Product Database Construction

 

I set up my excel database for my products and have chosen unique stock/product numbers and based my prices on come of my competitors prices, placing them between the budget prices of The Works and the higher end stores like Cassart.

I formatted my table to give shading to the column headings, and made them bold, and added borders to clearly mark the columns from each other.  The stock numbers and items sold are added to give me data to work with for charts and formulas.

I used a mathematical function to get the total sales calculated.  I then used the autofill function to "pull" the formula down to the other cells, this is relative referencing in Excel and copies the above formula to the next cell.

I then used the AutoSum function to calculate the total for my sales at the bottom of my data table.

The show formulas function (below) shows that I have used mathematical functions in these three columns to get the total cost, total sales and then I have used those figures to give me the total profit for each product.

I selected my data table and then added a chart from the Insert tab.  I chose a pie chart to show the percentages of products sold, however it didn't work with the profit as there are minus figures in the data and pie charts won't show those, so I had to choose a different chart for my profit.

Before I changed my chart, I wanted to show just the paints and total sales for them.  I did this by using the filter button on the pie chart, selecting only the paint categories and the total sales, then clicked on apply.  This then filters the chart results to those I wanted to see - the acrylic sets prove to provide the best sales.

Customer Database Construction

 I am using Excel to create my customer database:

I have included the following: name, etc....

I added a filter to my column heading so that I can limit the number of responses to a query.

E-Commerce Website Plan

 I downloaded the website plan document from Blackboard and completed it to outline what my plans are for my e-commerce website:

I've added this as a link to my Google Drive as well as screenshots below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RDCMWAE8HoLElptTCnGz6QuQKYjTm6wR/view?usp=sharing

Types of E-commerce (WIP)

Class task: To explore the different kinds of e-commerce websites, with examples and discuss in my own words.

Business to Consumer  (B2C)

I've looked at Tesco as an example here as it is a supermarket that sells goods to the general public.  This ranges from everyday groceries, to electronics and clothing, depending on the requirements of the customer.  They also offer services like mobile, banking and insurance via their online platform.

Here is a screenshot of their homepage:

Source: https://www.tesco.com/

There is a lot of information on their page source view and this mirrors the amount of choice the viewer has when entering the website homepage.  You can sign in, find a store, contact the company, as well as accessing all the services that Tesco provide.  Therefore the head part of the HTML view is extensive and I have given a brief view of this in the screenshot below:

Source: https://www.tesco.com/

The description part though does contain some essential information which should appear on the Google search for Tesco and outlines some of the key points for the company - 

<meta name="description"

content="With over 3,400 stores nationwide you're sure to find a Tesco near you. Or why not try our online grocery shopping and delivery service. Open 7 days a week. Earn Clubcard points when you shop.">

Source: Google Search

Essential features of an e-commerce site

During the lesson we looked at a video that outlined essential features (Features of e commerce., 2017) that should be on an e-commerce site, or that were benefits to using an online platform to conduct business ventures.  These were identified as the following: -

• 24/7 Availability
• Inventory Management
• Non-Cash Payments
• Advertising/Marketing
• Sales Improvement
• Customer Support
• Improved Communication

I'd like to take each of these features and discuss them a little further, looking at how I might implement them in my own e-commerce website development.

24/7 Availability
The internet never sleeps!  This means that if my website offers deliveries of goods, I have to ensure that I am keeping up to date with orders and enquiries from my consumers.  A new online venture would struggle to have the staffing to make sure that this was possible 24/7, so I may want to include a disclaimer or note to my potential consumers to say that it is a UK based company that has office openings hours of 9.00 am to 5.00 pm GMT.  I could also add some information on my contact page that all emails and correspondence are responded to within 24 hours.

Inventory Management
An essential component for goods/product based e-commerce especially, but even if it were a service based e-commerce website, there would need to be some management of resources; time, space, office resources, staffing, etc.  For good and products this would mean that you could implement a just in time [1] ordering system linked directly to stock levels, therefore limiting the amount of warehouse space required and hopefully avoiding any excess products or non-selling/popular products being repeat ordered.

Non-Cash Payments

An essential component for any online business as there are very few ways to pay for services and goods online with cash!  This could be using a secure online payment system within the website itself, where the consumer would input the debit or credit card information on a secure payment page on the website (using an https [2] website and used in conjunction with an up to date SSL Certificate [3] to give your customers peace of mind).  Also, allowing for PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, etc. options is now an integral part of online consumerism.  Although direct bank transfer payments are an option for non-cash payments, the majority of consumers tend to avoid these as it offers them little protection should there be a dispute or problem.

Advertising/Marketing & Sales Improvement
I shall look at these two features together as they work in conjunction with one another both in respect of the promotion of my own e-commerce website, but also in a way of bringing in revenue from outside sources.  Obviously, I would want to promote my own services or goods on my website, perhaps offering deals or packages that work together and offer a form of bulk discount when bought together.  However, to improve my sales, I need to try and get my business network up and running, so offering space to trusted and high quality sites would be beneficial to me growing my business and encouraging a growth in my own reputation by association.

A way of improving the outreach of my site would be including social media links and content; Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are all platforms I use personally as do many of my friends, so these might be ones I would set up accounts for in my eCommerce site as I can bring my friends (and potential customers) in via my personal accounts by inviting them to like my business pages.

Customer Support/Improved Communication

I would offer a live chat feature on the website, but have specific hours outlined on the policies page/contact page to say how quickly this will be responded to during the working week.  I may be able to use a Bot to do simple responses, but I don't want to alienate my customers if their question is more specific.  I would also have a contact page and social media links to aide my customers in finding information out that isn't covered on my FAQ page.

Footnotes:

[1] Just-in-time stock control is an inventory management style used to limit the amount of stock within the warehouse and helps buyers make informed purchasing decisions. It works by matching stock levels with what is needed for production or customer fulfilment. So rather than carrying large inventories of parts or goods, manufacturers can operate a just-in-time model that ensures parts only arrive as, and when they are needed. Here we explore the benefits of just in time stock control in manufacturing. (Whitehouse, 2018)

[2] HTTPS is primarily designed to provide enhanced security layer over the unsecured HTTP protocol for sensitive data and transactions such as billing details, credit card transactions and user login etc. HTTPS encrypts every data packet in transition using SSL or TLS encryption technique to avoid intermediary hackers and attackers to extract the content of the data; even if the connection is compromised. (Techopedia, 2019)

[3] HTTPS works in collaboration with certificate authorities that evaluates the security certificate of the accessed website. (Techopedia, 2019)

References:

Features of e commerce. (2017). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpW7iB4KJ0 [Accessed 1 Jul. 2020].

Techopedia.com. (2019). What is HTTPS? - Definition from Techopedia. [online] Available at: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/5361/hypertext-transport-protocol-secure-https [Accessed 1 Jul. 2020].

Whitehouse, S. (2018). What is just-in-time stock control?. [Blog] Winman Advanced ERP Systems. Available at: http://www.winman.com/blog/what-is-just-in-time-stock-control [Accessed 1 Jul. 2020].

Homework Tasks: WWW and E-commerce

Who invented the WWW?
There are some conflicting ideas for the origin of the WWW (World Wide Web), but the generally accepted inventor of the WWW is Sir Tim Berners-Lee.  As stated on the Cern (2020) website "Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989, while working at CERN. The web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world." 

Source: https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web

Here is a screenshot of the recreated original front page of the WWW and its purpose of allowing access to resources from a central point and therefore aiding research and science.  The use of the Web has changed dramatically over the years from its beginning, but it is still often used as a source of information and for academics to share ideas, information and conclusions from research.  It is said that Berners-Lee has mixed feelings about how the Web (and the Internet [1]) is now used, which I would like to explore a little more here. From an interview in Vanity Fair (01.07.2018) he is stated as saying he was devastated that the Web had been used by governments to influence other countries politically, and that users data had been shared for analysis without their consent.  He is now working on reforming the Web and set up the World Wide Web Foundation in 2009 to protect the human rights of its users, as well as working on Solid, a project that "aims to radically change the way Web applications work today, resulting in true data ownership as well as improved privacy." (Solid, 2017)

Who invented E-Commerce?
Online shopping was invented and pioneered by Michael Aldrich in the UK. In 1979 he connected a modified domestic television via a telephone line to a real-time multi-user transaction processing computer. (Aldrich, 2011)

Source: http://www.aldricharchive.com/internet_online_shopping.html

As this was developed many years before people had PCs at home and the development of the internet for free online access, the use of online shopping was limited, but as technology and software progressed, the online e-commerce universe has expanded considerably.


References
Aldrich, M., 2011. The Michael Aldrich Archive - Internet Online Shopping. [online] Aldricharchive.com. Available at: http://www.aldricharchive.com/internet_online_shopping.html [Accessed 5 July 2020].

Andrews, E., 28.10.2019. Who Invented The Internet?. [online] HISTORY. Available at: https://www.history.com/news/who-invented-the-internet [Accessed 5 July 2020].

Brooker, K., August 2018. “I Was Devastated”: The Man Who Created The World Wide Web Has Some Regrets. [online] Vanity Fair. Available at: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/the-man-who-created-the-world-wide-web-has-some-regrets [Accessed 5 July 2020].

Home.cern. 2020. The Birth Of The Web | CERN. [online] Available at: https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web [Accessed 5 July 2020].

Solid.mit.edu. 2017. Solid. [online] Available at: https://solid.mit.edu/ [Accessed 5 July 2020].


                                                                                                                                                                  
[1] A platform that was developed by the US government in the 1960s, which was called the ARPANET and following development by many scientists a version of this is what is now used by millions across the planet. (Andrews, E. 28.10.2019)

Class Task: Definitions of Programming Languages

We were tasked in the class to find the definitions of the following programming languages using good academic sources: -

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python and Ruby.

HTML
Hypertext Markup Language, a standardized system for tagging text files to achieve font, colour, graphic, and hyperlink effects on World Wide Web pages. (Lexico.com, 2020)
It controls the content of the web pages by using a text based language and you can see this when you view the source code for a page on the internet, technically this is not a programming language, but as the name suggests, it is a markup language.
It is often used in conjunction with the next two terms for investigation; CSS and JavaScript.

CSS
Stands for "Cascading Style Sheet." Cascading style sheets are used to format the layout of Web pages.  CSS helps Web developers create a uniform look across several pages of a Web site. Instead of defining the style of each table and each block of text within a page's HTML, commonly used styles need to be defined only once in a CSS document. Once the style is defined in cascading style sheet, it can be used by any page that references the CSS file. Plus, CSS makes it easy to change styles across several pages at once. For example, a Web developer may want to increase the default text size from 10pt to 12pt for fifty pages of a Web site. If the pages all reference the same style sheet, the text size only needs to be changed on the style sheet and all the pages will show the larger text. (Techterms.com, 2020)

JavaScript
It is a trademark and according to Lexico.com (2020) it is "an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers."  So what does this really mean?  Let's explore it a little further...
JavaScript was initially created to “make web pages alive”.  The programs in this language are called scripts. They can be written right in a web page’s HTML and run automatically as the page loads.  Scripts are provided and executed as plain text. They don’t need special preparation or compilation to run. (JavaScript, 13.02.2020).  It can be used to make the web page more interactive and can react to users via mouse clicks and key presses.  This can also be used as part of cookies; setting them, asking questions and and showing a message.

Python
Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics [1].  Python's simple, easy to learn syntax [2] emphasizes readability and therefore reduces the cost of program maintenance (Python.org, 2020).  it uses a simple edit, test, debug system which means that it can be used by a range of different skill levels and gives instant results for the testing process so can be used quickly and easily.

Ruby
Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, object-oriented, general-purpose programming language. Ruby is a pure Object-Oriented language developed by Yukihiro Matsumoto.  The objective of Ruby’s development was to make it act as a sensible buffer between human programmers and the underlying computing machinery. (GeeksforGeeks.org, n.d.).  You can use Ruby for a variety of different applications such as web applications, web servers and database work.  it is simple and easy to use with a recognisable syntax that is easy to understand even by a novice programmer.


References
GeeksforGeeks. n.d. Ruby Programming Language. [online] Available at: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/ruby-programming-language/ [Accessed 3 July 2020].

Javascript.info. 13.02.2020. An Introduction To Javascript. [online] Available at: https://javascript.info/intro [Accessed 3 July 2020].

Lexico Dictionaries. 2020. Definition Of HTML By Oxford Dictionary On Lexico.Com Also Meaning Of HTML. [online] Available at: https://www.lexico.com/definition/html [Accessed 3 July 2020].

Lexico Dictionaries. 2020. Definition Of Javascript By Oxford Dictionary On Lexico.Com Also Meaning Of Javascript. [online] Available at: https://www.lexico.com/definition/javascript [Accessed 3 July 2020].

N, J., 2014. What Is The Difference Between Syntax And Semantics In Programming Languages?. [online] Stack Overflow. Available at: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17930267/what-is-the-difference-between-syntax-and-semantics-in-programming-languages [Accessed 3 July 2020].

Python.org. 2020. What Is Python? Executive Summary. [online] Available at: https://www.python.org/doc/essays/blurb/ [Accessed 3 July 2020].

Techterms.com. 2020. CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) Definition. [online] Available at: https://techterms.com/definition/css [Accessed 3 July 2020].

Bibliography
Mix & Go. 2020. What Is Ruby Used For?. [online] Available at: https://mixandgo.com/learn/what-is-ruby-used-for [Accessed 3 July 2020].

                                                                                                                                                                  
[1] Semantics: Semantics is about the meaning of the sentence and whether it is valid. (N. J., 2014)
[2] Syntax: Syntax is about the structure or the grammar of the language. (N. J., 2014)