Processes of an online purchase

Making an online purchase on a transactional website involves an array of mouse/keyboard inputs and visual 'informative' outputs. The general process is outlined clearly below and remains true for most online shops, despite some variation due to preferences, technical requirements etc.

1. Identify and authenticate the customer (using a user name and password e.g. Tesco, Sainsbury's) - unless a casual one time buyer is not required by the site to register (e.g. like on amazon.com)
2. Track consumer actions - an they search for items when browsing by category/by product/through search etc.
3. Maintain the shopping basket. Consumers may add to, remove from, edit and abandon the basket.
4. Checkout the goods. This is where items in a basket are confirmed for purchase and consumer/shipping/payment/order details are collected and/or confirmed.
5. Authorise payment and confirm order to complete the process.

This information can be seen in more detailed and clear view using a flowchart of the processes and transactions. In reality the five points above are all interlinked into a complex data flow process involving the sales/stores/dispatch and accounting departments to successfully collect payment and dispatch the goods accurately and on time. For this reason data flow diagrams will be latter on used to represent my coursework 'website processes' for an in depth analysis.