E-Commerce

Usman Nisar
Department of Computer Science and Information Technology University of Peshawar Pakistan

E & Commerce
According to Dictionary.com Commerce is defined as The buying and selling of goods, especially on large scale. When we add E for Electronic. It derives the definition buying and selling of goods electronically. This typically mean that orders and payments pass electronically.

What is E-Commerce
Commonly known as Electronic Marketing. It consist of buying and selling goods and services over an electronic systems Such as the internet and other computer networks. E-commerce is the purchasing, selling and exchanging goods and services over computer networks (internet) through which transaction or terms of sale are performed Electronically.

Defining E-Commerce From Different Perspectives

Communications

From a communication perspective, ecommerce is the delivery of goods, services, information, or payments over computer networks or by any other electronic means.

Commercial (trading)

From a commercial perspective, ecommerce provides the capability of buying and selling products, services and information on the Internet and via other online services.

Business Process

From a business process perspective, ecommerce is doing business electronically by completing business processes over electronic networks.

Service

From a service perspective, e-commerce is a tool that addresses the desire of governments, firms, consumers, and management to cut service costs while improving the quality of customer service and increasing the speed of service delivery.

Learning

From a learning perspective, e-commerce is an enabler of online training and education in schools, universities, and other organizations.

Community

From a community perspective, ecommerce provides a gathering place for community members to learn transact and collaborate.

Brief History Of E-Commerce

1970s: Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

Used by the banking industry to exchange account information over secured networks

Late 1970s and early 1980s: Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for e-commerce within companies
Used by businesses to transmit data from one business to another

1990s: the World Wide Web on the Internet provides easy-to-use technology for information publishing and dissemination
Cheaper to do business (economies of scale) Enable diverse business activities (economies of scope

Why
Use E-Commerce .?

Here are some of the most common Reasons

Low Entry Cost

A company can establish itself on the Internet, and open for business, with a relatively small investment. Thousands of companies operate simple, inexpensive sites that are successful in their markets

Reduces Transaction Costs

Dealing with customers over the Web, whether to process orders or to attend to customer support, is cheaper than traditional marketing methods. For example, Dell Computer Corporation estimates that it saves eight dollars each time a customer checks the status of an order at the Dell Web site, instead of calling the company.

Access to the global market

With a traditional business, the target market may be the local community or, with a higher advertising budget, it may extend to neighboring communities. The Web extends the reach of even the smallest businesses by allowing them to market products globally.

Online distribution

The Web enables businesses to distribute data and software online

Secure market share

Getting a business online protects its current offline market share from being eroded by an online entrepreneur. If a business enters the e-commerce market too late, competitors who have already established a Web presence may make a successful market entry more difficult.

The Process Of E-Commerce

A consumer uses Web browser to connect to the home page of a merchant's Web site on the Internet. The consumer browses the catalog of products featured on the site and selects items to purchase. The selected items are placed in the electronic equivalent of a shopping cart. When the consumer is ready to complete the purchase of selected items, she provides a bill-to and ship-to address for purchase and delivery

When the merchant's Web server receives this information, it computes the total cost of the order--including tax, shipping, and handling charges--and then displays the total to the customer.

The customer can now provide payment information, such as a credit card number, and then submit the order.

When the credit card number is validated and the order is completed at the Commerce Server site, the merchant's site displays a receipt confirming the customer's purchase. The Commerce Server site then forwards the order to a Processing Network for payment processing and fulfillment.

Types Of E-Commerce

Business-to-business (B2B)

Business-to-business is a term commonly used to describe electronic commerce transactions between businesses

Business-to-consumer (B2C):

Business-to-consumer describes activities of E-businesses serving end consumers with products and/or services

Business-to-Government (B2G)

Business to Government is a derivative of B2B marketing and referred to as a market definition of "Public Sector Marketing" which encompasses marketing products and services to the U.S. Government through Integrated Marketing Communications techniques

Business-to-Employee (B2E)

Business-to-employee (B2E) electronic commerce uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees. Typically, companies use B2E networks to automate employee-related corporate processes.

Examples of B2E applications include:

Online insurance policy management Corporate announcement dissemination Online supply requests Special employee offers Employee benefits reporting

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)

It involves the electronically-facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is the online auction, in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it; the third party generally charges a flat fee or commission. The sites are only intermediaries, just there to match consumers. They do not have to check quality of the products being offered.

PROS AND CONS OF E-COMMERCE

PROS

No checkout queues

Reduce prices
You can shop anywhere in the world Easy access 24 hours a day Wide selection to cater for all consumers

CONS

Unable to examine products personally

Not everyone is connected to the Internet There is the possibility of credit card number theft On average only 1/9th of stock is available on the net

Overview of E-commerce In Pakistan

In Pakistan banking is helping Ecommerce to grow in Pakistan. Almost all banks in Pakistan have converted into online banking and helping their clients by giving modern e-commerce banking facilities such as online banking, mobile banking, credit card, ATM facility and also the online payment of the utility bills

Growth of e-commerce in Pakistan

The number of Internet users in Pakistan is growing fast. According to the governments economic survey for 2005/06, there were an estimated 2.1m Internet subscribers and about 10m Internet users in June 2005 (latest figures available). Internet access had expanded from 29 cities in August 2000 to 2,339 cities and towns by June 2006. Optical-fiber networks were available in 500 cities in June 2006, compared with 53 cities in August 2000. Pakistan had 170 Internet service providers in June 2006.

Half of the countrys 7,000 commercialbank branches, including 90% of the branches in urban areas, had been computerized by August 2006. Many banks and exchange companies offer online funds transfers from overseas, such as for workers remittances. A few of banks offer mobile-phone banking, where customers can pay utility bills using their mobile phones

Websites doing e-commerce business in Pakistan

As E-commerce is not widely adopted by the people of Pakistan, Some big companies are still doing a successful business in e-commerce. Some of them include: MallBazar Private Limited Beliscity.com

MallBazar Private Limited

MallBazar is a Karachi-based business which concentrates in auction, trading and classifiedservices online for Pakistan. MallBazar offers the most convenient, inexpensive, dependable online services. Through consumer-satisfaction-driven sound practices such as using the Internet to allow perspective sellers and buyers to do trading online without having to hassle anywhere else. MallBazar is able to offer competitive pricing that is easily able to undercut competing merchandise services in Pakistan.

Beliscity.com
Founded in 2001 Beliscity.com is the leading online shopping mall in Pakistan with an office in Dubai, UAE offering a huge range of products from the world's leading manufacturers to thousands of retail and corporate customers across the globe. The customers are privileged with a quick, easy and reliable way of buying the products they want, at the most competitive prices with direct delivery to their door FREE of cost in Pakistan and UAE.