IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

Developing an Electronic Commerce Platform

VIT University VIT University

Vellore, India Vellore, India

[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—Electronic Commerce applications support the x Optimize supply chains: By identifying areas where
interaction between various parties participating in a commerce service needs and environmental challenges converge, and
transaction as well as the management of the data involved in the exploring new ways to drive efficiencies and reduce impact,
process via the network or the internet. Electronic commerce is
companies can create viable solutions that address both
gaining traction as an acknowledged and used business model.
More and more corporates are implementing web sites providing business and environmental goals.
functionality for performing commercial transactions over the x Tap the power of data: The flow of goods throughout
internet to better reach customers as it is sensible to say that the
supply chains generates a tremendous amount of data. By
process of shopping on the web is becoming common.
partnering with a logistics provider that can tap into the power
In this article we intend to discuss the background for of this data, retailers can gain insight into customer
developing an electronic commerce application, principles and preferences and trends, learn about hidden issues
methods involved in developing an ecommerce application.
x Fuel collaboration: Technology has made
Keywords—e-commerce; web development; retail; inventory collaboration and innovation even more powerful. Simple
management; project development steps, such as providing customers with a way to shift their
delivery to a time and location that meets their needs, reduces
I. INTRODUCTION the environmental impact and results in a better experience for
everyone.
An online store is a virtual store on the Internet where
customers can browse the catalogue and select products of x Measure, manage, mitigate and market: The cultural
interest. The selected items may be collected in a shopping shift to e-commerce has brought about new expectations for
cart. At checkout time, the items in the shopping cart will be immediate gratification from consumers, and with that,
presented as an order. At that time, more information will be increased environmental impacts as retailers attempt to meet
needed to complete the transaction. Usually, the customer will those demands. However, when companies are willing to
be asked to fill or select a billing address, a shipping address, a invest in creating sustainable solutions to navigate the
shipping option, and payment information such as credit card
evolving demands of today’s shopper, they will see a return on
number.
their investment beyond operational efficiencies.
E-commerce has altered the practice, timing, and
technology of B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business Here we intend to demonstrate the principles and methods
to Consumer) markets, (having double digits growth year on in developing an e-commerce application by discussing about
year) affecting everything from transportation patterns to a general purpose e-commerce store where any product (such
consumer behavior [1]. as books, electronic items, and home appliances) can be
bought from the comfort of home through the Internet.
The Environmental Impacts of E-Commerce - A Greener However, for implementation purposes, this paper will deal
Way to Shop [2]: with an online book store.
x Reduced Carbon Footprint It should provide browse books by category/author etc.
x Less Need for Product Presentation service to its customers and caters to Customers and
Administrators of the stores. The major features of the website
x A New Lease on Life for Used Goods include Customer registration, search books, shop for books
x Safer, easier and healthier to shop from home than to online (Add to cart, wish list, order processing etc., Checkout),
shop in a physical store customer transaction history, admin reports.
More and more companies are moving towards a more The main objective of an online book store is that it allows
sustainable e-commerce by [3]: the Customer to search and purchase a book online based on

978-1-5386-0814-2/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

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 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

title, author and subject. The selected books are displayed and Three-tier (layer) is a client-server architecture in which
the Customer can order their books online through their the user interface, business process (business rules) and data
payment option. storage and data access are developed and maintained as
independent modules or most often on separate platforms.
II. RELATED STUDIES AND PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
The Architecture of Online Book Store is based on three-
A. Survey of the Existing Models
tier architecture. Fig.1 below shows the model of 3-tier
Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) applications support architecture. The three logical tiers are:
the interaction between different parties participating in a
x Presentation tier - Web forms, Master Pages, Images.
commerce transaction via the network, as well as the
management of the data involved in the process [4]. x Middle tier – Java classes.
E-commerce needs special web-based software, which is x Data tier- Database
usually known as e-commerce website. The Systems
Fig. 1. Three Tier Architecture
Development Life Cycle (SDLC) of e-commerce website,
which are systems analysis/planning, design, building the
system, testing and implementation. In the stage of system
analysis/planning, the following are formulated [5]:
x Business objectives, which list the capabilities of the
website.
x System functionalities, which list the information system
capabilities needed to achieve the business objectives.
x Information requirements, which list the information
elements that the system must produce in order to achieve
business objectives.
The emphasis in the stage analysis/planning are defining The main reason for considering three-tier architecture for
business objectives then “formulating” system functionalities the Online Book store is as follows:
and information requirements based on those objectives.
B. Summary identified in the Survey Flexibility:

A good e-commerce site should present the following x Management of data is independent from the physical
factors to the customers for better usability [6]: storage support.

x Knowing when an item was saved or not saved in the x Maintenance of the business logic is easier.
shopping cart. x Migration to new graphical environments is faster.
x Returning to different parts of the site after adding an item x If there is a minor change in the business logic, we don’t
to the shopping cart. have to install the entire system in individual user’s PCs.
x Easy scanning and selecting items in a list. Reusability:
x Effective categorical organization of products. x Reusability of business logic is greater for the
x Simple navigation from home page to information and presentation layer. As this component is developed and
order links for specific products. tested, we can use it in any other project and would be
helpful for future use.
x Shopping links or buttons.
Security:
x Minimal and effective security notifications or messages.
x More secured architecture since the client cannot access
x Consistent layout of product information. the database directly.
x An important factor in the design of an e-commerce site is
D. Architecture
feedback.
x Completed orders should be acknowledged quickly. 1) Available Models
C. Overview of the proposed system a) Active Servlet Pages (ASP)
ASP is a development framework for building web pages.
1) Introduction and Related Concepts When the user enters the URL of the Book Store in his
browser, a web server is contacted to get the requested

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 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

Information. In the .NET framework, the Internet Information E. Proposed System Model
Service (IIS) acts as a web server to accept the incoming http
request and to return the requested resource in an http The various modules and functionalities included in the
response. project are:
The IIS decides how the handle the request based upon the x Customer Account Management: The customer account
requested files extension. ASP.NET is a programming module provides the registration page to register for the
framework built on the common language runtime that can be new customer, login for existing customer and edit their
used on a server to build powerful Web applications. It’s profile, view their transaction history.
compatible with the .NET framework and has the following
features: Powerful database driven functionality, Faster Web x Inventory Management: The inventory management
Applications, Memory Leak and Crash protection. [7] module is accessed by the administrator to add, edit book
details manage the inventory.
MYSQL can be used for database.
x Product Management: This module provides the
b) Spring customer’s home page and provides features like
This is a model which has become popular in the recent searching books by category, author, tile, and displays the
years. The Front End of the application is done using JSP results, book details and reviews and comments.
(Java Servlet Pages) and Spring is used for Back End. Spring x Shopping Cart: This module facilitates the shopping cart
is an application framework and inversion of control container for the customer to add or remove books to the cart and
for the Java platform. Spring helps us to build simple, also has the wish list feature to save products for future
portable, fast and flexible JVM-based systems and purchase.
applications. It helps to create ready to ruin applications. It
handles all the database, sessions and transaction related x Order management: The order management module is
events. Usually Oracle DB is used as a database and Java is where the order is handled i.e. the order’s shipping
used at the back end of the project. This kind of a project can address, confirmation by vendor, status tracking for the
easily be converted into a restful service and can be integrated customer, and administrator dispatch slip generation and
in a Micro Services model which many companies in the administrator payment update for order.
industry have adopted [8]. x Admin Reports: This module lists the admin inventory
c) Adopted Architecture summary page, order list and defaulter list for analyzing
the system.
x The application has two types of users –End User and
Administrator. All type of users will access the
application using a browser interface over HTTP. III. PROPOSED SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
x The application receives the request and routes it to A. Product features
Partner Store Service or Data Access Layer.
1) Books Module
x The Interactions with the Database will be done using the
Oracle data provider via the Enterprise Library Books module is meant for customers. In this module, the
application block. user can browse books by categories on the home page by
clicking on the various Category Names on the left side of the
x The calls to the Partner Store web service are done by
invoking the corresponding proxy classes. The proxy page and if the user tries to add any book to cart then the user
classes in turn use SOAP messages over HTTP to will be asked to login.
communicate with the actual web services. Once the user is logged in either by clicking on the Login
x The Partner Store Web Service will retrieve the query link or by clicking on the cart icon placed beneath each book,
sent by the client, from the data contracts. the user can click on the cart icon to add books to cart and
then click on the cart icon at the top of the pages to view the
Fig. 2. Architecture Diagram list of books in the cart, click on Remove button to remove
them from the cart, close the cart or check out books in order
to rent or purchase them.
By clicking on the book’s image, the user can view book
details, write a review, provide comments and add books to
wish list.
2) Account Module
Account module is meant for customers. This module
includes the functionalities to edit profile, check transaction
history and track order status. The user must be logged in to
use functionalities provided by this module. The three
functionalities will be displayed in tabs.
On the edit profile tab, the user will be allowed to edit the
following details: First and last name, username, email
address, Password, Shipping address, Phone numbers

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 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

On the Transaction history tab, the user will be able to see B. User characteristics
the following details: Book and Author names, Transaction
Type, Transaction Date, and Book Price x Through the Online Book store web application the
customer can purchase books through a web browser.
On the Order Status Tracking tab, the user will be able to
see the order status after entering the order number. x Through a web browser the customer can search for a
book by its title or author, later can add to the shopping
3) Cart Module
cart and finally purchase using credit card transaction.
The cart module is meant for customers. User is required
x The user can login using his account details or a new
to login to be able to access this module. Books can be added
customer’s account can be set up very quickly by giving
to cart either while browsing books by categories or on the
details of their name, contact number and shipping
Book Details page.
address.
To add a book to cart, click on the cart icon just below the
book image. Once a book is added to cart, you will see at the x The user can also give feedback to a book by giving a
top right corner of the page that the number of books in cart rating. The books are divided into many categories based
has increased by one. on subject like genre.

4) Administrator Module x The customer can browse books from a partner store,
view his transaction history and maintain a wish list.
The administrator module is meant for admin users only.
There are four screens in this module. x A customer can, create, sign in to his account, place items
into a shopping cart and purchase using his payment
x Manage Inventory: details.
This will display a table of books inventory details with
options to add, edit or delete a book from the store. x The Administrator will have additional functionalities
when compared to the common user. He can add, delete
Add a Book: This will present a form to enter details of the and update the book details, book categories, member
book that you wish to add to the store. information and generate reports.
Edit a Book: This will present a form to edit details of the x The selected books are displayed and the customer can
book that you wish to edit to the store. order their books online through their payment option.

Delete a Book: This will remove the book from the store if x Using this Website the customer can purchase a book
it is not rented by a customer. online instead of going out to a book store seamlessly.
x Manage Orders: C. Software Development Methodology
This will display two tabs, one with a table of purchase
Projects are developed on different methodologies. The
orders and another with a table of rent orders and following
project we developed based on the three tier architecture. It
options will be provided on these tabs.
shall was implemented by S|A test driven development. Test-
x Payment Received: driven development is about development (and design),
specifically improving the quality and design of code. TDD is
Select one or more books from the table whose payment a specification technique; a valuable side effect is that it
has been received and click on Payment Received button results in significantly better code testing than do traditional
x Dispatch Orders: techniques [9]. Test driven development lifecycle:

Select one or more books that have been dispatched and x Add a test
click on Dispatch Orders. x Run all the tests and see if the new tests fails
x Return Received (for rent orders only): x Write the code to make the test pass
Select one or more books that have been returned by the
x Run tests (Tests pass)
customer and click on Return Received button.
x Refactor code
x Manage Reports:
x Repeat
This will display two tabs, one to display a report of
purchased and rented books and another to display a report of Test driven development can be combined with agile
defaulters. On the Defaulters report tab, the user can also send model driven development. The Agile Model Driven
an email to the defaulters. Development (AMDD) lifecycle.
x Manage Pages: x Identify the high level scope
This will display two tabs, one to edit the Privacy Policy x Identify the initial requirements stack
and another to edit the Contact Us details. By default the
content on both the tabs will be in disabled state and user will x Identify an architectural vision
have to click on Edit button to able to edit and then save the x Iteration Modelling
content.

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 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

x Work through issues in a JIT manner service and each micro service can be handled separately and
x Test driven Development modified/ serviced as per request. Commercially ATG and
Hybris have become popular software for developing e-
x Develop software by test-first approach commerce applications on a corporate level.
AMDD is used to create models with the project Application/Improvements: The customer experience can
stakeholders to help explore their requirements and then to be improved by implementing it as a mobile app and further a
explore those requirements sufficiently in architectural and conceptual idea is that integrating with a physical book store
design models (often simple sketches). TDD is used as a where the user can just walk in and pick up his book and walk
critical part of the build efforts to develop clean, working out and the whole transaction is seamless and automatically
code. A significant advantage of TDD is that it enables us to charged to his account. The sensors placed in the store must be
take small steps when writing software. [9] able to identify the book picked up and the user who walked
out and identify his account information and charge his
IV. PSEUDO CODE account accordingly.
Java Bean:
@Component Acknowledgment
@Entity
@Table(name="Book") I would like to express my gratitude and sincere thanks to
public class Book { Professor Jasmin T. Jose, without her help and guidance this
//Book Characteristics project would not have been completed. Thank you madam for
} motivating me to complete this project. I would also like to
Book Data Access Object: thank my parents, brother and friends for their continued
public void addBook(Book book) {
support and affection.
//Saving the book
session.save(book);
References
}
[1] The economic impact of e-commerce By Chris G. Christopher, Jr., Quarter
Book Controller: 2 2011, CSMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly.
@RequestMapping("/")
public String home(Model model) { [2] The Environmental Impacts of E-Commerce by Robbie Reddy, Aug 2012,
List<Book> booklist = bookService.getAllBooks(); HUFFOPOST UK.
model.addAttribute("bookList", booklist); [3] Can E-Commerce and Sustainability Co-Exist? By GREG BROWN,
return "home"; JAN 2017, Logisticsvaluenetworks
} [4] Online Transcations Using ASP.net & Ado.net by RamaRao Gose, The
Proceedings of the International Conference on Information
The book object creates the book table in the database with Engineering, Management and Security 2014.
the required characteristics as it is a component. The Book [5] Require,emt Analysis Method od E-Commerce websites Development
for Small Medium Enterprises, Case Study: Indoensia, by Veronica,
Data Access Object is used to access the data stored in the SuhokSilvania and Criswanto , International Journal of Software
database. The Book Service Layer services the request by the Engineering & Applications (IJSEA), Vol.5, No.2, March 2014
user to access the database and return the data to the user. As [6] Wiley, Y. M. J. & Sons. (1997) Creating the Virtual Store: Taking Your
Spring is being used, all the database transactions, queries and Web Site from Browsing to Buying.
sessions are handled by the Spring Framework [10]. The [7] The Design and Implementation of An E-Commerce Site for Online
Controller controls the requests by the user and maps the Book Sales by Swapna Kodali, Department of Computer and
Information Sciences, Indiana University, May 2007
attributes or objects required to the respective services and
[8] Building a Next-generation Cloud e-Commerce Platform with Spring by
also directs the user to the appropriate JSP pages. Petar Tachiev, SPRINGONE2GX
[9] Introduction to Test Driven Development (TDD)
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS http://agiledata.org/essays/tdd.html (accessed on March 2017)
Through the Online Book store web application the [10] http://static.springframework.org/spring/docs/2.5.x/reference/index.html
customer can purchase books through a web browser. Through (accessed on December 2017)
a web browser the customer can search for a book by its title
or author, later can add to the shopping cart and finally
purchase using credit card transaction. The user can login
using his account details or a new customer’s account can be
set up very quickly by giving details of their name, contact
number and shipping address. Using this Website the customer
can purchase a book online instead of going out to a book
store seamlessly. It should help the business scalable in terms
of market expansion and global relevance and customer
engagement through multiple platforms.
We discussed developing an e commerce book store to get
an overview on developing an e commerce application. Here
we have implemented the application using Spring and Java.
Now a days Spring micro services model has become popular
and each functionality is being exposed as a restful micro

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