Submitted by
DIVYA RAJGURU BCA Third Year
Bachelor of Computer Applications
Dezyne Ersquocole College Ajmer
wwwdezyneecolecom
Electronic Commerce
Information Technology
Acknowledgment
I am thankful to Dezyne Ersquocole College to help in making this project on E-commerce
A special thanks to Ms Jyoti Phulwani to guide us step by step in the making of this
project report
Thanking You
Divya Rajguru
Bachelor of Computer Application
Third Year
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Introduction Chapter 2
Electronic Commerce and the World Wide Web Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce Chapter 4
Technology Behind the Web Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology Chapter 8
Conclusion
Chapter 1
Introduction
Every individual or company that wants to make money and become the next Microsoft needs
to understand the market potential business implication and technical foundation of
electronic commerce But what is electronic commerce everybody is talking about How does
it affect the organization way of doing business What sort of technical and business are
needed to successful
Companies and customer are discussing that global networking and other technological
innovation are powerful assets if we used as competitive weapons in their day to day activity
E-commerce is associated with buying and selling of informationrsquos product and service via a
computer network today
Consumer desires are very hard to predict pin point or decipher of electronic markets whose
shapes structure and population are still in early stages Needs envisioned included
entertainment on demand including five hundred channel TV video on demand games no
demand electronic retailing via a catalogs and kiosk and shopping network
In future viewer will decide what they want to see and they want to participated a successful
market place are expected to those that cater to consumerrsquos loneliness boredom education
and career IN a highly competitive society where neighbors seldom talk to one another these
outlets give consumer someone to through after going home
Let take a look at the changing condition in the ldquonew economyrdquo with respect to the retail
industry Consumers are passing retailers to the wall demanding lower price better quality
and a large section of in season goods retailer are scrambling to fill the order They are
slashing back Office costs reducing profit-margins reduce cycle times buying more wisely
and marking huge investment in technology
They are revamping distributions channels to make sure that the warehouses cost are down
by reducing their average inventory levels and coronations the consumer demand and supply
pattern IN the push to reduce prices more and more retailers are Turing to overseas
suppliers in part because of cheaper labor costs
Retail are the immediate line of fire and had to do the cost cutting They put the pressure on
the manufacturer and then to the suppliers end of pipeline
E-commerce is forcing companies to rethink the existing ways of doing target marketing
relationship marketing and even event marketing Adaption would include moving towards
computerized ldquopaperlessrdquo operation to reduce trading cost and facilitate the adaption of new
business process Japanese approach JIT (Just in time) system total quality control and
quality circles are focused now for delivery of goods through electronic commerce
Chapter 2
Electronic Commerce and the World-Wide-Web
We have broadly define electronic commerce as a modem business methodology that
address the desire of firms consumers and management to cut costs while improving the
quality of goods and increasing the speed of services The need for electronic commerce
stems from the demand within business and government to make better use of computing
that is better apply computer technology to improve business process and information
exchange both within an enterprise and across organization
In sort electronic commerce appears to be integrates force that representation the digital
convergence of twenty-first century business application and computing technology
Electronic commerce applications emphasis the generations and exploitation of new
business opportunity and use to the popular buzzword ldquoGenerate business valuerdquo For
instance when buyer-seller transactions occur in the electronic market place information is
accesses observed arrange and sold in different in fact the information about a product of
service is separated from the physical product or services and has become important on its
own In some cases the information can become as crucial as his actual product or service
in term if its effect on a companyrsquos in short information ways business truncation are creating
new ways of doing business and even new type of business
Electronic commerce application are quite varied In its most common from e-commerce is
also used to donate the paperless exchange of business information using EDI electronic
mail (E-mail) electronic bulletin board electronic funds transfer (EFT) and other similar
technologies These technologies are normally applied in high-pay of areas recognizing that
paper-handling activity usually increase expense without adding value On the other hand the
term electronic commerce is used to describe a new online approach to perform traditional
function such as payment and funds transfer order entry and point-of-sale Data gathering
More recently company have resized that the advertising marketing can customer support
functions are also part of electronic commerce application domain These functions act as
initiator order management cycle that incorporates the more established motions of electronic
commerce
In sort what we are witnessing is the use of term electronic commerce as an umbrella
concept to integrate a wide range of new and old application
Despite the change taking place business have three goals stay compitative improve
productivety and deliver quality serviec These goals are the giving buoys for firms plotting
their course in the turbulent waters of electronic commerce There are other factors that
companies need to keep in mind first most company have alrady made enormous
information technology investment to automate their kry internal process such as pruchasing
invocing and other similar function So some aspect of technology infrastructure for electrinc
commerce are alrady place The challenge now becomes how to effiectivly leverge this
investment second prices for computer hardware and equipment continue to fall marking
information technology an appealing investment for many business electrically when itrsquos used
for high impact application such as linking there distributed operations however investment
without a clear idea of the electronic commerce architecture being whoul be akin to driving
with blinders on as a result companies that decide thet electronic commerce application
represent one of the best strategic investment they can make must first exert some efforts
to understand the technology underlying electronic commerce applications
At first glance it appears that messaging-based and information management services from the technical foundation for effective electronic commerce solutions No single one of these technologies can deliver the full potential of electronic commerce however What we require is an integrated architecture the likes of which has naver been seen before This integrated architecture is emerging in the form the World Wide Web(www) As electronic commerce becomes more mature we are beginning to see sophisticated application being developed on WWW Technically and commercially the WWW client-server model seems poised to become a dominant technology
Electronic
Commerce
Electronic document interchange
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Marketing advertising
Electronic
Publishing Sales customer support
Fax E-mail
Corporate Digital
Library
Information Sharing
Collaborative
Work
Electronic Messaging
Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce
The software framework necessary for building Electronic Commerce applications is little understood in existing literature In general a framework is intended to define and create tools that integrate the information found in todayrsquos closed systems and allow the development of E-commerce applications It is important to understand that the aim of the architectural framework itself is not to build new database management system data repository computer languages software agent-based transaction monitors or communication protocols Rather the architecture should focus on synthesizing the diverse resources already in place in corporations to facilitate the integration of data and software for better application We propound that the electronic commerce application architecture consist of six layers of functionality or services (1) Application
(2) Brokerage services data or transaction management
(3) Interface and support layers
(4) Secure messaging and electronic document interchange
(5) Middleware and structured document interchange and
(6) Network infrastructure and basic communication services
Application Services
Customer-to-business business-to-business Intra- organizational
Brokerage and data management
Order Processing-mail-order houses Payment schemes-electronic cash clearinghouse or virtual mall
Interface layer
Interactive catalogue directory support function Software agents
Secure messaging
Secure hypertext transfer protocol Encrypted E-mail EDI Remote Programming (RPC)
Middle layer services
Structure documents (SGMLHTML) Compound documents (OLEOpenDoc)
Network Infrastructure
Wireless-Cellular Radio PCS Wireline-POTS Coaxile Fibre optics
These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between todayrsquos computing
resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and
exchange within the context of the chosen application As seen in above fig electronic
commerce applications are based on several elegant technologies But only when they are
integrated do they provide uniquely powerful solutions
In the ensuing discussion of each of these layers we will not elaborate on the various aspect
of the network infrastructure that transports information
Electronic Commerce Application Services -
The application service layer of e-commerce will be comprised of existing and future
applications built on innate architecture Three distinct classes of electronic commerce
application can be distinguished customer- to -business business ndashto-business and intra
organization
Procurement distribution and logistics
Manufacturing
And production
Accounting finance
And management
Engineering
and research
Advertising Sales Customer service
Customer ndashoriented electronic
commerce
Customer
Global Suppliers
Classic EDI
Internal Publishing Private Commerce
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Acknowledgment
I am thankful to Dezyne Ersquocole College to help in making this project on E-commerce
A special thanks to Ms Jyoti Phulwani to guide us step by step in the making of this
project report
Thanking You
Divya Rajguru
Bachelor of Computer Application
Third Year
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Introduction Chapter 2
Electronic Commerce and the World Wide Web Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce Chapter 4
Technology Behind the Web Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology Chapter 8
Conclusion
Chapter 1
Introduction
Every individual or company that wants to make money and become the next Microsoft needs
to understand the market potential business implication and technical foundation of
electronic commerce But what is electronic commerce everybody is talking about How does
it affect the organization way of doing business What sort of technical and business are
needed to successful
Companies and customer are discussing that global networking and other technological
innovation are powerful assets if we used as competitive weapons in their day to day activity
E-commerce is associated with buying and selling of informationrsquos product and service via a
computer network today
Consumer desires are very hard to predict pin point or decipher of electronic markets whose
shapes structure and population are still in early stages Needs envisioned included
entertainment on demand including five hundred channel TV video on demand games no
demand electronic retailing via a catalogs and kiosk and shopping network
In future viewer will decide what they want to see and they want to participated a successful
market place are expected to those that cater to consumerrsquos loneliness boredom education
and career IN a highly competitive society where neighbors seldom talk to one another these
outlets give consumer someone to through after going home
Let take a look at the changing condition in the ldquonew economyrdquo with respect to the retail
industry Consumers are passing retailers to the wall demanding lower price better quality
and a large section of in season goods retailer are scrambling to fill the order They are
slashing back Office costs reducing profit-margins reduce cycle times buying more wisely
and marking huge investment in technology
They are revamping distributions channels to make sure that the warehouses cost are down
by reducing their average inventory levels and coronations the consumer demand and supply
pattern IN the push to reduce prices more and more retailers are Turing to overseas
suppliers in part because of cheaper labor costs
Retail are the immediate line of fire and had to do the cost cutting They put the pressure on
the manufacturer and then to the suppliers end of pipeline
E-commerce is forcing companies to rethink the existing ways of doing target marketing
relationship marketing and even event marketing Adaption would include moving towards
computerized ldquopaperlessrdquo operation to reduce trading cost and facilitate the adaption of new
business process Japanese approach JIT (Just in time) system total quality control and
quality circles are focused now for delivery of goods through electronic commerce
Chapter 2
Electronic Commerce and the World-Wide-Web
We have broadly define electronic commerce as a modem business methodology that
address the desire of firms consumers and management to cut costs while improving the
quality of goods and increasing the speed of services The need for electronic commerce
stems from the demand within business and government to make better use of computing
that is better apply computer technology to improve business process and information
exchange both within an enterprise and across organization
In sort electronic commerce appears to be integrates force that representation the digital
convergence of twenty-first century business application and computing technology
Electronic commerce applications emphasis the generations and exploitation of new
business opportunity and use to the popular buzzword ldquoGenerate business valuerdquo For
instance when buyer-seller transactions occur in the electronic market place information is
accesses observed arrange and sold in different in fact the information about a product of
service is separated from the physical product or services and has become important on its
own In some cases the information can become as crucial as his actual product or service
in term if its effect on a companyrsquos in short information ways business truncation are creating
new ways of doing business and even new type of business
Electronic commerce application are quite varied In its most common from e-commerce is
also used to donate the paperless exchange of business information using EDI electronic
mail (E-mail) electronic bulletin board electronic funds transfer (EFT) and other similar
technologies These technologies are normally applied in high-pay of areas recognizing that
paper-handling activity usually increase expense without adding value On the other hand the
term electronic commerce is used to describe a new online approach to perform traditional
function such as payment and funds transfer order entry and point-of-sale Data gathering
More recently company have resized that the advertising marketing can customer support
functions are also part of electronic commerce application domain These functions act as
initiator order management cycle that incorporates the more established motions of electronic
commerce
In sort what we are witnessing is the use of term electronic commerce as an umbrella
concept to integrate a wide range of new and old application
Despite the change taking place business have three goals stay compitative improve
productivety and deliver quality serviec These goals are the giving buoys for firms plotting
their course in the turbulent waters of electronic commerce There are other factors that
companies need to keep in mind first most company have alrady made enormous
information technology investment to automate their kry internal process such as pruchasing
invocing and other similar function So some aspect of technology infrastructure for electrinc
commerce are alrady place The challenge now becomes how to effiectivly leverge this
investment second prices for computer hardware and equipment continue to fall marking
information technology an appealing investment for many business electrically when itrsquos used
for high impact application such as linking there distributed operations however investment
without a clear idea of the electronic commerce architecture being whoul be akin to driving
with blinders on as a result companies that decide thet electronic commerce application
represent one of the best strategic investment they can make must first exert some efforts
to understand the technology underlying electronic commerce applications
At first glance it appears that messaging-based and information management services from the technical foundation for effective electronic commerce solutions No single one of these technologies can deliver the full potential of electronic commerce however What we require is an integrated architecture the likes of which has naver been seen before This integrated architecture is emerging in the form the World Wide Web(www) As electronic commerce becomes more mature we are beginning to see sophisticated application being developed on WWW Technically and commercially the WWW client-server model seems poised to become a dominant technology
Electronic
Commerce
Electronic document interchange
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Marketing advertising
Electronic
Publishing Sales customer support
Fax E-mail
Corporate Digital
Library
Information Sharing
Collaborative
Work
Electronic Messaging
Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce
The software framework necessary for building Electronic Commerce applications is little understood in existing literature In general a framework is intended to define and create tools that integrate the information found in todayrsquos closed systems and allow the development of E-commerce applications It is important to understand that the aim of the architectural framework itself is not to build new database management system data repository computer languages software agent-based transaction monitors or communication protocols Rather the architecture should focus on synthesizing the diverse resources already in place in corporations to facilitate the integration of data and software for better application We propound that the electronic commerce application architecture consist of six layers of functionality or services (1) Application
(2) Brokerage services data or transaction management
(3) Interface and support layers
(4) Secure messaging and electronic document interchange
(5) Middleware and structured document interchange and
(6) Network infrastructure and basic communication services
Application Services
Customer-to-business business-to-business Intra- organizational
Brokerage and data management
Order Processing-mail-order houses Payment schemes-electronic cash clearinghouse or virtual mall
Interface layer
Interactive catalogue directory support function Software agents
Secure messaging
Secure hypertext transfer protocol Encrypted E-mail EDI Remote Programming (RPC)
Middle layer services
Structure documents (SGMLHTML) Compound documents (OLEOpenDoc)
Network Infrastructure
Wireless-Cellular Radio PCS Wireline-POTS Coaxile Fibre optics
These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between todayrsquos computing
resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and
exchange within the context of the chosen application As seen in above fig electronic
commerce applications are based on several elegant technologies But only when they are
integrated do they provide uniquely powerful solutions
In the ensuing discussion of each of these layers we will not elaborate on the various aspect
of the network infrastructure that transports information
Electronic Commerce Application Services -
The application service layer of e-commerce will be comprised of existing and future
applications built on innate architecture Three distinct classes of electronic commerce
application can be distinguished customer- to -business business ndashto-business and intra
organization
Procurement distribution and logistics
Manufacturing
And production
Accounting finance
And management
Engineering
and research
Advertising Sales Customer service
Customer ndashoriented electronic
commerce
Customer
Global Suppliers
Classic EDI
Internal Publishing Private Commerce
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Introduction Chapter 2
Electronic Commerce and the World Wide Web Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce Chapter 4
Technology Behind the Web Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology Chapter 8
Conclusion
Chapter 1
Introduction
Every individual or company that wants to make money and become the next Microsoft needs
to understand the market potential business implication and technical foundation of
electronic commerce But what is electronic commerce everybody is talking about How does
it affect the organization way of doing business What sort of technical and business are
needed to successful
Companies and customer are discussing that global networking and other technological
innovation are powerful assets if we used as competitive weapons in their day to day activity
E-commerce is associated with buying and selling of informationrsquos product and service via a
computer network today
Consumer desires are very hard to predict pin point or decipher of electronic markets whose
shapes structure and population are still in early stages Needs envisioned included
entertainment on demand including five hundred channel TV video on demand games no
demand electronic retailing via a catalogs and kiosk and shopping network
In future viewer will decide what they want to see and they want to participated a successful
market place are expected to those that cater to consumerrsquos loneliness boredom education
and career IN a highly competitive society where neighbors seldom talk to one another these
outlets give consumer someone to through after going home
Let take a look at the changing condition in the ldquonew economyrdquo with respect to the retail
industry Consumers are passing retailers to the wall demanding lower price better quality
and a large section of in season goods retailer are scrambling to fill the order They are
slashing back Office costs reducing profit-margins reduce cycle times buying more wisely
and marking huge investment in technology
They are revamping distributions channels to make sure that the warehouses cost are down
by reducing their average inventory levels and coronations the consumer demand and supply
pattern IN the push to reduce prices more and more retailers are Turing to overseas
suppliers in part because of cheaper labor costs
Retail are the immediate line of fire and had to do the cost cutting They put the pressure on
the manufacturer and then to the suppliers end of pipeline
E-commerce is forcing companies to rethink the existing ways of doing target marketing
relationship marketing and even event marketing Adaption would include moving towards
computerized ldquopaperlessrdquo operation to reduce trading cost and facilitate the adaption of new
business process Japanese approach JIT (Just in time) system total quality control and
quality circles are focused now for delivery of goods through electronic commerce
Chapter 2
Electronic Commerce and the World-Wide-Web
We have broadly define electronic commerce as a modem business methodology that
address the desire of firms consumers and management to cut costs while improving the
quality of goods and increasing the speed of services The need for electronic commerce
stems from the demand within business and government to make better use of computing
that is better apply computer technology to improve business process and information
exchange both within an enterprise and across organization
In sort electronic commerce appears to be integrates force that representation the digital
convergence of twenty-first century business application and computing technology
Electronic commerce applications emphasis the generations and exploitation of new
business opportunity and use to the popular buzzword ldquoGenerate business valuerdquo For
instance when buyer-seller transactions occur in the electronic market place information is
accesses observed arrange and sold in different in fact the information about a product of
service is separated from the physical product or services and has become important on its
own In some cases the information can become as crucial as his actual product or service
in term if its effect on a companyrsquos in short information ways business truncation are creating
new ways of doing business and even new type of business
Electronic commerce application are quite varied In its most common from e-commerce is
also used to donate the paperless exchange of business information using EDI electronic
mail (E-mail) electronic bulletin board electronic funds transfer (EFT) and other similar
technologies These technologies are normally applied in high-pay of areas recognizing that
paper-handling activity usually increase expense without adding value On the other hand the
term electronic commerce is used to describe a new online approach to perform traditional
function such as payment and funds transfer order entry and point-of-sale Data gathering
More recently company have resized that the advertising marketing can customer support
functions are also part of electronic commerce application domain These functions act as
initiator order management cycle that incorporates the more established motions of electronic
commerce
In sort what we are witnessing is the use of term electronic commerce as an umbrella
concept to integrate a wide range of new and old application
Despite the change taking place business have three goals stay compitative improve
productivety and deliver quality serviec These goals are the giving buoys for firms plotting
their course in the turbulent waters of electronic commerce There are other factors that
companies need to keep in mind first most company have alrady made enormous
information technology investment to automate their kry internal process such as pruchasing
invocing and other similar function So some aspect of technology infrastructure for electrinc
commerce are alrady place The challenge now becomes how to effiectivly leverge this
investment second prices for computer hardware and equipment continue to fall marking
information technology an appealing investment for many business electrically when itrsquos used
for high impact application such as linking there distributed operations however investment
without a clear idea of the electronic commerce architecture being whoul be akin to driving
with blinders on as a result companies that decide thet electronic commerce application
represent one of the best strategic investment they can make must first exert some efforts
to understand the technology underlying electronic commerce applications
At first glance it appears that messaging-based and information management services from the technical foundation for effective electronic commerce solutions No single one of these technologies can deliver the full potential of electronic commerce however What we require is an integrated architecture the likes of which has naver been seen before This integrated architecture is emerging in the form the World Wide Web(www) As electronic commerce becomes more mature we are beginning to see sophisticated application being developed on WWW Technically and commercially the WWW client-server model seems poised to become a dominant technology
Electronic
Commerce
Electronic document interchange
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Marketing advertising
Electronic
Publishing Sales customer support
Fax E-mail
Corporate Digital
Library
Information Sharing
Collaborative
Work
Electronic Messaging
Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce
The software framework necessary for building Electronic Commerce applications is little understood in existing literature In general a framework is intended to define and create tools that integrate the information found in todayrsquos closed systems and allow the development of E-commerce applications It is important to understand that the aim of the architectural framework itself is not to build new database management system data repository computer languages software agent-based transaction monitors or communication protocols Rather the architecture should focus on synthesizing the diverse resources already in place in corporations to facilitate the integration of data and software for better application We propound that the electronic commerce application architecture consist of six layers of functionality or services (1) Application
(2) Brokerage services data or transaction management
(3) Interface and support layers
(4) Secure messaging and electronic document interchange
(5) Middleware and structured document interchange and
(6) Network infrastructure and basic communication services
Application Services
Customer-to-business business-to-business Intra- organizational
Brokerage and data management
Order Processing-mail-order houses Payment schemes-electronic cash clearinghouse or virtual mall
Interface layer
Interactive catalogue directory support function Software agents
Secure messaging
Secure hypertext transfer protocol Encrypted E-mail EDI Remote Programming (RPC)
Middle layer services
Structure documents (SGMLHTML) Compound documents (OLEOpenDoc)
Network Infrastructure
Wireless-Cellular Radio PCS Wireline-POTS Coaxile Fibre optics
These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between todayrsquos computing
resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and
exchange within the context of the chosen application As seen in above fig electronic
commerce applications are based on several elegant technologies But only when they are
integrated do they provide uniquely powerful solutions
In the ensuing discussion of each of these layers we will not elaborate on the various aspect
of the network infrastructure that transports information
Electronic Commerce Application Services -
The application service layer of e-commerce will be comprised of existing and future
applications built on innate architecture Three distinct classes of electronic commerce
application can be distinguished customer- to -business business ndashto-business and intra
organization
Procurement distribution and logistics
Manufacturing
And production
Accounting finance
And management
Engineering
and research
Advertising Sales Customer service
Customer ndashoriented electronic
commerce
Customer
Global Suppliers
Classic EDI
Internal Publishing Private Commerce
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Chapter 1
Introduction
Every individual or company that wants to make money and become the next Microsoft needs
to understand the market potential business implication and technical foundation of
electronic commerce But what is electronic commerce everybody is talking about How does
it affect the organization way of doing business What sort of technical and business are
needed to successful
Companies and customer are discussing that global networking and other technological
innovation are powerful assets if we used as competitive weapons in their day to day activity
E-commerce is associated with buying and selling of informationrsquos product and service via a
computer network today
Consumer desires are very hard to predict pin point or decipher of electronic markets whose
shapes structure and population are still in early stages Needs envisioned included
entertainment on demand including five hundred channel TV video on demand games no
demand electronic retailing via a catalogs and kiosk and shopping network
In future viewer will decide what they want to see and they want to participated a successful
market place are expected to those that cater to consumerrsquos loneliness boredom education
and career IN a highly competitive society where neighbors seldom talk to one another these
outlets give consumer someone to through after going home
Let take a look at the changing condition in the ldquonew economyrdquo with respect to the retail
industry Consumers are passing retailers to the wall demanding lower price better quality
and a large section of in season goods retailer are scrambling to fill the order They are
slashing back Office costs reducing profit-margins reduce cycle times buying more wisely
and marking huge investment in technology
They are revamping distributions channels to make sure that the warehouses cost are down
by reducing their average inventory levels and coronations the consumer demand and supply
pattern IN the push to reduce prices more and more retailers are Turing to overseas
suppliers in part because of cheaper labor costs
Retail are the immediate line of fire and had to do the cost cutting They put the pressure on
the manufacturer and then to the suppliers end of pipeline
E-commerce is forcing companies to rethink the existing ways of doing target marketing
relationship marketing and even event marketing Adaption would include moving towards
computerized ldquopaperlessrdquo operation to reduce trading cost and facilitate the adaption of new
business process Japanese approach JIT (Just in time) system total quality control and
quality circles are focused now for delivery of goods through electronic commerce
Chapter 2
Electronic Commerce and the World-Wide-Web
We have broadly define electronic commerce as a modem business methodology that
address the desire of firms consumers and management to cut costs while improving the
quality of goods and increasing the speed of services The need for electronic commerce
stems from the demand within business and government to make better use of computing
that is better apply computer technology to improve business process and information
exchange both within an enterprise and across organization
In sort electronic commerce appears to be integrates force that representation the digital
convergence of twenty-first century business application and computing technology
Electronic commerce applications emphasis the generations and exploitation of new
business opportunity and use to the popular buzzword ldquoGenerate business valuerdquo For
instance when buyer-seller transactions occur in the electronic market place information is
accesses observed arrange and sold in different in fact the information about a product of
service is separated from the physical product or services and has become important on its
own In some cases the information can become as crucial as his actual product or service
in term if its effect on a companyrsquos in short information ways business truncation are creating
new ways of doing business and even new type of business
Electronic commerce application are quite varied In its most common from e-commerce is
also used to donate the paperless exchange of business information using EDI electronic
mail (E-mail) electronic bulletin board electronic funds transfer (EFT) and other similar
technologies These technologies are normally applied in high-pay of areas recognizing that
paper-handling activity usually increase expense without adding value On the other hand the
term electronic commerce is used to describe a new online approach to perform traditional
function such as payment and funds transfer order entry and point-of-sale Data gathering
More recently company have resized that the advertising marketing can customer support
functions are also part of electronic commerce application domain These functions act as
initiator order management cycle that incorporates the more established motions of electronic
commerce
In sort what we are witnessing is the use of term electronic commerce as an umbrella
concept to integrate a wide range of new and old application
Despite the change taking place business have three goals stay compitative improve
productivety and deliver quality serviec These goals are the giving buoys for firms plotting
their course in the turbulent waters of electronic commerce There are other factors that
companies need to keep in mind first most company have alrady made enormous
information technology investment to automate their kry internal process such as pruchasing
invocing and other similar function So some aspect of technology infrastructure for electrinc
commerce are alrady place The challenge now becomes how to effiectivly leverge this
investment second prices for computer hardware and equipment continue to fall marking
information technology an appealing investment for many business electrically when itrsquos used
for high impact application such as linking there distributed operations however investment
without a clear idea of the electronic commerce architecture being whoul be akin to driving
with blinders on as a result companies that decide thet electronic commerce application
represent one of the best strategic investment they can make must first exert some efforts
to understand the technology underlying electronic commerce applications
At first glance it appears that messaging-based and information management services from the technical foundation for effective electronic commerce solutions No single one of these technologies can deliver the full potential of electronic commerce however What we require is an integrated architecture the likes of which has naver been seen before This integrated architecture is emerging in the form the World Wide Web(www) As electronic commerce becomes more mature we are beginning to see sophisticated application being developed on WWW Technically and commercially the WWW client-server model seems poised to become a dominant technology
Electronic
Commerce
Electronic document interchange
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Marketing advertising
Electronic
Publishing Sales customer support
Fax E-mail
Corporate Digital
Library
Information Sharing
Collaborative
Work
Electronic Messaging
Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce
The software framework necessary for building Electronic Commerce applications is little understood in existing literature In general a framework is intended to define and create tools that integrate the information found in todayrsquos closed systems and allow the development of E-commerce applications It is important to understand that the aim of the architectural framework itself is not to build new database management system data repository computer languages software agent-based transaction monitors or communication protocols Rather the architecture should focus on synthesizing the diverse resources already in place in corporations to facilitate the integration of data and software for better application We propound that the electronic commerce application architecture consist of six layers of functionality or services (1) Application
(2) Brokerage services data or transaction management
(3) Interface and support layers
(4) Secure messaging and electronic document interchange
(5) Middleware and structured document interchange and
(6) Network infrastructure and basic communication services
Application Services
Customer-to-business business-to-business Intra- organizational
Brokerage and data management
Order Processing-mail-order houses Payment schemes-electronic cash clearinghouse or virtual mall
Interface layer
Interactive catalogue directory support function Software agents
Secure messaging
Secure hypertext transfer protocol Encrypted E-mail EDI Remote Programming (RPC)
Middle layer services
Structure documents (SGMLHTML) Compound documents (OLEOpenDoc)
Network Infrastructure
Wireless-Cellular Radio PCS Wireline-POTS Coaxile Fibre optics
These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between todayrsquos computing
resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and
exchange within the context of the chosen application As seen in above fig electronic
commerce applications are based on several elegant technologies But only when they are
integrated do they provide uniquely powerful solutions
In the ensuing discussion of each of these layers we will not elaborate on the various aspect
of the network infrastructure that transports information
Electronic Commerce Application Services -
The application service layer of e-commerce will be comprised of existing and future
applications built on innate architecture Three distinct classes of electronic commerce
application can be distinguished customer- to -business business ndashto-business and intra
organization
Procurement distribution and logistics
Manufacturing
And production
Accounting finance
And management
Engineering
and research
Advertising Sales Customer service
Customer ndashoriented electronic
commerce
Customer
Global Suppliers
Classic EDI
Internal Publishing Private Commerce
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Chapter 2
Electronic Commerce and the World-Wide-Web
We have broadly define electronic commerce as a modem business methodology that
address the desire of firms consumers and management to cut costs while improving the
quality of goods and increasing the speed of services The need for electronic commerce
stems from the demand within business and government to make better use of computing
that is better apply computer technology to improve business process and information
exchange both within an enterprise and across organization
In sort electronic commerce appears to be integrates force that representation the digital
convergence of twenty-first century business application and computing technology
Electronic commerce applications emphasis the generations and exploitation of new
business opportunity and use to the popular buzzword ldquoGenerate business valuerdquo For
instance when buyer-seller transactions occur in the electronic market place information is
accesses observed arrange and sold in different in fact the information about a product of
service is separated from the physical product or services and has become important on its
own In some cases the information can become as crucial as his actual product or service
in term if its effect on a companyrsquos in short information ways business truncation are creating
new ways of doing business and even new type of business
Electronic commerce application are quite varied In its most common from e-commerce is
also used to donate the paperless exchange of business information using EDI electronic
mail (E-mail) electronic bulletin board electronic funds transfer (EFT) and other similar
technologies These technologies are normally applied in high-pay of areas recognizing that
paper-handling activity usually increase expense without adding value On the other hand the
term electronic commerce is used to describe a new online approach to perform traditional
function such as payment and funds transfer order entry and point-of-sale Data gathering
More recently company have resized that the advertising marketing can customer support
functions are also part of electronic commerce application domain These functions act as
initiator order management cycle that incorporates the more established motions of electronic
commerce
In sort what we are witnessing is the use of term electronic commerce as an umbrella
concept to integrate a wide range of new and old application
Despite the change taking place business have three goals stay compitative improve
productivety and deliver quality serviec These goals are the giving buoys for firms plotting
their course in the turbulent waters of electronic commerce There are other factors that
companies need to keep in mind first most company have alrady made enormous
information technology investment to automate their kry internal process such as pruchasing
invocing and other similar function So some aspect of technology infrastructure for electrinc
commerce are alrady place The challenge now becomes how to effiectivly leverge this
investment second prices for computer hardware and equipment continue to fall marking
information technology an appealing investment for many business electrically when itrsquos used
for high impact application such as linking there distributed operations however investment
without a clear idea of the electronic commerce architecture being whoul be akin to driving
with blinders on as a result companies that decide thet electronic commerce application
represent one of the best strategic investment they can make must first exert some efforts
to understand the technology underlying electronic commerce applications
At first glance it appears that messaging-based and information management services from the technical foundation for effective electronic commerce solutions No single one of these technologies can deliver the full potential of electronic commerce however What we require is an integrated architecture the likes of which has naver been seen before This integrated architecture is emerging in the form the World Wide Web(www) As electronic commerce becomes more mature we are beginning to see sophisticated application being developed on WWW Technically and commercially the WWW client-server model seems poised to become a dominant technology
Electronic
Commerce
Electronic document interchange
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Marketing advertising
Electronic
Publishing Sales customer support
Fax E-mail
Corporate Digital
Library
Information Sharing
Collaborative
Work
Electronic Messaging
Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce
The software framework necessary for building Electronic Commerce applications is little understood in existing literature In general a framework is intended to define and create tools that integrate the information found in todayrsquos closed systems and allow the development of E-commerce applications It is important to understand that the aim of the architectural framework itself is not to build new database management system data repository computer languages software agent-based transaction monitors or communication protocols Rather the architecture should focus on synthesizing the diverse resources already in place in corporations to facilitate the integration of data and software for better application We propound that the electronic commerce application architecture consist of six layers of functionality or services (1) Application
(2) Brokerage services data or transaction management
(3) Interface and support layers
(4) Secure messaging and electronic document interchange
(5) Middleware and structured document interchange and
(6) Network infrastructure and basic communication services
Application Services
Customer-to-business business-to-business Intra- organizational
Brokerage and data management
Order Processing-mail-order houses Payment schemes-electronic cash clearinghouse or virtual mall
Interface layer
Interactive catalogue directory support function Software agents
Secure messaging
Secure hypertext transfer protocol Encrypted E-mail EDI Remote Programming (RPC)
Middle layer services
Structure documents (SGMLHTML) Compound documents (OLEOpenDoc)
Network Infrastructure
Wireless-Cellular Radio PCS Wireline-POTS Coaxile Fibre optics
These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between todayrsquos computing
resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and
exchange within the context of the chosen application As seen in above fig electronic
commerce applications are based on several elegant technologies But only when they are
integrated do they provide uniquely powerful solutions
In the ensuing discussion of each of these layers we will not elaborate on the various aspect
of the network infrastructure that transports information
Electronic Commerce Application Services -
The application service layer of e-commerce will be comprised of existing and future
applications built on innate architecture Three distinct classes of electronic commerce
application can be distinguished customer- to -business business ndashto-business and intra
organization
Procurement distribution and logistics
Manufacturing
And production
Accounting finance
And management
Engineering
and research
Advertising Sales Customer service
Customer ndashoriented electronic
commerce
Customer
Global Suppliers
Classic EDI
Internal Publishing Private Commerce
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Despite the change taking place business have three goals stay compitative improve
productivety and deliver quality serviec These goals are the giving buoys for firms plotting
their course in the turbulent waters of electronic commerce There are other factors that
companies need to keep in mind first most company have alrady made enormous
information technology investment to automate their kry internal process such as pruchasing
invocing and other similar function So some aspect of technology infrastructure for electrinc
commerce are alrady place The challenge now becomes how to effiectivly leverge this
investment second prices for computer hardware and equipment continue to fall marking
information technology an appealing investment for many business electrically when itrsquos used
for high impact application such as linking there distributed operations however investment
without a clear idea of the electronic commerce architecture being whoul be akin to driving
with blinders on as a result companies that decide thet electronic commerce application
represent one of the best strategic investment they can make must first exert some efforts
to understand the technology underlying electronic commerce applications
At first glance it appears that messaging-based and information management services from the technical foundation for effective electronic commerce solutions No single one of these technologies can deliver the full potential of electronic commerce however What we require is an integrated architecture the likes of which has naver been seen before This integrated architecture is emerging in the form the World Wide Web(www) As electronic commerce becomes more mature we are beginning to see sophisticated application being developed on WWW Technically and commercially the WWW client-server model seems poised to become a dominant technology
Electronic
Commerce
Electronic document interchange
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Marketing advertising
Electronic
Publishing Sales customer support
Fax E-mail
Corporate Digital
Library
Information Sharing
Collaborative
Work
Electronic Messaging
Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce
The software framework necessary for building Electronic Commerce applications is little understood in existing literature In general a framework is intended to define and create tools that integrate the information found in todayrsquos closed systems and allow the development of E-commerce applications It is important to understand that the aim of the architectural framework itself is not to build new database management system data repository computer languages software agent-based transaction monitors or communication protocols Rather the architecture should focus on synthesizing the diverse resources already in place in corporations to facilitate the integration of data and software for better application We propound that the electronic commerce application architecture consist of six layers of functionality or services (1) Application
(2) Brokerage services data or transaction management
(3) Interface and support layers
(4) Secure messaging and electronic document interchange
(5) Middleware and structured document interchange and
(6) Network infrastructure and basic communication services
Application Services
Customer-to-business business-to-business Intra- organizational
Brokerage and data management
Order Processing-mail-order houses Payment schemes-electronic cash clearinghouse or virtual mall
Interface layer
Interactive catalogue directory support function Software agents
Secure messaging
Secure hypertext transfer protocol Encrypted E-mail EDI Remote Programming (RPC)
Middle layer services
Structure documents (SGMLHTML) Compound documents (OLEOpenDoc)
Network Infrastructure
Wireless-Cellular Radio PCS Wireline-POTS Coaxile Fibre optics
These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between todayrsquos computing
resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and
exchange within the context of the chosen application As seen in above fig electronic
commerce applications are based on several elegant technologies But only when they are
integrated do they provide uniquely powerful solutions
In the ensuing discussion of each of these layers we will not elaborate on the various aspect
of the network infrastructure that transports information
Electronic Commerce Application Services -
The application service layer of e-commerce will be comprised of existing and future
applications built on innate architecture Three distinct classes of electronic commerce
application can be distinguished customer- to -business business ndashto-business and intra
organization
Procurement distribution and logistics
Manufacturing
And production
Accounting finance
And management
Engineering
and research
Advertising Sales Customer service
Customer ndashoriented electronic
commerce
Customer
Global Suppliers
Classic EDI
Internal Publishing Private Commerce
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Chapter 3
Architectural Framework for Electronic Commerce
The software framework necessary for building Electronic Commerce applications is little understood in existing literature In general a framework is intended to define and create tools that integrate the information found in todayrsquos closed systems and allow the development of E-commerce applications It is important to understand that the aim of the architectural framework itself is not to build new database management system data repository computer languages software agent-based transaction monitors or communication protocols Rather the architecture should focus on synthesizing the diverse resources already in place in corporations to facilitate the integration of data and software for better application We propound that the electronic commerce application architecture consist of six layers of functionality or services (1) Application
(2) Brokerage services data or transaction management
(3) Interface and support layers
(4) Secure messaging and electronic document interchange
(5) Middleware and structured document interchange and
(6) Network infrastructure and basic communication services
Application Services
Customer-to-business business-to-business Intra- organizational
Brokerage and data management
Order Processing-mail-order houses Payment schemes-electronic cash clearinghouse or virtual mall
Interface layer
Interactive catalogue directory support function Software agents
Secure messaging
Secure hypertext transfer protocol Encrypted E-mail EDI Remote Programming (RPC)
Middle layer services
Structure documents (SGMLHTML) Compound documents (OLEOpenDoc)
Network Infrastructure
Wireless-Cellular Radio PCS Wireline-POTS Coaxile Fibre optics
These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between todayrsquos computing
resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and
exchange within the context of the chosen application As seen in above fig electronic
commerce applications are based on several elegant technologies But only when they are
integrated do they provide uniquely powerful solutions
In the ensuing discussion of each of these layers we will not elaborate on the various aspect
of the network infrastructure that transports information
Electronic Commerce Application Services -
The application service layer of e-commerce will be comprised of existing and future
applications built on innate architecture Three distinct classes of electronic commerce
application can be distinguished customer- to -business business ndashto-business and intra
organization
Procurement distribution and logistics
Manufacturing
And production
Accounting finance
And management
Engineering
and research
Advertising Sales Customer service
Customer ndashoriented electronic
commerce
Customer
Global Suppliers
Classic EDI
Internal Publishing Private Commerce
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between todayrsquos computing
resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and
exchange within the context of the chosen application As seen in above fig electronic
commerce applications are based on several elegant technologies But only when they are
integrated do they provide uniquely powerful solutions
In the ensuing discussion of each of these layers we will not elaborate on the various aspect
of the network infrastructure that transports information
Electronic Commerce Application Services -
The application service layer of e-commerce will be comprised of existing and future
applications built on innate architecture Three distinct classes of electronic commerce
application can be distinguished customer- to -business business ndashto-business and intra
organization
Procurement distribution and logistics
Manufacturing
And production
Accounting finance
And management
Engineering
and research
Advertising Sales Customer service
Customer ndashoriented electronic
commerce
Customer
Global Suppliers
Classic EDI
Internal Publishing Private Commerce
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Customer-to-business transactions
We call this category marketplace transaction In a market place transaction customers
learn about products differently through electronic publishing buy them differently using
electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them delivered differently Also how
customers allocate their loyalty may also be differently
In light of this organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of
brand differently no longer hold- where ldquoqualityrdquo has a new meaning where ldquocontentrdquo may
not be equated to ldquoproductrdquo where ldquodistribution ldquo may not automatically mean ldquo physical
transportrdquo
In this new environment brand equity can rapidly evaporate forcing firms to develop new
way of doing business
Business-to-Business Transactions
We call this category market ndashlink transactions Here business government and other
organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast an economical and
a dependable way to conduct business transactions Small companies are also beginning to
see the benefits of adopting the same methods Business-to-Business transactions include
the use of EDI and Electronic mail for purchasing goods and services buying information and
consulting services submitting requests for proposals and receive proposals
For example the current account payable occurs through the exchange of paper documents
Each year the trading partners exchanges millions of invoices checks purchase orders
financial reports and other transactions
Most of the documents are in electronic from at their point of origin but are printed and key
entered at point of receipt The current manual process of printing mailing rekeying is costly
time consuming and error-prone Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs
small business are looking towards electronic commerce as a possible savior
Intra-organizational Transactions
We call this category market-driven transaction A company becomes market driven by
dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors by spreading
strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate and by continuously
monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfactory an ongoing
objective To maintain the relations that are critical to delivering superior customer value
management must pay close attention to service both before and after sales
Information Brokerage and Management
The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration trough the
notion of information brokerages the development of which is necessitated by the increasing
information resource fragmentation We use the notion of information brokerage to represent
an intermediary who provides series integration between customer and information provides
given some constraint such as a low price fast service or profit maximization for a client
Information brokers For example are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the
voluminous amounts of information on the networks As on-line database migrate to
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
consumer information utilities consumers and information professionals will have to keep up
to the knowledge and ownership
Whorsquos got what How do you use it What do they charge Most professional have enough
trouble keeping trap of files or interest on one or two database services Will all have
complexity associated with large number of on-line bureaus itrsquos impossible to expect
humans to do the searching It will have to be software programs-information brokers
software agents to use the most popular term-act on searcherrsquos behalf Information
brokerage does more than searching
Interface and Support Service
The third layer interface and support services will provide interface for electronic commerce
application such as interactive catalogues and will support directory services-functions
necessary for information search and access These two concepts are very different
Interactive catalogs are the customize interface to consumer application such as home
shopping An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates
additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more
attractive
Directories on the other hand operate behind the seen and attempt to organize the
enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitated electronic
commerce Directory services database make data from any server appear as a local file
A classic example of a directory is the telephone White Pages which allows us to locate
people and telephone numbers In the case of electronic commerce directory would play an
important role in information management functions
For instance take the case of buying an airline ticket with several stopovers with a caveat
that the time between layovers be minimized This search would require several quires to
various on-line directory to find empty seats on various airline and then the availability of
seats would be coordinated with the amount of time spent in the airport terminal
Secure Messaging and Structure Document Interchange Service
The importance of the fourth layer secure messaging is clear Everyone in business knows
that electronic messaging is a critical business issue Consider a familiar business scenario
You hand over an urgent fax on Monday and find out on Tuesday that it still sitting on your
fax operatorrsquos disk What happened The line was busy and he thought he would try again
later Or the number was wrong but he forgot to let you know Or you are in London and you
need to send a spreadsheet that details a marketing plan for a product introduction strategy
to co-worker in New York This must be done today not tomorrow when the courier service
would deliver There is a solution to these common and frustrating problems Itrsquos called
integrated messaging a group of computer service that through the use of a network send
receive and combine messages faxes and large data files Some better known examples are
electronic mail enhanced facts and electronic data interchange
Broadly define messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the
clients or electronic commerce application masking the peculiarities of the environment
Others defines messaging as a framework for the total implementation of portable
applications divorcing you from the architecture primitives of your system In general
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
messaging product are not applications that solve problems they are more enablers of the
application that solve problems
Messaging services offers solution for communicating non-formatted (unstructured) data
such as purchase order shipping notices and invoices Unstructured messaging consist of
facts e-mail and form based system like Lotus Notes Structure documents messaging
consists of the automated interchange of standardized and approved messages via a
telecommunication lines Example of structure document messaging include EDI Messaging
is gaining momentum in electronic commerce and seems to have many advantages It
supports both synchronous (immediate) and asynchronous (delayed) message delivery and
processing With asynchronous when a message is sent work continues (software does not
wait for a response) This allows the transfer of message through store-and-forward methods
The main disadvantages of messaging are the new types of applications it enables-which
appear to be more complex especially to traditional programmers and jungle of standards it
involves Because of the lack of standards there is often no interoperability between different
messaging vendors lading to islands of messaging Also security privacy and confidentiality
to move encryption and authentication techniques are important issues that need to be
resolved for ensuring the legality of the message-based transactions themselves
Middleware Services
Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently Like so many other
invitations it came into being out of necessity Users in 1970s when vendors delivered
homogeneous systems that worked did not have a need for middleware When conditions
changed-along with the hardware and the software the organizations could not cope The
tools were inadequate the backlog goes enormous and the pressure was overwhelming
And the users were dissatisfied Something was needed to solve all the interface translation
transformation interpretation problems that were driving applications developers crazy
With the growth of networks client-server technology and all other forms of communicating
between among unlike platforms the problems of gettingrsquos all the pieces to work to together
grew form formidable to horrendous As the cry for distributed computing spared user
demanded interactions between dissimilar systems networks that permitted shared
resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs In simple
terms middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables
then talk to one another
Transparency
Transparency implies that users should be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems
Transparency is essential for dealing with higher-level issues than physical media and
interconnection that underlying network infrastructure is in charge of The ideal picture is one
of a ldquovirtualrdquo network A collection of work-group departmental enterprise and inter-
enterprise LANs that appears to the end user or client application to be a seamless and easy
accessed whole
Transparency is accomplished using middleware that facilitates a distributed computing
environment This gives users and applications transparent accessed to data computation
and other resources across collections of multivendor heterogonous systems The strategic
architectures of every major system vendor are now based on some form of middleware The
key to relaxing the theoretical benefits of such an architecture is transparency Users need
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
not spend their time to understand were something is Nor should application developers
have to code into their applications the exact locations of resources over the network The
goal is for the applications to send a request to the middleware layer which than satisfy the
request any way it can using remote information
Transition Security and Management
Support for transaction processing (TP) is fundamental to success in electronic commerce
market Security and management are essential to all layers in the electronic commerce
model Transaction integrity must be given for business that cannot afford any loss or
inconsistency in data For electronic commerce middleware provide the qualities expected
in the standard TP system the so-called ACID properties (atomicity consistency isolation
and durability)
World Wide Web (www) As the Architecture
Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate
efficiently for seamless information sharing Unfortunately this assumption of interoperability
has been supported by the realities of practical computing Computing is still a world made
up of many technical directions product implementation and competing vendors This
diversity while good for innovation causes problem as the e-commerce application try to
impose a certain discipline on the proliferating computers and networks It is ironic that the
real effect of computing is all too often the prevention of data sharing due to incompatibilities-
architectures data formats and communication protocols
What does the Web Encompass
The Web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope These include the global hypertext publishing concept the
universal reader concept and the client-server concept
The global hypertext publishing concept promotes the idea of seamless information world in
which all on-line information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent and simple way
To access information in the this seamless world we will need the ability to address may
types of data - text files images sound files animation sequence
The universal readership concept promotes the idea that unlike the segmented applications
of the past we can use one application ndash a universal (or common) user interface - to read a
variety of documents This concept implies that once information is published it is accessible
from any type of computer in any country and that any (authorized) person nearly needs to
use one simple program to access it This is accomplished in the web by using a core browser
or application that is augmented by supporting application The core browser implements only
minimal functionality and attempts to offload more spectated work onto the supporting
applications
The client-server concept allows the web to grow easily without any centralized control
Anyone can publish information and anyone (as long as he or she is authorized) can read
and download it Publishing information requires a server program and reading data requires
a client browser All the client and all the servers are connected to one another by the Internet
The various standard protocols allows all clients to communicate with all servers
In practice the web hands on a number of essential concepts including the following
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
1 The addressing schemas known as uniform resource locator (URL) makes the
hypermedia world possible despite many different protocols
2 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by client
browser and server offers performance and features not otherwise available
3 A mark-up language(HTML )which every web client is requires to understand is used
for the representation of hypertext documents containing text list boxes and graphics
information across the net
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Chapter 4
Technology behind the Web
Information providers (or publishers) run programs (called server) from which the browser
(client) can obtain information The programs can either be Web servers that understand the
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) ldquogatewayrdquo programs that convert an existing information
format to hypertext or a non-HTTP server that Web browser can access-anonymous FTP or
Gopher servers
Web servers are composed of two major parts the hypertext transfer protocol for transmitting
documents between servers and clients and the hypertext markup language (HTML) format
for documents The link between HTML files and HTTP servers is provided by the uniform
resource locators (URLs)
Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
The documents that the browsers display are hypertext that contain pointers to other
documents The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way-select the
pointer and you are presented with the text to which it points This pointer is implemented
using a concept that is central to Web browsers Uniform resource locators (URLs) One way
to think about URLs is to use the libraries and location on a shelf as a metaphor A URL for
a digital library would be a unique call number that provides the exact location of every book
in the world including the country city street and library shelf location
In practice URLs are the strings used as addresses of objects (documents images) on the
Web Think of them as analogous to your e-mail address Just as your address is unique and
may be used by any other Internet user to send you mail without knowing exactly where you
are a URL marks the unique location on the Internet where a file or service can be found
URLs follow a fairly consistent pattern The first part describes the type of resource the
second part gives the name of the server housing the resource and the third part gives full
file name of the resource URLs are universal in that they provide access to a white range of
network services which required a separate applications in the past For a new network
protocol one can easily form and address as the set of parameters necessary to retrieve the
object If these parameters are encoded into a concise string with a prefix to identify the
protocols and encoding one has a new URL scheme Take a look at the URL formats below
FTP ftpserveraddresscompletefilename
Gopher gopherserveraddressportdirectoryfilename
TELNET telnetserveraddressport
HTTP httpserveraddressporthomepagehtml
News newsmiscstocksinvest
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
These are URLs for Internet news articles and news groups (the NNTP protocol) and for
HTTP archives for TELNET destinations e-mail address and so on The same can be done
for names of objects in a given name space For example the URL of the main page for the
Web project happens to be HTTPwebw3orghypertextwebtheTheProjecthtml The
prefix ldquoHTTPrdquo in the preceding example indicates the address space and defines the
interpretation of the rest of the string The HTTP protocol is to be used so the string contains
the address of the server to be contacted and a substring to be passed to the server
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Chapter 5
Network Security and Firewalls
The ability to conduct business on a public network has strong attraction-and the potential for
big savings Security and confidentiality are essential however before businesses can
conduct financial transactions over the Internet and a lack of widespread security majors
remains at this time At present credit card numbers financial records and other important
information are not encrypted and can be intercepted by any savvy Internet hacker
The discussion of security concern in electronic commerce can be divided into two broad types 1 Client-Server Security uses various authorization methods to make sure that only valid users and programs have access to information resources such as databases Access control mechanisms must be set up to ensure that properly authenticated users are allowed access only to those resources that they are entitled to use Such mechanisms include password protection encrypted smart cards biometrics and firewalls 2 Data and transaction security ensures the privacy and confidentiality in electronic messages and data packets including the authentication of remote users in network transactions for activities such as on-line payment The goal is to defeat any attempt to assume another identity while involved with electronic mail or other forms of data communication Preventive measures include data encryption using various cryptographic methods
Data and Message Security
The lack of data and message security on the Internet has become a profile problem due to increasing number of merchants trying to spur commerce on the global network For instance credit card numbers in their plain text form create a risk when transmitted across the Internet where the possibility of the number falling into the wrong hands is relatively high Would you be willing to type in your credit card number knowing the risk Even worse would you expose your customers to that risk Just the thought of ldquosnifferrdquo programs that collect credit card numbers en masse is enough to keep merchants away from on-line shopping given the possible lawsuits and other liability issues In short the lack of business transaction security is widely acknowledged as a major impediment to widespread e-commerce
Encrypted Documents and Electronic Mail
E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption Encryption is simply intended to keep personal thoughts personal Some users are already using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) others are starting to use Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for
eavesdropping Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure then the postal system where
envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping A glance at the header area of any
e-mail message by contrast will show that it has passed through a number of nodes on its
way to you Every one of these nodes present the opportunity for snooping
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Chapter 6
Electronic Commerce Companies
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Chapter 7
Pictorial Representation E-Buying Methodology
Buying Procedure on on-line shopping website Flip kart Step 1 -
Step 2 -
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Step 3 -
Step 4-
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Step 5-
Step 6-
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Step 7-
Step 8-
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Step 9-
Step 10-
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Step 11-
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward
Chapter 8
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing tremendously A lot of companies have joined between the period
July and August Online retail is still a tiny spot in Indiarsquos retail market of about $500 billion a
year but it is growing at a quick pace A study by retail consultancy Technopark predicts
Indiarsquos e-tailing market will reach $32 billion by 2020 from $23 billion in 2014
Ethnic Indian clothes and casual wear are favorite products but unusual products like pets-
too are being offered on-line With the huge growth that e-commerce has witnessed in recent
times analysts like Devangshu Dutta says there is scope for more players to come in But
some also worn about the risks the space is fraught with as only a few way have chances of
making it big They also see consolidation in the sector going forward