Notre Dame of Tacurong College

City of Tacurong

System Analysis In The

Era of Electronic Commerce

Submitted by:
Lopez, Melchizedek
Besinga, Mary Jaicint Lee.

Submitted to:
Mrs. Analiza Henodia

March 2016

I.

Introduction
In the emerging global economy, e-commerce and e-business
have increasingly become a necessary component of business strategy and a strong
catalyst for economic development. But what is electronic commerce or ecommerce?

Electronic commerce, commonly written as e-commerce, is

the trading or facilitation of trading in products or services using computer
networks, such as the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such
as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet
marketing, online
transaction
processing, electronic
data
interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data
collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide
Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle, although it may also use
other technologies such as e-mail.

The integration of information and communications technology

(ICT) in business has revolutionized relationships within organizations and those
between and among organizations and individuals. Specifically, the use of ICT in
business has enhanced productivity, encouraged greater customer participation,
and enabled mass customization, besides reducing costs.

With developments in the Internet and Web-based technologies,

distinctions between traditional markets and the global electronic marketplacesuch as business capital size, among others-are gradually being narrowed down.
The name of the game is strategic positioning, the ability of a company to
determine emerging opportunities and utilize the necessary human capital skills
(such as intellectual resources) to make the most of these opportunities through an
e-business strategy that is simple, workable and practicable within the context of a
global information milieu and new economic environment. With its effect of
leveling the playing field, e-commerce coupled with the appropriate strategy and
policy approach enables small and medium scale enterprises to compete with large
and capital-rich businesses.

II.

Body
The rapid growth of the internet has completely changed the way most businesses
operate. The internet has enable e-Commerce that offers businesses and customers
a
unique channel to deliver and purchase goods and services. E-commerce uses
internetworked computers to create and transform business relationships.
Electronic commerce can be categorized into several groups: a few of which are
listed
below although more forms of e-commerce exist:
Business-to-consumer (B2C) is an Internet and electronic commerce (ecommerce) model that denotes a financial transaction or online sale
between a business and consumer. B2C involves a service or product
exchange from a business to a consumer, whereby merchants sell products
to consumers.
Business-to-Business or B2B e-commerce is hugely rooted in electronic
data interchange (EDI) networks established between organizations and
their manufactures/suppliers within a specific industry. Ecommerce enables
companies to conduct their business from prospecting to order processing
and delivery online.
B2B e-commerce includes the use of exchanges on internet-based
marketplaces in which participating companies can purchase or sell a
variety of products, some generic across industries and others specific to a
given industry Besides B2B and B2C transactions, e-commerce
transactions and interactions may have other types:
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) e-commerce is used in organizations that
provide
private sales and auctions between individual consumers.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) e-commerce allows networked peer computers to share
data and processing with each other directly; can be used in C2C, B2B, and
B2C e-commerce.
Government-to-Business (G2B) and Government-to-Consumer (G2C) ecommerce

enable government organizations to provide information, interaction,

business, and services to companies and consumers respectively.
Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C) e-commerce organizations
provide some products or services to client businesses that maintain their
own customers. eBay, for example, provides a virtual marketplace to its
customers (business and individuals) that sell products through eBay to
their own customers.
Mobile Commerce (M-commerce) makes possible e-commerce
transactions and activities to be conducted in a wireless environment, for
example, buying products and services from a web site on a cell phone.
Location-based Commerce (L-commerce) provides m-commerce
transactions
targeted at individuals in specific locations and at specific times, like
navigation systems in cars.
Intra-business e-commerce includes all internal organizational activities
that involve the exchange of goods, services, or information.
Collaborative Commerce (C-commerce) creates an environment where
individuals or groups communicate or collaborate online

The use of Information and Communication Technology (IT/ICT) systems is

an integral part of work. It is estimated that 20 million of workers in the UK use some
form of ICT at work. Thus Keeping ICT running and delivering value is crucial to
business health. [5] 15 Enterprise systems are IT/ICT systems that connect the
different functions of a business. Examples of enterprise systems include Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain
Management (SCM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), etc. They are the
integration tools that (if properly implemented) could increase productivity by
automating work process, maintaining a single picture of corporate data and satisfying
regulatory compliance requirements. ICT further facilitates e-Commerce by providing
channels for ecommerce architectures such as Electronic data interchange (EDI) and
Electronic Funds transfer (EFT).

EDI-Electronic Data Interchange

EDI - involves the exchange of information from one company to another using a
computer network, such as the Internet. Electronic data interchange involves
computer-to-computer exchanges of invoices, orders, and other business documents
and therefore effects cost savings and improve efficiency because it minimizes the
errors that can occur if the same information has to be typed into computers more than
once. At the same time, EDI provides an easily accessible mechanism for companies
to buy, sell, and trade information. In the B2B market, major corporations have
embraced EDI systems, and in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency and
competitiveness. In the retail market, the use of EDI systems allows the retailer to
implement quick response strategies that can reduce the time they must hold
merchandise in inventory, which can result in substantial cost savings for the retailer.

EFT- Electronic Funds Transfer

EFT- is a method of transferring funds automatically from one organization or
individual to another by electronic means, such as electronic funds transfer at point of
sale (EFTPOS), which provides for the automatic transfer of money from buyer to
seller at the time of sale

ERP- Enterprise resource planning

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a software platform
embedded with best practices", providing the best ways to do the business based on
common business practices or academic theory. The aim of an ERP is to improve the
cooperation and interaction between all departments in organizations (such as product
planning, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and customer service department).As
an enabling key technology, as well as being an effective managerial tool, ERP allow
companies to integrate at all levels and to utilise important ERP applications such as
supply-chain management (SCM), accounting and financial management,human
resources management (HRM) and customer relationship management(CRM). Such
applications represent large, complex, computerised and integrated information
systems which can strongly influence long-term business success .
ERP packages evolved into their present form from the accounting tools that
the large corporations implemented for payroll processing in the 50's highlighted the
fact that their functionality expanded into tracking stock levels, at first for the purpose
of financial controlling, and later covering the entire process of stock management.
Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) in the 70s automated the production process,
by scheduling operations and material purchasing based on the forecasted and current
requirements of finished goods, and the constraints of the production facility.

Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP-II) systems in the 80's coordinated the

entire process, from planning the purchase of materials and parts, as well as
requirements-based production capacity planning, to distribution. The term ERP was
first used by Gartner Group in the early 90's, and included multiple applications that
automated parts of business.
B2C e-Commerce is the main area of interest in this project; it is mainly
concerned with the provision of uninterrupted access to an organizations goods and
services to consumers, with minimal or no geographical boundaries. This is
traditionally achieved by creating a virtual shop online; an example of such ecommerce architecture would include components such as shopping carts, product
catalogs,order forms and payment mechanisms with relationships between these
components.
The major benefit of e-Commerce systems to small businesses like Divine
Foods is that the costs of setting up a virtual business online is considerably low
compared to that required to set up a traditional physical business premise, (i.e. costs
incurred from rent, wages, daily operational costs etc.).Having a virtual online shop
considerably reduces the problems of geographical barriers, creating access to a larger
customer base for organizations as the online shop will be available to internet users
anywhere in the world (unless otherwise restricted to a certain country or geographical
area) as opposed to customers visiting the business premises to make purchases.
Web applications provide business solutions that improve the quality of goods
and services, increase the speed of service delivery; an e-commerce system will reduce
the cost of DFs business operations as fewer staff will be needed to handle telephone
orders and carry out manual data input operations. However, many ventures into web
application development fail because the systems are very complex and the users
requirements are continuously changing. A new changing trend in e-commerce is
associated with utilization of the Internet related technology and software for
improving communication, information sharing, collaboration, and functionality of the
Web, which is commonly defined as Web 2.0.Web 2.0 means proliferation of
connectivity and interactivity of web-delivered content that allows users to besides
obtaining information from a web site own the data on the Internet, gain control over
this data, and add value to the web site as they use it. The key Web 2.0 applications
and services include.
i. Blog (web-log): a webpage consisting of brief user opinions, views, and
information, or links (also called posts), arranged chronologically within a menudriven format.
ii. Wiki: a webpage or set of web pages that can be easily edited by anyone who is
allowed access. A well-known example is Wikipedia, the free Internet encyclopedia.

iii. Podcast: audio recordings, usually in MP3 format, of talks, interviews and lectures,
which can be played either on a desktop computer or on a wide range of handheld
MP3 devices.
iv. Multimedia sharing: services that facilitate the storage and sharing of multimedia
content such as video (YouTube), photos (Flickr), and podcasts (Odeo).
v. Social networking: professional and social networking sites like facebook.com and
myspace. com that facilitate meeting people, finding like minds, and sharing content.
vi. RSS: a family of formats which allow users to find out about updates to the content
of RSS- enabled websites, blogs or podcasts without actually having to go and visit the
site. Information from the website (typically, a new storys title and synopsis, along
with the originating websites name) is collected within a feed (which uses the RSS
format) and piped to the user in a process known as syndication.

E-Commerce Success and Failure

The Internet has completely changed the way most businesses operate.
E-commerce uses inter-networked computers to create and transform business
relationships. Web applications provide business solutions that improve the
quality of goods and services, increase the speed of service delivery, and
reduce the cost of business operations. However, many ventures into web
application development fail because the systems are very complex and the
user requirements are continuously hanging. Inefficient communication
between the end user and the developer is another contributing factor. To
successfully accomplish the development of a web application, one needs to
visually model the system s architecture. A visual model helps in coherently
grasping the changing user requirements and effectively communicates them to
the development team. Requirements analyses along with abstraction (i.e.,
removing unnecessary details) are critical factors in web application
development. It is easier and more cost effective to correct an error at the
requirement or design stage than at the implementation or maintenance stage.
Further, formal (i.e. rigorous) specification provides unambiguous, precise and
correct understanding of the user s requirements.

Requirements of an e-commerce system

There are some requirements that have to be met by any solution that
offers to delivered-commerce functionalities, some of these which are specific
to DFs e-commerce system are outlined in:

i. Security. The database system has to be secure to prevent unauthorized

access, theft and/or disruption to data and services held and offered by the
system.
ii. Scalability. The system will begin offering its service to a small number of
users but must be capable of being upgraded to a serve larger number of users
and process more transactions.
iii. Robustness. The system should be able to operate and handle various types
of data needed to function properly.
iv. Extensibility. The system should be able to increase the number of services
without disrupting the rest of the services offered.
v. Traceability. The system should provide on request, details of when and
where and transaction took place (i.e. order history).
vi. Integrity of information. The data contained in the database system must be
preserved against malicious or unintentional attacks. Data held must not be
redundant.
vii. Flexibility. The system should be able to adapt to the everchangingrequirements of a dynamic environment.

E-Commerce Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages
The potential benefits of e-commerce are enormous. For the
consumer Cyberspace provides an environment of near perfect competition in
which prices from man suppliers can be compared within seconds; sites such
as Dealtime.com and comparthemarket.com enable consumers to find the best
online deal for whatever they want - free of charge. For the elderly, disabled or
those simply short of time, goods may be ordered online and delivered to their
doorstep. The majority of e-commerce models employ a real world shopping
metaphor complete with shopping trolley and checkout for ease of use even by
the regular everyday internet users. Cyberspace means businesses are no longer
limited to a specific geographical location; they have a potential worldwide
audience, this has in turn led to value creation. As previously mentioned, the
main reason for the growth and proliferation of ecommerce (pervasiveness and
inexorability) is its ability to create value for an organization that implemented
the e-commerce solutions, for the customers of this organization, and for its
partners and suppliers. Value creation represents the potential or expected and
actual monetary and non-monetary results of utilizing an ecommerce business
model. The main monetary results of value creation include revenue

enhancement through sales growth and price differentiation, and cost

reduction related to cost of goods sold, operating costs saved as a result of the
system, and asset intensity reduction
Revenue enhancement is the first aspect of value creation. E-commerce
develops a new online channel for selling a companys products and services
along with existing traditional channels. This potentially generates additional
sales volume through this channel, and, at the same time, can facilitate product
sales through the existing channels. For example, this is shown by ASDA and
Tescos use of their existing shops to act as processing centers for online food
orders as opposed to developing a separate warehouse for dealing with online
orders.
The revenue increase may be also associated with the ability to quickly adjust
prices depending on customer segments (for example, repeat customers will
pay a higher price than new customers will or prices of products expiring soon
could be reduced instead of disposing the products) or by increasing prices
through building the companys brand name recognition on the Internet. In
addition, e-commerce can enable quick matching of customer demand with
existing supply of products, and, thus, provide better knowledge of what prices
need to be established and promoted. Besides the opportunity of increased
revenue, e-commerce is also an important source of cost reduction. This is the
second aspect of value creation through e-commerce.
The cost of goods sold through online web sites may be reduced by providing a
direct selling channel to the customers and reducing the need for intermediaries
like wholesalers and retailers. The cost of staff wages for paying staff to deal
with telephone orders or manual entering and processing orders can be
severely reduced by an e-commerce system. E-Commerce creates opportunities
for asset intensity reduction, which means (a) reducing capital costs by
effective, speedy disposition (selling) of unnecessary or old equipment as well
as excess or obsolete inventory, and (b) more effectively using existing space
by reducing inventory clutters with ecommerce.

Disadvantages
Some products cannot be represented in Cyberspace as
effectively as others. Books, CDs and software sell well across the internet
because the customer has a clear idea of what he is getting. Goods such as
clothes and audio equipment fare less well because 23 consumers like to
experience them (by trying them on or listening to them) before buying.

Legislation Dilemma: Electronic transactions separate ebusiness from traditional types of businesses. When a transaction takes place,
who has jurisdiction? Who has the authority to apply law over the transaction?
For example, UK e-Commerce legislature requires
organizations to comply with the laws of every other country they provide
services to. A little legislation can go a long way toward helping parties to
establish better boundaries to work within. When a transaction that takes place
between two different parties located in two different countries goes wrong
then a number of complex questions arise.

E-Commerce System Security

Risk Analysis
E-commerce system is an electronic system that automates the
exchange of goods and services over the Internet in a secure environment. Ecommerce systems security is more exacting for reasons of necessity to
connection of internal and external processes. Creating an infrastructure to
protect a company, its trading partners, and its customers is crucial if
businesses are realized the full potential of the Internet. As questions can be
introduced for example what components are most critical but vulnerable, what
information is confidential and needs to be protected, how will confidentiality
be ensured, what authentication system should be used, what intrusion
detection systems should be installed, who has authority and responsibility for
installing and configuring critical e-business infrastructure, what plans need to
be in place to ensure continuity or minimum disruption of service etc.
Due to the anonymous nature of the internet, E-Commerce
raises concerns on issues such as trust, security and privacy

Types of e-commerce system attack

Below are a few types of attacks aimed at e-commerce systems.
i. Background attacks: hacker changes background of e-shop web sites.
ii. SQL Injection: is subset of the unverified/unauthorized user input
vulnerability and the idea is to convince the application to run SQL
code that was not intended. Hacker can gain access to protected data,
users accounts, delete data in tables etc. SQL injection is the name
given to a vulnerability caused by poor input validation in an

application. It's a serious vulnerability, which can lead to a high level of

compromise - usually the ability to run any database query.
iii. Admin Control Panel Vulnerabilities: The merchant's Control Panel
on a shopping cart is possibly a weakness in an e-commerce system. It's
often assumed that users will behave, and it's often possible for a user
of a control panel to elevate their privileges.
iv. Weak Login Forms Vulnerability: Most shopping carts have two
login pages, one for customers, and one for merchants. Either of these
secured areas may be accessed by an account with a weak login
combination. An attacker can perform a brute force attack via the login
form, using a proxy or a script on a shared server to mask their identity.
v. Price Manipulation: this occurs when hackers are able to change
prices on the website. Internet traders sometimes must find a balance
between ease-of-use for the customer, and security restrictions at the
point of purchase. Payment solutions and shopping carts offer various
security features, but often they prove too inflexible and the extra
security is not enabled. If a customer does manage to alter the price of
an order, or mark an unpaid order as paid, it might go undetected by the
website software.
vi. Buffer overflows: is an anomalous condition where a process
attempts to store data beyond the boundaries of a fixed-length buffer.
The result is that the extra data overwrites adjacent memory locations.
vii. Data Leakage Vulnerability: Database-driven websites are very
common, and the parameters of a database query can often be seen in
the URL of web pages. When information is passed in the URL in this
way, a malicious user can iterate through the sequence and extract
information that's held in the website database.
viii. Denial of Service Attack: It's hard to control access to a public web
server. Although it's possible to try and control access by IP address, in
practice a malicious user can connect via almost unlimited free dial-up
accounts, originating from their country of choice. An e-commerce
website may have performance-intensive pages. Repeated, highfrequency requests to such pages may cause such a strain on the web
server as to severely disrupt normal service for other users. This is a
Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.
ix. Spam Relaying and Harvesting: Contact forms sometimes contain
the email address of the recipient for the email, and this can be
modified in the browser, in order to relay spam or anonymous mail, or
to "bomb" mailboxes by overloading their capacity.

x. Cross-site scripting: (XSS) occurs when an attacker introduces

malicious scripts to a dynamic form that allows the attacker to capture
the private session information.
xi. Remote command execution: command execution refers to attackers
attempting to use an existing website to execute OS commands on a
web server. By inserting system level commands into an HTTP request
to the target web server, users may be able to execute system level
commands, create system faults, or steal sensitive information from
your system, if security holes exist.
xii. Weak Authentication and Authorization: hackers are able to gain
access to information system and read, rewrite or delete data.
i.
ii.

Viruses: hacker sends viruses to corrupt business data.

ii. Spamming: is the abuse of electronic messaging
systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk
messages.

Despite these threats posed to e-Commerce applications, there are several

methods and technologies to help server, network administrators and web developers
to protect systems against any of the attacks mentioned above.
Securing E-Commerce Systems
Given the possible threats to e-Commerce system, there have been recent
security developments to combat and eradicate such threats. Some of the
protection measures include and are not limited to:

i.

Regular Data Backup: regular data backup is an important condition of

any efficient and safe information system. In the event of an attack,
files backed up and stored off-site can be re-instated, preventing the
organisation from losing its entire data. Data backup have to be realized
so that all data have to be renewable from backup.

ii.

Use of Antivirus and anti-spyware protection: Customers should be

encouraged to use antivirus and anti-spyware protection on their
individual computers and servers.

ii.

User training: User training is a vital security measure as it enhances

user knowledge and responsibility.
Use of Encryption: Encryption techniques should be used to protect
sensitive information such as user passwords. E-commerce currently
offers secure server and encryption technology as a solution to the

iii.

security risks associated with transmitting data through Cyberspace.

Encryption is a representation of information in a form such that only
the sender and intended recipient can interpret it. The commonly used
public key encryption involves two keys for each user; a public one,
made freely available, and a private one known only to the user.
Sensitive information (e.g. a credit card number) is encoded using the
intended recipient's public key before transmission, even if intercepted
by a hacker it is thus useless without the corresponding private key

Legal and Ethical Issues involved in e-Commerce

A recent survey reported that there are approximately 100 countries
now enjoy internet access, 20 million Internet hosts worldwide and over 1.8
billion internet users Due to the ever increasing internet population and the
anonymity of online users; certain regulatory and legal issues have to be
adhered to in order to develop 27 efficient e-commerce systems. As a result,
strategies must be implemented that conform to e-commerce rules and
regulations. Questions arising from development of e-Commerce systems
include and are no limited to: How does copyright apply to digital content?
How can national e-Commerce laws apply to activities in cyberspace? How to
ensure privacy and data protection exist on the Web?
E-commerce presents a world of opportunity for doing businesses,
reaching global markets and purchasing without leaving the home or office. Ecommerce can provide opportunities to improve business processes, just as
phones, faxes and mobile communications have in the past. However, just as
any new business tool has associated issues and risks so does e-commerce.
The issue of law on the Internet is a complex one. Between the two allor-nothing extremes lies a broad spectrum of possibilities. Many people revel
in the freedom to express themselves and the freedom from prohibitions such
as zoning restrictions that the Internet apparently affords. Without law,
however, the Internet would be no place to conduct business. Laws give people
certainties about their rights and responsibilities: they make life more
predictable. According to Thomas Vartanian, "Without predictability, business
will not be able to act efficiently, or price services effectively,"

Electronic Transactions
Some federal, state and territory governments encourage the
adoption of electronic commerce by enacting and enabling legalization. In the
UK many bills and acts have been passed to resolve legal issues and make

electronic transaction more authenticated, such as The Electronic Commerce

(EC Directive) Regulations 2002 [19]. The Directive was introduced to clarify
and harmonize the rules of on-line business throughout Europe with the aim of
boosting consumer confidence. The EC Directive enables contractual dealings,
such as offers, acceptances and invitations, to be conducted electronically, also
allowing people to use an electronic signature to satisfy any legal requirement

This directive has as expected boosted electronic commerce as

an effective tool for businesses to increase their efficiency. This has reduced
administrative duties, storage 28 and operational costs for businesses. In
McGinty's words," This is why it is crucial that we ensure the legal
infrastructure around cyberspace is beyond doubt". Under the e-commerce
directive, Organizations have the responsibility to deal with some of the legal
issues such as how to form contracts, abide by consumer protection laws,
create privacy policies and protect databases. At the moment, there are no
comprehensive set of laws or regulations that exist on an international level
electronic commerce. This is mainly due to the difficulty in establishing
uniform worldwide laws for e-commerce, as different countries have different
legislation; what is considered illegal in UK might not be so in India hence the
need for some legislation within individual countries.

Since this system development is an E-commerce system which

involves sales of products via the internet, the website must ensure its in
compliance with the EC Directive. Because the trader and customer are not
face to face at any point, with business conducted remotely, regardless of
location, the website must ensure that online contracts can be completed and
are legally binding. The e-commerce website

Privacy & Security

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003
apply to unsolicited electronic marketing messages sent by telephone, fax,
email or text. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003
(the regulations) give rules that govern electronic marketing . This legislature
sets the standards for email marketing. The e-commerce system should make
provisions for subscribers to opt out of direct marketing emails. Individual and
corporate subscribers can register their objection to receiving unsolicited direct
marketing faxes by registering their number with the Fax Preference Service.

Unsolicited marketing material by electronic mail (this includes

texts, picture messages and emails) should only be sent if the person has
chosen to receive them, unless the email address was obtained as a result of a
commercial relationship. The individual should always be given the
opportunity to stop receiving the emails.

The e-commerce system must also ensure the safety and

security of a customer's personal information. The e-commerce system should
provide the customers with information regarding the use of their personal
information, and incorporate security procedures to limit access to customer
information by unauthorized parties. Privacy policies and procedures should be
clearly explained to customers. Customer data must be collected, stored and
manipulated in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Copyright & Trademark
A trademark can be owned by an individual, a company, or any
sort of legal entity. When someone else tries to use that trademark (e.g., your
distinctive name or logo) without authorization, it could be considered an
illegal dilution of the distinctive trademark. If someone uses a trademark in
such a way as to dilute the distinctive quality of the mark or trade on the
owner's reputation, the trademark owner may seek damages. A number of
important recent developments have occurred in the field of copyright and
related issues that have far-reaching implications for the industry, and are being
addressed in legislatures, judiciaries and international forums. During the last
couple of years, new laws have passed in some countries to ensure effective
protection and enforcement of rights in the digital era. Such example is the UK
copyright law which was amended in November, 2009 to include web and
digital content.
Conforming to e-Commerce Legal and Ethical Issues
The E-commerce Regulations identify specific information
about businesses that must be provided to recipients of online services, and set
down guidelines regarding advertising and promotions. All these information
must be on the website.
Contracting online
Since all the contracts are online by electronic means,
customers should be able to print and store a copy of the terms and conditions.
All technical steps required to conclude the contract, e.g. ethical methods such
as 'click this box', opt in or out, organizations terms and conditions, etc. The
website must be able to conclude contracts online and customers must be

informed whether an order can be met or not. Customers should be able to go

back and correct any mistakes made in their order before the order is placed.
Once a customer has placed an order electronically, their orders must be
acknowledged with a receipt.

Advertising
Or the system concerned advertising is a major form of
revenue, therefore there are advertising regulations (usually set by OFCOM in
the UK) which will affect the system in design. Commercial adverts must
clearly identify the person on whose behalf the marketing communication is
sent, together with any promotional offer. The Regulations also cover
"unsolicited commercial communications", commonly referred to as spam.
They require that these communications are identifiable from the subject line
of the email, without the need to read the rest of the message. SMS messages
are not covered for these

Compliance with the Data protection Act

The proposed system will allow users register and log-on to the website. The
personal information collected during registration must be secure and in
compliance with the Data protection Act of 1998. i.e. Personal data held must
be accurate and not held for longer than its required.

Distance Selling Regulations

The Distance Selling Regulations are designed to protect customers who are
not physically present with the seller at the time of purchase. They cover
purchases made via email and the internet, together with telephone and mail
order.
Under the Regulations, customers of the proposed system will have the right to
have:
Details in writing about the supplier and the terms of the transaction

 written confirmation of their orders

further information, including a notice of cancellation rights, the complaints
procedure, after-sales services and guarantees
delivery within 30 days unless otherwise agreed 31
Consumers will have a cooling-off period of seven working days in which to
cancel the contract, starting from when the goods are received, without having
to give a reason. If no details of the cooling-off period have been given by the
supplier to the consumer, it is extended to three months.
The right to withdraw can be exercised by the consumer even after the goods
have been delivered, or the services have been provided. The consumer is
entitled to receive a full refund for a cancelled contract within 30 days.
To comply with the general information requirements of the E-commerce
Regulations, this system must:
Display the business' name, geographic address and other contact details
including your email address
Display details of any publicly available register in which you are entered,
together with your registration number or equivalent
Display the particulars of the supervisory body if the service is subject to an
authorization scheme
Display details of any professional body with which you are registered
Display VAT registration number
All prices must be clear and indicate whether they include tax and delivery
costs. The website must also have a 'Legal info' page of the site where the
T&Cs of the company can be found.

E-Commerce Marketing Strategies

The following marketing strategies will enable the proposed
system grow growing by delivering compelling, effective B2C marketing
campaigns that connect, motivate and drive consumers to act.
Internet Marketing
Helps in developing a direct contact between the consumer and
business house and also allows the business to advertise and sell their products
and services in an ease way. The B2C campaigns employ strategies and tactics

such as targeted offers and coupons; limited time deals, discounts, and/or
vouchers to mobilize target markets to buy, both online and offline. The system
will recognize the importance of customer loyalty and combine merchandising
and education to keep customers coming back using newsletters, web 2.0
techniques in the form of recipe blogs.
Branding
Giving the proposed system a unique identity amidst all the
competition in the market is tough. Heres where branding can help;
personifying the business by leveraging on brand awareness to build stronger
relationships with customers. Ideally, the brand should influence every aspect
of the business operation because the successful brands of today will be those
capable of producing customer-centric business models consistently.

III.

Conclusion
After careful observation, it has come to my conclusion that ecommerce has undeniably become an important part of our society. The World
Wide Web is and will have a large part in our daily lives. It is therefore critical that
small businesses have their own to keep in competition with the larger websites.
Since web developers have lowered down the prices for their services, it has
become more affordable for small businesses to use the World Wide Web to sell
their products. Although there are negative aspects of e-commerce, small
businesses have tried to accommodate to the needs of the consumers. For example,
one of the negative aspects of e-commerce is that consumers lack the advice and
guidance of sellers, to accommodate that, they have customer service through the
phone of online to answer any questions. It is also important to note that ecommerce does not benefit all small companies equally. How much revenue a
business gets from e-commerce depends on what kind of service it gives. For
example, most people would like to try on clothes before they buy them, so it
probably would not benefit a small business that sells clothes as much as a small
business that sells home supplies or specialty books. Nevertheless, e-commerce
does benefit any business even in small ways. This is why it is crucial to
understand how e-commerce affects small businesses because it is becoming such
a huge part of how society functions that it affects the economy greatly and
whatever happens to the economy affects us.
In general, todays businesses must always strive to create the next best
thing that consumers will want because consumers continue to desire their

products, services etc. to continuously be better, faster, and cheaper. In this world
of new technology, businesses need to accommodate to the new types of consumer
needs and trends because it will prove to be vital to their business success and
survival. E-commerce is continuously progressing and is becoming more and
more important to businesses as technology continues to advance and is something
that should be taken advantage of and implemented.
From the inception of the Internet and e-commerce, the possibilities
have become endless for both businesses and consumers. Creating more
opportunities for profit and advancements for businesses, while creating more
options for consumers.

IV.

References

http://www.rhicsstudios.com/e-commerce-development-report.pdf
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1424/business-to-consumer-b2c
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/E-Commerce_and_E-Business/