Functions of e-commerce

These are the typical functions of an e-commerce system available both on back office and front office:

• Registration
• Basket
• Payment
• Product management
• Orders management
• VAT and shipping costs

Registration

In order to make a purchase, users must register with the site, providing all the information needed for shipping and billing.
The data will be stored on a database and will be available from the back office.

Basket

The basket is a tool that, like a shopping basket, allows users to select the products they want and then go to the checkout for payment.
Managing the basket means:

• Summarising user requests within the possibilities offered by the catalogue
• Checking the basket and possibly cancel/modify the items placed in it
• Starting the payment process for the selected products

Payment

The payment system is a mechanism that facilitates dialogue between the parties involved in financial transactions: the bank, the store and you with your credit card.

After filling in the order, the customer enters his/her credit card number that travels along a channel solely accessible to the bank. The bank checks the customer’s account and decides whether or not to authorise the payment.

The operation takes a few moments. If approved, the bank performs the transaction and transfers the payment to the account. If denied the user is notified that the transaction cannot be completed and his order is cancelled.

Product management

This is the main part of the e-commerce system and provides all the features required for product placement, order fulfilment, etc.., key to the management of online sales.

In detail the features in the system are:

• Product management: this makes it possible to define a product via a set of standard fields:
  • Product code
  • Category
  • Subcategory
  • Product name
  • Description
  • image, zoom
  • Sizes available
  • Price in euros
  • ‘Pieces’ in stock

The products can be searched by category and subcategory.
The back-office feature that allows you to associate related products to further stimulate online sales is very useful.

• Order management: the order is the card that summarises all the delivery and order information to enable correct delivery. It includes:
  • List of products purchased
  • User information
  • Details of place of delivery
  • Delivery time information
  • Payment information

Managing the order means crossing the information on the registration database, the data in the basket, the delivery information and verification data relating to the payment credit rating.

All this information is summarised in a form identified by a number or reference code (order number).

Listing orders and customer details

From the back office of the site you can search and sort orders by:

• Customer
• Order status
• Date
• Payment

Orders may be printed for attachment to the shipment (packing list).

VAT and shipping costs
In addition to the cost of products purchased, the system manages the VAT and the shipping charges.
The e-commerce module is able to manage VAT rates in countries within and outside the EU.
Shipping costs both fixed and variable based on the weight and volume of the shipment.

Discounts
Discounts and promotions are managed for a single product or product category.

This second phase of the site requires a detailed analysis of your current storage and order management systems with which it will be necessary to integrate.