Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

Total Marks: ___05__

Obtained Marks: _______

E-Commerce
Assignment#1

Submitted To: Sir. Muhammad Farooq

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Student Name: Ammar Kafeel

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Reg Number: 1880165

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E-Commerce BSSE 8 SZABIST-ISB

 Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

1. What is e-commerce? How does it differ from e-business? Where does it intersect
with e-business?
Electronic commerce, often known as online commerce, is abbreviated as eCommerce. It's
a catch-all term for any internet-based transaction. Retail outlets, such as apparel and
other physical things, and services of all kinds, from cyber security to hotel bookings, are
all part of eCommerce. E-Commerce refers to performing online commercial activities,
transactions over the internet.
E-Commerce differs from e-business because E-commerce includes activities like buying
and selling a product, making monetary transactions, etc. over the internet. Internet is used
for E-commerce. Websites and applications (apps) are required for e-commerce. it is
mainly connected with the end process of flow means connected with the end customer.
While E-business is the term for conducting all types of commercial transactions over the
internet. It covers internet-based operations such as the acquisition of raw
materials/goods, customer education, supply activities, product purchasing and selling,
monetary transactions, and so on. In e-business, the internet, intranet, and extranet are
used. E-business necessitates the use of websites, applications, ERP, CRM, and other
tools.
E-business is defined as the digitalization of transactions and operations within a company
that does not involve the exchange of money. The point when internal business systems
link with suppliers within a company firm is where e-commerce and e-business intersect.

2. What is information asymmetry?

Information asymmetry is when one side to an economic transaction has more real
knowledge than the other, asymmetric information, often known as "information failure,"
arises. This occurs most often when the seller of a good or service has more expertise than
the buyer; however, the opposite dynamic can also occur. Information asymmetries are
present in almost all economic transactions.
 Asymmetric information is a term that refers to when one party in a transaction
has more information than the other.
 Because of asymmetric information, where the vendor knows more about the good
being sold than the buyer, sellers can take advantage of purchasers in certain
transactions. It's equally possible that the opposite is true.

E-Commerce BSSE 8 SZABIST-ISB

 Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

3. What are some of the unique features of e-commerce technology?

The following are some of the distinguishing characteristics of e-commerce technology:
 Ubiquity: available almost everywhere, at any time, allowing you to purchase from
your desktop, at home, at work, or even in your car.
 Global reach: enables economic transactions to cross-cultural and national boundaries
significantly more easily and cost-effectively than conventional trade.
 Universal standards: in contrast to most traditional commerce technologies, which
differ from one country to the next, universal standards are shared by all nations
around the world.
 Richness: allows an online retailer to send out marketing messages in ways that
traditional commerce technology can't.
 Interactivity: provides for two-way contact between the merchant and the customer,
and allows the merchant to engage the customer in ways that are akin to face-to-face
interactions, but on a much larger, global scale.

4. What is a market space?

In marketing, market space is described as a virtual marketplace in the commercial world
that is not constrained by physical borders. It is the technological or electronic
information-based integration of several sectors that are termed marketplaces.
Marketspace is the physical space you visit to transact Marketspace extended beyond
traditional boundaries and removed from a temporal and geographic location.
5. What are the three benefits of universal standards?
The three main benefits of universal standards are as below:
 The web (an important internet standard) is the same in all countries.
 Marketing costs are significantly reduced.
 Pricing is now simpler, quicker, and more precise.

6. Compare online and traditional transactions in terms of richness.

In terms of richness, online and traditional transactions are compared.
Traditional transactions can offer more depth in terms of face-to-face services, such as
visual and audible clues. Traditional transactions, on the other hand, have a restriction on
how many people can be reached at once. Online transactions, which can have a
worldwide reach, can deliver complicated and rich material, eliminating the usual trade-
off between reach and richness.

E-Commerce BSSE 8 SZABIST-ISB

 Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

7. Name three of the business consequences that can result from growth in information
density.
The three of the business consequences that can result from growth in information density
are as below:
 Price transparency,
 Cost transparency, and
 Price discrimination

8. What is web 2.0? give examples of web 2.0 sites and explain why you included them
in your list.
Web 2.0 is a collection of apps and technologies that enable users to produce, edit, and
distribute information, as well as share preferences, bookmarks, and online personas,
participate in virtual lives and form online communities. In other words, Web 2.0 refers to
a variety of new, advanced applications that have emerged as the Internet's ability to
handle greater audiences and more involved content has grown.
For example, students can use Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Photobucket, Google,
Wikipedia, Second Life, Digg, and WordPress.

9. Give examples of B2C, B2B, C2C, social, mobile, and local e-commerce besides those
listed in the chapter materials.
Some examples of them are as follows:
B2C
 E-tailers: Bluefly, UncommonGoods
 Service Providers: Expedia, Travelocity
 Portals: Yahoo, MSN
 Content Providers: WSjonline, Consumer reports
B2B:
 Grainger,
 Ariba
C2C:
 Craigslist,
 Etsy
Social e-commerce:
 Buy buttons on Facebook,
 Treater
Mobile e-commerce:
 Mobile retail Web sites and apps
E-Commerce BSSE 8 SZABIST-ISB
 Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

 Mobile banking Web sites and apps

 Mobile travel services Web sites and apps
 Mobile advertising
 Mobile content
 Mobile payment services
Local e-commerce:
 LivingSocial,
 Google Offers,
 Amazon Local
10. How are e-commerce technologies similar to or different from other technologies
that have changed commerce in the past?
E-commerce technologies are comparable to other technologies that have altered business
in the past (for example, the radio and television) in that each new technological invention
creates thousands of start-up companies. Many of these fail to survive the time of
retrenchment and consolidation that occurs after they are established.

11. Describe the three different stages in the evolution of e-commerce.

E-commerce has progressed through three stages: 
 Invention stage (1995-2000): the first widespread use of the internet to market
products and sell retail goods. 
 Consolidation stage (2001-2006): includes not only retail products but also more
complicated services like travel and financial services. 
 Stage of reinvention (2007–present): iPhone debut and the rapid rise of Web 2.0

12. Define disintermediation and explain the benefits to Internet users of such a
phenomenon. How does disintermediation impact friction-free commerce?
Disintermediation refers to the elimination of intermediaries such as distributors,
wholesalers, and other middlemen between producers and consumers. The reduction of
pricing for products and services, as well as the development of direct contact between
content creators and their clients, are expected to benefit Internet users, as are the
elimination of payments to these middlemen. as Market disintermediation would result in
fierce competition. This, together with decreasing transaction costs, would remove
product brands, leading to the abolition of unfair competitive advantages and spectacular
returns on capital—the vision of frictionless commerce.

13. What are some of the major advantages and disadvantages of being a first mover?
The ability to build a brand name early on and establish a large customer base before
competitors enter the market, as well as the ability to build switching costs into the
technology or services offered so that customers will find it inconvenient to switch to a
E-Commerce BSSE 8 SZABIST-ISB
 Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

late-entry competitor, are two major advantages of being a first-mover. The main
disadvantage is that many early movers have failed in the past and have been replaced by
larger enterprises with the required financial, marketing, legal, and production assets to
establish mature markets. Because the start-up costs and time it takes to develop a
lucrative business are frequently overestimated, only a small percentage of first-mover
organizations become successful long-term businesses.
14. What is a network effect, and why is it valuable?
A network effect occurs when everyone benefits from the fact that everyone else uses the
same tool or product (for example, a common operating system, telephone system, or
software application such as a proprietary instant messaging standard or an operating
system like Windows), all of which gain in value as more people adopt them.
15. Discuss how the early years of e-commerce can be considered both a success and a
failure.
Because of the technological success that occurred when Web-enabled transactions went
from thousands to billions, the early years of e-commerce can be regarded as a success.
The digital infrastructure proved to be a stable basis upon which a viable marketing
channel could be built. From a business standpoint, the early years of e-commerce were
successful. The survivors, on the other hand, have profited from the steady increase in
82C revenues. Consumers learned to utilize the Web to obtain information about things
they wanted to buy, and the early years of e-commerce can be considered a success in that
the flow of information was a tremendous accomplishment.

16. What are five of the major differences between the early years of e-commerce and
today's e-commerce?
There are five key distinctions between e-commerce in its early years and e-commerce
today:
 has the advantage of being the first to market, 
 there were no government rules previously, and 
 the markets were "perfect" before but are now imperfect.
 It used to be more technology-driven rather than business-driven, and today 
 it's more about "clicks and bricks" rather than pure plans.

17. Why is a multidisciplinary approach necessary if one hopes to understand e-

commerce?
A multidisciplinary approach is necessary because no single academic area can cover all
aspects of the e-commerce phenomenon, a multidisciplinary approach is required to
comprehend it. E-commerce is largely a technological phenomenon, involving
information technology developed over the last fifty years, with the Internet and the
World Wide Web at its core. However, beyond the infrastructure, the phenomenon is

E-Commerce BSSE 8 SZABIST-ISB

 Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

driven by the shifting business models and strategies that will transform existing
businesses and create new ones. To comprehend e-commerce, one must have a basic
understanding of business structures, business models, firm and industry value chains, and
consumer behaviour. They must also be familiar with the characteristics of electronic
markets and information goods. Finally, society's influence must be considered: global e-
commerce may have implications for individuals' intellectual property and privacy rights.
An equal access, equity, content control, and taxation are all challenges that will need to
be addressed.

18. What are some of the privacy issues that Facebook has created?
Facebook and other social networking sites operate based on amassing a database of
hundreds of millions of users who post personal information, preferences, and behaviours,
and who are encouraged, if not deceived, to relinquish control over their data, which is
then sold to advertisers and other third parties. The fewer privacy consumers desire or
have, the more money Facebook makes.

19. What are those who take a behavioural approach to study e-commerce interested in?
Disciplines that take a behavioural approach to studying e-commerce include
information systems researchers, economists, the marketing profession, management
scholars, economists, finance and accounting scholars, sociologists, psychologists, and
legal scholars. E-commerce is of particular interest to information systems researchers
because of its implications for company and industry value chains, industry structure, and
corporate strategy. Economists have concentrated on online consumer behaviour, digital
goods pricing, and the distinct characteristics of digital electronic markets. Marketing,
brand creation and extension, online consumer behaviour, and the ability of e-commerce
technologies to segment and target customer groups, as well as differentiate items, are all
topics of interest to marketers. Economists and marketing researchers who have focused
on one-commerce consumer response have a common interest (cont.).

E-Commerce BSSE 8 SZABIST-ISB