Concept Of E-Commerce

E-COMMERCE:

"E-COMMERCE or Electronics Commerce is a type of industry for purchasing, selling and exchanging goods and services over computer networks (internet ) through which transaction or terms of sale are performed electronically. It consists of buying and selling goods and services over an electronic system, such as the internet and other computer networks."

IT IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS ELECTRONIC MARKETING

ROLE OF E-COMMERCE

ELECTRONIC BANKING: many banks are now introducing electronic banking. Using our computer, we can connect to the bank's computer system via the internet and control our daily financial dealing from home.

ELECTRONIC SHOPPING: it has become a very easy and  fast approach for a user to shop from home using the internet. Different manufactures present their products on the internet. People can browse their choice of product, place an order and even make a payment using a credit card. It has made shopping very easy.

CONDUCTING AUCTIONS: auction sites through which a user can buy or sell any item or product.

TYPES OF E-COMMERCE:

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B): it is simply defined as e-commerce between companies. This is the type of e-commerce that deals with the relationship between and among businesses. Online transactions are made between businesses and individual consumers. For example; Amazon, Ebay.com.

LEADING ITEMS IN B2B E-COMMERCE:

1. ELECTRONICS

2. SHIPPING AND WAREHOUSING

3. MOTOR VEHICLES

4. PETROCHEMICALS

5. PAPER

6. OFFICE PRODUCTS

7. FOOD

8. AGRICULTURE

BUSINESS TO CONSUMER (B2C): or commerce between companies and consumers, involves customers gathering information; purchasing physical goods, and for information goods, receiving products over an electronic network. It is the second-largest and the earliest form of e-commerce.

KEY FEATURES OF B2C E-COMMERCE:

1. HEAVY ADVERTISING IS REQUIRED TO ATTRACT A LARGE NO OF CUSTOMERS.

2. HIGH INVESTMENT IN TERMS OF HARDWARE/SOFTWARE.

3. SUPPORT OF GOOD CUSTOMER CARE SERVICE.

     Many experts predict that Business-to-Business e-commerce will continue to grow faster than the Business-to-Consumer segment. The Business-to-Business market has two primary components: e-infrastructure and e-markets. For example, tire manufacture might sell to a car manufacturer.

BUSINESS TO GOVERNMENT (B2G): is generally defined as commerce between companies and the public sector.

MOBILE COMMERCE OR M-COMMERCE is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless technology- i.e., handheld devices such as cellular telephones, mobile ticketing, mobile banking, etc.

ADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE:

1. TIME-SAVING: it's the first reason for using electronic commerce. People have easy access to their money and what they need to buy all from a desktop computer.

2. ACCESS TO A WIDER RANGE OF PRODUCTS: companies use internet sites as a medium to display their products, so consumers can browse, buy from many different sellers and making it easier to find exactly what they are looking for.

3. ALLOWS SMALL BUSINESSES TO MIX WITH BIG BUSINESS ONLINE: with a relatively low cost, a new business can be set to conduct transactions online.

4. BENEFITS TO SUPPLIERS OF GOODS AND SERVICES: companies can now easily reach their target audience; can go international with their products and services, providing them a way of  supplying their goods to places that were unreachable before.

5. BUSINESS IS OPEN THROUGHOUT THE YEAR: they are open for business every hour of the day, every day of the week, and every week of the year.

6. WORLDWIDE PRESENCE: online advertising makes a big or small firm's promotional message reach out to potential customers all over the world quickly and cost-effectively.

7. THINKING OUTSIDE THE GLOBE: selling something made by someone else and shipped by yet another is the biggest advantage e-commerce brings to the business world. International staff can also be employed in other countries to do the required work.

RISK FACTORS OF E-COMMERCE:

1. No reliability: Anyone can easily start a business. And there are many bad sites which eat up customer's money.

2. Compromise with the product quality, may vary from the real product picture shown many times.

3. Technical/Mechanical failures can cause total failure of the processes during the money transfer.

4. As there is a minimum chance of direct customer-to-company interactions, customer loyalty is always in check.

5. Many hackers look for opportunities, and thus an e-commerce site, service, payment gateways, all are prone to attack.

POPULAR E-COMMERCE SITES:

1. WWW.AMAZON.COM

2. WWW.EBAY.COM

3. WWW.FLIPKART.COM