電子商務(wù)英語課件07

1、Unit 7 Software of Electronic Commerce,學(xué)習(xí)指導(dǎo)： 本章將介紹： 主機(jī)托管服務(wù) 電子商務(wù)軟件必須具備的基本功能 電子商務(wù)軟件的高級(jí)功能 中小型企業(yè)的電子商務(wù)軟件,7.1 Web Hosting,When companies need to incor

2、porate electronic commerce components, they may opt to run servers in-house; this is called self-hosting. This is the option used most often by large companies.,Other companies, especially midsize and smaller companies,

3、often decide that a third-party Web hosting service provider is a better choice than self-hosting. Many small Web stores use a third-party host provider for both Web services and electronic commerce functions, particular

4、ly when the Web site is small or the company sells a limited number of products.,Service providers offer clients hosting arrangements that include shared hosting, dedicated hosting, and co-location.,Shared hosting means

5、that the client's Web site is on a server that hosts other Web sites simultaneously and is operated by the service provider at its location. With dedicated hosting, the service provider makes a Web server available

6、 to the client, but the client does not share the server with other clients of the service provider.,In both shared hosting and dedicated hosting, the service provider owns the server hardware and leases it to the clien

7、t. The service provider is responsible for maintaining the Web server hardware and software, and provides the connection to the Internet through its routers and other network hardware.,In a co-location (also spelled coll

8、ocation and co-location) service, the service provider rents a physical space to the client to install its own server hardware. The client installs its own software and maintains the server.,The service provider is respo

9、nsible only for providing a reliable power supply and a connection to the Internet through its routers and other networking hardware. You can find service providers by looking in your local telephone directory or by usin

10、g a Web directory such as The List.,7.2 Basic Function of Electronic Commerce Software,The specific duties that electronic commerce software performs range from a few fundamental operations to a complete solution--from c

11、atalog display to fulfillment notification. In short , all electronic commerce softwares must at least provide:,A catalog displayShopping cart capabilitiesTransaction processing,Larger and more complex electronic comme

12、rce sites also use software that adds other features and capabilities to the basic set of commerce tools. These additional software components can include: Middleware that integrates the electronic commerce system with

13、existing company information systems that handle inventory control, order processing and accounting,Enterprise application integrationWeb servicesIntegration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) softwareSupply cha

14、in management (SCM) softwareCustomer relationship management (CRM) softwareContent management softwareKnowledge management software,The basic tools required by all lectronic commerce sites are described in the followi

15、ng sections. The more advanced functions used by larger sites are covered later in this chapter.,7.2.1 Catalog Display,A catalog organizes the goods and services being sold. To further organize its offerings

16、a retailer may break them down into different departments. As in a physical store, merchandise in an online store can be grouped within logical departments to make locating an item such as a camping stove, simpler.,Web s

17、tores often use the same department names as their Physical counterparts. In most physical stores, each product is kept in only one place A Web store has the advantage of being able to include a single product in multipl

18、e categories.,For example, running shoes can be listed as both footwear and athletic gear.,A small commerce site can have a simple static catalog. A catalog is a listing of goods and services. A static catalog is a simpl

19、e list written in HTML that appears on a Web page or a series of Web pages. To add an item, delete an item, or change an item's listing, the company must edit the HTML of one or more pages .,Larger commerce sites are

20、 more likely to use a dynamic catalog. A dynamic catalog stores the information about items in a database, usually on a separate computer that is accessible to the server which is running the Web site itself.,A dyna

21、mic catalog can feature multiple photos of each item, detailed descriptions, and a search tool that allows customers to search for an item and determine its availability.,The software that implements a dynamic catalog i

22、s often included in larger electronic commerce software packages; however, some companies write their own software to link their existing databases of product information to their Web sites.,Small Web stores that sell fe

23、wer than 30 or 40 items need only a simple list of products or categories. Organization of the items is not particularly important. Companies that offer only a small number of items can provide a photo of each item on th

24、e Web page that is a link to more information about the product. A static catalog is sufficient for their needs.,Larger electronic commerce sites require the more sophisticated navigation aids and better product organiza

25、tion tools,that are parts of dynamic catalogs.,It is very important for good sites to give buyers alternative ways to find products. Besides offering a well-organized catalog, large sites with many products can provide a

26、 search engine that allows customers to enter descriptive search terms, such as "men's shirts," so they can quickly find the Web page containing what they want to purchase.,Remember, the most important rule

27、 of all commerce is: Never stand in the way of a customer who wants to buy something.,7.2.2 Shopping Cart,In the early days of electronic commerce, shoppers selected items they wanted to purchase by filling out online f

28、orms.,Using text box and list box form controls to indicate their choices, users entered the quantity of an item in the quantity text box, the SKU (stock- keeping unit) or product number in another text box, and the unit

29、 price in yet another text box. This system was awkward for ordering more than one or two items at a time.,One problem with forms-based shopping was that shoppers had to write down product codes, unit prices, and other i

30、nformation about the product before going to the order form, which was inevitably on another page.,Another problem was that customers sometimes forgot whether they had clicked the submit button to send in their orders.,A

31、s a result, they either sent the same order twice (pressing the submit button when they had already done so) or thought they had submitted the order when they really had not (consequently failing to submit the order). Th

32、e forms-based method of shopping was confusing and error prone.,First, many new customers found it difficult to remember the exact spelling of the goods names. Second, customers had to enter the goods prices, which were

33、located on a different Web page, in the text boxes. Thus, the customers needed to either write down or memorize the prices.,The forms-based method of ordering has given way to electronic shopping carts. Today, shopping c

34、arts are a standard of electronic commerce.,You all know that a shopping cart, also sometimes called a shopping bag or shopping basket, keeps track of the items the customer has selected and allows customers to view the

35、contents of their carts add new items, or remove items. To order an item, the customer simply clicks that item.,All of the details about the item. including its price, product number, and other identifying information, a

36、re stored automatically in the cart. If a customer later changes his or her mind about an item, he or she can view the cart's contents and remove the unwanted items. When the customer is ready to conclude the shoppin

37、g session, the click of a button executes the purchase transaction.,Clicking the Checkout button usually displays a screen that asks for billing and shipping information and that confirms the order. As you can see from t

38、he figure, the shopping cart software keeps a running total of each type of item. The shopping cart calculates a total as well as sales tax and shipping costs.,Shopping cart software at some Web commerce sites allows the

39、 customer to fill a shopping cart with purchases, put the cart in virtual storage, and come back days later to confirm and pay for the purchases.,A number of companies, including B1ZNET Internet Services, Ca

40、rtlt!, Sales Cart, and WebGenie Software, sell shopping cart software that sellers can add to their Web sites. These software packages range in price from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, plus an ongoi

41、ng monthly fee.,Because the web is a stateless system -----unable to remember anything from one transmission or session to another -----shopping cart information must be stored explicitly for the shopper to retriev

42、e later.,Furthermore, it must distinguish one shopper from another so that the purchases are not mixed up.,One way to uniquely identify users and store information about their choices is to create and store cookies, whic

43、h, as you learned in earlier chapters, are bits of information stored on a client computer. When a customer returns to a site that issued a particular cookie, the shopping software reads either the cookie from the custom

44、er's computer or the database record from the merchant's server.,If a shopper’s browser does not allow storage of cookies, sites can use another way to preserve shopping cart Information from one browser session

45、to another . Some electronic commerce software packages, such as Shop Site , do this by automatically assigning a shopper a temporary number.,The number is added to the end of the shopper's URL and persists as he or

46、 she navigates from one Web site to another.,When the customer returns, the URL still contains the bits of information about his or her shopping cart. When the customer closes the browser, the temporary number is discard

47、ed and thus cannot be reused, even if the customer later reopens the browser and returns to the same Web site.,7.2.3 Transaction Processing,Transaction processing occurs when the shopper proceeds to the virtual checkout

48、 counter by choking a checkout button. Then the electronic commerce software performs any necessary calculations, such as volume discounts, sales tax, and shipping costs .,At check out, the customer's Web browser sof

49、tware and the seller's Web server software both switch into a secure state of communication. Then a dialogue box will tell you that the browser is at a secure state to in or out.,Transaction processing

50、 can be the most complex part of the online sale. Computing taxes and shipping costs are important parts of this process, and site administrators must continually check tax rates and shipping tables to make sure they a

51、re current. Some software enables the Web server to obtain updated shipping rates by connecting directly to shipping companies to retrieve information.,Other calculation complications include provisions for coupo

52、ns, special promotions and time-sensitive offers; for example, "purchase a round-trip ticket before the end of the month and receive a 50 percent discount.",Some shopping cart software designed for sma

53、ll and midsize companies provides connections to accounting software so that Web sales can be entered simultaneously in the company's accounting system.,In larger companies, the integration of the Web site's tran

54、saction processing into the accounting and operation- control systems of the company can be very complex.,7.3 Advanced Functions of Electronic Commerce Software,In this section, you will learn about the features that la

55、rger companies need in their electronic commerce software.,Although there are exceptions, such as Amazon.com and Buy .com, most large companies that have electronic commerce operations also have substantial business acti

56、vity that is not related to electronic commerce.,Thus, It’s very important integrate electronic commerce activities into the company's other operations.,7.3.1 Middleware,Larger companies usually establish the connect

57、ions between their electronic commerce software and their existing accounting system by using a type of software called middleware Some large companies that have sufficient IT staff write their own middleware;,however mo

58、st companies purchase middleware that is customized for their businesses by the middleware vendor or a consulting firm. Thus, most of the cost of middleware is not the software itself, but the consulting fees needed to m

59、ake the software work in a given company.,Making a company's information systems work together is called interoperability and is an important goal of companies when they install middleware.,7.3.2 Enterprise Applicat

60、ion Integration and Databases,A program that performs a specific function, such as creating invoices, calculating payroll, or processing payments received from customers, is called an application program , application so

61、ftware or, more simply, an application.,An application server is a computer that takes the request messages received by the Web server and runs application programs that perform some kind of action based on th

62、e contents of the request messages.,The actions that the application server software performs are determined by the rules used in the business, These rules are called business logic. An example of a business rule is: Whe

63、n a customer logs in, check the password entered against the password file in the database.,7.3.3 Web Services,Companies are using Web services to offer improved customer service and reduce costs. In some companies, Web

64、 services are used to provide the XML data feeds that flow from one application to another in enterprise application integration efforts.,In other applications Web services provide data feeds between two different compan

65、ies.,J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., a major investment bank, uses Web services in its investment information portal. The Web services pull informations, such as general economic forecasts, financial analyses of specific co

66、mpanies, industry forecasts, and financial market results into continually updated online reports that customers can obtain on the J.P. Morgan Chase portal site.,The bank's customers could obtain all of the informati

67、on themselves, but the aggregation is a service that the bank provides. The information flow in this case is from the bank to its customers.,Vocabulary,opt / ?pt / vt. 選擇co-location 主機(jī)托管 leas

68、e / li:s / n. 租約,租期,租； vt. 出租,租出,租得Inventory / 'inv?ntri / n. 詳細(xì)目錄, 存貨清單counterpart / 'kaunt?pɑ:t / n. 相似之物(正副二份中之一,對(duì)應(yīng)物

69、),athletic /AW5letik/ a. 運(yùn)動(dòng)的gear. / gi? / n. 齒輪,傳動(dòng)裝置,工具,用具 vt. 以齒輪連起,配搭活動(dòng),安排feature / 'fi:t?? / n. 特征,容貌,特點(diǎn),特色,