Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce , consists of the buying and selling of products or services or information over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.
The scope of e-commerce is as wide as an ocean & there by the implementation hurdles.
When one thinks of the electronic commerce even through final goal remains the same as that of the traditional commerce, but the way in which they function in order to improve the performance is different.
The benefit of e commerce first it allows people to carry out businesses without the barriers of time or distance. One can log on to the Internet at any point of time, be it day or night and purchase or sell anything one desires at a single click of the mouse. E- commerce benefits organizations by making national and international market more accessible and by lowering the cost of processing,distributing and retrieving information. Customers benefit by being able to acces a vast number of products and service around the clock. The major benefit to society is the ability to easily and cauviniently deliver information, services and products to people in cities, rurals areas and developing contries.
The direct cost-of-sale for an order taken from a web site is lower than through traditional means (retail, paper based), as there is no human interaction during the on-line electronic purchase order process.
Ecommerce is ideal for niche products. Customers for such products are usually few. But in the vast market place i.e. the Internet, even niche products could generate viable volumes.
There are some limitations for electronic commerce such as costs of a technological solution, some protocols are not standardized around the world, reliability for certain processes, insufficient telecommunications band width, software tools are not fixed but constantly evolving ,integrating digital and non-digital sales and production information and difficulty in integrating e-Commerce infrastructure with current organizational IT systems. Nontechnological limitations include the preceptions that e-commerce is insecure, has unresolved legal issues and lacks a critical mass of sellers and buyers. As time passes, the limitations especially the technologicals ones will lessen or be overcome.
The types of e-commerce are Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Business-to-Business (B2B) Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C),Business-to-Employee(B2E) and E-government.
B2B (Business-to-Business)
Companies doing business with each other such as manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. Pricing is based on quantity of order and is often negotiable.
B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
Businesses selling to the general public typically through catalogs utilizing shopping cart software. By dollar volume, B2B takes the prize, however B2C is really what the average Joe has in mind with regards to ecommerce as a whole.
C2B (Consumer-to-Business)
A consumer posts his project with a set budget online and within hours companies review the consumer's requirements and bid on the project. The consumer reviews the bids and selects the company that will complete the project. Elance empowers consumers around the world by providing the meeting ground and platform for such transactions.
C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer)
There are many sites offering free classifieds, auctions, and forums where individuals can buy and sell thanks to online payment systems like PayPal where people can send and receive money online with ease. eBay's auction service is a great example of where person-to-person transactions take place everyday since 1995.
Companies using internal networks to offer their employees products and services online--not necessarily online on the Web--are engaging in B2E (Business-to-Employee) ecommerce.
G2G (Government-to-Government), G2E (Government-to-Employee), G2B (Government-to-Business), B2G (Business-to-Government), G2C (Government-to-Citizen), C2G (Citizen-to-Government) are other forms of ecommerce that involve transactions with the government--from procurement to filing taxes to business registrations to renewing licenses. There are other categories of ecommerce out there, but they tend to be superfluous.
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