Electronic Commerce

Electronic Commerce

1. E-commerce is use of electronic data transmission to implement or enhance business activity. Any transaction completed over computer-mediated network involving transfer of ownership or rights to use goods/services

   • 2 Views:
     • Buyers perspective: involves following activities: identifying specific needs, search for products or services that satisfy specific need, select vendor, negotiate purchase transaction involving logistics inspections and testing, make payment
     • Sellers persp: involves follwoing activities: conducting maret resaerh to identify needs, creating prod to satisfy needs,advertising & promoting prod, negotiate sales trans, ship goods & invoice, recieve and process payments and provide sales support and maintenance

2. importnat to identify biz processes that can be streamlined by eCommerce ie. sale/purchase of products, online delivery of software, advertising & promotion of travek service, online tracking of shipments

   • traditional commerce appropriate for: sale/purchase of high end clothing, sale/purchase of perishable goods, sale of expensive jewelry
   • combination of traditional and eCommerce: ie. online banking, sale/purchase of automobiles or investment/insurance

3. Advantages of eCommerce: incr speed and accuracy in which info exchanged, electronic payments cost less to issue and ore secure, can make goods available in remote areas, enables people to work from home

   • for seller: increases sales and decreases cost, make promotion easier for smaller firms, used to reach smaller market segment
   • for buyer: more choices, easy way to customise level of detail in info obtained, easier to get competitive bids

4. Disadvantages: some biz not suited for ecomm, many goods require masses of potential buyers, costs and returns difficult to quantify & estimate, cultural impediments whereby people reluctant to change to new tech

5. BUSINESS

   • B2C: comp sell directly to consumers eg. amazon
     • types: pure-play (100% online), brick & mortar stores with virtual storefronts (both online and physical store)
       • major activities: Information sharing, ordering, payment, fulfillment, service & support
   • B2B: inv electronic transactions between biz, involves purchase orders, invoices, shipping logistics, business contracts
     • 3 models based on market control:
       • Seller side: most pop, sellers who cater to specialised markets which come together to create common market place. Major venders eg. IBM Oracle
         • E-procurement: enables employees in org to order & receive supplies directly from suppliers. Can also automate buying & selling activities
       • Buyer side: buyer or group opens electronic market place, invites sellers to bid on announced products or requests. Buyers can manage procurement better, lower admin costs, have uniform costs. Large corps
       • 3rd Party Exchange market: controlled by third party, generates revenue from fees charged for matching buyers & sellers, active on horizontal and vertical market, offers supps direct channel of comm to buyers via online storefronts
       • Trading partner agreements: automate nego. process & enforce contacts betw. biz, enables cust. to submit electronic docs via the int.

6. mobile commerce: based on wireless app protocol, suing handheld devices i.e smartphone. supported by WAN & 3G, eg. iphone apps and &int explorer mobile

7. eCommerce supporting mechs. Infomediary: comps that serve s interm in business or e-com trans. provide software prods and services to power biz. portals for e-com trans eg. paypal (b2c) and verisign( b2b)

   • Electronic Payments System: money or scrip only exchanged electronically eg. eWallet, PayPal
   • Search engine optimisation
   • Web marketing
     • uses web & supp. techs t promote goods and services, eg ad impression, click, cookie, cost per click

8. Essential eCom processes: access control & security, profiling & personalising, saerch mangement, content manag, catalog man, payment, workflow man, event notif, collab & trading

9. Privacy issues: ecom provides oppsfor biz & employers to track indiv. activities using cookies or other, allows for private and personal nfo to be tracked and stored as indiv profile, ca be sold to 3rd parties