Creating an Online Store

Personalization Server, Membership Server, and NT Security
After you’ve configured your store and added any custom components, you’re ready to personalize your new e-commerce site. Keep in mind that personalization is not just a way to tailor your site for returning visitors. In a corporate solution, your visitors might be employees who need to access certain information according to their job roles. For example, the sales staff might need to access customized information or links to certain applications, and the human resources staff might need to access an entirely different set of information. Personalization lets you accommodate those different corporate needs.

From a retail standpoint, you want to personalize the shopping experience for customers in a way that presents the information that most interests them when they visit your site. You can provide this personalization by adding cookies to each customer’s system so you can recognize the customers when they visit or by asking your customers to register the first time they visit your site and log on during return visits. Both methods let you keep information about your customers’ preferences in a database.

If you’re implementing an e-commerce solution for a corporate intranet, consider tying it to NT’s security using NT Challenge/Response authentication. The MS Market corporate procurement sample site provides an example of this type of integration. Otherwise, you can implement security using Site Server’s Membership Server to provide membership authentication-mode security to register users, manage user data, verify users’ identities, and perform access control for data within your site. By having users register on your site, you can personalize their online experience and analyze their activity on your site. This functionality lets you spot trends on your site and modify the site content accordingly.

Open for Business
Now that you have your e-commerce solution in place, you’re ready to open the doors to your customers. Just remember that installing the software tools in the order I’ve described is important, as is applying the appropriate service packs. As Microsoft releases new versions of these products, check the README files and Microsoft’s Web site for new information. For more information, visit Microsoft’s Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/siteserver/commerce and http://www.microsoft.com/wallet.