| Ecommerce offers the amazing benefit of making | | | | require you to become a registered customer where |
| buying and selling products and services of the internet. | | | | you will have a username and password. After adding |
| And Ecommerce portals act as a gateway for people | | | | items to your shopping cart, you make payments with |
| across the globe to make these transactions at the | | | | you credit card. You type in the credit card number to |
| click of a button. | | | | make payment. But how does the transaction actually |
| What is an ecommerce portal? | | | | take place? That is where the Payment Gateway |
| First of all, let's get a brief idea on what exactly web | | | | comes into play. |
| portals are. Portals are websites too. But they offer | | | | Payment Gateways |
| more extensive information and services from various | | | | On an ecommerce website or ecommerce portal, the |
| other sources. Portals bring together sites and services | | | | customer can make a secure purchase using the |
| organized about some common theme. They differ | | | | Payment Gateway. A payment gateway is an |
| widely in the areas of information/ activities they deal | | | | e-commerce application service provider service that |
| with such as local community portals, interest groups, | | | | authorizes payments for e-businesses, online retailers. It |
| commercial activity or market sector portals and the | | | | is the equivalent of a physical point of sale terminal |
| additional features they supply such as discussion | | | | located in most retail outlets. Payment gateway |
| forum, surveys, expertise directories, etc. | | | | protects credit cards details by encrypting sensitive |
| Hence portals are like doorways on the Internet. They | | | | information, such as credit card numbers, to ensure |
| open to us information from a wide variety of sources | | | | that information passes securely between the |
| and even from other internet users. They also offer a | | | | customer and the merchant and also between |
| host of services at a single place. | | | | merchant and payment processor. A payment |
| Ecommerce portals offer people and businesses to | | | | gateway facilitates the transfer of information |
| sell and purchase a host of products or services | | | | between a payment portal (such as a website, mobile |
| through the internet along with offering the various | | | | phone or IVR service) and the Front End Processor or |
| other features of a portal. There are mainly two types | | | | acquiring bank. The various payment gateway service |
| of Ecommerce Portals: Business to Business | | | | providers include PayPal, Verising, Mastercard, HSBC |
| ecommerce portals (B2B) and Business to Consumer | | | | etc. |
| (B2C) | | | | Ecommerce portals are extremely popular methods to |
| Business to business portals is the exchange of | | | | promote brands and businesses. The Ecommerce |
| products or services on the Internet between | | | | portal offers an online storefront that is completely |
| businesses rather than between businesses and | | | | customizable. It helps sell products to a global |
| consumers. B2B is companies buying from and selling | | | | marketplace with taxes, duty, discounts, and shipping |
| to each other online. | | | | costs automatically calculated. A great feature of an |
| B2C Model - B2C (Business to Consumer) is the online | | | | Ecommerce portal is it allows easy management of |
| selling of products or services by a company to a | | | | multiple promotion and discounting schemes. |
| consumer for his/her own use. It refers to the selling or | | | | Ecommerce web portal owners can completely |
| buying of products and services through the Internet | | | | manage their online store via the Admin panel, a |
| from web retailers to web customers. | | | | web-based management area. Another advantage is |
| B2C Ecommerce portals are a great way to promote | | | | that the Ecommerce portal allows the sale of |
| brand and products. It allows consumers to have a | | | | numerous products with intelligent merchandising tools |
| better understanding of the product with information on | | | | such as cross-selling, promotions, and automated |
| the product, price tags, pictures, consumer reviews etc. | | | | e-mail. Ecommerce portal owners can manage visitors |
| The Shopping Cart | | | | to the site - keep track of who's on the site and what |
| One word you will hear a lot in relation to an | | | | they are doing. The portals even deliver features such |
| Ecommerce portal is Shopping cart. Aptly called so, the | | | | as the ability to manage the shopping basket - keep |
| shopping cart on an Ecommerce portal acts pretty | | | | track of who wants to buy what. Service provider and |
| much like a shopping cart in a supermarket. The | | | | retailers can manage customers - handle the |
| shopping cart is where you the items you wish to | | | | conversion from 'visitor' to 'customer', along with all the |
| purchase on the ECommerce portal are listed out. The | | | | order capture information. |
| shopping cart shows you the list of items, quantity and | | | | Ecommerce portals are a smart investment as they |
| price of each item and the totaled value of the items. | | | | offer customers anywhere-anytime access and |
| You can add or remove items from your shopping | | | | allows them to purchase products / services with |
| cart. | | | | ease. |
| Online shopping is usually a secure affair. Most portals | | | | |