FEDERAL UNIVERSITY WUKARI FALCULTY OF SOCIAL AND

MANAGEMENT SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING

COURSE TITLE: E-COMMERCE (ACC 105)

BY

MR.SHISHI SAMUEL SAMSON & MR.POLYCARB SAMA UDI

COURSE LECTURERS: ACCOUNTING

Introduction:

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The very origin origins of ecommerce are rooted in a desire to give customers more of what they
wanted: convenience, selection, and savings.
Ecommerce has changed the way people shop and consumed products and services. More and
more people are turning to their computers and smart devices to order goods, which can easily be
delivered to their homes. As such, it has disrupted the retail landscape. Amazon
and Alibaba have gained considerable popularity, forcing traditional retailers to make changes to
the way they do business. But that's not all. Not to be outdone, individual sellers have
increasingly engaged in ecommerce transactions via their own personal websites. And digital
marketplaces such as eBay or Etsy serve as exchanges where multitudes of buyers and sellers
come together to conduct business.
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.
The U.S. Department of Commerce recognizes ecommerce business such as transactional sites,
static content sites, online marketplaces, and auction sites.

History of Ecommerce

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Most of us have shopped online for something at some point, which means we've taken part in
ecommerce. So it goes without saying that ecommerce is everywhere. But very few people may
know that ecommerce has a history that goes back before the internet began.
Ecommerce actually goes back to the 1960s when companies used an electronic system called
the Electronic Data Interchange to facilitate the transfer of documents.
Ecommerce can be happen in many forms, like ordering goods, purchasing a service, buying a
subscription to an information source or even setting up an online bill paying schedule. For most
of us, its hard to imagine modern life without ecommerce. It would not only be convenient but
also much more complicated still, as ingrained as ecommerce as become has become in our lives,
it wasn’t that long ago when it didn’t even exist. We can trace the origin of ecommerce back
about 40 years ago, when “teleshopping” first appeared as the precursor to the modern version.
Of course, ecommerce as we know it today really got its start when retail giant Amazon created
one of the first ecommerce websites back in the early 1990s.Since then, countless companies
have followed its lead.

When Was the First Online Transaction? 

The August 12, 1994 issue of New York Times, appropriately titled “Internet is Open”
chronicled the sale between two friends of a Sting CD. The Times said, “The team of young
cyberspace entrepreneurs celebrated what was apparently the first retail transaction on the
Internet using a readily available version of powerful data encryption software designed to
guarantee privacy.” The industry has gone through so many changes since then, resulting in a
great deal of evolution. Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers were forced to embrace new
technology in order to stay afloat as companies like Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, and Etsy became
household names. These companies created a virtual market place for goods and services that
consumers can easily access. New technology continues to make it easier for people to do their
online shopping. People can connect with businesses through smart phones and other devices and
by downloading apps to make purchases. The introduction of free shipping, which reduces costs
for consumers, has also helped increase the popularity of the ecommerce industry.

Definition of E-commerce:

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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 is better understood with the concepts of the 5Cs, the 5C
model consists of, collaboration, communication, connection, computation, and convenience.
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.

i 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.

ii. 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)

iii. 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.

iv. 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.

v. Convenience: Ecommerce makes transactions easier it occurs at any hours of the day, within
the week, month, year etc. Ecommerce takes a lot of work of connectivity, it is possible to make
your sales as you sleep or earn revenue while you are away from your home, office and store.

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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, its 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 of 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 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.
vii. 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), and
Customer to Business (C2B).
1. 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 e- commerce 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

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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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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

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administration type of ecommerce includes different services like legal documents, social
security, fiscal measures and the likes.
6. 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.
7. 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 wire line 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:
a) 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.
b) 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.
c) 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.
d) E-Commerce removes geographical barriers. Which means you can buy and sell from any
part of the world. Example due to insecurity in some part country like North east Nigeria to be

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precise Borno State, people will be afraid to go for their daily transaction; but through
ecommerce the business still function.
e) E-Commerce enables sellers to lower transaction cost as they don’t need to pay for a physical
store. This will enable them to maximize their profit.
f) Goods are delivered quickly and easily with little efforts on the side of the consumer.
Complaints are addressed quickly and consumers can see reviews of other consumers before
purchasing an item.
g) E-Commerce saves time, effort and energy of the consumers and of the seller.
h) With E-Commerce, customers get to shop any day at any time as there is no closing hour like
physical stores.
i) E-Commerce enables the buyer and seller to be in direct contact with no intermediary. This
gives room for personal touch and quick transaction.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Ecommerce

Ecommerce advantages:

 Convenience: Ecommerce can occur 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Although

ecommerce may take a lot of work, it is still possible to generate sales as you sleep or
earn revenue while you are away from your store.
 Increased selection: Many stores offer a wider array of products online than they
carry in their brick-and-mortar counterparts. And many stores that solely exist online may
offer consumers exclusive inventory that is unavailable elsewhere.
 Potentially lower start-up cost: Ecommerce companies may require a warehouse or
manufacturing site, but they usually don't need a physical storefront. The cost to operate
digitally is often less expensive than needing to pay rent, insurance, building
maintenance, and property taxes.
 International sales: As long as an ecommerce store can ship to the customer, an
ecommerce company can sell to anyone in the world and isn't limited by physical
geography.
 Easier to retarget customers: as customers browse a digital storefront, it is easier to
entice their attention towards placed advertisements, directed marketing campaigns, or

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 pop-ups specifically aimed at a purpose. But there are certain drawbacks that come with
ecommerce sites.

The disadvantages include:

i) Limited customer service: If you shop online for a computer, you cannot simply ask
an employee to demonstrate a particular model's features in person. And although some
websites let you chat online with a staff member, this is not a typical practice.
ii) Lack of instant gratification: When you buy an item online, you must wait for it to
be shipped to your home or office. However, e-tailers like Amazon make the waiting
game a little bit less painful by offering same-day delivery as a premium option for select
products.
iii) Inability to touch products: Online images do not necessarily convey the whole story
about an item, and so ecommerce purchases can be unsatisfying when the products
received do not match consumer expectations. Case in point: an item of clothing may be
made from shoddier fabric than its online image indicates.
iv) Reliance on technology: If your website crashes, garners an overwhelming amount
of traffic, or must be temporarily taken down for any reason, your business is effectively
closed until the ecommerce storefront is back.
v) Higher competition: Although the low barrier to entry regarding low cost is an
advantage, this means other competitors can easily enter the market. Ecommerce
companies must have mindful marketing strategies and remain diligent on SEO
optimization to ensure they maintain a digital presence.

Ecommerce Businesses

Pros
i) Convenient for owners as revenue may be generated semi-passively
ii) Convenient for consumers looking to easily browse for specific products
iii) Greater earning potential due to no limitations on physical location (can sell to anyone as
long you can ship there)
iv) Reduced costs assuming digital presence costs less than building, insurance, taxes, and
repairs.

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 v) Greater marketing control including data extraction from customers, targeted ads, and
pop-up placement

Cons
i) Limited customer service opportunities as there is little to no face-to-face opportunities
ii) Lacks instant gratification as customers must believe in a product before seeing it in
person
iii) Products can't been seen or handled until delivered (can't try before they buy)
iv) Risk of a down website causing lost revenue or income.
v) High reliance on shipping constraints which may be out of your control.
vi) Higher competition due to lower barriers of entry and greater customer potential.

TYPES OF ECOMMERCE

Depending on the goods, services, and organization of an ecommerce company, the business can
opt to operate several different ways. Here are several of the popular business models.

Business to Consumer (B2C)

B2C ecommerce companies sell directly to the product end-user. Instead of distributing goods to
an intermediary, a B2C company performs transactions with the consumer that will ultimately
use the good. This type of business model may be used to sell products (i.e. your local sporting
goods store's website) or services (i.e. a lawncare mobile app to reserve landscaping services).
This is the most common business model and is likely the concept most people think about when
they hear ecommerce.

Business to Business (B2B)

Similar to B2C, an ecommerce business can directly sell goods to a user. However, instead of
being a consumer, that user may be another company. B2B transactions are often entails larger
quantities, greater specifications, and longer lead times. The company placing the order may also
have a need to set recurring goods if the purchase is for recurring manufacturing processes.

Business to Government (B2G)

Some entities specialize as government contractors providing goods or services to agencies or
administrations. Similar to a B2B relationship, the business produces items of value and remits

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those items to an entity. B2G ecommerce companies must often meet government requests for
proposal requirements, solicit bids for projects, and meet very specific product or service criteria.
In addition, there may be joint government endeavors to solicit a single contract through.
Introduction 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.

3. Website Development for Ecommerce

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 (WWW) for Ecommerce

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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).
Hyper Text 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.
Hyper Text 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).
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

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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.
4. Benefits of E-commerce Website:
i) 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).
ii) 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. E-commerce 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.
iii) 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.
iv) 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:
v)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

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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 two 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 (TLD) 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. After successfully choosing the domain name, the registrars provide the domain
holders with various price and duration options, as well as the registration contract agreement
which should be signed and agreed upon accordingly.
vi) 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.
vii) Communication strategy:
It is no doubt that e-commerce has modernized the way business are been done, this has been
made possible with effective and efficient communication strategy which includes marketing,
advertising, and search engine use.

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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. This is quite easier than the traditional means of contacting
visitors or customers one by one whenever they visit the shop or company. Although, sending
emails to customers should be done with great caution, so as not to lose customers in the process
due to annoyance of frequent emails. Customers can be given the option to opt-out from
receiving the newsletter, as well as given various options on how frequently (such as monthly,
weekly, or daily) they want to receive emails about products, newsletters, or any related news to
the business.
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. Also, social media sites can be linked-to websites while blogs can be created also
for smooth interaction with users and potential customers.
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. Indexing works such a way that it enables the download and storing of all
discovered data and information into the search engines database to enable ease and prompt
display of results to users (Daoud, Naqvi & Ahmad, 2014).

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 &

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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:
a) Identity maintenance: It is important to maintain the company or organization’s 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
b) 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:
c) Sound and improved communication and technical skill.
d) A clear understanding of the organization and the customer needs.
e) Maintenance of the relationship between the old and new customers, as well as frequently
reminding them about the organization’s sales and promotion activities.
f) 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.
g) Effective and efficient product and service delivery after purchase.
Security is another major thing to be considered in terms of managing an e- commerce 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

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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.
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). The steps to create and maintain a successful website
includes:
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.
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

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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
Be consistent: It is essential to focus on the website‟s content, meeting customer‟s needs and
making the needed information available will greatly enhance the web presence and improve
productivity.
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.
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)

4. Product catalog Development:

Introduction
We already know what a catalogue is; Let us take a brief look at what e- commerce 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:
1.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,

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availability status is made known, reviews are also displayed if available. If a customer wants to
buy a lady shoe on Jumia, the maker or designer of the shoe is made known, the sizes available,
the colours available, type of heels, the material (maybe suede or leather) and other details that
is relevant to the purchase decision of the customer.
2. 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. The content
Jumia uses is unique to them, it is original. If one is starting an e-commerce, a content creator
could be outsourced for as it is very essential.
3.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. The picture can aid customer‟s understanding of the size or colour
of the product.
4.Cross selling is a very important aspect to consider. Identify the Popular products, related
products, and purchased. If your customer‟s 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.
5. 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, shopping, adding items to cart, making payment and the likes are all achievable).
5.

SHOPPING CART
Introduction:

A shopping cart is a piece of software embedded on an online market platform that facilitates
the purchase of a product or service. That is, it keeps record of products a buyer has selected for
subsequent purchase (farris, paul W,Neil T et al., 2010). The customer typically picks goods for

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purchase on the online market, the shopping cart then catalogs the items that has been choosen
by the customers and then places the items in his or her Shopping cart. The Shopping cart usually
keeps a sum of the items kept therein. It allows a buyer to gather products, assess the selected
items and make changes or add extra items if needed before going on to make purchase
immediately or later in the future.

Types of Shopping Carts

i) Open source shopping cart: This type of shopping cart is easily available, free to own,
modify and use. No licensing fee is required in order to gain complete control over the site. To
use an open source shopping carts, the user must download the software and install it on a
website which meets the software‟s system requirements. It is better to have an open source
shopping cart when you intend on setting up and handling a complex large shop with a different
variety of products. Developer skills is necessary when using open source software and
Customer support is very limited. It has a well-designed user interface and also Numerous
integration can be added to it. Open source shopping cart requires Adds on to perform higher
level functions. The set up process and maintenance of an open source shopping cart is not easy
and straight forward as the other types. PayPal is an example of open source shopping cart.

ii)Licensed shopping cart: Licensed shopping cart is usually owned by the owner of a business.
the owner acquires in order to host on his own server. It is a more direct type compared to open
source. It is created by business organizations then they make it accessible for buyer to purchase
and use. To use this software a user must acquire license from the organization. All
modifications are managed by the organization that created it, although they may create a
method for independent developers to create add ons. Usually it is always a one-time investment
for utilization of the production but some organization charge monthly or on a yearly model.
licensed shopping cart needs to be set up and maintained in the same way as open source
shopping cart. Example of licensed shopping carts include Open Cart, Magento, and Woo
commerce (data feed watch, 2019)

iii)Hosted shopping cart: These are standard solutions managed by the company that developed
them. Users only need to sign up with the host they have chosen and commence selling
immediately. It consists both shopping cart software and web hosting. Unlike the other types
hosted software, it provides a web based user interface with which a user can manage his store

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instead of downloading software which enables them to run their business directly. Most hosted
shopping carts are charged on monthly basis depending on your subscription. Costlier plans have
more built in features and advantages. Free trials are made available by the organization in order
to assists a user in picking the best plan that suits their needs. Shopify and Big commerce are
great example of hosted shopping cart.

Components of a Shopping Cart Software:

The storefront and the administration are the two main components of a shopping cart.
i)The store front:
The store front is the part of the web store that the customers can easily access. These parts
include product pages, category navigation, search pages and checkout pages where the customer
can complete their transaction after entering the product details. The appearance of the store
front can normally be modified the online shop owner in for better customer satisfaction.
ii)The administration: The administration is the part of the web store which is only accessible
to the merchant. Management and maintenance of these webstore is done here. On the
administration page a merchant is able to remove add or edit product categories, shipping
options, currency and sales tax and accounting tools. Orders and inventories can also be managed
in administration. The administration area can be web based or desktop based.
6. Completing the Purchasing process and Tracking information:
Introduction:

Electronic commerce is an evolving concept that involves buying and selling of goods and
services in a virtual environment (online). E-Commerce is a technology that is gaining a
widespread adoption among sellers and buyers due to its numerous advantages such as ease of
use, speed of searching and purchasing of goods and services, ability to find and compare prices
without leaving your house, ability to save time and costs, as well as adequate support services.
In an online environment, products are provided through online stores. Online store (or
webstore) is a website owns by a company where goods and services are provided for sales. A
webstore may be created to serve a targeted customers or market (e.g cattoy.com). it could be
owned by a manufacturer (e.g cisco.com, dell.com), retailer (e.gamazon,com, konga.com) or
individuals selling at home. Therefore, purchasing and selling online via a webstore involve
several supporting mechanisms that work in synergy to ensure a seamless, complete and secure

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transaction. The supporting mechanisms for electronic commerce are categorized into three and
described as follows:

a) Shopping Carts: An electronic shopping cart (also known as shopping bag or shopping
basket) is a software that keeps track of items selected by users or customers for purchase from
an online store before proceeding to payment and checkout. An electronic shopping cart is much
like a shopping cart in a supermarket. A shopping cart automatically calculates the total cost of
the selected items, adds tax and shipping charges depending on the type used as applicable. It
enables customers to review and revise their shopping list before the purchase in completed by
clicking on the “submit” button. In addition, shopping cart software is usually provided free or
sold to store builders. Typically, an online shopping cart consists of the following three parts:

b) Catalogs: An electronic catalog (e-catalog) is an essential part of an e-commerce webstore, it

is made up of all the required information needed to present products to customers. E-catalog
consists of product databases, directory, and including presentation functions. It serves as the
back bone of most e- commerce web stores. Generally, some of the information included in the
product database are the price, product identification number, image, video or other multimedia-
based information, product alternative. E-catalog contains a very large information and search
engine (SE) is mostly used to quickly search the database to locate information on products and
services. Most of the early e-catalog were static presentation based on text and messages from
paper catalogs. However, the evolvement of the online catalogs make the recent catalogs to be
dynamic, customizable, and possibly integrated with purchasing and selling procedures,
shopping carts and payment systems.

c) Shopping list: Shopping list provides dynamic behaviour to the shopping carts. It allows users
to track the selected items or products for purchase. A shopping cart image is mostly used to
show the items selected by shopper. However, for shopping carts to function properly the user‟s
computer must be set to allow “cookies”. Cookies are small piece of software installed on user‟s
computer by a website to keep track of visitors and to understand how they use such a website.

d) Checkout: checkout includes series of steps that allows a customer purchase the selected
items on an ecommerce website. It allows shoppers to click on “Add items to cart” button which
makes shopping cart to add the item to the total price of the purchase for onward payment.
e)Secure Server: Generally, servers are dedicated computers set up for the purpose of serving

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users‟ requests on the internet. A secure server ensures that the customer‟s personal information
is protected against lost, modification or malicious use. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is the most
popular technology for securing online transaction. SSL encrypts (or codes) all data between
shopper‟s computer (or browser) and the shop‟s server. The use of a secure server makes it very
difficult for a third party (intruder) to decode any information exchange between shoppers and
the webstore such as credit card number.

f)Payment Processing System: Payment is the most important aspect of e-commerce. It allows
shoppers to pay for the purchased items or products. Payment system consists of several but
technology simplified processes with the help of payment cards including Credit Cards, Charge
Cards, or Debit Cards, and any other emerging payment technology such as crypto-currency like
Bitcoin. A payment card is an electronic card that contains data related to payment. Processing
payment with credit or debit cards involve two phases: Settlement and Authorization. The
authorization determines the validity of a buyer‟s card (that is, not expired) and determine
whether there is sufficient credit or funds in the shopper‟s account. On the other hand,
Settlement involves the process of transferring funds from the shopper‟s account to the
merchants. Online payment processing involves quit a number of concern parties including
customer, merchant, issuing bank, merchant acquiring bank, credit or debit card network, and
payment service provider. To process the payment, there are three payment processing options
for merchants that include: Third party payment processing software, Internet merchant account,
or manual payment processing. a) Third party payment processing: This enables a third-party
financial institution to handle the payment processing services for webstore owner. This is an
alternative method to obtaining internet merchant account for online payment processing. It can
be set up easily and make selling more quickly and easy. Examples of the third-party online
payment service providers are PayPal, CCNow, Psi Gate, Bean stream, and Internet Secure.
Third party payment processing works by depositing the transaction money from customer‟s
account to a special account controlled by the service provider. If there is no dispute over the
deposited money, the funds will be transferred to the merchant‟s account as soon as the transfer
is initiated by the merchant, otherwise, the money is delayed for longer period. b) Internet
Merchant Accounts: This is a payment service issued by a financial institution that enables
customers payment for goods and services online using a payment card. This payment system
enables merchants to obtain a separate Internet Merchant Account (IMA) for each type of
payment cards such as Verve, VISA or Master card. IMA ensures that the transferred money is

Shishi & Polycarb ecommerce 23

deposited directly into the account of the right merchant automatically and quickly. Some of the
companies to authorize bank to issue internet merchant identification (IMI) are Inter Secure, Psi
Gate. c) Manual Credit Card Processing: In this payment processing system, merchant set up
website where customers can order goods and services online but process the payment credit
cards manually. This system does not employ online payment processing option, it allows credit
cards information to be obtained through a secure server while transaction is processed manually.
However, this method is limited to a store with a few numbers of online orders.

Choosing a payment option for online store Payment processing is an important part of an
ecommerce website. Therefore, webstore owners must consider some factors while chosen the
payment option for their shop. Some of these factors include but not limited to:

 Associated Cost: this include the cost for setting up the system and its maintenance e.g
monthly; charge back fees, and the fees associated with the various payment options and
accounts.
 Security and protection: ability to ensure secure transaction, provide data privacy and
detect fraudulent transaction in a real time
 Credibility of the Service provider: such as expert staff, user friendly policies, no
hidden charges.
 Support Services: ability to provide support services at any time. Online Purchasing
Process The main purpose of an EC website is to present products and services from
catalogs to customers and for online purchase. Depending on the method adopted,
product prices may either be fixed or dynamic. Fixed pricing method displays products
and describe them along with fixed prices. Sometimes, prices may also be negotiated or
discounted. In a situation whereby the price is not fixed but rather determined by some
factors is referred to as a dynamic pricing model such as in product auctioning and stock
exchange. Typically, depending on the method adopted, online purchase process begins
with a buyer visiting a seller’s website either as a registered customer or a guest. As a
registered customer, a buyer will enter the store via buyer’s “My Account” and non-
register user will enter through the store catalog. Part of the important tools available for
buyers is the search engine that can help customers search through the large E-catalog
database and present the details of the products related to the used “search terms”.
Nowadays, some merchants provide features where buyers can compare prices with their

Shishi & Polycarb ecommerce 24

 competitors. If customer is not satisfied with the price or any other description, the buyer
may abandon the site. Otherwise, the buyer may select one or more item as he or she
wants and placed it in shopping cart. After the items have been selected for purchase, the
buyer moves to a checkout by clicking on “Proceed to checkout”, add address and select
a shipping (standard, next day etc) and billing option for delivery such as (first class,
express etc). The system calculates the total sum of the selected items including the
shipping fee. A payment method is selected such as payment by credit cards, PayPal,
check after billing, installments and so on. Finally, the buyer clicks on “submit” after
confirming the accuracy of the ordered items. This process can be summarized in the
following shopping process flowchart Shopping Cart > Checkout >> Billing
Information>>> Shipping Information >>>> Shipping Method>>>>> Preview Order
>>>>>> Payment >>>>>> Confirmation.

The unit shows that catalog, shopping list and checkout are within shopping carts, different
payment methods can also be used, however, this could be due to any of the factors such as
associated cost, security and protection, credibility of the service provider and support services.

Conlusion: I believed by now YOU have understood the processes of online purchase, payment
option and the reason for choosing the option, and supporting mechanism for e-commerce.

References and Further Readings:

Bolt (n.d). How Perfecting Ecommerce Checkout Process & Flow Reduces Abandonment.
Retrieved from https://www.bolt.com/resources/ecommerce-checkout-process-flow/

Shishi & Polycarb ecommerce 25

Baker, S. (n.d.). What is Shopping Cart Software: Analysis of Features, Benefits and Pricing.
Retrieved from FinancesOnline : financesonline.com/shopping-cart-software-analysis-
features-benefits-pricing/

Brinck, T., Gergle, D., & Wood, S. D. (2001). Usability for the web: Designing web sites that
work. Elsevier.

Connolly & Hoar (2015). Fundamentals of Web Development. Pearson Education, Inc. U.S.A.
pp (1-51). ISBN: 0-13-340715-2

ch4ntix. (2012, April 21). Shopping cart Disadvantages. Retrieved from ch4ntix:
ch4ntix.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/shopping-cart-4/amp/

Daoud, M., Naqvi, S. K., & Ahmad, A. (2014). Opinion Observer: Recommendation System on
ECommerce Website. International Journal of Computer Applications, 105(14), 37-42

Definition adapted and expanded from Emmanuel Lallana, Rudy Quimbo, Zorayda Ruth Andam,
ePrimer: An Introduction to eCommerce(Philippines: DAI-AGILE, 2000), 2.

Kalia, P., Kaur, N. and Singh, T. (2014), “Importance of Website Quality in Online Shopping”,in
Bansal, M. and Singla, B. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Ist International Conference on
Issues and Perspectives in Brand Management, Baba Farid College of Management and
Technology, Bathinda, India, pp. 107–109.

Lallana, Quimbo, Andam, 4. Cf. Ravi Kalakota and Andrew B. Whinston, Electronic
Commerce:A Manager’s Guide (USA: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1997), 19-20.

Martin, K. (2016). Introduction to E-commerce: Combining Business and Information

Technology. Backboon.com Berners‐Lee, T., Cailliau, R., Groff, J. F., &Pollermann, B.
(2010). World-wide-web: the information universe. Internet Research.

Rockwell, B. (1998). Using The Internet To Compete in a Global Marketplace. Wiley & Sons

Mountain media (N.D). E-Commerce catalog development. Retrieved from

https://www.mountainmedia.com/c1/c102/ecommerce-catalog-development-c103.html

Shaker, H. and Uddin, M (2013). Review on electronic commerce. Middle-East Journal of

Scientific Research 18 (9). DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2013.18.9.12421

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Turban, E., Whiteside, J., King, D., & Outland, J. (2017). Introduction to Electronic Commerce
and Social Commerce (4thed.). Gewerbestrasse, Switzerland: Springer Nature.

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