What is E-Commerce?: E-commerce is the technology which enables individuals and firms to trade, market, and do business online. Here the key points are there are no physical market and this model of retailing offers the flexibility that the consumer or customer can shop at the convenience of his home or office without actually taking the pains to go to the market and do the entire shopping. We know that traffic in some cities is a pain and the transportation element is completely erased here because the transaction is online. In the market you have to go yourself store to store and check the various options that are available and this is very tiresome where as when people transact online they can check multiple options online, can view for example t-shirts that are offered by various brands at one click of their computer mouse.

Promotional Strategies: There are various promotional strategies that one can use of he wishes to operate an online retail store.

Pop ups:Website pop ups prove to be a great way to reach out to the browsers. Google and other online ads also contribute tremendously.

Networking Sites: Making a group on Facebook and Twitter helps the browsers contact up conveniently, and any special requests that the shoppers might have can be interpreted here.

Advertising: Banners are put thorough the internet to attract browsers. These banners can direct them to your website conveniently.

Blog: Maintaining your company’s blog is a good option and it helps in keeping your firms image as a thought leader. Keep your blog update through and thorough. This way you can ensure that your readers are not lost. The readers in future might even become your customers.

Collaboration: You can collaborate with various brands and participate in events that help in advertising.

Technology used in E-Commerce: The technology used to build a trustworthy site should be chosen carefully. The website can be built with the most updated technology called PHP. It is easy to modify with PHP. Payment gateways should be effectively used. The user interface should be eye-catching, easy to use, interactive, and should have easy navigational facilities. Privacy and security is one of the crucial aspect. Consumer confidence is a crucial part of the e-commerce industry. Without protecting your potential customer’s data be it their financial data (credit cards information) or personal information, there would be absolutely no home for an e-commerce company to take off.

Functionality: This explains the step by step procedure when a consumer shops on a typical online retail (apparel) store.

Step 1: Welcome page appears

Step 2: the user selects his category and then the item that he wants to purchase

Step 3: He clicks on “Add to Basket”. If he wants to select more items, he then clicks “Continue to shopping” and then selects more items and again clicks on “Add to Basket”. This is an iterative step till the time he finishes up with his online shopping.

Step 4: After the user has selected all the items that he wants to, he proceeds to fill his information which includes shipping details and all other relevant user information.

Step 5: The user selects the payment type and fills in the details

Step 6: The user clicks to agree the terms and conditions and then finally proceeds to check out. A confirmatory mail is then sent to the user confirming his order details.

Hence, we see that e-commerce websites and the industry as a whole has a long way to go with the advancement on the technology front.