U - Commerce : "Integrating business anywhere"

Abstract

Commerce is the exchange or buying and selling of commodities on a large scale involving transportation from place to place.

E - Commerce: - Most popular, doing transaction on Internet
M - Commerce: - Business transactions through mobile
T - Commerce: - Use Television set - top box to do commercial transactions
V - Commerce: - Using voice commands to do transactions
P - Commerce: - Proximity commerce using bluetooth or infrared technology

What is next?

Need of New Technologies

Newer technologies, empowered customers, and highly competitive marketplace make it imperative for businesses to invest into ways of improving the overall business performance.

"The Internet has introduced a significant wave of change. Our communication patterns have changed. We have become dependent on email. We interact with firms via Web sites.

The next wave—introduced through wireless technology—is about to change our lives even more. The increase in transmission capacity of wireless devices lays the foundation for communication unrestricted by physical locations. We can surf the Internet decoupled from landline computers.

In addition, we can do it any time, blurring the borderlines of business and private space. In the future, we will experience another wave of change—a world that provides the ultimate form of ubiquitous networks and universal devices, a world that presents an alternative view of space and time." - Miller & Watson, - 2002

We are now shifted to do business in virtual space rather only proving ourselves in geographical space.

Integrated approach of business

U-commerce

An integrated approach is the key. A type of commerce where a commercial transaction can be performed securely, any time, anywhere in the world, from any equipment, whether wired or wireless, using Internet technologies.

"U-commerce is a dynamic convergence of the physical and the digital, the interface of brick-and-mortar commerce with Web-based wireless and other next-generation technologies in ways that will create new levels of convenience and value for buyers and sellers."
- Stephen Schapp (Visa International) & Richard D. Cornelius (Accenture)

"A term u-commerce has been created in the Internet world that refers to commerce that can be conducted anywhere and any time in that it is a fusion of e-commerce, m-commerce (mobile commerce), t-commerce (television commerce) and bricks and mortar. It means seamless movement for consumers. U-commerce means that customers can come from all angles - today they may be in a showroom, tomorrow they may come at you via a website, cellular telephone phone or interactive television." - Lourens Botha, McCarthy On-Line

There are four Fundamental dimensions of u-commerce as described by Watson, Richard T., Leyland F. Pitt, Pierre Berthon, and George M. Zinkhan.

1. Ubiquity,
2. Uniqueness,
3. Universality, and
4. Unison.

Ubiquityallows users to access networks from anywhere at any time, and in turn, to be reachable at any place and any time. Computer will be useful everywhere. Basically we can say cheap will be embedded in our daily life so as to be benefited by Internet & wireless technology supported by Intelligent systems. E.g. Payment technology is becoming ubiquitous, shattering past constraints of location and functionality. It can now connect the smallest rural community, enabling it to conduct commerce with the rest of the world.

Uniqueness allows users to be uniquely identified—not only in terms of their identity and associated preferences, but also in terms of their geographical position. Avail only services what you want. Every program will be customization of your needs. It will be according to your roles in daily life. Download songs to make your mood or transfer sales records to your business data server on the spot of sale. Everything is unique and customized.

Universality means devices are universally usable and multi-functional. Due to Internet and satellites your desktop, laptop, cell phone, or PDA will avail free mobility and lots of information at any time.

Unison covers the idea of integrated data across multiple applications so that users have a consistent view on the their information-irrespective of the device used. Consistency means if I change an address in my phone book it should reflect changes in my cellphone, calendar and PDA simultaneously.

Using U – Commerce in Real World

Visa is committed to making its vision of universal commerce a reality, creating a world in which payment transactions can occur anywhere, anytime and in any way. Visa U.S.A. is exploring new Internet-enabled point-of-sale appliances that will be connected to a service portal for merchants, integrating customized payment and value-added non-payment Services. Through this Web-based POS service, merchants will be able to broaden customer relationships while lowering costs.

Volvo implemented a wireless enterprise solution to automate its data collection process to inspect cars and improve quality assurance.

The wireless solution enables the salesperson to – at any location – present the customer with current promotional offers, up – to – date financing information, price and model availability in Fiat.

Remote product monitoring: With use of sensor technology developed by Graviton, Coca cola will monitor soda fountains to monitor syrup usage.

Doctors can access patient data as well as pharmaceutical and insurance information through Ready Script’s wireless, handheld, point of care devise.

In short, u-commerce is the creation of a marketplace that reaches individuals where they are at using the devices that they want to use, with the networks doing the work without the user needing to intervene.

Suggested Readings & Resources

1. Accenture (2001). "The Future of Wireless: Different than You Think, Bolder Than You Imagine." Cambridge, MA, Accenture Institute for Strategic Change.
2. "U-Commerce: The Ultimate" - By Richard T. Watson
3. "U- commerce Fact sheet" - Visa

Strategic eCommerce

Digital business is causing an upheaval that is shaking foundations of traditional business. More and more companies now recognize the opportunity the Internet offers and have started to establish online presence with a sound business model behind that.

Through the Internet, it is possible to invent new and innovative ways to add value to existing products and services without necessarily spending a lot of money. Internet has established itself as a mainstream medium. The convergence of technology and communication, the ability to produce and reproduce information easily, cheaply and accurately – all challenge our legal notions. Amazon offers 5 million + books. Imagine a bookshop with so many books in stock! It doesn’t do still it provides.

E-Commerce, although being technology oriented never far from commercial touch. E-commerce is more strategic than traditional model of business. Flow of ideas is a prime condition to mean out of e-commerce applications. Marketing ideas & concepts make your online shopping experience perfect. It is applied. Let’s see to what extend your imagination make your business experience implied.

Exercise # 1: Selling Experience

Involve customer: Ask your selected customers to input value in your product design or improvement. Most of the sites ask customers to give their feedback & suggestions. In similar way walk one more step ahead. Show your design or products and ask them to contribute. ‘Selected customers’ mean those customers who really take part in such process. Make them happy for their participation.

Track movements: It’s easy to track visitor’s movements and clicks. Track for which product customer shows interest! Especially sites like digital cameras and mobile handset likely track product’s popularity for click on models. Improve on it to sell & derive better results.

Reaching to mass: E-commerce is a medium to serve a geographically dispersed customer segment. E- Bay, MSN and Yahoo are best example in crossing & breaking boundaries. Think of internationalization issues while you are crossing boundaries to do business.

Think in way your customers do: Think of customer’s benefits. Manage schemes and product’s benefits to highlight on your e-market. Let your customer believe in you and assure them that their decisions are correct. Just web is not enough. Make use of web to improve communication in real business sense.

Win customer’s trust: You can buy a person's hands but you can't buy his heart. His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is. Let it be portal or website, always try to win customer’s trust and loyalty through showing your track records. Have enough trust worthy contents and legal documents to show on your commercial site. Pay pal is being most trust worthy symbol for online shopping web.

Exercise # 2: Buying experience

Advisor: Be an advisor through your e-advices. Provide online solutions and try to meet their needs in true meaning. Range of price, color, size and type of brands are few parameters to cut down search T-Shirts & garments online to buy. Insurance company can highly take benefits of e-advice through excellent use of technologies online.

Complement to make single shop experience: ‘One-stop solutions’ is being buzzword in online shopping. Yahoo is providing one stop experience online. Meet more of customer’s needs through links with providers of complementary products.

Get it ready & deliver fast: Amazon is best example in providing book with fastest source intention. Let your buyer feel that you are there to manage problems. Online shopping experience should be most trustworthy, quick attention payer and excellent support provider. For payment or e shopping send a mail to confirm buying to increase trust. Within limited time provide products at home to win trust for always. Dell is another online selling trustworthy service in beginning era of online shopping.

Exercise # 3: Usage experience

Guidance & Training: Help your customer to understand your product better. Other than financial aspects, help customer understand the optimal product specifications for their needs. Why do they buy Win NT OS rather Win 2000. Distinguish according to their requirements and organization structure. Other then request sent experience; provide email support, telephone support services to meet customer’s doubts.

Added Service: Other than basic needs, try to provide added services that were not expected by clients. Such marketing concepts are possible for e-commerce too. Help in improving aspects of the customer’s operational activity.

The support services for products are tailored to reflect customer’s needs and practices.

Sometimes, the hardest decision made is the right thing to do.... Making technology work for you is in your hand. From Bartner economy to E-commerce, customer has not changed. Shopping experience changes form but basic necessities and expectations of customers from seller are same. Work it out and model them in your e-commerce technology model. It is likely to work.

E-Services : Satisfying customers online

Customer care is vital to survival and success of a company. Still, many organizations are not doing it well. The American Customer Satisfaction Index 2000 published by the University of Michigan reported that 27% of customers were not satisfied with product or service they received.

It costs between five and six times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.

If your customer is dissatisfied with current services then just remember "bad travels fast". Internet is being revolution in marketing and sales discipline of any business.

What do your customers want?

Reliability, responsiveness and relationship are really what your customers want.

1. Reliability: fulfilling promises, creating realistic expectations, delivering quality products, and being dependable.
2. Responsiveness: timeliness; giving a higher priority to customers' needs than to company operational guidelines; willingness to incorporate flexibility in the decision-making.
3. Relationship: building a positive, loyal, long-term business relationship.

E-business & E-Service

Today online global population is crossing 580.78 million and email queries are likely to hit 22.2 billion emails per day by 2005, according to IDC.

In a world where many e-Business applications are fast becoming commodities, how do enterprises find ways to set themselves apart in the hyper-competitive global marketplace?

In an environment where e-Business components provide new opportunities for addressing these questions, many organizations are finding their answer in e-Service.

E – Services

E- Services are technologies enabling your functionalities easy. It depends on you to draw an excellent delivery model using these technologies to provide reliability, responsiveness and more than anything long term relationship to your customer. Anyway, here is the solution.

what kinds of service tools are used to provide e-Service?

1. E-mail
2. Online customer support (Submitting enquiring forms, complain forms, requesting information etc.)
3. Download invoices, details, brochures, solutions etc from portal
4. Dynamic FAQ
5. Toll free number
6. Call centers
7. Chat
8. Online payment

However other than Internet alone use of telecommunication is also done and becoming popular to use multiple solutions.

As e-Service is becoming necessary for marketer and companies, IT solutions providers are looking e-Service as new generation solutions. E-Service’s key solution includes effective use of CRM services.

E – Service Solutions
Here is a little introduction to products & solution to provide e-services.


SAP & E Service solutions

‘MySAP Customer Relationship Management’ (mySAP CRM) provides an e-commerce platform that allows you to turn the Internet into a profitable channel for sales -- and helps you build relationships with both business customers and consumers.

With the e-commerce capabilities of mySAP CRM, you get the tools you need to increase revenue and market reach, promote your corporate identity and brand, improve customer service, and reduce the cost of sales and support.

E-Service in E-commerce includes following features.

Knowledge Management
Solutions search, knowledge base management and FAQs

Request Management
Service Requests, Service Fulfillment, Entitlement Validation, Resource Planning, Status and Tracking

Live customer support
Callback from a customer service representive, one-to-one text chat session, Co-Browsing and E-mails

Account self-service
Self Registration, Account and User Administration, Account Status and History

Installed base management
Installation Management, Warranty Management, Product Registration

Complaints & Returns management
Complaints Management and Returns Management

Billing & Payment
Online Access and Download of Invoices, Online payment and payment history

Source: SAP

Metrix 4e for eProductService

The Metrix eService application suite provides web-based functionality in the following areas

Integrated web knowledge base

Level zero support through Web Advisor, Knowledge Builder, Expert Reasoning, Problem Escalation, Live Contact, Email Contact, and Integrated Course of Action Taking.

Web Scheduling / dispatching of field resources.

Call Center Activities (Internet, Intranet, and Extranet based solutions) – Request maintenance, project and task management, task delegation, events generation, and notifications.

Inventory Operations (In-house and Mobile)

Stock balances, pick-pack & ship, inventory control processes, purchasing, receiving, serial number controls, and audit logging.

Contracts and Warranty Operations

Entitlements for place, product, preventative maintenance, Gmax and meter coverage.

Global Repair Center / Depot Operations

Web based RMA Receiving, Repair, shipping, warranty, QA data recording, 3rd party repair processes and repair history.

Source: Metrix.Com

Make it easy for your customers to contact you!

Customer Satisfaction, Customer Retention and Customer Partnership are the basic themes after e-Service.

Make your delivery model of e-Service now. If needed do survey and ask your customers what do they need? Solutions change from industry to industry. If it succeeds in Tourism doesn’t mean good for financial too.

Instant response, clear picture of situation, all needed details in short time, processing fast, knowledge, contents and simplified life of a customers are successful objectives in e-Services.

E-Commerce - All You Need To Know

What is E-Commerce?
E-Commerce or Electronic Commerce (EC) is the practice of buying and selling varied good and services on the World Wide Web (Internet). E-Commerce in its basic sense means the same as traditional commerce where buyers and sellers come together for doing business by buying and selling goods and services. The difference is that e-commerce happens over wired communication lines connected throughout the globe where the World Wide Web serves as the central
medium for all trading transactions. E-Commerce also happens through the use of more limited forms of communication such as email, facsimile or fax.

E-Commerce enables sell and purchase of commodities and services right from your home and without leaving for seeking what you need. You have to simply hit the service provider’s website, search for what you need or setup what you want to provide and instantly get the business done. If you are making purchases online for virtual products and services, most of the time you will get the products and services at the instance of your payment acknowledgment.

Monetary transactions happen over secure gateways and encrypted channels, so we can term e-commerce to be a reliable trading environment. Payments can be made with the use of Credit Cards, e-Checks, Payment Gateways or even through traditional payment systems.

Types of E-Commerce
Today, e-commerce can be found in various different types such as –

    * Business to Business (B2B)
      Business-to-Business e-commerce has been around for some time. Over 90% of all e-commerce transactions on the Internet are B2B. B2B enables automating transactions between trading partners for business efficiency. B2B is also known to be Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

    * Business to Consumer (B2C)
      Business-to-Consumer is considered to be one of the best things to happen for e-commerce and the Internet. It continues to grow by leaps and bounds with every passing day. Popular websites such as Amazon and like have cashed in over the rise of purchases that happen over the Internet. B2C involves direct selling to the consumer over the Internet. The service or product that is being sold does not necessarily be virtual or intangible, but as a matter of fact most transactions that happen are related to tangible goods.

    * Consumer to Business (C2B)
      Consumer-to-Business model is a complete reversal of Business-to-Consumer model. In a Consumer-to-Business Model a consumer offers goods or services to companies and the companies pay for them. We can see examples of C2B in forms of affiliate marketing, answering online polls for companies, being a free lance developer, etc.

    * Business to Employee (B2E)
      In a Business-to-Employee e-commerce, companies offer products or services to their employees in an intranet environment. B2E typically is used for automating employee related work processes. Examples of B2E applications can be seen in online insurance policy management for employees, offers and rewards program for employees, etc.

    * Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
      In Consumer-to-Consumer e-commerce a third party builds a transaction bridge between two or more consumers involved. Online Auctioning can be considered to be a good form of Consumer to Consumer e-commerce model where consumers set up sale of goods and services for other consumers where other consumers have to bid and win the specific good or service. The third party which connects consumers charges a nominal fee for their services. They are in no way related to the goods and services being sold or bought and they are not responsible for QA and other such factors.

Advantages of E-Commerce
Starting with Electronic Commerce? These are some of the advantages that will help you understand the power of e-commerce applications.

    * 100% Business Uptime
      E-Commerce systems are available for people for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. They never take a break or close down for the day or take public holidays.

    * Global Access
      E-Commerce systems can be accessible by any one across the World Wide Web. Any person or business having just an Internet Connection can access e-Commerce systems.

    * Quick Response Time
      Transactions can be handled over the Internet instantaneously without high response times, most of the times much faster than offline systems. Messages are delivered to the end of the globe at the snap of finger, enabling quick commerce.

    * Cost Efficiency
      E-Commerce is very cost efficient and economical. General costs of running a business otherwise are far higher than that operated with the help of technology and e-commerce. Staffing, middlemen, overhead costs, etc can be reduced drastically making handling business handling and administration much more easier. Most of the transaction procedures can be automated without any human intervention.

Disadvantages of E-Commerce
Like everything that is good has some of its own disadvantages, e-commerce too has certain disadvantages. Some of which are -

    * Delivery Time
      Physical goods take some time to reach your home when you buy them online whereas if you go to the local store and buy them, you can get them instantly. Delivery times may range anywhere from a day to even a month. Moreover, perishable goods cannot be considered to be shipped for such long delivery times as they tend to get destroyed during transit.

    * Hesitancy
      Most customers and businesses are hesitant to do transactions online. This is due to the fact that if a person wants to feel the service or goods he is paying for, he lacks that on the Internet. Moreover, some people are accustomed to shop with family and friends and hang out to malls and big outlets, which is otherwise unavailable on the Internet.

    * Online Safety
      Online safety is a critical factor that most people consider before even thinking of performing commercial transactions. Customers and businesses should be assured of privacy implications, confidentiality, security and like factors. An amount of trust has to be developed before starting or involving into transactions.

Online Shopping Goes Wireless with M-Commerce

American shoppers, when first presented with the interesting idea of shopping from the comfort of their own homes without having to fight traffic and annoying salespeople, responded almost instantly and overwhelmingly, and the idea of e-commerce was born. From its very beginning, the concept was a resounding success, and the number of online e-tailers has grown exponentially, from a handful of small business entrepreneurs to online auction sites, and then to giant corporate monsters like Wal-Mart and Target, and even high-end department stores like Neiman-Marcus. Most e-commerce entrepreneurs believed that they could sell virtually anything in virtual storefronts, and do it better than they ever could in a brick-and-mortar retail store.

Although online shopping offers endless possibilities for consumers and the business of e-commerce is still booming, retailers have discovered that e-commerce wasn’t quite the flawless marketing strategy they had imagined, and some businesses failed as a result. The main reason for the failure of some e-commerce stores is simple: a lot of investors and online shopkeepers didn’t stop to realize that for some items, consumers don’t want to purchase items blindly without seeing and touching them first. And now the e-commerce craze is beginning to spread to mobile commerce, or "m-commerce," with consumers doing their Internet shopping using wireless devices such as cell phones. Making online shopping available on the road will supposedly transform the economy by allowing people to shop from wherever they happen to be—sitting in a waiting room, riding on the subway, even driving to the beach or stretched out on a hammock. But as enticing as the idea may seem, Roger Blackwell, a professor of marketing at Ohio State University, is skeptical about the success of m-commerce.

Co-author of "Customers Rule! Why the E-Commerce Honeymoon is Over," Blackwell believes that some people haven’t learned the lessons of e-commerce gone awry. "These glowing predictions of m-commerce are becoming very popular, but they are as absurd as the predictions that we're all going to be buying our groceries over our home computers." As an example, Blackwell points to the online grocer Webvan, which went out of business in July 2001. "M-commerce has some very specific applications that will be successful, just as we saw with e-commerce. But many of the proposed uses of m-commerce just won't work."

Blackwell believes that in general, people could care less where they buy their products and services, whether from a storefront or a Web site, and their main concern is getting whatever meets their needs the best, at the best price for their budget. However, many entrepreneurs trying to cash in on the e-commerce boom assumed that they could sell anything over the Internet and do it better (and cheaper) than if they opened up a retail store. Blackwell claims that the main problem with this reasoning is that the Internet is a great tool for selling digital products, such as electronic airline tickets, or items that are hard to find, like out of print movies, rare books, or clothing in a particular size or color. But for many products, people want to be able to evaluate firsthand before forking out the dough to buy them, especially higher priced items. And in some cases, people won’t even consider buying anything from a place where they can’t deal directly with a real person. "These are all fundamentals of marketing that business students are taught. Anyone could have predicted which products could be sold profitably over the Internet, but many entrepreneurs and investors were caught up in that irrational exuberance," Blackwell explains.

Blackwell holds that an important lesson learned by businesses who failed in their attempts toward e-commerce was that companies shouldn’t adopt technological advances purely because of the technology. The latest breakthroughs must make life easier for consumers, or they will not embrace it, and online retailers will fail. That reason alone makes Blackwell skeptical about the future of m-commerce. "I've heard people say that one promising application of m-commerce would be that when customers walk by a grocery store, their cell phone will ring with a message that ketchup is on sale. People are actually saying things like that. That's not how consumers make choices." Blackwell further explains why e-commerce can sometimes be more successful as a way of selling a company rather than selling a product. "When people were thinking of the Internet as a way to sell, they should have been seeing it as a way for consumers to learn more about a company and its products. You can't download a donut from your computer, but you can find the location of the nearest donut shop. That's the way most consumers use the Internet."

Despite his skepticism, Blackwell does acknowledge that there are situations where m-commerce might take hold and become "the next big thing" for some online shopping purposes. One such application would be allowing people to return a rental car and get their bill over a cell phone without having to stand in line at the rental counter. "If people evaluate how consumers really behave, they should be able to see which m-commerce applications are fads and which will have longevity in the marketplace," Blackwell points out.

E-commerce Future

According to the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2008 was $33.8 billion, an increase of 0.8% from the fourth quarter of 2007. Total retail sales for the first quarter of 2008 were estimated at $1,024.2 billion, an increase of 0.1% from the fourth quarter of 2007. The first quarter 2008 e-commerce estimate increased 13.6% from the first quarter of 2007 while total retail sales increased 2.8% in the same period. E-Commerce sales in the first quarter of 2008 accounted to 3.3% of the total sales. These statistics just provide a glimpse of the increasing impact of e-Business on our day to day lives.

Like money and materialistic things, comfort also leaves one craving for more of it. With the advancement in the field of science and technology, the basic idea of a more comfortable life is dreamed by most of the people. The Internet has proved to be beneficial to mankind, by providing all kinds of products and services at the click of a button. Whether one wants to book air tickets or buy a pair of denims, Internet is a single gateway for everything. E-commerce is a powerful tool provided by the world wide web, to make the transactions possible without actual hand to hand transfer of money. As lot of people are virtually imprisoned by work and household activities, Internet and e-shopping saves a lot of time and gives opportunity to choose goods at best prices. With rapidly growing technologies and constantly improving protocols, here are a few features one can expect from the future of e-Commerce.

Virtual Dressing Rooms
The biggest advantage of buying clothes by visiting a brand outlet or regular shop is that, one can get the best fitting apparel by multiple trials. In a trail room, he can wear it and check out in front of the mirror, whether or not the apparel fits him and his personality. It gets hard to find good fitting clothes while shopping online through the various e-Commerce sites. This problem can be solved with the implementation of new technologies, which will enable the user to chose a 3D animated figure of his built, and try the chosen dresses on it. It will also provide flexibility and variety over one's choice and will help to look out for the perfect fit.

Improved Supply Chain Process
Supply chain process is the system of different organizations, people, technologies, activities and resources, which involved in moving a product or service from the supplier to the customer. It involves everything right from purchase of raw products to the dispatch of finished goods. In the near future, e-commerce will be able to facilitate the supply chain process, which in turn will make the transactions easier for the end customers.

Sharing of Product Lists and More Choices
It is possible to clip one's choices on the Internet and make a list for easier accessibility and payment options. These lists can be shared by many users and the products can be discussed online, in order to find the best possible deals. With the advancement in the web based services, it will be possible to offer a provision of shareable lists to the people who want to use it.

Easier Transactions and Better Delivery Options
There are a lot of future innovations coming up, which can really make online shopping a better experience. The features offered may include night time deliveries, ability to pick-up products from multiple drop off points and return them, and being able to choose times within 30 minute windows. The shipment charges may also decrease, with more vendors and franchisees to cater the needs of customers.

Secured Transactions
While making online payments, one is always worried about the security threats imposed by hackers and various non-social elements. A payment gateway provides a mechanism which sends credit card information from merchant account to the bank, for making payments. For the security of these transactions, there is the Secured Socket Layer (SSL) protocol which enables encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet. With time and improved network security softwares, the protocols and procedures are supposed to get improved, providing a secured and non-fraudulent shopping experience for the customers.

With the increasing popularity of e-shopping, in the near future e-Commerce will surely become a notion absolutely inseparable from the concept of the world wide web.

Electronic Commerce - Ecommerce

What is eCommerce

Electronic Commerce or eCommerce is essentially the system involving buying and selling of different products and services over electronic systems like the Internet.

So when you are buying that book on amazon.com or selling your used bicycle on eBay, you are essentially participating in electronic commerce or eCommerce.

As such, eCommerce has begun and grown exponentially over the past 10 years. It has now become a major focus of revenue generation for millions of businesses world wide. The main advantage is that almost any small and large business owner can participate in eCommerce activities, provided they have a website which is eCommerce enabled.

The fact is that Electronic Commerce is currently responsible for over billions of dollars of revenue generation across the globe. And as the role of the Internet grows over time, this revenue will, naturally, increase.

To put it mildly, having an eCommerce enabled website is akin to creating a global store front and a global access to your store (a place where you sell your products and services).

Great! I want an eCommerce Website. Where do I begin?

Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now recognized the various benefits of providing eCommerce enabled hosting solutions to their customers. Logically, that would be the place for you to begin building your eCommerce website.

Why do ISPs want to do that? Well, most ISPs recognize the value of providing these solutions to their customers, because of the simplicity of use of these solutions and the inherent value addition that these solutions create for their customers. This means that a customer of the hosting provider can now concentrate on creating his website in a hassle-free environment while generating a good bond with his service provider. It also distinguishes the ISP from other access-only providers.

The next step involves having a look at what kind of eCommerce solutions are being provided by the hosting solutions provider. They must be compatible with the services you are planning to provide / incorporate within your website.

The most basic thing you need to check is for what is called a ‘Payment Gateway’.

‘A Payment Gateway’ is a service that will authorize payments for the money transactions carried out via your website. This means that people who buy your products and services online will be able to pay for them using their credit cards or bank accounts.

The ‘Payment Gateway’ enables you to check online if the card or account contains sufficient funds. And when it ensures that the account does hold sufficient funds, the transaction is accepted. The data received during the course of these transactions is quite sensitive, and so is encrypted by the Payment Gateway itself. Thus, you are saved of the hassle of checking if the client can pay for your product or service. And the best part is that all this happens online within a matter of a few seconds.

There are a variety of Payment Gateway solutions available, many of which are free to use. Depending upon your specifications, you need to understand and choose the right payment gateway for your website.

Once you have figured this out, the next thing to do is create the website and the necessary content for your online store. This includes product / service descriptions and pictures, any other product / service information and prices of the products / services.

Again, there are a variety of solutions out there which you can use for doing so. A content management system which is tailored to fit your needs will enable you to create and manage your online store effectively. Most hosting solutions providers will often provide pre-installed content management systems which will solve this problem for you. All you have to do is activate / install the CMS of your choice on your domain.

Usually, these CMSes have an easy to use interface for creating the pages of your online store. And they can be seamlessly integrated with the payment gateway that you have chosen.

Once your website is ready, you will be a part of the booming and growing global marketplace via the Internet.

Conclusion

Thus Electronic Commerce or eCommerce is not just an emerging trend – it is a necessity of the times where any business is concerned. The advantages are that it takes your business global, and provides you with an additional means of generating revenue. For your customers, it makes life easy for them because of the ease it generates for them – they can browse, choose, shop and pay online for your products and services and receive the products or services at their door step – all from the comfort of their homes.

Selling Products Online

It has been long since the Internet has changed our lifestyles. It seems the world is just a click away from us. Whatever we need, whatever we want, just browse through the windows and lo, you make a jump into the ocean of opportunities. With the advent of the Internet, the concept of ecommerce websites has also come into existence.

The process of selling products online got a great boost through e-commerce websites that are specially designed for the purpose of selling products online. This has facilitated a new trend to make money selling products online. However, easier and faster as it seems, there are certain factors that has to be kept in mind for all those who wish to sell their products online. Here is a discussion about various parameters that one must consider before venturing into selling products online.

How to Sell Products Online?

Selling products online has eventually become easier and there are innumerable e-commerce websites that are awaiting to reap rich dividends from this business. Unfortunately, a large section of aspirants fail to make money selling products online. The obvious reason for the failure is the lack of awareness about the web world and online consumer behavior. Here are some tips on selling products online.

Homepage is the Key
The probability that a customer will stay for more than a few minutes or even seconds on your homepage is very less. In fact, it's the same for all websites, however, those websites who are aware of the customer psychology try to display certain products on the homepage itself! The idea here is to grab the attention of the consumer and let him enter into your website further. If you don't have any products on your homepage, then generally it's useless, as the user ultimately leaves the page.

This doesn't mean that you stuff your homepage with hundreds of products. Never do that as it will load the website and it will be time consuming to download it. A range of 5-10 popular products (that is evident through research) is good enough to put on the website homepage. The mantra to sell products online is, the faster you can get the product to the customer, the better it is for your sales!

Easier Navigation Interests the Consumer
It is imperative that the consumer can easily navigate through your website as that only determines the number of sales you will have, at the end of the day. Categorizing the products with short, simple names is of paramount importance.

You must include these categorizes in the main menu or side bar menu, so that the customer can easily reach the desired category of product instantly. Including skills of search engine optimization and latest search engine upgrade are always welcome steps as they improve the prospects of selling products online.

Ensure Par Excellence Professionalism
Get your website designed in a simple yet elegant and user friendly way. Your website must induce confidence among the customers and it must appear as a professional website, not some that allures the customers. Make sure all modes of payment, without forgetting credit card option is available on your website. Almost all consumers buying online products, pay through their credit card so this facility is by default assumed by consumers. You can't miss it, or you will miss your customers. Read more on website design.

Having merchant account and payment getaway is always seen as a mark of a professional website. It reflects your concern for customer's financial transaction's security and at the same time, it sends a signal to the consumer that your financial evaluation has been done by authorized banks. Read more on ecommerce web hosting.

Be Realistic, Stick to the Basics
In the quest for selling products online, you have to ensure that you don't chalk out unrealistic plans. Dreaming to compete with some of the biggest online retailers is not a very bright idea as markets on the Internet are segregated for every level of players. Trying to compete with them may end up with nothing more than again trying the same! So initially, start with a small range of products and by managing your website well.

If you compare the costs of managing e-commerce website (near about US$100, per month) and the huge revenue it may generate, you will be startled to see such a drastic difference! That's why, you should spend good amount of money on your e-commerce website as that is an ultimate investment in the long run business prospects. Make sure your customer feels you have not compromised on quality.

Lastly, Rome wasn't build in one day and so are any other success stories! To sell your product online, you have to have patience and stick to business plans aimed at improving your website. Results generally come in about 6 months to a year's hard work. Gradually, as your business grows, you can check out listings of search engines and learn elements of pay-per-click advertising to further script your success story. Selling products online is though not a cakewalk, it can surely turn out to be a profitable venture if you stick to it.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic Commerce (e-commerce)

Electronic commerce or in short e-commerce, refers to business activities like selling and purchasing of products and services carried out over electronic systems like the Internet and computer networks. The history of e-commerce dates back to 1970, when for the first time, electronic data interchange (EDI) and electronic fund transfer were introduced. Since then, a rapid growth of e-commerce has pervaded almost every other aspects of business such as supply chain management, transaction processing, Internet marketing and inventory management.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic Commerce

Like any conventional business, electronic commerce is also characterized by some advantages and inherent drawbacks. Let's have a look at some of these important advantages and disadvantages of electronic commerce.

Advantages of Electronic Commerce

The greatest and the most important advantage of e-commerce, is that it enables a business concern or individual to reach the global market. It caters to the demands of both the national and the international market, as your business activities are no longer restricted by geographical boundaries. With the help of electronic commerce, even small enterprises can access the global market for selling and purchasing products and services. Even time restrictions are nonexistent while conducting businesses, as e-commerce empowers one to execute business transactions 24 hours a day and even on holidays and weekends. This in turn significantly increases sales and profit.

Electronic commerce gives the customers the opportunity to look for cheaper and quality products. With the help of e-commerce, consumers can easily research on a specific product and sometimes even find out the original manufacturer to purchase a product at a much cheaper price than that charged by the wholesaler. Shopping online is usually more convenient and time saving than conventional shopping. Besides these, people also come across reviews posted by other customers, about the products purchased from a particular e-commerce site, which can help make purchasing decisions.

For business concerns, e-commerce significantly cuts down the cost associated with marketing, customer care, processing, information storage and inventory management. It reduces the time period involved with business process re-engineering, customization of products to meet the demand of particular customers, increasing productivity and customer care services. Electronic commerce reduces the burden of infrastructure to conduct businesses and thereby raises the amount of funds available for profitable investment. It also enables efficient customer care services. On the other hand, It collects and manages information related to customer behavior, which in turn helps develop and adopt an efficient marketing and promotional strategy.

Disadvantages of Electronic Commerce

Electronic commerce is also characterized by some technological and inherent limitations which has restricted the number of people using this revolutionary system. One important disadvantage of e-commerce is that the Internet has still not touched the lives of a great number of people, either due to the lack of knowledge or trust. A large number of people do not use the Internet for any kind of financial transaction. Some people simply refuse to trust the authenticity of completely impersonal business transactions, as in the case of e-commerce. Many people have reservations regarding the requirement to disclose personal and private information for security concerns. Many times, the legitimacy and authenticity of different e-commerce sites have also been questioned.

Another limitation of e-commerce is that it is not suitable for perishable commodities like food items. People prefer to shop in the conventional way than to use e-commerce for purchasing food products. So e-commerce is not suitable for such business sectors. The time period required for delivering physical products can also be quite significant in case of e-commerce. A lot of phone calls and e-mails may be required till you get your desired products. However, returning the product and getting a refund can be even more troublesome and time consuming than purchasing, in case if you are not satisfied with a particular product.

Thus, on evaluating the various pros and cons of electronic commerce, we can say that the advantages of e-commerce have the potential to outweigh the disadvantages. A proper strategy to address the technical issues and to build up customers trust in the system, can change the present scenario and help e-commerce adapt to the changing needs of the world.

E-Commerce Education

E-business has got a great boost all across the globe. With hundreds of thousands of E-commerce websites on the cyber space, the presence of E-commerce is vital now a days. Owing to this, E-commerce is in itself an established industry now and has a huge potential to grow. This has necessitated the need of structured and organized E-commerce education among students so that they can be equipped with the Internet knowledge to be globally competitive.

US has been the torch bearer for the world in introducing E-commerce education. By 2001, numerous schools and colleges in the US had started awarding bachelor's and master's degree in e-business related subjects. In fact, since the inception of 21st century, educators and scholars have realized Internet technology as a powerful tool and vehicle for growth and development. Hence, in this technologically advanced era, Internet has become a central component of learning in schools and colleges. While colleges in the US and Europe have been phenomenal in imparting E-commerce education to their students for years, Asian countries like China and India are accelerating faster to make E-commerce education an integral part of their educational system.

E-Commerce Course

There are numerous ways in which E-commerce education can be undertaken. You can begin your stint with E-commerce education by taking a single e-commerce course or by gaining an insight about principles of E-commerce and its similarities and differences to other trainings. Almost all universities of repute offer online degree courses and so you have several options to choose. You can advance your career with the distinctive online degree programs of any university. You can go for E-commerce certification programs or for full time degree courses. No matter you want to study accounting, consulting, commerce, business administration, e-business & e-commerce, finance, marketing or management, you can get all the courses online by applying to the university that offer these programs. In case, you wish to study something technical things like website design, you can get courses to learn about them online.

E-Commerce Jobs

There are numerous career opportunities in the field of E-commerce. Making a career in this field demands the test of a real knowledge of the business world and the parameters that affect a business. A business mind with technical expertise can make a huge impact in the world of Internet jobs. When it comes to E-commerce jobs, there is no dearth of e-commerce designations. Right from online marketing, SEO expert, website design to online sales consultant, the field of e-commerce jobs seems endless. All you require is the right sets of skills and knowledge.

E-commerce education has been phenomenal in making a deep impact on higher education. Growth in the Internet over the last few decades has led to a great impact on communication and research in the higher educational institutes. Many administrators, MBA's, working professionals, housewives and similar people who fell short of time to go to a campus program have been able to benefit immensely from online courses.

E-commerce education has opened new avenues for cyber law studies. It need not be stated that the importance of cyber laws has increased by leaps and bounds in the recent years. With hundreds of cyber crime cases everyday, awareness and knowledge about Internet has become more important. E-commerce education not only equips students about latest career development advancements, it also opens doors for access to information and knowledge.

E-commerce education has the potential to evolve as one of the biggest trends in the US educational system. Next to the health care industry, the educational system is the biggest sector in US and E-Commerce is evolving as a popular trend in it. The E-commerce future is bright and we're bound to witness, E-commerce education as an established form of education.

E-Commerce

Many consumers avoid the hassles of in-store shopping by doing the majority of their shopping online. Articles, such as books, clothing and house wares, easily purchased through eCommerce websites have become a popular and profitable business since the Internet was created. Busy lives and the need for two-parent incomes have made the need for online shopping a necessity. Find out more about eCommerce and how they benefit your life.

O2O Commerce is the New Hot Methodology for Local Business

Typically, it is safe to view the "next big thing" moniker with skepticism when it comes to the Internet. There is such a history of false starts and ideas that seemed good on paper - but then ultimately failed - that it is a common response. But the newest "next big thing" in online commerce is not something to dismiss so easily. It’s called "Online to Offline" commerce, or O2O. Like its predecessors in the Internet commerce world - B2B and B2C come to mind - it promises to be something that truly is a big deal.

Put simply, O2O Commerce the utilization of online efforts and methodologies for driving offline, local sales. As online local commerce continues to explode on the Web, bricks and mortar business owners who once felt helpless to take advantage of the worldwide phenomenon of the Web are now grasping it enthusiastically and with a very specific direction.

Some very obvious examples of O2O Commerce are Groupon, Restaurant.com and SpaFinder, all of which were recently highlighted in an article on O2O Commerce in TechCrunch. What all of these sites have in common is their use of the Internet to appeal to consumers via an online connection, and the leverage of that connection to persuade the consumer to purchase locally, and in person.

According to research, the average ecommerce shopper spends around $1,000 per year. However, that number is still dwarfed by the amount of money that is spent "live and in person" at local establishments. All of the aforementioned companies, as well as essentially all companies engaging in O2O Commerce, share one thing in common, in that they act as a platform for discovery of local venues or service providers via the Web. For example, even though a great restaurant may be only a few miles away, you may have never heard of it. With Restaurant.com, and many others that work in the same space, you can research restaurants in your area by type of cuisine, price, reviews and other criteria, and then make reservations online.

Groupon, another big player in the O2O market, is unique in that it provides coupons for local services directly to consumers. Consumers sign up to receive special offers from Groupon - narrowing down their interests via the site’s functionality - and receive one offer each day in their local area. In some instances, consumers may receive deals for stores, restaurants, pubs and other establishments that they are already familiar with, but are nonetheless drawn back in by the "deal" that they received via e-mail. In other instances, consumers can discover new spots via Groupon, making the company one of the best known and biggest in the O2O space.

And while all of these O2O sites are very attractive for consumers, they also are huge for local businesses. In the past, local businesses had great difficulty tracking the effects of their local advertising efforts. With Groupon and other O2O sites, however, everything is very easily and obviously quantified and tracked. Businesses utilizing the O2O services understand exactly what their ROI is on their ad spending, and can make fine-tuned changes as needed to bring in more business. And, thus, the era of bricks and mortar businesses not getting to share in the joys of widespread Internet marketing are a thing of the past.