Internet business: Online shopping

The Internet and world wide web have made it easier, simpler, cheaper and easily accessible for businesses of all sizes and consumers to interact and conduct commercial transactions electronically as compared with the traditional approach of using private value-added network.

Internet business refers to the process of buying or selling products or services over the Internet. Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular because of speed and ease of use for customers.

Online shopping, which refers to buying and selling products over the Internet, is a type of B2C e-commerce. This innovation for shopping not only brings a great number and variety of merchandise to potential consumers, but also offers a numerous business activities and huge market.

In online shopping, buyers and seller are not affected by time, location or long distances. That is, in order to make purchases, buyers do not have to visit the seller’s physical store, which might be located in another city or country. Consumers save both time and traveling costs by making purchases over the Internet.

The 24-hour availability of online storefront and accessibility from almost any location makes online shopping more convenient to consumers and provides consumers with a powerful alternative channel for making purchases.

Studies have also shown that design, reliability, information content, ease of use and navigation of an online shopping website are the main factors that significantly influence consumers’ perceptions about Internet shopping.

Ease of research in gathering product information is also one of the factors that influence consumers to shop online. In virtual market spaces on the Internet, consumer searches for product information is much more effectively and efficiently conducted as compared to traditional channels.

For example, online shop on Instagram now develops its function along the updated and the increase of people’s needs. Companies that sell stuffs such as clothes, makeup, shoes, have learned to use the recent technologies like Instagram in order to be able to reach the potential buyer since almost everyone uses social media these days.
Internet business: Online shopping

Platform for e-business

What is e-business? E-business is simply the electronic exchange of goods and services including business, trade, buying and selling from businesses to consumer, that is transacted electronically. A successful e-business requires a well-coordinated plan that takes into account among many other elements, design competency, programming abilities (transactional and databases), server configuration public relations and sales and marketing abilities.

Selling and transacting can be done to the world wide web, which is the global combination of links, information, web pages and e-commerce websites. All of this delivered via the internet and infrastructure of computers all linked together.

The person can have the best product or service in the world; but if the website doesn’t provide intuitive navigation, offer an easy-to-use process for order and fulfillment and maintain high standard of quality control, you will never archive consistent customer satisfaction.

A website is an infinite number of web pages connected by a common theme and purpose. A good design is important to provide your customers with easy access to all of your website’s pages. The goal is to increase the business by making it easier for customers to shop, and if the website’s lack technology and marketing make it difficult for them, they may as well drive to the mall.

Careful considerations of the numerously design possibilities for website is essential. From technical perspective, e-commerce sites require a catalog, shopping cart and payment processing mechanism, at a minimum. More typical, though e-commerce sites encompass a wide range of advanced, value added feature.
Platform for e-business

E-Commerce: C2C

E-commerce is a continuously evolving phenomenon. E-Commerce is the process whereby different types of business activities are being carried out through internet and other related technologies with the involvement of trading parties. Indeed, the division of electronic commerce can be trace to Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer to Business (C2B) and Consumer to Consumer (C2C).

C2C transactions generally involve products sold through a classified or auction system. Products sold are often used or second hand. There are minimal costs involved with the lack of retailers and wholesalers, keeping the margins higher for sellers and prices lower for buyers.

There is also the convenience factor — instead of trying to sell items in person at a brick-and-mortar store, consumers can simply list their products online and wait for the buyers to come to them. Buyers don't need to drive around and search through stores for an item they want — they just have to search for it on a C2C site.

C2C e-commerce can also take place in online communities, chat rooms, third-party consumer listing services, and Web-based discussion forums.

Retailers see it as very important, given the growing use of social media channels by consumers to share their option about specific stock, which often drives increased traffic to stores.

The goal of C2C is to enable buyers and sellers to find each other easily. They benefit in two crucial commerce areas. Firstly, they benefit from competition for product and second, they can easily find products that are otherwise difficult to locate.

Compared to B2C commerce, gaining trust is more complicated when the buyer and seller are both individuals, and with Internet come the disadvantages of anonymity - the potential for fraud or misrepresentation is much greater online than in the physical world. Nevertheless, there are ways of alleviating the trust problem and the success of C2C auction systems is seen to owe a great deal to the development of working reputation systems.
E-Commerce: C2C

Limitation of E-commerce

Electronic commerce is a process of buying and selling products, services and information using computer networks and the internet. E-commerce has some, limitations, both technological and non-technological that have slowed its growth and acceptance.

Technological limitations include:
*Cost of developing and maintaining a website
*Security issues: the security risk in ecommerce can be
- client / server risk
- data transfer and transaction risk
- virus risk
*Insufficient telecommunication bandwidth
*Expensive accessibility
*Constantly change software
*The need to integrate digital and non-digital sales and production information

Non-technological limitations include:
*Perceptions that E-commerce is insecure
*Customer concern over privacy
*Customers’ inability to touch products
*Has unresolved legal issues
*Lacks a critical mass of sellers and buyers
*Employees’ technical knowledge
*Challenges of dealing with global and languages
Limitation of E-commerce

Security system of e-commerce

The e-commerce information system of enterprises stores a great deal of commercial secrets concerning the long –term development of enterprises.

Although e-commerce technologies offer immense benefits, conducting any kind of online communications or transactions offers the potential greater misuse of these technologies and even potential criminal activities. 

Computer hackers and criminals are making national and international news. A comprehensive e-commerce security system protects customers, buildings, terminal, printer, CPUs, cables, and other hardware and software in an organization.

Moreover, an e-commerce security plan protects data resources, the second most important resources after human resource in an organization. 

A complete security problem includes the response reliability of the e-commerce system when it reacts to various accidents and viscous attacks.

The complete security architecture of computer network includes the network’s physical security, access control security, system security, user security, information encryption, secure transmission and security management.

E-commerce security is classified into three important aspects:
*secrecy – in the commercial world, confidentiality ensures that customers’ data are protected and will be used only for the intended purpose.
*accuracy – it will ensure the integrity of data resource.
*availability – it will ensures the efficient an effective operation of an e-commerce.

Security measures must be a part of the basic systems design and implementation plan, which should be a requirement of any automated system.
Security system of e-commerce

Content provider

Content provider creates and provides content that it makes available online through its own website or through an intermediary, such as content platform to customers.

They are the companies that operate an internet-based service. Their core competence is the creation and managing of content and the relationships with those who use, enhance, or support the content. Content is much more than just the written word.

Content is much more than just the written word. It’s the many elements that combine to make a site, including text, images, audio, video and community.

As the number of e-commerce web sites increases, so does the demand for content. A web site operator pays various content provider for news stories, information and other online content in order to attract users to the site.

Alternatively, the web site operator might hire a content provider to created new content specifically for the web site. Content providers generally want to focus on what they are good at, which is developing content – films, weather forecasts, travel information, educational material and so on.
Content provider

The key factors of successful e-commerce system

Success factors are necessary for successful accomplishment of e- business objectives including:

*Content, the presentation of products and services in an attention grabbing and powerful way. 

*Convenience, the purposive usability of the website.

*Security. It continues to be a major concern of online customer worldwide.

*Control the rapid influence on processes and content.

*Interaction, the relationship building with individual customers by providing timely pre-sales information and excellent after sales support.

*Access to expert help when required.

*Customer service offering. The service has long been proven to be the major factor affecting the customer’s satisfaction and loyalty in traditional type of commerce.

*Community, the relationship building with groups/organization by enabling the exchange of information and services tailored to the ends of the community.

*Price sensitivity, the sensitivity of a product or service to competition on the internet. Research shows that free shipping and discounts are good incentives and motivators for online shoppers.

*Demographic factors. Research has found that genders, ages, income, education and residential areas determine the level of online usage and shopping.

*Brand management.

*Ensuring timely deliveries to customers.
The key factors of successful e-commerce system

The Trend of Internet Commerce

Internet and its inherent possibility to be exploited as a commercial ought to be taken into consideration very seriously by business organizations.

Indeed, most companies plan to engage the Internet technology in their business, although their approaches and levels of implementations vary in degree. 

Some companies only embrace e-commerce in business-to-business activities, by passing all paper-based transactions.

Others which concern with business-to-customer Internet commerce dealings establish their presence on the Intrenet – by having as simple corporate homepage to inform the prospective customers about the business or by having a web store, which includes e-mail and purchase order forms for the customers to interact with customer services or product sales department.

Thus, it can be expected that the number of transactions made on the Internet would increase rapidly, especially with the evolvement of various enabling technologist to support Internet commerce.

Moreover, the infrastructure of the information superhighway enables the trading of a group of commodity readily, for instance in transactions that only involve exchanging documents or data and transferring knowledge.

Despite the potential growth in the use of the Internet as a powerful information-trading place Internet commerce has also becoming very popular for the other type of commodity: the physical goods.

The fact is that we do not live out of knowledge and information alone and therefore, it is not surprising that the Internet would be exploited as the trading place for physical good.

Consequently, a primary element in the value chain which makes Internet commerce feasible is the logistics support. In fact restructuring of logistics supports to deliver the product t the customers is a field of opportunity upon realizing the e-commerce significance.
The Trend of Internet Commerce

What is the meaning of Internet Commerce

The internet is redefining relations between businesses and consumers enabling companies to sell their products and services around the globe on an unprecedented scale.

Shoppers can buy online at their convenience at any time and from anywhere.

It is necessary to distinguish terms e-commerce, e-business and internet commerce at the very start of the discussion.

There is a range of definitions for e-commerce relative to its perspective, may it be communications, business process, service or in the context of on-line business.

E-commerce can be defined as “the buying and selling of information, products and services via computer networks”.

While e-commerce encompass business activities that is conducted electronically, such as using the world wide web, the multimedia interactive component of the internet, telephone lines, leased lines and wireless, e-business can be understood as a superior set which extends the understanding of e-commerce to reflect the vision of the organization.

The goods or services are ordered over the internet, but the payment or ultimate delivery of the good or service may be conducted on or off line.

Internet or the information superhighway, has been well understood as the enabler or the enabling technology.

Subsequently, internet commerce refers to the marketing, selling and buying of products and services on the internet.
What is the meaning of Internet Commerce

E-Commerce Success Factors

E-Commerce Success Factors
Advertising and Incentives
Some Web stores may advertise in traditional media, but most advertise on the Web which targeted and personalized banner ads and other Web page and E-mail promotions. Most B2C sites also offer shoppers incentives to buy and return.

Typically, this means coupons, discounts, special offers and vouchers for other Web services, sometimes with other E-tailers at across linked websites.

Many Webs stores also increase their market reach by being part of Web banner adverting exchange with thousand of other Web retailers.

Personal attention
Personalizing your shopping experience encourages you to buy and make return visits. Thus E-commerce software can automatically record details of your visits and build user profile of you and other Web shoppers. Many sites also encourage you to register with them and fill out a personal interest profile.

Then when ever you return, you are welcomed by name or with a personal Web page greeted with special offers and guided to those parts of the sites that you are most interested in. This one to one marketing and relationship building power as one of the major advantages of personalized Web retailing.

Community Relationship
Giving online customers with special interest a a feeling of belonging to a unique group of like-minded individuals helps build customer loyalty and value.

Thus, website relationship and affinity marketing programs build and promote virtual communities of customers, suppliers, company representative, and others via a variety of Web base collaboration tools.

Examples include discussion forums or newsgroup, chat rooms, message board systems and cross-links or related website communities.

Security and Reliability
As a customer of a successful Web store you must feel confident that your credit card personal information and details of your transactions are are secure from unauthorized use.

You must also feel that you are dealing with a trustworthy business, whose products and other websites information you can trust to be as advertise.

Having your order filled and shipped as you requested, in the time frame promised and with good customer support are other measures of an E-tailer’s reliability.
E-Commerce Success Factors

Electronic Commerce

The business phenomenon that we now called electronic commerce has had an interesting history.

For humble beginning in the mid - 1990s, electronic commerce grew rapidly until 2000, when a major downturn occurred. Many people have seen news stories about the “dot-com boom” followed by “dot-com bust” or the “dot-bomb.”

In the period from 2000 to 2003, many industry observers were obituaries for electronic commerce.

Just as the unreasonable expectations for immediate success fueled the high expectation during the boom years, overly gloomy news reports colored perceptions during this time.

Beginning in 2003, with the general economy still in the doldrums, electronic commerce began to show signs of the new life.

Companies that had survived the downturn were not only seeing growth in sales again, but may of them showing profits.

Although the rapid expansion and high levels of investment of the boom years are not likely to be repeated, this wave of electronic commerce is well under way.
Electronic Commerce

Ease to Use online

Ease to use is the single most most importance need to fulfill for your potential customers. Building site that are speedy and easy to use has become increasingly important.

Thus, a successful, stickiness strategy would involve making large amounts of information and resource available without forfeiting the sense of familiarity and user friendliness that the site encapsulates.

Online customers are lazy; many are not technical savvy; and they will go elsewhere rather than tolerate difficulties.

Ease to use involves simplicity in access and in navigation online. They don’t want to wait more than ten seconds for a site to download.

They don’t want to scroll horizontally because a Web page doesn’t fit in their browser window, although vertical scrolling is OK.

They don’t want to wade through dozens of features and links that don’t interest them. They don’t want to try to understand unfamiliar jargon or to read long paragraphs of text.

Online customers want a professional, clear, and concise site, they want to be able to search and get accurate search results. They want the technolingo replaced by easy to understand wording.

They want to be able to find the right product and conduct the transaction quickly. After the transaction, they want fats shipping and an easy return process if return are necessary.

According to both conceptual and empirical studies of online trust, website ease to use impacts a trustor’s trust in the party who is considered accountable for the sign and maintenance of the website interface.

Expert argue that website interfaces that are perceived to be easy to use indicate that the other party associate with this interface invests in the relationship with website users and is thus trustworthy.

An easy to use website interface is also likely to signal that the party who is held responsible for this interface has the resources and qualifications to live up to his commitments and is thus trustworthy.
Ease to Use online

E-Commerce Success Factors Part II

E-Commerce Success Factors Part II
Advertising and Incentives
Some Web stores may advertise in traditional media, but most advertise on the Web which targeted and personalized banner ads and other Web page and E-mail promotions. Most B2C sites also offer shoppers incentives to buy and return.

Typically, this means coupons, discounts, special offers and vouchers for other Web services, sometimes with other E-tailers at across linked websites.

Many Webs stores also increase their market reach by being part of Web banner adverting exchange with thousand of other Web retailers.

Personal attention
Personalizing your shopping experience encourages you to buy and make return visits. Thus E-commerce software can automatically record details of your visits and build user profile of you and other Web shoppers. Many sites also encourage you to register with them and fill out a personal interest profile.

Then when ever you return, you are welcomed by name or with a personal Web page greeted with special offers and guided to those parts of the sites that you are most interested in. This one to one marketing and relationship building power as one of the major advantages of personalized Web retailing.

Community Relationship
Giving online customers with special interest a a feeling of belonging to a unique group of like-minded individuals helps build customer loyalty and value.

Thus, website relationship and affinity marketing programs build and promote virtual communities of customers, suppliers, company representative, and others via a variety of Web base collaboration tools.

Examples include discussion forums or newsgroup, chat rooms, message board systems and cross-links or related website communities.

Security and Reliability
As a customer of a successful Web store you must feel confident that your credit card personal information and details of your transactions are are secure from unauthorized use.

You must also feel that you are dealing with a trustworthy business, whose products and other websites information you can trust to be as advertise.

Having your order filled and shipped as you requested, in the time frame promised and with good customer support are other measures of an E-tailer’s reliability.
E-Commerce Success Factors Part II

E-commerce Success Factors Part 1

Three E-commerce Success Factors
Selection and Value
Obviously, a business must offer Web shoppers a good selection of attractive products and services at competitive prices or they will quickly click away from web store.

But a company’s price don’t have to be the lowest on the Web if they build reputation for high quality, guaranteed satisfaction, and top customer support while shopping and after sale.

Performance and Services
People don’t want to be kept waiting when browsing, selecting or paying in a Web store. A site must be efficiently designed for ease of access shopping and buying with sufficient server power and network capacity to support website traffic.

In addition, products offered should be available in inventory for prompt shipment to the customer.

Look and Feel
Business to consumer sites can offer customers and attractive Web storefront, shopping areas and multimedia product catalogues.

This could range from an exciting hopping experience with audio, video, and moving graphics, to a more simple and comfortable look and feel.

This, most retail E-commerce sites let customers browse product sections, select products, drop them into virtual shopping cart and go to a virtual checkout station when they are ready to pay for their order.
Three E-commerce Success Factors

E-commerce trends

New technologies are being introduced into the market almost on a daily basis, which in turns opens up new territories and new possibilities in e-commerce. Today, Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) are the leading markets of E-commerce.

B2C E-commerce moves from simple Web store fronts to interactive marketing capabilities that provide a personalized shopping experience for customers and then toward a totally integrated Web store that support a variety of customer shopping experience.

Previously, websites meant to be informational, just to provide details about products and services , but now the trend is to carry out transaction and money transfer over the internet.

E-commerce allows users and enterprise to carry out dealings like shopping, banking, bill payments, auctions and lots of other things online.

B2C E-commerce also moving toward a self-service model where customers configure and customize the products and services they wish to buy aided by configuration software and online customer support as needed.

It has huge potential and is fundamentally changing the way the business are done. As B2C, E-commerce moves toward full-service and wide-selection retail Web portal, B2B is also trending toward the use of E-commerce portals that provide catalog, exchange and auction markets for business customers within or cross industries.

E-commerce allows various activity. The goal behind implementing E-commerce is to cut expenses by reducing transaction costs and streamlining all kinds of processes.

E-commerce emphasizes new business opportunities that result in greater efficiency and more effective transaction. 
E-commerce Trends

E-Commerce Application Trends

E-commerce is here to stay. In the new millennium, the Web and E-commerce are key industry drivers. It’s changed how many companies do business.

It’s created new channels for our customers, making leaders in many different industries sit up and take notice. Managers everywhere are feeling the heat: their companies are at the E-commerce crossroads and there are many ways to go.

Thus, E-commerce is changing how many companies do business both internally and externally with their customers, suppliers and other business partners.

How companies apply E-commerce to their business is also subject to change as their managers confront a variety of E-commerce alternatives.

The applications of E0-commerce by many companies have gone through several major stages as E-commerce matures in the world of business.

For example E-commerce between business an consumers (B2C) move from merely offering multimedia company information at corporate websites (brochureware) to offering products and services at Web storefront sites via electronic catalogs and online sales transactions.

B2B E-commerce, on the other hand, started with website support to help business customers serve themselves, and then moves toward automating internet and extranet procurement systems.
E-Commerce Application Trends

Targeting the Best Shoppers

E-commerce ventures, just like retail stores, will sell their merchandise to three types of customers: the customers who know what they want and go get it, the customers who want to buy something but are undecided, and the potential customers who merely browse the Web.

The more directed the shopper, the easier the sale – as long as that shopper can quickly and easily find the product online, get all the information on the product and then complete the purchase. Therefore, websites should concentrate on the shopper who came for a product and wants to quickly and easily purchase that product.

The well known Amazon.com has a small search box that allows its customers to search for any product by title, author, artist, or other applicable data, the quickly lists all available versions, prices and the average shipping time of that product on the screen. One click shopping allows past customers to purchase the book or books without reentering credit card information. The directed shopper can access, buy, and leave the site with minimum effort.

However, sites that ignore the less directed, undecided buyers will miss a good deal of clientele. If site and products attract these types of buyers, it must be prepared to develop a storefront that help them easily and quickly browse products by brand, age, manufacturer, category, price and any other appropriate criteria. These shoppers will buy when they find a product they like, so they should be exposed to as many products as possible.

The least directed, browsing shoppers are the most difficult to convert into buyers. Personalized searches, specialty shops, hot products lists, and online promotions help attract these shoppers, who often will be drawn to a website’s “glitter’” or its look and feel, rather than its content, service, or products.

Sophisticated marketing campaigns and online tools such as generalized, all product queries; chat room and discussion groups; and other promotions can help turn these browsers into buyers, but a website should not count on these shoppers to succeed. Targeting a strong and directed base of customers is essential.
Targeting the Best Shoppers

The Scope of E-commerce

Companies involved in e-commerce as ether buyer s or sellers rely on Internet based technologies, and E-commerce applications and service to accomplish marketing, discovery, transaction, processing, and product and customer services processing. 

For example, electronic commerce can include interactive, marketing, ordering, payment, and customer support process at E-commerce catalog and auction site on the World Wide Web, extranet access of inventory databases by customers and suppliers, intranet access of customer relationship management systems by sales and customer collaboration in product development via E-mail and internet newsgroup. 

Many companies today are participating in or sponsoring three basic categories of electronic commerce applications, business-to-consumer, business-to-business and consumer-to-consumer E-commerce. However, many E-commerce concepts apply to such applications. 

Business to Consumer or B2C In this form electronic commerce, business must develop attractive electronic marketplaces to entice and sell product and services to consumer. For example, many companies offer E-commerce websites that provide virtual storefronts and multimedia catalogs, interactive order processing, secure electronics payment system, and online customer support. 

Business to Business or B2B This category involves both electronic business marketplace and direct market links between businesses. For example, many companies offer secure Internet or extranet E-commerce catalog websites for their business customers and suppliers. Also very important are B2B E-commerce portal that provide auction and exchange marketplace for businesses. Others may rely on electronic data interchange (EDI) via internet, or extranet for computer to computer exchange of E-commerce documents with their larger business customer s and suppliers. 

Consumer to Consumer or C2C The huge success of online auctions like eBay, where consumers can buy and sell with each other in an auction process at an auction website, make this E-commerce model an important E-commerce business strategy. 

The Scope of E-commerce

E-commerce Systems

For e-business enterprises in the age of internet, electronic commerce is more than just buying and selling product online. Instead, it compasses the entire online process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for product and services transacted on internetworked, global market place of customers, with the support of a world wide network of business partners.

E-commerce systems rely on the resources of the internet, intranets, extranets, and other technologies to support every step of this process.
E-commerce Systems

E-Business Application

E-Business Application
Enterprise communications and collaboration application support communication, coordination, and collaboration among the members of business teams and workgroups.

For example, employees and external consultants on a project team may use the Internet, intranets, and extranets to support electronic mail, videoconferencing, electronic discussion groups, and project websites to communicate and collaborate on business projects.

Electronic commerce applications support the buying and selling of products, services, and information over the Internet and extranets. For example, many business uses E-commerce websites for business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales and support, use extranets so large customers can excess the company’s inventory databases, and use a corporate intranet so employees can easily look up customer records on intranet servers.

Internal business applications of an E-business enterprise support a company‘s internal business processes and operations.

For example, employees may use an intranet enterprise information portal to excess benefits information on a human resource department server.

Or a company may link an intranet to the internet so managers can make inquiries, generate reports, and access corporate databases from anywhere in the world.
E-Business Application