E- COMMERCE MERCHANT SERVER SOFTWARE FUNCTIONALITY

E-commerce merchant server software provides the basic functionality needed for online sales, including an online catalog, order taking via an online shopping cart, and online credit card processing.

Online Catalog

A company that wants to sell products on the Web must have a list, or online catalog, of its products, available on its Web site. Merchant server software typically includes a database capability that will allow for construction of a customized online catalog. The complexity and sophistication of the catalog will vary depending on the size of the company and its product lines. Small companies, or companies with small product lines, may post a simple list with text descriptions and perhaps color photos. A larger site might decide to add sound, animations, or videos ( useful for product demonstrations) to the catalog, or interactivity, such as customer service representa-tives available via instant messaging to answer questions. Today, larger firms make extensive use of streaming video.

Shopping Cart

Online shopping carts are much like their real- world equivalent; both allow shoppers to set aside desired purchases in preparation for checkout. The difference is that the online variety is part of a merchant server software program residing on the Web server, and allows consumers to select merchandise, review what they have selected, edit their selections as necessary, and then actually make the purchase by clicking a button. The merchant server software automatically stores shopping cart data.

Credit Card Processing

A site’s shopping cart typically works in conjunction with credit card processing software, which verifies the shopper’s credit card and then puts through the debit to the card and the credit to the company’s account at checkout. Integrated e- commerce software suites typically supply the software for this function. Otherwise, you will have to make arrangements with a variety of credit card processing banks and intermediaries.

Reference: E-commerce: Business. Technology. Society., Fifth Edition
by Kenneth C. Laudon; Carol Guercio Traver

A firm’s competitive advantage can be detected by answering  the following question, What special advantage a company brings to the  marketspace?

Students can participate by reading the contents from 1 or more of  the links listed below and answering “What competitive advantage Time Warner Cable has over Verizon Fios, or vice versa?”.  You can share any thoughts from the reading as well.

• WikiInvest
• Seeking Alpha
• Gerson Lehrman Group

(Participation includes posting meaningful, insightful comments. See guideline)

Additional reading content

• Statistics on Internet and E-commerce growth
• E-Commerce trend, the future of E-Commerce
• Definition of E-Commerce and E-Business
• 7 unique features of E-Commerce Technology

click here

Web Presence means few things,

• the existence of business  on the Internet in the form of website
• the image a e-business projects to its customers, suppliers, employees, and stockholders.
• Attraction and traffic driven of the website

Check out the following sites regarding Web presence and Usability

• 3 Keys to a Successful Web Presence
• Establish a Web Presence
• Why an Organizations needs an effective Web Presence?
• Ten ways to improve the usability of your ecommerce site

Electronic wallets (aka Digital Wallet) is  a storage medium to securely store customer’s private information like name, address, phone number, credit card number, etc and display it on a merchants’ form without manually typing on the form.

Here are some links to read about it

• Digital wallet
• E-commerce – Overview – Digital Wallet
• How to use Yahoo Wallet

Electronic Cash is fairly new payment method  for e-commerce.  Read on wikipedia about Electronic money, which is also known as electronic cash

Early form of e-cash is introduced by David Chaum. David Chaum invented Digital cash. Read about it here.  (For additional reading, click on Electronic Cash)

PayPal is an example of Electronic cash System. Read about PayPal and  visit How Does it Work?

Merchants and developer should first test their PayPal transaction in  PayPal sandbox environment.   (Sandbox User guide)

Additional documentation from PayPal are available here