IT 204- E-Commerce

E-Commerce
Exam Question pattern
Group A
10*1=10
Group B
5*3=15
Group C:
3*5=15
Group D:
2*10=20
FM:60, Time: 3 Hrs
 Practical Exam
Group Project
At most 3 students in each group
Practical Exam: 40 marks
(Report+viva+presentation+internal)
 Course structure
Unit 1: Introduction 3 LHs
• Why E-commerce? Introduction to E-commerce;
Unique Features of E-commerce; Types of E-
commerce
Unit 2: E-commerce Business Models and Concepts
6 LHs
• E-commerce Business Models; B2C Business
Models; B2B Business Models; How E- commerce
Changes Business: Strategy, Structure, and
Process
Unit 3: E-commerce Infrastructure: The Internet,
The Web and The Mobile Platforms 6 LHs
• The Internet: Technology Background; Internet
Infrastructure and Access; The Web; The
Unit 4: E-commerce Security and Payment Systems 7
LHs
• E-commerce Security Environment; Security Threats;
Technology Solutions; Management Policies,
Business Procedures, and Public Laws; E-commerce
Payment Systems
Unit 5: E-commerce Marketing and Advertising
Concepts 7 LHs
• Consumers Online: The Online Audience and
Consumer Behavior; Digital Commerce Marketing
and Advertising Strategies and Tools; Online
Marketing Technologies; Understanding the Costs
and Benefits of Online Marketing Communication
Unit 6: Social, Mobile, and Local Marketing 6 LHs
• Introduction to Social, Mobile, and Local Marketing;
Social Marketing; Mobile Marketing; Local and
Unit 7: Social Networks, Auctions, and Portals
• Social Networks and Online Communities; Online
Auctions; E-commerce Portals
Unit 8: B2B E-commerce: Supply Chain Management and
Collaborative
• Overview of B2B E-commerce; The Procurement
Process and Supply Chains; Trends in Supply
Chain Management and Collaborative
Commerce; B2B E-commerce Marketplaces: The
Selling Side of B2B; Private B2B Networks
 UNIT 1

Introduction
 1.1 Introduction
• E-commerce is the process of buying, selling and
exchanging the products, services and
information between and among organizations
and individuals by using internet technologies
• Every commercial transactions involves following
three main components or dimensions
 Product or service
 Process
 Delivery agent
• In traditional commerce all above components
are physical.
• The commerce in which all or at least one of the
above component is digital is called e-commerce.
• In other words, e-commerce is a modern
business methodology that addresses the need
of organization and consumers to reduce cost
while improving the quality of goods and services
and increasing the speed of service delivery.
 Definition of e-commerce
• IBM’s definition of e-commerce
“The transformation of key business processes
through the use of internet technologies”
 According to R. Kalakota
“E-commerce is buying and selling activities over
digital media”
We can define e-commerce in the following
three perspective
 From a communication perspective “e-commerce is the
delivery of information, products/services or payment via
telephone, network”
 From a business perspective “e-commerce is the
application of technology toward the automation of
business transactions and workflows”
 From a service perspective “e-commerce is a tool that
addresses the desire of firms, consumers and
management to reduce service cost while improving the
quality of goods and increasing the speed of service
delivery”
 Important characteristics of e-commerce
are:
• It is about the exchanging of digitized
information
• It is technology enabled
• It is technology mediated
• It includes intra and inter organizational
activities
Hence, e-commerce is the use of
internet and web-technologies to transact
business.
 1.2 E-commerce terminologies and
Fundamentals
• E-commerce consists of two major parties i.e.
one is buyer side who buys item and other is
seller side who sells item.
• To accomplish this in e-commerce
environment, different devices and application
are required.
 1.2 E-commerce terminologies and
Fundamentals contd….
a. E-business: e-business is defined as the application
of information and communication technologies to
support all the activities of business.
b. Node: devices connected to the server
c. Protocol: rules and regulation of data transmission
d. Web browser: web browser is a software
application which enable users to display and
interact with text, image and videos.
 1.2 E-commerce terminologies and
Fundamentals contd….
e. Web server: delivers web pages to browser
f. Electronic-mall: An online shopping center
where many stores are located is called e-mall.
g. Electronic store-front: single company’s web
site where products and services are sold.
h. Portal: A portal is a Web site that offers a broad
array of resources and services, such as e-mail,
online discussion groups, search engines, and
online shopping malls.
 Elements of e-commerce application
• E-commerce applications needs standard
infrastructure. In nepal we are using NTC
network and other some networks as a
backbone of e-commerce application.
• Basic three blocks of e-commerce or elements
of e-commerce applications are:
a. Consumer access device
b. Network provider
c. Information delivery server
a. Consumer access device:
 Consumer can access the e-commerce system
through existing telecommunication network,
PCs, telephone etc.
 Consumers use these suitable access device to
deliver the information
 For e.g. to access telephone data, consumer can
use ordinary telephone, to access audio and
video data consumers can use PCs or laptop .
b. Network provider
 Network is the backbone of e-commerce
because e-commerce needs a network
infrastructure to transfer multimedia contents.
 Also being e-commerce as a global commerce,
it needs high capacity interactive electronic
pipelines i.e. capable of simultaneously
supporting a large number of e-commerce
applications.
c. Information delivery server
 The server which delivers the information
upon request with large scale distribution and
full security management is known as
information delivery server.
 These servers are combination of hardware
and software which convert raw data into
usable information and deliver when and
where user need it.
 Dimensions of e-commerce
a. Global reach: An e-commerce techno has
global reach that is permitting commercial
transactions to cross cultural and national
boundaries far more conveniently and cost
effectively
b. Universal standard: This technology operates
according to universal standard shared by all
nations of the world
c. Interactivity : It is an interactive that means it
allows for two ways communication on a
much more massive and global scale
d. Information density: Information density is
the total amount and quality of information
available to all market participants. E-
commerce technology increases information
density.
e. Personalization and customization:
. The technology permits personalization and
customization with the marketing messages to
specific individuals by adjusting the messages
to a person name, interest and past
purchases.
. Personalization of marketing message and
customization of product and services are
based on individuals characteristics.
eight unique features Of e-cOmmerce technOLOgy
 Benefits of e-commerce
a. Benefits to organization
 Expands the market place to national and
international market
 Reduces cost of creating, processing, distributing,
storing and retrieving paper based information
 Allows for customization of products and services
 Reduces delivery time
 Reduces telecommunication cost
b. Benefits to consumer
 Enables consumers to do transactions from almost any
location
 Provides consumers more choices of interest with less cost
of services and price
 Consumers can receive relevant and detail information
about the related goods
 Improved customer service
 Allows consumer to interact with other consumers in
electronic communities and exchange their ideas as well as
compare experience.
c. Benefits to society
• Enables individuals to work more at home and
less travelling for shopping
• Facilitates delivery of public services at
reduced cost, increases effectiveness and
improves quality.
 limitations of e-commerce
a. Technical limitations
b. Non-technical limitations
a. Technical limitations
 Cost of a technological solution
 Some protocols are not standardized
 Insufficient telecommunication bandwidth
 Software tools are not fixed
 Difficulty in integrating e-commerce
infrastructure with current organizational IT
system.
b. Non-technical limitations
 Customers expectations may not meet
 Security and privacy issues
 Cultural and legal obstacles
 e-commerce opportunities for industries

• Financial services
• Stock trading
• Banking
• Legal and professional services
• Tour and travel
• Healthcare
 The driving forces for e-commerce
The various environmental business pressures
on companies today can be grouped into
three categories: market, social and
technological
a. Market and economic pressure: The
parameters which works as driving forces for
market are: strong competition, global
economy, low labor cost.
b. Societal and environmental pressures:
government regulations, reduction in
government subsidies, rapid political changes
c. Technological pressures: Rapid technological
changes, new technology , information
overload
 M-commerce
• “M-commerce is the use of mobile devices to
communicate, inform transact and entertain using text
and data via a connection to public and private
network”- lehman brothers
• “The use of mobile hand held devices to communicate,
interact via high-speed connection to the internt”-
Forresters
• “The use of wireless technologies to provide
convenient personalized and location-based services to
your customers, employees and partners” mobilocity
 Types of e-commerce
a. B2C
b. B2B
c. C2C
d. C2B
e. G2C
f. C2G
g. G2B
h. B2G
i. G2G
• Business-to-Consumer
– Business must develop attractive electronic marketplace
to sell to consumers
– Virtual storefronts, multimedia catalogs, interactive order
processing, electronic payment, online customer support
– form of interactive media/electronic marketing that allows
customers to view and order merchandise online
– customers can read about the history of the product,
browse through product offerings, and place orders, all
through a device
– E.g. amazon.com, pets.com , eDiets.com
• Business-to-Business
– a commercial transaction between businesses
– E-business marketplaces and direct market links
between businesses
– Internet and Extranet e-commerce catalog
websites for business customers and suppliers
– B2B e-Commerce web portal for auction
– E.g.metalsite.com, SHOP2gether.com, dell.com,
Alibaba, Fastenal,
Office Depot, Staples
• Consumer-to-Consumer
– One consumer selling to another consumer online
– Usually facilitated by a third-party site that helps
take care of the details of the transaction
– Online auctions, posting to newspaper sites,
personal websites, consumer e-commerce portals
– Free classified advertisement, auctions, forums,
and individual pages for start-up entrepreneurs
– eBay, Craigslist, Amazon, OLX
a. B2C
 In B2C business model business company
sells products or services directly to
consumers
 B2C business model include virtual malls,
which are websites that host many online
merchants.
 E.g. amazon.com, pets.com , eDiets.com
b. B2B
E.g.metalsite.com, SHOP2gether.com, dell.com
c. C2C
e.g. ebay.com, hamrobazar.com
d. C2B
e.g. priceline.com