Functions of E-commerce Software

With the variety of e-commerce sites comes a variety in the software developed to help keep the site up and running. While some larger sites may have a laundry list of software, there are three functions that even the most basic software must include, which are a catalog display, a shopping cart, and transaction processing.

When a e-commerce site uses a catalog display, it can be either static, which is done completely in HTML and is good for sites with few items; or it can be dynamic, in which there are many items and the site retrieves data from a database that contains information about the products on the site.

A shopping cart allows a user to choose the item(s) they want to purchase, then when they are ready, can go and finish the purchase.  Some shopping carts even have the option of selecting the items and purchasing them at a later point. 

The other function that must be included in any e-commerce software is transaction processing, or the processes that occur during the actual purchase a customer makes on an e-commerce site. 

There are some software functions that are needed by larger businesses that are not found in basic e-commerce software, such as middleware, enterprise application intergration and databases, web services, and integration with ERP systems.  Each of these is discussed below.

Middleware is software that is used to integrate the e-commerce software with accounting and inventory software.  This allows for faster transaction processing since people do not have to re-enter the information from a sale. The biggest costs from middleware come from making sure it will work in a particular company.

Enterprise application integration is when various business applications are linked in order to make things run smoother and faster than when the applications are not linked together.  This is accomplished by one program sending applicable information to another program.  Most of this information is located on databases, which allows for the information to be more organized. 

Web services is when one application in one business communicates with another program over a network via one of three protocols:  SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI.  Many businesses use Web services to "improve customer service and reduce costs," according to the book.  When programmed, the programmer is able to create the software without knowing the details of how the applications operate. Originally written in HTML, programmers are turning to XML to create the content.

SOAP is one of the protocols used and stands for Simple Object Access Protocol. It defines how the data is to be sent from one program to another via a network.
WSDL, or Web Services Description Language, describes the attributes of the Web services.
UDDI is a set of protocols that finds the locations of Web services and their WSDL descriptions.

There are some aspects of Web services that may hinder its use, namely the fact that it uses XML, which has many variations and thus businesses that use Web services must agree on the same XML variant.

ERP systems integrate all of the operations of a business into one system.  Due to the high cost, it is mainly used by businesses with a strong presence on the Web.

Alternatives

Software by Size

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