Chapter 7

• electronic commerce: the process of buying, selling, transferring, or exchanging products, services, or information through computer networks, including the Internet. transforming all of the business functional areas as well as their fundamental tasks, from advertising to paying bills
• electronic business: servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, and performing electronic transactions within an organization
• degree of digitization: the extent to which the commerce has been transformed from physical to digital. relates to product or service being sold and the delivery agent
• brick-and-mortar organizations: purely physical, tangible, and visible businesses
• virtual organizations (pure-play): organizations that are organized to provide a service to customers without having a physical presence. only in e commerce
• click-and-mortar organizations (clicks and bricks): conduct some e-commerce activities, yet their primary business is carried out in the physical world
• types of e-commerce

  • business to consumer electronic commerce (B2C)
  • business to business electronic commerce (B2B)
  • consumer to consumer electronic commerce (C2C)
  • business to employee (B2E)
  • e-government
  • mobile commerce (m-commerce)
  • social commerce
  • conversational commerce
• business to consumer electronic commerce (B2C): the sellers are organizations and the buyers are individuals
• business to business electronic commerce (B2B): both the sellers and buyers are business organizations
• consumer to consumer electronic commerce (C2C): an individual sells products or services to other individuals
• business to employee (B2E): an organization uses EC internally to provide information and services to its employees
• e-government: the use of Internet technology in general and e-commerce in particular to deliver information and public services to citizens (government to citizen (G2C EC)) and to business partners adn suppliers (government to business(G2B EC))
• mobile commerce (m-commerce): e-commerce that is conducted entirely in a wireless environment
• social commerce: the delivery of electronic commerce activities and transactions through social computing
• conversational commerce (chat commerce): electronic commerce using messaging and chat apps to offer a daily choice, often personalized, of a meal, product, or service
• business model: the method by which a company generates revenue to sustain itself
• electronic catalogues: consist of a product database, a directory and search capabilities, and a presentation function
• auction: a competitive buying and selling process in which prices are determined dynamically by competitive bidding
• online direct marketing: manufacturers or retailers sell directly to customers
• electronic tendering system: businesses request quotes from suppliers. uses B2B with a reverse auction mechanism
• name your own prices: customers decide how much they are willing to pay. an intermediary tries to match a provider
• find the best price: customers specify a need; an intermediary compares providers and shows the lowest price. customers must accept the offer in a short time, or they may lose the deal.
• affiliate marketing: vendors ask partners to place logos on partner's site. if a customer click on a logo and make a purchase on the vendors site, the vendor pays commissions to the partner
• viral marketing: recipients of your marketing notices send information about your product to their friends
• group purchasing (e-coops): small buyers aggregate demand to create a large volume; the group then conducts tendering or negotiates a low price
• online auctions: companies run auctions of various types on the internet
• product customization: customers use the internet to self configure products or services. sellers then price them and fulfill them quickly (build to order)
• electronic marketplaces and exchanges: transactions are conducted efficiently in electronic marketplaces
• bartering online: intermediary administers online exchange of surplus products or company receives "points" for its contribution, which it can use to purchase other needed items.
• deep discounters: company offers deep price discounts. appeals to customers who consider only price in their purchasing decisions
• membership: only members can have access to the content and services
• forward auctions: sellers solicit bids from many potential buyers. highest bidder wins the items
• reverse auctions: one buyer, usually an organization, wants to purchase a product or service. the buyer posts a request for quotation (RQO) on its website. interested suppliers study the RFQ and submit bids electronically
• electronic storefront: a website that represents a single store
• electronic mall (cybermall, e-mall): a collection of individual shops consolidated under one internet address
• electronic marketplace: a central, virtual market space on the web where many buyers and sellers can conduct e-commerce and e-business activities
• electronic payment mechanisms: enable buyers to pay for good and services electronically without the need for cash
• electronic cheques: primarily used in B2B, a customer who uses e-cheques must first establish a chequing account. then when they buy a product, they mail an encrypted electronic cheque. the seller deposits the cheque into their account
• purchasing card: B2B equivalent of electronic credit cards
• stored-value money cards: allow you to store a fixed amount of prepaid money and then spend it as necessary