Introduction
Online shopping, also known as online retailing is a modern form of marketing goods and services. It entails use of the Internet to buy and sell goods or services. The Internet is a key factor in online shopping because it provides the electronic systems that are required. This process eliminates the need for intermediary services. As a global system, Internet provides a wide market for the online shopping process.
Background
As a key way to promote trade and business, the creation of online shopping website is important. The buyer and seller can do business over the Internet without meeting physically. The gain of this system is flexibility in location. It also supports the provision of new and different products or services (Newman, 2001).
Technology
The technology process in creating online shopping website is the most important. The creation of online shopping website involves use of a software system. This integrated development environment is a tool used to create the website. The website is created to offer products or services to the consumer. It is also meant to enable online payment methods through wire transfer and the use of credit card. It is created to offer information to consumers on different pages. The pages include the home page, the product and services page, the purchasing page and the contact us page. These pages vary depending on the type of online shopping website. The home page not only provides information about sellers, but also their activities. The product and services page offer the goods, or merchandise that is offered by the merchant and is available for sale. The purchasing page offers the payment form where the buyer can incorporate personal details and payment for the purchased products. The contact us page offers the customer a means of communicating with the seller (Cai & Xu, 2010).
The technology process involves various procedures. These include getting a domain name, creating your online store through hosting or software, adding products, choosing design and setting up payment and shipping options. The first step is getting a domain name. This is where one opens a store in the internet. This process involves finding a domain name and then registering it. The second step is the most crucial process. It involves the process of creating the online store. It is the launch of the online store. In this process, there are two options, which include purchasing shop-script software and its installation in the shared server. In using the software, PHP software is implemented. This is used for running the website on a server, which is a shared web hosting account. Through this, the website will be on a server managed by the owner. This gives full administrative control of the website. In using the hosting service, the files are pre-installed in the servers.
The technology of creating online websites relates to information technology in many ways. These relations mainly include the process of transmitting, storing and manipulating data. Data transmission involves the aspects of transmitting, propagating and receiving data. The online shopping website uses these aspects to assist communication between the seller and the buyer.
The online shopping website is managed by the merchant or seller of the product and services. The management of the website content can be achieved through web content management system software. This system can be used to create and manage the content easily. The website management regularly updates the website. This includes changing the online products depending on the stock and market interest. In addition, the change in prices of the different products and services must be changed in order to reflect the market price. This will gain the interest of the consumers (Plumley, 2011).
Potential benefits
There are various advantages to both the seller and buyer of the offered goods or services when an online shopping website is created. The website creation advantages the seller in many ways. It grants the seller flexibility in location and working hours. The seller can operate the business at any time since it does not have limited working hours. This is an advantage to the seller since his/her goods or services are always available to the buyer at any given time. It is relatively cheap to create and operate. It also offers the seller the opportunity to be able to share ideas, information and knowledge instantaneously with the buyer through instant communication such as, Internet chat, social networks, or instant messaging system.
The buyer advantages form online shopping website in many ways. It grants the buyer easy communication with the seller. It grants the buyer a chance to view the goods or services before handling them physically. This enables the buyer to see if the product or service tally with the one he/she is searching. It also grants the buyer convenience. The buyer can access the website and obtain the needed. Through the online shopping website, the buyers can find and collect information about goods or services and their prices.
Legal and Ethical Issues
There have been several issues caused by online shopping website creations. They relate to legal and ethical issues as part of development in information technology. The legal issues relate to the implications of rules and laws that are meant to govern the online shopping website. The legal issues are mainly implemented by the government in order to restrict the illegal and unlawful acts committed in the online world. This is important because it protects the society from any illegalities. On the other hand, ethical issues related to the society’s concerns over the sale of some products/services via the online shopping website arise. These issues concern the sale of products that are legal, though affect the society in various ways. For instance, selling alcohol as a product is legal, but it is prohibited from being sold to minors.
Security Concerns
The main security concern to the seller is the risk of fraudulent purchases. The seller can sell goods or services to a buyer who is using stolen credit cards. The seller also faces computer security concerns. This is because of the threat posed by hackers (Nahari & Krutz, 2011).
The main security concern to the buyer is the inability to check and examine the products or goods before purchases are made. This is a major disadvantage since one cannot determine the feature and condition of the merchandise and therefore, may end up purchasing a faulty product. The buyer is also at risk of identity theft. He is always exposed to people who hack online shopping websites. The buyer is also at risk of manipulation by malicious parties that pose as reputable retailers with the intention of fooling the consumer.
Social Problems
The society has suffered various social problems through online shopping websites. The issues concerning privacy have become a major concern. The individual and society have their personal information at risk of being stolen by unauthorized people. The websites have also been used to sell illegal goods and services. Some of the websites have been used to offer the sale of unlawful and prohibited products such as drugs and human trafficking. This has turned into a major threat to society and its members since the sale is done to all ages. This puts minors at risk (Laudon & Traver, 2010).
Further Required Research
A lot is learnt from the process of creating online shopping website. Several issues need to be addressed in order to make the process a success. A research should be done to determine the security levels of websites created and the most attacked websites. This will show the type of websites mostly attacked and the reason they are attacked. The attacks depend on the products and services they offer. This will assist in finding the solution to the identified problems.
Conclusion
The importance of online shopping website is evident since it serves many people and offers services easily. It is a significant strategy in the marketing world. It is a rewarding process since the Internet has marketed online businesses. It is a significant factor in conducting business. As a means of offering consumers products and services, it has proved to be easy, fast, effective and efficient.
Annotation
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Laudon and Traver (2010) discuss the technology concerning e-commerce in business and society.
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Cai and Xu (2010) provide various suggestions for business to consumer e-commerce practitioners on the steps followed while designing a Web interface.
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Nahari and Krutz (2011) show how to design and develop secure Web commerce systems.
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Newman (2001) describes and explains various online marketing strategies.
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Plumley (2011) covers the details of creating a Web site, with information on finding a host, creating content, design and layout, marketing, and security.
References
Cai, S., & Xu, Y. (2010). Designing website interface for E-commerce: Three essays in online shopping and interface design. Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller
Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2010). E-commerce 2010: Business, technology, society. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Education.
Nahari, H., & Krutz, R. L. (2011). Web commerce security: Design and development. Indianapolis: Wiley Pub.
Newman, G. (2001). Online marketing strategies. London: Law Pack.
Plumley, G. (2011). Website design and development: 100 questions to ask before building a website. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Pub.
