Top 20 E-commerce Concepts Interview Questions You Must Prepare 19.Mar.2024

Increased vulnerability to fraud;
difficulty protecting intellectual property;
risks to confidentiality; problems over taxation;
customs requirements;
regulations; credit card fraud;
security;
trust problems, and constant availability.

When a consumer wants to buy a certain product, he go to the website and selects the product he wants to buy. Once the product is selected, the consumer traction is moved to the online traction server where he places an order.

The information is exchanged over a secure channel through a private gateway to a processing network. The networked banks accept or reject the traction.

All this happens in just a matter of seconds.

eCommerce is a very secure due to the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology.

The basic steps involved in becoming Commerce Enabled are:

  • Getting an Internet Merchant Bank Account
  • Web Hosting
  • Obtaining a Digital Certificate
  • Finding a Provider of Online Tractions
  • Creating or Purchasing a Shopping Cart Software

E-commerce requires software that performs critical tasks, such as creating storefront and a shopping cart, collecting customer data, and providing the payment gateway. This software needs to function correctly.
Testing assures the organization of the quality and integrity of the e-commerce solution.

Online Shopping Application provides business gateway between Product vendors and Customers.
Ex: Walmart, amazon etc...

  • The merchant submits a credit card traction to the Payment Gateway on behalf of a customer via secure connection from a Web site, at retail, from a MOTO center or a wireless device.
  • Payment Gateway receives the secure traction information and passes it via a secure connection to the Merchant Bank Processor.
  • The Merchant Bank’s Processor submits the traction to the Credit Card Interchange (a network of financial entities that communicate to manage the processing, clearing, and settlement of credit card tractions).
  • The Credit Card Interchange routes the traction to the customer’s Credit Card Issuer.
  • The Credit Card Issuer approves or declines the traction based on the customer’s available funds and passes the traction results, and if approved, the appropriate funds, back through the Credit Card Interchange.
  • The Credit Card Interchange relays the traction results to the Merchant Bank’s Processor.
  • The Merchant Bank’s Processor relays the traction results to Payment Gateway.
  • Payment Gateway stores the traction results and sends them to the customer and/or the merchant. This communication process averages three seconds or less.
  • The Credit Card Interchange passes the appropriate funds for the traction to the Merchant’s Bank, which then deposits funds into the merchant’s bank account. The funds are typically deposited into your primary bank account within two to four business days.

Following are a few products where Ecommerce can be used:

  • Computer products (hardware, software, accessories)
  • Books
  • Music
  • Financial Services
  • Entertainment
  • Home Electronics
  • Apparel
  • Gifts and flowers
  • Travel services
  • Toys
  • Tickets
  • Information

Difference between business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce:
Business-to-business electronic commerce is conducted between two separate businesses, such as a large company needing office supplies and an office supply company. Business-to-consumer electronic commerce is between one individual and a company selling goods or services.

Business to Business (B2B)
Business to Customers (B2C)
Customers to Customers (C2C)
Customers to Business (C2B)
Etc...

The major benefits of Ecommerce are:

  • secure - more secure than a cheque.
  • fast - the tractions take not more than a few seconds
  • always on - the purchases can be made 24/7
  • convenient - ease of purchasing
  • reduced cost price - Reduction of Marketing and Advertising Costs

Using dummy card ids, we can test Payment Gateways.

  • E-commerce Web sites are not easy to set up. With a plethora of e-commerce solutions in the market, entrepreneurs have to make a few key decisions:
  • The entrepreneur has to decide on the initial amount of investment required for an e-commerce Web site, as well as the volume of business of an e-commerce Web site over the Internet. Investment factors and business objectives dictate the type of software, database, or other applications that are required to set up the e-commerce Web site.
  • There are specific elements involved in an e-commerce system. These elements range from domain name for the site to the merchant account for e-commerce tractions. Each of these elements requires a certain amount of scrutiny before setting up an e-commerce Web site.
  • Before launching the e-commerce Web site on the Internet, it requires rigorous testing. Some of the important and common types of testing include security testing, software and hardware reliability, and compatibility between all the elements of the system.

B2B (Business-to-Business)
In B2B, companies tract with each other. This includes the companies selling their product to wholesalers, distributors, etc

B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
This is usually when average businesses tract with the customer. This is done through the shopping cart softwares and the amount involved in the tractions is usually low.

C2B (Consumer-to-Business)
In this, a consumer places the product on the net. The companies willing to buy this product bid for it. The consumer can then decide, depending upon the bid, which company to sell it to.

C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer)
These kind of tractions are usually done at an individual level. Payments can be done with the help of online systems like PayPal.

Testing is crucial to e-commerce because e-commerce sites are both business critical and highly visible to their users; any failure can be immediately expensive in terms of lost revenue and even more expensive in the longer term if disaffected users seek alternative sites. Yet the time pressures in the e-commerce world militate against the thorough testing usually associated with business criticality, so a new approach is needed to enable testing to be integrated into the development process and to ensure that testing does not present a significant time burden.

Web portal is a business gateway ex: online shopping portals, http://www.wisdomjobs.com/ like job portals

By allowing users to select the ads they would like to pursue; in radio and television advertising, the viewer or listener is more of a passive recipient of the information.

The main purpose of system assurance is to deliver a quality product. Conformance to requirements increases the organization’s confidence in the system.
An e-commerce system deals with three parties: the bank, the traction clearinghouse, and the customer. The interdependency of these three parties makes the process of buying and selling over the Internet more critical than in real life. If the faith of any of these parties dwindles in the e-commerce site, the entrepreneurs can lose a lot of money, as well as their reputation.
For example, in the case of a faulty e-commerce system, the credit card of the customer may be billed immediately for the complete order, when only a partial order has been filled. Testing must assure that partial order fulfillment and billing are done correctly.

Advantages of electronic commerce over traditional commerce are as follows:

@Instant worldwide availability. 
@A streamlined buyer-to-seller relationship.
@Reduced paperwork.
@Reduced errors. 
@Time and overhead costs.
@Reduced time to complete tractions.
@Easier entry into new markets.
@New business opportunities. 
@Improved market analysis.
@Wider access to assistance and advice.
@Improved product analysis.
@The ability to streamline and automate purchasing.

The e-cash model, the check model, and the credit model.

Web hosting is a way to gain a presence on the internet. The web hosting company should be capable of providing you with the level of service that you need to maintain your Web Store.

@Getting an Internet Merchant Bank Account
@Web Hosting
@Obtaining a Digital Certificate
@Finding a Provider of Online Tractions
@Creating or Purchasing a Shopping Cart Software