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Online shopping

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Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the internet. An online shop, internet shop, webshop or online store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for B2B or B2C. Online shopping is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

Price comparison

An advantage of shopping online is being able to use the power of the internet to seek out the lowest prices for items or services. For example if one is buying a digital camera he/she should enter "digital camera" into a search engine or a price search engine. Most price comparison services have the advantage of store ratings and reviews. Getting the lowest price is important but it is more important to make sure the merchant or store the customer is purchasing from is reputable.

Coupons

There are multiple website that compile coupon information for most online merchants. Before purchasing online, it is usually worth checking for coupons. Typing the name of the online merchant along with the word "coupon" in a search engine will provide multiple results. Some of the more popular coupon websites have forums where you can ask for help hunting down a deal if you don't have the time.

Rebates

There are at least three major shopping portals that provide members rebates for shopping via their sites. How does it work? The merchants pay the portals for the business; the portals share the proceeds with the member. Rebates usually range in the 2-5% range. Membership is free, but some portals require a higher rebate balance before payout. Some will send out a payment automatically, others wait until the member requests one. If you join, be sure to read the fine print so you understand the rebate program.

Additional information can also be found at Online shopping rewards.

Steps when buying online

Just as in a physical store viewing the contents of the cart can be done at any time.
Quantities of products can be changed or deleted.
  • Checkout
Log in or register by choosing a username and a password.
Enter personal data.
Billing address
Shipping address (can be different from the billing address)
Phone number
E-Mail address (usually optional)
Choose means of payment
Choose delivery speed and method (post, courier and logistics service, etc.)
  • Confirm order
After editing the personal data a confirmation page is displayed so that the online shopper can approve, change or abort the order.
  • Logout

Means of payment

Online shoppers commonly use their Credit card for making payments, however some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as

Once a payment has been accepted the goods or services can either be downloaded from the internet or delivered to the consumer via traditional means.

Security issues

  • User and payment data is encrypted by SSL when it is transferred on the Internet.
  • Quality seals can be placed on the Shop webpage if it has undergone an independent assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of these seals is to increase the confidence of the online shoppers; the existence of many different seals foils this effort to a certain extent.
  • Privacy of personal information is a big issue. In spite of Privacy Guidelines of the OECD, for example, privacy violations still occur and hamper eCommerce from developing to its full potential.

Setting up a shopping cart system

  • Simple systems allow the offline administration of products and categories. The shop is then generated as HTML files and graphics that can be uploaded to a webspace. These systems don't use an online database.
  • A high end solution can be bought or rented as a standalone program or as an addition to an ERP program. It is usually installed on the company's own webserver and may integrate very well into the existing supply chain so that ordering, payment, delivery, accounting and warehousing can be automated to a large extent.
  • Other solutions allow the user to register and create an online shop on a portal that hosts multiple shops at the same time.
  • Open Source solutions can be adapted and installed on a webspace.
  • There are also commercial systems that can be tailored to ones needs so that the shop does not have to be created from scratch. By using a framework already existing, software modules for different functionalities required by a webshop can be adapted and combined.
  • There are a number of online retail professional services providers who offer e-commerce and internet marketing to retailers. For example,Screen Pagesin the UK has over 50 online retail clients, including Thorntons, Crew Clothing, Floris and Corgi.

Free software

History

  • 1990: Tim Berners-Lee wrote "The WorldWideWeb browser" using a NeXT computer.
  • 1994: Netscape released the Navigator browser in October under the code name Mozilla. Pizza Hut offered pizza ordering on its Web page. The first online bank opened. Attempts to offer flower delivery and magazine subscriptions online. "Adult" materials were also commercially available cars and bikes Netscape 1.0 in late 1994 introduced SSL encryption that made transactions secure.
  • 1995: Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com and the first commercial 24 hr. internet only radio station "Radio HK" started broadcasting. Dell and Cisco began to aggressively use Internet for commercial transactions.
  • 1996: eBay was founded.
  • 1998: Electronic postal stamps can be purchased and downloaded for printing from the Web.
  • 1999: business.com was sold for US $7.5 million (purchased 1997 for US $150,000) The peer-to-peer filesharing software "Napster" was launched.
  • 2000: The dot-com bust.
  • 2001: Merger of AOL and Time Warner.
  • 2003: Amazon.com: first-ever full-year profit.

See also

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