Chapter 1
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Motivation
for E-Commerce
1.3. Types of
Ecommerce
1.4. Advantages
and Limitations
1.5. E-Commerce
applications
1.1. An introduction to Electronic commerce:
Introduction
e-Commerce is the activity of buying or selling of
products and services over an electronic network. These business transactions
occur either as business-to-business, business-to-consumer,
consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business.
History of
e-commerce
The beginnings of e-commerce can be traced to the
1960s, when businesses started using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to share
business documents with other companies. In 1979, the American National
Standards Institute developed ASC X12 as a universal standard for businesses to
share documents through electronic networks.
After the number of individual users sharing
electronic documents with each other grew in the 1980s, the rise of eBay and
Amazon in the 1990s revolutionized the e-commerce industry. Consumers can now
purchase endless amounts of items online, from e-tailers, from typical
brick-and-mortar stores with e-commerce capabilities, and from one another.
E-commerce in India
The e-commerce
market in India is estimated to grow from $10 billion every year to between $
70 - 260 billion every year by 2025.
It is also
estimated that the e-commerce market is about 57% from small towns and the
balance from the largest metros. The most popular use of e-commerce is on
travel websites, which is done by about 70% of all e-commerce consumers in
India. There are challenges to e-commerce companies operating in India -
including lack of knowledge to use digital payment system and digital literacy.
Some companies are trying to get around this problem by providing
cash-on-delivery as a service to their consumers.
1.2. Motivation for E-Commerce
Take your business beyond the borders with
e-commerce. Due to the good internet connectivity and increase the number of
internet users, Now is the best time to gain e-Commerce exposure for brand and
business.
1.
Opportunity to win new and potential customers
Nowadays potential
buyers go to the Internet to shop around and make decisions on what they want
to buy and where to buy it from. Having your products showcased on a website
will increase the chance of sales as you will be to show customers why your
product is right for them. Potential buyers are more likely to make purchases
when they can place their order instantly, rather than waiting for a regular
store to open.
2.
Make it convenient for your customers
Ecommerce customers can surf the various stores for a wide range of
products to make a better choice. Online shopping eliminates traveling or
walking from one shop to another and save time, fuel, and money on visiting a
number of stores. The shipping price is the biggest obstacle after the delay
due to shipping in the way to ecommerce. Therefore, ecommerce stores are
offering free shipping facility.
3. Marketing
Through Social Media & Search Engines
social media websites like Facebook and Twitter will provide you with a
platform to build trust with your customers through reviews and ratings, as
well as keeping them informed with regular posts about your products and
offers. Keep your customers engaged with competitions and shareable content to
drive even more traffic to your website.
4.
Increase business activity with 24*7 web presence
Customers will
enjoy the round-the-clock convenience of being able to purchase what they want
and when they want it, and you won't lose out on sales with an online shop that
is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, compared to regular store hours.
5.
Global Market
e-Commerce will give
you the opportunity to reach out and offer your products and services to customers
around the world, regardless of the distance and time zone.
1.3. Types of e-Commerce
e-commerce
sector is growing very speedy due to good internet connectivity and awareness
of digital technologies like online payment, e-banking etc. The business organisation
or individual can create e-Commerce website.
There are five
basic types of e-commerce:
· Business
to Consumer (B2C)
· Business
to Business (B2B)
· Consumer
to Business (C2B)
· Consumer
to Consumer(C2C)
·
Business within Business (e-Business)
Business to Consumer
(B2C) is the retail part of e-commerce on the internet. It is when
businesses sell products, services or information directly to consumers. The
term was popular during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, when online retailers
and sellers of goods were digitally literate.
Today, there are number of virtual stores and malls
on the internet selling all types of consumer goods. The most recognized
example of these sites is Amazon, Flipkart, Ebay and Paytm etc. which dominates
the B2C market.
Amazon.com is a globally recognized B2C platform,
which for the most part, houses every product you could think of.
Key takeaways Amazon does well:
· Useful
filters to better sort products
· Multi
sellers offer bargains for shoppers
· Multi
language
· Customer
chat
· Easy
returns
Business to Business
(B2B) e-commerce refers to the electronic exchange of products, services or
information between businesses rather than between businesses and consumers. Because
orders are processed digitally, buying efficiency and effectiveness is improved
for wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors and other types of B2B sellers.
Examples include online directories, product and supply exchange websites that
allow businesses to search for products, services and information and to
initiate transactions through e-procurement interfaces.
Alibaba.com is the largest ecommerce company
in the world and provides the largest B2B online marketplace.
Key takeaways Alibaba does well:
· Provides
support for many different languages
· Easily
product listing
Consumer to Business
(C2B) is a type of e-commerce in which consumers make their products and
services available online for companies to bid on and purchase. This is the
opposite of the traditional commerce model of B2C. Consumer-to-business is a
business model that entails a customer making a product that a brand uses to
get a competitive advantage. It includes consumer-generated blogs, websites,
videos, and social media posts that help a company accomplish specific tasks,
enhance its business wellness, and reach its defined goals. A good example is Upwork. It was one of the
first sites to offer the C2B model where users can post services they offer,
and interested businesses can reply with their own bids.
Consumer to Consumer
(C2C) is a type of e-commerce in which consumers trade products, services
and information with each other online. These transactions are generally
conducted through a third party that provides an online platform on which the
transactions are carried out.
Online auctions and classified advertisements are the
good examples of C2C platforms. Some of the most popular c2c platforms in India
are OLX, eBay, Indeep and Quikr etc.
A popular example of a C2C platform is a market that
sells royalty-free photographs, images, media and design elements, such as
iStock.
Business-within-Business
Business-within-Business or e-Business refers to the
use of the Web, Internet, intranets, extranets or some combination thereof to
conduct business. E-business is similar to e-commerce, but it goes beyond the
simple buying and selling of products and services online. E-business includes
a much wider range of businesses processes, such as supply chain management,
electronic order processing and customer relationship management. E-business
processes help companies to operate more effectively and efficiently.
1.4. Advantages
and Disadvantages of E-Commerce
Advantages of E-commerce
·
It can help increase profits
·
It can increase sales and decrease costs.
·
It can help organizations do business 7 days a
week and 24 hours a day.
·
It can help in low operational cost.
·
It can help organizations have customers all
around the globe and not be limited to a specific region.
·
It helps organizations bring higher return on advertisements,
if managed properly.
·
It helps organizations identify new suppliers,
partners and customers.
·
It increases flexibility and ease of shopping
for the customer.
·
It can provide personalized product and customer
customization.
·
e-Commerce websites are given a broader range of
products to select from online.
Disadvantages of E-commerce
·
The buyer cannot touch or feel the product
online.
·
The customer has to wait for delivery of their
product.
·
Perishable goods buy online can get spoiled
during delivery.
·
It is difficult to know when an online site is
safe to use.
1.5. Electronic Commerce Applications
There is a wide
range of applications for the consumer marketplace which can be broadly classified
into
E-commerce applications in educational
sector
By using
e-commerce application in the educational sector will provide the information
about different kinds of universities and training institutes under a single
roof throughout the world. It also has a major role in providing different
online study courses and interactive video conferencing.
E-commerce applications in financial
segment
This is one of
the most used applications in financial companies. With the help of financial
application the user can check, transfer clears bills, and loan without any
physical presence at banks. Additionally, these services provide fast and
accurate output for ATM Machines about transaction statements.
E-commerce applications in entertainment
By merging
entertainment and e-commerce the transformation of the online marketing world
would be complete. That is (Entertainment + E-commerce = The New “IT” Marketing
Strategy), where online games, movies, chatting, entertainment news domains
will grab the attention of youngsters as well as children too. To make all
these activities effective, choose and adopt the best mobile app development
services to make your brand.
E-commerce applications in the
manufacturing sector
E-commerce can
also be defined as the collecting and converting chain operations of a company.
A few organizations that form an electronic exchange by giving together
purchasing and offering the product, trade market information and run
back-office information such as inventory control. This speed ups the flow of
raw material and finished goods among the members of the business community.
Auctions
e-Commerce
customer to customer is direct selling of goods among customers. It includes
electronic auctions that involve bidding system. Bidding allows prospective
buyers to bid an item. In Airline Company they give bidding opportunity for
customers to quote the price for a seat on a specific route, date and time.
Entertainment
e-Commerce
application is widely used in entertainment area also for video cataloging, multiplayer
games, interactive ads and for online discussion.
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