Archive for the Category »ECommerce «

SSL For Ecommerce

01 Sep 2010 | By admin

Building an eCommerce store without SSL would be like opening up shop in a war zone—no matter the quality of the product you are selling, customers won’t feel safe doing business with you. When making an online transaction, customers need to know that their sensitive information is being transmitted securely to a trusted web site. If web users have apprehensions about sending their credit card information to your web site, your potential customers may go elsewhere, and sales will be lost. SSL certificates provide a way to build trust between you and your customers by securing transactions and signifying that your site has been deemed trustworthy by an online trust authority.

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and has been the standard for secure internet transactions since 1994. SSL is a protocol for encrypting the data sent between a user’s web browser and the web site he is visiting. Normally, information sent from a web browser to a website is sent in plain text, easily read by anyone who happens to be listening. By using SSL, you can provide your potential web customers with peace of mind, knowing that when they type in their credit card information and click “submit,” their information will be transmitted safely and securely to your web site to be processed.

The benefit of SSL is two-fold. First, secure certificates which make SSL possible must be obtained through issuing authorities such as VeriSign and Thawte. These authorities will only issue certificates to companies they find legitimate and trustworthy. Through the issuing process customers can be assured that your web site is trustworthy because a trusted authority has given its stamp of approval. Second, by using SSL, data is sent in an encrypted form, so it cannot be easily deciphered by anyone but the intended recipient.

Who Needs SSL?

Any web site that sends or receives sensitive information such as credit card numbers should use SSL. All sections of the web site need not be secure, only the pages transmitting the sensitive data.

How It Works (The Technical Details)

1. A customer comes to a web site and begins the check-out process. The check-out process will transfer the customer to a secure page indicated by https:// in the URL and a padlock or key icon in the browser, signifying that the connection is secure.

2. The web site sends the customer’s browser a digital certificate, and the customer’s browser checks to make sure the certificate is authentic.

3. The customer’s browser and the web site exchange encryption keys whichallow them to transmit encrypted data that can only be decrypted with these keys.

4. An SSL connection is established, and the browser and server begin communicating securely.

How to Get Started Using SSL on Your Web Site Contact your webmaster and request a CSR (Certificate Signing Request). The CSR is a block of unreadable text that you will need in order to get a secure certificate. Go to a trusted authority (We recommend www.verisign.com or www.thawte.com.) and purchase a secure certificate. During the check-out process, you will be asked for your CSR. After you have been verified by the issuer, you will be sent a digital certificate. Give this certificate to your webmaster to install. (Note: Your site must have a unique IP address to use SSL. If you do not know if you have a unique IP, contact your webmaster.)

Category: ECommerce  Tags: ,  One Comment

The United States Ecommerce

29 Aug 2010 | By admin

Online shopping will soon become the main avenue of shopping in the US. The early users back then were only the highly educated white males, otherwise known as the “techies.” Nowadays, times have changed and so have the consumers for online shopping. Just about every household now has a computer or two. And anybody who owns a computer has made at least one purchase online.

As more and more people shop online, there had to be a way to track the trends of these online services, so that the retailers could get some feedback and then provide the consumer with constant improvements. This is where b2c ecommerce comes into play. They help track the latest trends of the online shopper and then provide this information to the retailers.

With this b2c ecommerce information, the retailers can make improvements to their business. And with these improvements and new technologies, the shopper now has even more tools to help them evaluate what they’re shopping for, prior to making a purchase. One of the biggest improvements that has been made online has been the ability for the consumer to comparison shop side by side for a particular item. With the click of a button, the consumer can now get numerous quotes from different retailers selling the same item.

These are some of the improvements that the retailers have made over the years; customers can now return their merchandise if they are not completely satisfied and they can either pick up their purchase or have it delivered right to their front door. As well, thanks to newer and more secure technology, customers now feel much more secure in using their credit cards online. Whereas a few years ago, people were a little apprehensive about giving their credit card number over the Internet.

Common Questions Answered by B2C Ecommerce

* How fast will my sales grow?
* Which part of the US shows in the largest growth of ecommerce
* What do consumers think is the biggest advantage to online shopping vs. conventional shopping?
* What is the greatest risk to online shopping?

B2C ecommerce will answer questions like this and many others to help the consumer be more confident when shopping online.

Market Size and Growth

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) estimated that the US ecommerce retail sales for 2003 was over $56 billion; compared to a little over $44 billion in 2002. Of course the heaviest amount of sales for 2003 came in the fourth quarter during the holiday season. B2C ecommerce has reported that there is a lot of room for sales growth, considering it has only accounted for 1.5% of total retail sales in 2003

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Ecommerce Software and Web Hosting Facts

16 Jun 2010 | By admin

If you are involved in the business of buying and selling products and services on the Internet then you should definitely seek the assistance of ecommerce software to find easy and effective solutions for your business transactions. Not only will you be provided with your own ecommerce shopping cart software tools that can take complete care of the online transactions with your customers, but you will also receive solutions regarding your website design and affiliate programs to help market your products to earn higher sales.

Web 2.0

Many know about the concept of Web 2.0 that is catching up so fast with the World Wide Web. This is the newest and latest technology on the block that makes the Internet experience for the common man an exhilarating one. With software changing the face of website and making browsing a simple process of a couple of smooth clicks, the Web 2.0 is the new Internet. Similar technologies have create the Ecommerce 2.0 that makes shopping online a different experience altogether. Matching up with the advances in Web 2.0, Ecommerce 2.0 has been created to provide substantial benefits to those who deal with business transactions online and provide a solution to their shopping experience.

Ecommerce 2.0

If you want to function better on Ecommerce 2.0, you may need to learn all about Ecommerce as it what in it previous version. If you remember correctly you will realize that our primary concern regarding online transactions when they were first introduced on the Internet was security of the personal and financial data that we revealed through them voluntarily or involuntarily. Credit card details, bank account numbers, etc were divulged to websites from which we purchased products and services. Ecommerce technology was built in order to make these transactions most secure.

The web pages that we visited and gave out our personal details need to be secure enough to make sure that this information is not leaked or displayed for public viewing purpose. Credit card fraud and financial account hacking was a common fear in people’s minds when they made online transactions. Nowadays, online transactions are taken care of by Ecommerce shopping cart software and other such tools.

Today’s eCommerce software offers a variety of tools to assist your marketing and sales efforts. For example, some carts use a variety of templates and layouts that let you build your own virtual showroom so that its appearance coordinates with the rest of your website. This powerful presentation often results in increased website sales because the transition from shopping to checking out is so smooth. In short, you can offer a much better processing look when you have your own shopping cart. But that isn’t everything you get when you have your own cart. You’ll also be able to monitor activity to see if you lose shoppers due to navigation or other problems, letting you correct any issues as needed.

Shopping software can give you more freedom to set up customized messages and they can immediately add your customers to your database and accounting system. With payment options including credit cards, bank accounts (checking / savings) and PayPal, you simply need to set up a special “Thank You!” autoresponder for good customer service and follow up afterward (for more sales and for referrals)

Category: ECommerce  Tags: ,  3 Comments
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