Introduction to E-Commerce

1. Introduction to E-Commerce Electronic Business

2. What is E-Commerce? • EC describes the buying and selling of products, services, and information that use Internet and Web technology

3. Classification of the EC • Business-to-Business (B2B)(suppliers, resellers, distributors) • Business-to-consumer (B2C) (end user, one to one, retail)

4. The Future of E-Commerce • E-commerce is forecast to continue to grow- Consumers have found power on the Internet -- convenience, greater choice, vast amount of information, and time savings -- aren't going to let a challenging economy stop them from taking advantage of it.- The number of Internet users worldwide is still rising. Over 1.56 billion people were using the Internet as of January 11, 2009 (internetworldstats.com).

5. Customers Business-to-business Structure of E-Commerce Retailers Business-to-consumer Wholesaler E-Commerce includes purchases, customer services, billing, promotions, inventory management, EDI, etc. Manufacturers Suppliers (raw material)

6. An E-Commerce Road Map • dot.coms will survive. • Much of the work now will be aimed at helping existing companies use the Internet and the Web to cut costs, keep inventories lean, serve customers better, and open new markets.

7. Hot Topics E-Commerce • After booms and bust, the emphasis now is on • back-office integration • usability (such as advanced search, 3-D images, real time inventory, personalization, etc.) • ROI • building trust • Security

8. E-Commerce Web Site: Tip of the Iceberg The Commerce Site Database System B2B Advertising, Marketing, etc. Orders Products Customers Manufacturing and Shipping Finance and Administration

9. 5 Common Revenue Models for EC

10. Rules for EC Success Rule 1: The Web site Should Offer Something Unique Providing visitors with something they can find nowhere else leads to success. Hard to find goods are popular on the Web Rule 2: The Web site Must Be Aesthetically Pleasing Successful firms have Web sites that are nice to look at. People are more likely to visit, stay at, and return to a site that looks good Rule 3: The Web site Must Be Easy to Use and Fast! Users are less likely to stay at, or return to a site, if they have trouble finding things, navigating the links, or have to wait for screens

11. Rules for EC Success (cont.) Rule 4: The Web site Must Motivate People to Visit/Return People use web sites that provide useful information and links or free goods and services Rule 5: You Must Advertise Your Presence on the Web Companies must draw, or pull visitors to their website by: 1) publish address on company materials; 2) register with a search engine; advertise on other commerce sites e.g. Yahoo (very expensive) Rule 6: You Should Learn from your Web site A firm can track the path that user take though the site and information about date, time, etc. and use this information to improve the site

12. Commerce Site Design (Development Tools) • ASP.Net 3.5 • ADO.Net 3.5 • Visual Basic 2008 • SQL Server 2005 • Microsoft Expression Web • XML

13. E-Commerce Server • Applications will be developed through • Terminal Service at: vs.niu.edu • See Login Instruction handout • Required Textbook: Beginning ASP.Net 3.5 • (Optional) Beginning Expression Web, by Zak Ruvalcaba, Wrox Publisher, 2008.

14. Visual Studio 2008 VS 2008

15. What VS 2008 Is • .Net development environment for distributed and dynamic Web applications. • Distributed applications are composed of disparate resources in multiple locations – the database might be in New York, the inventory control software in Los Angeles, and the data entry software in Miami. • Dynamic applications enable the user interact with the Web. • Supports any .Net-compliant language • Does not require IIS for debugging • File System • HTTP • FTP

16. Creating a Web Site in VS2008

17. ASP.Net in a Multi-tier Environment

18. ASP.Net in a Multi-tier Environment(cont.) The work done by any application program can be divided into three general functions: • data storage & data access logic (DATA SERVICEs) • application logic (BUSINESS SERVICEs) • presentation logic (USER SERVICEs)

19. The .Net Class Library • The .Net class library contains classes for building ASP.Net applications (pages).

20. ASP.Net Pages and Web Forms • An ASP.Net Web page includes HTML and program code. • ASP.Net Web Forms can be arranged in two files by VS2008- default.aspx contains the actual HTML and layout- default.aspx.vb contains the majority of the page’s code

21. Namespaces • A namespace is a hierarchical way to identify resources in .Net. It is a system to describe where objects are stored.House.FirstFloor.DiningRoom.ChinaCabinet • The example • Imports System.Net.Mail

22. Sending Email via ASP.Net 3.5 • First provide a namespace to the classes in the top of your class module as follows:Imports System.Net.Mail • Then Create the message bodyDim Mail as New MailMessage(From, To, Subject, Body) • Specify the mail serverdim ms as new SmtpClient(“smtp.students.niu.edu”) • Send the Mailms.Send(Mail)

23. Object Class • Object class is a conceptual representation of the properties and methods of an object. • Object.Property • Object.Method • WebForm controls appear as objects to your code (have properties and methods) • Standard Controls • Navigation Controls • Data Controls • Validation Controls • Login Controls

24. The ASP.Net Advantages • ASP.Net is compiled, not interpreted. • Real programming languages • Event-based programming model • Separate Code from Content • Real Debugging • Server Controls/User controls • Support Web services

25. Creating Web Applications with Visual Studio 2008 Lab1