NMIMS Global Access

School for Continuing Education (NGA-SCE)

Course: E-Business
Internal Assignment Applicable for June 2021 Examination

1. Cyberspace security is becoming a growing concern and it is essential for an e-business

to secure its environment. Discuss about the security threats that you are aware of in
case of e-businesses.
Introduction
Needless to mention, where there is money involved, criminals
follow. If you’re an e-entrepreneur, you should be well aware of
the latest ecommerce security protocols.
E-commerce security threats are causing havoc in online trading.
The industry experiences up to 32.4% of all successful threats
annually. Hackers usually target e-commerce store admins, users,
and employees using a myriad of malicious techniques.
Concepts and Top 10 E-commerce Security Threats
Application related to
the question 1. Financial frauds
Ever since the first online businesses entered the world of the
internet, financial fraudsters have been giving businesses a
headache. There are various kinds of financial frauds prevalent in
the e-commerce industry, but we are going to discuss the two most
common of them.
2. Phishing
Phishing is a cybercrime that aims at stealing user’s confidential
data — login and passwords. This is achieved via mass email
campaigns run on behalf of popular brands, as well as personal
messages inside of the various services like social networks.
Messages often contain a direct link on a fake website that looks
exactly like the real one, or on a website that redirects the user
somewhere else. When the user lands on a fake page,
cybercriminals try to make the user enter his login and password
that he uses to access a specific website, which allows villains to
get access to bank accounts.
3. Spam
Fishing and spam usually go hand in hand. Online spammers often
send huge amounts of letters trying to get personal information.
What’s more, the comment section on your blog page and contact
forms are also open invitations for hackers. By leaving infected
links via social media inbox they can harm your website’s speed,
security, and your customers as well.
4. Skimming
Skimming directly targets the data of your clientele. Hackers glean
sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and other
personal data, as shoppers enter it on your web pages. The
information is stolen in real time, and can be acted upon instantly
or sat upon and leveraged at a later date. Making your customers
the victims is an insidious way to derail your business.
A customer whose data is stolen when shopping on your website
could be less willing to continue using or recommending your e-
commerce platform in the future. That reputational damage is
potentially more costly than immediate refunds or other
compensation.
To mitigate this threat, make sure to secure your platform and
inform clientele that they should never input any sensitive data on
a webpage unless it’s secured and legitimate.

5. Bots
Bots are automated software applications programmed to perform
specific tasks. Web crawlers, probably the most known type of
bots, are those that define websites’ rankings by systematically
browsing all the exiting pages on the internet.
However, there are bots specifically created to crawl websites for
their pricing and inventory information. Cybercriminals use this
technique to change the pricing of your online store, or to garner
the best-selling inventory in shopping carts, resulting in a decline
in sales and revenue.
6. Exploitation of Known Vulnerabilities
Attackers are on the lookout for certain vulnerabilities that might
be existing in your e-commerce store.
Often an e-commerce store is vulnerable to SQL injection (SQLi)
and Cross-site Scripting (XSS).
8. Brute force
The online environment also has players who can use brute force
to attack your admin panel and crack your password.
These fraudulent programs connect to your website and try out
thousands of combinations in an attempt to obtain you site’s
passwords. Always ensure to use strong, complex passwords that
are hard to guess. Additionally, always change your passwords
frequently.
9. Man in The Middle (MITM)
A hacker may listen in on the communication taking place between
your e-commerce store and a user. Walgreens Pharmacy
Store experienced such an incident. If the user is connected to a
vulnerable Wi-Fi or network, such attackers can take advantage of
that.
 10. Brute Force Attacks
The brute force attack is one of the most common password-
cracking techniques. This approach presupposes that a hacker tries
to use as many character combinations as possible in order to
figure out the correct password.

Conclusion While ecommerce businesses share a few similarities with the

traditional businesses, they do differ from them in some respects.
As an ecommerce businessman, you only get one shot at getting
your ecommerce security right because if your online business
loses sensitive information due to the security threats of
ecommerce, you will definitely lose a large number of potential
customers.
For obvious reasons, customers would not want to shop from an
online store which runs at the risk of losing their valuable details
like banking credentials. Unless you are an ecommerce giant you
might never be able to bounce back. Ecommerce businesses don’t
get the luxury of second chances, and thus, the damage is
irreparable. Henceforth, it’s better to play the right cards from the
beginning.

2. Generating sustainable revenue is the objective of every businesses. With the rapid
adoption and penetration of the technology enabled devices, e-businesses are gaining
more and more prominence. Discuss the various revenue models and the associated
issues for an e-business.
Introduction A thriving eCommerce business is a combination of market
understanding, a good business plan, and in-depth research of
eCommerce business models. There are lots of opportunities in
terms of business models, which all potential eCommerce business
owners should know. In this article, we will shed light on these
models so you can choose the one that's right for you.
E-commerce is a business process and the scope of the economy
that includes trading or money transactions completed online. 

Concepts and Any start-up, tech company, or digital business may operate with
Application related to multiple revenue sources and, consequently, with different revenue
the question models. Depending on the industry and the product/service type,
the revenue model will look differently.
Transaction-based model
A transaction-based model is a classic way a business can earn
money. The revenue is generated by directly selling an item or a
service to a customer. The customer can be another company
(B2B) or a consumer (B2C). The price of the product or service
constitutes the production costs and margin. Increasing the margin,
the business is able to generate more income from sales.
Selling products or services entails using different pricing tactics.
While some of them may be considered a separate revenue model,
these are often used in pairs. Because pricing tactics can be seen as
pricing plans in a software business
Transaction-based model
A transaction-based model is a classic way a business can earn
money. The revenue is generated by directly selling an item or a
service to a customer. The customer can be another company
(B2B) or a consumer (B2C). The price of the product or service
constitutes the production costs and margin. Increasing the margin,
the business is able to generate more income from sales.
Selling products or services entails using different pricing tactics.
While some of them may be considered a separate revenue model,
these are often used in pairs. Because pricing tactics can be seen as
pricing plans in a software business
Commission-based models
A commission revenue model is one of the most common ways
businesses make money today. A commission is a sum of money a
retailer adds to the total cost of a product or service. A commission
can be assigned as a

 flat rate, a fixed sum of money for any type of transaction,

e.g. a $450/300/1500 transaction is charged with a $20
commission;
 percent of transaction size, e.g. a $100 transaction is
charged with a 10 percent commission – $10; or
 tiered commission, a percent or flat rate that grows based
on the transaction volume, e.g. 50,000 transactions are
charged with a 4 percent commission, 150,000 transactions
with a 7 percent commission.
Affiliate model
The affiliate model is similar to the commission model The
difference is that a business receives its commission from a seller,
rather than a customer. The affiliate model is a contract between a
supplier of a product/service and a promoter. A promoter can be
another business/media resource/blogger that recommends a
supplier’s product. The income will come as a percentage from
sales or registrations done via referral link.
This category of business also includes meta-search engines as a
unique example. Meta searches can be found almost everywhere.
Their main difference with retailers is that they don’t sell products
directly but offer comparison and search as a value. Advertising
and affiliate programs are the main revenue models used to
generate income in this case.
Interest revenue model
An interest or investment revenue model is any type of business
that generates revenue in the form of interest on their loans or
deposit payments. So, these are most often banking or electronic
wallet companies that work with the financial operations.
The revenue is generated by making a loan to a customer or by a
 customer depositing or investing money (or other resources) with
the business. At the end of a return period, a percentage of the loan
sum will return as revenue. Debit/credit money provided with the
bank accounts also relate to this model. That’s just one of the ways
financial companies can make money, combining it
with transaction fees for using their e-wallet/bank account.
Conclusion Business model is a unique blend of three streams that are critical
to the business. These include the value stream for the business
partners and the buyers, the revenue stream and the logistical
stream. Value stream identifies the value proposition for the
buyers, sellers and the market makers and portals in an internet
context. The revenue stream is a plan for assuring revenue
generation for the business and the logistical stream addresses
various issues related to the design of the supply chain for the
business. The long-term viability of a business largely stems from
the robustness of the value stream. Furthermore, the value stream
in tum influences the revenue stream and choices with respect to
the logistical stream.

3. You have been hired by a promising startup in the e-commerce space as a consultant to
enhance their business productivity. Post the initial survey you discovered that the
company is still replying on traditional tools and methods for their business operations.
They are using conventional tools like MS Excel to store their customer data, product
data etc. Every time when some information is needed, their executives have to find and
retrieve the same manually. Again, while communicating with various stakeholders
(like customers, suppliers etc.) they are still relying on conventional 3rd party emails.
Thus, the executives are not only using multiple systems, they also need to move from
one to another while maintaining and sustaining the operations manually. This is
lowering the efficiency of the company and increasing the turnaround time by a huge
margin. In order to enhance the effectiveness of their operations, you decided to meet
and explain to the management about the various software that are typically useful for
e-businesses like theirs.
a. What would you tell them about the functions of e-commerce software?
Introduction An online store consists of many intricate components and
processes, which ecommerce software streamlines through an
easy-to-use interface that even non-tech persons can operate.
Further facilitating things is the ability of the system to integrate
with other platforms and services such as CRM, CMS, ERP,
payment gateways, email marketing tools, accounting software,
fulfillment services, and social media networks.
Concepts and  With robust features and functionalities, coupled with powerful
Application related to integration capabilities, ecommerce software becomes your all-in-
the question one integrated platform that can do the following.
1. Manage customers and orders. Managing a customer’s
order from product selection to payment, to checkout and
delivery is vital. Every order is a sales transaction that will
impact your bottom line Hence, it must be done efficiently
 and conveniently for the customer. eCommerce software
takes care of managing orders, check order status, and
making quick changes if needed. On its own or with some
other third-party app or service, it can handle payment
processing, keep transaction records, manage customer
information, create billing and invoicing, undertake
accurate accounting, provide analytics and reporting,
among others.
2. Manage products and inventory. You get product specifics
from SKUs and variations (size, color, quantity) to names
and images, allowing you to organize and catalog items.
You’re also notified and made aware if stocks are low and
what particular items are fast-moving and need
replenishing.
3. Simplify marketing. Built-in SEO allows online stores to
rank higher in organic search engines for increased online
discovery and presence as well as lower customer
acquisition costs.
4. Automates shipping and taxation. Printing shipping labels,
calculating sales taxes based on customer location, and
sending notification emails to customers can be done
automatically and more accurately.
5. Enhance customer experience. ecommerce software is
meant to enable customers quickly and efficiently find
what they need in your store. Hosted solutions offer
service-level agreements to guarantee 100% uptime and
simple but robust website management, allowing you to
provide your customers with the best online shopping
experience.
Conclusion The e-commerce software solutions provide various indispensable
solutions to e-business organisations, ranging from displaying
prod- ucts on a catalogue to carrying out transactions with
customers and installing payment gateways. Some examples of e-
commerce software are Magento, xCart, ZenCart and CubeCart.

b. What are the various kinds of e-commerce software that you are aware of?

Introduction As e-business organisations expand their business across the globe,

they require advanced capabilities in e-Commerce software to
handle greater transaction loads. Organisations also need dedicated
software applications to manage specific elements of their online
business.

Concepts and Type of e-Commerce softwares:

Application related to
the question Enterprise class e-commerce software:
This software is useful for large organisations with higher
transaction loads. It uses several dedicated computers along with a
web server system and the nec- essary firewalls. Examples of
enterprise class e-Commerce soft- ware include:
o IBM Web Sphere Commerce Business Edition
o Oracle E-Business Suite
o Broadvision One-To-One Commerce

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software:

This soft- ware deals with aligning CRM. It is used to retrieve
information from operations software that performs various
activities, such as sales automation, customer service centre
operations and market- ing campaigns. It also collects data about
customers’ visits on the company’s website or from other points of
contact the company has with its existing and potential customers.

Supply chain management software:

It involves the collection of software that helps in the coordination
of various activities, such as product development, raw material
sourcing, production, logis- tics. SCM software helps an
organisation to coordinate planning and operations with associates
in the industrial supply chain. It performs planning and execution
functions to aid SCM in organisations.

Content management software:

All websites consist of text, graphics and media files that are
unique to the organisation and vital for conducting business over
the Internet. The content man- agement software helps to update
and manage the content of the website to keep it attractive and
convenient for visiting users. With the introduction of wireless
devices, such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants
(PDAs), content management has become even more important for
organisations. Wireless devices enable the use of online services at
a click. This has significantly increased the number of Internet
users all over the world. Thus, websites should be updated more
frequently to gain more custom- ers. The web page and design
should be in line with these media to support the software used by
them.
Knowledge Management (KM) software:
It comprises various software that help in collecting, storing and
accessing information. Knowledge management software provides
the following benefits to organisations:
 Collect and organise information
 Share information among users
  Enhance the ability of users to collaborate
 Preserve the knowledge gained through the use of
information
Conclusion While there are various types of ecommerce software, its most
important role is to simplify the customer experience. Customers
need to be able to find products, add them to their basket, and
check out as simply and efficiently as possible.