The plan for growth and traffic peaks has to be made before they occur, and for help during difficulties it is important that the supplier is available at that time. In the case of America's Gardening resources, the traffic during their peak season became more than 11 times the traffic that they have during normal seasons. (Gardener's Supply) This is an important point that has to be decided before the consultant is chosen.
There are different types of technology that can be used and some are by Microsoft and others are on open source like Linux operating system, Tomcat application server and Apache Web server. Some of the experts are now capable of building, refreshing or reconstructing the e-commerce site of its clients with software which is totally open-source and this will avoid all software licensing costs when the site is operating. For a major retail web site, these costs can go up to as much as $300,000 for a year. This has been seen in some cases, and one retailer had a marketing site based on Microsoft's Active Server Pages Technology and this organization is now planning to shift to an OCP platform running on IBM's WebSphere application server on an Intel-based Linux server for its e-commerce site. (Web retailers go open-source)
Another marketing organization has decided to continue with the IBM DB2 database that it has as also its SAP AG NetWeaver application server, but is changing the mode of operation to Linux. Even when retailers buy different types of commercial software, there is a general requirement to customize them as no commercial software needs meet all requirements of an organization. Some software is built in a manner that they are designed with customization in mind. There are also software available that says "All for a fraction of the time and money that it would take to develop and launch a similar system internally." (Sell your products online with MonsterCommerce Shopping Cart...
This should be able to show the different varieties of shoes that are available from the shop, their sizes and prices. After going through the models, then there should be demonstrations of the concerned models of shoes on suitable individuals, so that the potential customer can get an idea as to how it will look on the person that the customer is buying the shoes for. This part of the site should be in the open are, but the models and demonstration photographs should not be capable of copying by others. Then after the model is chosen, the visitor should have an option of placing an order, and for this he should be able to pay, and provide name and address for the material to be sent. This part of the matter should be transferred to the storage portion also, so that later mailings can be sent to the user with permission taken initially during his visit.
Conclusion:
Ecommerce is a useful extension of marketing area for any retailer and must be used for that purpose.
References
E-Commerce. Retrieved at http://www.clever4.net/webdesign/ecommerce.aspxAccessed on 7 August, 2005
Sell your products online with MonsterCommerce Shopping Cart Software! Retrieved at http://www.monstercommerce.com/?utm_source=business&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=ecommerceAccessed on 7 August, 2005
Web retailers go open-source. 23 February, 2004. Retrieved at http://www.computerworld.com/developmenttopics/development/story/0,10801,90366,00.html. Accessed on 7 August, 2005
Port City Web. 10 February, 2005. Retrieved at http://www.portcityweb.com/company_press.asp?press=02102005. Accessed on 7 August, 2005
Gardener's Supply. Retrieved at http://www.frymulti.com/clients/gardeners.asp. Accessed on 7 August, 2005
