What are the four types of consumer-oriented applications of e-commerce?

The different applications which are available in E-commerce are mainly utilized in
different ways for entertainment, financial services educational training, information
capturing, business development aspects. To maintain all these features in E-commerce
we undergo the concept of consumer oriented E-commerce which helps in satisfaction
of the customer.

These applications are faster, low-cost transmission of the data is very fast as it is in
digital mode, convenient to all the users. Let us explain four various types of consumer-
oriented applications of e-commerce.

1. Personal finance and home banking management:- The technology for paying

bills, whether by computer or telephone is infinitely more sophisticated than any on the
market a few years ago. Customer’s interest in home banking has resumed, fueled by
growing comfort – or at least familiarity – with electronics, by greater demands on
consumer time and by the expanding needs for information to manage the increasing
complexity of household.

2. Microtransaction of information:- To serve the information needs of the

consumer, service providers whose product is information delivered over the I-way are
creating an entirely new industry. Most sell any form of digital information and can be
sent down the network of one sort or another such as data, picture, images, sounds,
computer programs, and services. A few sell products such as music books, clothing etc
through online catalogs.

3. Entertainment:- Every user has got the right to freedom where he/she can get
total entertainment by watching the selected movies or by playing games in their
application device. The entertainment which is gained is of very low cost but it gives a
great enjoyment or fun to the user by the utilization of these features.

4. Home shopping:- One of the examples often sighted about e-commerce is home

shopping which is widely used and had generated substantial revenue for many
companies racing to develop online malls. The malls will enable a customer to enter an
online store to look at products, try on computerized clothes, and see a reflection in a
digital mirror and purchase with overnight delivery against credit card billing.

What is e-commerce? What are its applications?

The term “Electronic commerce” (or e-Commerce) is use of an electronic
medium to carry out commercial transactions. Most of the time, it refers to the
sale of products through Internet.

Definition of E-commerce: Sharing business information, maintaining business

relationships and conducting business transactions using computers
connected to telecommunication network is called E-Commerce.

In a nutshell e-commerce is the process of buying and selling of produce and

products by electronic means such as by mobile applications and the Internet.
E-commerce refers to both online retail as well as electronic transactions. E-
commerce has increased in popularity enormously in the last decades, and in
ways, it is replacing traditional brick and mortar stores.
E-commerce allows you to buy and sell products on a global scale, twenty-four
hours a day without having the same overheads as you would with a brick and
motor store. For the best marketing mix and the best conversion rate, an E-
commerce venture will also have a physical presence, this business is known
as a click and mortar store.

APPLICATIONS OF E-COMMERCE:

The applications of E-commerce are used in various business areas such as

retail and wholesale and manufacturing. The most common E-commerce
applications are as follows:

1. Online marketing and purchasing

Data collection about customer behavior, preferences, needs and buying
patterns is possible through Web and E-commerce. This helps marketing
activities such as price fixation, negotiation, product feature enhancement and
relationship with the customer.

1. Retail and wholesale

E-commerce has a number of applications in retail and wholesale. E-retailing
or on-line retailing is the selling of goods from Business-to-Consumer through
electronic stores that are designed using the electronic catalog and shopping
cart model. Cyber mall is a single Website that offers different products and
services at one Internet location. It attracts the customer and the seller into
one virtual space through a Web browser.

1. Finance
Financial companies are using E-commerce to a large extent. Customers can
check the balances of their savings and loan accounts, transfer money to their
other account and pay their bill through on-line banking or E-banking. Another
application of E-commerce is on-line stock trading. Many Websites provide
access to news, charts, information about company profile and analyst rating
on the stocks.

1. Manufacturing
E-commerce is also used in the supply chain operations of a company. Some
companies form an electronic exchange by providing together buy and sell
goods, trade market information and run back office information such as
inventory control.

1. Online Auction
Customer-to-Customer E-commerce is direct selling of goods and services
among customers. It also includes electronic auctions that involve bidding.

1. E-Banking
Online banking or E- banking is an electronic payment system that enables
customers of a financial institution to conduct financial transactions on a
website operated by the institution, Online banking is also referred as internet
banking, e-banking, virtual banking and by other terms.

1. Online publishing
Electronic publishing (also referred to as e-publishing or digital publishing)
includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the
development of digital libraries and catalogs.

1. Online booking (ticket, seat.etc)

An Internet booking engine is an application which helps the travel and
tourism industry support reservation through the Internet. It helps consumers
to book flights, hotels, holiday packages, insurance and other services online.
This is a much needed application for the aviation industry as it has become
one of the fastest growing sales channels.

Here are some advantages of E-Commerce -

1. Cost-effective

2. Secure

3. Easy to find products

4. Faster buying & selling system

5. Doesn't require any physical shop.

6. Represent your business in the world

7. A huge amount of profit

8. Gain your new customer

9. Boost conversation rate

There are multiple e-commerce platforms for building a website.

Anatomy of E-Commerce applications

•Multimedia Content for E-Commerce Applications
•Multimedia Storage Servers & E-Commerce Applications

              i. Client-Server Architecture in Electronic Commerce   

              ii. Internal Processes of Multimedia Servers

              iii. Video Servers & E-Commerce

•Information Delivery/Transport & E-Commerce Applications

•Consumer Access Devices

Multimedia Content for E-Commerce Applications

•Multimedia content can be considered both fuel and traffic for electronic commerce
applications.

•The technical definition of multimedia is the use of digital data in more than one
format, such as the combination of text, audio, video, images, graphics, numerical
data, holograms, and animations in a computer file/document. See in Fig.

•Multimedia is associated with Hardware components in different networks.

•The Accessing of multimedia content depends on the hardware capabilities of the

customer.

Multimedia Storage Servers & E-Commerce Applications

•E-Commerce requires robust servers to store and distribute large amounts of digital
content to consumers.

•These Multimedia storage servers are large information warehouses capable of

handling various content, ranging from books, newspapers, advertisement catalogs,
movies, games, & X-ray images.

•These servers, deriving their name because they serve information upon request, must
handle large-scale distribution, guarantee security, & complete reliability

i. Client-Server Architecture in Electronic Commerce

•All e-commerce applications follow the client-server model

•Clients are devices plus software that request information from servers or interact
known as message passing
•Mainframe computing , which meant for “dump”

•The client server model, allows client to interact with server through request-reply
sequence governed by a paradigm known as message passing.

•The server manages application tasks, storage & security & provides scalability-ability
to add more clients and client devices( like Personal digital assistants to Pc’s. See in fig.

ii. Internal Processes of Multimedia Servers

•The internal processes involved in the storage, retrieval & management of multimedia
data objects are integral to e-commerce applications.

•A multimedia server is a hardware & software combination that converts raw data into
usable information & then dishes out.

•It captures, processes, manages, & delivers text, images, audio & video.

•It must do to handle thousands of simultaneous users.

•Include high-end symmetric multiprocessors, clustered architecture, and massive

parallel systems.

iii. Video Servers & E-Commerce

The electronic commerce applications related to digital video will include

                       1. Telecommunicating and video conferencing

                       2. Geographical information systems that require storage &     

                            navigation over maps

                       3. Corporate multimedia servers

                       4. Postproduction studios

                       5. shopping kiosks.

•Consumer applications will include video-on-demand.

•The figure which is of video–on demand consist video servers, is an link between the
content providers (media) & transport providers (cable operators)
Information Delivery/Transport & E-Commerce Applications

•Transport providers are principally telecommunications, cable, & wireless industries.

   

    Information Transport Providers                    Information Delivery Methods

•Telecommunication companies                    long-distance telephone lines;

                                                                           local telephone lines

•Cable television companies                         Cable TV coaxial, fiber optic &

                                                                           satellite lines

•Computer-based on-line servers                  Internet; commercial on-line

                                                                          service providers

•Wireless communications                           Cellular & radio networks;

                                                                          paging systems

                                                                            

Consumer Access Devices

  Information Consumers                                        Access Devices

•Computers with audio & video                    Personal/desktop computing

      capabilities                                                   Mobile computing

•Telephonic devices                                      Videophone

•Consumer electronics                                   Television + set-top box Game

                                                                            systems

•Personal digital assistants (PDAs)                Pen-based computing, voice-

                                                                            driven computing

An expression of interest (EOI) is an informal offer made by a strategic or financial

buyer for the purchase of a business.
 An Expression of Interest (EOI) is one of the initial transaction documents. ...
The EOI indicates a serious interest from the buyer that their company would be
interested to pay a certain valuation and acquire the seller's company through a formal
offer.

Expressions of interest, or EOI, in real estate are used to gather offers for properties
without disclosing the price for which the vendor is prepared to sell. ... Expressions
of interest are used by agents so they don't scare off potential buyers for a property
by quoting a price range

Writing Your Expression of Interest

1. Open with a formal salutation. ...

2. Briefly introduce yourself. ...
3. Explain your work history and how it qualifies you for the job. ...
4. List your relevant skills. ...
5. Explain why you, specifically, are a great choice. ...
6. Conclude graciously but briefly.

Documents used for EOI. ... They provide information about how the documents are

issued, what aspect of the EOI Standard they meet and document verification
guidance.