E-Commerce Security and Business Practices

This assignment delves into the critical aspects of running a secure and successful e-commerce business. It explores various security threats and best practices for protecting e-commerce sites from cyberattacks. The assignment also examines the importance of customer relationship management (CRM) in building customer loyalty and driving sales. Furthermore, it explains how databases function within e-commerce applications, enabling efficient data storage and retrieval. Understanding these concepts is crucial for establishing a robust and thriving online enterprise.

 In ever increasing economy, how the e-commerce trends have changed over the
years?
In early E-Commerce how user interface looked (1990s)
In early 1990s most websites were created with text. There was no online store until around 1994.
The user interface looked like a word document with individual columns filled with text and featured
screen to make a quick transaction. As the 90s progressed, individual columns changed to tables and
GIF images were becoming extremely popular. EBay and Amazon were just getting started at this
time. Security also became priority as first secure transaction happened in the U.K.
Tremendous Growth was seen in 90s for some E-commerce companies as we know today. There
were also flash animations used by web designers.
E commerce user interface design in early 2000s and late 2000s
In early 2000s, cascading style sheets (CSS) was used. This was effective as web designers can look
and feel of the design a considerable number of pages. The content and design is still in use today
because of low costs design.
In the middle and lately 2000s there was new scripting language called JavaScript to design more
powerful web pages which gives superior user experiences. At this stage, demand for numerous
products increased so they required a navigational menu apart from small menu which couldn’t
support navigation to even tons of pages. This navigational window consist of various web
applications and attractive contents with drop down windows where one can print a coupon, save their
favourite products in wish list and can share blog and can place multiple products in one go, all in the
same sitting.
Presently Electronic Commerce user interface
The evolutionary growth in mobile device posed a huge problem to web designers to entirely change
infrastructure of the e-commerce because earlier customers were having no interest in purchasing
items through tablets and phones. This resulted in the mobile interface along with the desktop
interface. Moving on effects like flash was not preferred anymore. Also customers have many options
like PayPal, companies E-wallet, cash on delivery etc to pay for their purchased items efficiently.
 How buying trends through e-commerce website and mobile app have changed?
Online shopping trends have changed significantly in the last few years. There used to be limited
number of few big online stores earlier and there are now thousands of stores selling products
worldwide on just one click.
Mobile app has opened a new era to do online shopping. It has shut down the use of many websites
in favour of mobile apps and its hasn’t been privilege for most companies however shopping through
mobile apps doesn’t make downfall in annual report, ultimately resulting in remarkable performance.
Nowadays customers prefer mobile apps over websites. With mobile apps purchasing things
becomes easier than websites. You can place orders from anywhere.
Shopping through mobile apps is getting stronger than before.

 Evolution price comparisons of e-commerce website have evolved?
It can’t be denied that e-commerce website is future of online retailers. Easy availability of internet has
given rise to purchasing portals that lists goods from various retailers. Different retailers set different
prices for their products so this makes it possible for customers to compare prices before purchasing
products.
This service of price comparison is a stop to the customers to get right product with lowest possible
price. This e-commerce websites also provide wide array of customer goods and services. Price
comparison may appear to focus only on big merchants but it can give an opportunity to small
merchants to showcase their wide variety of products.
 How the artificial intelligence will make the e-commerce website more users friendly?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of software to become proficient and acquire skill on the data
provided to it. AI is still away in understanding the human brain but in terms of e-commerce the strides
have been huge. The virtual economy is run in software to interpret massive amounts of data and
make real time changes to it. This has brought changes in how customer relates to product and how a
merchant relates to customers. Artificial intelligence benefits both groups- merchants and buyers.
Artificial intelligence brings an experience of personalization. This makes it easy for customers to
search in through the required content only.
Artificial intelligence has provided an idea of chat bots who answers customer queries from the FAQ
database without wait time and unnecessary interactions.
If customer is willing to search for an unknown name product, can upload that image into search area
like Google search bar. AI learns the elements and produces the related results. There are many
more features of artificial intelligence like shipment tracking. Tracking can be done in real time.
In this way Artificial intelligence makes shopping websites more user friendly.

 How the customer relationship management shall be managed in the e-commerce
platform?
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a crucial part of a successful e-commerce business.
Overall managing of consumer information is required in running of viable e-commerce. It allows your
company to manage business relationship in a centralized way. A customer relationship management
software allows to keep track of partnership and sales related information. It will greatly enhance the
internal visibility of any company.
CRM can be managed by performing various practices, strategies and technologies throughout the
customer lifecycle, with the goal of driving sales growth.
Firstly, limit the need for customer service. Consumer will have no need to call customer service to
resolve the issue. Simpler the user interface is more customers you get. This type of user interface
includes high definition images, accurately described things like prices and ratings, neatly described
categories and easy going of checkout.
Thoroughly going through customers needs and service provided by customer service executive to
them should be managed to ensure quality service.
 How the payment process shall be achieved with growing threats of cyber-attacks on
e-commerce websites?
Security of e-commerce websites is a major concern today. Users give importance to those websites
which gives utmost privacy and security to their transactions. With the growing threats of cyber
attacks e-commerce websites need to follow the trends to prevent breaches. Some of them are:-
1. Upgrading your business website with a secure socket layer (SSL). An SSL certificate is a
way to prevent threats over the internet. Generally electronic commerce website collects
sensitive information of their customers and to prevent the misuse of this information websites
needs to install SSL certificate. An SSL is a security protocol that establishes a secured
connection between client and server during transmission. It secures the sensitive information
like credit card numbers, login credentials and many such things.

2. Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard DSS is mandatory if the transaction is
made through credit card, it is company’s responsibility to protect consumer’s credential.
3. Use of strong passwords leads to a secured account.
4. E-commerce websites which saves credentials is mostly targeted. So save only what is
mostly required.
5. To build a robust e-commerce website choosing a right platform and applying unique security
features will save a lot of time and money.
6. Having a back-up is important; if main server fails we can immediately restore information.
 How the digital payment security is managed in the e-commerce website?
Security is a crucial part of any transaction that takes place over the internet. Digital payment security
is managed by fulfilling the essential requirements for safe e-payments:-
1. The confidentiality of information should not be accessible to unauthorized person.
2. Integrity is the feature which ensures that data is not intercepted during transmission over the
network.
3. Proper encryption and decryption of data by authorized person only.
4. Authentication of user should be done.
5. Digital signature is a type of e-signature authenticated through encryption and password. It
ensures the authenticity of information.
6. Security protocol like SSL, SHTTP etc. ensures the security of transactions.
In this way digital payment can be done securely.
 How the user data shall be managed in the e-commerce website database?
Database is a system that organizes data in form tables and relationships between tables. Database
is accessible in various ways. The data you store can be easily retrieved like you want to see orders
in yours wish list, previous order list etc. Mainly the database is to store and retrieve information.

User data is managed in e-commerce website in such a way that only authorized person can only get
access to it. User creates an account in e-commerce website for shopping online by filling his
credentials. These credentials are encrypted using database modifiers. User critical information like
credit card information is secured by several security protocols. All the information related to user is
maintained, encrypted in a definite way. This all is maintained in transaction data content.
 How to check the authenticity of the product on the e-commerce website?
Before buying the product its authenticity checking is very important. The best way to know the
product is genuine is to check the originality of e-commerce website. Customer can go through the
reviews of websites through various ways like Facebook, Twitter and its very own website. If customer
is lacking to do so, can apply for cash on delivery in this way your money is secured till you get the
product.
Secure socket layer certification can also be checked if any doubt of originality of product.
Company websites give their address and contact information. Scam websites generally share fake
information about them. Customers can call on the mentioned numbers or can send an email to the
respective representatives to ensure the loyalty of website.
An e-commerce portal always mentions its policies and terms and conditions. So it is better for the
customer to spend some time going through the policies before buying the product.
All this ways are beneficial to check the authenticity of products.

References
Ellie martin (2017). How the Standard E-Commerce UX Has Changed Over the Years.
[Online] Available at:
http://www.mytotalretail.com/article/how-the-standard-e-commerce-ux-has-changed-over-the-years-
and-what-to-expect-in-the-future/ [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Nida Rasheed (2017). Changes in Shopping Trends (and How You Can Use Them to
Boost Sales!). [Online] Available at:
https://ecommerce-platforms.com/articles/6-changes-shopping-trends-can-use-boost-sales
[Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Anonymous (2017). Ecommerce Sites Or Ecommerce Apps: What Will Be The Trend Of 2017?
[Online] Available at:
http://www.impingesolutions.com/blogs/Ecommerce-Sites-Or-Ecommerce-Apps-What-Will-Be-The-
Trend-Of-2017 [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Anonymous (2017). How to use price comparison service for E-commerce? [Online] Available at:
https://www.promptcloud.com/blog/how-to-use-price-comparison-service-for-E-commerce/
[Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Ankit Dudhewala (2014). E-Commerce in India – Past, Present & Future. [Online] Available at:
http://www.iamwire.com/2014/07/e-commerce-in-india-past-present-future/27805
[Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Elena Malykhina (2017). Ecommerce 2020: Sites, Consumer Expectations Evolving Fast. [Online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2016/07/14/ecommerce-2020-sites-consumer-
expectations-evolving-fast/#4f740c26a82a [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].

Reed Patterson (2017). Artificial Intelligence in ecommerce: the customer experience. [Online] Available
at:
https://www.dotcomweavers.com/artificial-intelligence-ecommerce-part-1/ [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Kibocommerce.com (2017). Artificial Intelligence and Ecommerce: Entering This Brave New World.
[Online] Available at:
http://www.kibocommerce.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-ecommerce/ [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Channelreply.com (2017). What Amazon Teaches Us About CRM Strategy? [Online] Available at:
https://www.channelreply.com/blog/view/amazon-crm-strategy [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Margaret Rouse (2000-2017). Customer relationship management (CRM). [Online] Available at:
http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/CRM
[Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Cheapsslsecurity.com (2017). How to Shield E-Commerce Business from Growing Risk of Cyber-attacks.
[Online] Available at:
https://cheapsslsecurity.com/blog/how-to-shied-e-commerce-business-from-growing-risk-of-cyber-
attacks/ [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Tenovia.com (2017). 7 ways to protect your ecommerce site from security threats. [Online] Available at:
http://www.tenovia.com/blog/7-ways-to-protect-your-ecommerce-site-from-security-threats/

[Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Ekutumb.com (2017). 7 Payment Security Measures to Deal E-commerce Security Threats. [Online]
Available at:
http://ekutumb.com/payment-security-measures-to-deal-ecommerce-security-threats/
[Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Practicalecommerce.com (2017). How Databases Work with Ecommerce Applications. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/How-Databases-Work-with-Ecommerce-Applications
[Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Elementarydigital.co.uk (2017). HOW DATABASES WORK WITH YOUR ECOMMERCE WEBSITE.
[Online] Available at:
https://www.elementarydigital.co.uk/how-databases-work-with-your-ecommerce-website/
[Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Charmie Prajapati (2014). How to Determine Authenticity of an E-Commerce Website? [Online]
Available at: http://www.technotactics.in/2014/06/how-to-determine-authenticity-of-an-e-commerce-
website/ [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].
Pooja vishant and Gunaseelan Mani (2017). How do ecommerce sites like Flipkart, Snapdeal make
sure that the markeplace does not sell fake and old products? [Online] Available at:

https://www.quora.com/How-do-ecommerce-sites-like-Flipkart-Snapdeal-make-sure-that-the-
markeplace-does-not-sell-fake-and-old-products [Accessed 25 Aug 2017].