ECommerce 1 Lecture 4

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E-Commerce 1Lecture 4

• Angele Giuliano
• angele_at_acrosslimits.com

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Website design

• On-line branding
• Website functionality and features
• Content management Systems
• M-commerce and other technologies
• Usability
• Integrating on-line and off-line marketing
  activity

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What sells online?

• Most popular items
• Computer Products (25)
• Travel (20)
• Entertainment (20)
• Apparel (8)
• Gifts/Flowers (8)
• Food/Drink (8)
• Other (11)

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What sells online?

• Easy to package items unbreakable, light, can
  be folded
• Brand names that no one needs to look at known
  perfumes, foodstuffs, hygienic products, CDs,
  books
• Small in size but large in value items
  jewellery, collectibles
• Local gifts/crafts/goods that one cannot get
  anywhere else in the world
• Services that are intangible and can be provided
  anywhere in the world remote maintenance,
  accounting, marketing campaign, programming

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What creates a great e-commerce site? (1)

• Easy navigation
• Simple shopping cart system
• Logical and secure checkout process
• Fun element in site
• Fast track for people that just want to buy
  something
• Changing content and changing prices
• Simple help and good return policy
• Multi-currecy converter
• Reviews from other people / suppliers /
  customers

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What creates a great e-commerce site? (2)

• Community feeling (chat rooms, guest book,
  message board)
• Large pictures of items on sale
• Fast loading times
• Good use of multimedia not too much!
• Multi-lingual capabilities
• Special Offers / bargains
• Can be viewed on most computers
• Cheap Shipping rates
• Immediate follow-up upon ordering
• Tracking possibilities of particular orders

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Selling Securely Online (1)

• Almost 50 of disputed e-commerce transactions
  are due to poor practice on web sites. Many
  disputes arising from Internet transactions are
  not the result of deliberate fraud but take place
  due to a lack of experience of this new medium,
  poor web site design or low-quality of service.
• The poor practice on web sites
• A few examples
• the cardholder may not recognise the merchant
  name on the billing statement because of a
  difference between the web site name and the
  company name as reported on card processing
  records
• cardholders may have inadvertently signed up for
  a subscription or recurring transaction
• occasionally, goods are not received or are not
  what was expected

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Selling Securely Online (2)

• Country of merchant domicile.
• Complete description of the goods or services
  offered. For example, if selling electrical
  goods, the merchant must state voltage
  requirements, which vary around the world
• Customer service contact details. Since
  communication with a merchant is not always
  possible, using the merchant website, merchants
  must display a customer service contact telephone
  number or e-mail address, enabling cardholders to
  contact the merchant to ask questions about their
  transaction.

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Selling Securely Online (3)

• Return, refund and cancellation policy. Inform
  your customers of their rights and
  responsibilities. Tell them what they need to do
  should they wish to return their goods. If you
  have a limited or no refund policy, this should
  be clearly communicated to cardholders before the
  purchase decision is made to prevent
  misunderstandings and disputes.
• Delivery policy. Information about any delivery
  restrictions or special conditions should be
  clearly stated.
• Transaction currency. As an online merchant,
  your customer base is worldwide and it is
  important that a customer is made aware of the
  transaction currency before they proceed with an
  online purchase. The currency should be clearly
  stated, including the country name where the unit
  of currency is not unique. For example, a dollar
  can be the name of an Australian dollar, a
  Canadian dollar, a U.S. dollar, or one of many
  more

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Selling Securely Online (4)

• Export restrictions (if known).
• Identifiers that easily match the website to the
  doing-business-as name.
• When payment cards are charged. Wait until the
  goods have been shipped or service completed
  before billing the customer.
• Commitment to respond to all customer service
  e-mails and phone calls within two business days.

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Selling Securely Online (5)

• Commitments to process orders promptly. Ideally,
  you should send an e-mail confirmation and order
  summary within one business day of the initial
  order. In addition, provide up-to-date stock
  information if a particular item is back-ordered.
  
• A statement of what type of online payment
  transaction security is supported.
• A statement encouraging your customers to keep a
  copy of the online payment transaction record.
• Privacy statements.