E Commerce for Entrepreneurs

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to E-commerce and E-business

Introduction

In the past few years, enterprises across the world have made vital changes in their business system. Immense investments were created in enterprise resources coming up with system implementations, but they are struggling to induce timely info required to form effective business calls and confirm the continuous growth of enterprises. Putting e before of any method or operation is perceived to be the magic prescription for the ne’er ending story of success and speedy returns for enterprises. E-business, e-procurement, e-sales, e-payment, e-banking, e-CRM, e-CAD, the e-delivery are simply many. The Internet, for instance, is becoming a popular medium of transmittal varied information. Users come across any info in much lesser time as compared to a standard methodology that consumes more time.

The emergence of the Web throughout the globe has been tributary such a range medium in doing business yet as individuals mode. In fact, the Internet is the essential requirement for the existence of E-commerce. Electronic commerce or e-commerce has been outlined because of its ability to perform transactions involving the exchange of products or services between two or more parties’ through electronic tools and techniques. The explosion of e-commerce has created new phenomena in our mode, particularly in searching for activities. Customers can simply obtain products or services like magazines and airline tickets via the Internet.

Structure

In this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:

Definition

Features of e-commerce

Interdisciplinary nature of electronic commerce

Levels of e-commerce

SWOT analysis

Future of e-commerce

Benefits of e-commerce

Limitations

Objectives

E-commerce is dynamic in the approach of doing business. The target of this chapter is to induce the scholars accustomed to the essential construct of e-commerce and e-business. This chapter highlights the essential components of e-commerce and the distinction between ancient and electronic business.

After reading this chapter, you’ll be in a position to:

Describe the construct of E-commerce and E-business

Explain the different levels of E-commerce and E-business

Perform a SWOT analysis of E-commerce and E-business

1.1 Definition

Electronic commerce, like all alternative business, deals with the exchange of cash for soft or exhausting products and services. E-commerce can be defined from multiple views:

Service perspective: E-commerce is defined as a tool that addresses the will of companies, shoppers, and management to chop service prices, improve the standard of goods/services, and increase the speed of service delivery.

Business methods perspective: This says that E-commerce is the application of technology for the automation of business transactions and workflow.

Communication perspective: According to this attitude, e-commerce is the delivery of data, products/services, or payments over telecommunication channels, laptop networks, or the opposite electronic mode of communication.

Online perspective: E-commerce provides the capability of shopping for and marketing merchandise and knowledge on the Internet and different online services.

E-Business, or electronic business, is the administration of conducting business via the Internet. This enables us to embrace the shopping for and marketing of products and services, alongside providing technical or client support through the Internet. E-business could be a term usually employed in conjunction with e-commerce, but it also includes services in addition to the sale of products. E-business could be a general term that encompasses all kinds of uses of digital info and communication technologies to support and optimize business processes. In distinction, e-commerce describes solely the net commerce of merchandise and services and is solely a segment of e-business:

Figure 1.1

1.2 Parts of Electronic Business

The core parts of e-business area unit info, communication, and dealings. Business partners use digital networks (i.e. public or personal communication networks) to conduct business processes using innovative technologies to enhance potency. Three key area units are significantly necessary for e-business:

E-procurement: The electronic sourcing of merchandise and services by firms, centered on reducing prices and energy.

Online stores: The electronic sale of merchandise and services via applicable platforms, like online stores.

Online marketplaces: Electronic commerce via digital networks, connecting the consumers and suppliers of merchandise and services.

There are two any areas of e-business:

Online communities: Transmission network between people and organizations that supports knowledge and information sharing similarly because of the preparation of dealings choices.

Online companies: Electronic business cooperation for connecting individual company services, leading to a virtual business with a typical dealings supply.

To fully perceive the construct of e-business, you want to initially grasp the link between e-business and the web economy and understand the standard market participants’ area unit within the business. The vary of e-business is decided by the cyber web economy. This refers to the business use of digital knowledge networks for handling info, communication, and dealings processes via numerous platforms.

Since the late 90s, or maybe earlier, the event of medical aid not solely crystal rectifier to a serious structural modification in society, however conjointly within the economy. Since then, the main target has shifted to the knowledge sector. The systematic use of technology to gather and utilize info arranged the foundations of an alleged information economy, during which fight is achieved through information superiority.

Function of Electronic Business

The most necessary role of electronic business is electronic worth creation – the generation of electronic additional worth. The varieties of electronic additional worth area unit typically distinguished within the following way:

Structuring value: An Internet connection achieves a summary of an outsized amount of knowledge.

Selection value: An Internet connection provides specific info upon request.

Matching value: An Internet connection makes it doable to merge inquiries from providers and consumers expeditiously.

Transaction value: An Internet connection makes a business economical.

Coordination value: An Internet connection permits completely different suppliers to higher mix their services.

Depending on what a corporation decides to pursue, they’ll opt for one or a lot of worth activities – for instance, gathering, structuring, pre-selection, summary, or distribution of knowledge. An alleged digital info product may be created, giving additional values that the client is ready to buy. This info product could also be a website, web blog comparison portal, e-book, or a computer code application.

Examples of e-business:

Their area unit in numerous samples of completely different e-business activities, but there may be a temporary choice.

The e-procurement sector includes the following activities:

Organize the implementation of a Desktop Buying System (DPS) that supports the entire procurance method, like checking stock convenience and handling the order and payment.

Constructing and operating an Internet marketplace for merchandise and services. Integration numerous electronic provider catalogs into your enterprise resource coming up with (ERP) system to support procurance, warehouse management, order process, production management, and supplies.

The e-commerce sector includes the following activities:

Designing and maintaining a web presence and/or an online store with merchandise or services accessible from anyplace in at any time, multiple payment choices, automatic e-mail notifications on orders, and client support (live chat, hotlines, or facilitate centers).

Developing and provisioning extra content, like associate informational web blog or comparison portal.

Expanding online selling and targeting advertising to customers, for instance by using huge knowledge from cookies, purchase behavior, and client knowledge.

E-commerce has the potential to unleash monumental savings and business efficiencies, but the practicalities stay elusive. However, can e-commerce modify the worldwide transportation and supplying within the offer chain? Supplying has been delineated because it is the key enabler for e-business, but will individual supplying and transport firms ensure that they take pleasure in, instead of changing, the e-commerce revolution?

E-business is the new profitable, thanks to conducting business that works on the far side of the straightforward movement of knowledge and expands electronic transactions from location necessities, determination, and production programming, all the way through to invoicing, payment, and receipt. E-commerce uses key standards and technologies as well as Electronic Knowledge Interchange (EDI), Technical knowledge Interchange (TDI), machine-readable text nomenclature (HTML), and the commonplace Exchange of Product model knowledge (STEP).

The Internet may be a worldwide assortment of laptop networks, co-operating with one another to exchange knowledge employing a common computer code commonplace. Through phone wires and satellite links, web users will share info during a style of forms. The size, scope, and style of the web permit users to connect simply through standard personal computers and native phone numbers, exchange email correspondence (E-mail) with friends and colleagues with accounts on the web, post info for others to access and update it, access multimedia system info that has sound, photographic pictures, and even video, and access various views from around the world. Another attribute of the web is that it lacks a central authority—in other words, there’s no Internet, Inc. that controls the Web. On the far side, varied governing boards ascertain policies and standards and make a few rules, but the Web answers to no single organization that binds it.

1.3 Features of E-commerce Technology

Electronic commerce means that higher business communication and information interchange is important for businesses. The standard and amount {of info, data, and knowledge} that a business delivers to customers or uses this information to create choices will verify how competitive it is.

Businesses are also employing a range of electronic-based mostly tools to assist acquiring and extending info and communication desires. These could embody personal computers, word processors, courier, facsimile machines, telex services, cellular phones, pagers, and such. Sadly, several of today’s communication tools don’t seem to be extremely up to the speed of today’s business desires, and they may produce barriers to achieving the goals and idea developed by a corporation.

For instance, communicating facilities will keep business awaiting info for days or maybe weeks. Nightlong couriers could save time, but it is often an upscale proportion. Ancient telex Associate in nursing fax is fast but pricey, and human action by phone will become an endless game of tag.

Now, businesses can avoid these issues by using e-commerce as it is quick, economical, time-saving, and simple to use, i.e., it has economic palpability and sensible business generation.

The electronic business may end up in higher transactions, wide market coverage by giving the advantages of speed, convenience, value effectiveness, timeliness, high-profit margins, instant client relations, no loss of shoppers, impact and control all area units a fraction of the previous business ways. An owner will do everything to run their business efficiently and fruitfully.

The application of electronic operations to business activities provides better business solutions. It greatly facilitates a firm to create better choices and sales forecasts; costs and alternative valuable info are often sent and received instantly. A business can perpetually have the data it desires quicker, easier, and within the new system of communication.

This enables companies to possess a footing over competitors by informing, following up, and requesting info quickly and easily for customers. Another feature is that it helps take care of larger management, at work, home, or while traveling, and it also enables us to communicate with a business partner or firm from any where, instantly.

Improve Responsiveness

How will e-commerce facilitate business? It helps by improving responsiveness to plug conditions and client preferences. Each business should skill necessary temporal arrangement is to selling and marketing products, and the temporal arrangement is very important to cater to the stress of