In order to conduct online sales, there is a need to acquire a secured hosting site (using HTTPS/SSL communication protocol), secured sales information (i.e. credit card information) processing algorithm, and a secured payment gateway for credit card processing.  Fully-integrated shopping cart software is now available created by one of the main shopping cart hosting providers which is at Ashop Commerce. The software offers a customizable layout with a variety of fifty (50) editable themes that can be easily installed without even requiring programming skills. It also provides a complete sales operation system (tax calculations, real-time shipping computation, discounts, inventory control, sales report and analysis, SMS and email sales and shipment alert, affiliate program module and many others). It also includes tools for search engine optimization and the company is an affiliate of GOOGLE Checkout as a payment gateway which handles credit card payment validation checks assuring a secure and safe credit card handling operation for customers and maximum fraud protection for merchants.

       Security is the main issue for developing ecommerce software which really depends on the ability and the in-depth knowledge about the security systems of the programmer. Every aspect in the system should be considered as a risk for security as attackers would try to create a hole for them to crack the system. One of the concerns of the security risk is if the programmer of the software itself will be involved in such fraudulent acts which should be also considered for the software company (that programmers’ activities should be always monitored as the main responsibility of the software company providing the service).