Introduction to Information and

Communication Technology CSC-110(T)

Lecture 11: E-Commerce

What Is E-commerce?

▷ Use of Internet and Web to

transact business
▷ More formally:
Ecommerce refers to commercial transactions
conducted online. This means that whenever
you buy and sell something using the Internet,
you’re involved in ecommerce
E-commerce vs. E-business
▷ Electronic business (e-business) refers to the use
of the Web to conduct business.

▷ E-business is similar to e-commerce, but it goes

beyond the simple buying and selling of products and
services online.

▷ E-business includes a much wider range of

businesses processes, such as supply chain
management, electronic order processing and
customer relationship management.
E-business
▷ Examples:
○ Email marketing to existing customers and
prospects
○ An online system that tracks inventory and
triggers alerts at specific levels
○ A content management system that manages the
work flow between content-developer, editor,
manager, and publisher
E-commerce vs. E-business
Why Study E-commerce?
▷ E-commerce technology is different, more
powerful than previous technologies
▷ E-commerce bringsfundamentalchanges to
commerce
▷ Marketplace – a physical place where you go
for business transaction.
▷ space – marketplace extended beyond
traditional
Market boundaries. Removed the temporal
and geographic limitations.
▷ Information Asymmetry – Any difference in
relevant market information among parties in a
transaction.
Eight Unique Features of E-commerce
Technology

1. Ubiquity
2. Global reach
3. Universal standards
4. Information richness
5. Interactivity
6. Information density
7. Personalization/customization
8. Social technology
Eight Unique Features of E-
commerce Technology

▷ Ubiquity: available just about

everywhere, at all times
▷ Global Reach: the total number of
users or customers an e-commerce
business can obtain
▷ universal standards: standards that
are shared by all nations around the
world
Eight Unique Features of E-commerce
Technology

▷ Richness: the complexity and content of

a message
▷ Interactivity: technology that allows for
two way communication between
merchant and consumer
▷ Information density: the total amount and
quality of information available to all
market participants
Eight Unique Features of E-
commerce Technology
▷ Personalization: the targeting of
marketing messages to specific, and past
individuals by adjusting the message to a
person’s name, interests purchases
▷ Customization: changing the delivered
product or service based on a user’s
preferences or prior behavior
Types of E-commerce
▷ Typically, eCommerce business models can
be divided into six major types, such as:
▷ Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
▷ Business-to-Business (B2B)
▷ Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
▷ Mobile e-commerce (M-commerce)
▷ Social e-commerce
▷ Local e-commerce
Types of E-commerce

▷ B2C : online businesses selling to

individual customers e-g Amazon
▷ B2B : online businesses selling to other
businesses. e-g
▷ C2C : consumers selling to other
consumers online e-g olx
Types of E-commerce

▷ Mobile e-commerce : use of mobile devices to

enable online transactions
▷ Social e-commerce : e-commerce enabled by
social networks and online social relationships
▷ Local e-commerce : e-commerce that is
focused on engaging the consumer based on
his or her current geographic location
Types of E-commerce
Relative Sizes
 The Growth of B2C E-commerce in the U.S.

SOURCE: Based on data from eMarketer, Inc., 2014b; authors’ estimates.

 The Growth of B2B E-commerce in the U.S.

SOURCE: Based on data from U.S. Census Bureau, 2014; authors’ estimates.
Underlying Tech of E-Commerce

▷ The Internet
▷ The Web
▷ The Mobile
Platform
The Internet

▷ Worldwide network of computer

networks built on common standards
▷ Created in late 1960s
▷ Services include the Web, e-mail,
file transfers, and so on
▷ Can measure growth by number
of Internet hosts with domain
names
The Web

▷ Most popular Internet service

▷ Developed in early 1990s
▷ Provides access to Web pages
○ HTML documents that may include text,
graphics, animations, music, videos
▷ Web content has grown
exponentially
○ Google reports 60 trillion unique URLs
The Mobile Platform

▷ Most recent development in

Internet infrastructure
▷ Enables access to the Internet via
wireless networks or cell-phone service
▷ Mobile devices include
○ Tablets
○ Smartphones
○ Ultra-lightweight laptops
Advantage of E-Commerce

▷ E-commerce provides the sellers with a

global reach. They remove the barrier
of place (geography).
▷ It provides quick delivery of goods with
very little effort on part of the customer.
▷ Customer complaints are also
addressed quickly.
▷ It also saves time, energy and effort for
both the consumers and the company.
Disadvantage of E-Commerce

▷ The start-up costs of the e-commerce portal are very

high. The setup of the hardware and the software,
the training cost of employees, the constant
maintenance and upkeep are all quite expensive.
▷ Security is another area of concern. Only recently,
we have witnessed many security breaches where
the
information of the customers was stolen. Credit card
theft, identity theft etc. remain big concerns with the
customers.
Understanding E-commerce: Organizing
Themes
▷ Technology:
○ Development and mastery of digital computing
and communications technology
▷ Business:
○ New technologies present businesses with new
ways of organizing production and transacting
business
▷ Society:
○ Intellectual property, individual privacy, public
welfare policy