The E-commerce question and answer book a survival guide for business managers Anita Rosen

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Everyone in business knows the Internet is the fastest -- and fastest-growing -- way to sell and buy just about anything. But most people don't know how to actually use this tool to their competitive advantage.

What exactly is electronic commerce? Are on-line transactions secure? How do you capture customers' sales patterns? How do you provide mass customization? Now marketers, managers, salespeople, entrepreneurs, and others can find fast answers to every pressing question and nagging concern about the world of electronic commerce.

This practical question-and-answer guide quickly and concisely explains how to: Integrate e-commerce into a business strategy
-- Understand the technology
-- Identify key opportunities for a business
-- devise an e-commerce implementation plan
-- Successfully create and market a site, and much more.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. xiii)
• Chapter 1 The Internet Today (p. 1)
• 1.1 What is the Internet? (p. 2)
• 1.2 What are first, second, third, and fourth generation web sites? (p. 3)
• 1.3 What is e-commerce? (p. 5)
• 1.4 How can your company benefit from e-commerce? (p. 8)
• 1.5 Can small companies compete with big companies? (p. 10)
• 1.6 What is an Extranet site? (p. 11)
• 1.7 How does the Internet affect the way we work? (p. 12)
• 1.8 What is disintermediation? (p. 14)
• 1.9 How has the Internet enabled companies to move from mass marketing to mass customization? (p. 15)
• 1.10 What are the current media myths about the Internet? (p. 19)
• 1.11 Can Internet transactions and communications be secure? (p. 19)
• 1.12 Are companies really making money on their e-commerce sites? (p. 21)
• 1.13 Is it possible to stop hackers? (p. 24)
• 1.14 Chapter summary (p. 25)
• Chapter 2 Identifying Your Direction (p. 27)
• 2.1 Is your product a good candidate for e-commerce? (p. 28)
• 2.2 Is your service a good candidate for e-commerce? (p. 32)
• 2.3 What are e-commerce strategies for use-based services? (p. 36)
• 2.4 What is online account reconciliation? (p. 38)
• 2.5 Is online shopping right for your company? (p. 41)
• 2.6 How will your customers respond to your e-commerce services? (p. 44)
• 2.7 What are the basic elements of an online shopping service? (p. 47)
• 2.8 How will your distributors respond to e-commerce? (p. 50)
• 2.9 How can your online shopping site affect your business partners? (p. 52)
• 2.10 What is online procurement and how does it work? (p. 54)
• 2.11 What tools can you develop to support customers, distributors, and partners? (p. 56)
• 2.12 Will your company's infrastructure support the implementation and growth of e-commerce? (p. 58)
• 2.13 Will your company change when you integrate e-commerce into your business direction? (p. 62)
• 2.14 Chapter summary (p. 64)
• Chapter 3 E-Commerce Technology (p. 66)
• 3.1 Do you have to become a programmer to create web documents? (p. 67)
• 3.2 How does HTML work? (p. 69)
• 3.3 How do you design forms? (p. 73)
• 3.4 What is a gateway program? (p. 76)
• 3.5 What is the role of databases in e-commerce? (p. 77)
• 3.6 What is data mining? (p. 79)
• 3.7 How does encryption technology work? (p. 80)
• 3.8 What are cookies? (p. 82)
• 3.9 What are the steps needed to create a secure online purchasing site? (p. 83)
• 3.10 What is a secure server and why do you need it? (p. 83)
• 3.11 What is digital authentication? (p. 85)
• 3.12 How do you set up your web site to accept credit card transactions? (p. 87)
• 3.13 Are there electronic payment systems other than credit cards? (p. 89)
• 3.14 What is a shopping cart and do you need one? (p. 92)
• 3.15 How does online purchasing work? (p. 93)
• 3.16 What should you look for in a merchant software application? (p. 94)
• 3.17 Putting it all together (p. 97)
• 3.18 Chapter summary (p. 101)
• Chapter 4 Creating E-Commerce Services (p. 102)
• 4.1 How should you define your e-commerce goals? (p. 103)
• 4.2 How do you develop an ROI for your e-commerce services? (p. 104)
• 4.3 What market segment should you be targeting? (p. 106)
• 4.4 Do you need to complete your site before you begin publishing it? (p. 109)
• 4.5 How should you structure the content on your site so that it closes business? (p. 111)
• 4.6 What should you include on your online shopping site? (p. 113)
• 4.7 How do you design a site to support people with varying needs? (p. 117)
• 4.8 What if you want to tie your online purchasing site to internal applications? (p. 119)
• 4.9 How do you create an internal infrastructure to support e-commerce? (p. 120)
• 4.10 How do you create an e-commerce fulfillment policy? (p. 122)
• 4.11 How do you update current fulfillment policies for the web? (p. 125)
• 4.12 What should you know about selling internationally? (p. 127)
• 4.13 Chapter summary (p. 128)
• Chapter 5 Hosting and Supporting E-Commerce (p. 129)
• 5.1 Where should you host your online purchasing site? (p. 130)
• 5.2 How do you select an ISP to host your site? (p. 132)
• 5.3 What are your options if you don't want to host a site in-house but you have specific needs? (p. 135)
• 5.4 How much does it cost to manage an online purchasing site with an ISP? (p. 136)
• 5.5 What are the basic tasks when setting up an online purchasing service? (p. 138)
• 5.6 What is the process for hosting online purchasing within your company? (p. 139)
• 5.7 How much does it cost to host your e-commerce site internally? (p. 141)
• 5.8 How do you choose a turnkey provider? (p. 143)
• 5.9 What is the process for working with a turnkey provider? (p. 145)
• 5.10 How should you manage the development of your e-commerce site? (p. 146)
• 5.11 How do you manage a site once it is released? (p. 152)
• 5.12 What activities are involved in maintaining a web site? (p. 154)
• 5.13 Chapter summary (p. 156)
• Chapter 6 Marketing an E-Commerce Site (p. 157)
• 6.1 What do customers want in an e-commerce site? (p. 158)
• 6.2 What does a successful site look like? (p. 159)
• 6.3 How should graphics be used on a web site? (p. 161)
• 6.4 How do you create effective web copy? (p. 162)
• 6.5 What data should be tracked on your site? (p. 164)
• 6.6 How do you use a survey to capture data on site visitors? (p. 166)
• 6.7 How do you create a portal or a destination location? (p. 168)
• 6.8 How do you advertise an e-commerce site on the Internet? (p. 170)
• 6.9 How do you use data mining to increase the effectiveness of your site? (p. 174)
• 6.10 How do you register your site with a search engine? (p. 176)
• 6.11 How do you create link programs? (p. 179)
• 6.12 How do you use the media to drive traffic to your site? (p. 180)
• 6.13 How do you integrate e-commerce with existing marketing programs? (p. 181)
• 6.14 Chapter summary (p. 183)
• Glossary (p. 185)
• Index (p. 205)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

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