UNIT-I

Introduction to E-Commerce
E-Commerce – Meaning, Nature, Concepts:
E-Commerce stands for electronic commerce and caters to exchange (buy or sell) of products,
services and information via internet. It is “doing business online”. It includes any commercial activity that
takes place directly between a business, its partners, or its customers through electronic communication
and digital information processing technology.

E-Commerce offers an opportunity for performing profitable activities online. It facilitates

cooperation between different groups:

(a) Businesses sharing information to improve customer relations

(b) Organization working together to design and build new products /services;

(c) Multinational company sharing information for a major marketing campaign.

The introduction of E-Commerce has seen a remarkable impact on the traditional ways of doing
business. It has brought producers and consumers closer together, increased profitability by eliminating
many of the costs previously encountered.

Electronic commerce is the application of communication and information sharing technologies

among trading partners to the pursuit of business objectives. Key element of E-Commerce is information
processing. The effects of e-commerce are already appearing in all areas of business, from customer service
to new product design. It facilitates modern types of information based business strategy for reaching and
interacting with customers such as online banking, online shopping, online advertising and marketing, on
line – order taking and on-line customer service etc.

It reduce costs in managing orders and interacting with a wide range of suppliers and trading
partners , areas that typically add significant overhead to the cost of products and services . also E-
commerce enables the formation of new types of information – based products such as interactive games
, electronic books ,and information –on demand that can be very profitable for content providers and useful
for consumers .

So, E-Commerce is about doing business electronically and encompasses many diverse activities
both in the business – to –business market and in the business – to- consumer market. Activities include
electronic trading of goods and services , online delivery of digital content ,electronic fund transfers,
electronic share trading , commercial auctions collaborative design and engineering, online sourcing ,
public procurement, direct consumer marketing, and after –sales service. It involves both products (e.g.
Consumer goods) and services (e.g. information services, financial and legal services)

E-commerce is not limited to the internet alone electronic transactions such as discussing
business over the telephone , sending a fax , withdrawing money from an ATM machine , sending a text
message confirming purchase (or) payment through cellular phone , paying for groceries using a credit
card , ordering a birth certificate over the internet , among others , are different examples of e - commerce
.
Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply
chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI),
inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

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Advantages of E-Commerce:
E-commerce is one of the most important facts of the internet to have emerged in the recent times.
It involves carrying out business over the internet with the assistances of computers, which are linked to
each other forming a network.

E-commerce offers many potential benefits to organizations as well as customers. For many
businesses, e- commerce is becoming the only option, as companies become increasingly interested in
expanding their online operations. Here, we are bringing you some of the benefits of e- commerce that
will make you aware of the certain aspects of this new trend of conducting business.

The invention of faster internet connectivity and powerful online tools has resulted in a new commerce
arena – Ecommerce. Ecommerce offered many advantages to companies and customers but it also caused
many problems.

Advantages of E-commerce to organization / business:

• Global Accessibility : The business gains access to a worldwide market instead of being
limited to a certain geographical area which gives it the advantage of a broader customer base
and potential increase in sales.
• 24 –hour Availability: It can help organizations do business 7 days a week and 24 hours a day.
The time restrictions are non-existent while conducting business ,as e-commerce empowers one to
execute business transactions 24 hours a day and even on holidays and weekends . This in turn
significantly increases sales and profit.
• Increase profits: Allowing customers to shop for the convenience and comfort of their own
homes at any time of the day or night can increase your sales and potentially your profits while
decreasing costs for your business.
• Lower costs: One of the most tangible benefits of ecommerce is the lowered cost. A part of these
lowered costs could be passed on to customers in the form of discounted prices.
• Lower transaction costs: It cut the costs on areas like documents preparation, error detection
and correction, reconciliation, mail order catalogs, phone calls, data entry and supervision expenses.
• Lower advertising and marketing costs: E-commerce can reduce advertising and
marketing costs because it is easier to update the advertisement using software technology. The
software technology is an inexpensive advertising medium for organizations, that allows
organizations an opportunity for publicizing their products and services at minimal cost.
• Lower labour costs: The automation of checkout, billing, payments, inventory managements,
and other operational processes, lowers the number of employees required to run an ecommerce
setup.
• Lower communication cost: Most communication costs can be significantly reduced with a
combination of email, other internet tools, phone answering machines, voice response systems, call
diversion and mobiles.
• Lower inventory management costs: With e-commerce, the suppliers can reduce costs to
manage their inventory of goods because they can automate the inventory management using web-
based management systems. The method indirectly can save their operational costs.
• No infrastructure cost: It also eliminates the cost and burden of infrastructure required for
conducting business. An ecommerce merchant does not need a prominent physical location. The
overhead costs to build the physical store front may be prevented to the suppliers who use e-
commerce as their business operation.
• Reduce labour costs: The labour costs can be reduced with e-commerce because the sellers can
automate their online store fronts.
• Customer Satisfaction: The accessibility and convenience of online transactions for the
customers is leading to increased customer image ,word communication facilities not only saves
money and provides greater responsiveness, but can facilitate better supplier , customer and
staff relationships, because it can be used more often ,much more readily and can provide so much
more information at no cost.
• Time saving: It reduces the time period involved with business process re- engineering,
customization of products to meet the demand of particular customers , increasing productivity
and customer care service .
• Create market for niche products: E -Commerce is ideal for niche products. Customers for
such products are usually few. Buyers and sellers of niche products can find it difficult to locate
each other in the physical world. But in the vast market place i.e. the internet, even niche products
could generate viable volumes.
• Target market segmentation: It allows the flexibility to target market segmentation, allowing
companies to focus on a select group of clients with a competitive advantage by giving them what
they want and the satisfaction of unique needs.
• New markets and business partners: E-commerce helps expand in to new markets by virtue
of its global reach. It helps organizations to gather and compile market intelligence regarding
general customers, suppliers and customers. It enables organizations to find new business partners
globally, thus not restricting to limited choice of suppliers. It allows the organization to capture and
leverage customer intelligence to direct marketing, purchasing warehousing, delivery and pricing
strategies and ultimately result in increased revenues. It enables the organization to react quickly to
new opportunities. Hence it provides significant competitive advantage.
• Flexibility for adding and changing resources : For every organization , e- commerce
software allows business processes to be integrated in such a way that the resulting system can
deliver accurate, reliable information in real time. It allows the flexibility for adding and changing
resources. this flexibility enables the organization to react quickly to new opportunities , reduce
time to market , reduce cost and risk and better serve its customers. The net result is a significant
competitive advantage.
• Improved customer interaction: Keeping clients happy has now become much more
economical for the companies through their websites. By putting information on frequently asked
questions on their website, organizations are saving costs by reducing the number of customer
service representatives . Moreover, the organization can get immediate feedback on prices, features
etc.
• Easy delivery of information: Having an e-commerce website that is user friendly and
available to vast number of clients is also helpful because it provides easier delivery of information.
 Rather than calling to find our store hours or more information about your company, your catalogue
software can display information, promotions, sales and real- time data on your products or services.
• Faster access to information: E-Commerce provides organizations with the ability to quickly
share information with business partners and customers.
• Improved competitiveness: E-commerce enables organizations to improve competitiveness
by becoming closer to the customer. For example, many companies are employing electronic
commerce technology to improve levels of support both before and after the transaction. They can
also increase the amount of product information through the internet. And finally, companies
utilizing the internet can also respond to customer inquiries more quickly and effectively. This
benefits not only the business, but also the quality of service for the customer.

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Disadvantages of E-Commerce:
1. Any one, good or bad, can easily start a business. And there are many bad sites which eat up customers’
money.
2. There is no guarantee of product quality.
3. Mechanical failures can cause unpredictable effects on the total processes.
4. As there is minimum chance of direct customer to company interactions, customer loyalty is always on
a check.
5. There are many hackers who look for opportunities, and thus an ecommerce site, service, payment
gateways; all are always prone to attack.

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Reasons for Transacting Online:
❖ Credit Cards to Facilitates Low Balance Purchases
Customers can use their credit cards to make payments, even though they don’t have
money in their bank account. More importantly, you can break down the payment into
several installments, if you are selling expensive items. And one can use credit cards to pay
for the purchases in installments.

❖ Instant Payment: Online payments facilitate instant payments for an organization. It breaks
the geographical restrictions and let customers purchase even without physical presence.
One can easily make a payment sitting comfortably at home or office. The gateway to accept
payment online provides the instant notification of the transaction that makes the customer
remain assured of the purchased items.

❖ They give consumers more time: Online payments aren’t just convenient in the sense of
transaction speed — they eliminate the need for consumers to travel to a store, invest their
time, and wait in line to pay.
❖ Convenience: There is an ability to shop at anytime, anywhere.
 Without going out have capacity to research products, compare prices, can search exact
product we are searching for and can save our time, money and fuel.
❖ Selection: Large number of options and capacity to easy comparison available in online
shopping.
❖ Exchange & Returning: If we want to exchange or return some product we have to wait
until shop is opening. But exchange or return in online shopping we can be done almost
anytime we wish.
❖ Comfort: Everything delivered at your doorsteps without you even stepping outside your
home in online shopping.
❖ Discount shopping: With the raising competition websites offer gift certificates, discount
coupons, shopping points, cash back and what not to tap in potential customers. Those are
benefitted to customers.
❖ Comparison shopping: Online shopping enables us to do instant comparison view user
ratings, read reviews, and make uniform and rational buying decisions.
With that we get a chance to explore all the positives and negatives of a certain
product or a service.
❖ They provide an additional layer of purchase protection :Buying from a small business,
whether in person or online requires that customers establish some degree of trust with a
merchant with whom they may have no previous experience. Regardless of how clearly a
business communicates its return, exchange, and customer satisfaction policies, there may
be a sense of hesitancy for consumers. Online payments can overcome this obstacle. When
online payments are made using a credit card that guarantees the lowest price for a stated
number of days, extends manufacturer warranties, and offers a cardholder the right to dispute
a purchase.
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Types of E-Commerce Business Models:
E-commerce business models can generally be categorized into the following categories.

1. Business - to - Business (B2B)

2. Business - to - Consumer (B2C)
3. Consumer - to - Consumer (C2C)
4. Consumer - to - Business (C2B)
5. Business - to - Government (B2G)
6. Government - to - Business (G2B)
7. Government - to - Citizen (G2C)

1. Business - to - Business
A website following the B2B business model sells its products to an intermediate buyer
who then sells the product to the final customer. As an example, a wholesaler places an order from
a company's website and after receiving the consignment, sells the end product to the final
customer who comes to buy the product at one of its retail outlets.
2. Business - to – Consumer:
A website following the B2C business model sells its products directly to a customer. A
customer can view the products shown on the website. The customer can choose a product and
order the same. The website will then send a notification to the business organization via email
and the organization will dispatch the product/goods to the customer.

3. Consumer - to – Consumer:
A website following the C2C business model helps consumers to sell their assets like
residential property, cars, motorcycles, etc., or rent a room by publishing their information on the
website. Website may or may not charge the consumer for its services. Another consumer may opt
to buy the product of the first customer by viewing the post/advertisement on the website.

Consumer - to – Business:
In this model, a consumer approaches a website showing multiple business organizations
for a particular service. The consumer places an estimate of amount he/she wants to spend for a
particular service. For example, the comparison of interest rates of personal loan/car loan provided
by various banks via websites. A business organization that fulfills the consumer's requirement
within the specified budget approaches the customer and provides its services.

4. Business - to – Government:

B2G model is a variant of B2B model. Such websites are used by governments to trade
and exchange information with various business organizations. Such websites are
accredited by the government and provide a medium to businesses to submit application
forms to the government.

5. Government - to – Business:

Governments use B2G model websites to approach business organizations. Such

websites support auctions, tenders, and application submission functionalities.
 7. Government - to – Citizen:
Governments use G2C model websites to approach citizen in general. Such websites
support auctions of vehicles, machinery, or any other material. Such website also provides services
like registration for birth, marriage or death certificates. The main objective of G2C websites is to
reduce the average time for fulfilling citizen’s requests for various government services.

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Key Elements of a Business Model:
What is a Business Model?
Business Model (BM) stands for a conceptual tool that contains a set of elements and their
relationships and allows expressing the business logic of a specific firm. Business design is totally
of how a company selects its customers, defines and differentiates its offerings, defines the tasks it
will perform itself and those it will outsource, configures its resources, goes to market, creates
utility for customers, and captures profit. It is the entire system for delivering utility to customers
and earning a profit from that activity.

1. Revenue Model:
This is describes how a company plans to make money from its business because
earning revenue and produce a superior return on invested capital is the primary objective
of a company. For example, the 5 major e-commerce revenue models include advertising
revenue model, subscription revenue model, transaction fee revenue model, sales revenue
model, affiliate revenue model.

2. Value Proposition:
This is describes how a company’s product or service fulfills the needs of customers
and why a customer would buy from the company. For example, a successful value
proposition must include personalization, customization, reduction of product search, price
discovery costs and facilitation of transactions by managing product delivery.
3. Market Opportunity:
Refers to a company’s intended market space and the overall potential financial
opportunities available to the firm in that market place
4. Market Strategy
Plan that details how a company intends to enter a new market and attract strategy
5. Organizational Development:
Describes how the company will organize the work that needs to be accomplished
6. Management Team:
 ❖ Employees of the company responsible for making the business model work
❖ Strong management team gives instant credibility to outside investors
❖ There are many types of e-commerce business models let’s take a look at all of them
and what are the difference
7. Competitive Advantage
Achieved when a firm can produce a superior product and/or bring a product to
market, at a lower price than most, or all, of their competitors
8. Competitive Environment

Refers to the other competition selling similar products and operating in thesame
market space influenced by

❖ How many competitors are active

❖ How large operations are
❖ The market share for each competitor
❖ How profitable these firms are
❖ How they price their product
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Types of E-Business Revenue Model

1. Sales Revenue Model

The most common of all eCommerce revenue models, here profits are achieved by selling products
or providing services online versus, or in addition to, brick-and-mortar stores. Any business selling
items through the internet, regardless of their business model, is following the sales revenue model.
While they may have other revenue streams, this tends to be their bread-and-butter.
2. Advertising Revenue Model
Is Bob’s Bait & Tackle ever going to get the type of traffic as, say, Facebook or Google? Of course
not. But they can advertise on those sites! The advertising revenue model is when popular platforms
allow others to advertise with them for a fee. Media sites, such as magazines, newspapers, and TV
channels also frequently use this model. While they may charge a flat fee for advertising, generally
cost is based on pay-per-click (PPC), which is the number of people who click on the ad.
3 Subscription Revenue Model
When it comes to the subscription revenue model, a lot of people think of Netflix or Spotify.
However, there are also many popular subscriptions box brands like Bark Box, Hello Fresh, Ipsy,
and Harry’s. Regardless of the offering, with this model users are charged a recurring fee (monthly
or annual) for using services or having existing products replenished and delivered regularly.
Today, there are an estimated 7,000 subscription box services operating globally!
4. Transaction Fee Revenue Model
This model charges a fee every time a transaction is made through their platform. For example,
eBay charges sellers a fee whenever an item is sold; PayPal charges users a fee for transferring
money; eTrade gains a transaction fee whenever a stock is sold; and so on. While fees tend to be
minimal, if people are making thousands of transactions per day, the revenue can be substantial!
5. Affiliate Revenue Model
Last but not least is affiliate marketing. With this model, businesses earn revenue just by promoting
and selling another person’s (or company’s) product on their site (as opposed to the advertising
revenue model, which doesn’t allow for purchase on the host’s site). The concept of affiliate
marketing is based on revenue sharing. If a business has a product and wants to earn more, you can
promote complementary products or services of another company that will, in turn, pay you for
your referrals. It’s a win-win for both parties; the affiliate gains a new, passive revenue stream, and
the merchant gains new customers!
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Forces Behind E-Commerce:

1. E-commerce enables businesses to interact with suppliers, customers and with players in
the distribution channel at a lower cost.
2. The cost of installing and maintaining a website is much cheaper than owning a physical store.
This motivates the growth of e-commerce.
3. E-commerce generates greater profits due to less human intervention, lower overhead cost, few
clerical errors and more efficiency.
4. The cost of advertising is cheaper and provides access to global market at low cost. This is
something which encourages people engaged in business to promote their business through
electronic medium.
5. Reduction in communication cost and technological infrastructure expense drive business towards
e-business.
 6. Increase in competition and the rise in consumer power, ‘globalization wave’ have forced the
business organizations to penetrate into internet world.

Technological forces that drives electronic commerce:

1. Technological advances have made business communication faster, easier, economical

and efficient. It has enabled the business to switch over from the local market to the
global market.
2. The growing popularity of cyber cafes has created a big role in attracting internet
population towards e-commerce
3. Technological changes have given confidence to consumers to make electronic
payments in settlement of financial obligations.
Market forces that drives electronic commerce:

1. Business organizations are able to reach international markets by using electronic

medium for enhanced customer support and service.
2. E-commerce enables customers to make product comparison, place orders, track orders
and make payments at ease. Due to convenience, customers prefer to purchase their
desired goods or services over internet in the online marketplace.
3. E-commerce also allows the customers to choose and order products according to their
personal and unique specifications. It paves way for mass customization.
4. The growing internet population stimulates business to switch over from an additional
business to e-business.
5. The great variety of commodities available online and reliable payment methods are
regarded as contributors to the increase of e-business.
6. Consumers often prefer shopping on the internet due to convenience and the changes in
consumer behavior pulls consumer towards e-commerce.
 Technology used in E-Commerce
Dynamics of World Wide Web and Internet (Meaning, Evolution and Features)

World Wide Web(WWW):

The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information
system where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource
Locators (URLs, such as https://example.com/), which may be interlinked by hyperlinks, and are
accessible over the Internet. The resources of the Web are transferred via the Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP), may be accessed by users by a software application called a web browser, and
are published by a software application called a web server.

The Web consists of pages that can be accessed using a Web browser. The Hyper-Text
Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the method used to transfer Web pages to your computer. With
hypertext, a word or phrase can contain a link to another Web site. All Web pages are written in
the hyper-text markup language (HTML), which works in conjunction with HTTP.

Evolution of World Wide Web:

The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext document accessed via the
internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, image, videos, and
other multimedia and navigate between them via hyperlinks. On March 12, 1989, Tim Berners-
Lee, a British computer scientist and former CERN employee wrote a proposal for what would
eventually become the World Wide Web

Web 1.0
Web 1.0 was first implementation of the web and lasted from 1989 to 2005.It was define as
web of information connection. According to the innovator of World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee
considers the web as ―read-only Web. It provides very little interaction where consumer can
exchange the information together but it was not possible to interact with the website.

Web 1.0 was referred as the first generation of World Wide Web which was basically
defined as It is an information space in which the items of interest referred to as resources are
identified by global identifier called as Uniform Resources Identifiers(URLs)‘‘

First generation web was era static pages and content delivery purpose only. In other world,
the early web allowed us to search for information and read it. There was very little in the way of
user interaction or content contribution.

Web 2.0
Web 2.0 Second generation of web was beyond static web pages as well as web design. It
allowed interact and collaborate with each other. The concept of web 2.0 launched in late 2004
although it suggested new version of World Wide Web. It didn’t only include technical
specification but cumulative changes to the web. Web 2.0 includes social networking sites, blogs,
wikis, video sharing, hosted services and web applications. Web 2.0 allows users more than
retrieving information. Instead of only reading information users can publish comments and their
views in articles. They can create profiles with login and password. There are browsers with user
interface, application software and file storage facilities. In short, web 2.0 also called network as
platform computing. In Web 2.0 it is possible to share data among multiple sites.

Web 3.0(Semantic Web)

Web 3.0 is also known as semantic web is a mutual movement of W3C (World Wide Web
Consortium) international standard. Semantic web is an attempt to enhance current web so that
computers can process the information existing on WWW, understand and fix it, to help humans
to discover required knowledge. It is proposed to form a huge distributed knowledge based system
to share data instead of documents. In other words, we can say that semantic web is a common
framework which allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise and community
boundaries. It is an Executable Web, People build application though which people interact &
publish content.

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Features of WWW:
1. The amount of information available on the Internet has become so large that it is difficult to
search for specific information. The World Wide Web (WWW) makes retrieval easy and quick.

2. The WWW is a search tool that helps you find and retrieve information from a Web site using
links to other sites and documents. The WWW was built on the technology called Hypertext.
This technology increases accessibility to linked documents on the Internet and helps user to
navigate between documents very easily.

3. Hypertext is identified by underlined text and a different color usually. Some places will refer
to these types of technique as Jump-Off Points. Hypertext can make links within the same
document or to other documents.

4. Each time you access a new document by choosing a link, there is a connection made with the
web server that the document is on. Once the appropriate document is retrieved the connection
is broken. There is no point in maintaining the link while you are viewing it. This is one reason
why the WWW is so efficient.

5. WWW lets you search, traverse, and use many types of information at numerous sites and in
multiple forms. This interface is called a browser. Some people refer to a browser as a 'web
browser' often these terms are used interchangeably.
6. The WWW is intended to help people share information resources, and services with the widest
possible community of users. Thus a user can access the WWW on Apple, UNIX, Macintosh,
DOS, Windows, and other operating systems.

7. Just like the Internet, the WWW has a protocol, which is known as Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP). HTTP acts as an interface between a Web Client Software, such Netscape Navigator.

8. A major advantage of the WWW is that it also supports TCP/IP services, such as Gopher, FTP,
and Archie in addition to HTTP.
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Internet:
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that
uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is
a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government
networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical
networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services,
such as the inter-linked documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic
mail, telephony, and file sharing.

The Internet is a vast network that connects computers all over the world. Through the Internet,
people can share information and communicate from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Simply Internet is network of networks. (Internet is the system that facilitates the transfer of
data and the web is the data itself. The web is just one of the ways that data can be
disseminated over the Internet.)

Evolution of Internet:
Internet is one component which has recently become the key ingredient of quick and rapid
life style. Be it for communication or explorations, connecting with people or for official purposes,
internet has become the central hub for all.

Origins of the internet:

• The internet started as an experiment in the late 1960s by the Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA, now called DARPA).

• DARPA experimented with the connection of computer network by giving grants

to multiple universities and private companies to get them involved in the research.

• ARPANET was developed under U.S Department Of Defence(DOD). DOD divided

the network into hosts and subnet. Subnet is another type of network.
 • In 1970’s ARPANET was the first network to implement the protocol suit TCP/IP
for transmitting data between networks.

• NSF (National science foundation) in 1980 started to make high capacity network
for Academic and Engineering Research.NSF connected its huge network to five
supercomputer centers, called NSFnet to ARPANET in 1986

• 1990 interworking of ARPANET, NSFnet and other private network resulted into
INTERNET.

• In 90’s internet cost is Rs.25, 000-9.6kbps for 250 hours only.

• In 20th century Internet has become cheaper and faster.

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Features of Internet:
Let us now discuss the features of Internet. The features are described below −

Accessibility
An Internet is a global service and accessible to all. Today, people located in a remote part of an
island or interior of Africa can also use Internet.

Easy to Use
The software, which is used to access the Internet (web browser), is designed very simple;
therefore, it can be easily learned and used. It is easy to develop.

Interaction with Other Media

Internet service has a high degree of interaction with other media. For example, News and other
magazine, publishing houses have extended their business with the help of Internet services.

Low Cost
The development and maintenance cost of Internet service are comparatively low.

Extension of Existing IT Technology

This facilitates the sharing of IT technology by multiple users in organizations and even facilitates
other trading partners to use.

Flexibility of Communication
Communication through Internet is flexible enough. It facilitates communication through text,
voice, and video too. These services can be availed at both organizational and individual levels.
Security
Last but not the least; Internet facility has to a certain extent helped the security system both at the
individual and national level with components such as CCTV camera, etc.

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Designing, Building and Launching an E-Commerce Web site:
1. Start with a Strategy:
To ensure success while building an ecommerce website, start with a sound strategy.
Even the simplest ecommerce platforms have details that need to be just right for you and
your business.

For instance, everyone says that they have excellent customer service, but you’re headed
into a world where your life could depend on your ecommerce site. Don’t you want 24/7
customer support and friendly staff available to troubleshoot anything that might arise?

It’s important to anticipate your greatest needs and challenges as your business grows. If
you plan to sell physical products, decide how you want shipping to work in advance.

If you’re selling digital products, think about the bandwidth and delivery options you’ll
need. Selling services online? List out exactly what you’ll be selling, how you want to
deliver it, and any payment or time limitations.

Think about the options you want AND the options you’ll need for the growth of your
business, and how those options will affect your bottom line. At the end of the day, be sure
to do your homework so that you’re making the best long-term decisions for your business.

2. Determine your ecommerce business model

Several types of ecommerce business models exist, but the 2 main categories are business
to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C). Knowing the difference — and knowing
where your ecommerce business falls — is important.

Business to consumer (B2C)

The bulk of online shops we interact with are business to consumer (B2C). Whether it’s
Amazon, Zippos, or Target, whenever we hit that checkout button, we’ve completed a
transaction on a B2C website. Items or services on a B2C website are sold straight from
\businesses to the general public, without any third parties getting involved.

Business to business (B2B)

Businesses to business (or B2B) are, as the name suggests, businesses that sell to other
businesses. These are companies that might manufacture something, are a wholesaler, or
provide services and products within a given industry.
3. Choose a Domain and Platform for Your Ecommerce Website
However, if you plan to sell a wide variety of products and develop or extend your brand,
a custom domain is the way to go.

A custom domain gives your e-commerce store:

• A recognizable brand that belongs to you, e.g. mystore.com

• A professional email address linked to your domain where people can contact you
• Search engine optimization (SEO) benefits

Your next step is selecting the right ecommerce platform for your growing business. You
ideally want to build an ecommerce website on a platform that’s flexible and easy to use.
Most small business owners don’t want to bother with hand-coding their website.

Business owners and solo entrepreneurs need a platform that they can easily integrate with
their existing site. Alternatively, if you don’t have a site yet, you will benefit from a platform
that allows you to build a site from scratch, in a few simple steps.

If you’ve already got a website, you can easily build an ecommerce website by adding buy
buttons or widgets. You can also embed a simple store directly on your site

4. Know your audience

You should know the details about who your potential customers are. What's their
background? What's their income range? How old are they? And what competitors’
websites are they likely to purchase from? All of this information will help you create an
ecommerce business personalized to their tastes and needs, building a stronger connection
with them and making for a better user experience.

5. Design Your Store and Add Products

Next step in building an ecommerce site, it’s time to design your store. Think about what,
in addition to your products, you plan to include.

At the very least, you will want to include an about page and a contact page as you build an
ecommerce website to help potential buyers connect with you. You can also add video and
text onto your pages.

When building an ecommerce site, be sure to include your

• Photograph: People like dealing with real people

• Store name: use your account name by default, but you can always change this
• Logo: For branding and recognition
 • Payment logos: These help people feel comfortable shopping with you.

Select a theme that represents your brand and allows you to showcase your products in the
best light possible. Create categories that are logical to your buyers. Learn as much about
your ideal customer as you can and design your site with their preferences and ideal user
experience in mind.

Now it’s time to add some products to your new ecommerce website.

• Choose your product type (physical, digital or service).

• Give your product a name and description
• Set the price and the quantities available for sale
• Create a preview of your item by uploading a photo, an audio file or even a video preview.

6. Decide on Pricing and Set Up Payments

There are three key aspects of payments as you build an ecommerce website: How you will
price your products, how customers are going to pay you, and how you are going to get those
payments into your own bank account.

There are many factors to consider when pricing your products for sale online including:

• The cost of materials per item

• Ecommerce web hosting
• Shipping
• Taxes
• Fees and percentage per sale deductions from various organizations, including PayPal, credit
cards, etc.
• Flexible pricing, like pay-what-you-wish

Then decide how your ecommerce site will accept payments. In many cases, this means finding
a third-party payment processor to act as the go-between. One extremely popular payment
option is PayPal. With these payment options, you can take payments from anywhere and give
your customers extra peace of mind.

7. Create a Great Checkout Experience

• Enabling customers to purchase multiple items at once

• Offering free shipping if you can, or
• Being very clear about shipping costs upfront (before customers get to the checkout)
• Sending cart abandonment emails anytime someone leaves without completing their
purchase
 Don’t forget, the number of steps it takes to complete a purchase significantly affects your
sales conversion rates. Test your checkout process until it is perfect and ask your friends and
family to test it too.

8. Launching your Website

Now that you’ve registered your domain name and even hosted, the next step is to make
your website live on the internet for the world to view. At this stage, your website is ready
to be live on the internet but it still requires a lot of grooming.
****************

Hardware and Software Requirements for E-commerce website:

Telecommunication Infrastructure Requirements:

It is entailed with bandwidth and security.
Bandwidth varies from one e-commerce to another. Two main components of
security requirements for e-commerce are type of firewall and encryption/algorithm
mechanism. Security requirements area is crucial part of e-commerce.

Hardware Requirement for E-commerce:

Pentium II/III based Intel server running Linux can serve hundreds of unique
customers each day. Low traffic sites can be easily served from a single machine
depending on the needs of the business. High traffic sites require a backup of servers
which automatically takes over operations in case of failure of primary ones.

Software Requirements for E-commerce:

Now it’s time to decide what design software and other tools you’ll use to take
your vision live on the Web, whatever the size of your business, and whether or not
you want to handle retail transactions online. The two most common types of design
software are WYSIWYG and HTML, which is used to build a Web site with
Hypertext Markup Language

Several software is available free on the internet that can be used to build e-
commerce exchanges. Ex:- Linux OS, mySQL database ,Apache web server etc.,

Technical Skill
A systems administrator must have a good knowledge of computer hardware, must
be able to maintain and upgrade hardware including hard drive, processor and
motherboard.
Outsourcing Vs In-Housing development of an e-commerce
website:
Pros of outsourced e-commerce development:

A higher level of skill:

Typically, outsourcing your e-commerce development provides you access to a wide variety
of specialists with vast experience in the different development fields. In this instance, you are not
paying for someone who is learning on the job, or handling sensitive information for the first time.
Business leaders can rest assured that their e-commerce development is in the safest hands,
eliminating any worries or the need for micro-management. If unusual issues arise, outsourced
specialists can handle them immediately, as opposed to having to hire another specialist of your in-
house team. You can focus on other areas of your business while having the luxury of knowing
your e-commerce solutions are being handled by industry professionals who make a living doing
this specific job.

A higher level of productivity

Outsourced development teams usually charge by the hour depending on the scope of work
and size of the project. Thanks to their experience, cost estimates are always clearly defined so you
know what you are in for cost-wise, which allows for more effective project management and
planning. Charging by the hour means higher productivity, as each minute of a project needs to be
accounted for – so you know exactly where your money is going. Specialists work far quicker and
efficiently as they know what they are doing, meaning every minute is spent working on tangible
tasks that make a huge impact on your e-commerce platform.

More scalability and flexibility

The beauty of outsourcing remote teams lies in the complete freedom of scalability and
flexibility it provides. You are able to scale up or down your development team according to your
project needs and requirements. If you need more specialists for one technical project you can hire
them by the hour to tackle that specific task, and not have to pay a full team’s salary to complete a
handful of hours’ work.

More cost-effective
Adding to the above point, outsourcing development teams can actually save businesses
money in the long run. By hiring outsourced teams on an ad-hoc basis, you are able to know exactly
what you can expect according to the hours billed. Sure, outsourcing teams of professionals may
cost more per hour, but in the long run these costs are far lower than paying salaries of full-time
employees. Basically, you pay for what you need and eliminate the redundancy. This positively
impacts cost flexibility, as budgets can be appointed on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, all costs
associated with full-time employees are negated (time off, sick leave, health and pension fund
contributions, etc.).
Faster project delivery
Dealing with outsourced specialists means that all systems and procedures pertaining to
building and maintaining an e-commerce platform are already established, saving you valuable
time to channel into hitting the market before your competitors. Setting up an in-house development
team requires a lot of time to hire and establish processes, and in the e-commerce game time is
valuable when going to market. With outsourced teams, you can expect work to begin from the get-
go.

Cons of outsourced e-commerce development:

Remote communication
In a pre-COVID-19 world, some business leaders felt that having your team housed under
the same roof directly translated into better productivity. As we have all come to realize, this ‘out-
of-sight-out-of-mind’ viewpoint doesn’t entirely reflect the way people work in today’s
competitive marketplace. Some managers feel that if their team is remote then they have no control
over what is happening due to a lack of transparency. It is best to establish early on clear instructions
as to each project and set up regular meetings to gain clarity and transparency from your remote
teams. Clear and concise reporting submitted regularly will provide ultimate clarity. Thanks to the
recent advancement of the technology of video calls, emails, and virtual assistants, the world has
embraced remote working as an evolution in the way businesses and people operate. Business
leaders now realize that they can effectively communicate with their remote teams easily and do
not have to be in the same room anymore.

Security risks
Some businesses feel that outsourcing development teams on a project-by-project basis
leaves room for security leaks and intellectual property (IP) theft because outsourced teams are not
officially part of the company. Although valid, this concern is easily negated by insisting on non-
disclosure agreements (NDA) and various other legal processes. Be sure to set up regular meetings
and feedback sessions with your remote teams to see their engagement levels and motivation for
each project. However, the security risks in the handling of sensitive business information from
outsourced teams shouldn’t be an issue as no development vendor will risk their reputation for such
trivial reasons.

**************
Pros of in-house e-commerce development:
Complete control
Having a dedicated team of developers within your workforce who focus exclusively on
your business’s e-commerce requirements means your platform is built according to your specific
needs. Everything that needs to be accounted for pertaining to your own business requirements can
be focused on directly, with actionable changes derived from your personal guidance and business
strategy. You have complete control over every aspect of the build to ensure your in-house team
delivers on your vision.
Quicker response time
Thanks to having your dedicated development team on-hand, your e-commerce
development needs can be attended to quickly. This is especially useful when issues arise on your
platform, which need fast remedies and quick-fix solutions before a thorough investigation can take
place. Readily available staff provides a safety net for businesses who want to secure the ability to
stamp out any minor issues before they become major ones.
Easier communication
Having your team in the same office or building allows for face-to-face communication. It’s
no secret that developers are a particular breed of human (in a good way!), and dealing with them
directly in-person goes a long way in not only getting them on board with company culture, but
also to ensure your specific requirements are met. Clear and direct communication with your
development team is crucial to avoid any misunderstandings which could result in costly mistakes
and reverts.

Cons of in-house e-commerce development:

It’s expensive
Assembling a development team to work exclusively on your business requirements full-
time is a costly Endeavour, especially for businesses just starting out. Developers are highly
regarded specialists and thus are able to command high salaries. This is because of the value they
provide your business – without them, you have no e-commerce platform.

It’s not time efficient

Having your development team on-board in a full-time capacity means it is impossible for
them to work on high-level tasks every minute the day. Sure, we all need microburst pockets of
downtime throughout the day, but this is more of a bitter concept to accept when you are paying
specialist wages.
Staff churn
It is understood in the tech industry that most developers, by their own admission, do not
possess a high level of staying power at the companies they work for. This is due to the high demand
for specialists in the industry, and it is common for skilled developers to be approached by
competitors.
***************
WEB Hosting

Web Hosting is a service that allows hosting/post-web-server applications (website or web page)
on a computer system through which web-browser clients can have easy access to electronic
content on the Internet.
Web Server or Web Host is a computer system that provide web hosting. When Internet user’s
want to view your website, all they need to do is type your website address or domain into their
browser. The user’s computer will then connect to your server and your web pages will be
delivered to them through the browser. Basically, the web hosts allow the customers to place
documents, such as HTML pages, graphics, and other multimedia files, etc. onto a special type
of computer called a web server. It provides a constant and high-speed connection to the backbone
of the Internet.
Different types of Web hosting services are listed below:
• Free Hosting
• Virtual or Shared Hosting
• Dedicated Hosting
• Co-location Hosting
• Free Hosting:
This is a free non-paid web hosting service. This type of hosting is available with many
prominent sites that offer to host some web pages for no cost, like Hostinger.
Advantages:
•Free of cost
•Use websites to place advertisements. banners and other forms of advertising
media
Disadvantages:
• Customer support is missing
• Low bandwidth and lesser data transfer
• No control over your website
• Shared/Virtual Hosting:
It’s a web hosting service where many websites reside on one web server connected to
the internet. This type of hosting is provided under one’s own domain name,
www.yourname.com. With a hosting plan with the web hosting company, one can
present oneself as a fully independent identity to his/her web audience, like Lindo.
Advantages:
•Easy and affordable
•Secured by hosting provider
• 24/7 Technical support
Disadvantages:
• Shared resources can slow down the whole server
• Less flexible than dedicated hosting
• Dedicated Hosting:
Hosted on a dedicated server, this type of hosting is best suited for large websites with
high traffic. In this, the company wishing to go online rents an entire web server from
a hosting company. This is suitable for companies hosting larger websites, maintaining
others’ sites or managing a big online mall, etc like Google Cloud.
Advantages:
•Ideal for large business
• Strong database support
• Unlimited software support
• Powerful e-mail solutions
• Complete root access to your servers
Disadvantages:
• Its very expensive
• Requires superior skill sets
• Co-located Hosting:
This hosting lets you place your own web server on the premises of a service provider.
It is similar to that of dedicated hosting except for the fact that the server is now
provided by the user-company itself and its physical needs are met by the hosting
company like AWS.
Advantages:
•Greater Bandwidth High Up-Time
•Unlimited Software Options
• High Security
Disadvantages:
• Difficult to configure and debug
• It’s expensive
• Require high skills
*******************
 UNIT-II
E-payment System
Models and Methods of E-payment System:
E-commerce sites use electronic payment, where electronic payment refers to paperless monetary
transactions. Electronic payment has revolutionized the business processing by reducing the
paperwork, transaction costs, and labor cost. Being user friendly and less time-consuming than
manual processing, it helps business organization to expand its market reach/expansion. Listed
below are some of the modes of electronic payments −
• Credit Card
• Debit Card
• Smart Card
• E-Money
• Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)
Credit Card
Payment using credit card is one of most common mode of electronic payment. Credit card is
small plastic card with a unique number attached with an account. It has also a magnetic strip
embedded in it which is used to read credit card via card readers. When a customer purchases a
product via credit card, credit card issuer bank pays on behalf of the customer and customer has a
certain time period after which he/she can pay the credit card bill. It is usually credit card
monthly payment cycle. Following are the actors in the credit card system.
• The card holder − Customer
• The merchant − seller of product who can accept credit card payments.
• The card issuer bank − card holder's bank
• The acquirer bank − the merchant's bank
• The card brand − for example , visa or Mastercard.
Credit Card Payment Proces
Step Description

Step 1 Bank issues and activates a credit card to the customer on his/her request.

Step 2 The customer presents the credit card information to the merchant site or
to the merchant from whom he/she wants to purchase a product/service.

Step 3 Merchant validates the customer's identity by asking for approval from the
card brand company.

Step 4 Card brand company authenticates the credit card and pays the transaction
by credit. Merchant keeps the sales slip.

Step 5 Merchant submits the sales slip to acquirer banks and gets the service
charges paid to him/her.

Step 6 Acquirer bank requests the card brand company to clear the credit amount
and gets the payment.

Step 6 Now the card brand company asks to clear the amount from the issuer
bank and the amount gets transferred to the card brand company.
Debit Card
Debit card, like credit card, is a small plastic card with a unique number mapped with the
bank account number. It is required to have a bank account before getting a debit card from the
bank. The major difference between a debit card and a credit card is that in case of payment
through debit card, the amount gets deducted from the card's bank account immediately and there
should be sufficient balance in the bank account for the transaction to get completed; whereas in
case of a credit card transaction, there is no such compulsion.
Smart Card
Smart card is again similar to a credit card or a debit card in appearance, but it has a small
microprocessor chip embedded in it. It has the capacity to store a customer’s work-related and/or
personal information. Smart cards are also used to store money and the amount gets deducted
after every transaction.
E-Money
E-Money transactions refer to situation where payment is done over the network and the
amount gets transferred from one financial body to another financial body without any
involvement of a middleman. E-money transactions are faster, convenient, and saves a lot of
time.
Electronic Fund Transfer
It is a very popular electronic payment method to transfer money from one bank account
to another bank account. Accounts can be in the same bank or different banks. Fund transfer can
be done using ATM (Automated Teller Machine) or using a computer.
Nowadays, internet-based EFT is getting popular. In this case, a customer uses the website
provided by the bank, logs in to the bank's website and registers another bank account. He/she
then places a request to transfer certain amount to that account. Customer's bank transfers the
amount to other account if it is in the same bank, otherwise the transfer request is forwarded to
an ACH (Automated Clearing House) to transfer the amount to other account and the amount is
deducted from the customer's account. Once the amount is transferred to other account, the
customer is notified of the fund transfer by the bank.
*****************
Digital Signatures
A digital signature is a specific type of e-signature that complies with the strictest legal
regulations and provides the highest level of assurance of a signer’s identity
Digital signatures are like electronic “fingerprints.” In the form of a coded message, the digital
signature securely associates a signer with a document in a recorded transaction. Digital
signatures use a standard, accepted format, called Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), to provide the
highest levels of security and universal acceptance.
Components of the Digital Signature:
Name
The name of the individual is the first and foremost thing that a digital signature includes.
Anyone who is using the signature or authorizing a digital document for distribution or access
must have a name in the signature. It reduces any chances of fraud that may be caused by another
person sharing the same name.
Personal Information
Apart from the full name of the user, it is must to have contact details and email address also
mentioned in the digital signature. It helps in easy locating of the person.
Public Key
Another important element of a digital signature is a public key. It is unique to each digital
signature generated or issued. This is a key used for encryption of the document being
authorized. It is essential for the verification process. The expiry date of the digital signature also
determined by its public key. It is also useful when there is a need to reset the signature.
Serial Number
It is another component that acts as a unique identifier of a digital signature. It is used by a
certification authority. It also holds prime importance to ensure the viability of a digital
signature.
Process/steps for Digital Signature Certificate:
In recent times, the application for Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) has been completely
digitized. Thereby, removing any hard copy flow of documents like signing of application form,
self attestation of documents etc. This has resulted in faster processing of application. The new
process of paperless DSC is explained below in detail.
Paperless DSC:
Under this method the manual form filling can be avoided and the complete process is online for
ease of the applicant. Various methods under Paperless DSC are covered below. The Aadhar
based DSC is the fastest process for getting a new DSC.
• Aadhar-based e-KYC Verification DSC
Aadhaar based Paperless DSC is an easy and fastest way to make DSC. The whole process of
Paperless DSC will save your time, money, efforts and it is totally authenticated. Aadhaar
Paperless DSC is based on "Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC".
• PAN-based e-KYC Verification DSC
By opting for Paperless PAN-based E-KYC DSC, the applicant is able to significantly reduce
costs. The greatest advantage of this Pan-based E-KYC is that one can apply for this type of DSC
anytime or anywhere,
STEP 1: Log on and select your type of entity:
Log on to the website of a Certifying Authority licensed to issue Digital Certificates in India.
Having accessed the page, you will be guided to the Digital Certification Services’ section. Now
under the ‘Digital Certification Services’ section, click on the type of entity for which you want
to obtain the DSC:’ individual or organization’, etc.
In case you are applying for an individual DSC, click on ‘individual’. A new tab containing the
DSC Registration Form will appear. Download the DSC Registration Form on your PC.
STEP 2: Fill the necessary details
Once you have downloaded the form, fill in all the necessary details as required in the form:
➢ Class of the DSC.
➢ Validity.
➢ Type: Only Sign or Sign & Encrypt.
➢ Applicant Name & Contact Details.
➢ Residential Address.
➢ GST Number & Identity Details of Proof Documents.
➢ Declaration.
➢ Document as proof of identity.
➢ Document as proof of address.
➢ Attestation Officer.
➢ Payment Details.
On filling up all the necessary details you must affix your recent photograph and put your
signature under the declaration. Check thoroughly for completion of the form. Take a print of the
completed form and preserve it.
STEP 3: Proof of identity and address
The supporting document provided as proof of identity and address must be attested by an
attesting officer. Ensure the sign and seal of the attesting officer is visibly clear on the supporting
proof documents.
STEP 4: Payment for DSC
A demand draft or cheque must be obtained towards payment for application of DSC in the
name of the Local Registration Authority where you are going to submit your application for
verification. You can find the details of the Local Registration Authority according to your city
of residence by searching for a Certifying Authority licensed to issue Digital Certificates online.
STEP 5: Post the documents required
Enclose the following in an envelope:
DSC Registration Form duly completed -Supporting document for Proof of Identity and proof of
address attested by the attesting officer.
Demand Draft / Cheque for payment.
Address the enclosed envelope to the Local Registration Authority (LRA) and post it to the
designated address of the LRA for further processing.
On completion of the above-mentioned steps by filling in the DSC Form and providing
necessary documents and payment, you have successfully completed the application process for
your Digital Signature Certificate.
********************
Working of Digital Signature:
How does a digital signature work?
The working of the digital signature is based on the combined functionality of both public and
private keys. The functionality of a digital signature is only a cryptography that forms the basis
of this system. The pairing of public or private keys is used to encrypt or decrypt a document
while sending it to a receiver to verify the signature. The private key has been kept with the
owner of the document and is confidential. On the other hand, public keys shared freely.
Every document has a unique hash and thus a unique signature. It is being done to ensure
that the document is unique to the owner and no one else can tamper, reproduce or make
duplicate copies of the document or the signature.
Digital signatures, like handwritten signatures, are unique to each signer. Digital signature
solution providers, such as DocuSign, follow a specific protocol, called PKI. PKI requires the
provider to use a mathematical algorithm to generate two long numbers, called keys. One key is
public, and one key is private.
When a signer electronically signs a document, the signature is created using the signer’s
private key, which is always securely kept by the signer. The signature is also marked with the
time that the document was signed. If the document changes after signing, the digital signature is
invalidated.
Legal position of Digital Signatures:
Which factors make e-signatures valid in India?
Here are the 5 criteria that e-signatures must satisfy to be valid and reliable, as per the
IT Act:
• The signature creation data or the authentication data are, within the context in which
they are used, linked to the signatory or, as the case may be, the authenticator and to no
other person;
• The signature creation data or the authentication data were, at the time of signing, under
the control of the signatory or, as the case may be, the authenticator and of no other
person;
• Any alteration to the electronic signature made after affixing such signature is detectable;
• Any alteration to the information made after its authentication by electronic signature is
detectable; and
• It is issued by a Certifying Authority based on e-authentication; particulars specified in
Form C of Schedule IV of the Information Technology (Certifying Authorities) Rules,
2000 and as recognized by the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) appointed
under the IT Act.
• If each of the reliability conditions is satisfied, then there is a legal presumption in favor
of the validity of any document signed using an electronic signature.
*******************
Payment Gateways
A payment gateway is what keeps the payments ecosystem rolling smoothly, as it enables online
payments for consumers and businesses. If you’re an online merchant, you don’t need to be a
payment gateway expert, but it’s worth understanding the basics of how an online payment flows
from your customer to your bank account.

The key players in online payments:

When a customer clicks on the “Pay” button on your website, these are the key players involved
in the payment process:
• The merchant: this is you, i.e. an online business operating in any vertical (travel, retail,
e-commerce, gaming, Forex, etc), offering a product or service to customers
• The customer: the customer, also called a cardholder, who wants to access the products
or services that the merchant is selling, and initiates the transaction
 • The issuing bank: the issuing bank is the customer’s bank that issues the cardholder’s
credit or debit card on behalf of the card schemes (Visa, MasterCard)
• The acquirer: also known as the acquiring bank, the acquirer is the financial institution
that maintains the merchant’s bank account (known as the merchant's account). The
acquiring bank passes the merchant's transactions to the issuing bank to receive payment
How does a payment gateway work?
1. The customer chooses the product or service they want to purchase and proceeds to the
payment page. Most payment gateways offer you different options for your payment
page.
2. The customer enters their credit or debit card details on the payment page. These details
include the cardholder’s name, card expiration date and CVV number
3. The acquiring bank sends securely the information to the card schemes (Visa,
MasterCard).
4. The issuing bank, after performing fraud screening, authorises the transaction. The
approved or declined payment message is transferred back from the card schemes, then to
the acquirer.
5. Based on the message, the merchant may either display a payment confirmation page or
ask the customer to provide another payment method.
Most Popular Payment Gateway Providers
Following is the list of the most widely used and popular payment getaway providers along with
a brief history about them.
PAYPAL − You can find all the terms and conditions of their business model on their URL –
https://www.paypal.com/. PayPal is one of the longest established and probably the best-known
service for transferring money online.
Amazon Payments − The URL of this immensely popular payment getaway provider is –
https://payments.amazon.com/. It was created in 2007, Amazon Payments provides your
customers with the same checkout experience they get on Amazon.com
Stripe − The URL of this payment getaway is – https://stripe.com/. No monthly fees, no extra
charges for different cards and different payment methods, also for different currencies. Stripe
also offers a great API (Application Program Interface) as well.
Authorize Net − The URL for this popular payment getaway provider is
https://www.authorize.net/. It is among the most powerful and well-known payment gateways. It
is well-supported by e-commerce WordPress plugins.
2Checkout − The URL for this payment getaway provider is – https://www.2checkout.com/.
2checkout is one of the most simple and affordable credit card gateways.

******************

Meaning and Concept of Online Banking

Meaning:
Online banking, also known as internet banking, web banking or home banking, is
an electronic payment system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to
conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial institution's website.
(OR)
Internet Banking, also known as net-banking or online banking, is an electronic payment system
that enables the customer of a bank or a financial institution to make financial or non-financial
transactions online via the internet. This service gives online access to almost every banking
service, traditionally available through a local branch including fund transfers, deposits, and
online bill payments to the customers.
E-banking makes the bank and its client’s enable-
• Provides access to financial as well as non-financial banking services
• Facility to check bank balance any time
• Make bill payments and fund transfer to other accounts
• Keep a check on mortgages, loans, savings a/c linked to the bank account
• Safe and secure mode of banking
• Protected with unique ID and password
• Customers can apply for the issuance of a cheque book
• Buy general insurance
• Set-up or cancel automatic recurring payments and standing orders
• Keep a check on investments linked to the bank account
The Concept of E-Banking:
Science has made the world more dynamic and progressive. It has brought changes in
economy, politics, culture, society and the people themselves. It has made banking transactions
more speedy, easy and comfortable. Today, the client needs not carry a checkbook or cash
money rather it is enough for him just to carry a plastic card.
In other words, E-banking means that kind of banking in which the bank uses electronic
or satellite based computerized devices for ensuring promptness and accuracy in banking
transactions.
Importance of Online-banking:
We will look at the importance of electronic banking for banks, individual customers, and
businesses separately.
Banks:
Lesser transaction costs – electronic transactions are the cheapest modes of transaction
A reduced margin for human error – since the information is relayed electronically, there is no
room for human error
Lesser paperwork – digital records reduce paperwork and make the process easier to handle.
Also, it is environment-friendly.
Reduced fixed costs – A lesser need for branches which translates into a lower fixed cost.
More loyal customers – since e-banking services are customer-friendly, banks experience higher
loyalty from its customers.
Customers:
Convenience – a customer can access his account and transact from anywhere 24x7x365.
Lower cost per transaction – since the customer does not have to visit the branch for every
transaction, it saves him both time and money.
No geographical barriers – In traditional banking systems, geographical distances could hamper
certain banking transactions. However, with e-banking, geographical barriers are reduced.
Businesses:
Account reviews – Business owners and designated staff members can access the accounts
quickly using an online banking interface. This allows them to review the account activity and
also ensure the smooth functioning of the account.
Better productivity – Electronic banking improves productivity. It allows the automation of
regular monthly payments and a host of other features to enhance the productivity of the business.
Lower costs – Usually, costs in banking relationships are based on the resources utilized. If a
certain business requires more assistance with wire transfers, deposits, etc., then the bank charges
it higher fees. With online banking, these expenses are minimized.
Lesser errors – Electronic banking helps reduce errors in regular banking transactions. Bad
handwriting, mistaken information, etc. can cause errors which can prove costly. Also, easy
review of the account activity enhances the accuracy of financial transactions.
Reduced fraud – Electronic banking provides a digital footprint for all employees who have the
right to modify banking activities. Therefore, the business has better visibility into its transactions
making it difficult for any fraudsters to play mischief.
*********************
Electronic funds transfer (EFT)
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the electronic transfer of money from one bank
account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions,
via computer-based systems, without the direct intervention of bank staff.
EFTs debit (increase) one person’s account and credit (decrease) the other person’s
account.
EFT transactions are also known as electronic banking. Everything is paperless, so there isn’t a
need for cash or paper checks.
Types of EFT:
o There are a number of ways to transfer money electronically. Here are just some
common EFT payments you might use for your business.
• Direct deposit lets you electronically pay employees. After you run payroll, notify your
direct deposit service provider of the amount to deposit in each employee’s bank account.
Then, the direct deposit provider transfers that money to employee accounts on payday.
Not all employers can make direct deposit mandatory, so brush up on direct deposit laws.
• Wire transfers are a fast way to send money. They are typically used for large,
infrequent payments (because there’s a fee). You might use wire transfers to pay vendors
or make a large down payment on a building or equipment.
• The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) is a tax payment service you
can use to make tax payments to the IRS.
• ATMs let you bank without going inside a bank and talking to a teller. You can withdraw
cash, make deposits, or transfer funds between your accounts.
• Debit cards allow you to make EFT transactions. You can use the debit card to move
money from your business bank account. Use your debit card to make purchases or pay
bills online, in person, or over the phone. And, you can accept debit card payments from
customers.
• Electronic checks are similar to paper checks, but they are used electronically. You enter
your bank account number and routing number to make a payment.
• Mobile wallets let you pay bills, transfer money between accounts, or receive payments
over the phone.
• Personal computer banking lets you make banking transactions with your computer or
mobile device. You can use your computer or mobile device to move money between
accounts.
How does an EFT payment work?

You might want to send an EFT payment to someone. Or, you may give customers the option to
pay you via an electronic funds transfer.

To make an EFT payment, the sender must know the recipient’s bank account information. If
you’re making an EFT payment, you must authorize the funds transfer. Then, the money is taken
from your account and deposited into the recipient’s account.
There might be a fee for some EFT transactions. For example, you might have to pay for certain
ATM transactions. However, other transactions might be free.

Risks involved in E-payments:

Fraud: Fraud can be defined as the undesired activities taking place in an operational system.
Electronic payment systems are not immune to the risk of fraud. The system uses a
particularly vulnerable protocol to establish the identity of the person authorizing a payment.
Passwords and security questions aren’t foolproof in determining the identity of a person. So
long as the password and the answers to the security questions are correct, the system doesn’t
care who’s on the other side. If someone gains access to your password or the answers to your
security question, they will have gained access to your money and can steal it from you.

Tax Evasion: Businesses are required by law to provide the government with records of their
financial transactions so that their tax compliance can be checked. E-payment, however, can
thwart tax collection efforts. Until a company discloses the numerous e-payments it has made or
received during the tax period, the government will not know the truth that may lead to tax
evasion.

Payment Conflicts: Payment problems also occur because payments are not made manually, but
through an automated system that can cause errors. This is particularly important when payment
is made on a daily basis to several recipients. For example, if you do not review your pay slip at
the end of will pay period, you could end up in a dispute due to such technical issues or
anomalies.

Impulse Buying: E-payment systems promote pulse transactions, particularly online, and
consumers are likely to make a decision to buy an item they find on sale online, as it will cost
only a click to buy it via a credit card. The buying of impulses leads to disorganized budgets and
is one of the drawbacks of e-payment systems.

Dishonest providers and Merchants: Those who exploit and sell consumers 'personal data in
order to be used by advertisers in ads often use this data for fraud purposes.
 UNIT-III

Online Business Transactions

Meaning and Purpose of Online Business Transactions:

Meaning of Online Business Transactions: Online Business or e-business is any kind of business or
commercial transaction that includes sharing information across the internet. Commerce constitutes the
exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and individuals and can be seen as one of the
essential activities of any business.

E-commerce basically defines buying or selling of products over the internet. E-commerce implies
transactions over networks like internet and public computer networks. It has a vital role in business
organizations in delivering complete and effective product information and services to achieve business goal.

Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major market segments:

• Business to Business (B2B)

• Business to Consumer (B2C)
• Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
• Consumer to Business (C2B)

Purpose of Online Business Transactions:

Online transactions allow people to save many items, such as paper used to make notes, time spent
on transactions & counting. Online transactions are very simple and can be performed from wherever using
devices that are readily accessible to everybody, such as smart phones, laptops, and so on.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Transacting Online:

Advantages:

• Easy and best solution for online shoppers.

• These systems are most efficient and have excellent response times.
• Very easy to use; as simple as fill a form
• Online banking is completely based on online transaction processing systems.
• Credit cards are also well-handled by these systems.
• You can access anything on the web and choose to buy

Disadvantages

• At times, there occur millions and millions of requests at a time which gets difficult to handle.
• During purchases even if the servers hang for few seconds a large number of transactions get affected,
• Databases store all user data and account information, if these servers are hacked, it could lead to
financial and personal problems (thefts).
• In the case of hardware failures of the online transaction processing systems,

*****************
E-commerce Applications in Various Industries

➢ E-commerce Applications in Banking:

1. Electronic billing

Electronic billing is one of the biggest benefits that e-commerce has brought to both consumers and
businesses. Banks now offer the ability to automatically pay your bills through their website or on their app.
Companies can send out electronic invoices to their customers and receive payment automatically instead of
waiting for and cashing a physical check.

2. ID verification

This has become harder the more technology has advanced. But technology has also helped drive innovation
in the ability to confirm the identity and other credentials so that customers can conduct their e-commerce
transaction more securely, without the possibility of data being stolen or leaked This identification process is
not just a protection for the customer, but also for the retailer or vendor. It’s the responsibility of all
stakeholders – banks and e-commerce retailers alike – to uphold ID verification and customer information
security standards.

3. Mobile payments

Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is an important part of e-commerce. A smart phone has become another
important e-commerce tool, however – a digital wallet. Customers can now pay for many of their in-person
purchases with a smart phone app, whether it’s a bank-backed credit card app or an app like Apple Pay which
keeps payment options for customers’ various financial sources together in one place for easy payment. 4.
4.Digital-only banking

E-commerce has enabled app payments and transactions, leading the way for reeducation in physical brick
and mortar banks. Online-only banks can also offer a better banking experience by often being able to give
customers a better interest rate on savings accounts or loans because of the money the bank itself was able to
save by not having to pay overhead costs like rent, etc.

5. B2B innovation

B2B buyers have experienced these features in their non-business life and are making demands in the
marketplace that their B2B experience is more consistent and match the rest of modern life. E-commerce and
banking, then, have a responsibility to continue to elevate the customer experience.

6. International commerce

E-commerce has made it easier for people to bank internationally or pay for goods and services from another
country without having to work around banking regulations or exchange rates. Third-party vendors like
PayPal work as a go-between for e-commerce retailers and financial organizations and banks.

➢ E-Commerce Applications in Insurance:

Electronic insurance is a media that Iranian modern technologies in the arena of information and insurance
have used it less. One of the noticeable points in insurance, in case of coordinating with the banking and
hospital systems, etc. is that it leads to promoting these systems. The main advantage of internet services is the
ability of further and stronger communicating with customers.
1. Reducing the unneeded costs: Online promotion for insurance services provides lower costs and time
compared with traditional advertising methods. Meanwhile, automating insurance services would reduce
administrative costs and improve managerial database by new customers. Cost reduction advantage of e-
insurance would lead to a reduction in insurance premium which may encourage customers to buy more
insurance.

2. Helping in expanding the target: market Turning into a digital system allow insurance companies to
expand and enter new markets with different cultures, ages and social levels.

3. Achieving more competitive advantage: Nowadays customers practice their daily activities using the
internet including buying, selling and exchanging products and services. Thus, when insurance companies
adopt and provide online services that facilitate easier, faster and less costly services would provide
companies with competitive advantage.

4. Providing more qualitative insurance services: E-insurance allows insurance companies to improve the
quality of services provided. E-insurance helps companies to provide faster and easy access services, thus
satisfying more customer’s needs.

➢ E-Commerce Applications in Payment of Utility Bills:

User Account and Profile management: Creation of user accounts based on predefined user roles will
govern what a user is allowed in the system. Roles can be assigned to users and organizational entities.
Any data that is part of the profile can be used as part of the personalization of the site.

Manage Customer Account Information and Registration: Customer registration is the most critical
step in providing an enduring valued service to the customer in the long run. This process has to be
secured, efficient and robust that maximizes the opportunity to collect information from the customer
and build a useful and informative customer profile.

Customer or User Segmentation: Customer segments to be created based on the yearly income, credit
history, appliances they own, usage pattern, enrolled programs, any static attributes like business type,
address, demographic data etc.

Workflow and Business Rules Configuration Management: This capability is at the core of e
commerce to provide personalized user experience through helping define, configure and manage which
products and programs are available to which customers. In Utility offers a number of energy efficiency
programs to customers help saving energy and cost.

Product and Catalog Management: In Utility world, 'Product' is virtual, such as a 'Product' can be
considered as an equivalent of a 'Program' offered by the utility where customer can participate to enjoy
the discount. Product and Catalog Management system helps utilities to publish its current rates,
programs, offerings, services by building master catalog with as many categories.

Bundle Management: Through bundle management, customers can see a collection of individual
catalog entries which will enable them to transact with a single click. In a Utility context the e -
commerce platform's Bundle Management can be leveraged to allow customers to create their own
collection and get served as a package

Program (Product) Enrollment: This process is a core feature of e-commerce. Customers can be
provided a number of ways to help browse the catalog, locate the necessary offering or services or
instead guide/lead them to discover the relevant items from the catalog. Customer can be able to
complete the transaction once the catalog entities have been chosen.

Alerts and Notifications: Almost all e-commerce products have a robust messaging system to support
both inbound and outbound messaging types. It allows control in the manner in which administrators,
customers, back-end and fulfillment center systems are notified of various events, such as customer
orders, system errors or other events.

➢ E-Commerce Applications in Online Marketing:

a) Increased sales: Increased use of internet marketing would lead to enhanced sales due to reach of
narrow market segments in geographically dispersed locations as well as creation of virtual communities.

b) Decreased costs: There would be cost cutting of the products which would be dependent on the sales
enquiry, price quotes and finally the availability of the product.

c) Being in the space: There is an increased trend towards visibility of the products by the companies in the
cyber space due to enhanced accessibility to the target customers globally thus this is a low cost virtual market
of goods for sale by the sellers catering individuals from varied nationalities, cultures and traditions.

d) Benefits to Buyers: Online purchase is more convenient, widely acceptable, easy and private; buyer has a
wider product access and selection, offers comparative, immediate and interactive information. Internet
marketing is relatively inexpensive when compared to the ratio of cost against the reach of the target
audience.

e) Increased security: Online marketing is becoming more secure by application of new versions of
websites that keep the personal information of the customers in e-walts as well as more aggressively protect
the hacking of passwords and thus the operational accounts. Encryption is the primary method for
implementing privacy policies.

f) Benefits to Sellers: The sellers are able to build customer relationships, could relish the reduction in
costs for quick and efficient marketing and sale of their products. Furthermore, there would be reduction in
the communication costs with the customers

g) Online presence promotes offline sales: Online marketing and selling is not a threat to the traditional
wholesaler and retailer model. For example, the online US market is a fairly mature channel that accounts for
over 10% of retail industry revenues but this hasn't impacted the traditional channel in any way. The
online channel helps consumers explore products and let consumers make more informed decisions.

**************

E-Tailing

The word E-tail has its roots in the word ‘retail’. Here the letter E stands for ‘electronic’ since the shopping
process happens through the electronic media (internet).

Popularity:

With the use of a web-space a virtual shop is created and the products are displayed through images in this
space with the features and price tags. By accessing this shopping site a customer can choose his/her products
into a cart. The payment to this product can be done in various modes as mentioned by the shopping site. The
product would be delivered to the address specified by the customer.
Electronic retailing (E-tailing) is the sale of goods and services through the Internet. E-tailing can
include business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales of products and services. E-tailing
or Electronic retailing may be defined as use of internet to sell goods and services online.

 E-tailing is the practice of selling retail goods on the internet. It is the abbreviated version of “electronic
retailing” which essentially constitutes business to consumer transaction.

Benefits of e-Tailing:

Product Benefits: with no store size and shelf space restrictions, companies can sell a far wider variety of
goods.

Place Benefits: Internet storefronts are available on almost every computer connected to the internet.

Price Benefits: Online retailers are efficient, with high volumes and low overhead allow for very competitive
pricing.

Platform for various goods: It creates a new platform for goods from different parts of the world which
could be imported by placing an order.

Saves time: It saves time of the customer that is spent on travelling to a shopping place in real world.

Easy Access: It gives quick and easy access to a shopping space at any time and from any place where there is
access to internet.

• Increased sales opportunities and decreased transaction costs.

• Ability to operate 24/7.
• Increased speed and accuracy of information exchange .
• Ability to maintain strong customer relationships.
• Ability to reach narrow market segments.
• Highly discounted pricing.
• Ability to compare prices and product.
• Better interfaces and delivery.

Problems of E-Tailing:

Can't Feel Products

Just looking at a photograph and reading a description of a product may give enough information for a
consumer to make a purchase online. Some products, however, need to be held, smelled, touched and
listened to in person, making them poor candidates for e-tailing.

Hard to Build Customer Relations

The friendly smile of an employee greeting you as you walk into a retail store can go a long way in building
customer relations, helping ensure repeat business. Helpful and knowledgeable interaction with store
employees creates confidence with customers.

Additional Costs

E-tailing involves additional costs for purchased items compared to purchases made at brick and mortar
stores. Items must be mailed or shipped, incurring not only the additional cost of postage but also for
packing materials, which can be significant if items are large or fragile. When items have to be returned,
even more postage may be required by the e-tailer for return shipping costs.

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Online Services

1. Banking

The banking industry is the backbone of India’s financial services industry. The country has several public
sector (27), private sector (21), foreign (49), regional rural (56) and urban/rural cooperative (95,000+) banks.
The financial services offered in this segment include:

The banking sector is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which monitors and maintains the
segment’s liquidity, capitalization, and financial health.

2. Professional Advisory

India has a strong presence of professional financial advisory service providers, which offer individuals and
businesses a wide portfolio of services, including investment due diligence, M&A advisory, valuation, real-
estate consulting, risk consulting, taxation consulting.

3. Wealth Management

Financial services offered within this segment include managing and investing customers’ wealth across
various financial instruments- including debt, equity, mutual funds, insurance products, derivatives, structured
products, commodities, and real estate, based on the clients’ financial goals, risk profile and time horizons.

4. Mutual Funds

Mutual fund service providers offer professional investment services across funds that are composed of
different asset classes, primarily debt and equity-linked assets. The buy-in for mutual fund solutions is
generally lower compared to the stock market and debt products. These products are very popular in India as
they generally have lower risks, tax benefits, stable returns and properties of diversification.

5. Insurance

Financial services offerings in this segment are primarily offered across two categories:

• General Insurance (automotive, home, medical, fire, travel, etc.)

• Life Insurance (term-life, money-back, unit-linked, pension plans, etc.)

Insurance solutions enable individuals and organizations to safeguard against unforeseen circumstances and
accidents. Payouts for these products vary across the nature of the product, time horizons, customer risk
assessment, premiums, and several other key qualitative and quantitative aspects.

6. Stock Market

The stock market segment includes investment solutions for customers in Indian stock markets (National
Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange), across various equity-linked products. The returns for
customers are based on capital appreciation – growth in the value of the equity solution and/or dividends –
and payouts made by companies to its investors.
7. Treasury/Debt Instruments

Services offered in this segment include investments into government and private organization bonds (debt).
The issuer of the bonds (borrower) offers fixed payments (interest) and principal repayment to the investor at
the end of the investment period. The types of instruments in this segment include listed bonds, non-
convertible debentures, capital-gain bonds, GoI savings bonds, tax-free bonds, etc.

8. Tax/Audit Consulting

This segment includes a large portfolio of financial services within the tax and auditing domain. This services
domain can be segmented based on individual and business clients. They include:

• Tax – Individual (determining tax liability, filing tax-returns, tax-savings advisory, etc.)
• Tax – Business (determining tax liability, transfer pricing analysis and structuring, GST registrations,
tax compliance advisory, etc.)

In the auditing segment, service providers offer solutions including statutory audits, internal audits, service tax
audits, tax audits, process/transaction audits, risk audits, stock audits, etc. These services are essential to
ensure the smooth operation of business entities from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, as well as to
mitigate risk. You can read more about taxation in India.

Online Travel Services:

Online Travel Agency (OTA) is a company that mediates various travel services online. These services may
include car rentals, flights, hotels, activities and travel packages. ... Even if the customer doesn't make a
booking through an OTA site, it is often the place that leads them to the service provider's webpage.
Online travel is one of the most successful B2C e-commerce segments . Travel services appear to be
an ideal service for the Internet It is information intensive and requires significant consumer research Travel
requirements can be accomplished online Travel service sites do not require any “inventory”

The four major sectors include airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, and travel packages

Some industry trends include:

Intense consolidation to build stronger multi-channel sites

Impacted by meta-search engines that scour the Web for the best prices on travel and lodging

Use of mobile devices and apps is increasing

Social media also impacts the industry through user-generated content and online reviews

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Online Career Services:

Next to travel services, one of the Internet’s most successful online services has been job services Online job
market is dominated by two large players – Monster and CareerBuilder LinkedIn is also becoming an
increasingly important player in this market Recruitment market segments

• General recruitment sites

• Executive search sites
 • Niche job sites

Online Career Services Trends: Current trends in the online recruitment services industry include:

• Consolidation – industry dominated by two sites

• Diversification – explosion of specialty niche sites (reduces information overload for users)
• Social recruiting – 92% of HR professionals surveyed recently said they use sites like LinkedIn for
recruiting

Mobile

• Job search engines/aggregators – provide free, searchable, index of thousands of job listings and use an
advertising revenue model rather than a transaction fee
• Data analytics and hiring by algorithm – increasingly used to match job seekers with job openings, and
sift online job applications focusing on key words

Auctions:

Retail sites are not your only option when shopping online. You can also bid for your dream items (vintage
Elvis toaster, anyone?) in online auctions.

EBay and Other Auction Sites

The most popular online auction site is eBay, though there are many other sites that offer similar services,
including QuiBids, uBid, and eBid. These sites all offer services that are similar to a silent auction, meaning
that anonymous bids are submitted through the site for a specific item and the item goes to the highest bidder.

EBay was founded in 1995 and the first item sold on the site was a broken laser pointer. Since then, eBay has
expanded internationally and has annual revenues of almost $7.7billion. It is considered the most reputable
online auction site and is frequently referenced in pop culture.

Each item on these online auction sites is listed by an individual seller—eBay and the other companies do not
list these items and you will be dealing with an individual person. EBay does offer buyer protections; for
example, if you never receive an item that you won in an auction, eBay will refund your money through
PayPal. This makes buying items through these sites less risky for you.

Searching for Auctions:

EBay allows you to search for an auction by category or by item keyword. From the eBay home page, you
have options to browse by category or enter a term in the search box at the top of the screen:

Each category includes further subdivisions; for example, Home, Outdoors & Décor 13 includes Home &
Garden, Hobbies & Toys, Baby, and more. From there, you will find even further subdivisions of categories.
If you choose to use the search box to look for items instead, be sure to use as specific keywords as possible.
If you are looking for a Batman lunchbox, be sure to use both the words “Batman” and “lunchbox”—this way,
you won’t get everything to do with Batman or every style of lunchbox. After you run your initial search, you
can also use the options on the left side of the screen to specify cost, condition, brand, size, or color.

Some auctions have a “Buy It Now” option, which means that the seller has set a price that they are willing to
accept to just let you buy the item. However, it does take away the stress of a bidding war. You can also
choose to search by items that have this option. Some sellers will also accept the best offer.

Bidding Online:

Just as you are required to create an account to buy things on retail sites, you are also required to create an
account on eBay to buy or sell items. From every eBay page, there are links to both “Sign In” and “Register”:

This allows for more security than Craigslist.org and allows you to keep track of your searches, leave
feedback, and use other services. By requiring sellers and buyers to identify themselves in some way, eBay is
then able to monitor behaviors and keep disreputable people at bay.

By entering your personal information, such as your name and address, this will tell sellers where to ship the
items that you have won. It will also allow for accurate calculation of shipping costs. By entering your phone
number, you can recover your account password if you forget it later.

You will also need to create a user ID and password. The user ID will be displayed to other bidders and the
seller instead of your name. You must also pick a secret question, in case you forget your password. Once
you’ve completed all of these steps, click “Submit” and eBay will send a confirmation to your e-mail address
and you can start bidding.

Online Portal:

A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information together from various sources,
like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. They can be accessed from multiple
platforms like personal computers, smart phones and other electronic devices. Web portals may offer other
services such as e-mail, news, stock quotes, information from databases and even entertainment content.

A web portal is a gateway to the World Wide Web that offers a number of services. In simpler terms, it is like
a management system where companies or organizations can build, share, interchange information, or data
which can be reused later. Unlike websites, web portals are private locations on the internet that can only be
accessed through their unique URLs, and users are required to enter their login IDs and passwords.

Web portals are user-centric, and each user has its own password that can be used to access these portals.
These portals have dynamic content, i.e. the content changes every time a user visits these portals. There are
many web development companies that develop web portals based on your requirements.

Classification:

Web portals are classified as horizontal or vertical web portals.

Horizontal Web Portals: Also known as, Horizontal Enterprise Portals, these are the general portals that can
be used as a common platform by several companies, to provide all kinds of information, which a user may
require while looking for their services. Some of the common examples of horizontal web portals are
government portals, educational portals, corporate portals, cultural portals, etc
Vertical Web Portals: These are web portals which focus only on one specific industry, domain or vertical.
Vertical portals provide tools, information, articles, research and statistics on the specific industry or vertical.
A user looking for information about any specific topic or about a particular company can find these types of
portals helpful. If a business wants to share something specific related to their services, they can opt for expert
and experienced web development services, for getting vertical portals developed, as per their business
requirements. College portals, tender and bidding portals, are a few examples of vertical portals.

Types of Online Portals:

Knowledge Portals- Increase the effectiveness of knowledge by providing easy access to information that is
helpful to them in one or more specific roles.

Market Space Portals- These portals exist to support the business to business, and business to customer e-
commerce.

Major functionalities: -

Software support for e-commerce transactions.

 Ability to find and access rich information about the products on sale.

 Ability to share in groups with other vendors.

Enterprise Portals- An enterprise portal known as corporate portal provides personalized access to an
applicable range of information about a particular company.

Corporate Portals: Corporate Portals available for personalized access to selected information of a specific
company.

Commerce Portals: support business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce

Search portals- Search portals aggregate results from several search engines into one page. Here the main
focus is on search.

Example: Google (www.google.com), Ask Jeeves (www.ask.com).

Media Portals- Media portals focus on entertainment, business or consumer news. Popular media portals
update users on current news, affairs and information. Some media portals provide access to local and foreign
TV programs such as soap operas, sports and live events.

Example: BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)

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ONLINE LEARNING:

INTRODUCTION:

Online Learning encompasses a range of technologies such as the worldwide web, email, chat, new groups
and texts, audio and video conferencing delivered over computer networks to impart education. It helps the
learner to learn at their own pace, according to their own convenience. Online Education requires a great deal
of resources and careful planning. In this, teachers act as facilitators rather than transmitters of content
knowledge, and ICT is regarded as resource that enhances the learning experience of students. Learners learn
through e-learning tools which are available to all. E-Learning has brought back the joy in learning through its
innovative and interactive content delivery and has proved to be more appealing among students.

TYPES OF ONLINE LEARNING COURSES:

Partially Online Course: A “partially online” course is one that integrates existing resource materials that are
available either in print or non-print form such as textbooks etc. with some elements of online learning.

Fully online Course: A “fully online” course, on the other hand, is one that will have most of its learning and
teaching activities carried out online.

MODELS OF ONLINE LEARNING COURSES:

Wrap around Model: This model of online-learning relies on study materials, which may comprise online
study guides, activities and discussion “wrapped” around existing previously published resources such as
textbooks or CD-ROMs etc

The Integrated Model: This model is closest to a full online- learning course. Such courses are often offered
via comprehensive learning management system. They comprise avail-ability of much of the subject matter in
electronic format like opportunities for computer conferencing, small group-based collaborative online
learning activities and online assessment of learning outcomes.

Advantages Of Online Learning:

Accessibility: Online learning provides accessibility due to which a student can learn from any-where in the
world. This is an especially important consideration for students who wish to study in a different country. It
doesn't matter where a student lives and what he wants to study- he can always find a suitable course or even a
Degree Program that can be followed from home.

Personalized Learning: Online Learning system enables a student to determine and process his/her learning
style, content, aim, current knowledge and individual skills. Therefore, per-son -specific education could be
provided through creating individual learning styles. E-Learning enables the individual to plan and direct
his/her own learning.

Cost-Effectiveness: Online Learning is cost effective because less money is spent in travelling and in buying
books or spending money in college context. Since it can be carried out at any geographic location and there
are no travel expenses, this type of learning is less costly than learning at a traditional institute. Students who
want to study through this mode need to have access to the necessary computer hardware as well as paying
often substantial fees for access to an internet service provider.

Promotes Research: Students are excited to publish their work when they produce something of extremely
high quality. With the permission of their teachers, they post the work on the web as examples for current and
future students. Publishing students work helps form a classroom legacy and archive of successful products.

Basic Computer Skills: Both on and off campus students who choose to study online have an opportunity to
gain technical skills in using Information Communication Technology (ICT). These skills are likely to be
useful to them in their professional life and all future endeavors which may be in them marketable features of
their education.

Equal Opportunity to all: All students are equal; they are not treated differently based upon caste, creed,
race, sex, religion, and disability, etc.
Self-Pacing: Due to individual differences, all learners are not able to complete the work/assignments at a
given time due to which they have to face difficulties. Online learning allows students to work and learn at
their own pace without the time restriction. The Learner is free to complete the course work according to his
own will and he can take as much time as he requires without being termed as slow by the peers.

Globalization: New Technologies are narrowing geographical barriers in the way of education. The world has
become a small village and the opportunities to have information about other nations are within our own
access.

Disadvantages of Online Learning:

Poor communication: In online learning, one does not have the opportunity to have face to face interaction
with the teacher which is very significant for establishing a bond between the student and the teacher.
Research conducted by th International Review of Research in open and Distance Learning suggests that
online learning can create misunderstandings between student and the teacher which may have detrimental
effect on the teaching learning process and students’ outcomes due to misinterpretation of tasks.

Feeling Isolated: Due to technological advancement in modern era, social development of a child has taken a
back seat. Students remain in touch with their online friends sitting at far off places through WhatsApp,
Instagram& Facebook but fail to meet and greet a person sitting just next door to them.

Lack of motivation: Online learners lack motivation while studying because they easily get distracted
towards any other thing. Working at their own pace becomes a disadvantage for students who have difficulty
with time management and a tendency of procrastination. These students tend to be more successful with the
structure of traditional learning.

Lack of Funds: Galusha (1991) points out that technology's downsides include cost, hardware issues internet
problems, production of course materials and worry about avail-ability of funds. Researches reveal that most
of the educational institutions typi-cally don't anticipate connectivity costs which may later cause barriers to
online learning.

Lack of quality: Online Learning sometimes results in lack of quality in teaching learning pro-cess. Galusha
(1991) says that non-online faculty has problems with respect to the credibility of online courses. Too often,
online instructors don't take their lesson preparations as seriously as they could, and this lack of commitment
surely effect on the quality of online learning.

Poor accessibility in Remote Areas: Hardware, software and connectivity facilities are pre requisites that
enable online teaching and learning. In the absence of anyone of these, Online learning cannot achieve its
objective Some people do not have ready access to a computer and internet connection, and some who do
have the required equipment feel ill-equipped to use it.

Online Publishing:

Electronic publishing (also referred to as publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the
digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It
also includes an editorial aspect, that consists of editing books, journals or magazines that are mostly destined
to be read on a screen (computer, e-reader, tablet, smart phone)
The first digitization projects were transferring physical content into digital content. Electronic publishing is
aiming to integrate the whole process of editing and publishing (production, layout, publication) in the digital
world.

The electronic publishing process follows some aspects of the traditional paper-based publishing process but
differs from traditional publishing in two ways: 1) it does not include using an offset printing press to print the
final product and 2) it avoids the distribution of a physical product (e.g., paper books, paper magazines, or
paper newspapers). Because the content is electronic, it may be distributed over the Internet and through
electronic bookstores, and users can read the material on a range of electronic and digital devices,
including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers, smart phones or e-reader tablets. The consumer may
read the published content online a website, in an application on a tablet device, or in a PDF document on a
computer. In some cases, the reader may print the content onto paper using a consumer-grade ink-jet or laser
printer or via a print on demand system. Some users download digital content to their devices, enabling them
to read the content even when their device is not connected to the Internet

*************

Online Entertainment:

Entertainment or amusement is as old as human history and is a central part of human experience. The rapid
advances in technology have led to the need of digital entertainment. Digital entertainment has had a
significant impact on how we spend our leisure time. Different forms of entertainment—music, cinema, radio,
television, games, gambling, and even the circus—are converging on digital media and digital platforms.
Digital movies, digital books, digital music, and digital games provide engaging and enjoyable entertainment.
Digital entertainment technology is inexpensive, widely available, and entertaining for people of all ages. The
digital entertainment has undergone a dramatic change in recent years.

Digital entertainment systems (DESs) are designed to help you enjoy your digital life in the living room. They
usually consist of several devices including smart phones, MP3 players, DVD players and recorders, game
consoles, and digital cameras. Digital entertainment can be delivered to the homes via cable TV services. One
does not need to completely rewire his house to use a digital entertainment system. The DES’s built-in optical
drive replaces the DVD player, and one can connect most DES to the HDTV. The ideal DES has plenty of
USB ports and a multitude of input/output ports, including ones for the HDTV and stereo.

Examples of online entertainment

• Web browsing
• Internet gaming
• Fantasy sports games
• Single and multiplayer games
• Card games
• Social networking sites
• Reading
• Live events

Social Media Websites:

Social media has become a part of the modern lifestyle. These websites are brilliantly developed to attract
maximum people and to stay connected with their relatives who are always making a great contribution to
their social life. There is a fact that only Facebook has almost 2 billion-plus active members worldwide and it
is leading the social media world in terms of popularity. According to a report, if Facebook users will create
their own country, it would be the most populous country in the world. Apart from that, there are different
social media sites including Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest that have their different user bases. Therefore, it
is important to know that social media websites are the most popular way to get entertainment online. People
love to get more likes, shares, and love on this medium. Most of the prominent personalities have their
different social media accounts to get connected with their own followers and in this way, they stay connected
with their followers. These sites will let you share your stories, videos, and pictures.

Online Games:

Online games are also dominating the entertainment world. These games can be easily played online and they
are able to keep engaging the player for hours. Most of the teenagers fall in love with online games. There are
different types of online games and these are loved and played by different gamers. The most important thing
is that players don’t have to face any kind of real battlefield or they don’t have to use their muscular power to
win the games. This is the main reason, they do stay engaged with these games for hours and they play these
games carefully just like real games. The gaming industry has developed and players can easily find their
preferred character from all these games. 3D games are more popular compared to 2D games and players stay
connected with the characters with whom they do play. Gamers choose different types of games according to
their requirement. Some of them prefer to play battle games, automobile games, and some love to play
strategy games.

Online Casino:

Online casino games are also another popular mode of online entertainment. They come with a number of
casino games that can be played online and once they get registered on https://www.digibet.com/, they will be
able to play the games and they have options to earn money too. This is the main reason for which it would be
great to play these online casinos in order to come with perfect entertainment and right they have options to
earn something.

Watching Online Videos:

Watching online videos is known as the best way to get entertainment online. There are a number of online
video sites available by which someone can get entertainment without much hassle. YouTube, Vimeo like
video sharing websites are letting people view their video contents. YouTube is most popular among others
and it is always updating with new features to stay a way ahead from other video sharing websites. At the
present time, there are a number of social media sites that have integrated video into their environment. In this
way, the users also spend maximum hours viewing these videos on their platforms. At the present time,
YouTube has become the second-largest search engine after Google.

Reading and Exploring Blogs:

Blogs are always on the top of the popularity of internet users. They have been using this medium to share
their stories and share their knowledge with others. There are hundreds of millions of bloggers you can find on
the internet and they all are keeping their viewers engaged with their contents. There are different types of
blogs someone can find on the internet and most of the blogs are related to Tech, entertainment, and politics.
Most of the blogs are free to use and viewers subscribe to them to stay up-to-date with the latest posts and
information that they are going to share with different topics. Blogs are known as the best way to learn new
things and they will keep you updated by expanding the knowledge base. Blogs are also social platforms by
which viewers can easily interact with the author and share their views by comments.

Online TV Shows

TV shows are the best medium that millions of people get attached to them for hours. At the present time,
these TV shows are not only streaming on TVs but they have an online presence, and viewers can easily view
them through different websites. Netflix, Hulu TV, and Amazon Prime like online platforms are providing the
highest entertaining option to the viewers by which someone can easily stay engaged for hours. At the present
time, these internet bases have become more popular than movies and different TV shows are now releasing
their videos exclusively on these platforms. People can easily watch their favorite TV shows by subscribing to
these platforms. Some of the platforms do take minimal subscription charges to popularize their platforms.
This is the main reason for which the popularity of these online platforms is increasing day by day.

Online Shopping

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly

buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a
product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors
using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-
retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices,
including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.

An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a regular "bricks-and-
mortar" retailer or shopping center; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When
an online store is set up to enable businesses to buy from another businesses, the process is called business-to-
business (B2B) online shopping. A typical online store enables the customer to browse the firm's range of
products and services, view photos or images of the products, along with information about the product
specifications, features and prices.

Online stores usually enable shoppers to use "search" features to find specific models, brands or items. Online
customers must have access to the Internet and a valid method of payment in order to complete a transaction,
such as a credit card, an Interac-enabled debit card, or a service such as PayPal. For physical products (e.g.,
paperback books or clothes), the e-tailer ships the products to the customer; for digital products, such
as digital audio files of songs or software, the e-tailer usually sends the file to the customer over the Internet.
The largest of these online retailing corporations are Alibaba, Amazon.com, and eBay.

****************

ONLINE STORES:
What Is an Online Store?

You can think of an online store like a combination of a traditional brick-and-mortar store, warehouse, and
consumer magazine. You are able to browse and search for items, as you would in a regular store; there is a
wider range of products, sizes, and colors of products, as you would find in a warehouse; and most online
stores contain reviews of products by people who have already purchased and tried out the product.

Online stores have been around since 1994, right after the birth of the Internet. One of the most famous
online-only retailers, Amazon.com, launched in 1995. Over $142 billion was spent on online retail sales in the
United States in 2010. Clothing is the most commonly purchased item on the Internet, followed by jewelry.
Most traditional stores also have an online version of their store (For example, Walmart also sells products
through www.walmart.com). However, you should be aware of some of the very well-known and trusted
online-only retailers.

Amazon.com: Amazon started out as an online book retailer, but todaythe site sells everything from books and
DVDs to kitchen appliances and groceries. Amazon is the creator and sole seller of the Kindle eBook reader.
It is the world’s largest online retailer.

Browsing for Items:

Just like you would in a regular store, you can either look for a particular item or browse around in an online
store. If you already know what item you are looking for, you can go ahead and search for that particular item.
On most shopping websites, a search tool will be located at the top of the screen. Type in the item name and
press “Go,” “Search,” or a similar word. The example below comes from Amazon.com.

If you do not have a specific product in mind, you may either browse by department, usually located on the
left-hand side of the screen, or search for a very broad category of item, like “toys.” If you know you are in
the market for a new TV, for example, you might search for “television” in the search box, which would then
show you all the different types of TVs that Amazon carries. You could also browse in the “Electronics
&Computers” department. Most departments also have subcategories when you click on them; for example,
the “Electronics & Computers” department includes “TV & Video,” “Laptops, Tablets, & Netbooks,”
“Appliances,” and more.

Often, you might get an overwhelming number of results when you search, so you can narrow down your
results by smaller categories (for example, HDTVs, 3D TVs, specific brands of TVs). These suggested
refinements and links might be at the top or left-side of the screen, depending on the website.

To find out more information about a product, you may either click on the picture of the item, or the name of
the item. To return to the list of items, simply use the back button on your browser.

You can always change the department where you are browsing or refine your search at any point in the
process. Simply enter a new or more specific word in the search box at the top of the screen and click
“Search.” You can always get back to your previous search by using the back button on your browser.
Likewise, you can simply click on a new department to change where you are browsing.

The Shopping Cart

When you find an item that you like and you are ready to buy it (or at least seriously consider buying it—just
like putting an expensive grocery item in your cart, you can always return it to the shelf before you check out),
you simply click on the “Add to Cart” or “Add to Shopping Cart” button at the top of the product page. The
“Shopping Cart” is also sometimes called the “Shopping Bag.” You can also usually specify how many of the
item you would like purchase at this point.

Items will automatically go into your cart after you click the “Add” button; you can view your cart at any
time. There is usually a little picture of a cart in the top right corner of any shopping page—click on this to
view what you have placed in your cart.

When you click on the shopping cart icon, you will be able to review all of the items that you have placed in
there—you are not obligated to purchase anything simply because you have put it in your cart. You are only
financially liable for items remaining in your cart after you click on the “Check Out” or “Pay Now” buttons
and enter your payment information.

From the shopping cart page, you can change the number of a particular item you would like to purchase,
“delete” or take an item out of your cart, review the specifics of the items in your cart by clicking on the item
name or picture, and see a running subtotal of the cost of your items.

Paying for Your Items

When you have decided on what you would like to purchase, you can complete your transaction by clicking
on the “Checkout,” “Proceed to Check out,” or a similarly named button in the shopping cart.

Many online shopping websites require you to create an account before you can checkout—generally, all you
will need to do is enter your e-mail address and create a password. These businesses ask for this so that they
can send you advertisements and deals to your e-mail inbox, as well as keep a record of all of your
purchases—the cost of the convenience of online shopping!

For most shopping websites, you will need to input, at a minimum, your name and e-mail address, as well as
create a password, in order to check-out with your items. If you think that you might forget your username or
password, then entering your mobile phone is probably a good idea. It also allows you to get text messages
about item deliveries to your phone, which may be helpful or annoying.

In order to receive your items, you will need to enter an address for where you would like the products to be
shipped. This may or may not bethe same as your billing address. You may also choose to ship your items to
other people.

Depending on the website that you are using, this step might look slightly different, and ask for slightly
different information. You generally have several options of payment methods when purchasing items online.
The most common way to pay online is with a credit card; you almost never want to pay for items online with
cash or cash-like methods (e.g., debit cards, money orders, personal checks). Credit cards offer some
additional protections from fraud, including zero-liability policies (you are not held responsible for purchases
made with your stolen card) and credit protector services that alert you to fishy activity. Importantly, credit
cards are not directly linked to your bank account, so no money will be withdrawn from your account until
you pay your monthly bill.

Snapdeal:

Snapdeal is an Indian e-commerce company, based in New Delhi, India. The company was founded in
February 2010 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, alumni of The Wharton School and Indian Institute of
Technology Delhi respectively. Snapdeal was founded on 4 February 2010 as a daily deals platform, and
expanded in September 2011 to become an online marketplace.

Snapdeal has grown to become one of the largest online marketplace in India.Snapdeal’s focus is on the value
ecommerce segment - a market that is three times larger than the size of the branded goods market. Sellers on
Snapdeal offer good quality (local / regional / seller branded) merchandise, that offers customers value-for-
money options, similar to what would sell in local markets and high streets in a city. Fashion, home and
general merchandise account for a majority of the products sold by more than 500,000 independent sellers on
Snapdeal platform. Buyers from more than 3,700 towns across India—accounting for 92% of India’s total
4,000 towns and cities—shop on Snapdeal.
Alibaba.com:

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, also known as Alibaba Group and Alibaba.com, is a
Chinese multinational technology company specializing in e-commerce, retail, Internet, and technology.
Founded on 28 June 1999 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the company provides consumer-to-
consumer (C2C), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) sales services via web portals,
as well as electronic payment services, shopping search engines and cloud computing services. It owns and
operates a diverse portfolio of companies around the world in numerous business sectors.

Alibaba is one of the world's largest retailers and e-commerce companies. In 2020, it was also rated as the
fifth-largest artificial intelligence company. It is also one of the biggest venture capital firms, and one of the
biggest investment corporations in the world. The company hosts the largest B2B (Alibaba.com), C2C
(Taobao), and B2C (Tmall) marketplaces in the world. It has been expanding into the media industry, with
revenues rising by triple percentage points year after year.[19] It also set the record on the 2018 edition of
China's Singles' Day, the world's biggest online and offline shopping day.

Flipkart :

Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, and incorporated
in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before
expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries, and
lifestyle products.

The service competes primarily with Amazon's Indian subsidiary and domestic rival Snap deal. As of March
2017, Flipkart held a 39.5% market share of India's e-commerce industry.

Flipkart has a dominant position in the apparel segment, bolstered by its acquisition of Myntra, and was
described as being "neck and neck" with Amazon in the sale of electronics and mobile phones. Flipkart also
owns PhonePe, a mobile payments service based on the Unified Payments Interface.

In August 2018, U.S.-based retail chain Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart
for US$16 billion, valuing Flipkart at around $20 billion.

Benefits of Online Shopping:

Convenience

One of the biggest benefits of online shopping is that you can buy almost anything you could imagine without
ever leaving your house. Online stores are open 24 hours a day and are accessible from any location with an
Internet connection.

Selection

In general, online stores are able to carry more selection than traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Because
online stores don’t need to attractively display their items on shelves, they can keep a larger amount of
inventory on hand. They also might only have small amounts of each item, since they don’t need to display
them, and can order more from their supplier as needed.

Information

Online shops tend to provide more information about items for sale than you would get in a physical store
(unless you asked a sales associate, and that can be hit-or-miss). Product descriptions most often include a
description from the manufacturer, another description from the vendor, specific technical and size details,
reviews from professional magazines and journals, and reviews from people who have bought the product.
Online book stores often will have excerpts of the books (usually the first chapter) for you to read. Having all
this information available when you are considering a purchase makes you a more informed consumer without
having to perform extra research yourself.

Price

Because online stores don’t have to pay rent for a storefront in a nice part of town and tend to sell much larger
quantities of goods, they can offer to sell products for a much lower price. Discounts online can be
substantial—up to 25-50 percent off the suggested retail price. There are even some sites that only sell
clearance items! However, buying online does take away from local business, so that is a consideration to
keep in mind.

Disadvantages of Online Shopping

Hands-On Inspection

One thing that online stores can’t replace is the experience of actually seeing and touching the item you are
considering buying. For example, clothes shopping can be very tricky online, since you can’t try on the
clothes before you buy. There may also be small details that you decide you don’t like in a product that aren’t
noticeable until you have it in your hand.

Shipping

Some major online retailers now offer free shipping for their products, but many require you to meet a
minimum order cost to qualify or only offer this incentive at certain times of year. In general, you should
expect to pay an additional shipping cost on top of the price of the items that you order. For larger items, like
furniture, this can really add up! Additionally, if you decide that you don’t like a product, you will have to
pack it back up and take it to the post office to return it. Again, some retailers will offer free returns, but some
do require you to pay for return postage. In that case, even if you’ve decided against keeping an item, you’ve
still had to pay several dollars for the shipping!

Wait Time

Waiting for your item to arrive is another downside of online shopping. One of the great pleasures of shopping
at a store is the instant gratification—you see something you like, you pay for it, and then you get to take it
home and use it right away! In the case of online shopping, you may have to wait days or even weeks for the
item to arrive at your door. Especially if you are in a time crunch, then you may want to consider purchasing
your item at a local retailer.

Privacy

When you shop online, you waive certain privacy rights to the online retailer. Online stores can track your
purchases over time to give you more suggestions of things you might like to buy, send you e-mails with sale
information, and, occasionally, sell your contact information to other companies. These days, many brick-and-
mortar stores do the same thing, tracking your information through your credit card (Target is a notable
example). However, it is much trickier for traditional stores to do this, as you may sometimes pay in cash or
refuse to provide your e-mail address at checkout. In contrast, by purchasing something in an online store, you
sign away certain privacy rights—this is why it is always a good idea to read the Terms of Service.
 UNIT-IV
Website designing: Designing a home page, HTML document, Anchor tag Hyperlinks, Head
and body section, Header Section, Title, Prologue, Links, Colorful Pages, Comment, Body
Section, Heading Horizontal Ruler, Paragraph, Tabs, Images And Pictures, Lists and Their
Types, Nested Lists, Table Handling. Frames: Frameset Definition, Frame Definition, Nested
Framesets, Forms and Form Elements. DHTML and Style Sheets: Defining Styles, elements of
Styles, linking a style sheet to a HTML Document, Inline Styles, External Style Sheets, Internal
Style Sheets & Multiple Style Sheets.
***********
HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE
introduction to www:
The www stands for world wide web, it allows the users of the computer to locate and view
the documents with text, graphics, animation, audio and video of any content.
The www was developed by “TIM BERNERS LEE” of the European Organization for Nuclear
Research ( CERN ). It was developed in 1990. it was used with the availability of the first
browser known as “Mosaic” in 1993.
Thus, with the development of the web browser the computers around the world can be
accessed. After the mosaic browser “Netscape Navigator” came into the existence, and at
present we are using the number of web browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox,
Google Chrome, Opera and etc. to connect the network of the computer system.
The web is built on the internet and makes the use of the mechanisms by the internet provides,
here most of the people my be confuse with the terms Internet and WWW.
*********************

History of Html:
HTML 2
This standard is supported by some browsers like mosaic
HTML 3.0
This standard is not used widely because, it was developed at the time of browsers
innovation.
HTML 3.2
This standard was derived from HTML 3.0 version.It uses many browser-invented
elements.
HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL
This is the modern version of the HTML. It is supported by frames, css, scriptingelements.
HTML 4.0 STRICT
This is the standard version which removes the presentational features that are includedin the
language.
HTML 4.0 FRAMESET
This standard version provides a support for frames and inline frames.
HTML 4.01 TRANSITIONAL, STRICT, FRAMESET
This version can fixes the bugs of the HTML4 specification.
*****************

Need to write lot of code for making FEATURES & ADVANTAGES, and
DISADVANTAGES OF HTML
Features of HTML
• It is a very easy and simple language. It can be easily understood and modified.
• It is very easy to make effective presentation with HTML because it has a lot
offormatting tags.
• It is a markup language, so it provides a flexible way to design web pages along with
the text.
• It facilitates programmers to add link on the web pages (by html anchor tag) , so
itenhances the interest of browsing of the user.
• It is platform-independent because it can be displayed on any platform like Windows,
Linux and Macintosh etc.
• It facilitates the programmer to add Graphics, Videos, and Sound to the web pages
which makes it more attractive and interactive.
Advantages of HTML:
• it is simple and widely used.
• Every browser supports HTML language.
• Easy to learn and use.
• It is by default in every windows OS., don't need to purchase extra software.
Disadvantages of HTML:
• It can create only static and plain pages so if we need dynamic pages then HTML is not
useful.
simple webpage.
• Security features are not good in HTML.
• If we need to write long code for making a webpage then it produces some complexity.
************

STRUCTURE OF AN HTML DOCUMENT

The structure of an HTML document represents, how the code will be set in a document. An
HTML document contains the all elements in between <html> and </html>. The html document
has two main parts: They are
1.Head section
The head section begins with <head> and close with </head> It contains title and meta data of
a web document.
2.Body section
The body section begins with <body> and close with </body>
It contains the information that you want to display on a web page.

basic tag elements used in html code :

1. <html > … </html>: <html > This tag is used to represents the beginning of the
htmldocument, and </html> represents ending of the document. Thisis an essential tag for the html
document.
2. <head> … </head>: It carried the information about the heading of the html document.
<title> … </title>: It is an optional tag, and it is included to the code, which
displays on the header region of the web browser.
3. <body> … </body> : It carries the main code of the html document. The code
representing
in this region should be executed by the web browser.
Ex: <HTML>
<HEAD>
< title > Example
</title>
</HEAD>
<body>
Hi, All of You…..
</body>
</HTML>

Note : Type this code in any text editor, and save it as

“example.html”,Then it will be displayed as a browser file.
 Open it, then the code will be executed in compatible web browser available
in ourcomputer.

Creating an Html
1. Html code should be taken in any text editor, like notepad, etc.
2. Every html code should begins with <html> and must be ends with </html>
3. The text will be placed using the structure of html code.
4. After completion of the code, save the file using the extension “ .htm” or
“.html”ex: filename.html
5. The output of the file can be viewed using the “filename.html” on any available web
browsers in our computer, like Internet explorer, firefox, etc.
6. If the browser is not displaying your expected output it means that the html code is
carries some errors. Then we should be sufficiently debugged the program with our
required output appears.
7. It has to be notice that the html is not a case sensitive, i.e. we can write the code in
upper case letters or in lower case letters.

Hypertext
Hypertext means that some text in the HTML document carries a link to a different location.
Such links can be present either on the same page or some other page located on another
computer page. On clicking this 'hot spot', the viewer is transferred to that location.

Markup:
Markup means that specific portions of a document are marked up to indicate how they
shouldbe displayed in the browser.
HTML carries information about the web page though, the display of the document
is solely dependent on the browser. For this reason, you should test your HTML code in the
two most used browsers, Internet Explorer from Microsoft and Netscape Communicator
from Netscape. With HTML you can embed various objects such as images, video, sound in
your pages.
**************

Tags:
In HTML, the commands or instructions are given in the form of tags. That is HTML
formattingis specified by using tags.
A tag is a format name surrounded by angle brackets.
HTML markup tags are usually called HTML tags
• HTML tags are keywords surrounded by angle brackets like <html>
• HTML tags normally come in pairs like <b> and </b>
• The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second tag is the end tag
• Start and end tags are also called opening tags and closing tags.
• They are not case sensitive: <HEAD>, <head>, and <hEaD> are equivalents;
• White space, tabs, and new lines are ignored by the browser, they can be used to
makethe HTML source more readable without affecting the way that the page is
displayed.
Actually they’re not ignored, but multiple white spaces are replaced by a single spacewhile new
lines and tabs are treated as spaces.

• If a browser doesn’t understand a tag it will usually ignore it.

 Tags instruct the browser how to display HTML document code. It consists of
a keywordenclosed within angular brackets ( < > ).

Types of tags
In general there are two types of tags.
1. Empty tags / single tags
2. Container tags

1. Empty tags : Empty tag represents the formatting options of text such as the line
breaks,horizontal ruler, paragraph and etc..
These tags has only single tag, mentioned as the
start tag.Ex: <br>, <hr>
2. Container tags : Container tag has a section of text, which specifies the formatting
construction for all of the selected text. Container tag has two tags representing the
starttag and close tag. At the end tag it representing the addition of forward slash
before the tag element.
Ex : <html> …. </html>
<body> …. </body>
<b> …. </b>

Attributes (properties)
Attributes are the additional information given to the tag. They are used for specific purpose
only. These attributes are added only to start tag and not to the end tag. Attributes are only
used with base tag elements as its properties only.
Tags can have several attributes. The attribute can provide the additional information
about the html element on our web page.
For example, the body of the text can be take attributes which includes the additional
effects for better viewing of the webpage. We can use the attributes like font attributes, body
attributes etc. these adding the more formatting features to the text on the web page.
Example :
<body> attributes are - bgcolor, background
<font> attributes are - color, size, face, etc..
<img> attributes are - src, alt, align, height, width

Ex:
<html>
<head>
<title>
Example of Tag attributes
</title>
</head>

<body>
<font color =red>
SIR C R REDDY COLLEGE ELURU
</font>
<font size=20 color=”#00FF00” face=arial>
SIR C R REDDY COLLEGE ELURU
 </font>
<font color=blue>
SIR C R REDDY COLLEGE ELURU
</font>
</body>
</html>

*************

Paragraph Tag: <p>

HTML paragraph tags are used to define the HTML paragraph element. The paragraph
element begins with the HTML <p> tag and ends with the HTML </p> tag. The HTML
paragraph element should not contain tables and other block elements.
<p> tag having one optional attribute that is align.
The align attribute specifies the alignment of the text within a paragraph.
Syntax: <p [align=”left” | “center” | “right”]> </p>
or
Syntax: <p align="value">0

Attribut
e
Values:
Value Description
left Left-align text
right Right-align text
center Center-align text
Stretches the lines so that each line has equal width (like in newspapers andmagazines)
justify

ex:
<html>
<body>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>

HTML HEADING TAGS <H1> TO <H6>

The <h1> to <h6> tags are used to define HTML headings. <h1> defines the largest heading
and <h6> defines the smallest heading.
The align attribute specifies the horizontal alignment of a heading. <h1> … </h1> is
displayed biggest heading and <h6> … </h6> is displayed small headings.
 Syntax:
<h1 [align=”left” | “center” | “right”]>............. </h1>

<h2 [align=”left” | “center” | “right”]> </h2>

<h3 [align=”left” | “center” | “right”]> ............ </h3>

<h4 [align=”left” | “center” | “right”]> </h4>

<h5 [align=”left” | “center” | “right”]> ............ </h5>

<h6 [align=”left” | “center” | “right”]> </h6>

or

Syntax: <h1 align= "value" >

****************

Text Formatting Tags

TEXT: <font>
The text on an HTML page can be used and altered in a number of ways:
the actual text used can be changed to attempt to force the browser or changed to the user wish. Here
the text should be used with <font>.
Text formatting tags :
To specify the overall font for your page add the <font> tag at the beginning of the <body> section. The
<font> tag is used to specify the text font size, and optionally the color and font name. The <font>
applies to the text that follows it. This tag is not supported by some browsers.
Syntax: <FONT COLOR= "red" FACE="Arial" SIZE="3">
Lets you specify a minimum font size for basic text for basic text but not for headings.
The size argument takes an integer from 1 to 7.
<font size = ”n” color = ”#rrggbb”>
Sets the font size relative to either the default value or to any size set by <font>. Absolute font sizes can
be forced by using an integer from 1 to n; relative font sizes are set by using 1 to n.
The color of the text is set with the color argument. This takes a hex value which represents the amounts
of red, green, and blue in the chosen color.
FORMATTING TECHNIQUES USED IN HTML DOCUMENTS
The text formatting techniques are used to maintain an effective appearance of our web document. He
we represent the formatting techniques to our text using the formatting tags. In html there are number
of formatting tags are available, but they will appear in its compatible web browsers. All these tags are
not an empty(single) tags, these are container tags. So we must close with its close tags.
They are mainly
a) <b>..</b>This tag is used to display the text in Bold letters.
b) <i> .. </i>This tag is used to display the text in Italic letters.
c) <u> .. </u>This tag is used to display the text with giving underline.
d) <p> .. </p> This tag is used to display the text in new paragraph.
e)<big> .. </big>This tag is used to display the text in BIG letters.
f)<small> .. </small>This tag is used to display the text in small letters.
g)<strong> .. </strong>This tag is used to display the text in STRONG letters.
h)<strike> .. </strike>This tag is used to display the text with strikethrough.
i)<centre> .. </centre>This tag is used to display the text in centre alignment.
j)<pre> .. </pre>This tag is used to display the text in pre formatted text.
k) <em> .. </em>This tag is used to display the text in emphasis.
l)<cite> .. </cite>This tag is used to display the text in citation.
m)^..This tag is used to display the text in super script letters.
n)_..This tag is used to display the text in sub script letters.
o)<address> .. </address>This tag is used to display the text as address by line by line.
p)<blink> .. </blink>This tag is used to display the text in blinking letters.
q)<marquee> .. </marquee>This tag is used to display the text as scrolling letters.
*******

LISTS
The list refers to arrange the elements in a group, or to record of short pieces of information
arranged in a specific format. For example, we have a shopping list, list of names of
employees, list of names of places,etc.. The html supports FOUR types of lists.
They are
1. unorder lists
2. order lists
3. miscellaneous lists or Nested lists
4. definition lists
The most common HTML lists are ordered and unordered lists
1.Unordered Lists
If we intend to display certain text on the webpage with each independent sentence being
initiated with out any sequence, then we represent them using unordered list.
An unordered list starts with the <ul> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag, and ends with
</li>. The unordered list ends with </ul> . The list items are marked with bullets (typically
small black circles).
Syntax : <ul type=”disc” | “square” | ”circle” >
……..
</ul>
<ul>
(Or)
<li> item1 </li>
Ex:
<html>
<head>
<li> item2 </li>
<li> item3 </li>
</ul>
Example:
<html>
<head>
<h1><u> UN ORDERED LIST</u></h1>
</head>
<body>
<h1> science courses</h1>
<ul>
<li> B.Sc Computers </li>
<li> B.Sc Physics </li>
<li> B.Sc Mathematics</li>
<li> B.Sc Chemistry</li>
</ul>
</body>
</html>

Ordered Lists
If we intend to display certain text on the webpage with each independent sentence
beinginitiated with in an order or sequence, then we represent them using ordered list.
An ordered list starts with the <ol> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag, and ends
with
</li>. The unordered list ends with
</ol> . The list items are marked
with numbers.
 Syntax : <ol type=”1” | ”a” | “I” start=”n”>
…..
</ol>

(Or)
<ol>
<li> item1 </li>
<li> item2 </li>
<li> item3 </li>
</ol>

Ex :
<html>
<head>
<h1><u> ORDERED LIST</u></h1>
</head>
<body>
<h1> science courses</h1>
<ol>
<li> B.Sc Computers </li>
<li> B.Sc Physics </li>
<li> B.Sc Mathematics</li>
<li> B.Sc Chemistry</li>
</ol>
</body>
</html>
Here in the above example program, we include the attributes to change the list of formats in
<ol>.
1.suppose, in the above program the ordered list tag give its attribute like<ol type = “A” >
Then it gives the list of contents using with a sequence from A to Z.
2.suppose, we give the attribute like<ol type= “ I” >
Then it gives the list of contents using with roman letter from I to end of list.
Miscellaneous Lists / Nested Lists
If we intend to display certain text on the webpage with each independent sentence being
initiated with order or sequence, and also contains the unordered, then we represent them using
Nested list.
One list type is included in another list type is usually referred as Nested or miscellaneous list.
Here, in these lists we can merge the ordered and unordered contents in a single list.
<ol>
<li>Coffee</li>
<ul>
<li> coffee powder </li>
<li> milk </li>
<li> sugar </li>
</ul>
<li>Tea </li>
<ul>
<li> tea powder </li>
<li> milk </li>
<li> sugar </li>
</ul>
</ol>
Definition Lists:
A definition list is a list of items, with a description of each item.
The <dl> tag defines a definition list.
The <dl> tag is used in conjunction with <dt> (defines the item in the list) and <dd> (describes
the item in the list):
<dl>
<dt>HTML</dt>
<dd>It is a markup language</dd>
<dt>Java</dt>
<dd>It is a Object oriented programming language </dd>
<dt>JavaScript</dt>
<dd>It is a scripting language</dd>
<dt>SQL</dt>
<dd>It is a query language</dd>
</dl>
Example Program
<html>
<head> </head>
<body>
< u> 1. Odered lists </u><br>
<b> Andhra Pradesh Districts </b>
<ol>
<li> Eluru </li>
<li> West Godavari </li>
<li> NTR</li> <br>

<u> 2. un ordered lists </u><br>

<b> Telangana districts </b>
<ul>
<li> Medak </li>
<li> Warangal </li>
<li> Karimnagar </li><br>

<u> 3. definition lists </u>

<dl>
<dt> 3. Rayala Seema distrists. </dt>
<dd> Kadapa </dd>
<dd> Kurnool </dd>
</dl>
</body>
</html>
************
IMAGES
Images are used to increase the visibility and shows the effectiveness of our webpage. Adding
images to the HTML document will arose a sense of interest to the end user. Including the
graphics in a page will make the web more attractive. Html provides a unique way to include
any type of graphic file into the document, but many browsers support only gif(graphic
interchange format), jpg ( joint photographic group) and jpeg (joint photographic expert group)
formats.
The <img> used to embeds an image in an HTML page, here notice that images are not
technically inserted into an HTML page, images are linked to HTML pages.
The <img> tag creates a holding space for the referenced image.
Syntax : <img src=”URL”|”name” height=”n” height=”n” [alt=”string”]
[align=”top”|”center”|”bottom”] [usemap=”URL]>
….
</img>
The <img> tag has mainly two required attributes: src and alt.
1.src: src stands for source. It refers to the filename of an image. It specifies the URL(uniform
resource locator), where the image is actually stored in the web server or in the computer
system.
For example : <img src=”c:\windows\forest.bmp”>
2.alt : alt stands for alternate. Some browsers can not display images or sometimes it takes long
time to display the image. In such cases, the ALT attribute is used to display an alternate
message.
Optional Attributes
1.align : It is used to align or arrange the image on the web page. These values can be
left/right/centre/top/bottom.
2.border : It is used to set the border to an image. The default value is zero.
3.height / width : height and width of the image can be specified using this attribute. These
values can be used in pixels %.
4.hspace / vspace : using this attribute, the white spaces or gaps existing between the text and
the image can be managed.
5.name : usually, this attribute used to specify the name of the image.
Ex : <img src="angry.gif" alt="Angry face" align= centre width="32" height="32" border=5>
*****************
What is a link?
It is a connection from one web resource to another. A link has two ends, An anchor and
direction. The link starts at the “source” anchor and points to the “destination” anchor, which
may be any Web resource such as an image, a video clip, a sound bite, a program, an HTML
document or an element within an HTML document. You will find many websites or social
media platforms ( Like YouTube, and Instagram ) which link an image to a URL or a text to a
URL etc.
This basically means that by using the ‘a’ tag, you can link 1 element of the code to another
element that may/may not be in your code.

HTML Link Syntax

Links are specified in HTML using the “a” tag.

Syntax Explanation:
href : The href attribute is used to specify the destination address of the link
used. "href" stands for Hypertext reference.
Text link : The text link is the visible part of the link. It is what the viewer clicks
on.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<h3>Example Of Adding a link</h3>
<body>
<p>Click on the following link</p>
<a href="https://sircrreddycollege.ac.in">SIR C R REDDY COLLEGE</a>
</body>
</html>
Table
The first step to creating a table is to specify the table structure:–the number of rows and
columns–the location of column headings–the placement of a table caption •Once the table
structure is in place, you can start entering data into the table.
• Graphical tables are enclosed within a two-sided <table>tag that identifies the start and
ending of the table structure.
• Each row of the table is indicated using a two-sided <tr>(for table row). •Within each
table row, a two-sided <td>(for table data) tag indicates the presence of individual table
cells.
<table>
<tr>
<td> First Cell </td>
<td> Second Cell </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> Third Cell </td> <td> Fourth Cell </td>
</tr>
</table>

HTML provides the <th>tag for table headings.

• Text formatted with the <th>tag is centered within the cell and displayed in a boldface
font.
• •The <th>tag is most often used for column headings, but you can use it for any cell
that you want to contain centered boldfaced text.
Adding a Table Border
By default, browsers display tables without table borders.
•A table border can be added using the border attribute to the <table>tag.
•The syntax for creating a table border is: <table border=“value”>–values the width of the
border in pixels
•The size attribute is optional; if you don’t specify a size, the browser creates a table border 1
pixel wide.
Applying a Background Color
Table elements support the bgcolor attribute.
•To specify a background color for all of the cells in a table, all of the cells in a row, or for
individual cells, by adding the bgcolor attribute to either the <table>, <tr>, <td>, or <th>tags
as follows:
<table bgcolor=“color”>
<tr bgcolor=“color”>
<td bgcolor=“color”>
<th bgcolor=“color”>–
Color is either a color name or hexadecimal color value
Example Program:
<html>
<head>
<title>BIO-DATA</title>
<caption><center><b>BIO-DATA</center></b></caption>
<center>
<table border=5 >
<tr><th align=left colspan=6>Name<td align=left colspan=15>********
<tr><th align=left colspan=6>Gender<td align=left colspan=15>*****
<tr><th align=left colspan=6>Date of Birth<td align=left colspan=15>*********
<tr><th align=left colspan=6>Religion<td align=left colspan=15>*******
<tr><th align=left colspan=6>Community<td align=left colspan=15>****
<tr><th rowspan=4 align=left colspan=6>Address<td>D.No<td align=left
colspan=10>********
<tr><td>Street<td align=left colspan=10>***************
<tr><td>District<td align=left colspan=10>*********
<tr><td>State<td align=left colspan=10>***********
<tr><th rowspan=2 align=left colspan=5>Mobile/E-mail<td>Mobile<td align=left
colspan=10>9*************
<tr><td>E-mail<td align=left colspan=10>*****************
<tr><th align=center colspan=20>Educational Qualification
<tr><th colspan=4><th>DEGREE<th>UNIVERSITY<th>MONTH&YEAR
<th>GRADE/MARK
<tr><td colspan=4><td>TENTH<td>*****<td>******<td>Second****
<tr><td colspan=4><td>Inter<td>Board of Intermediate<td>March, *****<td>*****
<tr><td colspan=4><td>B.Com (CA)<td>*******<td>************<td>********
</table>
</center>
</html>

*********
Forms in HTML:
HTML <form> Tag :-
The <form> tag is used to add HTML forms to the web page for user input. Forms are used to
pass the data submitted by the user to the server. The data is sent when pressing the "Submit"
button. If there isn’t such button, the information is sent when the "Enter" key is pressed.
Syntax The <form> tag comes in pairs. The content is written between the opening (<form>)
and closing (</form>) tags. The <form> element contains other HTML tags, which define the
input method of data:
• The <input> tag defines a user input field.
• The <textarea> tag defines a form field to create a multiline input area.
• The <button> tag is used to place a button inside a form.
• The <select> tag sets up a control for creating a drop-down list box.
• The <option> tag defines the items in the drop-down list set by the <select> tag.
• The <optgroup> tag groups related data in the drop-down list set by the <select> tag.
• The <fieldset> tag visually groups the elements inside the form set by the <form> tag.
• The <label> tag sets the text label for the <input> element.
• The <legend> tag defines the header for the <fieldset> element.
Example of <form>tag:-
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
</head>
<body>
<form action="server-script-url-here" method="GET or POST" >
<label for="fname">Name</label> <input type="text" name="FirstName" id="fname"
value="Mary"/><br/><br/>
<label for="lname">Surname</label> <input type="text" name="LastName"id="lname"
value="Thomson"/><br/><br/>
<input type="submit" value="Submit"/>
</form>
</body>
</html>

Here are the different input types you can use in HTML:
• <input type="button">
• <input type="checkbox">
• <input type="color">
 • <input type="date">
• <input type="datetime-local">
• <input type="email">
• <input type="file">
• <input type="hidden">
• <input type="image">
• <input type="month">
• <input type="number">
• <input type="password">
• <input type="radio">
• <input type="range">
• <input type="reset">
• <input type="search">
• <input type="submit">
• <input type="tel">
• <input type="text">
• <input type="time">
• <input type="url">
• <input type="week">
Syntax input type:-
1)<input type="text"> defines a single-line text input field
2) <input type="password"> defines a password field
3) <input type="submit"> defines a button for submitting form data to a form-handler. The
form-handler is typically a server page with a script for processing input data.
4) <input type="reset"> defines a reset button that will reset all form values to their default
values
5) <input type="radio"> defines a radio button. Radio buttons let a user select ONLY ONE of
a limited number of choices:
6) <input type="checkbox"> defines a checkbox. Checkboxes let a user select ZERO or MORE
options of a limited number of choices.
7) <input type="button"> defines a button:
8) The <input type="color"> is used for input fields that should contain a color. Depending on
browser support, a color picker can show up in the input field.
9) The <input type="date"> is used for input fields that should contain a date. Depending on
browser support, a date picker can show up in the input field.
Examples: -
<html>
<body>
Frames in HTML
In HTML it is possible to split the webpage into different sizes. To do this HTML provides
three tags<frameset>, <frame>, <iframe>.
Frame based sites display more than one page at the same time; they can be complex to setup.
Once the layout is established, frame based sites can require less maintenance than alternative
approaches.
A frame based page is actually made from a set of documents, each displayed in its own frame.
Each frame sub document can have its own scroll bars and can be loaded, reloaded and printed
as if it were occupying the whole screen.
(A)Frameset
<frameset [cols=”n% n%”] [row=”n% n%”]> …… </frameset>
A group of frames in a single browser window is called frameset. This tag determines how the
screen will be divided between the various frames that you are using. You can have as many
frames either vertically or horizontally as you want.
(B)Frame
<frame [name=frame name”] src=”filename” [scrolling=”yes” |” auto|”no”] [frame
border=”0”|”1”]>
• The src attribute should point to image or a document which can be displayed within
the frame.
• The name attribute specifies the name of the frame
• The scrolling attribute specifies three values: yes, No, auto Example:
<html>
<head>
<title>Frame Demo</title>
</head>
<frameset rows="25%,50%">
<frame name="A" src="./company.html">
<frame name="B" src="./oreders.html" scrolling="no">
</frameset>
</html>
Iframe: The <iframe> tag specifies an inline frame.
An inline frame is used to embed another document within the current HTML document.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<iframe src="https://www.w3schools.com">
<p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>
</iframe>
</body>
</html>
Nested Frames
You can achieve more complex layouts by using nested tags. Any frame within a frameset can
contain another frameset.
For example, shows a layout of two columns, the first with two rows and the second with three
rows. This is created by nesting two tags with row specifications within a top-level that
specifies the columns:
 *************
DHTML:-
DHTML stands for Dynamic HTML, it is totally different from HTML. ... The DHTML is
based on the properties of the HTML, javascript, CSS, and DOM (Document Object Model
which is used to access individual elements of a document) which helps in making dynamic
content. It is the combination of HTML, CSS, JS, and DOM. DHTML - HTML Document
Object Model (DOM) The DOM presents HTML as a tree-structure (a node tree), with
elements, attributes, and text:

CSS
• CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets
• CSS describes how HTML elements are to be displayed on screen, paper, or in other
media
• CSS saves a lot of work. It can control the layout of multiple web pages all at once
 • External stylesheets are stored in CSS files
There are three types of CSS which are given below:
➢ Inline CSS
➢ Internal or Embedded CSS
➢ External CSS
Inline CSS: Inline CSS contains the CSS property in the body section attached to the element
is known as inline CSS. This kind of style is specified within an HTML tag using the style
attribute.
Example: This example shows the application of inline-css.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Inline CSS</title>
</head>
<body>
<p style="color:#009900; font-size:50px;font-style:italic; text-align:center;">
SIR C R REDDY COLLEGE, ELURU
</p>
</body>
</html>

Internal or Embedded CSS:

This can be used when a single HTML document must be styled uniquely.
The CSS rule set should be within the HTML file in the head section i.e. the CSS is
embedded within the <style> tag inside the head section of the HTML file.
Example: This example shows the application of internal-css.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Internal CSS</title>
<style>
.main {
text-align: center;
 }
.GFG {
color: #009900;
font-size: 50px;
font-weight: bold;
}
.geeks {
font-style: bold;
font-size: 20px;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<div class="main">
<div class="GFG">SIR C R REDDY COLLEGE</div>
<div class="geeks">
Computer science Department
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

External CSS: External CSS contains separate CSS files that contain only style properties with
the help of tag attributes (For example class, id, heading, … etc). CSS property is written in a
separate file with a .css extension and should be linked to the HTML document using a link
tag. It means that, for each element, style can be set only once and will be applied across web
pages.
Example: The file given below contains CSS property. This file saves with .css extension. For
Ex: geeks.css
body {
background-color:powderblue;
}
.main {
text-align:center;
}
.GFG {
color:#009900;
font-size:50px;
font-weight:bold;
}
#geeks {
font-style:bold;
font-size:20px;
}
Priorities of CSS: Inline CSS has the highest priority, then comes Internal/Embedded followed
by External CSS which has the least priority. Multiple style sheets can be defined on one page.
For an HTML tag, styles can be defined in multiple style types and follow the below order.
➢ As Inline has the highest priority, any styles that are defined in the internal and external
style sheets are overridden by Inline styles.
➢ Internal or Embedded stands second in the priority list and overrides the styles in the
external style sheet.
➢ External style sheets have the least priority. If there are no styles defined either in inline
or internal style sheet then external style sheet rules are applied for the HTML tags.
 lOMoAR cPSD| 28245750

UNIT-V
Security and Encryption
Need and Concepts:
- Understand the scope of e-commerce crime and security problems.
- Describe the key dimensions of e-commerce security and the tension between security and
other values.
- Identify the key security threats in the e-commerce environment.
- Describe how technology helps protect the security of messages sent over the Internet.
- Identify the tools used to establish secure internet communications channels and protect
networks, servers, and clients.
- Appreciate the importance of policies, procedures, and laws in creating security.
E-Commerce Security Environment:
Introduction: -
E-Commerce security refers to the principles which guide safe electronic transactions, allowing
the buying and selling of goods and services through the Internet, but with protocols in place to provide
safety for those involved.

Definition: -
Ecommerce security is a set of protocols that safely guide ecommerce transactions. Stringent
security requirements must be in place to protect companies from threats like credit card fraud, or they risk
jeopardizing revenue and customer trust, due to the inability to guarantee safe credit card processing.

Scope of e-commerce crime and security problems:

While the overall size of cyber-crime is unclear at this time, cyber-crime
against e-commerce sites is growing rapidly, the number of losses is growing, and
the management of e-commerce sites must prepare for a variety of criminal assaults.

Cybercrime is becoming a more significant problem for both organizations

and consumers. A variety of worldwide cyber-attacks make daily headlines. It is
difficult to accurately estimate the actual amount of cybercrime, but one source of
information is the Ponemon Institute of 58 representative US companies.

Reducing risks in e-commerce is a complex process that involves new

technologies, organizational policies and procedures, and new laws and industry
standards that empower law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute
offenders. Figure shows multi-layered nature of e-commerce security.
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Fig. The E-Commerce Security

Environment

The key dimensions of e-commerce security:

There are six key dimensions to e-commerce security:
- Integrity
- Non-repudiation
- Authenticity
- Confidentiality
- Privacy
- Availability
Integrity: Ensures that information displayed on a Web site or sent or received via
the Internet has not been altered in any way by an unauthorized party.
Non-repudiation: Ensure that e-commerce participants do not deny (repudiate)their
online actions.
Authenticity: Verifies an individual’s or business’s identity.
Confidentiality: Determines whether information shared online, such as through
e-mail communication or an order process, can be viewed by anyone other thanthe
intended recipient.
Privacy: The ability to control the use of information about oneself

Availability: Determines whether a Web site is accessible and operational at any

given moment.
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The tension between security and other values:

Although computer security is considered necessary to protect e-commerce
activities, it is not without a downside. Two major areas where there are tensions
between security and Web site operations include: Ease of use and Public safety.

Ease of use: The more security measures that are added to an e-commerce site, the
more difficult it is to use and the slower the site becomes, hampering ease of use.
Security is purchased at the price of slowing down processors and adding
significantly to data storage demands. Too much security can harm profitability,
while not enough can potentially put a company out of business.

Public safety: Use of technology by criminals to plan crimes or threaten nation-

state.
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Security Threats in The E-Commerce Environment:

A threat is anything that can disrupt the operations, functioning, integrity, or
availability of a network system. A threat is an object, person , or other entity that
represents a constant danger to an asset.
From a Technology perspective, Three key points of vulnerability in e-commerce
environment:
1. Client
2. Server
3. Communications pipeline (Internet communications channels)

Fig. A Typical E-Commerce Transaction.

Fig. Vulnerable points in E-Commerce Transaction

The nine most common and most damaging forms of security threats
to e-commerce sites include:
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- Malicious code
- Unwanted programs (adware, spyware, etc.)
- Phishing
- Hacking and cyber-vandalism
- Spoofing(Pharming) and Spam(Junk) websites
- Denial of Service attacks
- Sniffing
- Insider jobs
- Poorly designed server and client software
1. Malicious code: Includes a variety of threats such as viruses, worms, Trojan
horses, and “bad applets” . virus is a computer program that has the ability to
replicate or make copies of itself, and spread to other files. worm is designed to
spread from computer to computer. Trojan horse appears to be benign, but then does
something other than expected.

2. Unwanted programs (adware, spyware, etc.): A kind of security threat that

arises when programs are surreptitiously installed on your computer or computer
network with.
■ Potentially unwanted programs (PUPs)
❖ Browser parasites: Can monitor and change settings of a user’s
browser
❖ Adware: Calls for unwanted pop-up ads
❖ Spyware: Can be used to obtain information, such as a user’s
keystrokes, e-mail, IMs, etc.
3.Phishing: Any deceptive, online attempt by a third party to obtain confidential
information for financial gain. Most popular type: e-mail scam letter.
4. Hacking and cyber-vandalism: Intentionally disrupting, defacing, or even
destroying a site.
■ Hacking
• Hacker: Individual who intends to gain unauthorized access to
computer systems
• Cracker: Hacker with criminal intent (two terms often used
interchangeably)
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■ Cyber-vandalism: Intentionally disrupting, defacing or destroying a

Web site.
Example:
Credit card fraud/theft: One of the most feared occurrences and one the
main reasons more consumers do not participate in e-commerce. The most
common cause of credit card fraud is a lost or stolen card that is used by
someone else, followed by employee theft of customer numbers and stolen
identities (criminals applying for credit card using false identities).

■ Security breach:
A security breach is any incident that results in unauthorized access
to computer data, applications, networks or devices. It results in information
being accessed without authorization. Typically, it occurs when an intruder is
able to bypass security mechanisms. Technically, there's a distinction between
a security breach and a data breach. A security breach is effectively a break-
in, whereas a data breach is defined as the cybercriminal getting away with
information.

5.Spoofing (Pharming) and Spam (Junk) websites: Occurs when hackers attempt
to hide their true identities or misrepresent themselves by using fake e-mailaddresses
or masquerading as someone else. Spoofing also can involve redirecting a Web link
to an address different from the intended one, with the site masquerading as the
intended destination.
6.Denial of Service attacks: Hackers flood a Web site with useless traffic to
inundate and overwhelm the network, frequently causing it to shut down and
damaging a site’s reputation and customer relationships.
7.Sniffing: A type of eavesdropping program that monitors information traveling
over a network, enabling hackers to steal proprietary information from anywhere on
a network, including e-mail messages, company files, and confidential report. The
threat of sniffing is that confidential or personal information will be made public.
8. Insider jobs: Although the bulk of Internet security efforts are focused on
keeping outsiders out, the biggest threat is from employees who have access to
sensitive information and procedures.
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9. Poorly designed server and client software: The increase in complexity and size
of software programs has contributed to an increase in software flaws or
vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit weaknesses.

Technology Solutions
1. Protecting Internet communications (Encryption)
2. Securing channels of communication (SSL, S-HTTP, VPNs)
3. Protecting networks (Firewalls & Proxy Servers)
4. Protecting servers and clients (Operating system & Anti-Virus Software)

Fig. Tools Available to Achieve Site Security

1. Protecting Internet communications (Encryption):

• The process of transforming plain text or data into cipher text that cannot be read
by anyone outside of the sender and the receiver.
• The purpose of encryption is:
(a) to secure stored information and
(b) to secure information transmission.
• Cipher text is text that has been encrypted and thus cannot be read by anyone
besides the sender and the receiver.
• Provides:
– Message integrity
– Non-repudiation
– Authentication
– Confidentiality
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Encryption is done in two types:

i. Symmetric key encryption

ii. Public key encryption
1. Symmetric key encryption:

Symmetric key encryption (secret key encryption) the sender and the receiver
use the same key to encrypt and decrypt the message. Data Encryption Standard
(DES) is the most widely used symmetric key encryption, developed by the National
Security Agency (NSA) and IBM. Uses a 56-bit encryption key.

2. Public key encryption:

• Solves symmetric key encryption problem of having to exchange
secret key
• Uses two mathematically related digital keys – public key
(widely disseminated) and private key (kept secret by owner)
• Both keys used to encrypt and decrypt message
• Once key used to encrypt message, same key cannot be used
to decrypt message
• For example, sender uses recipient’s public key to encrypt message;
recipient uses his/her private key to decrypt it.

Fig. Sample public key encryption

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Public Key Encryption using Digital Signatures, Hash Digests and Digital envelops
• Digital signature is a “signed” cipher text that can be sent over the
Internet.
• Hash function uses an algorithm that produces a fixed-length number
called a hash or message digest.
• Digital envelop is a technique that uses symmetric encryption for large
documents, but public key encryption to encrypt and send the symmetric
key.

Fig. Public key cryptography with digital

signatures

Digital Envelops:
• Addresses weaknesses of public key encryption (computationally
slow, decreases transmission speed, increases processing time) and
symmetric key encryption (faster, but more secure).
• Uses symmetric key encryption to encrypt document but public key
encryption to encrypt and send symmetric key
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Public Key Cryptography: Creating a Digital Envelope

Digital Certificates and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI):
Digital certificate is a digital document issued by a certification authority.
• Digital certificate includes:
– Name of subject/company
– Subject’s public key
– Digital certificate serial number
– Expiration date
– Issuance date
– Digital signature of certification authority (trusted
third party institution) that issues certificate
– Other identifying information
• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI): refers to the CAs and
digital certificate procedures that are accepted by all parties

Fig. Digital Certificates and Certification Authorities

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Limits to Encryption Solutions:

■ Doesn’t protect storage of private key

❖ PKI not effective against insiders, employees

❖ Protection of private keys by individuals may be haphazard
■ No guarantee that verifying computer of merchant is secure
■ CAs are unregulated, self-selecting organizations
2. Securing channels of communication (SSL, S-HTTP, VPNs):
a. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL):
Most common form of securing channels of communication; used to
establish a secure negotiated session (client-server session in which
URL of requested document, along with contents, is encrypted)
b. S-HTTP:
Alternative method; provides a secure message-oriented
communications protocol designed for use in conjunction with HTTP
c. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs):
Allow remote users to securely access internal networks via the
Internet, using Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP).

Fig. Secure Negotiated Sessions Using SSL

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3. Protecting networks (firewalls& Proxy Servers):

i. Firewalls are software applications that act as a filter between a company’s private
network and the Internet itself and Uses security policy to filter packets. Firewall
methods include: - Packet filters
- Application gateways
ii. Proxy server is a software server that handles all communications
originating from or being sent to the Internet, acting as a spokesperson or
bodyguard for the organization.

Fig. Firewalls and Proxy Servers

4. Protecting servers and client:

• Operating system controls allow for the authentication of the user and
access controls to files, directories, and network paths.
• Anti-virus software is the easiest and least expensive way to prevent
threats to system integrity.

Policies, Procedures, and Laws:

Developing an e-commerce security plan:
• Perform a risk assessment
• Develop a security policy
• Develop an implementation plan
• Create a security organization
• Perform a security audit.
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Fig. Policies, Procedures & Law: Developing an E-

Commerce Security Plan