Ecommerce Handouts
Ecommerce Handouts
Ecommerce Handouts
BUSINESS
SELLER
A person or entity who sells a thing or property in exchange
for other property often money).
OR
Party which acquires, or agrees to acquire, ownership (in case of
goods), or benefit or usage (in case of services), in exchange for money
or other consideration under a contract of sale. Also called purchaser.
OR
RETAILER
ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPER
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E-COMMERCE
BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
Domestic and
international payment
systems
Newsgroup
On-line Shopping
Messaging
Conferencing
There are a many reasons why you might would want to add e-commerce
facilities to your web site:
Purchases can be made 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. Customers can
compare prices easily.
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E-COMMERCE ADVANTAGES
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Computer platform-independent.
Many, if not most, computers have the ability to communicate via
the Internet independent of operating systems and hardware. Customers
are not limited by existing hardware systems.
Returning goods.
Returning goods online can be an area of difficulty. The
uncertainties are involved in this process. Will the goods get back to their
source? Who pays for the return postage? Will the refund be paid? Will I
be left with nothing? How long will it take? Contrast this with the offline
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Catalog Inflexibility
The catalog needs to regenerate every time when there is some
new information or items to add in.
High Marketing / Advertising Expenses
Reduced marketing/advertising expenses compete on equal
footing with much bigger companies; easily compete on quality, price,
and availability
Limited Market Place
Normally, customer will only locally and limited to certain area.
High Sale Cycle
Usually, a lot of phone calls and mailings are needed.
Higher Cost of Doing Business
Cost regarding inventory, employees, purchasing costs, and order-
processing costs associated with faxing, phone calls, and data entry, and
even physical stores. Subsequently, increase transaction costs.
May Require a Middlemen
Some sales or transaction may taking part indirectly or gone
through third party to your customers.
Inefficient Business Administration
Store inventory levels, shipping and receiving logs, and other
business administration tasks might need to be categorized and updated
manually in and done only when have time. This cause the information
might not the latest or updated.
Need to employ number of staff
Need staff who give customer service and sales support
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1..B2B (BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS)
B2B E-commerce consists of the sale and exchange of products and service
between businesses. In B2B, companies do business with each other such as
manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. Pricing is based
on quantity of order and is often negotiable. For example, a company that manufactures
bicycles might use the internet to purchase tires from its suppliers.
The volume of B2B transaction is much higher than the volume of B2C
transaction. One reason for this is that businesses have adopted e-commerce in greater
number than consumers. i.e organizations such as “Intel” (chip maker) and “Cisco” have
been exploiting the benefits of B2B e-commerce for several years.
Four basic examples of B2B e-commerce sites are vendor, service, broker and
infomediary sites.
A vendor B2B site, also called an e-procurement site, is a product supplier that
allows purchasing agents to use a network to shop, submit request for quotes and
purchase items.
A service B2B site uses a network to provide one or more services to business
such as financing, warehousing or shopping.
A brokering B2B site acts as a middleman by negotiating the contract of a
purchase and a sale.
An infomediary short for information intermediary B2B site provides specialized
information about suppliers and other businesses.
2. B2C (BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER)
B2C e-commerce consists of the sale of products or services from a business to a
general public or end user. Businesses selling to the general public typically through
catalogs utilizing shopping cart software. In this the seller is the business and buyer is the
consumer. For example amazon.com (world largest online book store).
Products for sale can be physical objects such as books, flowers, computers,
groceries, prescription drugs, music, movies and cars. They also can be intangible items.
For example, you can subscribe to an online magazine or download purchased software.
BENEFITS OF B2C E-COMMERCE
Sellers that use a B2C business model can maximize benefits by eliminating the
middleman. This enables some B2C companies to sell products at a lower cost and with
faster service than comparable brick and mortar businesses.
Consumers have access to a variety of products without the constraints of time or
distance.
Consumers easily can comparison shop to find the best buy.
Many B2C web sites provide consumer services such as access to product reviews,
chat rooms and other product related information. These services often attract and retain
customers.
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3. C2B (CONSUMER-TO-BUSINESS)
The business in which Individuals sell products or services to organizations is
known as C2B transaction.
A consumer posts his project with a set budget online and within hours companies
review the consumer's requirements and bid on the project. The consumer reviews the
bids and selects the company that will complete the project. For exampleElance
empowers consumers around the world by providing the meeting ground and platform for
such transactions
4. C2C (CONSUMER-TO-CONSUMER)
C2C e-commerce consists of individuals using the internet to sell products and
services directly to other individuals. The most popular vehicle for C2C e-commerce is
the online auction. An online auction is similar to negotiating, in which one consumer
auction goods to other consumers. If interested you bid on item. The highest bidder at the
end of the bidding period purchases the item.
An excellent example of C2C is found at “ebay.com” where consumers sell their
goods and services to other consumers. An eBay's auction service is a great example of
where person-to-person transactions take place everyday since 1995.
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BUSINESS MODELS
1. AUCTION MODEL
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3. ADVERTISING MODEL
4. SUBSCRIPTION MODEL
Many service operators provide a subscription base access to their services.
Subscriptions can be paid on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. Payment through
a credit card account is a common payment scheme for subscription sites because
of the ability to periodically process the purchase transaction electronically. For
example www.spider.com, www.ieee.org
5. INFORMATION SITES
Information sites (also called brochure or billboard sites) are designed to
derive economic benefit through indirect means from either referred sales, reduced
cost, or both. Revenue comes from creating awareness of its products or services
via the web.
These web sites are just like a billboard on a highway. Most corporate sites
today put up these electronic brochures to provide information about their
products, employment opportunities, investor relations, or customer service.
6. VANITY SITES
Many web sites started as vanity sites. These sites are often created by
individuals as an outlet of self expression, to share a hobby, promote a cause, or
find others with similar interests. These sites are created with no intension of
driving revenues. These are free sites. For example www.earthquake.com
7. BROKERAGE MODEL
Brokers are market-makers: they bring buyers and sellers together and
facilitate transactions. Brokers play a frequent role in business-to-business (B2B),
business-to-consumer (B2C), or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) markets. Usually a
broker charges a fee or commission for each transaction it enables. The formula
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E-BANKING
BENEFITS TO CONSUMERS:
Banking industry has also received numerous benefits due to growth of E-Banking
infrastructure. There are highlighted below:
The growth of E-banking has greatly helped the banks in controlling their over heads
and operating cost.
Many repetitive and tedious tasks have now been fully automated resulting in greater
efficiency, better time usage and enhanced control.
The rise of E-banking has made banks more competitive. It has also led to expansion
of the banking industry, opening of new avenues for banking operations.
Electronic banking has greatly helped the banking industry to reduce paper work,
thus helping them to move the paper less environment.
Electronic banking has also helped bank in proper documentation of their records and
transactions.
The reach and delivery capabilities of computer networks, such as the Internet, are far
better than any branch network.
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enlarge their
customer base, a consequence to increase the of volume of credit creation which results
in better economic condition, Besides all this E-banking has also helped in
documentation of the economic activity of the masses
VIRTUAL BANK
Virtual banks are banks without bricks; from the customer's perspective, they exist
entirely on the Internet, where they offer pretty much the same range of services and
adhere to the same federal regulations as your corner bank.
A virtual bank is a bank with a very small or nonexistent branch network. It offers its
financial services by:
Telephone banking
Online banking
Automated teller machines (often through interbank network
alliances) Mail banking
Mobile banking
TELEPHONE BANKING
Most telephone banking use an automated phone answering system with phone
keypad response or voice recognition capability. To guarantee security, the customer
must first authenticate through a numeric or verbal password or through security
questions asked by a live representative .With the obvious exception of cash withdrawals
and deposits, it offers virtually all the features of an automated teller machine: account
balance information and list of latest transactions, electronic bill payments, funds
transfers between a customer's accounts, etc.
ONLINE BANKING
Online banking uses today's computer technology to give you the option of bypassing the
time-consuming, paper-based aspects of traditional banking in order to manage your
finances more quickly and efficiently.
MAIL BANKING
MOBILE BANKING
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Mobile banking (also known as M-Banking, mbanking, SMS Banking etc.) is a
term used for performing balance checks, account transactions, payments etc. via a
mobile device such as a mobile phone.
Convenience:
Unlike your corner bank, online banking sites never close; they're available 24
hours a day, seven days a week and they're only a mouse click away.
Ubiquity:
If you're out of state or even out of the country when a money problem arises, you
can log on instantly to your online bank and take care of business, 24/7.
Transaction speed:
Online bank sites generally execute and confirm transactions at or quicker than
ATM processing speeds.
Efficiency:
You can access and manage all of your bank accounts from one secure site.
Effectiveness:
Many online banking sites now offer sophisticated tools, including account
aggregation, stock quotes, rate alerts and portfolio managing programs to help you
manage all of your assets more effectively.
DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE BANKING
Start-up may take time:
In order to register for your bank's online program, you will probably have to
provide ID and sign a form at a bank branch.
Learning curve:
Banking sites can be difficult to navigate at first. Plan to invest some time and/or
read the tutorials in order to become comfortable in your virtual lobby.
Bank site changes:
Even the largest banks periodically upgrade their online programs, adding new
features in unfamiliar places. In some cases, you may have to re-enter account
information.
The trust thing:
For many people, the biggest hurdle to online banking is learning to trust it. Did
my transaction go through? Did I push the transfer button once or twice? Best bet: always
print the transaction receipt and keep it with your bank records until it shows up on your
personal site and/or your bank statement.
INTERNET BANKING
Internet banking is usually carried out through a computer that connects to a
banking website via the Internet. Internet banking also can be conducted via wireless
technology through Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or cellular phones.
Internet banks are also known as virtual, cyber, net, interactive, online, or web banks.
Internet banking, Internet banks, online banking, virtual banks, cyber banks are
some of the jargons being bandied about everywhere. But can all these terms be used
interchangeably? Yes and no. There is a subtle difference.
An Internet bank, is a virtual bank, or a cyber bank, one that does its business
entirely on the web. Meaning, it is a branchless bank. Internet banking and online
banking can of course be used interchangeably. The underlying principle here is the
same, that is, using the internet to perform banking transactions.
An important distinction between an Internet Bank and online banking is that you
don't need any special software to access the Internet banking services. You just need a
computer and an Internet connection. Whereas to access the services of a traditional bank
online, special software may be required (for some services, at least).
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What attracts people to Internet-only banks? The primary reason is convenience, as in
free bill paying and the fact that there is no need to change banks if you relocate. Another
important is the free service they offer.
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E PAYMENT
E payment is a subset of an e-commerce transaction to include electronic payment
for buying and selling goods or services offered through the Internet. Generally we think
of electronic payments as referring to online transactions on the internet, there are
actually many forms of electronic payments.
Payer
Payee
Banks oney transfer applications,
Network infrastructures
Rules & procedures
Trusted third Party
ADVANTAGES OF E-PAYMENT
DISADVANTAGES:
The following types of electronic payments are most common today. That said, it is
important to realize that new payment types are continual being discovered and there are
additional methods that exist or are being developed continuously.
CARDS
Credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards currently represent the most common
form of electronic payments. The cardholder gives his or her card or card number to a
merchant who swipes the card through a terminal or enters the data to a PC. The terminal
transmits data to his or her bank, the acquirer. The acquirer transmits the data through a
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card association to the card issuer who makes a decision on the transaction and
relays it back to the merchant, who gives goods or services to the cardholder. Funds flow
later for settlement with credit cards and are debited immediately for debit or pre-paid
cards.
INTERNET
MOBILE PAYMENTS
Mobile phones are currently used for a limited number of electronic transactions.
However, the percentage seems likely to increase as mobile phone manufacturers enable
the chip and software in the phone for easier electronic commerce.
BIOMETRIC PAYMENTS
Electronic payments using biometrics are still largely in their infancy. Most
biometric payments involve using fingerprints as the identification and access tool,
though companies like Visa International are piloting voice recognition technology and
retina scans are also under consideration.
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You make a recurring customer-to-vendor payment when you pay a bill through a
regularly scheduled direct debit from your checking account or an automatic charge to
your credit card. This type of payment plan is commonly offered by car insurance
companies, phone companies and loan management companies.
To use automatic bank-to-vendor payment, your bank must offer a service called
online bill pay. You log on to your bank's Web site, enter the vendor's information and
authorize your bank to electronically transfer money from your account to pay your bill.
In most cases, you can choose whether to do this manually for each billing cycle or have
your bills automatically paid on the same day each month.
CREDIT CARDS
The way credit cards work is fairly straightforward: The credit card issuer gives
you a card. You use the card to pay for items and services up to a certain total amount --
your credit limit. The store merchant or service provider collects what you owe from the
card issuer, whom you repay.
A credit card is part of a system of payments named after the small plastic card
issued to users of the system. The issuer of the card grants a line of credit to the consumer
(or the user) from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a
cash advance to the user. A credit card is different from a charge card, which requires the
balance to be paid in full each month. In contrast, credit cards allow the consumers to
'revolve' their balance, at the cost of having interest charged. Most credit cards are issued
by local banks or credit unions, and are the same shape and size, as specified by the ISO
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7810 standard.
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E-BUSINESS
E-business (electronic business) is the conduct of business on the Internet, not
only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business
partners.
Today, major corporations are rethinking their businesses in terms of the Internet
and its new culture and capabilities. Companies are using the Web to buy parts and
supplies from other companies, to collaborate on sales promotions, and to do joint
research.
ADVANTAGES OF E-BUSINESS
The internet offers exciting ways of reaching new markets that could only be
dreamed of in the past. There are methods of promoting your products online that allow
you to precisely target the customers you are after whether they are in your town or on
the other side of the world.
Online advertising is not only more efficient, but it is often less expensive than
traditional advertising. After sales training expenses can also be reduced by utilizing
online seminars, training videos and tutorials.
Users need not be in the same physical location as an e-business and the exchange
of information and transactions may take place at any given time, twenty-four hours a
day, seven days a week and from any location in the world with Internet access.
6. Reduces Time and Money Spent
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The internet opens up a brand new marketplace to businesses moving online. Easy
access to real time information is a primary benefit of the internet, enabling a company to
give more efficient and valid information and helping to gain the competitive advantage
over those that are not online.
9. Bulk Transactions
One can do bulk transactions during the visit to an e-shop, since there is no
limitation of collecting or carrying goods in contrast to shopping from a traditional
offline shop.
DISADVANTAGES OF E-BUSINESS
The nature of internet technology is such that the private information of online
customer can be easy made available to public. So there is less privacy in E-business as
compared to traditional business.
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IMPORTANCE OF EDI
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By removing the manual keying of key business documents such as Orders, Invoices,
Acknowledgments and Dispatch Notes your company can benefit significantly by:
Reduced labour costs
Elimination of human keying
errors Faster document processing
Instant document retrieval
Remove reliance on the postal service
BENEFIT TWO: ELIMINATE PAPER
Paper-based trading relationships have some inherent disadvantages when compared with
their electronic trading equivalents:
Stationery and printer consumable costs
Document storage costs
Lost documents
Postage costs
BENEFIT THREE: REDUCE LEAD TIMES AND STOCKHOLDING
Electronic trading documents can be delivered far more quickly than their paper
counterparts, thus the turnaround time from order to delivery can be reduced.
By using EDI for forecasting and planning, companies are able to get forward warning of
likely orders and to plan their production and stock levels accordingly.
Companies receiving advanced shipping notes or acknowledgments know in advance
what is actually going to be delivered, and are made aware of shortages so alternate
supplies can be sourced.
BENEFIT FOUR: INCREASE QUALITY OF THE TRADING RELATIONSHIP
Electronic trading documents when printed are much easier to read than copies faxed or
generated on multi-part stationery by impact printers.
Accurate documents help ensure accurate supplies.
Batches of electronic documents are usually sequentially numbered, therefore missing
documents can easily be identified, not causing companies to wade through piles of
paper.
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less manpower to process orders, deliveries or payments.
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Because EDI facilitates the digital exchange of business documents, most if not all
of the associated business processes (such as data entry and verification) can be
automated so that they occur with little or no manual intervention. As such, key benefits
of integration include the reduction or elimination of data entry errors and transaction
processing that is more expeditious and streamlined.
Any company that buys or sells goods or services can use EDI. Commercial
translation software, such as TrueCommerce Integrator, is readily available to enable any
company to exchange business documents regardless of their business and accounting
systems.
The standards that exist for electronic documents define a wide variety of paper-
based communications. Standards, such as the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) X12 and EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange for administration, commerce
and transport), are developed through a consensus process across a wide spectrum of
industries. ANSI X12 is primarily used in North America while EDIFACT is used in
Europe and Asia.
The EDI standards are like a language, with rules and specific structures providing
formats to exchange data.
Here is an example of how the electronic data interchange process works. A buyer
prepares an order in his purchasing system and has it approved. Next, the EDI order is
translated into an EDI document format called an 850 purchase order.
The EDI 850 purchase order is then securely transmitted to the supplier either via
the internet or through a VAN (Value Added Network). The buyer’s VAN is a like an
electronic post office that interconnects with the supplier’s VAN. The VANs make sure
that EDI transactions are sent and received. The supplier’s VAN ensures that the supplier
receives the order. The supplier’s computer system then processes the order. In the case
of CovalentWorks’ clients, we provide VAN transportation and our servers provide all of
the software and hardware required to process EDI documents. Only internet access and
email are needed.
Data security and control are maintained through out the transmission process
using passwords, user identification and encryption. Both the buyer’s and the supplier’s
EDI applications edit and check the documents for accuracy.
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INTERNET MARKETING
Internet marketing, also referred to as web marketing, online marketing, or
eMarketing, is the marketing of products or services over the Internet.
The Internet has brought many unique benefits to marketing, one of which being
lower costs for the distribution of information and media to a global audience. The
interactive nature of Internet marketing is a unique quality of the medium. Internet
marketing is sometimes considered to have a broader scope because it refers to digital
media such as the Internet, e-mail, and wireless media; however, Internet marketing also
includes management of digital customer data and electronic customer relationship
management (ECRM) systems.
GLOBAL REACH
If you build a website you can reach anyone, anywhere in the world, provided they
have internet access. This allows you to tap new markets and compete globally with only
a small investment. This can be particularly useful for niche providers, companies whose
products can be posted easily, or businesses who are looking to expand geographically
but cannot afford to invest in new offices or businesses.
LOWER COST
A properly planned and effectively targeted e-marketing campaign can reach the
right customers at a much lower cost than traditional marketing methods. You can build a
website for as little as a few hundred pounds or send e-mail for a fraction of a penny.
24-HOUR MARKETING
With a website your customers can find out about your products even if your
office is closed.
If you have a website or an e-mail template, you can react to events much more
quickly. If one of your products is in the news or something important happens in your
industry, you can capitalize on it without having to print or post anything.
With a well-designed website, you can show yourself to be as professional and credible
as your larger competitors.
PERSONALISATION
If your customer database is linked to your website, then whenever someone visits
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the site, you can greet them with targeted offers. The more they buy from you, the
more you can refine your customer profile and market effectively to them. A great
example of this is Amazon's website which suggests products based on your and other
people's previous purchases.
ONE-TO-ONE MARKETING
E-marketing lets you reach people who want to know about your products and
services instantly. People have a different, more personal relationship with most new
technologies. For example, many people take mobile phones and PDAs wherever they
go, and a surprising number feel lost without their e-mail. Combine this with the
personalized aspect of e-marketing, and you can create very powerful and targeted
campaigns.
E-marketing lets you create interactive campaigns using music, graphics and
videos. You could send your customers a game or a quiz - whatever you think will
interest them. One of the great successes of e-marketing has been film companies letting
people download trailers for forthcoming movies.
If you have got a website, then your customers are only ever a few clicks away
from completing a purchase. Unlike other media which require people to get up and make
a phone call, post a letter or go to a shop, e-marketing is seamless. The change from
reading an e-mail to buying on a website is negligible - no special effort is required.
Internet marketing requires customers to use newer technologies rather than traditional
media. Low-speed Internet connections are another barrier: If companies build large or
overly-complicated websites, individuals connected to the Internet via dial-up
connections or mobile devices may experience significant delays in content delivery.
From the buyer's perspective, the inability of shoppers to touch, smell, taste or "try on"
tangible goods before making an online purchase can be limiting.