WP_Smile_ E-commerce.pdf

8/12/2019 WP_Smile_ E-commerce.pdf

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E-CommerceOpen Source Solutions

An overview of tools and the main functional concepts of a trading site

Writers:Frdric de Gombert

Florent SabourinFor further information: www.smile.fr

Tel.: +33 (0)1 41 40 11 00Mailto: [email protected]
http://www.smile.fr/mailto:[email protected]://www.smile.fr/mailto:[email protected]


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E-Commerce, open source solutions

[1] P REAMBLE

[1.1] Smile

Smile is a company comprised of engineers specialising in the implementation ofopen source solutions and the integration of systems based on open source solutions.Smile is a member of !"#$% an association focused on the promotion and protectionof free software.

With o&er '(( employees in France% and ')( throughout the world *+une ,(1(-%Smile is the leading French pen Source solution company.

Since around the year ,(((% Smile has been acti&ely monitoring the technologicalmar/et% allowing us to identify% to test and assess the most promising open sourcesolutions. We can then present our clients with the strongest% most sustainable%most efficient products a&ailable.

0his approach has gi&en way to a whole range of white papers co&ering &ariousdifferent application sectors. ontent management *,((2-3 portals *,(()-3 business

intelligence *,((4-3 !5! framewor/s *,((6-3 &irtualisation *,((6-3 digital documentmanagement *,((7-3 and 8"!s *,((7-. mong the wor/s published in ,((9% thepen Source ;!ualities% and feedbac/ on operational use.

s stable open source solutions slowly gain ground in new sectors% Smile will bepresent to offer customers the benefit of these solutions ris/ free. Smile appears inthe French #.0. mar/et as the integration ser&ice pro&ider of choice% to assist ma?or

companies in adopting the best open source solutions.

Smile has also de&eloped a range of ser&ice offers o&er the last few years. consultancy department has assisted our clients since ,(()% through prepro?ectphases% solution research% and pro?ect support. #n ,(((% Smile created a graphicsstudio which in ,((6 became /nown as 0he #nteracti&e @edia gency. 0his agencyoffers not only graphic design ser&ices% but also eAmar/eting% editorial% and richinterface eBpertise. Smile also has an agency specialiCing in 0hirdAparty pplication@aintenance% application support and application processing. Smile offices can befound in !aris% $yon%


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[1.1.1] Some Smile references

a) Web sites$aboratoires Doiron% Foncia% rdit oopratif% 8@# @usic% Salon de l griculture%@aCars% re&a% Socit Gnrale% G tes de France% !atrice !ichet% Groupama% 8coA8mballage% Fnews% 8 % !risma !ub% ;olia% ueK

e) Business Intelligence and ERP

$afarge% Groupe ccueil% ne&ia% !ro?ectif% Rine/% ompaneo% d&ans% !oint !%@indscape% $oyalty 8Bperts% ecim% 8space $oggia%


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[1.,] 0his White !aper

8Acommerce has literally eBploded o&er the last few years: with a turno&er of ,(billion 8uros in ,((7 *,)T more than ,((6- the number of online shoppers is inconstant progression *o&er 4)T of web users ha&e already made an online purchase-with an e&erAgreater number of traders% both new and established% opening theirown online shop.

recent Forrester1

study showed impressi&e pro?ections% with growth of 47 billion inonline 8uropean retails sales in ,((9 and up to 112 billion by ,(12% representing anincrease in a&erage yearly eBpenditure per household of from 27' to 4(1 for this same period.

#t is difficult% then% to ignore this new digital re&olution and the associated penSource solutions which play an e&erAmore important role.

0his White !aper proposes an o&er&iew of pen Source 8A ommerce solutions. Wewill present a selection of the best tools% and then re&iew the main functions%indicating how each tool performs.

#n order to select the right tools on which to build an 8A ommerce platform% it isimportant to understand the fundamental concepts of a trading site% we endea&ourto eBplain these concepts in the first part of this White !aper.

8Acommerce touches upon a wide &ariety of issues% such as ustomer "elations%Dusiness @anagement% $ogistics% WebAmar/eting% etc. We will not go into each ofthese issues here% as they are far too &ast and specific.

1 !ttp:** .forrester.com*r *,esearc!* ester&-e'ropea&-o&li&e-retail-forecast 2C-200/-to* *id* 43*t*2

Cop rig!t " #mile $ %pe& #o'rce #ol'tio&s " ll '&a't!orised reprod'ctio& is strictl for idde&

E-commerceturnover inbillons of Euros

in 2008

Source: iOE Study E-commerce report 2008/Fevad/K !"

E-commerceturnover inbillons of Euros

in 2008

Source: iOE Study E-commerce report 2008/Fevad/K !"
http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/western_european_online_retail_forecast%2C_2009_to/q/id/5543/t/2http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/western_european_online_retail_forecast%2C_2009_to/q/id/5543/t/2http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/western_european_online_retail_forecast%2C_2009_to/q/id/5543/t/2http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/western_european_online_retail_forecast%2C_2009_to/q/id/5543/t/2


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[1.'] 0he benefits of an pen Source Solution

pen Source solutions are gaining new ground at an incredible rate year after yearin all areas of application. uiteha&e a guarantee of eternal youth=% but the a&ailability of their source code toa community of clients and partners guarantees widespread distribution of the/nowAhow associated with the implementation of these solutions% and as suchtheir de&elopment.

0he pen= aspect is also a big issue. pen Source solutions are generally

more compliant with standards% and more open to the possibility of addingmodules.

s regards durability% the worst that can happen with an pen Source solution isthat the community can gradually lose interest in the solution% generally inpreference of a more promising solution. s such the product may one day need to bereplaced% but at least the windingAdown process is slow allowing the client ampletime to migrate to another solution.

#t is important to also point out that e&en if the editor one day winds down% thecommunity remains and can continue wor/ing on the product and its e&olution% this

is the &ery principle of pen Source solutions.



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s for the pen= aspect% while in theory it is essential that the modifications can bemade to the source3 in practise this can be ris/y. s such it is not in these terms thatthe pen= aspect is of benefit% but in its capacity to accept eBtensions% and tointerface with other applications.

n editor with commercial ob?ecti&es doesn t always ha&e purely the clients bestinterest at heart. 0he editor operates in a competiti&e mar/et so it goes withoutsaying that they want their tool to be better than their competitor s% but once wellAestablished% the editor may come to the conclusion that:

0heir product must be efficient% but not o&erlyAso% as more ser&ers mean morelicenses.

0he product must be solid% but not too much so% as support ser&ices must be

sold as well.0he product must be open% but not too much so% so as to maintain control of theclient.

We are not saying that editors are calculating to the point where they would lessenthe >uality of their product3 we are merely saying that the strategic priority is notnecessary gi&en to these issues.



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Content

[1] PREAMBLE..........................................................................2

51.16# M789 ............................................................................................... 2

51.26T 7# ; 7T9 P P9, ...............................................................................4

51.36T 9 7T# %> = %P9= # %?,C9 # %8?T7%= ..............................................

[2] FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS .................................................8

52.16; T ,9 9 $C%MM9,C9 T%%8# ?#9 >%, A ..................................................B

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52.36T 9 T, 7=E #7T9 ;7T 7= T 9 7=>%,M T7%= # D#T9M# . ...................................1

[3] THE SELECTION OF TOOLS...............................................18

53.16P ,9 M< 7F............................................................................................22

53. 6? >7C9 .................................................................................... /

54.469 HT9,= 8 7=T9,> C9# .......................................................................... 1

[!] SUMMARY........................................................................."!



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[#] $ %&DAME&'AL C(&CEP'

[,.1] What are eAcommerce tools used forV

[,.1.1] What is sold on a trading siteV

ne can find almost anything on the #nternet% but not e&erything is sold in the sameway.

First% we must distinguish between:

!hysical products% which must be stored% handled% deli&ered

Ser&ices% which are purchased online to be used at some point: hotel room%theatre tic/ets% etc.

Higital products and ser&ices% which can be deli&ered by the web: the postingof a ?ob offer% subscriptions to 0he 0imes online% i0unes music purchases% etc.

8ach of these products has its own complications and limitations which all mar/ettools are not necessarily capable of ta/ing into consideration: e.g. the notion of areser&ation calendar for tourist ser&ices% stoc/ management for physical products%content security for digital products% etc.

[,.1.,] Sell but not ?ust that

n eAcommerce solution is not a mere online sales solution.

Se&eral trading sites use tools which do not manage the act of the online purchase.ertain products and ser&ices can be too compleB% too specific or too eBpensi&e to bepurchased directly% by any method of electronic payment.

8&en without online sales% traders sometimes ?ust want to display a structuredcatalogue with prices that can be &aried from one customer to another or from oneoption to another. Saint @aclou , % for eBample% presents its full catalogue on its site%but does not offer online purchasing3 instead it includes a re>uest an estimate=option allowing the sales cycle to ta/e place in a different manner.

2!ttp:** .sai&t$maclo'.com*



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[,.,] Hirect% #nform% 0ransform% nalyse

s we ha&e already mentioned eAcommerce is an area that is full bloom. 8ach day%new trading sites open on the net. #n ,((9% they numbered almost )(%((( in Francealone.

ny company that wishes to launch online acti&ity is rapidly confronted with therecurring issues of the eAcommerce world:

Directing* 5ow to draw potential customers to their siteV 5ow to direct themin the different product ser&ice sectionsV

In!orming* 5ow to present their products fa&ourablyV 5ow to highlight their

leading productsV'rans!orming* 5ow to encourage the customer to place a product in theirbas/et and to proceed with the purchaseV 5ow to impro&e salesV

Anal+sing : 5ow to monitor the commercial performance of their shop in orderto impro&e itV

While the responses to these >uestions may not be directly gi&en by a softwaresolution% we will see that they must be ta/en into consideration when choosing asolution.

[,.,.1] Hirecting

0here are two main aBes in the process of directing potential customers% ttract andGuide:


Attract

Marketing strategiesMarketing strategies

Optimisation of naturalinde#in$


%eferencin$%eferencin$

Guide

Clear namingClear naming

"ood er$onomic practises &t'ecapability of $oin$ (ac)*breadcrumb trail* etc+,


A powerful search engineA powerful search engine

-ccess to products accordin$ todifferent a#es/criteria &price*product type* collection* etc,


Attract

Marketing strategiesMarketing strategies



%eferencin$%eferencin$

Guide

Clear namingClear naming



A powerful search engineA powerful search engine




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a) Attracting

0raffic is mainly generated &ia mar,eting strategies *brand recognition% thecompetitor conteBt% communication campaigns% a buCC around a product% etc.-3ne&ertheless% tools ha&e a direct effect on traffic: natural indeBing% affiliationser&ices% etc.

Manual indexing

ptimising natural indeBing has become a matter of paramount importance for eAcommerce sites. ertain aspects relate to the general design of the site and itsna&igation% others relate to the matriB or framewor/ and formatting% but not all eAcommerce solutions are e>ual in this respect.

Some /ey points:

8nsure that all product pages% including compleB ones% can be accessed bysearch engines. For eBample% if a product eBists in se&eral colours% a Googlesearch using the product name associated with any of these colours mustreturn a lin/ to the site.

hoose titles and /eywords which ma/e sense to the webAuser. #t can often be&ery tempting to use technical terms in a catalogue leBicon% but these are notthe terms that the webAuser thin/s in. For eBample% we sometimes find theterm layette for baby clothes% a term which is not widely used by webAusers.

8nter metadata for each product sheet *some tools will do this automatically-

!ro&ide a logical site map. @ost search engines do not analyse site maps witho&er )(( lin/s. So watch out if you ha&e a complicated treeAstructure.

@a/e sure that your E"$ s can be understood by the webAuser *for eBamplea&oid ha&ing a product sheet with an address li/e www.mysite.com form.phpVidX',ObrandXsamsung use www.mysite.com samsung tele&isionAlcdA

l',b2)(.html instead-.!lease see our White !aper on indeBing for further information on best practices.

Affiliation

ffiliation is common practice among eAtraders3 the ob?ecti&e of affiliation is to ma/eones site and products /nown by paying other sites to display your ad&ert. !aymentoptions &ary: payAperAclic/ i.e. per &isit3 or per purchase i.e. by turno&er generated3or by action i.e. based on receipt of completed feedbac/ forms.

0his is the basis of the d Sense affiliation program: Google ma/e the ser&icea&ailable for both parties: the trader and the affiliate% and ta/e a little commissionalong the way. n top of this ser&ice% Google also ser&es as affiliate by displaying

http://www.mysite.com/form.php?id=32&brand=samsunghttp://www.mysite.com/form.php?id=32&brand=samsunghttp://www.mysite.com/samsung/television-lcd-l32b450.htmlhttp://www.mysite.com/samsung/television-lcd-l32b450.htmlhttp://www.mysite.com/form.php?id=32&brand=samsunghttp://www.mysite.com/form.php?id=32&brand=samsunghttp://www.mysite.com/form.php?id=32&brand=samsunghttp://www.mysite.com/samsung/television-lcd-l32b450.htmlhttp://www.mysite.com/samsung/television-lcd-l32b450.html


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content on its own pages% notably on its search engine pages.


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"espect all best practices as regards traditional= ergonomics: include abreadcrumb trail retracing the path the user has na&igated so that they canreturn to the pre&ious le&el at any stage3 ensure that the na&igator bac/=button wor/s with your site *some Flash sites% for eBample% are not compatiblewith this button-.

#mplement a powerful search engine which gi&es pertinent results. We willta/e a deeper loo/ at this tool% which is central to any trading site% later in thisdocument.

@ultiply the paths which offer access to a product. ll webAusers do not thin/ali/e and so will not follow the same path. We will see that modern eAcommerce tools offer se&eral paths to the same product: multiAcategorisation isthe capability of associating a product to se&eral categories and treeAstructure

le&els. Facet na&igation allows successi&e filtering of the catalogue based onse&eral criteria such as price% brand% colour% etc. 0hese are two commonpractices.

[,.,.,] #nforming

!resenting products well is also something dealt with by the company s webAmar/eting and conception strategy% we often tal/ of eAmerchandising:

!romoting the product with good images% a selection of &iews% a Coom

capability% or e&en a short &ideo presentationHetailed information on the product *technical details-% on the associatedser&ices *guarantees% maintenance% etc.-% and more generally on anything thatdifferentiates you from your competitor

@anagement of crossed sales and sales incenti&es

#ntelligent= management of descriptions. s such% in the case where a gi&enproduct eBists in se&eral colours or siCes% we a&oid creating a product sheet bydescription.



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[,.,.'] 0ransforming0ransformation is% of course% the crucial act% managed by what is referred to as thesales tunnel=% that is to say% the steps from the finalising the order to confirmationof payment. We refer to this as a tunnel= because it is a process during which theclient must not be distracted from the act of purchasing.

5ere again% there are a certain number of best practices which encourage thecustomer to enter the sales tunnel. 5ere are a few:

dd to bas/et. 0he dd to bas/et= button must be clearly &isible andaccessible without ha&ing to scroll the page. Studies ha&e shown that largebuttons promote the act of purchasing.

Das/et &isibility. 0he bas/et and its content must remain &isible on all pages3the webAuser must be able to access a summary of their bas/et content at anytime.

Z Distance to promotion Z information. #f deli&ery is free on sales o&er a certainamount% it is a good idea to specify the amount the customer has leftseparating them from free deli&ery. Some sites e&en offer a selection ofproducts in this price range which can be added to the bas/et in one clic/.

0he order process. 0his must be as short and clear as possible: forms shouldonly include information this is absolutely necessary *this is not the place to



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as/ customers about their purchasing habits-% all teBt should be there to helpthe customer understand the process. Ser&ices ' are also a&ailable which onlyas/ for the user s telephone number and then use a directory to autofill fields.We can also promote eBpress= purchases on single articles.

#dentifiable purchase steps. ll of the steps must be clearly identified andallow the webAuser to return to the pre&ious steps at any time *to change theircontact details or payment method% for eBample-.

0he tunnel effect. 0his is not the time to propose other articles which maydistract the customer. customer is ?ust about to finalise the purchase% but isthen tempted by another product% he clic/s% &iews the product% then as/shimself if it would be cheaper elsewhere% he opens a new window to compareandK may ne&er come bac/

5ere are the standard purchasing steps on a trading website:

[,.,.2] nalysing

n online shop is constantly sub?ected to numerous ad?ustments resulting fromimpro&ed /nowledge of their customers practices.

0here are a number of techni>ues for obtaining /ey information and impro&ingperformance% these include:

Business Intelligence : which allows to build dynamic relations% to ta/e a

step bac/ from statistics or on the contrary to ta/e a deeper loo/ at statistics inorder to understand the detail *referred to as drillAdown-. 0he data used3 .reIersoform.com

http://www.reversoform.com/http://www.reversoform.com/http://www.reversoform.com/http://www.reversoform.com/


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relates to traffic% sales% customers% and catalogues. We will return to statisticalanalysis on page )9 2.'.4 Statistics reporting.

%ser tests : the figures gi&en are essential but it is also absolutely crucial totest the site using real users. 0his allows to measure the ease with which theseusers carry out simple tas/s% to analyse errors% to measure the ease with whichthe user remembers the site after a period of nonAuse and finally% to get an ideaof their feeling= for the site. 0hese aBes of analysis lead to the enhancement ofthe layout% design or features of the site.

A.B testing : while user tests are carried out using a sample group of people% D tests impact on all shop users. 0his in&ol&es proposing two &ersions of thesame page or the same element Ybutton% banner% image% etc.-% in order to findout which pro&ides the best results *a clic/% a form completed% an order placed-.

[,.'] 0he trading site within the #nformation Systems.

[,.'.1] 0he peripheral areas of an eAcommercesolution


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focused on eAmailing must also manage target segmentation% the identificationof erroneous email addresses% the monitoring of beha&iour% etc. 0hese featuresare ne&er dealt with in such an inAdepth manner by an eAcommerce solution.

An accounting management tool : While the eAcommerce administrationinterface may allow small business eAtraders to follow sales% this does notma/e it an accounting management tool with the capability of creatingstandardiCed accounts and details on legislation compliance.

A CM : urrent pen Source tools do not pro&ide content managementfeatures anything li/e those offered by specialised tools * @S-. Specialisedcontent management tools manage news% management of content &alidationprocesses prior to publication% &ersion monitoring% permissions etc.

We feel that it is pointless to ta/e the aforeAmentioned features into account whenchoosing an eAcommerce solution and as such they will not figure in our study. 0hereis no all round solution % though a few do attempt to co&er the areas mentionedabo&e% they only do so &ery roughly. 0o conclude we feel that one is better offselecting a solution which eBcels in its domain and using specialiCed tools to co&erthe rest of the eAbusiness chain.

[,.'.,] #nteraction with the #nformation System

8Acommerce solutions are rarely stand alone and are usually integrated into the

#nformation System *#.S.-. 0he catalogue often comes from an eBternal source suchas an 8"! and we often transfer client information to a "@ system and salesinformation to an accounting management tool.



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0he main criterion to be ta/en into account when choosing a solution should not be its

operational capacity in areas which are only partially related but its ca/acit+ tointer!ace 0it e2ternal multi !unction s+stems3

We will see how each solution performs here% later in this document.



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[4] ' "E ELEC'I(& ($ '((L

['.1] !reamble

We will not attempt to put forward an eBhausti&e in&entory of eAcommerce solutions.uite regularly on the mar/et% with the promise of newfeatures and e&erAgreater fleBibility. #n reality% most of these pro?ects are nonAstarters for a number of reasons: no community de&elops around them% the choice oftechnologies is poor% there is functional wea/ness% etc.

s such% we ha&e created a shortAlist of tools which we feel best represent thecurrent pen Source mar/et. We ha&e based our selection on three main criteria:

0he functional depth of the tool *is it a stateAofAthe art tool% does it pro&ide web,.( functionality% what is its capacity to interface with other solutions% etc.-

0he tools architecture and its technical >ualities: the technical en&ironment%how modular the tool is% the >uality of de&elopment% load handling

0he durability of the tool *the siCe of the community% the number of

contributions% editor presence% the networ/ of professionals% etc.-.

@ost of the tools presented are specialised eAcommerce solutions. We ha&e% howe&er%included the eAcommerce eBtension of a well /nown ontent @anagement tool:Hrupal.

['.,] s ommerce

#t is difficult not to mention s ommerce when we are tal/ing about pen Source

solutions. 0his tool% which first appeared in @arch ,(((% has rapidly become the toolof reference in eAcommerce solutions3 its editor was a selfAacclaimed pen Sourcead&ocate at a time when pen Source was in its formati&e years.



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He&eloped entirely in !5! @ySN$% s ommerce owes a large part of its success tothe absence of an pen Source alternati&e and the eBplosion of eAbusiness at thebeginning of the new millennium. Detween ,((( and ,((2 a great number ofcompanies% from soleAtraders to large multinationals% created their site based ons ommerce. #t remains to this day the most widely deployed webshop in the world.

Histributed under G!$% s ommerce is a tool based entirely on a once &ery large

and acti&e community.#n recent years% this community has bro/en away from the de&elopment team toform &arious forks =. fork is a part of a community which detaches itself to build anew product based on the source code on the initial product. 0he most well /nown

fork of s ommerce is Jen art.

He&elopment of the solution has seriously slowed down e&er since ,((4. 0he agingcode ma/es the application &ery difficult to maintain% the team attempted a totalo&erhaul of the tool for &ersion ' *&'- which has been due to go on the mar/et for anumber of years nowK

0he arri&al of new players such as !restashop and @agento has also contributed tothe scattering of the s ommerce community.



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['.'] @agento

n pen Source solution has rarely ta/en off as rapidly and noisily as @agento. 0histool has generated a phenomenal buCC at international le&el right from the first beta&ersions in ,((6% this allowed to federate an eBtremely acti&e community in recordtime.

First distributed eBclusi&ely under S$ * pen Source $icence-% @agento managed to

gain a large share of the mar/et right from its product launch in @arch ,((7%attac/ing leading editor solutions headAon *#ntershop% @icrosoft ommerce Ser&er%Websphere ommerce% 0G-.

Histributed by the merican editor @agento #nc. *formerly ;arien-% an agencypre&iously specialising in s ommerce integration% the solution is based on theJend !5! framewor/ and benefits from a large number of inno&ations in terms ofcollaborati&e functions.

@agento s strength lies in its great modularity and its robustness. #t was clearlyconcei&ed to carry ambitious and large scale trading sites.



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@agento #nc. announced the launch of its 8nterprise edition in pril ,((9. 0hisedition% which incurs an annual fee% includes a support contract% integrates a certainnumber of additional features and addresses the needs of large companies.

@agento #nc. is due to offer a SaaS *Software as a Ser&ice- ser&ice by the end of,(1(% wherein a trader can rent a @agento site% with modules that incur a fee% andan i!hone application.

['.2] !restashop

"eleased a few months after @agento *+uly ,((7-% !restashop is a French productwhich rapidly won o&er a large number of users due to the simplicity of its setAupand its eBcellent responses to the needs of the French eAtrader.

!ublished under S$ in the same manner as @agento% !restashop is entirelyde&eloped in !5! @ySN$. #t has an !# which allows to adapt the tool to newneeds.



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0his French editor solution *the fruit of what was initially a student pro?ect-% has>uic/ly built a solid reputation among French and Spanish communities and seesitself% naturally enough% as the worthy successor of s ommerce.

!restashop has also launched !restaDoB% a ser&ice in SaaS *Software as a Ser&ice-mode which offers eAtraders a turn/ey product which includes updates%configuration% module installations% and solution hosting.

['.)] fDiC

0he prestigious pache Foundation offer pache FDiC * pen for Dusiness-% aneBtremely ambitious tool which offers what is% no doubt% the largest spectrum offunctionality in this study.

Histributed in ,((1 under pache ,.( license *li/e all of the Foundations otherpro?ects-% FDiC is based on +,88 and se&eral technical components de&eloped bythe Foundation.



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s opposed to other tools in this comparati&e study% FDiC is not a tool whichspecialises entirely on eAcommerce. #t also offers a full 8"! with se&eral wellAidentified components:

nline Sales *the 8A ommerce part of the tool-

ustomer "elationship @anagement A "@

Supply hain @anagement A S @

Sales @anagement

!ointAofAsale @anagement Y ! S

8tc.

0he other distincti&e feature of FDiC is that it offers a framewor/ approach and notan offAtheAshelf= readyAtoAuse tool approach. For this reason implementation callsfor substantial in&estment% both to master the tool and to successfully create anoperational site.

0he *relati&ely confidential- FDiC community is mainly made up of those on officialdistribution lists. 0here is no French community% that we /now of% around FDiC.

We also note that% li/e all products from the pache Foundation% FDiC does notoffer editor support. Support is a&ailable from the community *using pacheeBchange or monitoring tools- or under contract from an integration ser&ice pro&ider.

['.4] Ebercart

Ebercart is the eAcommerce component of the Hrupal content management tool.#nitially concei&ed as a simple eBtension allowing bas/et management withinHrupal% it has rapidly become a pro?ect in itself% perfectly interfaced with the @S.

&ailable since +une ,((7 under reati&e ommons ZShare li/eZ license% the tool

has the peculiarity of being an eBtension of a content management tool.Ebercart has the same >ualities and failings as Hrupal:

n eBtremely acti&e% >ualified community%

tool which has been well thoughtAout technically spea/ing and is entirelyinterfaced with the rest of Hrupal%

tool which is easy to use% but also greatly dependant on the other HrupaleBtensions

#nstallation can be a little arduous and its functionality is a little more limited thanthat of specialised eAcommerce solutions.



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['.6] thers

['.6.1] 0helia% !lici

0helia and !lici are two !5! pen Source solutions which ha&e a small acti&ecommunity and a number of important deployments.

0he functional scope of these solutions is% ne&ertheless% more limited that that ofother solutions presented herein. s such these tools are of more interest to &erysmall 8A0raders.

Furthermore% their community is purely FrenchAspea/ingAFrench which is a worryas regards to the durability of the solutions.

['.6.,] Mona/art

Mona/art was concei&ed in an effort to pro&ide a solution comparable tos ommerce but in a +,88 en&ironment.

"eleased in ,((6 under 8!$ *8clipse !ublic $icense-% the tool uses s ommercereasoning and adds the eBcellent integration possibilities offered by the +,88en&ironment.

Enfortunately the community is >uite confidential. 0his is no doubt due to thesolution s haCy economic model *one has to search to find the application s source%which is not entirely pen Source- and a functionality which is% despite e&erything%still wea/ and not &ery ergonomic.

We must mention that Mon/art has a ommunity edition% and an 8nterprise edition

which integrates a number of additional features such as multiAshop management O$ucene integration.

0he editor offers two types of support contracts% one for each product edition%something which is rare in this sector.

['.6.'] "DS hange

0he pen Source model is &ery attracti&e to software editors. "DS is among thosewho turned to this model% deli&ering the hange @S and 8A ommerce applicationsunder ffero G!$ &' licence% in February ,(1(.



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0he fruit of almost ) years of de&elopment and o&er 1(( pro?ects% this solution is&ery promising both from a technical and functional point of &iew. 5ere are some ofthe aspects which differentiate this solution from its competitors:

n entirely integrated and coupled @S and eAcommerce tool% with nofunctional compromises

Dac/ office management using RE$ technology: the ergonomic and graphicrendering of all buttons and bac/ office elements is carried out by FirefoB andintegrates perfectly with the operating system *with dragAdrop capabilities% auniform colour code% etc.-% as opposed to other solutions presented which do notha&e a 1((T 50@$ bac/ office.

!5!) framewor/ de&eloped by the editor and an ad&anced de&elopment

en&ironment n enterprise edition offering ad&anced functions *site pre&iew at a gi&en date%automatic management of promotions% etc.-.

s a result of its sudden turn to pen Source% the "DS hange community is small%and as such the solution does not yet benefit from this /ey ad&antage whichguarantees the durability of a solution.

['.6.2] eJ !ublish 0ypo' +oomla

We decided to include Ebercart in our selection% because% of all the @Ss offering eAcommerce modules this is the most accomplished.

5owe&er% most pen Source @Ss on the mar/et offer eAcommerce modules:

eJ publish offers the eJ webshop module

0ypo' offers the ttAproducts eBtension

+oomla offers the ;irtue@art module

first glance% the management of a product catalogue and its online presentationfalls within the area of content management. good @S tool could &ery well beused to present a catalogue% and allow satisfactory na&igation. Webshop eBtensionscan be added to allow bas/et and payment management. Dut in actual fact% thecapabilities of this system fall &ery far short of those offered by a stateAofAtheAart eAcommerce platform.

&erall% these eBtensions are of a similar standard. 0hey may suit the needs ofcompanies which already ha&e their company site on one of these @S and wish to

?ust add a little online catalogue% without ha&ing any real 8A0rading ambitions.



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[5] $ %&C'I(&ALI'6

[2.1] atalogue

[2.1.1] Graphic and ergonomic customisation

trading site ob&iously creates its identity through its Zloo/ O feelZ. 8&en if mosttools on the mar/et offer an elegant appearance by default *some more than others-%it is important to be able to control and modify the ergonomics and graphic layout ofyour shop pages in order to gi&e your shop its own identity.

a) Con!iguration and tem/lates

0here are two main ways to customiCe a site: by configuration and templating.

Configuration

We tal/ of configuration when something can be customiCed &isually% without ha&ingto do anything with the source code. 0his is generally first le&el customiCation: theshop logo% title% and description% the layout of certain content bloc/s% the selection ofproduct details to be displayed etc.

0his customiCation is carried out directly &ia the administration interface and doesnot re>uire any technical eBpertise.

Templates

s with @Ss% most recent 8A ommerce tools ma/e a clear distinction bet0eent e content and t e structure3

0his signifies that the content % i.e. mainly the products which ma/e up thecatalogue% are managed without ha&ing to worry about the technical entries forthese products on source pages.

0he tool is used to format this content &ia a set of templates . 0emplates define pagesettings% the layout of different elements% and the choice of the graphic charter*fonts% colours% aligning% frames% ...- etc. #f tomorrow you whish to change theappearance of your shop% you ?ust ha&e to modify the templates% without ha&ing totouch the catalogue% which ma/es the process a lot less labourAintensi&e.

set of templates is often bro/en into two main entities:



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0emplate files which define the structure of your pages and the composition ofdifferent content bloc/s. For eBample% determining a product page *the positionof the image% the area reser&ed for crossed sales% etc.-.

0hese templates are generally 50@$ files% in which specific tags are inserted3these can be basic to compleB depending on the tool. 0hese tags supplyindications as to the content that should be inserted in a gi&en position on the50@$ page.

Style sheets * SS files-. 0hese define the graphic presentation of the &ariousdifferent page content bloc/s.

0he creation and modification of a set of templates re>uires certain technicaleBpertise% at the &ery least /nowledge of 50@$ and SS.

n eAcommerce tool allows you to associate a set of templates with your shop. 0hemost ad&anced tools allow you to go a little further:

Dy planning template set changes based on configurable time periods *tomodify your graphics for the hristmas period% for eBample-.

Dy associating se&eral sets of templates with the same bouti>ue in order tooffer se&eral different layouts depending on the customer profile or the mediaused *mobile access for eBample-.

(sCommerce is particularly wea/ in this area: it simply does not offer any realtemplate mechanism. s soon as one attempts to mo&e outside the standard ' column=default layout% modifications must be made on the core !5! files directly. 0here is noneed to point out that this type of manipulation can be terribly damaging to themaintainability of the solution.

Magento offers a template mechanism which might seem a bit complicated at thebeginning% but allows eBcellent fleBibility. #t is based on the Jend Framewor/ @; modeland brea/s down pages into functional bloc/s *main menu% search bloc/% bestAsellingbloc/% etc.- 0hese bloc/s are then assembled using R@$ files. #t is also worth mentioningthat @agento offers style change planning and the association of se&eral template setswith a shop.

Prestas o/ 7 ($Bi8 each ha&e a standardised template engine: Smarty for !restashop*used by +oomla among others- and Freemar/er for FDiC. 0hese allow great formattingfleBibility and are easy enough to wor/ with.

%bercart does not offer any particular template language. Screen formatting is defineddirectly at !5! file le&el. s such good technical /nowledge is re>uired to use the tool%ma/ing changes more difficult.



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b) Ric Inter!ace A//lication 9RIA)

Some sectors% such as the luBury sector% wish to offer customers a uni>ue user

eBperience to further enhance the brand s identity and as such propose a moreunusual system of na&igation.

Rich nternet Application !R A" can be put into place using technologies such asFlash% FleB or Sil&erlight.

#ongchamp online shop

0his is a real application which is eBecuted on the customers system% within thena&igator% and which communicates with the web site% and so with the eAcommercetool.

0hese technologies can be relati&ely complicated to implement% depending on thetool% and depending on the siCe of the site "# . #f it in&ol&es only occasional bannersor little configurators within eBisting templates% the operation is less compleB than ifimplementing a frontal entirely in Flash or FleB.

s the template mechanism is shortAcircuited% the tool needs an interface * !#-

which allows the customer= application to obtain information managed by the tool*catalogue% prices% etc-.

Magento 7 ($Bi8 allow relati&ely easy "# integration and do not re>uire coreapplication inter&ention as their 'Atier architecture allows to separate the presentationfrom content. #n the case of @agento% we can% for eBample% use the Jend framewor/ tobuild FleB applications on @F rather than !5!.

(sCommerce %Prestas o/ and %bercart on the other hand% re>uire more compleBmodifications in order to allow to connect a rich interface o&er the applicati&e layer.While not impossible this does re>uire a lot of wor/.



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[2.1.,] @ultiAshop

@ultiAshop management refers to the eAcommerce platform s capacity to managese&eral shops which may or may not share the client repository% catalogue% pricingoffers and graphic layout.

@ultiAshop management is an ad&anced feature not yet offered by all solutions. 0hecompleBity of this management depends entirely on the scope of information sharedbetween shops.

Delow we ta/e a loo/ at cases where a multiAshop function is most commonlyimplemented.

a) Cas e no3 1 : Multi countr+ sites

ne of the most common needs is to be able to manage all of the different countryshops from the same platform. @anaging a multiAlanguage trading site does notconsist in merely translating the catalogue content. #t also necessitates:

!erfect management of multiAcurrency payments

@anaging the taB for each target country

onnecting to the &arious local logistics solutions *transporters% localwarehouses% etc.-

Deing able to maintain the possibility of selling a limited selection of catalogueproducts in certain countries.

ompliance with local regulations

#n a more general way% ta/ing local eAcommerce customs into account *foreBample in +apan goods are generally deli&ered within ,2hrs maB.-

b) Cas e no3 # : ite !actories

lients often wish to be able to generate a new shop on demand% &ia the platform%with its own catalogue% customers and graphic layout.

#n this case% there is ob&iously no crossAo&er between the data generated by thedifferent shops% each with their own local administrator who has no /nowledge of oraccess to the other shops.

0his method is used by companies that wish to offer an online sales ser&ice in hostedmode% in Saas mode% as with !owerDouti>ue 2.

4 .po er o'ti 'e.com*



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c) Cas e no3 4 : Multi target sites

nother scenario is when a trader wishes to use &arious sections of the catalogue

and or &aried pricing on pri&ate= sites.

0his is particularly common in the D,D conteBt where companies often negotiatepreferential prices and wish to ma/e a pri&ate shop a&ailable to the other party.

8lements of the catalogue are selected for the new shop% the associated prices areentered and customer accounts are created.

d) Cas e 5 Multi brand sites

0he final scenario is when a company has se&eral brands and wishes to share acertain number of settings between the &arious different shops.

0he catalogues and the graphic layouts of sites are different but the customerrepository can be shared in order to allow customers to benefit from the latestspecial offers applicable to all of the company shops irrespecti&e of the brand.

uality% to implement themanagement of cases 1 O , abo&e.

Magento O ($Bi8 both perfectly manage all cases. 5owe&er% Magento only offers theUmanagement of local administrators feature with its 8nterprise edition.

[2.1.'] ategorisation

catalogue is generally organiCed based on treeAstructure which corresponds tological classifying of products: e.g. photos digitalscameras under,megapiBels. Sitena&igation reflects this product classification.

#n their search% customers would not ha&e all ha&e the same logic% or the samepriorities. Some will search for a camera by the number of piBels% others by price%and others by brand% etc.

0herefore it is important to be able to define multiple organisations of productclassification. 0hese are referred to as category trees% and a gi&en product can bearranged in se&eral /ernels on different category trees.



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0his classification can be eBplicit: the administrator defines the category treeAstructures and arranges a gi&en product based on the different treeAstructures.

lassification can also be automatic% based on certain product characteristics.0ypically the Ender ,((= category is a dynamic category% in which a product may or may not appear depending on its current price. 0his is referred to as Facetna&igation= *see pg ',- where in this eBample the facet is the price.

$he e%ample above presents the possible categorisation of products of a shop specialising in pet food&

0he category brea/ down does not necessarily ha&e to correspond to the na&igationmenu displayed to the webAuser. Some categories may simply ser&e for internal use*to classify products which are not yet a&ailable for sale% for eBample-. #n general%categorisation is a form of metadata associated with product= content% which can beused for management or na&igation purposes or merely as search criteria%

All o! t e tools in this study offer deep unlimited category treeAstructure managementwith multiple positioning.

Magento is the only solution to offer category permissions management *in its8nterprise edition-% this allows to gi&e or withhold access to a specific category from agroup of customers.



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[2.1.2] 0ypes of products

a) Con!igurable and customisable /roductsertain products can be configured % that is to say that they offer options which thecustomer can Y and must Y choose from when placing the order.

We tal/ of models and articles. For eBample% a tAshirt is a model% the article orderedis a tAshirt of a certain siCe and colour.

#n general% we distinguish between a model and an article by as/ing the following>uestions:

What is the product that # hold in stoc/V 0he answer corresponds to the article.0his is also referred to as a SME *Stoc/ Meeping Enit-.

What is the commercial offer that # ma/e to a customerV 0his is the model.

s such we can label a product longAslee&ed tAshirt% siCe $% blue= *in this case themodelXthe article-% or long slee&ed tAshirt=% *siCe and colour to be configured-% ore&en tAshirt= *slee&e length% siCe and colour to be configured-. #n this case the SMEis the first one where slee&e length% siCe and colour are specified.

'ere is an e%ample of a configurable product

0his notion of the distinction between model and article is &ital% as while the modelmay carry information on the product s basic features *description% place incategories-% it is the article which carries stoc/ information *for eBample a tAshirtmay well be a&ailable in $arge but not @edium-% images and price.

#f our tAshirt eBists in ' different colours and ) different siCes% then that gi&es us 1)different catalogue articles or 1) SME% *where each colour is a&ailable in each siCe-.



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#n some cases% this configuration may ha&e an impact on prices. For eBample% siCeRR$ may incur a , surcharge.

#n the case of customisable products *where the user can upload a photo to betransferred on to a tAshirt% for eBample-% the principle &isAQA&is the customer remainsthe same% e&en though the underlying notion is not identical: as the client willpurchase the same article *SME- which will ha&e an impact on stoc/% irrespecti&e ofthe customisation made.

(sCommerce offers management for this type of product but it is pretty labourAintensi&e. #t does allow nonetheless% to define as many configurable attributes as we wishand we can also specify whether the choice of this attribute incurs a surcharge. uantities and prices are fiBed by the administrator.Hynamic bundles: 0he webAuser can specify the desired >uantity of eacharticle to ma/e up the bundle. For eBample% in the case of li&ingAroomfurniture% the webAuser can indicate the number of armchairs% foot rests andsofas that they re>uire. 0he price is then calculated dynamically based on thecomposition of the bundle.

0he option is a&ailable to decide whether or not the articles which ma/e up a bundlecan be sold separately.



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(sCommerce does not nati&ely offer bundle management. n eBtension does allow thisfunction% nonetheless. "emember that s ommerce eBtensions sometimes ha&e theannoying habit of being incompatible with each other. 0o be handled with careK

Magento offers the dynamic= &ersion of this function under the title of groupedproducts= and the fiBed= &ersion under the title of bundles=. nly articles as opposed tomodels can be included in a pac/% in other words configurable products cannot beincorporated into a bundle.

Prestas o/ offers the fiBed= &ersion under the title of pac/s=% with the samerestriction as @agento as regards configurable products.

%bercart deser&es a special mention here% as it offers both pac/ &ariations and supportsconfigurable products within its pac/s.

($Bi8 offers full management of both fiBed and dynamic pac/s.

0he offer presented to the customer issometimes complicated and made upof a number of different articles whichha&e to be selected in order to ma/eup the final product. 0his is the casefor eBample for the purchase of acomputer: it is made up of a motherboard% screen% memory% processor% etc.which the client can select from amongse&eral models.

0he point is to present all of thedifferent possible product associations%on one screen.

ontrols can be set up to assist thecustomer% for eBample in &erifying thecompatibility of the elements that

they ha&e selected.

(sCommerce %%bercart O Prestas o/ do not offer this feature.

Magento O ($Bi8 offer this feature% without offering the compatibility control.



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c) Immaterial /roducts

@ore and more immaterial products are a&ailable online e&ery day. #n ,((9% 26T of

webAusers ) had purchased one or more of the following types of products:

Downloadable media files *films% music% boo/s% re&iews% photographs-.

0his raises the issue of distribution control% copyrights and protection laws. 0he useof techni>ues /nown as H"@= *Higital "ights @anagement- puts a system of digitalwatermar/ing% functional loc/ing *no search function in !HF-% and restriction of thesoftware used to open the file.

Servi es *ban/ account% insurance% etc.-

0he conditions regarding ser&ices sold are often compleB and re>uire a lot ofinformation from the customer: for eBample% when signing up car insurance onemust enter their name% age% address% car brand% model% year of manufacture etc.

!ayment is rarely oneAoff but more often demands a recurrence of operations% and assuch greater management. 0he purchase is therefore closer to the signing of acontract than a simple action of payment.

Reservables *cinema tic/ets% train tic/ets% concert tic/ets% flights% etc.-.

0he main issue with these products concerns stoc/=. With reser&ables% it is oftennumbered places which are sold% each with its own characteristics: for eBample%train tic/ets can be considered as 27) separate products% each corresponding to adifferent seat on the train.


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[2.1.)] !roduct attributes and classification

a) Attribut es product is described by features% that are also referred to as attributes . 0here aredifferent types of attributes: teBt% images% numbers% etc. We put aside priceinformation% an attribute which is dealt with separately later in this White !aper.

0he attributes which describe a product can be: a simple teBt field% enriched teBt *i.e.teBt which includes formatting: bold% italics% font siCe% etc.-% an image% an attachment*e.g. !HF-% a numeric &alue% date% etc.

#t is often a good idea to allow the attribute &alue to be selected in a list% as this

facilitates the use of data% searches% and internationalisation. For eBample: handsAfree function: yes no=% or dualAband triAband >uadAband fre>uency=.

For eBample% the following fields could be used to describe a tele&ision:

F#e$% t#t$e F#e$% t&'e ()$*e

Prod'ct &ame TeLt (100 c!aracters) #o& G 8$32# 00

'll

#t can be tempting to put away with these attributes and ?ust compile all of theproduct s features in one large teBt field which will then be integrated into theproduct sheet. While this is sometimes una&oidable% for eBample because the dataemanates from an 8"! that doesn t offer this /ind of data structuring% this should bea&oided as much as possible.

Firstly% each attribute is a potential search criterion a customer might use. 8.g.search by brand% processing power% memory capacity% etc. Dy aggregation all of thesecriteria in one single teBt field% it is no longer possible to target these searches.

Secondly% in the case of technical products% these criteria can be used in comparati&echarts. !roduct comparati&e charts remain an ad&anced feature but one that thecustomer eBpects to see. 0hey allow the webAuser to select se&eral catalogue products



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and create a matriB comparing product features. 0o go bac/ to our tele&isioneBample% this allows the customer to compare product features on one single page Yrather than ha&ing to go o&er and o&er between different product pages.

Finally% correctly structured attributes can be presented on site screens in a uniformmanner *same place% same format-% ma/ing it easier for the webAuser% browsingsimilar products% to read and absorb information. 0his separation of content andstructure is another element which is essential for catalogue internationalisation.

(sCommerce offers relati&ely simple attribute management. new attribute is definedin the bac/ office to which we associate a list of possible &alues. 0he tool does not offerstandard types of attributes *number type% date type% free teBt type attributes etc.-. Wenote nonetheless that a number of eBtensions allow to enrich the attribute manipulationmechanism. 0he Option $ype = eBtension is definitely the most stable and mostad&anced.

Prestas o/ %($Bi8 O %bercart offer more precise management of product features.While they may not pro&ide standard types of attributes% they do allow to choose betweenattributes to be entered in freely *teBt fields- and list type attributes *a list of &aluespredefined in the administration interface Y for eBample the type of 5H compatibility of ascreen: none 5H"eady Full5H-.

Magento offers eBtensi&e% stateAofAtheAart attribute management. ll attributes are

categoriCed *teBt field% rich teBt field% dropAdown menu% date% image etc.-. For eachattribute% one can define &ia the administration interface% whether data entry isobligatory or not% whether it should be ta/en into consideration be the search engine%whether if can be used as sort criteria% or whether it should appear in a productcomparison result.

b) Product !amilies

ertain attributes may or may not be rele&ant% depending on the nature of theproduct. While the type of grape used is of interest when purchasing wine% it isob&iously not an attribute one would use when describing an @!' player.

When we manage a range of products% it is important to be able to define productfamilies which can be lin/ed to the lists of attributes shared by these products.

So when we create a bottle of wine= type product for eBample% the attributes to beentered are defined in relation to the product family i.e. bottle of wine=: &ineyard%year% grape type% alcohol strength% etc.

(sCommerce O Prestas o/ do not manage attribute families. s such% there is no wayto associate a combination of attributes with a family of products. 0he input mas/ is thesame for all products.



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Magento %%bercart O ($Bi8 do offer this categorisation. Magento uses the notion ofattribute groups=. 0he first step when creating a product is to select an attribute group=which will then impact on the input mas/.

c) $acet n a;igation

ttributes can also be sub?ect to possible automatic categorisation: instead ofallocating a product to a category treeAstructure% we can decide to allocate a productto a category automatically% on the basis of a gi&en attribute. 0his is called facetna&igation.

For eBample% in the tele&ision section of my shop% # will allow customers to filterproducts so that only Sony tele&isions with a fre>uency of o&er 1((5C are displayed.0hese filters can ob&iously be combined.

'ere is an e%ample of facet navigation in the television section of a sample shop



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Magento is the only solution that offers real facet na&igation. When defining newattributes% we specify if these can be used as facets of na&igation. 0his filtering is done inan intelligent way: the tool will not allow to filter the catalogue using an attribute if

there is no article which corresponds to this filter combination *for eBample if there is noarticle that costs between )( and 1(( then this price range will not appear as a possible search filter-.

[2.1.4] Search

0he search engine is a pi&otal element of a commercial site. large number of webAusers will directly use this search engine to find the product they are loo/ing for%rather than na&igating the catalogue treeAstructure. s such% the search tool must be/ertinent< user !riendl+ and reliable . neologism has e&en appeared to definethe art of ma/ing search and na&igation a force to be rec/oned with: searchandi*ing!i&e& a combination of search and merchandi*ing" . 0his is basically the e>ui&alent ofupselling or crossAselling.

a) $ull te2t or structured searc =

0here are two possible types of searches:

A structured searc * user must be able to search for a product directly using theproduct reference or by searching one of its attributes. Say for eBample% # am loo/ing

for $he 'itchhikers +uide to the +ala%y by Houglas dams *a science fiction boo/published by !an @acmillan-. # will complete a search form selecting sciencefiction= in the dropAdown menu genre=% !an @acmillan= in the dropAdown menupublisher=% and paperbac/= in the dropAdown menu &ersion=.

A !ull te2t searc * 0he search must also be able to be carried out on all fieldstogether with the associated content. #f you attach technical notices in !HF formatto your product sheets% you may wish for this content to be searchable.

We feel that in today s world one should no longer ha&e to choose between a fullAteBtand structured search: commercial sites s ould o!!er bot >

(sCommerce nati&ely offer a relati&ely basic fullAteBt search feature. #t is illAadapted tolarge catalogues *with no indeBing and search carried out directly on the database-. #tsstructured search only deals with default fields and not the attributes added manually.

Magento %%bercart O Prestas o/ good fullAteBt and structured search features. We donote% howe&er% that these searches do not deal with the content of attached productdocuments *!HF% Word etc.-.

($Bi8 O Magento Enter/rise directly integrate the search and indeBing engine%$ucene. $ucene is an eBtremely reliable solution% which is stateAofAtheAart in terms of

fullAteBt and structured searches% gi&ing eBcellent results in both.



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b) ' e rele;ance o! results

ptimising the rele&ance of the results gi&en by your search engine is an ongoingA?obwhich will e&ol&e as your site does. 5ere we present a number of techni>ues andhints which help impro&e the rele&ance of results. !lease note that only eBternalsearch engines integrate all of these functions:

Synta ti analysis!

0he engine eliminates irrele&ant words% often indefinite articles or prepositions suchas and, the, a, some, to etc.#t can also find a word no matter what its declension*plural% con?ugated% etc- or manage spelling corrections *li/e Google s Z Did you mean Zfeature-.0hese mechanisms can be &ery simple *deletion of irrele&ant words- or &erycompleB *automatic correction based on algorithms cutting search terms intolemmas-.

Statisti al weig"ting!

Statistical weighting is the capacity of associating a score with each search result inorder to define the order that results are displayed in. 0his score is the weightedsum of a number of search criteria: does the search term appear in the product titleV#s the corresponding product newV #s the corresponding product on my bestAsellerslistV% etc. 0his group of criteria is not fiBed and is uni>ue to the profession of each 8A0rader *for eBample a boo/shop will emphasise the rele&ance of the search termwhich corresponds to the name of an uthor-.

Semanti analysis!

Semantic search is currently the most difficult to implement. We tal/ of semanticsearch when the operation is carried out from an analysis of the sense of the >uery%that is to say by searching words which ha&e the same or a close meaning.Generally% this in&ol&es use of a semantic dictionary. @anaging synonyms that areuni>ue to the gi&en business profession is relati&ely simple% but managing semantics

in general re>uires use of a special tool.For eBample if we search the term layette=% we can eBtend the search to babyclothes=.

We must say that no solution nati;el+ o!!er semantics searc . 0o find this type offunctionality% it is necessary to compliment an eAcommerce tool with a proprietarysolution *we gi&e some eBamples later-.



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(sCommerce %Magento %Prestas o/ O %bercart offer minimalist syntactic search*deletion of irrele&ant words-.


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d) Per!ormances

!erformance is ob&iously /ey% growing in importance with the siCe of the catalogue.#t is often more difficult to ensure good response times for a catalogue which consistsof se&eral hundreds of thousands of references *where a customer begins to find thesearch long if loading ta/es anything o&er , seconds-.

(sCommerce rapidly reaches its limits in regards to catalogues with thousands ofreferences% by &irtue of its search directly in the database.

%bercart %Prestas o/ and Magento all gi&e eBcellent results% *!restashop inparticular-% with efficient indeB management. We can well imagine these tools managingcatalogues consisting of tens of thousands of references% without any problem.

($Bi8 is without doubt the best e>uipped to meet large solicitations% as $ucene% whenwellAconfigured% can deli&er responses% on catalogues consisting of o&er a millionreferences% in under a second% without any problem.

e) I ntegrating an e2ternal engine

#f your catalogue is >uite large or if you ha&e strong needs in terms of syntacticaland semantic searches% the possibilities offered nati&ely by the tools presented willnot be sufficient.

s such% it is ad&isable to compliment your solution with an eBternal search andindeBing engine. ll of the tools presented here% can be used in con?unction with aneBternal engine% with &aried configuration re>uirements or de&elopment% dependingon the tool.

#f semantic search is not of &ital importance% the best search solution on the mar/etis the pen Source solution% $ucene. We often use the product Sol"% which is nonAother than $ucene integrated in the form of a ser&er% i.e. responding to >ueries% andnot to !# calls.

therwise% one should ta/e a loo/ at commercial solutions such as Sine>ua% 8Balead% ntidot% or elebros *this last is widelyAused in area of eAcommerce-.

[2.1.6] EpAselling crossAselling

a) Cross selling

rossAselling is associating one product with another complimentary product to

encourage the customer to buy more. For eBample% one could crossAsell a camerawith a camera case.



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0he association is often done manually directly by the webmaster who selects theproducts that he wishes to associate.

b) %/ selling

EpAselling is based on the same concept as crossAselling% but with upAselling werecommend to the customer% a range of products which is one standard up from theproduct they are currently &iewing.

5ere again% the association is generally made manually by the webmaster.

c) Automatic deductions

Some sites also offer information such as Z ustomers who purchased this article alsopurchasedK=. #t turns out that this is often ?ust a crossAsell manually selected by thewebmaster which does not ha&e any relation to the number or type of purchasesother customers ha&e made.

0here eBist% nonetheless% se&eral practices which allow to gi&e automatic and semiAautomatic information on articles associated with your sales:

Some modules really do base the information they gi&e on sales. 0heseprocesses necessitate eBtensi&e analysis of your catalogue and sales. @ost ofthese modules are eBternal and incur a fee.

With some wellAthought out algorithms% we can also automatically return arandom selection of products which belong to the same category as the selectedproduct or display the bestAsellers= in this category. 0here are many differentpossibilities.

(sCommerce does not nati&ely offer any crossAselling or upAselling feature. 8Btensionscan be employed% nonetheless.

%bercart %($Bi8 O Prestas o/ offer one single le&el of association *calledZ ccessoriesZ in !restashop-. s such it is possible to 8#058" crossAsell " upAsell.

Magento offer three le&els of association: upAselling% crossAselling and similar products.!roduct which belong to the similar products= category are presented not on the productpage but on the my bas/et= page. #n @agento 8nterprise% product associations can bemade automatically using rules *for eBample: associate all of the red products of twogi&en categories% with each other-.

[2.1.7] S8

S8 *or Search 8ngine ptimisation- is to optimise the natural indeBing of a site.

#n concrete terms% the tool can be used for S8 in different ways:



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@etadata management *presented in the 50@$ page header- associated witheach product or category.

E"$ reAwriting management for each product category. utomatic generation of an intelligible site map for customers use and atechnical site map for use by indeBers of Google% Pahoo and other searchengines.

Generation of a page referencing the /eywords the most fre>uently searchedon your site.

Wor/ must be carried out on the stability of E"$s Y in particular in the case ofplatform migration or a regrouping of all old E"$s to enter your site% in orderto implement permanent redirection to new addresses.

Finally% irrespecti&e of the tool used% a large part of indeBing in&ol&es 50@$organisation i.e. templates.

(sCommerce offers practically no S8 functionality: no E"$ rewriting% no site mapgeneration. #t does manage metadata% howe&er and eBtensions can be used here again.We recommend the Eltimate S8 eBtension in particular% which greatly enhancess ommerce functionalities.

%bercart %($Bi8 %Prestas o/ O Magento all manage E"$ rewriting and site mapgeneration cleanly. ll four are of a similar standard.

Magento offers% on top of E"$ rewriting% the capability of controlling all automaticallygenerated E"$s. #t also manages the features mentioned abo&e *metadata% site maps%and /eyAword clouds-.

[2.1.9] ollaborati&e functions

We include in the collaborati&e functions% all of the Web ,.( tools which encourage

interaction with webAusers. We often tal/ of EG * .ser +enerated Content -% whichallows you to gi&e your commercial site a more interacti&e dimension.

5ere are the most common functions.

a) Rating . Comments

#t is becoming more and more common for webAusers to rate or comment on aproduct. 0he concept is simple: gi&ing your customers the possibility of submittingfeedbac/ which can be read by other webAusers.

0his feedbac/ can be in the form of a comment or rating based on different criteria*price% >uality% design% etc.-.



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0hese comments and ratings are generally moderated% i.e. sub?ect to &alidation by amoderator before appearing on a site for general &iew.

Comment and rating management on the website www&fnac&com

While this practise may be appealing on paper% it does ha&e a downAside:

What image does a product gi&e when it has no customer comment or ratingV

#f it hasn t been commented on then the assumption is that it has not pro&en tobe appealing to others% ma/ing it less attracti&e to the current customerK

5ow do you generate enough traffic to pro&ide a large &olume of commentsV #ngeneral% the comments= feature is useful for traders who ha&e a largeaudience and customer database.

What do you do with negati&e commentsV Ho you publish them or filter themV

Who are you going to delegate the ?ob of moderator toV 0his can be animportant ?ob.

n this final point% specialised ser&ice pro&iders now offer ser&ices to li&en up= yourcatalogue by creating ficti&e customer comments to feed your site.

(sCommerce do not nati&ely offer the rating mechanism.

%bercart %Prestas o/ O Magento offer comment and rating managementfunctionality. #n @agento you can e&en associate a family of products with a list of ratingcriteria% the solution will then calculate the a&erage and add the result to the productsheet.



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b) Wis list

0he wishlist( notion was launched by maCon. 0his allows the customer to create a

list of products they li/e and to send this list to their friends and family% aroundhristmas or their birthday for eBample

0he wishlist can generally be transformed into a bas/et in one clic/.

Magento O ($Bi8 nati&ely offer this feature. With @agento% customers are limited toone wishlist each.

%bercart O Prestas o/ ha&e an eBtension which enables wishlist management.

c) ?e+0ord clouds nother emerging notion in the eAcommerce sector is that of clouds of /eywordsgenerated by your customers. 0he idea is that% as you cannot anticipate all of theassociations that are possible between your products and the /eywords that yourcustomers potential customers will use to search your site% you as/ your siteAusers toma/e the associations themsel&es

0he concept uses the same moderator principle as comments% and allows tosignificantly impro&e your referencing% when the feature is acti&ated% by creatinglists of products classified based on the needs of your customers.

Magento is the only solution to currently offer this feature. 5owe&er% the /eyword cloudis not conteBtualised to a category but common to the whole site.

d) Product com/arison

When products ha&e se&eral different features *technical products% tourist trips%property% etc.-% it is difficult for the webAuser to compare them% ha&ing to go o&er andbac/ between product pages.

0he product comparison feature allows customers to simply select se&eral products%which will then be displayed on a single page so that you can compare features.



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Comparing three different televisions

Magento O ($Bi8 offers a product comparison feature. @agento allows to specify whichproduct attributes will appear in the comparati&e chart.

(sCommerce %Prestas o/ O %bercart do not offer this feature. !restashop hasincluded it in their roadmap% howe&er.

[2.,] Sales tunnel

[2.,.1] Das/et0he bas/et is the temporary warehouse which ser&es to store the customer s selectedarticles before they proceed to pay.

0he bas/et icon is &isible on all pages and a clic/ allows the customer to &iew fullcontent% to modify >uantities% delete items% and place the order.

All o! t e E Commerce tools ob;iousl+ o!!er bas,et management3

0here are% howe&er% slight differences from one solution to another.



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a) Con!igurable bas,ets and /roducts

Se&eral eAcommerce products do not allow customers to modify the product once it

has been placed in the bas/et.

0he difficulty with modification is entirely lin/ed to the distinction that we madeearlier between the model and article. When you add a siCe large% longAslee&ed% red%tAshirt to your bas/et% it is an article that you are adding and not a model. 8acharticle has a uni>ue reference *SME-.

So% we ha&e determined that the bas/et contains articles . #f you decide that youwant your tAshirt in a different siCe% you will ha&e to delete the article from yourbas/et and add the new article in the correct siCe% e&en if the model is eBactly thesame.

&one o! t e solutions presented herein currently allow this management ofconfigurable bas/ets and products. Magento ha&e included this feature in their roadmaphowe&er.

b) ales incenti;es

#n the same way as crossAselling and upAselling% some sites offer a new selection ofcomplimentary products directly on the your bas/et= page.

0his is the last place where you can offer your customers the possibility of adding totheir bas/et before they proceed to pay% it is basically the e>ui&alent of the snac/display you find at the till in your local grocery shop.

0he 8A0rader will generally decide to use one of the following methods:

ffer a fiBed selection of leading or special offer products% irrespecti&e of thecontent of your bas/et% or

ffer a selection of products entirely based on the content of your bas/etwhere% as with crossAselling% the products proposed compliment the products

already in the bas/et.

$he /rench site #aRedoute&fr offers a )you may also like( feature encouraging customers to add e%tra products to their basket&



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Magento is the only solution to nati&ely offer the implementation of an intelligent=selection based on bas/et content. #t is worth noting% that with a little templating% all ofthe solutions can incorporate the configurable fiBedAselection= option% using a @S

module for eBample.

c) Distance to /romotion

s presented in fundamental concepts% the distance to promotion= feature is anotherway of increasing the a&erage amount spent in your shop. #t basically consists inindicating% with each product they add to their bas/et% how much more the customerneeds to spend in order to a&ail of the promotional offer *often free deli&ery on all

order o&er \ R for eBample.-.

Some commercial sites e&en go as far as to directly suggest a selection of productswhich bring your bas/et total up to the amount needed to benefit from thepromotional offer.

'ere is an e%ample of this type of incentive !www&furet&com"

Prestas o/ is the only solution which nati&ely offers distance to promotion= display forfree deli&ery. 0he other tools re>uire a little de&elopment in order to be able to offer thisfunction.

d) Bas,et conser;ation

What happens to the bas/et if the user doesn t proceed to payV

#f a technical problem causes the na&igator to close% you may want to retain bas/etcontent for the user s neBt &isit.



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Some sites e&en send the customer email reminders when they ha&en t completedtheir purchase.

(sCommerce only conser&es the bas/et of identified users *i.e. those who ha&e a siteaccount-.

Magento %Prestas o/ %%bercart O (!Bi8 conser&e identified customer andanonymous user *using coo/ies- bas/ets for a configurable period of time. @ agentoEnter/rise can e&en be configured to send automatic email reminders.

e) @uic, order

U>uic/ order form can be &ery useful for customers who /now the article reference

*where they ha&e a paper catalogue% fro eBample-. 0his allows the customer to entera list of references and then proceed to pay.

#a Redoute offers uick order services

($Bi8 is the only solution to nati&ely offer this feature.

Magento offers this feature &ia a community eBtension.



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(sCommerce nati&ely allows to set a fiBed deli&ery amount which corresponds to amaBimum weight. #f the customer places an order that goes o&er this weight% then a ratiowhich is configured in the administration interface is applied. ommunity eBtensions

allow to eBtend this feature to ta/e the order destination into consideration and interfacewith se&eral transporters such as hronopost or E!S.

Magento nati&ely allow to interface with a number of transporters in the E.S. mar/et*H5$% E!S% Fed8B-. #t also allows to interface with other transporters: a communityeBtension allows to deal with all transporters in a generic manner by managing ad&ancedweight destination matriBes. 0hese are not directly configurable from the administrationinterface howe&er.

s Prestas o/ is a French solution% it nati&ely interfaces with hronopost O olissimo.#t also allows to graphically configure cost matriBes.

%bercart nati&ely manages fiBed deli&ery fees alone. ommunity eBtensions can be usedto enrich this feature.

b) tandardisation o! address es

8rroneous addresses are the pla>ue of any eAtrader% coming a close second to themanagement of returns.

ustomers fre>uently enter incomplete or erroneous addresses when creating theiraccounts. 0he conse>uences can be serious for the eAtrader who may be unable toma/e t

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