Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
Contents
Overview..........................................................................................................................................................ii
Objectives.........................................................................................................................................................ii
What is E-Commerce software?......................................................................................................................1
Types of Ecommerce Software?......................................................................................................................1
Electronic commerce software for small, midsize, and large businesses.......................................................2
What Does Ecommerce Software Do?............................................................................................................3
How Does Ecommerce Software Work?.........................................................................................................3
What are the Advantages of Ecommerce Software?.......................................................................................5
Why use ecommerce software?...................................................................................................................5
What are the Key Features of Ecommerce Software?....................................................................................6
What is the Cost of Ecommerce Software?.....................................................................................................7
What are Examples of Ecommerce Software?................................................................................................7
Is Ecommerce Software for You?.................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................................11
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
Overview
In this course you will learn about electronic commerce software for small, midsize, and large businesses
and the functions provided by each software type. The electronic commerce software a company chooses
depends on its size, objectives, and budget and requires making major decisions. A company must first
choose between paying a service provider to host the site and self-hosting. External hosting options include
shared hosting, dedicated hosting, and co-location. Many hosting companies offer comprehensive services to
merchants, such as databases, shopping carts, and content management, in addition to basic Web-hosting
services.
Objectives
In this course, you will learn about:
Definition to Electronic commerce software
Types of Electronic commerce software
Electronic commerce software for small, midsize, and large businesses
What Does Ecommerce Software Do?
How Does Ecommerce Software Work?
What are the Advantages of Ecommerce Software?
What are the Key Features of Ecommerce Software?
What is the Cost of Ecommerce Software?
What are Examples of Ecommerce Software
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
What is E-Commerce software?
Ecommerce software is a tool that drives all online store processes, helping owners manage inventory, add or
remove products, process payments, compute taxes, and fulfill orders, among many others. It offers all the
things needed to run a retail site, effectively simplifying online store management.
Ecommerce software is the engine behind the scenes of an online store, making it possible to easily manage
inventory, add or remove products, calculate taxes, and everything else required to manage a website and
fulfill orders.
An online store consists of many intricate components and processes, which eCommerce software
streamlines through an easy-to-use interface that even non-tech persons can operate. Further facilitating
things is the ability of the system to integrate with other platforms and services such as CRM, CMS, ERP,
payment gateways, email marketing tools, accounting software, fulfillment services, and social media
networks, to name some.
The ecommerce industry is big business. According to recent reports, eCommerce sales are predicted to
reach $6.7 trillion by 2020. More than ever, people are opting to buy online. In fact, for the first time in the
US, 51% or more than half of shoppers prefer to buy online than from brick-and-mortar stores. The growth
in the ecommerce industry has fueled the growth of the eCommerce software industry as more businesses set
up online stores and retail websites to take advantage of the online consumer trend.
Types of Ecommerce Software
There are two general classifications of eCommerce software and they pertain to the type of deployment:
1. On-Premise. Installed on a local server or computer and managed on-site by a team that handles
manual updates, fix problems, and do general troubleshooting. Online sellers early on initially went
with on-premise solutions because they allowed greater hands-on management compared to hosted
solutions.
2. Software as a Service. SaaS or hosted solutions are technically the hands-off option since all
updates, patches, and newly-released features are done automatically or with one-click integrations.
Hosted e Commerce software has evolved dramatically to allow wide customization and flexibility,
previously exclusive to on-premise, making it now a sufficient solution for most online retailers.
Further more, SaaS software can be launched quickly and comes in affordable packages.
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
Electronic commerce software for small, midsize, and large
businesses
1. Electronic commerce software for small businesses
Cost to become operational between $400 and $8200
– Assumes less than 100 items for sale and business already has computer and Internet
access
Self-hosting include one time basic server and router costs of $2000 to $10,000 plus annual
costs
Basic Internet connection: $480 to $1,800
Secure server room: $5000
Required technicians: $50,000 to $100,000
Annual total costs: $60,000 to $100,000
2. Electronic commerce software for Midsize businesses
Costs $5000 to $200,000
Operating costs range $1000 to $30,000 annually
Offers connectivity to database or ERP systems that store inventory information
Intershop offers midrange packages
Include search and catalog capabilities, electronicshopping carts, credit card
processing and connectionto back-end businesses and databases
Setup wizards, catalog tools, data managementfunctions and built-in templates are
included
Manage storefronts with Web browser interface
3. Electronic commerce software for Large businesses
Larger business requirement many of the same advanced capabilities as midsize firms
Need ability to handle higher transaction loads and dedicated software applications
to handle specific online business elements
Enterprise-class commerce software is used in large online business operations
Encompasses all areas of the business or enterprise
Provides tools for B2B and B2C commerce
Interacts with wide variety of existing systems
Costs: $200,000 to $10 million
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
What Does Ecommerce Software Do?
What does eCommerce software do? While eCommerce software in itself can handle most of the
important tasks relevant to running your store, it oftentimes integrates with other apps and services
to help you do some other things right from within the system. The purpose of ecommerce software
solutions is to put everything you need to run your store in one place With robust features and
functionalities, coupled with powerful integration capabilities, eCommerce software becomes your
all-in-one integrated platform that can do the following.
1. Manage customers and orders. Managing a customer’s order from product selection to
payment, to checkout and delivery is vital. Every order is a sales transaction that will impact
your bottom line Hence, it must be done efficiently and conveniently for the customer.
Ecommerce software takes care of managing orders, check order status, and making quick
changes if needed. On its own or with some other third-party app or service, it can handle
payment processing, keep transaction records, manage customer information, create billing and
invoicing, undertake accurate accounting, provide analytics and reporting, among others.
2. Manage products and inventory. You get product specifics from SKUs and variations (size,
color, quantity) to names and images, allowing you to organize and catalog items. You’re also
notified and made aware if stocks are low and what particular items are fast-moving and need
replenishing.
3. Simplify marketing. Built-in SEO allows online stores to rank higher in organic search engines
for increased online discovery and presence as well as lower customer acquisition costs.
4. Automates shipping and taxation. Printing shipping labels, calculating sales taxes based on
customer location, and sending notification emails to customers can be done automatically and
more accurately.
5. Enhance customer experience. Ecommerce software is meant to enable customers quickly and
efficiently find what they need in your store. Hosted solutions offer service-level agreements to
guarantee 100% uptime and simple but robust website management, allowing you to provide
your customers with the best online shopping experience.
How Does Ecommerce Software Work?
Selling on the internet via your website entails a series of steps and processes that eCommerce software takes
care of. What is eCommerce but a system to streamline those steps. How does eCommerce software work? It
usually goes like this:
1. A shopper visits your website which displays products and categories that are loaded/stored in the
website database.
2. The customer uses a shopping cart to add items and creates an account with all information saved in
the database.
3. Once the customer is in the checkout stage, the website normally goes into secure mode displaying a
lock symbol and using an SSL certificate.
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
4. While in checkout the website may utilize third-party software or services to provide the customer
with delivery options, shipping rates, and expected delivery date.
5. When the customer enters the credit card number, the information is sent to a payment processor or
payment gateway such as PayPal.
6. The customer order is now completed and all sensitive information is stored with the payment
processor (not with the ecommerce website).
7. You can have the payment deposited in your merchant account (a service usually provided by a
payment gateway) or transferred to your bank account.
The steps above, from order to payment processing, can take just minutes to complete giving you and your
customer/shopper utmost efficiency and convenience. Ecommerce software makes all of the above happen
worry-free and hassle-free, which is why you need a fully capable eCommerce platform to make your online
store or website operate in the most flawless and responsive manner.
Take note that for your ecommerce site to run successfully, some other components would have to come
into play. These include:
1. Web Hosting Service. These companies and service providers offer Web servers to host your
website and all the elements and apps that go with it. This is a vital component because having a
good online store that is always open, accessible, loads quickly, and is able to handle high traffic
depends on a reliable and dependable web host.
2. Product Catalog. The product catalog is what your customers view and learn about the products
you’re selling. Similar to a printed catalog, your online catalog is made up of products, pages and
information you present to your customers. They must be designed to attract, appeal and entice your
customers, and reflect your brand, company, or the theme of your store.
3. Shopping Cart. This is what your customers will use to place their orders where they can add the
products they want to purchase, provide information about shipping and payment preferences, and
submit the order. The shopping cart component may spell the difference between a completed or
abandoned sale. It must, thus, work optimally and smoothly.
4. Merchant Interface. This is the tool you use to manage your online store as well as set up and use
all other tools and apps that you may need. The interface must be robust, flexible, customizable
while straightforward to operate.
5. Payment Processing. The backbone of an online store is accepting payment. Simply put, without
this component, customers can’t place in their orders. There are several online payment services,
payment gateway, and merchant account providers that integrate with eCommerce platforms to
ensure safe, secure, accurate, and efficient payment processing.
6. Order Fulfillment and Shipping. There are many order fulfillment, third party logistics, and
shipping services that provide next-day, second-day, and ground shipping services that you can offer
your customers, giving them many options which they can avail for prompt and fast delivery. These
services remove the heavy lifting from you so you can focus on your selling.
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
Ecommerce software ties all of the above components and services to give you one integrated solution to
manage and run your online store from end-to-end.
What are the Advantages of Ecommerce Software?
Why use ecommerce software? Because it has plenty of benefits for your business. Here are the
advantages using of ecommerce software.
1. Quickly start your online business. Most eCommerce software comes with easy to use online store
builders with pre-built templates and an assortment of themes to help you build your store quickly.
We’re talking here of minutes, not hours, if you’re familiar with drag-and-drop functions where you
just put your store elements into place, add product images, put in descriptions and prices, set up
your shopping cart, and you’re basically good to go.
2. Your store is always open. One of the biggest business advantages of using eCommerce software is
that it keeps your online store open, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your business hours are not
limited by physical location or the working schedule of your staff. Since everything is automated,
you are not required to continually monitor your online store through your dashboard.
3. You can sell to anyone, anywhere. In relation to the above, which allows you to sell anytime, you
can sell to everyone from any location in the world. You have a global market for your products,
unhindered by time, geography, and boundaries. You harness the internet’s connectivity to sell to
anyone, wherever they may be.
4. You save time, money, and resources. When you calculate your expenses, you will find that it
costs you less operating an online store than running a brick-and-mortar store where you’ll have to
rent expensive space in a prime location, employ sales staff, and pay for utilities, among others.
Paying monthly for an affordable eCommerce platform that takes care of your online store reduces
expenses and maximizes profits.
5. You can sell as many products. Unlike a traditional retail outlet which has limited storage space to
fit all your products, an online store has no physical space to constrict the number of products that
you can carry, display, and sell. Since more people are shopping online nowadays, this allows you to
sell more, offering products organized in catalog web pages that can easily be searched and viewed
by customers. This also results in shorter selling cycles, providing you maximum returns at
minimum investment.
6. Easy online payment and shipping. Ecommerce software and shopping cart platforms are equipped
to process online payments, either as a built-in feature or integrated with a payment gateway service,
allowing for safe and secure online transactions. The software can also be connected seamlessly with
3PL or order fulfillment service providers that can offer your customers their preferred delivery and
shipping options.
7. Built-in marketing tools. Many eCommerce software are loaded with powerful marketing tools and
SEO features to help your store rank higher in search engine results and attract potential customers.
There are also built-in analytics and statistical tools that can provide you with real-time analytical
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
data, helping you to come up with targeted marketing campaigns, special deals and offers, as well as
make improvements to your product mix or promotion.
8. You can provide quality online customer service. Ecommerce software gives you the means to
provide your customers with the best online shopping experience— from easy product selection,
order, and checkout, to convenient online payment, shipping, and delivery—everything is designed
through automation to make it as simple as possible for customers to buy at your store, and get the
best service they can expect.
We can go on with several other benefits or advantages, but the above are enough to firm up your
understanding and appreciation of the many positive things and the competitive edge that eCommerce
software can bring to your online business.
What are the Key Features of Ecommerce Software?
To be able to realize its purpose, eCommerce software is designed with a wide range of features and
functions that streamline and support the many aspects involved in online selling.
Here are the common features of eCommerce software:
1. Automation. The checkout process, including accurate computation of pricing, taxes, shipping rates,
and handling costs are automated to give customers an immediate idea of how much they’ll be
paying on items they select for purchase.
2. Website builder. If you don’t have an existing website, eCommerce software can help you build
one from the ground up. It provides design templates for you to quickly create a professional-looking
website and storefront based on your preferences without the need to hire commercial designers.
3. Central database. You get a centralized location for easy storing, access, and retrieval of product
information, customer data, accounting transactions, product listings, browsing histories, and
payment and shipping status.
4. Search function. Sophisticated search functions make it simple for shoppers to find the items or
products they’re looking for. Ecommerce platforms are capable of listing, categorizing, and updating
new products together with descriptions, pictures, and feature lists.
5. Integration. Most eCommerce solutions are able to integrate with various business apps and third-
party platforms and services to allow you to handle various tasks – accounting, email marketing,
order fulfillment, and payment processing – within a single system.
6. Marketing tools. You can use your eCommerce software to enhance your website’s marketing,
promotion, and branding. You can utilize an array of tools to come up with targeted campaigns, SEO
optimization strategies, and branding/image reinforcement.
7. Analytics and reporting. Ecommerce software can help you to analyze and identify trends and
patterns that affect customer buying habits, providing with you insights and stats on customer
demographics, keywords, and clickstreams. You’ll get to know what is working or not, and craft
strategies to improve revenues.
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
What is the Cost of Ecommerce Software?
The cost of eCommerce software varies. Many product vendors usually offer three to four pricing plans –
basic, standard, premium (the wording may differ per vendor) – that cater to various business sizes and
budgets. Basic plans can go for as low as single-digit figure subscriptions per month, on the other end,
pricing can go as high as triple-digit figures. Plans are based on the number of features and functionalities.
With premium, deluxe or professional plans, you get the complete set of advanced features and tools of the
product.
To give you an idea of the cost of eCommerce software, here’s a price sampling of the basic and premium
plans offered by some of the leading eCommerce software vendors.
1. Wix: Connect Domain – $4.50/month; VIP – $24.50/month
2. Shopify: Lite – $9/month; Advanced – $299/month
3. Volusion: Mini – $15/month; Premium – $135/month
4. Bigcommerce: Standard – $29.95/month; Plus – $79.95/month
Aside from their regular plans, some vendors offer quote-based custom pricing according to specific features
you need or other particular business requirements. Suffice to say, you have a wide range of plans to choose
from whether you’re rolling out your online store for the first or already have an existing one and looking to
upgrade your eCommerce software to accommodate a bigger and fast-growing business.
What are Examples of Ecommerce Software?
To help you get a clearer picture of the marketplace, here are examples of eCommerce software solutions
that dominate the landscape.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Salesforce Commerce Cloud is an industry-leading ecommerce software that unifies your online and offline
channels to one AI-powered platform. This top-rated software helps you sell faster and smarter and deliver a
consistent customer journey from various touchpoints. This will help you generate more conversions and
thus grow your business.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud caters to business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) retailers.
Whether you are just starting your online business or aim to digitize your sales process, you’ll find a
Salesforce Commerce Cloud plan that’s right for your business size.
NetSuite SuiteCommerce
NetSuite SuiteCommerce is an omnichannel ecommerce management platform that helps users deliver an
engaging shopping experience for their customers through site performance optimization and responsive
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
design technology. It also comes with marketing, point-of-sale, and inventory management modules. As
such, it enables users to seamlessly handle their ecommerce processes from attracting leads to tracking stock
levels. Lastly, it comes with built-in reporting tools to help you assess your online store’s sales performance
so you can make data-backed business decisions.
ShipBob
Shipbob is a cloud-hosted order fulfillment software designed to bring together your eCommerce portal and
inventory management system in one hub. It integrates seamlessly with popular eCommerce platforms,
online marketplaces, and delivery services so it can easily adapt to your processes no matter which platform
you are selling on and which logistics company you frequent. Moreover, it comes with advanced tools for
inventory management such as product warehousing, delivery management, and distributed inventory
consolidation. This way, you can easily manage stocks even if your products are coming from different
warehouses.
A2X
A2X is a cloud-hosted ecommerce software that consolidates your transactional data from different sales
channels and connects them with your accounting platform. It comes equipped with a general ledger, real-
time transaction history, an inventory accounting system, as well as data import/export options. Moreover, it
supports multiple currencies, making it great for international companies. With this, it is easier to reconcile
your finances for bookkeeping and accounting purposes.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a scalable ecommerce solution that comes with enterprise-level functionalities. Its easy
page builder features a drag-and-drop interface and multiple templates that can be customized to create a
storefront that perfectly represents your brand. BigCommerce also makes adding products and keeping track
of inventory a breeze with its smart and convenient inventory management tools. Moreover, the solution
integrates with several payment gateway options and various shipping services, allowing for the fulfillment
of orders in a single platform. Lastly, it streamlines marketing, sales, and customer service, as it works
seamlessly with popular business apps such as Salesforce, MailChimp, and Zendesk.
Wix
Wix is a cloud-based website development platform that allows users to create, design, manage, and develop
their websites. With different designer-made templates to choose from, you can make your own website,
change its layout, and add any tools and features you need for your business. The platform is also equipped
with advanced SEO tools to help you have a better chance on Google search engine rankings. Additionally, it
allows you to choose custom and professional domains to match your brand and business.
Omnisend
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
Omnisend is an omnichannel marketing automation platform created for eCommerce businesses. It helps
you attract and engage customers by helping you optimize marketing campaigns for email, SMS, and social
media. Moreover, it helps you boost sales using automated abandoned cart emails, product suggestion
pickers, and cross-selling capabilities. Another great thing about this platform is that it also comes with
campaign reporting tools and A/B testing solutions so you can ensure that all of your eCommerce marketing
efforts are as effective as they can be.
Payability
Payability is a financing solution for marketplace sellers and eCommerce companies. This essentially aims
to close cash flow gaps so that online sellers can restock their inventory faster and ensure the continuity of
their operations. With this, you can transfer your earnings via same-day automated clearing house (ACH) or
wire transfer. This is especially helpful for sellers using Amazon so they can skip the 14-day delays in
payments. What’s more, this solution offers fast, risk-free financing as it is based primarily on your Amazon
account health rather than credit.
Shopify
Shopify is an award-winning eCommerce platform widely recognized by experts and business owners alike
as one of the best eCommerce solutions available in the market today. Packed with an array of features and
functions to help businesses build and operate online stores and even run offline retail businesses, it is used
by over 120,000 stores worldwide. You can quickly and easily set up an attractive-looking and responsive
store from a selection of professionally designed themes, import large catalogs, automatically recover
abandoned carts, get 24/7 customer support, have your own payment gateway, and utilize powerful
marketing tools, among other features.
Volusion
Volusion is a scalable eCommerce and shopping cart platform built with unique features and tools to support
the selling operation of small and mid-sized businesses as well as sole and freelance entrepreneurs. Its
functionality revolves around four essential modules, each targeting a separate phase of the e-selling
operation – from creating a custom-built storefront, personalizing and optimizing content to enhancing
customer experience, and boosting marketing campaigns. Likewise, it offers self-generated in-house
services, secure checkouts, analytics, and integration with third-party apps and services, including popular
social media sites.
Brightpearl
Brightpearl is a leading omnichannel management solution that retailers can use to manage their orders,
inventory, accounting, reporting, and customer data in a single system. In addition, the software offers real-
time reporting of customer buying behavior, profitability by SKU and channel, cash flow, inventory, and
more. The app integrates with eCommerce sites such as Bigcommerce, Shopify, Magento, and online
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
marketplaces, including eBay and Amazon to give users access to many new channels and grow their
business.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce allows businesses and individuals to launch their own online stores from the ground up or
through their existing WordPress website or blog. It features a plugin that comes with a robust set of tools
and an intuitive and powerful interface designed to help you easily set up your store and get started as
quickly as possible. It has an onboarding wizard to guide you through the setup within five minutes. Since
it’s powered by WordPress, WooCommerce enables website owners to sell online using a platform they’re
already familiar with. They can use an extension library for add-on features such as payment gateways,
shipping calculators, subscription management, anti-fraud, and many others.
Is Ecommerce Software for You?
If you are an online merchant or seller, eCommerce software should be your priority. As you’ve learned
from this article, it provides you with tons of benefits and advantages – simplifying and automating every
crucial process involved in your online business. What is eCommerce software? It’s the system that saves
you time, money, and effort. It gives you the opportunity to provide customers with top-notch service and
equips you with analytics and marketing tools. This tool handles just about every aspect of running your
online store, enabling you to focus on selling. Yes, get the eCommerce software that fits your needs, and see
how it makes the world of difference in your business.
Conclusion
Ecommerce software is a tool that drives all online store processes, helping owners manage inventory, add or
remove products, process payments, compute taxes, and fulfill orders, among many others. There are two
general classifications of eCommerce software are On-Premise and Software as a Service. SaaS or hosted
solutions. Electronic commerce software for small, midsize, and large businesses, the common features of
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Information Technology 3rd Year E-Commerce software
eCommerce software are Automation,Website builder,Central database Examples of Ecommerce Software,
Salesforce Commerce Cloud, NetSuite SuiteCommerce, A2X, Omnisend.
