Feedback on questions about ecommerce
Written by: Jonathan Briggs
December 9, 2005 [4591 views]
My thanks once again to all of you who filled in the survey. I am happy with your level of confidence at this stage – most of you have responded to questions about what you could do in the upper half of the figures.
I could describe what is currently happening in ecommerce AVERAGE SCORE = 3.4/5
I could attempt to build a simple ecommerce solution AVERAGE SCORE = 3.6/5
I could discuss the technical issues involved with building ecommerce AVERAGE SCORE = 3.2/5
I could plan an online marketing campaign AVERAGE SCORE = 3.4/5
I could discuss some of the business issues around ecommerce AVERAGE SCORE = 3.5/5
I could evaluate an existing site and make recommendations AVERAGE SCORE = 4.1/5
I could prepare a business case for an ecommerce project AVERAGE SCORE = 3.3/5
The aim of the module is to help most of you become confident in most of these areas. Some of you will clearly have to revise and read. At Level 3 within a degree course the lectures and activities should be about 65-75% of the material.
Some of your questions answered
I can’t answer all your questions but I will do as many as I can – you should try and find out better answers yourself by searching, reading and talking to other people in the industry (but you have a whole career to complete that!).
Technical
How do you separate design from technical issues in an ecommerce project?
You use templates that contain the design and feed data (from a database) to them either through scripts embedded in the templates or through a specific templating engine. We use one called Velocity.
Where would you start if you wanted to build a site from scratch?
I would start by exploring ASP or PHP scripting. We covered the basics in the lecture on ASP but I would get a good book and work through it, even if I never wanted to code again – just so that I could say that I had done it. It is OK to base your scripts on other people’s work (but if you do that in your project, you must reference it properly).
How is XML used to pass data between organizations?
XML is a structured language with which data can be represented in text rather than in a proprietary database structure. Organisations agree the XML coding they will use to exchange data. We for example agree the format we will pass orders to Abbey Box Office’s ticket booking system. The data (in XML) is transferred over a secure connection.
How do you choose technology for a particular project?
A good but hard question because the answer involves cost, familiarity, reusability, standards and prejudice. There are three basic worlds: Microsoft, Opensource and other. We have chosen OpenSource because the tools are powerful, well supported, cheap or free and very reusable. Many organizations will only work with you if you have adopted their chosen platform.
What is the quickest way to improve PageRank? What is the best search engine optimization technique to get high organic results?
Lots of high quality links pointing at your site! Be remarkable!
Why Apache rather than IIS?
No particular reason but see above. If you choose Apache then lots of other tools become available. The Microsoft route tends to work best with other Microsoft products. If you want to mix and match the Apache route seems to be more flexible.
What are the main hosting platforms?
Microsoft, Linux and other Unix are your options. Lots of choices of supplier but you want something reliable and with hot swappable components. We can recommend Dell (on which we run Gentoo Linux).
When do you really need to use an SSL certificate?
The part of the process that needs to be encrypted is the payment and if this is entirely handled by a third party such as Kagi then they will handle the SSL rather than you.
What makes a site fail? What percentage of sites fail?
The main problem we have faced is when the client fails to understand their part of the deal (merchandising, promoting, editing etc). Even the best technology in the world won’t make an invisible site successful. Most sites can be made to succeed if they are well designed and then looked after with proper thinking about the business processes involved.
Business
I read your article lets talk about money. it seems that you turn away projects where people are willing to spend only £3k, why is not viable to give them something like os commerce which I think would cover the cost.
It’s not the technology that costs the money, it is the time. A client with only £3,000 to spend will still need as many meetings, as many changes, and as much attention as one with £30,000. You could create a standard £3,000 product for smaller businesses and many of them exist. Some of their clients are probably very successful but many are not (we meet them later).
How could I prepare a business case for an ecommerce project?
A business case involves working out the goals, estimating what is possible and looking at the costs involved to achieve that (just like your projects). We study competitors, try to understand what other similar businesses are doing and are realistic about costs. We present these to the client demonstrating that for example an investment of £30K might result (from our experience and evidence) in an improvement in annual turnover online of £500,000.
Does the government tax online businesses at the same rate as traditional business?
Yes, although the ebusiness parts can be run in different countries. The US bans gambling sites for example so we run lots here.
How do large companies such as Amazon manage their stock?
That’s the big challenge of any product-based business. Amazon has to decide what books to stock in its warehouse and what to get from publishers only when ordered. The same is true of all retailers and many companies get it wrong. Sales are about getting some value out of stock that cannot be sold in any other way. Companies learn to predict spikes in demand and set up relationships with suppliers that allow them to restock.
What is the average percentage of a business spent on ecomemrce?
This is a hard question to answer but from our experience many companies are doing 20% or more of their business online and this is growing. That is not necessarily 20% of profit. Profit margins online can be higher but there is an initial investment needed in technology, business processes and marketing. Watch what happens in the financial papers after Christmas – I expect some significant growth in ecommerce sales.
How do you find out information about a private company?
All companies have to submit simple accounts to Companies House and these are available for £1 via the Companies House site.
What are the costs involved with setting up an ecommerce site?
Apart from development time which we covered last week the other costs are licenses, hosting, delivery, security certificates, marketing, stock, warehousing, picking and packing, customer service staff, packaging etc etc
Are there copyright issues when you link from your site to theirs?
The courts have decided that linking is fine as long as you do not pass off their content as your own. Imagine using HTML frames to create a site that “framed” BBC content or made it look as if the link from your site stayed within your site by making a frame or iframe appear with their content – that would be a breach of copyright.
How do I find out what is currently happening in ecommerce?
You start by asking yourself some questions and then you go out and research some answers in newspapers, books and online. Here are some of the trends that you might want to explore: web services, changes in payment and security, supply chain integration, search engine algorithms, usability, accessibility and the DDA, customer service and decision support, mobile, rich media.
We have touched on all of these but every one could be a module in its own right.
What is the minimum spend to become an ecommerce success?
It depends so much on what you mean by success. Selling on eBay can be a success and some people now make their living from it. I think that companies should look at what they would spend to start a new branch of their existing business in another location and all the work involved. It is possible to spend too little and drive customers away. The biggest costs are not technology but changing the way you do business; your business processes.
What do you think?
