E-Commerce: A Systems Overview

No matter where you fall on that spectrum, you'll still want as much control as possible over the constant challenge of updating your website, if not the ability to manipulate its look and feel. The days of the website as a "black box" controlled by a remote vendor are fading fast.

We can't even scratch the surface on related applications such as site search engines, search engine tools, shopping carts, personalization products, content management modules and the plethora of database add-ons such as customer product review platforms that enhance the most customer-friendly e-commerce sites. When making a system selection, determine which of these types of functions the e-commerce platform itself can handle and which will need to be — or you'll want to be — assigned to a separate software vendor or service provider.