IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)
Developing an Electronic Commerce Platform
Grandhi Sampath Kumar
School of Computer Science and Engineering
VIT University
Vellore, India
sampath.grandhi@gmail.com
Abstract—Electronic Commerce applications support the
interaction between various parties participating in a commerce
transaction as well as the management of the data involved in the
process via the network or the internet. Electronic commerce is
gaining traction as an acknowledged and used business model.
More and more corporates are implementing web sites providing
functionality for performing commercial transactions over the
internet to better reach customers as it is sensible to say that the
process of shopping on the web is becoming common.
In this article we intend to discuss the background for
developing an electronic commerce application, principles and
methods involved in developing an ecommerce application.
Keywords—e-commerce; web development; retail; inventory
management; project development
I. INTRODUCTION
An online store is a virtual store on the Internet where
customers can browse the catalogue and select products of
interest. The selected items may be collected in a shopping
cart. At checkout time, the items in the shopping cart will be
presented as an order. At that time, more information will be
needed to complete the transaction. Usually, the customer will
be asked to fill or select a billing address, a shipping address, a
shipping option, and payment information such as credit card
number.
E-commerce has altered the practice, timing, and
technology of B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business
to Consumer) markets, (having double digits growth year on
year) affecting everything from transportation patterns to
consumer behavior [1].
The Environmental Impacts of E-Commerce - A Greener
Way to Shop [2]:
x Reduced Carbon Footprint
x Less Need for Product Presentation
x A New Lease on Life for Used Goods
x Safer, easier and healthier to shop from home than to
shop in a physical store
More and more companies are moving towards a more
sustainable e-commerce by [3]:
978-1-5386-0814-2/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
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Jasmin T. Jose
School of Computer Science and Engineering
VIT University
Vellore, India
jasminlijo@vit.ac.in
x Optimize supply chains: By identifying areas where
service needs and environmental challenges converge, and
exploring new ways to drive efficiencies and reduce impact,
companies can create viable solutions that address both
business and environmental goals.
x Tap the power of data: The flow of goods throughout
supply chains generates a tremendous amount of data. By
partnering with a logistics provider that can tap into the power
of this data, retailers can gain insight into customer
preferences and trends, learn about hidden issues
x Fuel collaboration: Technology has made
collaboration and innovation even more powerful. Simple
steps, such as providing customers with a way to shift their
delivery to a time and location that meets their needs, reduces
the environmental impact and results in a better experience for
everyone.
x Measure, manage, mitigate and market: The cultural
shift to e-commerce has brought about new expectations for
immediate gratification from consumers, and with that,
increased environmental impacts as retailers attempt to meet
those demands. However, when companies are willing to
invest in creating sustainable solutions to navigate the
evolving demands of today’s shopper, they will see a return on
their investment beyond operational efficiencies.
Here we intend to demonstrate the principles and methods
in developing an e-commerce application by discussing about
a general purpose e-commerce store where any product (such
as books, electronic items, and home appliances) can be
bought from the comfort of home through the Internet.
However, for implementation purposes, this paper will deal
with an online book store.
It should provide browse books by category/author etc.
service to its customers and caters to Customers and
Administrators of the stores. The major features of the website
include Customer registration, search books, shop for books
online (Add to cart, wish list, order processing etc., Checkout),
customer transaction history, admin reports.
The main objective of an online book store is that it allows
the Customer to search and purchase a book online based on
 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
shopping cart.
x Returning to different parts of the site after adding an item
to the shopping cart.
x Easy scanning and selecting items in a list.
x Effective categorical organization of products.
x Simple navigation from home page to information and
order links for specific products.
x Shopping links or buttons.
x Minimal and effective security notifications or messages.
x Consistent layout of product information.
x An important factor in the design of an e-commerce site is
feedback.
x Completed orders should be acknowledged quickly.
C. Overview of the proposed system
1) Introduction and Related Concepts
x Maintenance of the business logic is easier.
x Migration to new graphical environments is faster.
x If there is a minor change in the business logic, we don’t
have to install the entire system in individual user’s PCs.
Reusability:
x Reusability of business logic is greater for the
presentation layer. As this component is developed and
tested, we can use it in any other project and would be
helpful for future use.
Security:
x More secured architecture since the client cannot access
the database directly.
D. Architecture
1) Available Models
a) Active Servlet Pages (ASP)
ASP is a development framework for building web pages.
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
Service (IIS) acts as a web server to accept the incoming http
request and to return the requested resource in an http
response.
The IIS decides how the handle the request based upon the
requested files extension. ASP.NET is a programming
framework built on the common language runtime that can be
used on a server to build powerful Web applications. It’s
compatible with the .NET framework and has the following
features: Powerful database driven functionality, Faster Web
Applications, Memory Leak and Crash protection. [7]
MYSQL can be used for database.
b) Spring
This is a model which has become popular in the recent
years. The Front End of the application is done using JSP
(Java Servlet Pages) and Spring is used for Back End. Spring
is an application framework and inversion of control container
for the Java platform. Spring helps us to build simple,
portable, fast and flexible JVM-based systems and
applications. It helps to create ready to ruin applications. It
handles all the database, sessions and transaction related
events. Usually Oracle DB is used as a database and Java is
used at the back end of the project. This kind of a project can
easily be converted into a restful service and can be integrated
in a Micro Services model which many companies in the
industry have adopted [8].
c) Adopted Architecture
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.
x The application receives the request and routes it to
Partner Store Service or Data Access Layer.
x The Interactions with the Database will be done using the
Oracle data provider via the Enterprise Library
application block.
x The calls to the Partner Store web service are done by
invoking the corresponding proxy classes. The proxy
classes in turn use SOAP messages over HTTP to
communicate with the actual web services.
x The Partner Store Web Service will retrieve the query
sent by the client, from the data contracts.
Fig. 2. Architecture Diagram
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E. Proposed System Model
The various modules and functionalities included in the
project are:
x Customer Account Management: The customer account
module provides the registration page to register for the
new customer, login for existing customer and edit their
profile, view their transaction history.
x Inventory Management: The inventory management
module is accessed by the administrator to add, edit book
details manage the inventory.
x Product Management: This module provides the
customer’s home page and provides features like
searching books by category, author, tile, and displays the
results, book details and reviews and comments.
x Shopping Cart: This module facilitates the shopping cart
for the customer to add or remove books to the cart and
also has the wish list feature to save products for future
purchase.
x Order management: The order management module is
where the order is handled i.e. the order’s shipping
address, confirmation by vendor, status tracking for the
customer, and administrator dispatch slip generation and
administrator payment update for order.
x Admin Reports: This module lists the admin inventory
summary page, order list and defaulter list for analyzing
the system.
III. PROPOSED SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
A. Product features
1) Books Module
Books module is meant for customers. In this module, the
user can browse books by categories on the home page by
clicking on the various Category Names on the left side of the
page and if the user tries to add any book to cart then the user
will be asked to login.
Once the user is logged in either by clicking on the Login
link or by clicking on the cart icon placed beneath each book,
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
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
 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)
On the Transaction history tab, the user will be able to see
the following details: Book and Author names, Transaction
Type, Transaction Date, and Book Price
On the Order Status Tracking tab, the user will be able to
see the order status after entering the order number.
3) Cart Module
The cart module is meant for customers. User is required
to login to be able to access this module. Books can be added
to cart either while browsing books by categories or on the
Book Details page.
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
top right corner of the page that the number of books in cart
has increased by one.
4) Administrator Module
The administrator module is meant for admin users only.
There are four screens in this module.
x Manage Inventory:
This will display a table of books inventory details with
options to add, edit or delete a book from the store.
Add a Book: This will present a form to enter details of the
book that you wish to add to the store.
Edit a Book: This will present a form to edit details of the
book that you wish to edit to the store.
Delete a Book: This will remove the book from the store if
it is not rented by a customer.
x Manage Orders:
This will display two tabs, one with a table of purchase
orders and another with a table of rent orders and following
options will be provided on these tabs.
x Payment Received:
Select one or more books from the table whose payment
has been received and click on Payment Received button
x Dispatch Orders:
Select one or more books that have been dispatched and
click on Dispatch Orders.
x Return Received (for rent orders only):
Select one or more books that have been returned by the
customer and click on Return Received button.
x Manage Reports:
This will display two tabs, one to display a report of
purchased and rented books and another to display a report of
defaulters. On the Defaulters report tab, the user can also send
an email to the defaulters.
x Manage Pages:
This will display two tabs, one to edit the Privacy Policy
and another to edit the Contact Us details. By default the
content on both the tabs will be in disabled state and user will
have to click on Edit button to able to edit and then save the
content.
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B. User characteristics
x Through the Online Book store web application the
customer can purchase books through a web browser.
x Through 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.
x 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.
x The user can also give feedback to a book by giving a
rating. The books are divided into many categories based
on subject like genre.
x The customer can browse books from a partner store,
view his transaction history and maintain a wish list.
x A customer can, create, sign in to his account, place items
into a shopping cart and purchase using his payment
details.
x The Administrator will have additional functionalities
when compared to the common user. He can add, delete
and update the book details, book categories, member
information and generate reports.
x The selected books are displayed and the customer can
order their books online through their payment option.
x Using this Website the customer can purchase a book
online instead of going out to a book store seamlessly.
C. Software Development Methodology
Projects are developed on different methodologies. The
project we developed based on the three tier architecture. It
shall was implemented by S|A test driven development. Test-
driven development is about development (and design),
specifically improving the quality and design of code. TDD is
a specification technique; a valuable side effect is that it
results in significantly better code testing than do traditional
techniques [9]. Test driven development lifecycle:
x Add a test
x Run all the tests and see if the new tests fails
x Write the code to make the test pass
x Run tests (Tests pass)
x Refactor code
x Repeat
Test driven development can be combined with agile
model driven development. The Agile Model Driven
Development (AMDD) lifecycle.
x Identify the high level scope
x Identify the initial requirements stack
x Identify an architectural vision
x Iteration Modelling
 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)
x Work through issues in a JIT manner
x Test driven Development
x Develop software by test-first approach
AMDD is used to create models with the project
stakeholders to help explore their requirements and then to
explore those requirements sufficiently in architectural and
design models (often simple sketches). TDD is used as a
critical part of the build efforts to develop clean, working
code. A significant advantage of TDD is that it enables us to
take small steps when writing software. [9]
IV. PSEUDO CODE
Java Bean:
@Component
@Entity
@Table(name="Book")
public class Book {
//Book Characteristics
} motivating me to complete this project. I would also like to
Book Data Access Object:
public void addBook(Book book) {
//Saving the book
session.save(book);
}
Book Controller:
@RequestMapping("/")
public String home(Model model) {
List<Book> booklist = bookService.getAllBooks();
model.addAttribute("bookList", booklist);
return "home";
} [4] Online Transcations Using ASP.net & Ado.net by RamaRao Gose, The
The book object creates the book table in the database with
the required characteristics as it is a component. The Book
Data Access Object is used to access the data stored in the
database. The Book Service Layer services the request by the
user to access the database and return the data to the user. As
Spring is being used, all the database transactions, queries and
sessions are handled by the Spring Framework [10]. The
Controller controls the requests by the user and maps the
attributes or objects required to the respective services and
also directs the user to the appropriate JSP pages.
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Through the Online Book store web application the
customer can purchase books through a web browser. Through
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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service and each micro service can be handled separately and
modified/ serviced as per request. Commercially ATG and
Hybris have become popular software for developing e-
commerce applications on a corporate level.
Application/Improvements: The customer experience can
be improved by implementing it as a mobile app and further a
conceptual idea is that integrating with a physical book store
where the user can just walk in and pick up his book and walk
out and the whole transaction is seamless and automatically
charged to his account. The sensors placed in the store must be
able to identify the book picked up and the user who walked
out and identify his account information and charge his
account accordingly.
Acknowledgment
I would like to express my gratitude and sincere thanks to
Professor Jasmin T. Jose, without her help and guidance this
project would not have been completed. Thank you madam for
thank my parents, brother and friends for their continued
support and affection.
References
[1] The economic impact of e-commerce By Chris G. Christopher, Jr., Quarter
2 2011, CSMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly.
[2] The Environmental Impacts of E-Commerce by Robbie Reddy, Aug 2012,
HUFFOPOST UK.
[3] Can E-Commerce and Sustainability Co-Exist? By GREG BROWN,
JAN 2017, Logisticsvaluenetworks
Proceedings of the International Conference on Information
Engineering, Management and Security 2014.
[5] Require,emt Analysis Method od E-Commerce websites Development
for Small Medium Enterprises, Case Study: Indoensia, by Veronica,
SuhokSilvania and Criswanto , International Journal of Software
Engineering & Applications (IJSEA), Vol.5, No.2, March 2014
[6] Wiley, Y. M. J. & Sons. (1997) Creating the Virtual Store: Taking Your
Web Site from Browsing to Buying.
[7] The Design and Implementation of An E-Commerce Site for Online
Book Sales by Swapna Kodali, Department of Computer and
Information Sciences, Indiana University, May 2007
[8] Building a Next-generation Cloud e-Commerce Platform with Spring by
Petar Tachiev, SPRINGONE2GX
[9] Introduction to Test Driven Development (TDD)
http://agiledata.org/essays/tdd.html (accessed on March 2017)
[10] http://static.springframework.org/spring/docs/2.5.x/reference/index.html
(accessed on December 2017)