AN INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONIC COMMERCE What is Commerce?

Traditional commerce may be defined as The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic. What is E-Commerce? Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is a general term for any type of business, or commercial transaction that involves the transfer of information across the Internet. This covers a range of different types of businesses from consumer-based retail sites, like Amazon.com, through auction and music sites like eBay or MP3.com, to business exchanges trading goods or services between corporations. -Can also be defined as the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. In practice, this term and a newer term, e-business, are often used interchangeably. For online retail selling, the term e-tailing is sometimes used. These internet shops that facilitate transactions are known as: virtual shops, cyber-shops, dot-com shops or estores. These shops have a web address ending with a .com and are and are connected to the World Wide Web. For example, the address for a music and books shop in india is: www.fabmart.com BUSINESS PROCESSES SUITED TO CERTAIN TYPE OF COMMERCE E-commerce Sale/purchase of books & CDs, travel services, investments and insurance services Online delivery of software Online shipment tracking E-commerce & Traditional Sale/purchase of automobiles and residential real estate (e.g. do research online then buy from a dealer or real estate agent) Online banking Roommate matching service Traditional Sale/purchase of impulse items for immediate use, high fashion jewelry and antiques (personal inspection required; prefer to touch, smell or examine closely) Small denomination purchases and sales (since there is not yet a standard for transferring small amounts of money)

What Are the Advantages of E-commerce? 1. Increases sales, decreases cost Allows small businesses to have global customer base Reduced cost through electronic sales enquires, price quotes and order taking 2. Provides purchasing opportunities for buyers (businesses can identify new suppliers and partners) 3. Increase speed and accuracy for exchanged information, thus reducing cost 4. Business can be transacted 24hrs a day
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The level of detail of purchase information is selected by user Digital products can be delivered instantly Tax refunds, public retirement and welfare support costs less when distributed over the Internet Allows products and services to be available in remote areas, e.g. remote learning

What Are the Disadvantages of E-commerce? 1. Inability to sell some products (e.g. high cost jewelry and perishable foods, although supermarkets like www.Tesco.com delivers to your home) 2. The newness and evolution of the current technology 3. Many products require a large number of people to purchase to be viable 4. High capital investment 5. Difficulty in integrating current databases and transaction processing systems into e-commerce solutions 6. Cultural and legal obstacles a. Transmission of credit card details b. Some consumers resistant to change c. Laws are unclear 7. Shipping profile: Products with a low value-to-weight ratio that cannot be efficiently packed and shipped are unsuitable (use traditional commerce) TYPES OF E-COMMERCE There are five general e-commerce categories: 1. B2C e-commerce Description: Businesses sell products or services to individual customers (consumers) Example: Walmart.com sells merchandise to consumers through its Web site Web site: www.walmart.com 2. B2B E-commerce Description: Businesses sell products or services to other businesses Example: Grainger.com sells industrial supplies to large and small businesses through its Web site Web site: www.grainger.com 3. Mobile commerce (m-commerce) -M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless technologyi.e., handheld devices such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Japan is seen as a global leader in m-commerce. 4. C2C e-commerce Description: Participants in an online marketplace can buy and sell goods with each other Example: Consumers and businesses trade with each other on eBay.com Web site: www.ebay.com 5. B2G e-commerce Description: Business sells goods or services to governments and government agencies Example: Cal-Buy portal for businesses that want to sell online to the State of California Web site: www.pd.dgs.ca.gov/calbuy/default.htm E-commerce Categories Example
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You are a computer manufacturing company who performs the following activities on the Internet: o Sells computers to individuals (B2C) o Purchases parts (e.g. hard drives, power supplies etc.) from a supplier (B2B) o Hires staff, manage customer accounts, advertise, etc. (Business processes) o Sells computers to the Government to be used in schools (B2G) o On eBay.com individuals buy and sell this brand of computers (C2C)\

E-government (Electronic government) Definitions -E-Government' (or Digital Government) is defined as The utilization of the Internet and the world-wide-web for delivering government information and services to the citizens. (United Nations, 2006; AOEMA, 2005) '-Electronic Government' essentially refers to the approach How government utilized IT, ICT, and other webbased telecommunication technologies to improve and/or enhance on the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery in the public sector. (Jeong, 2007) -E-government describes the use of technologies to facilitate the operation of government and the disbursement of government information and services. E-government, short for electronic government, deals heavily with Internet and non-internet applications to aid in governments. E-government includes the use of electronics in government as large-scale as the use of telephones and fax machines, as well as surveillance systems, tracking systems, and even the use of television and radios to provide government-related information and services to the citizens. E-learning E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process. The term will still most likely be utilized to reference out-of-classroom and inclassroom educational experiences via technology, even as advances continue in regard to devices and curriculum. E-learning is essentially the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. E-learning applications and processes include Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual education opportunities and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. It can be self-paced or instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and audio. Abbreviations like CBT (Computer-Based Training), IBT (Internet-Based Training) or WBT (Web-Based Training) have been used as synonyms to e-learning. Today one can still find these terms being used, along with variations of e-learning such as elearning, Elearning, and eLearning.