Lecture E-commerce (7/e): Chapter 4 - Kenneth C. Laudon, Carol Guercio Traver

Chapter 4 - Building an E-commerce web site. In this chapter, we will address the following questions: What are the factors you should take into account when sizing a Web site’s infrastructure? Why are peak times an important factor to consider? What reasons were behind Hilfiger’s choice of ATG for its Web site solution? How can operators of smaller sites deal with the right-sizing issue?

seventh edition

E­commerce: Business. Technology. 

Society.

Pearson Education, Inc.

Tommy Hilfiger Right­Sizes Its Web Store

Class Discussion

into account when sizing a Web site’s

infrastructure?

to consider?

choice of ATG for its Web site solution?

with the right-sizing issue?

technology to achieve those objectives

Pearson Education, Inc.

The Systems Development Life Cycle

objectives of a system and designing an appropriate solution

Pearson Education, Inc.

Web Site Systems Development Life Cycle

Figure 4.2, Page 209

 List of information system capabilities needed

to achieve business objectives

 Information elements that system must

produce in order to achieve business

objectives

Pearson Education, Inc.

Table 4.1, Page 210

Pearson Education, Inc.

Systems Design: 

Hardware and Software Platforms

 Description of main components of a system and their relationship to one another

Pearson Education, Inc.

Physical Design for a Simple Web Site

Figure 4.3 (b), Page 212

Pearson Education, Inc.

Build/Host Your Own versus Outsourcing

services involved in building site

 Build your own requires team with diverse skill set; choice of

software tools; both risks and possible benefits

 Hosting: Hosting company responsible for ensuring site is

accessible 24/7, for monthly fee

 Co-location: Firm purchases or leases Web server (with control over its operation), but server is located at vendor’s facility

Pearson Education, Inc.

Choices in Building and Hosting

Figure 4.4 Page 213

these kinds of sites?

business in a recession?

Pearson Education, Inc.

Factors in Web Site Optimization

Figure 4.7, Page 220

 Web application servers

 Backend, legacy databases

Pearson Education, Inc.

Multi­tier E­commerce Architecture

Figure 4.9(b), Page 222

Pearson Education, Inc.

Web Server Software

 Leading Web server software (54% of market)

 Works only with UNIX, Linux OSs

(IIS)

 Second major Web server software (25% of market)

 Windows-based

Pearson Education, Inc.

Table 4.3, Page 224

Pearson Education, Inc.

Site Management Tools

 Included in all Web servers

 Verify that links on pages are still valid

 Identify orphan files

advanced site management

 Monitor customer purchases, marketing

campaign effectiveness, etc.

 e.g WebTrends Analytics 9, Google Analytics

Pearson Education, Inc.

Dynamic Page Generation Tools

 Contents of Web page stored as objects in database and fetched when needed

 Lowers menu costs

 Permits easy online market segmentation

 Enables cost-free price discrimination

 Enables Web content management system (WCMS)

Pearson Education, Inc.

Application Servers

 Provide specific business functionality

required for a Web site

Pearson Education, Inc.

Table 4.4, Page 228

 Credit card processing

 Typically works in conjunction with shopping cart

 Verifies card and puts through credit to company’s account at checkout

 Support for different business models

 Business process modeling tools

 Visual site management and reporting

 Performance and scalability

 Connectivity to existing business systems

 Compliance with standards

 Global and multicultural capability

 Local sales tax and shipping rules

Pearson Education, Inc.

Building Your Own E­commerce Site

 Options for small firms

Merchant Solutions

 Site building tools

 E-commerce templates

 Enables you to build truly custom site

 Requires programmer with expertise, time

 Enough platform capacity to meet peak demand

without wasting money

 Important to understand the different factors that affect speed, capacity, and scalability of a site

 Factors in overall demand:

 Number of simultaneous users in peak periods

 Nature of customer requests (user profile)

 Type of content (dynamic versus static Web pages)

 Required security

 Number of items in inventory

 Number of page requests

 Speed of legacy applications

Pearson Education, Inc.

Table 4.7, Page 233

Pearson Education, Inc.

Degradation in Performance as  Number of Users Increases­Resource Utilization

Figure 4.11 (a), Page 235

Pearson Education, Inc.

Figure 4.11 (b), Page 235

Degradation in Performance as  Number of Users Increases­Number of Connections

 Employ multiple computers to share workload

 Improve processing architecture

Pearson Education, Inc.

Table 4.8, Page 237

Pearson Education, Inc.

Vertically Scaling a System

Figure 4.14, Page 238

Pearson Education, Inc.

Horizontally Scaling a System

Figure 4.15, Page 239

Pearson Education, Inc.

Table 4.9, Page 240

 Search engine placement

 Metatags, titles, content

 Identify market niches, localize site

 Expertise

 Links

 Search engine ads

SOURCE: Based on data from

Hostway Corporation’s survey,

Consumers’ Pet Peeves about

Commercial Web Sites, Hostway

Corporation, 2007.

Pearson Education, Inc.

Table 4.10, Page 242

Pearson Education, Inc.

Personalization Tools

 Personalization

 Ability to treat people based on personal

qualities and prior history with site

Pearson Education, Inc.

The Information Policy Set

 Privacy policy

site will treat customers’ personal

information that is gathered by site

 Accessibility rules

disabled users can affectively access

site

to make their Web sites accessible to

disabled Americans?

accessible?

provide “equivalent alternatives” for visual and sound content?

Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.  

Publishing as Prentice Hall