Conducting business activities electronically over computer networks
Types of e-commerce
Business-to-consumer (B2C)
Business-to-business (B2B)
Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)
Multistage model for e-commerce
1. Search and identification
2. Selection and negotiation
3. Purchasing products and services electronically
4. Product and service delivery
5. After-sales service
Mobile commerce (m-commerce)
Relies on the use of wireless devices
Electronic retailing (e-tailing)
Direct sale from business to consumer through electronic storefronts
Cybermall
Single Web site that offers many products and services at one Internet location
Electronic exchange
Electronic forum where manufacturers, suppliers, and competitors buy and sell goods, trade market information, and run back-office operations
Private exchanges
Owned and operated by a single company
Public exchanges
Owned and operated by industry groups
Market segmentation
Identification of specificmarkets to target them with advertising messages
Cost per thousand/cost per mile (CPM), cost per click (CPC), or cost per action (CPA)
How mobile ad impressions are generally bought
Blind, premium blind, and premium networks
Three types of mobile ad networks
Price comparison
Services to enable shoppers to compare prices and products on the Web
Couponing
Shoppers can subscribe to mobile coupon aggregators
Digital divide
Difference between people who do and do not use modern technology such as computers, the Internet, telephone, and television to improve their standard of living
Characteristics of an effective e-commerce website
Easy to use
Accomplish the goals of the company
Safe and secure
Affordable to set up and maintain
Web server software
Supports retrieving and sending Web pages, Web site tracking, Web site development, and Web page development
commerce software
Catalog management
Product configuration
Shopping cart
E-commerce transaction processing
Web traffic data analysis
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
Standard set of specifications for Internet applications that run on handheld, wireless devices
Digital certificate
Attachment to an e-mail message or data embedded in a Web site that verifies the identity of a sender or Web site
Certificate authority (CA)
Trusted third-party organization or company that issues digital certificates
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
Used to secure sensitive data
Transport Layer Security (TLS)
Communications protocol or system of rules that ensures privacy between communicating applications and their users on the Internet
Electronic cash
An amount of money that is computerized, stored, and used as cash for e-commerce transactions
Smart card
Credit card-sized device with an embedded microchip to provide electronic memory and processing capability
Transaction processing systems (TPSs)
Capture and process detailed data necessary to update records about fundamental business operations
Batch processing system
Data processing in which business transactions are accumulated over a period of time and prepared for processing as a single unit or batch
Online transaction processing (OLTP)
Data processing in which each transaction is processed immediately, consequently, at any time, the data in an online system reflects the current status
Types of TPSs
Order processing systems
Accounting systems
Purchasing systems
Transaction processing cycle
The process of data collection, data editing, data correction, data manipulation, data storage, and document production
Data should be collected at sourceand recorded accurately, in a timely fashion
Data editing
Checking data for validity and completeness to detect any problems
Data correction
Reentering data that was not typed or scanned properly
Data manipulation
Performing calculations and other data transformations related to business transactions
Data storage
Updating one or more databases with new transactions
Document production and reports
Generating output records, documents, and reports
B2B
Subset of e-commerce
All the participants are organisations
Useful tool for connecting business partners in virtual supply chain to cut resupply times and reduce costs
Buy-side e-commerce
To purchase goods services
Sell-side e-commerce
To sell products to its customers
B2C
Form of e-commerce in which customers deal directly with an organisation and avoid intermediaries
Disintermediation: the elimination of intermediate organisations between the producer and the consumer