Post #7 E-commerce Sites

Introduction 

         Many people use e-commerce websites frequently, without knowing how they truly work. But before we can dive into how e-commerce sites work, we first need to learn what they are. E-commerce, standing for electronic commerce, is the process of customers shopping online and processing their payment. (Hirz, 2025). Essentially, e-commerce is just online shopping, and an e-commerce site is how shoppers buy goods online. A well known example of an e-commerce site is Amazon.com. People search for what they want to buy, add it to their virtual cart, pay using a payment method, and then the site will deliver the item to the customer in a set amount of days. What many people do not know is just how these e-commerce sites work and how much programming goes into building a functioning e-commerce site. From front end development, back end development, database management, and all the programming that connects them all together, there is much to learn about what makes an e-commerce site work. 

E-Commerce Sites and Information Technology 

     Throughout the duration of this TEC101 course, we learned about programming languages, database management, and the history of computers. E-commerce sites use these topics and more to function. They are programmed using programming languages like HTML for the front end (what the user sees on their computers or smart devices), languages like Python or Java for the back end (servers and code that makes the website function), Database management apps like Microsoft Access (to manage user accounts, orders, store payment and address information) , and JavaScript to tie everything together and allow them to “talk” to each other. Many early computers were used for complex equations and finance tasks, e-commerce sites took this concept and expanded to essentially run the entire business from a computer instead of just the financial aspect of what a physical store would use them for.  

Hardware and Programming Use 

Because it runs on a computer, an e-commerce site requires specific hardware components of a modern computer to operate. The hardware of a modern computer consists of: the Motherboard, the CPU, RAM: Random Access Memory, Hard Disk Drive, Solid-state Drive (SSD), Optical Drive(s), Graphics Card or Processing Unit, Network Interface Card (NIC), Power Supply, and a Sound Card (Lanni, 2024). These items are what makes computers operate along with the Operating System (OS), without these, an e-commerce store would not be possible because the computer would not work. Another thing that e-commerce stores rely on are programming languages and programming execution methods, without these an e-commerce store could not exist. This is because e-commerce sites are created via programming languages and operated using program execution methods. 

Software Use 

E-commerce sites rely on software to perform the tasks that they are given. That could be software that takes the payment information and does all the banking tasks, or software that sends the orders to the delivery section. All the tasks associated with e-commerce sites are carried out using software that is developed by software developers. 

Database Management 

An article from Tekclarion states “Effective e-commerce database design determines how well your database can manage products, customer data, and order histories. A well-designed database optimizes data storage and retrieval, ensuring users experience minimal delay. Proper design facilitates quicker decision-making by making relevant data accessible to your team.” (Tekclarion, 2025). This quote details why it is important to have effective database management in an e-commerce site, as database management is a large part of e-commerce. A database will have customer information like addresses, payment information, previous and current orders, but it will also contain inventory information of what is in stock, and what orders are out for delivery. 

Network Architecture and Security 

Network architecture and security are important aspects of every computer related field, e-commerce sites are no different. The way the network is structured is important to ensure that people can connect to the internet and reach their chosen site. It is especially important for e-commerce sites, like amazon.com, because people must be able to reach the site in order to buy things. If the network architecture is not good, some users may not be able to connect or get errors while navigating the site. This can cost the e-commerce company money, in both lost revenue and the cost to fix the problem(s). Network security is critically importatnt for e-commerce sites because they hold customers payment information and addresses. An e-commerce site with poor security runs the risk of being a victim of an attack where threat actors gain access to sensitive customer information. Good cybersecurity practices and a good network architecture help to protect the customers and the company. Network architecture and security are a constant effort that requires managing and monitoring. Managing a network could consist of running checks to make sure everything is working properly, updating when necessary, and running penetration testing to see if there are any weak spots in the network’s security. Cisco, a well-known name in the tech industry, says a common type of security measure that companies use is a firewall. Firewalls essentially choose what traffic to let in and out based on parameters set by the company. 

Conclusion 

There are many things that go into creating an e-commerce site that is safe to use and reliable. It takes solid programming with the optimal programming languages, knowledge of database and database management to keep the operation running, and good network architecture and security to keep the site reachable and to keep the customers’ sensitive information safe.