E-business as a new trend in the economy

Abstract

The modern economy is based not only on capital and human resources, but above all on
information that enterprises possess. The right information at the right time may determine the
development and strong competitive position of an enterprise on the market, whereas lack of such
information may even lead to its failure. A properly developed e-business strategy and tools that are
well suited for the specificity of this type of business and appropriately used have a positive impact
on an enterprise's success. The aim of the paper is to indicate the existing, modern tools used in e-
business in the aspect of increasing the coverage and sales of the different products and services,
with special reference to recognition of a specific brand. The authors attempt to present business
model solutions of a selected service offered by an e-business which is a Polish leader in e-shop
software, as well as resources of good practices defining how to act to provide services in an optimal
way using IT communication.

Keywords:

information management; e-business; information and communication technologies; virtual

enterprise management.

1. Introduction

The term e-business signifies a business management method using IT communication, mainly
Internet applications. E-business refers, among other things, to sending documents, exchanging
data between a producer, distributor and trade partner, winning new customers, conquering
markets, and holding teleconferences. E-business comprises.

Currently, the term e-business may be used in a number of contexts. First: e-business may
constitute an element of an enterprise management strategy consisting in the use of solutions
designed to increase an enterprise's competitiveness. In such a case, companies may conduct
part of their activity on-line, or use technology to improve internal or external information
exchange. Second: e-business is a model of an enterprise that operates mainly on the Internet,
limiting to minimum its "physical" presence on the market or traditional customer service.
Broadband network is regarded as the basic infrastructure of the modern knowledge-based
economy, therefore it should be at the centre of attention of all countries that want to compete
on the global market.

E-business and its environment

The environment of an e-business, just as in the case of a traditional enterprise, can be divided into:

 Near environment, or micro-environment, which consists of suppliers of materials or raw

materials, intermediaries, competitors and customers;
 Far environment, or macro-environment, which includes factors that are independent from
an enterprise and affect its operation in technical, standardisation, legal, social, economic,
political and educational aspects. In the case of an e-business, contrary to traditional
 enterprises, there are no boundaries connected with the environment. Customers, suppliers
and intermediaries may be located at any place across the world, in different time zones,
they may speak different languages and pay in different currencies. What is more important
from the ebusiness environment perspective, is relationships between the different entities
of e-business. The most popular of them include:
 B2B – business to business, i.e. relationships between two businesses taking place during
wholesale and trade between different companies and within one company, between its
branches. B2B development requires increasing integration of business processes between
entities.
 B2C – business to consumer, i.e. relationships between an enterprise and its consumers in
the area of offering information, goods and services online to individuals through online
shopping centres. They may also include online banking services via which customers make
bank wire transfers.
 C2C – consumer to consumer, relationship based on business connections between end
consumers of a service or product, such as auctions, classified ads or exchange of new and
second-hand things.
 B2A – business to administration, i.e. relationships between business and administration,
understood as companies' actions towards public sector organisations, aimed at using
electronic technology for information exchange between a company and public
administration, e.g. in the area of taxes or employment. This form also includes electronic
reporting systems.
 C2A – citizen to administration – communication between citizens and public authorities
allowing the former to settle important or obligatory matters through electronic contact, e.g.
online submission of tax returns, submission of an application for a passport or an identity
card. x C2B – consumer to business, i.e. a model that is the opposite of B2C, used by portals
that allow an individual person to publish an offer addressed to multiple sellers. Sellers may
view offers and take responsibility for them.
 F2B – finance to business, i.e. offering by financial institutions of their services to companies
using the Internet; and F2C – finance to consumer – relationships between financial
institutions and individual customers.
 B2E – business to employee – use of electronic means of communication to communicate
with employees - e.g. the Intranet, remote working.

Business model

E-business models answer the question of how a company is going to generate revenue and ensure
itself profits from online operations.

A business model should specify benefits for a customer, scope of the offer, price policy, ways of
implementing the model, sources of income and fundamental skills of a company. With rapid
development of electronic business, the range of existing business models grew. At the beginning, e-
business included e-shops or e-orders which reflected the traditional way of conducting business
activity. Over time, more innovative models appeared and started to evolve towards virtual markets
or networking in which dynamic and short-term relationships between producers and consumers
dominate.

Classification of business models varies. The three main business models which are the most popular
forms of earning money via the Internet are: advertising, agency and e-commerc.
The more detailed review of e-business models developed by Dariusz Nojszewski9 includes not only
an e-shop designed to sell goods and services via Internet, but also e-procurement that allows offers
to be placed online and an enterprise to be supplied with goods and services. He also distinguishes
e-auctions that enable bidding and purchase of goods and services, and e-mall, which is a variant of
e-shop consisting of a number of e-shops. Virtual community comprises online services concentrated
around a certain subject or sector of services available online, and a supplier of value chain services
delivers specific services from the value chain – e.g. e-payments or logistics service. Nojszewski also
mentions collaboration platform which provides tools and creates IT environment that enables
cooperation between companies. He also distinguishes information brokerage as a way of offering
services of searching for and supplying needed information to customers, e.g. searching for
information on the Web, creating customer profiles, and trust services, understood as provision of
specific information guaranteeing trust in online business processes in the form of authenticity
certificates or data encryption. Making applications available through the Internet, i.e. offering
software available on the Internet and charging fees for use of such software is also one of e-
business models.

His review also includes a supplier with a full range of services that offers not only its own goods and
services, but also products of other similar companies, a content provider, that provides content to
larger or more general portals, and infrastructure provider, that provides infrastructure in the form
network connections, wireless technologies and software to allow other entities to operate in e-
business. Other models include common infrastructure, i.e. an Internet service gathering offers of
market competitors, e-commerce platform, which offers a whole range of services covering the
whole process of carrying out commercial transactions from negotiations to delivery of goods, and
commercial communities, which ensure a source of information and communication necessary for
operating in a given business.

Finally, there is a model of an aggregator of customers which gathers a great number of independent
customers allowing them to achieve a better price, offered only to wholesalers, a distribution model
that connects large groups of producers with wholesalers and retailers, a portal (general, universal)
in the form of a website containing a wide range of information and services, and a vortal – a kind of
a portal containing detailed information about a specific industry.

. E-business strategies Due to increasing number of e-businesses, it is more and more difficult to
achieve success on the Internet. Therefore, especially in e-business it is important to have an
appropriate business strategy - without it even the best idea cannot be implemented.

Errors that are most often made when developing strategies for e-business11 include incorrect
forecasts and analyses resulting from originators' and e-business creators' failure to check whether
their idea will attract interest of potential customers and incorrect estimate of finances without
taking into account additional financing sources that would allow the company to develop in the
initial period when it does not attract sufficient interest of customers12. When developing a strategy
for e-business it is important whether the brand will be an entity operating only online or whether it
will be an online representation of a brand that functions on the market in the traditional form.
Undoubtedly, the best strategies for e-businesses will be those based on e-marketing, i.e. marketing
operations conducted on the Internet.

There are a great number of e-business tools, and selection of those that can be used by an
entrepreneur depends on specificity of a given e-business. A website is now an obligatory
investment of every company - not only one that operates online. This is the best and fastest tool
that can be used by an entrepreneur to inform and educate customers, and present and sell its
products and services to them. The most important functions of a website include promotion of a
company or its specific product, raising brand awareness, activating new customers and building
loyalty of the existing customers and main or additional distribution channe.

Blog. i.e. a diary that is kept online and includes content of interest for readers, plays an important
role in providing possibility of commenting specific content and interaction between a company and
its customers. Blogs may also fulfil a role of image creator as they present the institution as an
industry leader, as well as an educational function (blogs discussing financial issues run by financial
institutions).

The aim of search engine positioning is to achieve the highest possible position in search engine
results, taking into account specific keywords. This tool is very effective and at the same time
relatively cheap, and a high position in search engine results in increased interest in a given offer.
This is because Internet users who search for a product or some information on the Internet often
click the first few links displayed in the search engine.

Objective
A business management strategy utilising IT communication, mostly Internet
applications, is referred to as "e-business." Sending papers, sharing data with a
manufacturer, distributor, and business partner, gaining new clients, capturing
markets, and having teleconferences are just a few examples of what is meant by e-
business. E-commerce consists.

The phrase "e-business" may be used in a variety of circumstances right now. First
off, e-business might be a component of an enterprise management plan that uses
tools to boost an organization's competitiveness. In this situation, businesses could
carry out a portion of their operations online or employ technology to enhance
internal or external information flow. Second, e-business is a business model where
a company conducts most of its operations online and keeps traditional customer
service and "physical" market presence to a minimum.
All nations that wish to compete on the global market should pay close attention to
their broadband networks since they are considered to be the fundamental
infrastructure of the contemporary knowledge-based economy.

E-business' primary function is to carry out online transactions between trading

partners, with information serving as the primary item being bought and sold.
New ideas are specifically mentioned in relation to inaccurate cost calculations and
undue haste while launching an e-business since it is
It is difficult to say at this point if the technology will be compatible with a new
solution.
Other often committed mistakes include failing to properly protect transactions, that
is, failing to apply secure protocols during e-transactions, and performing
unsuccessful marketing and promotion efforts without a well-thought-out plan or
analytics. The choice of improper technology, the presentation of the offer in an
unappealing manner, or the undeveloped ergonomics of the service can all result in
technological, functional, and aesthetic problems.
Inability to maintain customers after failing to link e-business with other channels and
technologies intended to serve them
clients and establish strong links and partnerships with them, and poor planning
coming from
Inadequate research on the target market, client demographic, or provided items
also has a detrimental impact.
influence on developing an e-business strategy
Operating a virtual business has a variety of benefits and drawbacks. Indisputable
benefits
include an organization's adaptability to changing circumstances, flexibility, and
optimization of
the manufacturing and distribution value chain, high output at low operational costs,
time savings, and
rising level of efficiency

Problems

E-commerce provides an easy way to sell products to a large

customer base. However, there is a lot of competition among
multiple e-commerce sites. When users land on an e-commerce site,
they expect to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.
Also, users are not sure about the brands or the actual products
they want to purchase. They have a very broad idea about what they
want to buy. Many customers nowadays search for their products on
Google rather than visiting specific e-commerce sites. They believe
that Google will take them to the e-commerce sites that have their
product.
The purpose of any e-commerce website is to help customers
narrow down their broad ideas and enable them to finalize the
products they want to purchase. For example, suppose a customer
is interested in purchasing a mobile. His or her search for a mobile
should list mobile brands, operating systems on mobiles, screen
size of mobiles, and all other features as facets. As the customer
selects more and more features or options from the facets provided,
the search narrows down to a small list of mobiles that suit his or
her choice. If the list is small enough and the customer likes one of
the mobiles listed, he or she will make the purchase.

The challenge is also that each category will have a different set of
facets to be displayed. For example, searching for books should
display their format, as in paperpack or hardcover, author name,
book series, language, and other facets related to books. These
facets were different for mobiles that we discussed earlier.
Similarly, each category will have different facets and it needs to be
designed properly so that customers can narrow down to their
preferred products, irrespective of the category they are looking
into.

The takeaway from this is that categorization and feature listing of

products should be taken care of. Misrepresentation of features can
lead to incorrect search results. Another takeaway is that we need
to provide multiple facets in the search results. For example, while
displaying the list of all mobiles, we need to provide facets for a
brand. Once a brand is selected, another set of facets for operating
systems, network, and mobile phone features has to be provided. As
more and more facets are selected, we still need to show facets
within the remaining products.

E-commerce provides an easy way to sell products to a large customer base.

However, there is a lot of competition among multiple e-commerce sites. When users
land on an e-commerce site, they expect to find what they are looking for quickly and
easily. Also, users are not sure about the brands or the actual products they want to
purchase. They have a very broad idea about what they want to buy. Many
customers nowadays search for their products on Google rather than visiting specific
e-commerce sites. They believe that Google will take them to the e-commerce sites
that have their product.
The purpose of any e-commerce website is to help customers narrow down their
broad ideas and enable them to finalize the products they want to purchase. For
example, suppose a customer is interested in purchasing a mobile. His or her search
for a mobile should list mobile brands, operating systems on mobiles, screen size of
mobiles, and all other features as facets. As the customer selects more and more
features or options from the facets provided, the search narrows down to a small list
of mobiles that suit his or her choice. If the list is small enough and the customer
likes one of the mobiles listed, he or she will make the purchase.
The challenge is also that each category will have a different set of facets to be
displayed. For example, searching for books should display their format, as in
paperpack or hardcover, author name, book series, language, and other facets
related to books. These facets were different for mobiles that we discussed earlier.
Similarly, each category will have different facets and it needs to be designed
properly so that customers can narrow down to their preferred products, irrespective
of the category they are looking into.
The takeaway from this is that categorization and feature listing of products should
be taken care of. Misrepresentation of features can lead to incorrect search results.
Another takeaway is that we need to provide multiple facets in the search results.
For example, while displaying the list of all mobiles, we need to provide facets for a
brand. Once a brand is selected, another set of facets for operating systems,
network, and mobile phone features has to be provided. As more and more facets
are selected, we still need to show facets within the remaining products.