A. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SOFTWARE FOR SMALL AND MIDSIZE COMPANIES: Using a service provider’s shared or dedicated hosting services instead of building an in-house server or using a co-location service means that the staffing burden shifts from the company to the Web host. CSPs have the same advantages as ISP hosting services, including spreading the cost of a large Web site over several “renters” hosted by the service. The biggest single advantage - low cost - occurs because the host provider has already purchased the server and configured it. The host provider has to worry about keeping it working through lightning storms and power outages.

1. Mall-Style Commerce Service Providers:

Mall-style CSPs provide small businesses with an Internet connection, Web site creation tools, and little or no banner advertising clutter. Web hosts in this group charge a monthly fee that is often higher than that of lower-end providers, and may also charge one-time setup fees. Some of these providers also charge a percentage of or fixed amount for each customer transaction. These Web hosts also provide high quality tools, storefront templates, an easy-to-use interface, and quick Web page generation capabilities and page maintenance.

Mall-style CSPs provide shopping cart software or the ability to use another vendor’s shopping cart software. They also furnish customer payment processing so that customers can choose to purchase their goods and services with a credit card or other form of payment. The CSP processes the acceptance and authorization of credit cards on behalf of the merchant. Another benefit is that because they are paying a monthly fee to the CSP, sites do not have to display any Web banners, which can be unattractive and distracting. The fourth benefit of the mall-style CSPs is that they provide higher-quality Web store building and maintenance tools than do the basic CSPs.

CSPs that offer mall-style commerce services include eBay Stores and Yahoo! Store. Another CSP that began as a mall-style service is Bigstep, but it no longer uses the mall structure. All three of these CSPs offer Web site construction tools that can be used by small and midsize businesses to take their businesses online.

B. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SOFTWARE FOR MIDSIZE TO LARGE COMPANIES: Midrange packages allow the merchant to have explicit control over merchandising choices, site layout, internal architecture, and remote and local management options. In addition, the midrange and basic electronic commerce packages differ on price, capability, database connectivity, software portability, software customization tools, and computer expertise required of the merchant.

1. Web site development tools: Although they are more often used for creating small business sites, it is possible to construct the elements of a midrange electronic commerce Web site using Web page creation and site management tools. For example, recent versions of Macromedia Dreamweaver all include integrated development environments.

2. Intershop enfinity: Provides search and catalog capabilities, electronic shopping carts, online credit card transaction processing, and the ability to connect to existing back-end business systems and databases.

3. IBM WebSphere Commerce Professional Edition: A set of software components that provides software suitable for midsize to large businesses to sell goods and services on the Internet. It includes catalog templates, setup wizards, and advanced catalog tools to help companies create attractive and efficient electronic commerce sites.

4. Microsoft Commerce Server 2002: Allows businesses to sell products or services on the Web using tools such as user profiling and management, transaction processing, product and service management, and target audience marketing.

C. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SOFTWARE FOR LARGE COMPANIES: Enterprise-class electronic commerce software running large online organizations usually requires several dedicated computers - in addition to the Web server system and any necessary firewalls. Examples of enterprise-class products that can be used to run a large online business with high transaction rates include IBM WebSphere Commerce Business Edition, Oracle E-Business Suite, and Broadvision One-To-One Commerce.

Enterprise-class software typically provides good tools for linking to and supporting supply and purchasing activities. A large part of B2B commerce is ordering supplies from trading or business partners and issuing the appropriate documents, such as purchase orders. For a selling business, e-business software provides standard electronic commerce activities, such as secure transaction processing and fulfillment, but it can also do more. For instance, it can interact with the firm’s inventory system and make the proper adjustments to stock, issue purchase orders for needed supplies when they reach a critically low point, and generate other accounting entries in ERP, legacy accounting, or file systems. In contrast, both basic and midrange electronic commerce packages usually require an administrator to check inventory manually and place orders explicitly for items that need to be replenished.

1. Enterprise-Class Electronic Commerce Software: Enterprise-class electronic commerce software running large online organizations usually requires several dedicated computers - in addition to the Web server system and any necessary firewalls. Examples of enterprise-class products that can be used to run a large online business with high transaction rates include IBM WebSphere Commerce Business Edition, Oracle E-Business Suite, and Broadvision One-To-One Commerce.

2. Customer Relationship Management Software: Must obtain data from operations software that conducts activities such as sales automation, customer service center operations, and marketing campaigns. The software must also gather data about customer activities on the company’s Web site and any other points of contact the company has with its existing and potential customers.

3. Supply Chain Management Software: Helps companies to coordinate planning and operations with their partners in the industry supply chains of which they are members. SCM software performs two general types of functions: planning and execution.

4. Content Management Software: Helps companies control the large amounts of text, graphics, and media files that have become a key part of doing business. With the rise of wireless devices, such as mobile phones, handheld computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), content management has become even more important.

5. Knowledge Management Software: Helps companies do four main things: collect and organize information, share the information among users, enhance the ability of users to collaborate, and preserve the knowledge gained through the use of information so that future users can benefit from the learning of current users. KM software includes tools that read electronic documents (in formats such as Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF), scanned paper documents, e-mail messages, and Web pages.