4.8 E-commerce

4.8 E-commerce

1. E-commerce involves the buying and selling of goods and services through electronic networks, commonly via the internet.

2. Features of e-commerce

   • Ubiquity
   • Customaizaiton
   • Global reach
   • Integration
   • Universal standars

3. Types of e-commerce

   • Business-to-business [B2B]
   • Business-to-customer [B2C]
   • Customer-to-customer [C2C]

4. Benefits

   • To firms
     • Can reach a wide target market
     • Cost-effective
     • Reduced wastage on paper
   • To customers
     • Convenient
     • Increased choice
     • Makes them happy

5. Costs

   • To firms
     • Concerns by customers about internet security
     • Significant sums are spend trying to find measures to curb online fraud
     • Vulnerable to competitors
   • To customers
     • Do not try the product before buying it
     • Spam is disliked by customers