E-Commerce... Attracting Customers!!!

Along with the Social media websites, businesses with online commerce is also taking the cream off the internet! From Amazon to eBay, there are online markets appearing everywhere! So what is e-commerce? As we learnt in class, E-commerce involves digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals.

E-Commerce today is very helpful to both consumers and business. This is because of the SEVEN Unique Features Of E-Commerce as given in the table below.

I won't go into the details of these features as we have learnt them in the class but these features have made e-commerce very easy to use.

Now that we know what it is, lets find out what we need to do to attract consumers if we make our own e-commerce website.

Firstly, to attract consumers, we need have a precise idea of WHO our consumers are. Once we know who our consumers are and what would attract them, we start with our website.

In 1997, the American Management Association surveyed 3,500 of its members on the business use of the Internet and identified three human interface design issues among the top six obstacles to increased e-commerce: slow response time, lack of user friendliness, and poor web site design. Two years later, Anders reports these are still among the critical success factors for an e-commerce site. The primary factor in determining e-commerce user loyalty, according to Anders, is having a web site that is "user friendly and easy to navigate." The other leading success factors are good previous experience, fast response time, and relevant, frequently updated content.

Secondly, the web site should be human friendly so using a human interface design becomes a necessity to attract users. Designing the human interface to an e-commerce web site should focus on gaining the user's attention, orienting the user to the business that will be transacted, and retaining the user's attention. The goal is to achieve active participation by the user in the web site. This requires understanding how to extend the human perception of the business transaction in such a way that the computer, and thus the web site itself, becomes virtually transparent.

There are three components of a user interface design for software user interfaces that are still relevant for discussing or evaluating e-commerce web sites. First, there is the user's conceptual model that helps the user anticipate the effect of the input he/she provides to the web site. The second component is the information presented by the web site, which should be consistent with the user's conceptual model. Finally, there is the feedback provided by the web site in response to user input.

To learn more about conceptual model, please visit the website: http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds7-1/ecuser.html

Information presentation is also a very big factor in attracting consumers. The look and feel of an e-commerce website should be based on the user requirement. The layout of the page should not only be easy to understand, it should also be attractive and sophisticated. Attractive features such as colorful pictures, videos etc should be added. However, if videos are added make sure that there is a mute and stop/pause feature in the video so that the user can interrupt the video whenever he/she wants to. Also, overuse of these attractive pictures may put off the users so avoid using them. Don't use clashing and too bright colors as they might make your site loose its credibility.

Along with the layout, the information included should also be concise and easy to understand. Include the information in a "flat hierarchy" which means that hierarchy of information should be apparent at a glance so the user easily understands the information available on a page.

Feedback is another important feature in your website. The interactive cycle between a user and a web site is not complete until the web site responds to a command entered by the user. A lag in loading a page or a blank page would result in skewing of the user's perception. This could mean a loss of the particular user. Finally, feedback should not distract the user. Actions and reactions made by the web site should be meaningful. Feedback should not draw the user's attention away from the important tasks of gathering information, selecting products, and placing orders.

There you go! Successful website building is related not only to your product and consumer profile, it also depends on the website layout and the feedback!

Here is a great video which effectively summarizes and adds to my points in the blog above!

YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM SOCIALITIS!

Do you all have internet at home? I guess! Do you have a Facebook, Twitter, MySpace account/s? Of course! Its an amazing way of socializing with your current and old friends! Its also a platform where all of us can make new friends. The meaning of the ‘pen-pal’ has taken a new turn with the introductions of all these socializing sites. That is why there is a boom of social media!

Headlines like those below are not uncommon today.

Burglar Forgot To Log Off Facebook. Got Apprehended

THANK GOD: Facebook Saves Suicidal Boy!

Facebook Got Man Out Of Jail

But is FB the answer to everything? Would we after a point of time just make do with these social media sites in order to keep in touch? What about the personal touch? The phone calls and the meeting places… Would we give all of it up due to the presence of the Social Media sites?

Facebook isn’t all good either! There are occasions where Facebook has done bad as much as it has done good.

Here is a video which talks about the privacy issues of Facebook.

I was browsing sites on Fabebook for my blogs when I chanced upon this news:

Facebook Message Got Red Haired Boy Beaten

This news got me thinking. As the article said, Facebook facilitated a group which in turn told 12 yr olds to beat up Red-Haired people.

“Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the network relies on its more than 300 million users to report problems with groups or events. Staff members then follow up to see if groups should be removed or reported to law enforcement, he said. Schnitt said he had not been made aware of this specific message or group.

“Inciting violence against any individual or group is against what we stand for and our policies,” Schnitt said.”

If inciting violence is against Facebook’s policies, isn’t there a better method available to stop this kind of violence? The article also talked about the age limit. This brings us back to parental control. Is it Facebook’s fault if kids are not being supervised by their parents? Shouldn’t parents monitor what their kid’s social media activities?

Facebook also allows people to be gauged and discriminated by others. I know of a case where after a bad break-up, the guy actually told all his friends to stalk the girl on Facebook and post threatening messages on her wall. This harassment went on for a long time and even after everyone was blocked, the guy continued spreading bad word about the girl on his own account. Because both had mutual friends, the girl suffered through a lot because of this.

We have to be careful. As with any product, social media web sites such as Facebook comes with its own set of pros and cons and its up to us to use it in a correct manner.

Internet: The Start of a New Era

Internet is now so deeply integrated into our lives today, from sending emails, downloading songs to connecting people thousands of miles away, that we don't seem to realize that there is a life beyond it.

Libraries are obsolete for research papers as now we have online journals to support us, people can choose not to go to the theatres to watch movies as HD-quality movies are available online. Just thinking of life without the Internet is impossible today!

But there was a point of time where people had to do without the Internet. There were letters instead of emails, expensive international phone calls instead of the free VoIP services such as Skype that the internet provides. So where did the journey of the Internet begin?

The first social interactions that could be enabled through networking was a series of memos written by J.C.R. Licklider of MIT in August 1962 discussing his "Galactic Network" concept. 1962... nearly half a century ago! Through many phases (Web 1.0 - 3.0), the Internet is where it is today! In fact today, we have a periodic table for Web 4.0!!! Interesting right?

To see the enlarged version of this, please visit: http://www.wellingtongrey.net/miscellanea/archive/2007-06-23--periodic-table-of-the-internet.html

I am sure many of you would have faced the problem of explaining the workings of the Internet to your parents or grandparents. Now place your selves in their shoes. Our parents lived through the invention of the television, the phone the radio etc. My dad still tells me how his dad (my grandfather) preferred to write letters and wait for the reply, instead of using the phone and when, once he NEEDED to use the phone, he had a lot of trouble grasping the concept of talking to someone who is in a different country altogether!

Its scary to think that there would be a time when OUR kids would be explaining US what something means! The pace at which the Internet is growing is scary. Web 3.0 is just a beginning which will make life EVEN more easier than it is now and then there is Web 4.0 which is the ubiquitous web. I wont bore anyone by delving further into the nitty gritties of Web 4.0 but it surely is coming!

The fast paced development means that the future of Internet is starts with today. As Mr. Choy repeatedly emphasised in class, the first two years of a 4 year IT course would be obsolete by the end of the course. How do we keep up with this?? Its hard, but by being up-to-date with the developments it is possible!