E-commerce refers to the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet. While e-commerce applications existed before the Internet in the form of EDI and EFT, the Internet allowed the general public to conduct business online for the first time. E-commerce provides benefits like reduced costs, reduced time, and flexibility. The value chain of e-commerce involves attracting customers, interacting with them, handling orders, and providing customer support. E-commerce is still developing and is expected to further change markets and retailers through increased price competition and advantages for larger firms.
2. What is E-commerce
In its simplest form e-commerce is the buying and
selling of products and services by businesses and
consumers over the Internet.
People use the term "e-commerce" to describe
encrypted payments on the Internet.
It Brings the Universal Access of the net to the core
Business Processes of Buying and Selling of Goods and
Services.
We can look at e-commerce as to a subset of e-business
concerning commerce
3. Origins of e-commerce
E-commerce applications existed long before Internet
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)
Internet offered the general public the opportunity to
conduct businesses online
4. Benefits of E-Commerce
Reduced costs by reducing labour, reduced paper work,
reduced errors in keying in data, reduce post costs
Reduced time-Shorter lead times for payment and
return on investment in advertising, faster delivery of
product
Flexibility with efficiency-The ability to handle
complex situations, product ranges and customer
profiles without the situation becoming
unmanageable.
New Markets. The Internet has the potential to expand
your business into wider geographical locations.
6. The process of e-commerce
1. Attract customers
Advertising, marketing
2. Interact with customers
Catalog, negotiation
3. Handle and manage orders
Order capture
Payment
Transaction
Fulfillment (physical good, service good, digital good)
4. React to customer inquiries
Customer service
Order tracking
7. Impact on markets and retailers
Economists have theorized that e-commerce ought to
lead to intensified price competition, as it increases
consumers' ability to gather information about
products and prices.
Generally, larger firms have grown at the expense of
smaller ones, as they are able to use economies of
scale and offer lower prices.
8. Conclusions
New E-commerce is still in its formative stage.
The capabilities of the new marketplace that combines
the properties of a medium with that of a global
location will be exploited to redefine many products
and marketplaces.
E-commerce has entered a stage of rapid and sustained
development.
All of these and many others will require further
experimentation, experience, observation, analysis,
and research.
