» Ecommerce tutorials
If you
are new to selling products
and services on the Internet
(what people call "ecommerce" or "electronic
commerce"), the following
paragraphs may help you
gain a better understanding
of how it all works.
At the heard of any ecommerce
Web site is the shopping
cart that allows people
to search and buy products
and services. We will
explain what a shopping
cart is, how it works,
how it is added to a
new or existing Web site,
etc.
» What
is a shopping cart?
A shopping cart is a
software application
that typically runs on
the computer where your
Web site is located (the
Web server), and allows
your customers to do
things such as searching
for a product in your
store catalog, adding
a selected product to
a basket, and placing
an order for it.
 The shopping cart "integrates" with
the rest of your Web
site. In other words,
there are typically links
on your Web pages that
customers can click on,
and which allow them
to perform some of the
functions described above.
For example, many ecommerce
Web sites have a "search" link
appearing on every Web
page, as part of the
navigation area. The
link points to a feature
(i.e. the search feature)
provided by the shopping
cart.
Shopping carts are written
in a variety of different
programming languages.
Some of them provide
full access to the "source
code", thus allowing
experienced programmers
to make modifications
to the system features,
some others don't. Some
shopping carts run on
Windows Web servers,
some on Unix, others
on both. In most cases,
you can place the shopping
cart on your Web server
simply by transferring
its files there using
any FTP software, where
FTP stands for File Transfer
Protocol.
For example, our shopping
cart software (called ProductCart)
is a collection of ASP
files that you place
on a Windows 2000 or
2003 Web server, where
ASP stands for Active
Server Pages, a popular
programming language
developed by Microsoft®.
Experienced ASP programmers
can customize the system
as they wish as the source
code is included.
» How does a shopping
cart work?
Typically, all shopping
carts share the following
structure. A shopping
cart normally includes:
- a database
that stores information
such as product details,
customer data, order
information, etc.
- a storefront
that displays this
information to store
visitors (e.g. product
detail pages, search
pages, checkout pages,
etc.)
- an administration
area that allows you,
the store administrator,
to manage your store.
For example, this is
where you add products,
set up shipping & payment
options, process orders,
etc.
Because most of the
information is contained
in a database, the shopping
cart creates pages in "real
time" when a customer
visits an ecommerce store
and requests a specific
page. Unlike the HTML
pages that likely make
up most of your Web site,
the shopping cart pages don't
exist until a customer
requests one. The page
is dynamically generated
by the Web server by
retrieving data from
the database. So a store
that has 4,000 products,
does not actually store
4,000 product pages on
the Web server. The pages
are created on the
fly when a customer
visits the store and,
for example, looks for
a specific product.
ProductCart uses a technology
called Active Server
Pages to created the
store pages from a database.
Other shopping carts
may use different technology,
such as Perl, CGI, or
Cold Fusion. The process
remains the same. Information
is retrieved from a database,
and displayed to the
customer within the graphical
interface that the store
administrator has created
for the store. Different
shopping carts offer
store administrators
different levels of flexibility
in setting up how these
pages will look (see: how
to compare shopping carts).
» Using a Microsoft SQL
vs Microsoft Access database
A lot of shopping carts
that run on Windows Web
servers support both
Microsoft SQL and Access
databases. Which one
should you go with? Here
are a few thoughts on
this (note: shopping
carts can support other
databases as well, like
MySQL, but here we limit
the discussion to MS
Access and MS SQL).
MS Access was never
designed to power online
stores. However, it turns
out that the software
performs pretty well
on stores that experience
limited concurrent traffic,
and don't have a large
amount of products. The
software tends to slow
down when there are several
users running queries
at the exact same time
(i.e. “concurrent” users).
In other words, if several
users were searching
for a product on your
online store at the exact
same time, the store
could experience a decrease
in performance. If the
same store were using
a MS SQL database, the
performance would likely
not be affected.
Because running a store
that uses a MS SQL database
is more expensive and
requires more expertise
than running an online
store that uses an Access
database, most small-
and medium-sized businesses
opt to use Access. Truly,
in the vast majority
of cases, their online
stores never experience
performance problems
because the likelihood
of visitors querying
the store database at
the exact same time is
rather small. If you
end up deciding to use
our shopping cart software,
keep in mind that you
can use ProductCart either
with a Microsoft Access
or a SQL database. There
is no price difference
between the two versions
and the code that allows
you to modify an existing
SQL database for use
with ProductCart is already
included in the software
that you have downloaded.
» Storefront vs. Administration
Most shopping carts
include two components:
the storefront, which
is what your customers
will see (the catalog,
the search pages, the
checkout pages, etc.),
and the administration
area, which is what you
will use to manage the
store. Although you find
both components in virtually
all ecommerce applications
available on the market,
the features that each
of them offers vary substantially.
A good storefront should
include at least the
following features:
- A store
catalog that is easy
to browse and that
presents product information
is a way that is both
useful and graphically
pleasing.
- A search
feature that allows
customers to quickly
locate a specific product.
The more filters are
available on the search
page, the better (e.g.
price, part number,
description, etc.)
- A customer
service area where
existing customers
can change their account
information, view previous
orders, etc. There
should also be a way
for customers to retrieve
a lost password.
- Special
pages where customers
can easily find products
that are on sale, featured
products, products
that belong to the
same brand, etc.
- Sophisticated shopping
cart systems like ProductCart
include hundreds of
other storefront features.
A good administration
area should include at
least the following features:
- A way to
easily set general
store settings such
as the way products
should be displayed
(e.g. how many products
will be shown on each
catalog page), the
currency and date format
to be used, etc.
- A module
to create and manage
product categories,
and order the way in
which they are displayed
on the storefront.
- A module
to create and manage
products, and assign
them to categories.
To improve productivity,
there should be tools
that allow you to change
settings across multiple
products at once (e.g.
change the price for
all products in the "tennis
shoes" category).
- A way to
assign options to products
(e.g. color and size),
with the ability to
set price changes that
are dependent on the
selected option (e.g.
if you select an XXL
size shirt, then you
pay an extra $5). To
improve productivity,
there should be tools
that allow you to assign
the same options to
multiple products at
once.
- Flexible
ways to set multiple
shipping (e.g. UPS
Ground is free for
order over $100), and
payment options (e.g.
real time credit card
processing, COD, and
NET 30, but the last
one only for wholesale
customers).
- A module
to manage orders effectively
(pending, processed,
shipped, returned,
etc.).
Note that the way the
store is administered
changes depending on
whether or not files
need to be installed
on your local computer.
Learn about the difference
between an offline vs. online
shopping cart.
See How
to compare shopping
carts for more
information on what
to look for when you
are looking for a good
shopping cart system
for your business.
» Merging the shopping
cart with your Web site
How will your customers
get to the product catalog?
How can you make your
home page link to the "Monthly
Specials" page, created
dynamically by the shopping
cart? And how can you
make the pages that the
shopping cart creates
look the same as your "About
us" or "Contact us" page?
The look and feel of
your online store, and
the way it merges with
the rest of your Web
site, are crucial elements
of a successful ecommerce
store.
Typically, you will
be able to create HTML
links that take a user
for any HTML page that
you may create for your
Web site (e.g. the "about
us" page), to a page
generated dynamically
by the shopping cart,
which retrieves information
in real time from the
database that contains
your store catalog and
store settings. For example,
the "About Us" page could
contain a link to a page
created by the shopping
cart that shows products
that are on sale in that
particular month (assuming
that the shopping cart
does have the ability
to do so).
How easy it is to place
such links into your
HTML pages varies however
from application to application.
Make sure to select shopping
cart software that allows
to do so quickly and
easily.
As for the graphical
interface used by the
shopping cart to display
the store page, some
shopping carts limit
you to using pre-formatted
templates. Stay away
from that kind of ecommerce
software. Choose a shopping
cart that does not use
templates, but rather
allows you to use your
own Web site design as
the graphical interface
for the store pages.
 For example, our shopping cart allows you to
take the graphical interface
that you have created
for your Web site (or
that you are planning
to use for a new Web
site) and seamlessly
merge the shopping cart
with it. Find out more
about integrating
ProductCart with your
Web site.
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