INTRODUCTION

MEANING:
E-Commerce or Electronics Commerce is a methodology of modern business, which addresses the need
of business organizations, vendors and customers to reduce cost and improve the quality of goods and
services while increasing the speed of delivery.

E-commerce refers to the paperless exchange of business information using the following ways:
Electronic Data Exchange (EDI)

 Electronic Mail (e-mail)

 Electronic Bulletin Boards

 Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)

 Other Network-based technologies

DEFINITION:
E-commerce is a subject which researched show to use electronic and information technology to
promote the traditional business process to change profoundly. The subject is still at its infant
age and is fast developing. Its theoretical system is still being constructed and perfected. Under
such circumstance, this book tries to choose the contents that are fixed, and closely related with
E-commerce as the subject system of E-commerce.

Interaction between communication systems, data management systems and security, which
because of them exchange commercial information in relation to the sale products or services,
will be available, so the definition, the main components of electronic commerce are:
communication systems, data management systems and security.

History
In the 1970s, the term electronic commerce, referred to electronic data exchange for sending
business documents such as purchase orders and voices electronically. Later, with the
development of this industry the term of electronic commerce is used to business of goods and
services via the web. When the first World Wide Web was introduced in 1994 as a
comprehensive, many well-known researchers have been predicated this type of business “the
web-based business” will became soon an important in the world economy, but it took four years
that http based protocols should be widely available to users.

The first electronic commerce created in USA and some European countries in 1998. These
types of business are formed with beginner and unprofessional websites and it has been
expanded rapidly. Electronic commerce was spread rapidly in most cities in America, Europe
and East Asia in 2005. Some say dates of electronic commerce return to prior of the Internet, but
due to the costs of this style of business, only business and financial institutions and corporations
could use it. But with the widespread use of the Internet to all of the people and change the
structure of electronic commerce, this kind of business from specific business case for a
particular group out and became the industrial form.

Frameworks
Electronic commerce framework is comprised of three levels that this framework is needed to
for successful electronic commerce.

1. Infrastructure: The first part of the framework for electronic commerce is including
hardware, software, databases and communications. It is used in term of World Wide Web on the
Internet or other message switching methods on the Internet or other telecommunication
networks.

2. Services :The second part of the framework include a wide range of services that provide the
ability to find and present of information and are including the search for trading partners,
negotiation and agreements

3. Products and Structures :This section of the electronic commerce frameworks consist
forecasts and direct provision of goods, services and traderelated information to customers and
business partners, cooperation and sharing of information within and outside the organization
and organizing of environment of electronic marketplace and chain of supply and support.

The First layer: Network Infrastructure

Also known as the “Information Superhighway”, network infrastructure is the foundation layer
of hardware infrastructure. It is a mixture of many forms of information transport systems, which
include telecom, cable TV, wireless and the Internet.  These systems, in particular the Internet,
provide various types of telecommunication channels for transmission of contents used in e-
commerce.

The Second Layer: Multimedia Content and Network Publishing

While the Information Superhighway is the transportation basis that allows content such as text,
sounds and images to be transmitted, the second layer provides an architecture that enables
the content to be developed in a programming language know as Hyper Text Markup
Language (HTML) for publishing on the World Wide Web (WWW).  Another programming
language in use is Java, which enables multimedia content to be transmitted to end users’
personal computers via various networks such as cable, wireless, fiber optics and satellites.

The Third layer: Messaging and Information Dissemination

Messaging transmission is usually done by the following technologies:

Communicating non-formatted data: by using facsimile, electronic mail, which mainly directs to
individuals.
Communicating formatted data: by using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) without human
intervention.  It is mainly used for business documents such as purchase orders, invoices and
packing lists.  Messaging transmission technology has encouraged business process
automation.
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP):  HTTP is an information dissemination tool generally
used on the Internet.  It uses a common display format to publish non-formatted multimedia
messages in various environments.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL):  URL is at present used by many web surfers to search for
information.

The Fourth layer: Security Protection in Business Services

This layer is regarded as the essential facilities for doing business because it is required by both
business corporations and individuals in business transactions. The facilities include standardized
product catalogues, price lists, electronic payment methods, secured transmission of business
information, and the authentication of identity of both trading parties. 

The Fifth layer: Practical Application of E-commerce

E-commerce is widely employed in supply chain management, electronic marketing, electronic
advertising, online shopping, online entertainment, pay-information service and network
banking.

E-Business and E-Commerce

What is E-Commerce?
E-Commerce, or the short for “Electronic Commerce” is the process of selling and buying which
done via the web or the internet. Unlike the physical store, in E-Commerce, there is no need for
the buyer and the seller to meet with each other in order to do the whole selling and buying
process.

What is E-Business?
E-Business or Electronic Business refers to the use of internet, extranet, web, and intranet to
conduct businesses. E-Business is quite similar to E-Commerce, but it is more than just a simple
act of buying and selling products and services online.

E-Commerce E-business

1. E-commerec involves commercial 1. E-business is conduct of business

transactions done over internet. processes on the internet

2. E-commerce is subset of E-business. 2. E-business is superset of E-business.

3. E-commerce usually requires the use 3. E-business involves the use of CRM'S,
 ERP'S that connect different business
of just a website.
processes.

4. E-commerce just involves buying and 4. E-business includes all kind of pre-sale
selling of products and services. and post-sale efforts.

5.It is a broader concept that involves market

5. E-commerce is narrower concept and
surveying, supply chain and logistic
restricted to buying and selling.
management and using datamining.

6. It is used in the context of B2B

6. It is more appropriate in B2C context.
transactions.

7. E-commerce involves the mandatory 7. E-business can involve the use of internet,
use of Internet. intranet or extranet.

8.Example : Using of internet by dell,

8. Example : Buying of pendrive from
Amazon for maintaining business processes
Amazon.com,alibaba.com is considered
like. Online customer support, email
ecommerce.
marketing supply chain management.
https://bbamantra.com/e-commerce-introduction/

Features

E-Commerce provides the following features:

Non-Cash Payment: E-Commerce enables the use of credit cards, debit cards, smart cards,
electronic fund transfer via bank's website, and other modes of electronics payment.

24x7 Service availability: E-commerce automates the business of enterprises and the way they
provide services to their customers. It is available anytime, anywhere.

Advertising/Marketing: E-commerce increases the reach of advertising of products and

services of businesses. It helps in better marketing management of products/services.

Improved Sales: Using e-commerce, orders for the products can be generated anytime,
anywhere without any human intervention. It gives a big boost to existing sales volumes.

Support: E-commerce provides various ways to provide pre-sales and post-sales assistance to
provide better services to customers.

Inventory Management: E-commerce automates inventory management. Reports get generated

instantly when required. Product inventory management becomes very efficient and easy to
maintain.
Communication improvement: E-commerce provides ways for faster, efficient, reliable
communication with customers and partners.

SEVEN UNIQUE FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE

1. Ubiquity - E-commerce technology is available everywhere. A unique feature of e-commerce
technology. Example is if the user is at outstation, he also can through www.acer.com get the
information of the product.

2. Global Reach - The total number of users or customers an e-commerce business can obtain.
Example is www.acer.com is whole world also can browse it. Because the website have supplied
many language to let different language users understand it.

3. Universal Standards - Standards that are shared by all nations around the world. Example is
when you see the price of product in the website, that price is very fairly and standards.

4. Richness - Video, audio and text messages are possible. Example is the richness is can make
the websites become attract people to browse.

5. Interactivity - Technology that allows for two way communication between merchant and
consumer. Example is in the website we can contract the merchants, that have many way can
contract like: phone, e-mail, video call, and etc.

6. Information Density - The total amount and quality of information available to all market
participants. Example is we can get the clearly information in the websites.

7. Personalization/Customization - It allows personalized messages to be delivered to

individuals. Example of personalization is if have a new product, the website will send the email
flyer to the customer. Example of customization is customer can customize something in the
product like name, pattern, colors, and etc.

Advantages & Disadvantages:

Advantages
Buying 24/7: We can also sell any time, night or day, 365 days a year. Even while we are
resting, our users can visit our web site, search our goods, services, and determine their orders.

Decrease Transaction Costs: If we buy from online store, we spend low operational cost, we
have better quality of service, and we can cut the many unnecessary costs. For example, if our
goods or services downloadable, we will have transport costs completely cancel.
 Conduct a Business Easily: In electronic commerce, we do not need to physical company
setups or there are not any crowds to deal with. We can buy from our house comfortable; users
can easily choose goods from various procedures without moving around physically.

Comparison in Prices: Everyone can easily compare fees among the various web sites. We can
usually earn discounts on fees when compared with normal shop fees.

Disadvantages
Security: Security pursues to be a main problem in electronic commerce. Everyone good or bad
can easily open a web site, and there are many bad sites, which their aim is user’s money.

Guarantee: There is no guarantee for product quality. Our orders might be damage in the post or
things may look different online to what you actually receive for example, slightly different
colors and feel of clothes or the freshness of vegetables and fruits.

Social Relationships: Electronic commerce allows to users that buying and selling goods and
services without geographic limitations but in this method we have not any contacts and
relationships with other persons and loss our social contacts.

Impact: Electronic commerce is a new method business that mixes all of the prior methods and
transaction styles. Electronic commerce and electronic business have impact on many districts of
business for instance, economics, marketing, computer science, finance and accounting,
production and operation management, management information system, human source
management, business law and ethics.

Limitations:
There are some barriers for electronic commerce setup, which include:

 Lack of knowledge and necessary information for use of electronic commerce and
Internet network
 Protection of consumer rights in electronic commerce
 Lack of legal infrastructures in electronic commerce such documents that are not
acceptable and electronic signature
 Low security of electronic funds transfer in some countries
 Lower speed and limitations on the use of Internet
 Lack of information intermediary institutions and manufacturing companies of the
benefits of Internet business
 The security and confidentiality of information exchanged

Types of Electronic Commerce

 There are many various classifies of electronic commerce and many different methods to
characterize these clusters.

B2B Business-to-Business: is a type of commerce transaction that exists between businesses or

a transaction that occurs between a company and other company to transfer of services and
products. A possible explanation for this might be that Business-to-Business includes online
wholesaling in which businesses sell materials, products and services to other businesses on the
websites.

B2C Business-to-Consumer :refers to transactions between a business and its end consumer
and so it create electronic storefronts that offer information, goods, and services between
business and consumers in a retailing transaction or it is an Internet and electronic commerce
model that indicates a financial transaction or online sale between a business and consumer.

 Intra-organizational Electronic Commerce: Internal commerce is the application of electronic

commerce to processes or operations. Specifically, we define internal commerce as using
methods and pertinent technologies for supporting internal business processes between
individuals, departments, and collaborating organizations.
It is of two types
1. Private commerce
2. Public commerce

In a general sense, the term Information System (IS) refers to a system of people, data records
and activities that process the data and information in an organization, and it includes the
organization's manual and automated processes.

In a narrow sense, the term information system (or computer-based information system) refers to
the specific application software that is used to store data records in a computer system and
automates some of the information-processing activities of the organization.

Information architecture (IA) is the art of expressing a model or concept of information used
in activities that require explicit details of complex systems.

Among these activities are library systems, content Management Systems, web development,
user interactions, data base development, programming, technical writing, enterprise
architecture, and critical system software design.

Most definitions have common qualities: a structural design of shared environments, methods of
organizing and labeling websites, intranets, and online communities, and ways of bringing the
principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape

What Is Cross-functional Management?

Cross-functional management (CFM) manages business processes across the traditional
boundaries of the functional areas.

CFM relates to coordinating and sneering the activities of different units for realizing the super
ordinate cross-functional goals and policy deployment.

It is concerned with building a better system for achieving for achieving such cross-functional
goals as innovation, quality, cost, and delivery.

Macro Forces and Internal Commerce

Macro forces and internal commerce highlights the changes taking place in organization
structure and explores how technology and other economic forces are molding arrangements
within firms.

The common focus in most of these modern management particles is the use of technology
for improving efficiency and eliminating wasteful tasks in business operations. Efficient
operations of the macro forces and internal commerce are:

 Total quality management

 Business process improvement or business process reengineering.
 The words improvement and reengineering are often used interchangeably, creating
confusion.
 Although the goal of these two is same i.e., productivity gains, cost savings, quality and
service improvements, cycle-time reduction
 One main reason for reengineering is to better complete in global markets.

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B)
B2B e-commerce refers to all electronic transactions of goods and sales that are conducted
between two companies. This type of e-commerce typically explains the relationship between the
producers of a product and the wholesalers who advertise the product for purchase to consumers.
Sometimes this allows wholesalers to stay ahead of their competition.

BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER (B2C)
Perhaps the most common form of e-commerce, B2C e-commerce deals with electronic business
relationships between businesses and consumers. Many people enjoy this avenue of e-commerce
because it allows them to shop around for the best prices, read customer reviews and often find
different products that they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to in the retail world. This e-
commerce category also enables businesses to develop a more personalized relationship with
their customers.
CONSUMER-TO-CONSUMER (C2C)
This level of e-commerce encompasses all electronic transactions that take place between
consumers. Generally, these transactions are provided by online platforms (such as PayPal), but
often are conducted through the use of social media networks (Facebook marketplace) and
websites (Craigslist).

CONSUMER-TO-BUSINESS (C2B)
Not the most traditional form of e-commerce, C2B e-commerce is when a consumer makes their
services or products available for companies to purchase. An example of this would be a graphic
designer customizing a company logo or a photographer taking photos for an e-commerce
website.

BUSINESS-TO-ADMINISTRATION (B2A)
This e-commerce category refers to all transactions between companies and public
administration. This is an area that involves many services, particularly in areas such as social
security, employment and legal documents.

CONSUMER-TO-ADMINISTRATION (C2A)
Another popular e-commerce category, C2A e-commerce encompasses all electronic transactions
between individuals and public administration. Examples of this include taxes (filing tax returns)
and health (scheduling an appointment using an online service.