly.

As you can see they have put certain mail as junk because it came through as spam.

PromotionEnsuring An Effective User Interface

M1

Making your site plain and simple will pull more people in to staying on your site and coming back but if you make it hard to navigate and difficult to purchase goods they may tell others that your site is no good so as long as your customers can use your site with ease will attract a wider audience.

Amazon for example is fairly easy to use, once somebody has found the item they want it gives you straight forward steps to purchase the item.

PromotionEstablishing Customer loyalty in a virtual environment

M1

Some sites send you direct emails of offers to keep you interested in the site also calling you by your name when they the email suggesting the email is for only you.

Using a point system where if you gain some many you get a certain amount of your next purchase etc. Also welcoming you onto the site by your name.

PromotionSite Names

M1

Make a name that will be easy to remember and is very easy to spell so more people are going to remember your site first, such as Facebook easy to spell and straight forward.

PromotionDirect Marketing

M1

This is designed to direct the marketing at certain people such as the people that sign up to news letters, offers or updates. These costumers have chosen to be a part of this so they are genuine costumers so they will receive constant messages about there site.

Amazon will send out suggestions to my email as I am constantly purchasing items from that site.

SecurityHacking

Hacking Prevention

P3, M2

There are many different types of hacking such as breaking into the site/ database to take information that doesn’t belong to the person hacking the database there a number of ways they can obtain this information.

You can prevent this by having a configured firewall or alerts setup that allow the database/site to make it hard for the hacker to get in.

SecurityViruses

Virus Prevention

P3, M2

There are different types of viruses that can acquire information on your database or simply destroy any files in its path such as worms which eat the files away, sooner or later there will be no files left to operate. This could also bring your site or database to a halt.

There a few types of virus protection you can take into account such as AVG, Norton etc. These block any incoming packets from the internet that are showing them self's as original files but are viruses.

SecurityID Theft

ID Theft Protection

P3, M2

This is where information about other people is obtained and used for there own benefit such as bank details etc. this info can be obtained by having a weak password etc.

You can protect yourself against this by keeping strong passwords configured firewall also make sure your password has different types numbers and letters in it.

SecurityStrong Passwords

P3

• Ensure your password contains special characters

• At least over 6 characters long • Contain numbers in an odd order to make it

more difficult to guess• Each account used should have a unique

password