Unit 2: E-Commerce Online Shopping

This blog post's aim is to show you the process involved when purchasing items online.
I am using Tesco's website.
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Tesco: Homepage:





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Tesco: Sign in or register:

































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Tesco: Registration:




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Tesco: Thank you for registering:




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Tesco: Welcome to Tesco.com Groceries:











___________________________________________________________________________ Tesco: Search results:



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 Tesco: Multisearch:



































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Tesco: Add item to shopping basket:





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Tesco: Shopping basket:



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Tesco: Choose your shopping method:



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Tesco: Home delivery:

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Tesco: Click & collect:

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Tesco: Delivery saver:
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Tesco: Home delivery: Book a delivery slot:












___________________________________________________________________________ Tesco: Home delivery: Leave instructions:


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 Tesco: Checkout - Order summary:

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 Tesco: Checkout - Payment: ___________________________________________________________________________ Tesco: Problems entering your account details:

___________________________________________________________________________ Tesco: Forgotten your password?:
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Tesco: Need help signing in?:
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If you forget your account information but still want to log into the website, you can click on "Need help signing in?" or "Forgotten your password" to access your account information. These processes work by sending your account information to your email address. This would be secure because if it were not, people would lose faith in the website and would not use it, thus causing the company to lose money.
                                                                                                                                  

When you are registering on the website, first you must give your email address, your postcode and your clubcard number, (which is optional), before sharing your name, contact details, your desired password and "more about you". The company need your information so that they can build up a profile on you, understand what sort of items you buy, and ways to make more money from their customers - this is a marketing strategy. The company can sell your data to their partners, thus making more money but this could result in you getting unwanted messages from other companies.

You purchase an item on the website by navigating through the items and adding whichever ones you want to your shopping basket. Then you can either enter your card details at the checkout to purchase your goods.
The payment process involves the customer entering their payment details - the name on their card, the card number, the expiry date (month and year), and the security code - the cardholder's address/contact details, and any clubcard vouchers or eCoupons.
The customer can have their purchased items delivered to them or they can collect them from their local branch of the company. 
There does not seem to be a tracking option on the Tesco website since it is not really needed. If you are collecting your items, you will know where they are - your local supermarket. If you are having your items delivered, you will have chosen a time slot to have them delivered so will know where they are and when they will arrive anyway - you would not need a tracking system.

                                                                                                                                   

Supermarket websites - and large companies in general - make their money using marketing techniques and strategies.
Supermarket websites record everything you order online, and use that over time to build up a profile of you and what you like to buy regularly. If you buy items A, B and C together on a regular basis, the websites may try to persuade you to buy items X, Y and Z too, as a marketing technique. These items will be someway related to what you normally get and will probably be more expensive - if not now, then some time after once you buy them regularly.
Furthermore, the profile that is built up on you will also show, not only what you are buying but also how often you buy them and how much you are spending on them - for example, whether you are only buying value or top of the range goods, etc.
Also, some websites will also be able to prompt the customer into buying more items. For example: "We notice you haven't bought any of ********** recently - do you want some?" and the website puts a link to the item(s) just before you go to pay which can often persuade customers to spend more money.
With a very large company like Tesco, there are many different "departments" on the website. The information gathered on there can be used elsewhere within the group to see how the customer can be persuaded to spend more money.
Some (smaller) companies may also look at selling off your information to others - their "partners" - which will make more money. This is the reason that some websites have a checkbox asking whether or not you give consent for them to share your information with "carefully selected partners".
In terms of the payment process, the customer can obviously store their credit card details on the website for ease of use - this may encourage impulse buying which, again, gives the company more money - and they will also tie it in with any loyalty cards they already have so, again, the companies really can keep on top of all of your purchases, history and habits, etc.
Lastly, in terms of "ongoing" purchases - such as using Tesco to order your groceries every week - the company will effectively insist that you register a profile with them as they need your address and phone number, etc. The customer cannot just make a one-off purchase and delivery like many other types of e-retailer will do. That way, the company get both the customer's details and their money.

                                                                                                                                      

Flowchart to show how the Tesco website works: