Friday, January 19, 2007

E-Commerce 2.0: Architecture

There are three architecture elements that define E-Commerce 2.0 sites and help break the virtual store (everything under the same roof) mentality:
  • A composite front end that integrates disaggregated services into a coherent, fluid user experience. How is this different from a portal? In a portal, the various pieces of content are often independent of one another. Here, everything is highly integrated from a data and user experience standpoint. The front end will initially run in parallel to the existing e-commerce 1.0 site because etailers will experiment and make the switch to e-commerce 2.0 gradually. Pieces of the front end will be embeddable in other sites. (Yes, even as MySpace widgets.)
  • A backend suite with three main purposes: (1) tying into existing e-commerce functionality that doesn’t need to be replaced such as the catalog, order processing and customer service, (2) creating an intermediate data layer optimized to support the user experience and (3) maintaining interaction state, a task which becomes a lot more complicated with disaggregation.
  • A sophisticated battery of tools for brand managers, merchandisers and analysts that takes IT out of the equation. Control of content, promotions, design, layout, interactivity and analytics should be firmly in the hands of business users and the creative types. IT should worry about scalability, reliability and security.
[via http://www.web2journal.com]
source:
"E-Commerce 2.0" – The Velvet Revolution by Simeon Simeonov

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