E-COMMERCE

200 LEVEL

PINNACLE AFRICAN UNIVERSITY

MR. DAREY
 DISCLAIMER
UNDERSTAND THAT THIS MATERIAL IS A COMBINATION OF DIFFERENT MATTERIALS SOURCED
FROM DIFFERENT BLOGS, ARTICLES AND TEXT NOTE ALONGSIDE MY ADDITIONAL NOTES MADE
AVAILABLE FOR THE BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THIS COURSE. E-COMMERCE IS A GREAT
COURSE AND I HOPE THIS MATERIAL BRINGS YOU CLARITY.
Module 1: Introduction to Basic Concepts and Definitions
 Basic Definitions of E-Commerce
 Types of E-Commerce
 Benefits and Key Ideas in E-Commerce
Module 2: Understanding E-Business and E-Commerce
 Concepts of E-Business and E-Commerce
 Facilities and Support for E-Commerce and E-Business Systems
 Issues and Problems that Affects E-Commerce and E-Business Development
Module 3: Website Development for E-Commerce
 Introduction and Techniques for Web Design
 Methodologies for Developing E-Commerce Website
 Managing Websites for E-Commerce
 Creating and Maintaining a Successful Web Presence
CONTEST AND DEFINITION.
E-Commerce simply means Electronic Commerce; E-commerce is the buying and selling of
goods, products, or services using the internet as a medium whereby the buyer gets to see the
products online, order it and make payment through the mode accepted by the seller. The seller
then delivers these products to the consumer via available and accepted means. E-commerce is
also known as internet commerce. Online stores like Amazon, Shopify, Ebay, Olx are examples of
E-commerce websites. E-commerce concept is a fast rising one, gaining steady popularity as
there is Increased accessibility and availability of Internet access which is making many small
and medium and even large-scale businesses to be considering e-commerce as a valid and more
profitable sales channel.
Ecommerce, short for “electronic commerce,” refers to the buying and selling of goods and
services online. It involves the use of digital devices and platforms, such as online stores,
smartphones, online marketplaces, or social media platforms, to facilitate transactions.
Ecommerce is better understood with the concepts of the 5Cs, the 5C model consists of:
i. Commerce which is like a market place that consist of the buyers and sellers,
transaction terms and facilities to perform business transactions. This helps create
and strengthen a universal supply chain.
ii. Collaboration: the internet being a network of networks supports interrelationships
among businesses and individuals in a manner that is not limited by space, time,
national or organizational constraints.
iii. Communication: the internet technology and the world wide web provides a great
interactive medium for self-expression (as in reviews or comments of clients) and
self-presentation (as a means for businesses to showcase their products or services;
a kind of marketing)
iv. Connection: it is likely that different businesses use different software platforms to
run their business processes, leveraging on the advantages of the internet, it is
achievable to incorporate the different software platforms of different businesses
that want to collaborate.
v. Computation: large scale sharing of resources is paramount to a successful business
transaction. The internet technology facilitates this to ease successful completion of
business processes.

FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE
I. Wider range of audience: with the internet as the backbone of ecommerce, business
transactions can take place across national boundaries in a more convenient and cost-
effective form.
 II. Universal standard: internet technology has a universal standard, it’s not a different one
in UK and a different one in Nigeria.
III. Rich content: ecommerce allows for integration of the various forms of content, one
can use video, audio, combination of two or all three.
IV. Ease of interaction: clients interact with businesses from the comfort of their homes.
There is no need to physically visit a store as in the place of the traditional commerce.
V. Personalization or customization: the various technologies integrated to the internet
allows businesses to send personalized/customized messages that can be delivered to
individuals or even groups.
VI. Ubiquity: the internet technology is widely available and accessible from anywhere at
any time; be it at home, at work via mobile devices like a mobile phone, iPad, and even
PCs.
VII. Business digitalization: this involves comprehensively using the internet and other tools
of Information and Communication Technologies to link information and cooperate
seamlessly every stakeholder of the business.
VIII. Automation of business processes to increase delivery speed

TYPES OF E-COMMERCE
E-commerce can be divided into different types, some are:
 Business to Business (B2B),
 Business to Customer (B2C),
 Customer to Customer (C2C),
 Customer to Business (C2B).

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS (B2B):

Only the companies are doing business with each other. Here, the final consumers are not
involved. Therefore, the online transactions that are carried out in a business-to-business
ecommerce transaction involve parties like the manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers etc. B2B e-
commerce is simply the electronic exchange of products, services or information between
businesses rather than between businesses and consumers as expected. Examples include
companies such as Xero that offers inbound marketing and sales and accounting software for
small to medium businesses or a construction materials company selling its products to
architects and interior designers. Business to business ecommerce is the largest form of
ecommerce and it requires high level of security in exchanging data.
BUSINESS TO CUSTOMER (B2C):
Here, the business sells directly to customers. The customers can browse the website, see
reviews and order directly from the business. After the order, the good is shipped directly to
them (the customers). Some of the most popular business to customer websites are; Amazon,
Jumia and Konga. The businesses strive to reach individuals and not businesses as in business-
to-business type. Various means are employed for this purpose like newsletters, email list,
instant messaging and the likes. Advertisers and content providers can as well assist in the
marketing process of ensuring that these businesses reach the intended audiences using
contents like digital news, photos, music, videos and even artworks.
CUSTOMER TO CUSTOMER (C2C):
For this model, the consumers are in direct contact with one another and they can buy or sell
freely without any middleman. This model enables the consumers to buy and sell used goods
like furniture, mobile phones or electrical appliances. Examples of websites that use this model
are: OLX and Jiji. Consumer to consumer ecommerce presents a means for consumers to set
their rules for the business transaction, they set their prices as well and the buying party checks
for themselves if the set prices and rules are favorable before making a deal with the selling
party. The consumer that’s selling prepares the product to be sold and place it on sale on their
own while the consumer that’s purchasing chooses from the different displayed good s to be
sold or uses the search engine to search for what to be purchased and chooses from the
returned results of the search like on eBay.
CONSUMER TO BUSINESS (C2B):
this model is the inverse of business to consumer because here, as the name implies, it’s the
consumers that sell to the business. Freelancers and businesses that buy from then are a
perfect example for this model of E- Commerce. Here, individuals (that is, consumers) create
value (could be goods or services) that businesses consume. A programmer for instance can give
his/her service and abilities to utilize and maintain the online resources of a system as a
specialist in the programming field. A platform known as “fiver” works on this model.
BUSINESS TO ADMINISTRATION:
Also known a s business to government which usually involve exchange of data between
businesses and the government via the internet, an example is when a business wants to
advertise its product or service at the government level. Business to administration type of
ecommerce includes different services like legal documents, social security, fiscal measures and
the likes.
CONSUMER TO ADMINISTRATION:
Also known as consumer to government entails electronic transaction between individuals
(consumer) and the government. When an individual makes a request or a query from the
government, it works on the model of consumer to administration type of ecommerce. It
creates a way that is easy for communication between governments and individuals. Examples
include payment of health services, distance learning, information dissemination and so on.
M-COMMERCE (MOBILE COMMERCE)
Is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless technology-i.e., handheld
devices such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). It does not always
require internet, such as mobile banking.
It is also referred to as next generation e-commerce. Japan is seen as a global leader in M-
commerce. As content delivery over wireless devices becomes faster, more secure, and scalable,
some believe that m-commerce will surpass wireline e-commerce as the method of choice for
digital commerce transactions. Industries affected by m-commerce include: financial services,
telecommunications, service/retail, and information services.

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE
E-commerce has come with some benefits, which are:
I. Cheaper cost: E-Commerce is usually much cheaper than because a physical store is not
necessary. Businesses that have a physical store in a popular location will have higher
cost of operation and maintenance.
II. Wider reach: with e-commerce, there is no restriction, no limitation to how large the
audience to reach will be. People from different countries who are willing and able to
patronize an ecommerce business can contact the business, place orders and the
business works out delivery to them. With ecommerce, businesses can have as many
clients as possible.
III. Direct (face to face) interaction is not needed: unlike the traditional means of commerce
which is based on face-to-face interaction for when clients have an enquiry and for the
business’s response too; ecommerce does not need this. The electronic channels like
email, live chats and the likes are used for these purposes and more.
IV. E-Commerce removes geographical barriers. Which means you can buy and sell from any
part of the world.
V. E-Commerce enables sellers to lower transaction cost as they don’t need to pay rent for
a physical store. This will enable them to maximize their profit.
VI. Goods are delivered quickly and easily with little efforts on the side of the consumer.
VII. Complaints are addressed quickly and consumers can see reviews of other consumers
before purchasing an item.
VIII. E-Commerce saves time, effort and energy of the consumers and of the seller.
IX. With E-Commerce, customers get to shop any day at any time as there is no closing hour
like physical stores.
 X. E-Commerce enables the buyer and seller to be in direct contact with no intermediary.
This gives room for personal touch and quick transaction.
DISADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE
I. Security: The platform being used for the ecommerce can be hacked which can lead to
client’s details being compromised and used for illegal and fraudulent purposes.
II. Trust: It might take time for the ecommerce to get clients that will actually patronize it.
People have trust issues to entrust their money or details via the internet as ecommerce
usually has no physical store which makes tracing very difficult or even impossible.
III. Credit card fraud is another security threat that ecommerce is exposed to and this is like
the most common and most accepted means of payment for ecommerce transactions.
KEY IDEAS IN E-COMMERCE
I. D2C: means direct to consumer. Middle men are cut off and business deliver their
product or services directly to the consumer without wholesalers or retailers. It is direct!
II. White labelling: when a business applies its brand name to a generic product after
purchasing from a distributor. If a food business buys snacks from a distributor of food
company and then applies its own business brand name on the snacks it has purchased,
that is white labelling.
III. Private labelling: a business makes a deal with the manufacturer directly to create a
unique product specially for the business with an exclusive right for them as the sole
seller. If a food business approaches the manufacturers of “minimie chin-chin” to
exclusively start producing say chips for them with an exclusive right that only this
business can sell the chips, this is private labelling.
IV. Wholesaling: wholesaling involves a retailer carrying out the business process like a
wholesaler by offering a discount in price when its products are sold in bulk. The
business will have piece prices and bulk prices so they can sell in bit and also in bulk but
there will be a discount in price for bulk purchase.
V. Drop-shipping: is a way of marketing and selling items that will be delivered by a third
party (manufacturer or supplier). Consumers pay the drop shipper, drop-shipper pays
the supplier for the good or service to be delivered to the consumer. Drop-shippers are
like middle men that connect suppliers to consumers. Shopify is a good example of drop-
shipping platform.
VI. Subscription: consumers pay certain agreed amount to business and business delivers
the equivalent good or service to consumer regularly at scheduled intervals. A good
example is DSTV subscription
UNDERSTANDING E-BUSINESS AND E-COMMERCE
INTRODUCTION

In the emerging global economy, e-commerce and e-business have increasingly become a necessary
component of business strategy and a strong catalyst for economic development. The integration of
information and communications technology (ICT) in business has revolutionized relationships within
organizations and those between and among organizations and individuals. Specifically, the use of ICT in
business has enhanced productivity, encouraged greater customer participation, and enabled mass
customization, besides reducing costs. With developments in the Internet and Web-based technologies,
distinctions between traditional markets and the global electronic marketplace-such as business capital
size, among others-are gradually being narrowed down. The name of the game is strategic positioning,
the ability of a company to determine emerging opportunities and utilize the necessary human capital
skills (such as intellectual resources) to make the most of these opportunities through an e-business
strategy that is simple, workable and practicable within the context of a global information milieu and
new economic environment. With its effect of leveling the playing field, e-commerce coupled with the
appropriate strategy and policy approach enables small and medium scale enterprises to compete with
large and capital-rich businesses.

E-COMMERCE AT A GLANCE

Electronic Commerce is what referred to as E-commerce. It is the process of conducting sales

transactions over the internet. E-commerce is the use of electronic communications and digital
information processing technology in business transactions to create, transform, and redefine
relationships for value creation between or among organizations, and between organizations and
individuals (Lallana, Quimbo, &Andam, 2000). This concept aids the companies and industries
opportunity of transacting products and services online with no need to visit the physical office.
Essentially, businesses could be easily posted online for onward sales transactions through E-commerce.
This overcomes geophysical and geographical barriers. By the virtue of the deployment of e-commerce,
it has, at present, become an integral component of a business strategy.

E-COMMERCE VS E-BUSINESS

Despite that some individuals interchangeably use e-commerce and e-business, both are clearly
different. In e-commerce, ICT is used to enable the external activities and relationships of the business
with individuals, groups and other businesses. While e-business is the transformation of an organizations
processes to deliver additional customer value through the application of technologies, philosophies,
and computing paradigm of the new economy. That is, e-commerce is a particular form of e-business.
Compared to e‐Commerce, e‐Business is a more generic term because it refers not only to information
exchanges related to buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business
partners, distributors and suppliers. Interestingly, in e-business, three primary processes, as illustrated by
Lallana et al. (1997) are enhanced viz:

1. Production processes: These include procurement, ordering and replenishment of stocks;

processing of payments; electronic links with suppliers; and production control processes,
among others.
 2. Customer-focused processes: These include promotional and marketing efforts, selling over the
Internet, processing of customers‟ purchase orders and payments, and customer support,
among others;
3. Internal management processes: These include employee services, training, internal
information-sharing, video-conferencing, and recruiting. Electronic applications enhance
information flow between production and sales forces to improve sales force productivity.
Workgroup communications and electronic publishing of internal business information are
likewise made more efficient.

The key elements of an e‐Business solution are:

I. Customer Resource management (CRM)

II. Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
III. Supply Chain Management (SCM)
IV. Knowledge Management 5. e‐Markets.

LECTURERS NOTE:

Just as we discussed in class, Ecommerce centers itself solely on using available data and technologies to
deliver business (good and services) to final consumers or other businesses. Customers on the other
hand have the opportunity of connecting with businesses that they already use their product or services
easily, example of this could be business owner integrating payment gateway technology to facilitate
payment for purchased products on the website or webapp. While E-Business utilizes the technology
available to improve already existing business or to improve the delivery of their business. Think of it as a
construction company trying to acquire new machines to improve the quality of their construction or
small and medium scale businesses using Moniepoint POS or bank to aid transaction in their shops or
depots. Of course, the scope of this examples can be more than this but for the context of the topic we
are bound to we will stay within this bracket.

FACILITIES THAT SUPPORT E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS SYSTEMS

The concepts of e-business and e-commerce have been explicitly discussed. However, the explained
concept would be of no value, if and only if the facilities to achieve it are not considerably put in place.
To this effect, unit 2 is dedicated to discuss this, so that the aim and objectives of the concept would be
achieved and materialized. Various applications of e-commerce are continually affecting trends and
prospects for business over the internet, including e-banking, e-tailing and online publishing/online
retailing. A more developed and mature e-banking environment plays an important role in ecommerce
by encouraging a shift from traditional modes of payment (i.e., cash, checks or any form of paper-based
legal tender) to electronic alternatives (such as e-payment systems), thereby closing the e-commerce
loop.

The traditional mode relationship and electronic alternatives are diagrammatically represented in Figure
1. Below
To achieve the mandates of the E-Commerce and E-Business Systems, the following payment methods
have been found to be supported facilities.

However, two payment methods have been found effectively. These payment methods are as follow:

Traditional Payment Methods

i. Cash-on-delivery: Many online transactions only involve submitting purchase orders online.
Payment is by cash upon the delivery of the physical goods.
ii. Bank payments: After ordering goods online, payment is made by depositing cash into the
bank account of the company from which the goods were ordered. Delivery is likewise done
the conventional way.

Electronic Payment Methods

i. Innovations affecting consumers, include credit and debit cards, automated teller machines
(ATMs), stored value cards, and ebanking
ii. Innovations enabling online commerce are e-cash, e-checks, smart cards, and encrypted
credit cards. These payment methods are not too popular in developing countries. They are
employed by a few large companies in specific secured channels on a transaction basis.
iii. Innovations affecting companies pertain to payment mechanisms that banks provide their
clients, including inter-bank transfers through automated clearing houses allowing payment
by direct deposit.

Incorporated facilities to support e-commerce and e-business

incorporated facilities to support e-commerce and e-business systems are highlighted below:

 Mobile (smart) phones

 Website
 Ecommerce shopping cart
 Social media

Relevant components of an e-business model

1. A shared digital business infrastructure: including digital production and distribution

technologies (broadband/wireless networks, content creation technologies and information
management systems), which will allow business participants to create and utilize network
economies of scale and scope.
 2. A sophisticated model for operations: including integrated value chainsboth supply chains and
buy chains
3. An e-business management model consisting of business teams and/or partnerships
4. Policy, regulatory and social systems-i.e., business policies consistent with e-commerce laws,
teleworking/virtual work, distance learning, incentive schemes, among others.

Issues and Problems that affects E-Commerce and E-Business Development

We have discussed the concepts of e-commerce and E-business. Other thing earlier discussed is the
facilities that support ecommerce and e-business systems. In this unit, we are to understudy the issues
and problems that affect e-commerce and e-business development. It is crystal clear that the present
transaction systems have greatly changed the manner and approach of transaction. This is in line with
the 21st century global economic agenda. However, as much beneficial as e-commerce and e-business
are, there are some outstanding issues affecting this novel direction of transactions. These challenges
would undoubtful mitigate the exponential growth of the system as well as down-speeding the take-over
of these transactions over the traditional means.

The issues affecting these systems could be majorly classified into two, namely: technical and economic
challenges.

Technical challenges

ICT systems which remain paramount in these systems have to be effective not only within the
boundaries of an organisation, rather synergise with ICT systems of other organisations. This synergy
rests on user-centred design (UCD) interfaces.

Therefore, the issues and problems under these technical challenges are the responses to the following
questions:

 How heterogeneous are the involved ICT systems allowed to be?

 Is the present IT infrastructure, in developing countries and Nigeria in particular, fit for e-
commerce?
 How to protect the ICT system to prevent its destruction, damage, or manipulation?
 Are the present ICT systems for e-commerce secure?
 Are payment procedures and modules securing enough?
 How guaranteed is the protection of personal data of involved people, especially customer data?
 Having realised that e-commerce depends on people, are the IT personnel qualified enough?
 How updated are the available technical support?

Economic challenges

E-Commerce is primarily a concept of management and organisation. It is not solely a matter of

technology. Some of the lingering issues confronting e-commerce and e-business development under
guise economic perspectives are highlighted below.

 Are the business protocols and procedures acceptably standardised among the actors?
 Is the participation open to all? Who makes and how the decision of participation is made? 
How to adopt or change the business model?
 What might happen after e-sales channel is opened? Will traditional sales channel suffer from it?
 How can we measure the success of our e-commerce activities? Will costs be compensated
through revenues?
 How do we build relationship with customers, suppliers, and other business partners to realise
the merits of e-commerce?
 How to redesign the business processes – in terms of employees change?
All afforested issues have been found in literature to be the problems affecting the e-commerce and e-
business development. And until the necessary remedies are provided, e-commerce and e-business
would continue to witness snail development.

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT FOR E-COMMERCE

This module introduces learners to website development that could be used for e-commerce. The
module highlights technicality in creating and maintaining a successful web presence and also
methodologies for developing and managing e-commerce websites.

Unit 1: Introduction and Techniques for Web Design

Unit 2: Managing and Methodologies for Developing E-Commerce Websites

Unit 3: Creating and Maintaining a Successful Web Presence.

To have an effective and efficient e-commerce website takes a great deal, and as such, there is a need to
have a very good website design to enable easy and smooth communication with the target audience.

I. Web Design

Web design is a very important skill required to understand the production, appearance, maintenance,
and development of websites on the Internet. Web design is the procedure involved in the creation and
planning of a website. Web designers are in charge of putting together text, images, video, and audio to
create beautiful and meaningful content on the browser for an individual‟s use and consumption. To
create a meaning website there is a need to understand how the Internet works and the basic
components of the Internet. This shall be discussed below:

 Internet

The computer network has been in existence for more than 50years. The first computer network
named ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) was a project created by the
Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1969, purposely to provide a secure and
survivable communication network for organizations engaged in defense-related research at the
United States. The fear that an attack could destroy all information stored in a single computer
prompted them to create and store their information in multiple interconnected computers
(Connolly & Hoar, 2015). Gradually, the network became more sophisticated and is in use globally
through the help of a protocol called the Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
which allowed users to link various branches of other complex networks directly to the ARPANET,
and this was later called the Internet. The Internet is a giant network of networks comprised of
several networks interconnected together through several means such as; satellite, microwave,
telephone cable, and fiber optic cable. The Internet has ever since becoming the largest computer
network in the world which provides new and easy ways of connecting, accessing, and interacting
with people and content.
  World Wide Web

The WWW developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 is a giant client server system with several servers
distributed worldwide to enable communication. Without the world wide web, it will be difficult to
connect and communicate with each other via the Internet, thereby making it a very important
component of the Internet (Berners‐Lee, Cailliau, Groff & Pollermann, 2010). WWW enables
interaction between the client and the web servers, such that it allows users to view multimedia-
based documents through the Web browser. The web browser is in charge of accepting user input
and display it in a way that will be properly understood. Currently, the Internet and World Wide Web
have improved the way people connect, communicate, and carry out business transactions (Berners‐
Lee et.al., 2010).

 Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

This is the protocol used for formatting and transferring files or messages over the Internet.
Hypertext implies that the files or messages can contain references or links to other messages whose
selection will trigger more requests.

 Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

This is a web address used by a web browser to access and locate information on the World Wide
Web. It is made up of a formatted text string that contains a protocol, colon (:), and two slashes (//),
such as http://www.google.com. The URL or web address is case sensitive and does not contain
spaces.

 HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

This defines the structure and format of a webpage, as well as how web pages will be displayed in
web browsers. It is a language used for website creation which can then be viewed by anyone
afterward (Connolly & Hoar, 2015).

II. E-commerce Website design

Recently, e-commerce has emerged as a new way of performing business transactions between buyers
and sellers. Electronic commerce (E-commerce) is described as the buying and selling of products and
services via the Internet. It offers several benefits and opportunities, and as such can help to boost the
business turnover. E-commerce has changed the narratives of transacting as a lot of people prefer to
shop or buy online (Brinck, Gergle& Wood, 2001), and this has brought about a lot of competitors online.
Thereby, to have an edge ahead of competitors there is a need to have a website that is interactive with
good layouts, reliable information, great payment options, and excellent customer service (Wang, 2016).
As discussed earlier, the e-commerce website can be developed using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. and
some other multimedia software such as Adobe flash and fireworks.

Benefits of E-commerce Website

 Ease and convenience: one of the major factors to be considered when designing the e-
commerce website is accessibility. The website has to be easily accessible by potential
customers. Effects such as hyperlinks, mouse hover, and some other attributes can be part of the
 features on the website for ease of use. Every dealing in an e-commerce website is in real-time,
no time or location limit; and this tends to be a great advantage (Treese& Stewart, 1998).
 Products and services promotion: when a website is easily accessible and usable, it will be easier
to manage the target audience or anyone visiting the page. Ecommerce enhances interaction
and directs connect with customers, which can bring about various promotion strategies about
their products and services and thereby enhance the popularity of the brand.
 Time and Cost saving: once the website is created rightly, it will be instantaneous and this will
put a lot of things in order, there will be more time to manage the customers, products, services,
and promotions. Also, customers will enjoy the use of the website more as they can easily view
various available products, place orders, make payments, and get their goods as soon as
possible. Not only that, when the website is easily accessible and usable any website
maintenance or updates to be carried out on it will be done at a low cost.
 Consistency of Information: consistency and accuracy of information are ensured in an e-
commerce website. This will be possible because all information will be updated and shared at
once on the same platform; unlike when news or information is delivered to customers by
different people and at various times. This will improve customer service and relationship
(Rockwell, 1998).

TECHNIQUES FOR WEB DESIGN

It is essential to master the tricks involved in designing an exceptional website, to stand out amongst
competitors. To have a responsive and interactive e-commerce web design that will benefit both parties
(buyers and sellers) visiting the website as well as increase traffic. There are certain steps or techniques
in setting up a website, these include:

1. Domain name selection or registration

The domain name is simply the website name; this should not be mistaken for a URL, because
they are different. The domain name is very important in website design as this is the address
that users will use to locate the website. To set up a website, the basic step to be taken is the
domain name registration. This should be carefully done and uniquely selected. This will
rightfully guide whoever wants to access the website with any search engine via the internet.
The domain name is divided into 2 parts. The first known as Top Level Domain (TLD) and the
Second Level Domain (SLD).

The TLD is the first step performed in the Domain Name registration. This is the last part of the
domain name written after the dot(.). It is of various types, such as the generic Top-Level Domain
(gTLD) which consists of (.com, .org, .net). Also, the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for
example; .ng-for Nigeria, .jp-for Japan, .my-for Malaysia etc. The domain registrar can either
accept or reject any of the gTLD based on their discretion, though most domain holders register
their name under the three gTLDs to avoid confusing their target users or customers.

The SLD or 2LD is the second to the last part of the domain name before the TLD, for instance,
the google of google.com. This part is a very crucial part of an e-commerce website, as this will
most times depict the business brand name. While registering the SLD, it is very important to
perform a trademark search to ensure that the chosen name is not belonging to someone else
or registered by another website.
 During the domain name registration, there is a need to perform a search to check whether the
name intends to be used hasn’t been picked by another website to ensure uniqueness and
authenticity.

2. Web hosting
Web hosts are computers or organizations that render services with technologies to host
websites on the internet. After successfully hosting the website, users or customers can then
access it via the web browser using the domain name. Some people outsource their website to a
company or organization for hosting while few others have their servers to manage their hosting
in-house, which tends to save time and reduce cost. The legal issue, renewal, security, and risk
involved in the hosting agreement should be carefully handled during the web hosting to avoid
any legal issue in the future.

3. Communication strategy
It is no doubt that e-commerce has modernized the way business is been done, this has been
made possible with effective and efficient communication strategy which includes marketing,
advertising, and search engine use.
i. Marketing: this involves taking measures to use various tactics to electronically get traffic
and drive people’s attention to products and services. Some business owners reach out
to their customers via email or through the list of registered customers they were able to
get on their website. This is done to easily inform the customers about new products,
sales discounts, promotions or a website update.
ii. Advertising: this is the methods deployed to promote products and services. E-
commerce advertising and marketing are very essential steps that a business owner
should not toy with. The idea is to reach out to target customers easily about their
products and services. To reach out to as many people as possible, apart from
advertising on their platform, an e-commerce site can also lookout for a website that
sells similar products or rent an advertising website space; negotiate with them and
ensure all legal agreements are given proper consideration
iii. Search engine use: the search engine is one of the ways consumers can discover and
reach out easily. The search engine works in three basic ways which include crawling,
indexing, and ranking. Crawlers also known as spiders are used to scour the internet or
the World Wide Web to pull out the code or content that matches the URL or use search
terms. It can catalog websites in the engine such that web crawlers add all cataloged
websites to the search engine index automatically.

LECTURERS NOTE: the above discussed module brings us in to the light of developing an E-commerce
website, thing that has to be put in place and process of execution. We further talked about
technicalities involved in developing an E-Commerce website. We talked about the world wide web
(WWW), see it as a very large parlour or sitting area or a very large hall where you can host party for all
and your guests have the opportunity to connect with one another and form new alliances and so on.
MANAGING AND METHODOLOGIES FOR DEVELOPING E-COMMERCE WEBSITES

Managing E-commerce Website

To manage a website, it is very important to place customer service into high consideration. Customer
service will bring about satisfaction to potential customers or associated organizations and this will
automatically boost business sales and improve the business turnover (Standing & Australia, 1999). Since
products and services can only be viewed online, it is therefore essential for an e-commerce website to
have a good customer and communication service strategy.

Some of the roles of customer service include:

i. Identity maintenance: It is important to maintain the company or organizations originality

and a true picture of what the organization sells to enable buyers to have a true perception
of their products and services as well as build trust in them.
ii. Relationship maintenance: A strong professional skill is required to be nice and friendly, as
well as build a good customer and communication relationship (Wang, 2016). This will bring
about a good relationship and trust in the brand.

The customer and communication service strategy for pre-sales and after-sales cannot be
overemphasized, some of them are:

 Sound and improved communication and technical skill.

 A clear understanding of the organization and the customer needs.
 Maintenance of the relationship between the old and new customers, as well as frequently
reminding them about the organization’s sales and promotion activities.
 Always keep in touch with customers by calling or chatting to remind them of a new product and
ensure they drop a review on every purchase as this will help in ensuring standards of products
and services.
 Effective and efficient product and service delivery after purchase.

Security is another major thing to be considered in terms of managing an ecommerce website. Security
issues may lead to losing business integrity, customer loss, or even business loss at large.

Methodologies

The E-Commerce website methodology is a methodology that has been in use over the years and proved
successful. It is made up of five main phases which include:

i. Analysis/Planning: In this phase, the aim and objectives of the business are being identified.
This is an important phase to plan, gather all essential information, and determine solutions
to the business challenges. The analysis and planning will lead an organization to certain
functionalities that will help in achieving the vision and mission of the business. This phase
investigates the order flow, recommended features, and direction on the overall e-
commerce website development. The purpose and content of the website should be
carefully handled here, as this is what the target audience shall look out for as well as trigger
traffic on the site.
ii. Design: This stage is about the logical and physical design of the website. It is a stage that
describes the website result, the system components, functionalities, and relationships
 between all components. This phase also handles the type of database management system
software to be used, the security mechanisms, and control measures to be put together for
the development. It is crucial at this stage to have an outstanding and well-captured logo
with colors depicting what the business represents, as this will attract the target audience. It
is therefore important to include any addition or changes and remove any unnecessary
functionality.
iii. Building the Website: This involves prototype design and system application building. This
phase should be handled with care as it will display the final look of the website. Good
knowledge of HTML and CSS is needed because all coding will be performed at this stage.
iv. Testing the System: As soon as the coding and building of the system are completed, the
system needs to be tested. At this point, there is a need to check that all the HTML and CSS
code used for designing meets the latest web development standards. This stage also
includes the website delivery (the point at which website can be uploaded to the server)
once all the requirements have been met, the account has been set up, all files rightly
uploaded and website SEO performed.
v. Implementation and Maintenance: Implementation occurs after the website design and
development; it is the final phase after which you began to use the website. Maintenance is
another crucial thing, just like any other software, it is very important to ensure continuous
technical checking, testing, and repair of any faults as soon as possible to avoid the website
break down (Siau, Rossi, &Purao, 2001).
CREATING AND MAINTAINING A SUCCESSFUL WEB PRESENCE

We are going to be highlighting the steps used to create and successfully maintain a website.

Creating and Maintaining Website

The steps to create and maintain a successful website includes:

1. Setting the website goals: From the onset, every website should set its aim and objectives. This
will guide them through making decisions, reaching their goals, and maximizing their web
presence. Some of the goals to set include; information about the organization, information
about products and services, how to sell the products, and of course customer service. From
time to time all the goals should be measured, such as; checking the number of old and new
visitors on the website, number of phone calls, the feedback being received, etc.
2. Target audience: After setting the goals, the next question to ask and answer is „who is the target
audience‟. Once the audience is known, you can easily set priorities and make decisions for
website relevancy. You have to find out why the customers visit the website, the kind of
information they are looking for and most important things to do to protect the site content and
make it more appealing
3. Be consistent: It is essential to focus on the websites content, meeting customers needs and
making the needed information available will greatly enhance the web presence and improve
productivity.
4. Branding: The web presence is a true reflection of the website, and as such it has to be well
branded because this is likely the only information the website visitors know about the seller or
the organization. The brand is a way the organization or company is perceived by the customers
(a true picture of who or what the organization is) which has to do with the overall packaging
from the product quality to the customer service. It can also involve having a consistent logo and
printed materials like a shirt, cap, business cards, or writing materials that has the company
name and logo boldly written.
5. Website style: The website should be accessible and usable. The site design should have a good
interface, a responsive design; that can easily be used on a smaller or large screen, graphics with
adobe fireworks, adobe flash, or photoshop should be optimally used to ensure easy navigation
and a GUI environment to users (Kalia, Kaur, and Singh, 2014).
PRODUCT CATALOGUE AND PROCESSING ORDERS

A product catalogue is a document that lists the details of the products or services offered by a business
that aids the purchase decision of buyers. A catalogue shows the features, descriptions, availability, size,
price, and even reviews of the business‟ products and services. Product catalogue is useful not only for
the customers but for the business stakeholders like the sales representatives, store managers and even
for the business owner or decision-makers because a good product catalogue presents clear and concise
information, enhances branding and smooth flow of information, ensures positive user experience and
makes the whole business procedure generally easier. An order is a request by a person to another who
is to deliver the product or service that is being ordered. When a customer places an order for a product
or service, then a sales rep for a business receives the order, gets additional needed information from
the customer to ensure smooth delivery of their product or service to satisfy the customers order, that is
order processing.

We already know what a catalogue is; Let us take a brief look at what ecommerce is. E-commerce simply
means electronic commerce which is the buying and selling of goods and services using the internet;
popular examples include Amazon, Shopify, Ebay, OLX, Jumia, Konga, Payporte and the likes.

E-Commerce Catalogue Development

E-commerce catalogue development is a process that requires a lot of planning because you don’t want
to piss off your customers with unordered or irrelevant information that can make them not to end up
patronizing you. The following are some things to note in developing a good e-commerce catalogue:

i. Highlight each product and service with their features, descriptions, availability, size, price,
and reviews if available as it convinces people about how genuine a business and its
products are. Jumia as an example, has the products properly labelled and described, price is
stated, availability status is made known, reviews are also displayed if available.
ii. Create your own content, do not copy content. Be creative and carve out your own rich,
unique and quality keywords as this improves the search engine optimisation of your e-
commerce rather than copying content and be in supplemental results of searches.
iii. Words are good, image is better. Having professional photographs with well-crafted
descriptions of your products as well as instructions and manuals can serve as advantages
that one can leverage on to generate relevant search engine traffic. Jumia uses clear pictures
to describe goods, their pictures are taken from different angles to have a clear view and
knowledge of product ton be purchased.
iv. Cross selling is a very important aspect to consider. Identify the Popular products, related
products, and purchased. If your customers search is sweater, various popular sweaters
could be returned such as hoodie or knitted sweater as popular products, socks and gloves
could be returned as also purchased and turtleneck clothing could be returned as related
products.
v. Let your interface be appealing to sight. Use large font and bold colours, catchy buttons and
a generally attractive environment. Ensure simplicity also, customers will get discouraged in
using a complicated platform. Jumia.com is quite appealing to sight, the colors used are
catchy, the texts are legible, the navigation is understandable, it is easy to use (creating an
 account, logging in, shopping, adding items to cart, making payment and the likes are all
achievable).

PROCESSING ORDERS IN E-COMMERCE

We will be looking at process order and process flow. These activities take place to ensure that placed
orders are efficiently sorted so that they reach the customers at the right time.

Order Processing

Some define order processing as the length of time between the date that an order is placed and the
date when the order is shipped to the customer, however, from the time an order is placed by a
customer to the time that they receive the order, the business is responsible and held accountable for
delivering the ordered product or service within the shortest time frame and in the most efficient way;
this activity is called order processing. Hence, order processing are the activities or procedures that takes
place to ensure that placed orders are efficiently sorted so that they reach the customers at the right
time and in perfect condition. Taking a clothing line as an example of the e-commerce to be patronize;
their catalog should have provided the customers with relevant information of material of cloth, sizes
available, dimension, available colours and the likes. After knowing all these, if the customer decides to
eventually place an order, the ecommerce platform should allow the customers to specify their
preferences and make payment including specified delivery fee. Finally, the business should make cloths
according to the specified preferences of customers and should ensure that they do not deliver later
than agreed day of delivery.
PROCESS FLOW

To keep costs as low as possible, it’s important that businesses have a clear process flow to follow which
will help maintain the smooth running of ecommerce operation. It reduces stress on the business
because all the necessary information is put out already rather than telling the same thing to a thousand
people in a thousand times. Ease of processing orders lies in the hands of the business owners; Let’s take
Lolu’s cuisine as an example, this is a catering outlet in Ibadan, the following steps describes their order
processing.
ONLINE SHOP

An online shop is a website through which customers place orders and makes payment through channels
approved by the shop. It may represent a small local store, a major retailer, an e-commerce store or an
individual who sells products through a third-party site, such as e-Bay.

Online Business Models

The online store can operate under a number of business models such as:

 Business-to-consumer: this model allows the final consumer to buy directly from the retailer like
a regular physical store.
 Business-to business: this model will allow businesses to purchase products from some other
businesses.

Examples of online shops include; jumia, Alibaba, konga and OLX among others. The products in online
shops range from physical products like clothes and gadgets to digital products like software and music
and even food and beverages.

Some advantages of the online shop are its convenience: the online shop is very convenient for users, it’s
opened for 24 hours and you can buy anything, from anywhere at any time; especially with the provision
of delivery companies everywhere. Online shop also makes it easier to get reviews and enough
information products from customers after their patronage as these feedbacks helps to improve the
business process. While the shop owner may want to sugar coat, candid reviews and opinions will be
made available by other consumers from various parts of the world. Selection of products is also made
easy by online shops by the availability of filters and search engines, hereby saving shopping time.
Consumers can easily filter goods based on price, colour, size and delivery in a short period of time.
Merchants as well face low risk of robbery as they operate with warehouses instead of having regular
shelves and counters with money in drawers. Everything with its pros and cons, as advantageous as
online shop is, it has its disadvantages which include the fact that a lot of people are concerned about
fraud and security which might be a discouragement for people to actually patronize online shops. Since
they haven’t been able to inspect the products thoroughly and physically before purchase, customers
can only hope to get what they ordered. Phishing is another problem. Consumers sometimes face the
risk of having to deal with fake websites and providing sensitive details to malicious parties. Sometimes,
costs and fees are not fully disclosed till checkout point or delivery point. Privacy of personal information
is very important to a lot of consumers. Online shops sometimes use these pieces information without
the knowledge of the consumers for example, sharing of catalogues by e-mail.