Going on 10 Years
I realized a few weeks ago that it’s almost 10 years since I started working on my first e-Commerce site. We didn’t go live until early 1998, but the technical infrastructure was being put together in September of 1997. Ten years ago
Microsoft was buying $150 Million worth of Apple stock and the world was mourning Lady Di. A lot of things have changed in 10 years, but it’s interesting how much the fundamentals of e-Commerce have not.
Aside from the design most of the functionality of that first e-Commerce site is the same as what you’d see in an e-Commerce site today:
- Shipping Calculations from UPS
- Sales Tax Calculations
- Database Driven Cart and Catalog
- Product Image Thumbnails
- SSL Encryption
- Credit Card Authorization Integration
- Email and Pager Alerts for New Orders
- Admin Capture of Funds
- Percentage Discount Codes
- Discounted Combinations of Products
It’s funny how the fundamentals don’t change, but the real revolutions have been around ratings, comments and other community features. I don’t know about most people, but I’d imagine that the purchase rate on un-rated products on Amazon is significantly lower than rated items, and I know I’ve purchased quite a few wish list and recommended items from them.
The real boon for some people I know of Netflix hasn’t been just the ability to get movies delivered to your house, but the ability to see what your friends are watching and get recommendations. Shopping is a social experience, and while e-Commerce certainly gives you great convenience, it always comes back to those personal connections.
August 7th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
As the Cluetrain Manifesto says, “markets are conversations.”