Contents
. references
Chapter one
Definitions of E-commerce
definitions 1.1
There does not exist a simple definition of E-Commerce that adequately
describes the coverage of its operations, functions and underlying technologies.
One common view is:
It is also true to say, however, that eCommerce also includes all inter-
company and intra-company functions (such as sales, marketing,
accounts, logistics, manufacturing, and negotiation) that enable
commerce and use electronic mail, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange),
file transfer, digital fax, video conferencing, workflow, or interaction with
a remote computer.
e-Commerce also includes buying and selling over the World-Wide Web
and the Internet, electronic funds transfer, smart cards, digital cash, and
all other methods of completing business transactions over digital
networks.
At it's most simplistic level; eCommerce is simply the buying and selling
of goods, services or information via the World Wide Web, email or other
pathways on the Internet.
__________________________________________________
1.2 terminology
The exchange of goods and services with the end consumer being the
target market.
Chargeback
Where a transaction is debited against a merchant account in cases of
refunds and fraud. Chargebacks usually attract a fee that is debited
against the merchant.
Certificate Authority
Cobranding
Cookies
Small text files stored on your computer when visiting a site that record
preference for that particular site's usage. Cookies are also common in
shopping cart applications in order to remember visitors as they move
throughout product pages.
Encryption
Etailing
Firewall
Gateway
Infomediary
Luhn algorithm
The LUHN algorith is used for credit card number generation and
validation.
eCheck
Merchant account
A special account account where money from credit card sales is first
routed to and held before transfer to your own business account. This
process is usually fully automated in ecommerce transactions. Money
may be transferred into your standard business account in real-time or
during various points in a 24 hour period. A merchant account is a crucial
part of ecommerce.
P2P (Peer-to-Peer)
Payment threshold
Privacy policy
Scalability
Secure servers
Session cookie
Shareware
Software that is distributed at no cost that can be used for free for a
specific period of time or under certain circumstances to allow evaluation.
Shopping cart
Software that keeps track of items a visitor picks to buy from your site
until they proceed to the "checkout".
SOHO
Turnkey
Refers to an application that with very few adjustments is ready for use,
such as a remotely hosted shopping cart service.
User session
Each visit to a web site by one person. The session is usually "ended"
when all pages have been closed or after a specific time of inactivity.
WYSIWYG
What You See Is What You Get. An application that displays how the
resulting page will look as it is being developed by the user in which the
screen displays what the end result will look like, while the document is
being created or modified.
• Email
• Enterprise content management
• Instant messaging
• Newsgroups
• Online shopping and order tracking
• Online banking
• Online office suites
• Domestic and international payment systems
• Shopping cart software
• Teleconferencing
• Electronic tickets
1.4 forms
On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the
internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international
business. Data integrity and security are very hot and pressing issues for
electronic commerce today.
The technology should support the services. Select tools and technologies that
serve business goals. Do not define services according to the features and
functionality of the technologies.
Information exchange
Manufacturing management
Accounts settlement
Online sourcing
Public procurement
Post-sales service
Commercial auctions.
History of ecommerce dates back to the invention of the very old notion of
“sell and buy”, electricity, cables, computers, modems, and the Internet.
Ecommerce became possible in 1991 when the Internet was opened to
commercial use. Since that date thousands of businesses have taken up
residence at web sites.
Although the Internet began to advance in popularity among the general public in
1994, it took approximately four years to develop the security protocols (for
example, HTTP) and DSL which allowed rapid access and a persistent
connection to the Internet. In 2000 a great number of business companies in the
United States and Western Europe represented their services in the World Wide
Web. At this time the meaning of the word ecommerce was changed. People
began to define the term ecommerce as the process of purchasing of available
goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic
payment services. Although the dot-com collapse in 2000 led to unfortunate
results and many of ecommerce companies disappeared, the “brick and mortar”
retailers recognized the advantages of electronic commerce and began to add
such capabilities to their web sites (e.g., E-Commerce is not an entirely new type
of commerce. It first emerged in the 1960's on private networks, as typically
large organizations developed electronic data interchange (EDI) installations and
banks implemented electronic funds transfer (EFT). Today, however, E-
Commerce is no longer the exclusive domain of large organizations or private
networks. The open network Internet and particularly the World Wide Web not
only present new commercial potential for large organizations, but also provide a
viable entry point for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into E-
Commerce opportunities.
Even though E-Commerce has existed for over thirty years, it has just recently
sustained significant growth. In the past 5 years the Internet has transformed
from an auxiliary communication medium for academics and large organizations
into an entrenched communication medium that spans across nearly all parts of
mainstream society. E-Commerce growth is tied directly to these socio-
technological changes. The more entrenched the medium becomes, the more
users are drawn to it. An increase in users increases markets. As markets expand,
more businesses are attracted, which in turn drives the development of better,
more stable and secure technology to facilitate E-Commerce. A stable, secure
environment for exchanging mission-critical and monetary information only
draws more businesses and consumers to the Internet and ensures the growth
pattern continues. All these related factors contribute to a burgeoning E-
Commerce marketplace that should continue to grow well into the new
millennium.
Only now is it becoming apparent how large the potential for E-Commerce will
be in the next few years. With E-Commerce prospects continuing to improve,
most large corporations have already developed preliminary E-Commerce
strategies. Although many SMEs are not following this trend of large
corporations, others have found that a modest investment in a simple Web site
can develop into a commitment to E-Commerce as a major component of the
business plan. At this stage of development, E-Commerce is not an essential
operation for every type of SME, but in the near future it may become standard
for many.
Online vendors, in their turn, also get distinct advantages. The web and
its search engines provide a way to be found by customers without
expensive advertising campaign. Even small online shops can reach
global markets. Web technology also allows to track customer
preferences and to deliver individually-tailored marketing.
Chapter two
The web site should be designed to gently lead the client through the learning
and sales process. Your sales text must be grammatically sound and spelled
correctly. Poor spelling loses credibility points straight away.
Ensure that there is plenty of well laid out textual content on the site to attract
search engines as well as to inform prospective clients. Use keyword and
keyphrase rich text; that is, utilize copy that includes common phrases that
people would enter into search engines when performing a query. The copy you
use shouldn't just be informational, it needs to actively sell to the site visitor.
Learn more about crafting marketing copy and creating effective landing
pages.
Attracting search engines and targeted site traffic is a huge ongoing learning
curve, and there are plenty of other articles and tools on our site to assist you
with this. View our search engine marketing resources or our general
promotion archives.
Internet Explorer isn't the only browser on the market. There are currently over
100 different brands of Internet browser currently available. IE's major
competitor is Firefox and what looks good in Internet Explorer may look terrible
or even crash other browsers Between these two browsers, you'll have well over
90% of market covered. By paying attention to even simple things like browser
compatibility issues, you will increase your sales.
All images used should clearly depict the product/service and where possible,
don't use stock images that come with products such as Photoshop. Seasoned
Internet surfers will recognize these as they appear on thousands of sites around
the world. Use original photography or scanned images wherever you can, or
make use of the many stock photo archives where you can purchase high
quality images for as little as a couple of dollars each.
Ensure that you optimize your images for rapid download. Much of the world
still does not utilize broadband, and no-one is going to wait around for 2 minutes
to see a photo of a "happy customer" or "successful businessperson who uses our
product". All popular graphics packages support compression for web based
graphics, usually through easy to use wizards. Try your graphics software
program's help file and search for "optimization" or "compression".
Site Navigation.
Site navigation should be simple and all the questions a consumer may ask
should be answered along the way. Where possible, adhere to the "three click
rule" - that is, a visitor should be able to access any information regarding your
product or service within 3 clicks of any other area of your web site. Pay close
attention to cross-browser compatibility issues as many complex menu systems
play havoc with browsers.
Recommended pages.
Along with the home page, your sales pages and the shopping cart, I recommend
implementing the following web pages as part of your ecommerce site:
About Us Page.
Privacy policy.
What are you going to do with my information? - a question asked by many
online shoppers. Putting together a privacy policy doesn't necessarily require a
legal team! Learn more about developing Privacy statements.
No doubt you'll be asked many questions about your product. Many of these
questions will be repetitive. It's these questions and answers that you'll want to
add to your FAQ page. This promotes customer confidence and saves your
valuable time. A prospective client may be somewhat hesitant in asking
questions and this hesitancy may translate into a lost sale. A well constructed
FAQ will help coax these online customers into purchasing.
You don't need to spend a lot of money on a basic FAQ system. Simply list the
questions at the beginning of the FAQ in dot-point format, perhaps broken down
into various categories to make searching easier. Each of these questions should
be directly linked to the answer further down the page with the use of
bookmarks. This basic design also allows for scalability.
You can link to the FAQ not only through the main menu system, but after every
"buy me" type statement. The FAQ should be accessible within one click of any
other area of your web site that is dedicated to selling the product or service.
Testimonials page
A dollar value can not be placed upon positive client testimonials; this is some of
the best promotional copy around. Elicit feedback from your current customers
and ask their permission to publish their comments on your site.
:advantages 3.1
Advantages to Organizations
Due to the global reach of the Internet, businesses organizations are able
to send messages worldwide, exploring new markets and opportunities.
This breaks down geographic limitations, and reaches narrow markets
that traditional businesses have difficulties accessing. Through the
Internet, business now offer a wide range of choices and higher levels of
customer information and details for individuals to search and compare.
Some build-to-order companies such as Dell Computer Corp can even
provide a competitive advantage by inexpensive customization of
products and services.
Advantages to Consumers
Advantages to Society
For sellers, e-commerce offers a way to cut costs and expand their
markets. They do not need to build, staff, or maintain a physical store or
print and distribute mail order catalogs. Automated order tracking and
billing systems cut additional labor costs, and if the product or service can
be downloaded then e-commerce firms have no distribution costs
involved. Because the products can be sold sell over the global Internet,
sellers have the potential to market their products or services globally and
are not limited by the physical location of a store. Internet technologies
also permit sellers to track the interests and preferences of their
customers with the customer’s permission and then use this information
to build an ongoing relationship with the customer by customizing
.products and services to meet the customer’s needs
: Other advantages
100% Business Uptime
E-Commerce systems are available for people for 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week and 365 days a year. They never take a break or close down for
the day or take public holidays.
Global Access
Cost Efficiency
Delivery Time
Physical goods take some time to reach your home when you buy them
online whereas if you go to the local store and buy them, you can get
them instantly. Delivery times may range anywhere from a day to even a
month. Moreover, perishable goods cannot be considered to be shipped
for such long delivery times as they tend to get destroyed during transit.
Hesitancy
Online Safety
Online safety is a critical factor that most people consider before even
thinking of performing commercial transactions. Customers and
businesses should be assured of privacy implications, confidentiality,
security and like factors. An amount of trust has to be developed before
starting or involving into transactions.
Other drawbacks
One of the biggest drawbacks of e-commerce is that many people may
not be satisfied with the virtual experience of trading and buying products
lying possibly thousands of miles away just by seeing its picture.
International trade, import/export and global sourcing all involve great
geographical distances spanning over continents or nations, and this lack
of physical proximity comes to the disadvantages sometimes. Secondly
the question of safety of payments and trust is also there which will be
discussed in detail in another article. For many people e-commerce is not
about big international trade, import/export or global sourcing but simply
about enjoying shopping over the net, and sometimes the electronic
experience does not satisfy their social needs or holiday lust hence they
become distanced to the concept of e-commerce. From the seller's point
of view, e-commerce does not offer a direct face to face proximity with
the probable customer and therefore things may not work out the way
they would have done otherwise. However many times international
trade, import/export and global sourcing does require personal interaction
for a couple of times before things can later be carried out via e-
commerce. Therefore in such cases, e-commerce tends to act as an
extension of the trader for carrying out activities related to international
trade, import/export and global sourcing rather than as an alternative for
it.
Many products are such that it is not possible to check them online for
their effectiveness in terms of customer satisfaction parameters. For
example if someone wants to buy a comfortable sofa set, no amount of
pictures would deliver the experience of sitting on that sofa if it were
present in a shop having physical proximity to the customer.
Expedite billing
Technical Limitations of EC
NonTechnical Limitations
8- In most applications there are not yet enough sellers and buyers for
profitable EC operations.
12-Costs involved with bandwidth and other computer and server costs
17-Search utilities far surpasses the speed used to find products through
catalogs
References
:websites
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles/ecommerce.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org
Contact me : hany_hagr40@yahoo.com