E-BUSINESS

DEFINITIONS
1. The practice of servicing businesses or employees over the Internet; The practice of running a business over the Internet; e-commerce; A business that operates partially or primarily over the Internet, usually providing services to other businesses en.wiktionary.org/wiki/e-business

2. Encompasses all of what has been called e-commerce, and includes every aspect of the organizations strategy and operations. In its narrowest sense, e-business means the use of information and the Internet technologies to conduct business between buyers, sellers and other trading partners. www.geemultimedia.com.au/glossary.asp

3. The use of Web-based technology to improve performance, create value and strengthen relationships with customers, suppliers, business partners, shareholders and employees. www.spectraenergy.com/investors/glossary/e/

4. The processes and tools that allow an organization to use Internet-based technologies and infrastructure, both internally and externally, to conduct day to day business process operations. www.cylogy.com/library/glossary.html

5. The use of information technology among buyers, sellers and other trading partners for

the purpose of improving customer service, reducing costs, and opening new markets and channels to increase shareholder value. ecommerce.etsu.edu/Glossary.htm

E-COMMERCE
DEFINITIONS
1. E-commerce (or electronic commerce) is any business transaction whose price or essential terms were negotiated over an online system such as an Internet, Extranet, Electronic Data Interchange network, or electronic mail system
bhs.econ.census.gov/econhelp/glossary/

2. Buying and selling items over the Internet. Amazon and eBay are prime examples, but many major businesses have an e-commerce component.

www.barcodesinc.com/articles/economic-and-retail-terms.htm

3. This contract contemplates the possibility of an e-commerce enabled site. If a shopping cart is required for the Client's site, default software and the host will be chosen following discussion between the Developer and the Client.

www.zirconplace.com/terms.htm

4. Ability to conduct business (buy and sell) via the Internet. Requires programming within the website along with payment processing abilities.

www.ideabankmarketing.com/resources/glossaries/interactive

5. Buying and selling of goods and services by means of the Net and the mobile telephony without there exists no kind of physical contact between buyer and seller. www.latencia.com/marketingglossary.html

TYPES OF E-COMMERCE

1. Business to Consumer (B2C) - As the name suggests, it is the model involving businesses and consumers. This is the most common e-commerce segment. In this model, online businesses sell to individual consumers. When B2C started, it had a small share in the market but after 1995 its growth was exponential. The basic concept behind this type is that the online retailers and marketers can sell their products to the online consumer by using crystal clear data which is made available via various online marketing tools. E.g. An online pharmacy giving free medical consultation and selling medicines to patients is following B2C model. 2. Business to Business (B2B) - It is the largest form of e-commerce involving business of trillions of dollars. In this form, the buyers and sellers are both business entities and do not involve an individual consumer. It is like the manufacturer supplying goods to the retailer or wholesaler. E.g. Dell sells computers and other related accessories online but it is does not manufacture all those products. So, in order to sell those products, it first purchases them from different businesses i.e. the manufacturers of those products. 3. Consumer to Consumer (C2C) - It facilitates the online transaction of goods or services between two people. Though there is no visible intermediary involved but the parties cannot carry out the transactions without the platform which is provided by the online market maker such as eBay. 4. Peer to Peer (P2P) - Though it is an e-commerce model but it is more than that. It is a technology in itself which helps people to directly share computer files and computer resources without having to go through a central web server. To use this, both sides need to install the required software so that they can communicate on the common platform. This type of ecommerce has quite low revenue generation as from the beginning it has been inclined to the free usage due to which it sometimes got entangled in cyber laws. 5. M-Commerce - It refers to the use of mobile devices for conducting the transactions. The mobile device holders can contact each other and can conduct the business. Even the web design and development companies optimize the websites to be viewed correctly on mobile devices. There are other types of e-commerce business models too like Business to Employee (B2E), Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Citizen (G2C) but in essence they are similar to the above mentioned types. Moreover, it is not necessary that these models are dedicatedly followed in all the online business types. It may be the case that a business is using all the models or only one of them or some of them as per its needs.

FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE

Ubiquity: In traditional commerce, a marketplace is a physical place we visit in order to transact. For example, television and radio are typically directed to motivating the customer to go someplace to make a purchase. E-commerce is ubiquitous, meaning that it is available just about everywhere at all times. It liberates the market from being restricted to a physical space and makes it possible to shop from your desktop. The result is called a market space. From consumer point of view, ubiquity reduces transaction costs - the cost of participating in a market. To transact, it is no longer necessary that you spend time and money traveling to a market. At a broader level, the ubiquity of e-commerce lowers the cognitive energy required to complete a task. Global Reach: E-commerce technology permits commercial transactions to cross cultural and national boundaries far more conveniently and effectively as compared to traditional commerce. As a result, the potential market size for e-commerce merchants is roughly equal to the size of world's online population. Universal Standards: One strikingly unusual feature of e-commerce technologies is that the technical standards of the Internet and therefore the technical standards for conducting e-commerce are universal standards i.e. they are shared by all the nations around the world. Interactivity: Unlike any of the commercial technologies of the twentieth century, with the possible exception of the telephone, e-commerce technologies are interactive, meaning they allow for two-way communication between merchants and consumer. Information Density and Richness: The Internet vastly increase information density. It is the total amount and quality of information available to all market participants, consumers and merchants. E-commerce technologies reduce information collection, storage, communication and processing costs. At the same time, these technologies increase greatly the accuracy and timeliness of information, making information more useful and important than ever. As a result, information becomes plentiful, cheaper and of higher quality. Information richness refers to the complexity and content of a message. 4

Personalization: E-commerce technologies permit personalization. Merchants can target their marketing messages to specific individuals by adjusting the message to a person's name, interests and past purchases. The technology also permits customization. Merchants can change the product or service based on user's preferences or prior behavior. E-commerce technologies make it possible for merchants to know much more about consumers and use this information more effectively than ever before. Online merchants can use this information to develop new information asymmetries, enhance their ability to brand products, charge premium prices for high quality service and segment the market into an endless number of subgroups, each receiving a different price. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shailendra_Sial