Sales Portal	Brief Description	Target Audience	Type of business model	Payment systems used	Security features of the site	References
Ebay URL: http://www.ebay.com	eBay.com is one of the well-known e-commerce website in the world today, providing links to more than 35 million sellers and buyers internationally. It is more of an auction model, and its business model is limited to the web. It has existed since 1995, as a fully automated auction service site. The website has grown and increased the number of item categories over the years.	The target audience for Ebay.com are online auctioneers and shopping communities around the world. The buyers bid and the highest bidder is granted the product.	eBay.com employs the use of an auction business model to derive its revenues. It provides the sellers a platform to sell their products for a small fee or commission, and buyers with a wide range of products to buy from. The website also derives revenue from direct advertising on their website.	There are various methods that are used on this site. However, PayPal is the most common used method. Besides, eBay.com allows sellers and buyers to transact with each other directly through the use of credit card. This method allows the buyer to send money from his bank account directly to the seller’s bank account. Other payment methods that one can use with eBay.com include ProPay, Skrill, and Paymate. All the methods allow international transactions to be done easily. It is key to note that different payment methods attract different transaction fees.	Ebay.com does all it can to protect its users against fraud. They have taken various measures to ensure that the customer accounts are secure. For instance, according to the company’s website, the site does not ask individuals sensitive information. Besides, they digitally sign every email that they send to people. In addition, eBay has a secured mail that uses encryption technology to transmit information safely across the internet.	Sinclair, J. T. (1999). EBay the smart way: Selling, buying, and profiting on the Webʼs #1 auction site. New York: American Management Association.
Amazon URL: https://www.amazon.com	Amazon.com is an American retailer company that uses e-commerce to sell its products. A company that started as an online bookstore has tremendously grown over the years to become the leading internet-based retailer in the world.	The target audience for this sale option are the customers and the sellers. The website has more than 74 million customer accounts and 1 million seller accounts.	Amazon.com uses a “business model with many moving parts” (Investopedia, 2015). The company sells goods directly to its customers. Besides, the sellers also sell their products through the company at a small markup. The company uses its warehouses to store their goods.	Amazon.com provides a wide range of payment methods. The buyers can pay with their credit/debit card, using shop with points option, using the Amazon payment system and using a gift card.	The company has laid down various measures to ensure that the customer is protected. For instance, it employs the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts the data that the buyer inputs. The credit card information of a buyer is not disclosed during a transaction. Only the last four digits are displayed during order confirmation. Consequently, the company does not share people’s information with other people or organizations.	Amazon.com Help: Amazon.com Privacy Notice. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=468496 Investopedia. (2015). The Difference Between Amazon And Alibaba’s Business Models (AMZN,BABA,GPS,NKE,AAPL). Retrieved September 23, 2015,
Alibaba URL: https://www.alibaba.com	Alibaba.com is a business-to-business e-commerce website that is dominant in China. It is more similar to eBay.com as it acts as a middleman between sellers and buyers.	The target audience for this company are other manufacturers who are interested in selling their products over the internet globally, and its employees.	Alibaba.com enables various merchants to list their products on the website for free. However, these merchants have an option to pay for a range of other services that the website can offer. For instance, a Merchant can pay to get greater exposure on the site making him/her reach many customers. In addition, paying gives a merchant an opportunity to sell a wide range of products on the website. Therefore, Alibaba.com provides a platform through which the Merchants can sell products to local and international customers.	Alibaba.com is unique from others as it has its own payment system alongside other payment options. It made a secure payment system known as Alipay to enable them to handle transactions efficiently. Alipay system “Protects the buyers in the event sellers are unable or refuse to deliver goods sold” (Investopedia, 2015). Besides, the company also uses a bank or telegraphic transfer. According to the company’s website, this method is also 100% reliable.	The Alipay payment system that is being used by the company ensures secure transaction are done through the company’s website. The Alipay payment system ensures that payment is only released after the buyer has confirmed delivery. Therefore, this payment system ensures that the buyer and the seller are protected. This option offers the buyers an opportunity to be fully refunded if the supplier ships a faulty item.	Investopedia. (2015). The Difference Between Amazon And Alibaba’s Business Models (AMZN,BABA,GPS,NKE,AAPL). Retrieved September 23, 2015, Secure Payment. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://activities.alibaba.com/alibaba/secure-payment.php
Souq URL: http://uae.souq.com	Souq.com has established itself as a leader of the E-commerce platform, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It offers a wide range of products such as electronics, clothes, and household goods. The company has continued to grow over time. The company was established on 2005, and its headquarters are in Dubai.	The target audience for this sales portal are the local markets in the UAE.	This sales portal uses a unique business model since it acts as a retail site and a marketplace for other merchandisers to sell their goods to buyers.	The sales portal offers various payment options such credit/debit cards, and PayPal. The payment methods are secure, and the sales portal takes other security measures such as protecting the customer information.	The sales portal offers the buyers and sellers a safe online experience with their various online payment options.	Souq.com Terms of Use : Help Center. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://support.souq.com/support/solutions/articles/192344-souq-com-terms-of-use

Comparison between 2 sales portals

Both Amazon and eBay are the best sales portals in the world today. However, they differ in certain aspects. For instance, eBay uses the auction model, while Amazon uses the retailer business model. In addition, eBay is well known for selling relatively used items, while Amazon is known for selling new products. Besides, items on eBay are relatively cheaper as compared to those being sold on Amazon sales portal.

Besides, both Alibaba and Souq offer other merchants an opportunity for other merchants to sell their products over their website. These sales portals just take a commission on the revenues earned by the merchants. However, the differentiating feature among this sales portals is the modes of payments. Alibaba sales portal have a unique system called Alipay that ensures secure transactions.

SECTION B

PART A: General Description

Technology	Introduction	Performance	Platform compatibility	Popularity	Cost	Conclusion
ASP.Net	ASP.Net technology is a web development platform that contains various commands that are needed to come up with a robust web application for personal computers and mobile devices. This technology is easy to use as it enables an individual to create a website application with minimal coding. It is part of the .NET framework, and this technology was developed by Microsoft. IT is a successor to the Active Server Pages (ASP technology).	This technology performs efficiently and can create fine web page applications. It offers an individual three frameworks for creating the web page applications. ASP.Net is mostly used with the Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL). Besides, it can also operate smoothly when using the MySQL. However, it can only be used on the Windows operating system. Although the Linux users can use this technology, it is not that easy as they have to download the Mono Project application to their machine. In addition, the performance of the application can be affected by the kind of operating system used and the file system used.	This technology can work with HTTP protocol, and it can employ the use of HTTP commands. In addition, it can be used in different operating systems such as Windows and Linux. In order to ensure that the technology is compatible with many devices and file systems, Microsoft Corporation often offers support, that is geared towards making the technology compatible with every device and file systems.	The ASP.Net is not that popular as it ranks poorly in the popular language (“PHP vs. ASP.NET: Costs, Scalability and Performance,” n.d.). However, it is popular among developers who want to stick to the Microsoft technologies.	The ASP.net is costly, as compared to other technologies. In order to use ASP.net, an individual has to incur costs such as the costs of buying Windows operating system. Besides, a person will incur the costs of windows hosting which is expensive in nature. Moreover, an individual may have to purchase an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as Visual Studio. Therefore, this technology is expensive as compared to other technologies such as PHP.	In conclusion, ASP.Net technology is a good web development program for people who have less knowledge concerning coding. It is easier to use and can create robust web applications. However, it si costly as compared to other technologies such as PHP. Besides, it is not popular as other technologies.
PHP	The PHP technology is one of the most used scripting languages in the world today. It has gained much popularity due to its wide support for a number of frameworks (Welling & Thomson, 2009). For instance, the Facebook website is written using this technology.	The technology follows the Lamp Stack, which is optimized exceptionally for greater performance. The Lamp stack employs the use of Linux operating system, Apache server, MySQL database, and PHP scripting language (“PHP vs. ASP.NET: Costs, Scalability and Performance,” n.d.). Besides, applications developed by this technology may outperform other technologies on the Linux operating system.	The technology is compatible with most platforms. For instance, it is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. In addition, it is supported with a number of free IDEs thus making it cheaper.	This technology is popular scripting language that is used on the internet. It has gained popularity as compared to other technologies due to its free nature. In addition, the PHP technology enjoys the support of a large developer community who contribute to the PHP development. In addition, it ranks 6^th on the most popular language online.	The PHP technology is the most used technologies due to its free nature.	In conclusion, the PHP technology is the cheapest technology that can enable an individual to develop web page applications.
JSP	The JSP (JavaServer Pages) is a technology that is used by most of the programmers to develop web pages that support dynamic content (Avedal, 2000). The technology uses java code in the development of the HTML web pages.	The JSP technology is efficient and is better in terms of performance as compared with other technologies. It allows developers to develop web pages with dynamic web content which run more efficiently, as to when separate CGI files are used (Avedal, 2000).	The technology is compatible with the most operating system and browsers. Since most of the applications are run by java, the technology is mostly compatible with almost all devices. However, sometimes, an individual may be required to download and install the java program on his machine, to view the dynamic web pages.	The JSP technology is relatively popular as compared with the other technologies. It is popular for creating dynamically generated web pages. However, PHP is considered better than JSP by many developers.	This technology is considered to have a low cost of ownership. For instance, the technology enables people to run the dynamic web pages, without requiring the developers’ support after developing the web pages. In addition, the technology takes advantage of the Java open source application.	In conclusion, JSP technology enables developers to create powerful and dynamic web pages. It enjoys the benefits derived from using the java application. Besides, it is relatively cheap. Ultimately, it is compatible with most operating systems.
Ruby and Rails	The Ruby and Rails technology is an open source application that provides a web framework for developing web pages. Like other technologies, it can develop various programs. However, it is popular in the web programs.	This technology is efficient in its operation.	Ruby and Rails technology can run on most web servers, as long as they support the CGI. Besides the technology supports languages such as MySQL, DB2, and Oracle.	The technology is not popular as compared with other technologies. Many people do not like this technology since it is hard to learn as compared with other technologies.	The technology is relatively cheap.	In conclusion, the Ruby and Rails technology is efficient and can be used to create various programs. However, it requires much effort to create programs as compared with other programs.
Extra technology 1 (Perl)	Perl is a script programming script language that almost resembles the C language due to its	Perl language is efficient and has been used by many security experts, in network prototyping, developing legacy web systems, and data mining. However, it is very poor in relation to object support.	The technology is compatible with most browsers and devices. The technology uses the CGI, which gives it a flexibility property.	The technology is relatively popular due to the Perl regex engine. However, it is not much popular as compared as to technologies such as Java and PHP.	Perl scripting language is relatively expensive as compared to other languages such as PHP, which are open source languages.	In conclusion, Perl scripting language is good for programmers who want to develop their programs faster. However, the setback of this technology is the slow response time.
Extra technology 2 (Python)	Python technology is also a general purpose language that enables developers to write programs that are easy to read. This is the differentiating factor of this technology from other technologies.	This technology relatively run slower as compared to other programs.	Although the technology is compatible with most devices and technologies, it does not support backward compatibility (“Why is Python 3 not backward compatible? – Stack Overflow,” n.d.). For instance, a code written in Python 2, may not work efficiently in Python 3	The language is relatively popular among developers since it takes a short time to develop as compared with other languages.	The language is relatively cheap as no much costs are involved.	In conclusion, this technology is a high programming language that is used for general purposes. It enables developers to write codes that are readable.
Extra technology 3 (Java)	Java is a programming language that can be used for general purpose. It is simple to use as compared to other programming languages such as C++. Besides, developers often use it to enforce an object-oriented programming (OOP).	The language is faster and efficient in its operation.	The language is compatible with many devices as long as they have java.	The language is popular since most devices run on java.	The language is relatively cheaper as it is an open source program.	In conclusion, the Java technology is popular among the developers since it is simple to use as compared to C++ and other technologies. Besides, it has a good performance.
Extra technology 4 (JavaScript)	The JavaScript programming language is not the same as Java. It is used by most developers to change the HTML content, attributes, and styles. Besides, it can be used to validate data that is inputted.	This technology is efficient and faster. It has been successful in creating nice web pages.	JavaScript is compatible with most devices and most browsers.	This language is the most popular programming language that is used in the world today (“JavaScript Introduction,” n.d.).	This technology is free for developers. For instance, one can create a JavaScript code using the Notepad, or can use HTML editors such as Dreamweaver (“JavaScript Introduction,” n.d.).	In conclusion, this programming language is popular among developers, and it is useful in creating HTML web pages.

Code fragment or/and screenshots

JavaScript

<!DOCTYPE HTML>

<html>

<body>

<p>Header…</p>

alert(‘Hello, World!’)

</script>

<p>…Footer</p>

</body>

</html>

<?php Print “Hello, World!”;?> Or <?php Echo “Hello, World!”;?> 4. Ruby on rails 5. Java 6. Perl 7. Python 8. JSP

References

Avedal, K. (2000). Professional JSP. Birmingham: Wrox Press.

JavaScript Introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_intro.asp

PHP vs. ASP.NET: Costs, Scalability, and Performance. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://blog.udemy.com/php-vs-asp-net/

Welling, L., & Thomson, L. (2009). PHP and MySQL Web development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley.

What is Java? – Definition from WhatIs.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/Java

Why is Python 3 not backwards compatible? – Stack Overflow. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9066956/why-is-python-3-not-backwards-compatible

PART B: Personal Criticism and Evaluation

Although there are many programming languages that exist, each programming languages has its advantages and disadvantages. There is no one programming language that is 100% effective. For instance, from the above examples PHP coding is simpler than ASP.Net. Besides, many critics have claimed that the JavaScript language cannot be complied and it is not a true object oriented language.

My choice if I open a professional e-business project, and why?

If I open a professional e-business project I would use the Java technology. I Find java to be easy to learn and understand. In addition it is an object-oriented language. Besides, it is compatible with many devices and platforms. Ultimately, I find it secure.

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