ECommerce -- Make Action Easy!

It all started in the late 1800s with the advent of print catalog houses.

Sears and Montgomery Wards led the way. Even today we still receive a plethora of print catalogs in the mail. Such print catalogs provided the convenience of a wide product offering and the simplicity of ordering through the mail. Many nostalgic stories have been written about waiting for the mail to see what order may have arrived.

The Internet provides a modern spin off on the age-old mail order catalog while providing two major benefits over print catalogs. First, electronic catalogs overcome the expensive of printing and distribution. Second, electronic catalogs allow for instant transactions.

The technology behind Internet conducted catalog sales is not new either. For about 35 years business have been processing purchase orders and payments with connectivity technology. What is relatively new is that now the consumer may participate.

eCommerce is all about the consumer. It provides a method by which a firm may publish an online catalog, allows the customer to complete an online order, and makes payment for the order.

eCommerce is composed of 5 major components.
First, there must be an online product offering. This product offering presents the goods or services to be sold and constitutes the electronic catalog.

Second, there must be a shopping cart. An electronic shopping cart is a program segment that allows the customer to select items for purchase then maintains the items ordered allowing the customer to continue shopping until the customer is ready to checkout. Items places in the shopping cart can be taken out or the quantity of the item selected can be changed. The entire cart can be emptied. When the customer decides that it is time to checkout, a TOTAL is calculated and an itemized order is presented to the customer for verification. Once verified, the order is submitted for processing.

Third, there must be a means of payment. Whether payment in secured by means of online credit card clearing through a third party or a house account is used, payment terms must be arranged.