E COMMERCE COMPUTING

   Features of a E-commerce Website Freepikcompany(2021) There are several essential features that every e-commerce website should have in order to provide a smooth and enjoyable shopping experience for customers. These features include: User-friendly interface: The website should have a clean and easy-to-use interface that allows customers to navigate the site and find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Secure payment gateway: Customers need to feel confident that their personal and financial information is safe when making a purchase on an e-commerce website. The website should have a secure payment gateway that encrypts customer information and keeps it safe from hackers and fraudsters. Product pages: Each product should have a dedicated page with a clear and detailed description, high-quality images, and pricing information. Shopping cart: A shopping cart feature allows customers to add products to their cart as they browse the website and keep track of what the...

  Types of E-Commerce   Business to Customer(B2C) :This an online retail store or marketplace that sell directly to  end customers. Navolykina, M. (2021) Business to Business(B2B): This is a situation whereby a company sell a product or service directly to another company. Navolykina, M. (2021) Consumer to Business(C2B): A freelancer that offers writing services to business owner. Navolykina, M. (2021) Consumer to  Consumer: A consumer that sell new preloved products to another consumer. Navolykina, M. (2021) References Navolykina, M. (2021)  Ecommerce 101: Everything you need to know about eCommerce websites ,  X . Available at: https://www.x-cart.com/ecommerce-101.html (Accessed: January 12, 2023).

In this blog post, I will be sharing my experience of starting to use wix.com, including the progress I have made and the milestones I have achieved thus far. I am using wix.com to create a website, which is an easy and convenient way to establish an online business. Despite its simplicity, it requires significant effort to make it visually appealing and user-friendly. The first step is to create a Wix account and choose between starting from scratch or using an automatic template. While there is still a lot of room for customization, I opted for the automatic template. After choosing to create a customized template on wix.com, I was presented with different options for selecting the type of template I wanted for my homepage. The homepage is a critical element of any website as it creates the first impression for visitors. If the homepage appears unprofessional or is hard to navigate, visitors may leave and look for another website. The next step was to add items that I intended to sel...

A product page is a webpage found on a company's website that displays the inventory of products available for purchase. It serves as a platform to aid customers in making informed decisions on their desired purchases by providing details such as pricing, features, product reviews, and comparisons.   Well I will be analysing and comparing asos and secret sales SECRET SALES  Secret sales cater to an older demographic that seeks luxurious and high-end fashion items at reduced prices. Their selection of brands is limited to the likes of Michael Kors and Ted Baker. They employ a flash sale strategy, where select items are available at discounted prices for a limited period, creating a sense of urgency for customers to purchase while also limiting product availability. Their branding is centered around exclusivity and luxury, and their website design reflects this with a sleek and minimalist layout. Secret sales offers free shipping for orders above a certain amount and allows retu...

 CONTACT FORM A contact form is an interactive form that enables users of a website or application to input information that can be viewed by the operators of that website or application. It serves as a way for users to send information to the business or individual running the website, similar to sending an email, but instead of using an email program, the message is directly filled in on the website. To create a contact form, I added a contact form element to the desired page, which involved selecting the "Contact" category in the "Add" menu and choosing the form style. Once added, I customized the form by selecting the desired fields such as name, email, and message, adjusting their placement and design, and adding any additional necessary fields. Setting up notifications was crucial to ensure that inquiries were addressed promptly, and I received an email whenever someone submitted the form. Finally, I tested the form to ensure proper functionality and that I wa...

Wire framing is a technique for designing a website or service by planning its structure. It involves creating a layout of content and functionality on a page that considers the user's needs and journey. Typically used at the initial stages of development, wireframes establish the fundamental framework of a page before visual design and content are incorporated. Digital  and hand sketch of my website    https://app.moqups.com/ References What is a contact form and how do they work (no date) MajesticForm . Available at: https://www.majesticform.com/form-guides/what-is-contact-form#whatiscontactform (Accessed: March 16, 2023).

 CUSTOMER DATABASE A customer database is a computerized system that stores and manages customer data, including personal information and purchase history, in one central location. This database can be used to support customer relationship management efforts, improve customer service, and drive sales and marketing. Research by Salesforce suggests that businesses that use customer databases are more likely to have high customer satisfaction rates and achieve revenue growth compared to those that do not. Specifically, such companies are 2.2 times more likely to have high customer satisfaction rates and 2.1 times more likely to be top performers in revenue growth. This image displays an instance of a customer database that has been developed for my E-commerce website project. The database is a basic one that has been created using Excel. The primary objective of gathering information in my customer database is to get in touch with the customer. This information is crucial for establis...

Altvater, A. (2023)  The software development life cycle (SDLC) is a methodology used to guide the development of software applications from initial planning to final release and maintenance. It consists of a set of phases, each with specific objectives, tasks, and deliverables, aimed at ensuring the quality and effectiveness of the final software product. BENEFIT The benefits of the software development life cycle (SDLC) have been widely recognized in the software engineering field. Some of the key benefits of using SDLC in software development are discussed below. Improved Quality: The SDLC methodology provides a structured approach to software development that helps to ensure that the final product meets customer needs and quality standards. It includes rigorous testing and validation procedures, which help to detect and fix defects and errors before release. (Singh & Thakur, 2018) Better Project Management: The SDLC methodology helps to ensure that software development proj...

An ERD also called an entity-relationship model, is a visual representation that illustrates the connections between individuals, objects, locations, ideas, or occurrences in an IT system. Here is the   ERD Diagram I have made for my E-Commerce website data which demonstrate on draw.io Reference Biscobing, J. (2019) What is entity relationship diagram (ERD)?: Definition from TechTarget , Data Management . TechTarget. Available at: https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatamanagement/definition/entity-relationship-diagram-ERD#:~:text=An%20entity%20relationship%20diagram%20(ERD,information%20technology%20(IT)%20system. (Accessed: March 15, 2023).  

Today's post I will explore additional techniques for enhancing the search engine optimization (SEO) of our website and this post will provide a brief analysis of the HTML Alt and Title Tags and their significance in SEO. The ALT tag is a description of a picture or video on a webpage. It helps people understand the content of the image if it doesn't show up properly. Search engines also use this description to know what the image is about and how it relates to the web page's keywords. This can help your website show up higher in search results if you use good ALT tags for your images. (Moz, 2023.) The example shows that the description in the source code is precise and detailed for the image on the left. To create a good alt tag, it's important to provide an accurate description. You can test the effectiveness of the description by closing your eyes and listening to it. If you can create a mental image similar to the actual image, then the description is accurate. A t...

  M.T.C. and Dublin, D.G.O (2022) The 4Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Promotion, and Place) are essential to consider when establishing an online store. By understanding and focusing on the most relevant 4Ps, an online store can increase its chances of success in a competitive market. Product: The product is the main offering of the online store, which could be physical products, digital products, or services. An online store needs to offer products that are of high quality, meet customer needs, and are competitive in price. The store should focus on differentiating its products from those of its competitors by highlighting their unique features and benefits. Price: The price of products in an online store is critical as it affects customer purchase behavior. An online store should establish competitive pricing that is reflective of the quality of its products, the target audience, and the store's positioning. The store should also consider offering discounts, promotions, and loy...

                                                                          (`Curator, C.,2023) A database is a structured collection of information or data that is typically stored electronically in a computer system. A database management system (DBMS) controls the database, along with the associated applications, and together they form a database system. The data in most databases are organized into tables with rows and columns, allowing for efficient processing and querying. This structured data can be easily managed, modified, updated, controlled, and organized. SQL is the most common language used for querying and writing data in databases. Advantage   These include the following: Further developed information sharing:  The use of a database administration approach has the advantage of impro...

    Learn Computer Science (2021) An Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) is a visual representation of the data model of a system, depicting the entities and their relationships to each other. ERDs are commonly used in software engineering to describe the data requirements and relationships between different entities in a system. Component Entities are objects or concepts within a system that have data attributes associated with them. In an ERD, entities are represented by rectangles with their names written inside. For example, in a school database, entities may include students, teachers, and classes. Attributes are characteristics or properties of an entity. They describe the data that can be associated with an entity. In an ERD, attributes are represented by ovals connected to the entity. For example, attributes of a student entity may include student ID, name, and date of birth. Cardinalities describe the number of instances of one entity that can be related to another enti...