E-COMMERCE   

What is Electronic Commerce?

History of E-Commerce

E-Commerce Definition

Component of E-Commerce

Technology & Business

Why E-Commerce

E-Commerce Market Size & Trends

Unique Feature of E-Commerce Technology

Example of E-Commerce Enabling Business Goals

This Is How E-Commerce Works

Advantages of E-Commerce

Disadvantages of E-Commerce

Generating The Most E-Commerce Benefit

E-Commerce Issue

Some Common Terms

Future of E-Commerce

E-Commerce Glossary

The Internet's primary attraction for commercial activity is that it is relatively low in cost from an access perspective. Commercial entities no longer have to offer products and services through privately managed communications networks. The Internet also comes with an existing and expanding user population.

Many factors are causing Internet usage to explode exponentially. These factors include: lower technology costs, increased computing capacity, the proliferation of home and business PC users, new image and voice enabling protocols, advanced networking and software technologies, and easy-to-use, inexpensive access via Internet Service Providers and commercial on-line services.

The idea of commerce conducted through Internet links has posed many questions . To date, the difficulty of providing secure payment transactions has been one of the greatest barriers to wide-spread commerce. However, development is proliferating in the areas of secure-ware, proprietary and standard cryptography technology, and networking. Some of these standards have already been deployed in the marketplace. The challenge to the banking industry, as the backbone of the payment system, is to decide how to participate in Internet commerce in a profitable and secure manner.

Online home banking and financial services have been an intense focus for both banks and non-banks. Today, several institutions are moving towards providing brokerage services through the Internet.

Just as swift as the growth in the use of the Internet is the pace of emerging technologies and the changes in the development landscape. The unprecedented opportunity of open commerce and the myriad of choices it provides has forced unprecedented collaboration across industry sectors and national boundaries. Spurred by the promise of market reach, traditional competitors are working together cooperatively to build the infrastructure for electronic commerce over the Internet. Prior to mid-1996, development was largely technology driven. Now payments system, business and regulatory experts are focused on appropriate implementation of products and payments. New alliances between in-market competitors as well as alliances between technology companies and financial institutions are now being formed to facilitate rational and speedy market implementation. Various consortia and industry organizations are aligning efforts to advance technical and standards development.

New payments services are emerging to act as intermediary between consumer and merchant especially in the area of electronic cash and coin. While the aggregation these services perform promise to keep transaction costs low, questions about safety and soundness, and regulation versus free-market activity are at issue.

An electronic system of trust analogous to that of the physical world is a significant barrier to wide-spread Internet-based commerce. In an environment where buyers and sellers have only electronic personas, technology must be employed to conclusively authenticate the parties to a transaction. And while the technology is readily available, the building of an infrastructure to support its use has only just begun. The legal framework for electronic commerce is also in early stages of development. Disuniformity in the application of commercial law and regulation will challenge Internet merchants who embark on interstate and international commerce -- the very drawing card that makes the Internet an attractive delivery channel. Although many technical standards have been developed, operating rules and standards have not. Educating potential users of the Internet will be key to its commercial success and its safety and soundness. Despite these challenges investment in new products and services continues. Will businesses and financial institutions do business through the Internet? They will if it makes rational economic sense and if commerce can be conducted with reasonable safety. Many have already begun to do just that.

Depending on whom you ask, you're sure to get very different answers. To some, it's buying everyday items like books, CDs, panty hose, or watches at virtual storefronts on the Internet. To others, it's entering complex, private Value Added Networks and ordering wings for 757s in bulk. For some, only when actual financial transactions are conducted electronically is it considered e-commerce. For others, the term covers all aspects of buying and selling, including marketing, advertising, order taking, and customer service.

Electronic Commerce (E Commerce or EC) is the exchange of business information using electronic formats, including Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Electronic Mail (e-mail), Electronic Bulletin Boards (EBBs) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). E Commerce Technologies are designed to replace traditional paper-based work flows with faster, more efficient and reliable communications between computers. To conduct business in the current environment using E Commerce technologies requires that a business have access to a computer and a modem.

But while the borders of the e-commerce field remain fuzzy, the object of the game is perfectly clear: Making money. Whether it's by streamlining the fulfillment process, facilitating communication among employees, cutting out the middleman, or reaching new markets, e-commerce is about improving the way people do business.

Many businesspeople still think of e-commerce as just a buzzword. They have a feeling it's the wave of the future, but aren't quite sure how to catch it--or if they even want to. But the facts behind e-commerce are quickly proving it to be more than just a fad. According to Odyssey, a market research firm, 7 million households made an online purchase in the last six months of 1997, which is more than double the number of households that made purchases a year earlier.

But that's only the beginning. Forrester Research, a consulting firm, predicts that by 2001, online sales revenue will reach $17.3 billion. Retail giants like Egghead Computer, Barnes and Noble, and The Gap are investing heavily in their online selling efforts in anticipation of the boom predicted for the near future.

The good news is that e-commerce is not only available to the big guys. Anyone with a computer and an online connection can make their presence felt on the Web. But if what you're looking for is online commerce success, you'll also need knowledge. As the old saying goes, knowledge is power, and there's no easier way to gather knowledge about the Internet than the Internet itself.

So

In its broadest definition, e-Commerce is digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals.

·        Digitally enabled means, for the most part, transactions

                that occur over the Internet and World Wide Web(“Web”)

·        Commercial transactions involve the exchange of value

                (e.g. money) across organizational or individual

                boundaries in return for products and services.

Differentiated from e-Business which is digitally enabled transactions and processes within a firm, involving Information Systems controlled by the firm.  Doesn’t involve commercial transactions across organizational boundaries.

E-COMMERCE               E-BILLING                E-PAYMENTS              E-BANKING               E-SHOPPING

E-ADVERTISING     WEB SITE DEVELOPMENT     INTERNET LAW     FUTURE OF E-COMMERCE