Chapter 4

Chapter 4

1.    Name the six main pieces of the e-commerce site puzzle.
Organizational Capabilities, Hardware Architecture, human resources, software site design, and telecommunications.

2.    Define the systems development life cycle and discuss the various steps involved in creating an e-commerce site.

The systems development life cycle is a methodology for understanding the business objectives of any system and designing an appropriate solution. The various steps involved in creating an e-commerce site are Systems analysis/planning, systems design, building the system, testing, and implementation.

3.    What are the three main factors to consider when choosing the best platform for your Web site?
Business objectives, system functionalities, information requirements.

4.    Why is Web server bandwidth an important issue for e-commerce sites?
The larger the bandwidth the more customers can simultaneously hit a site.

5.    Compare and contrast the various scaling methods. Explain why scalability is a key business issue for Web sites.

Vertical scaling refers to increasing the processing power of individual components. Horizontal scaling refers to employing multiple computers to share the workload and increase the “footprint” of installation. Improving the processing architecture is a combination of vertical and horizontal scaling, combined with artful design decisions. Scalability is a key business issue for Web sites because as traffic to a site increases, the size of the site should be able to increase to.

6.    What are the eight most important factors impacting Web site design, and how do they affect a site’s operation?

Functionality—Pages that work, load quickly, and point the customer toward your product offering.
 Informational—Links that customers can easily find to discover more about you and your products.
Ease of use—Simple fool-proof navigation.
Redundant navigation—Alternative navigation to the same content.
Ease of purchase—One or two clicks to purchase.
Multi-browser functionality—Site works with the most popular browsers.
Simple graphics—Avoids distracting, obnoxious graphics and sounds that the user cannot control.
Legible text—Avoids backgrounds that distort text or make it illegible.

7.    Name and describe three tools used to treat customers individually. Why are they significant to e-commerce?

You could personalize Web content if you knew the personal background of the visitor. You could also analyze the pattern of clicks and sites visited for every customer who enter your site. The primary method for  achieving personalization and customization is through the placement of cookie files on the user’s client computer.

<:AtomicElement><:HighlightText> 

8.    What are some of the policies e-commerce businesses must develop before launching a site and why?
A privacy policy is a set of public statements declaring to your customers how you treat their personal information that you gather on the site. Accessibility rules are a set of design objectives that ensure disabled users can effectively access your site.