E-Commerce

What is e-Commerce?

E-commerce is an emerging concept that describes the process of buying and selling or exchanging of products, services, and information via computer networks including the internet.

Definition of E-Commerce from Different Perspective

1. Communications Perspective

EC is the delivery of information, products/services, or payments over the telephone lines, computer networks or any other electronic means.

2. Business Process Perspective

EC is the application of technology toward the automation of business transactions and work flow.

3. Service Perspective

EC is a tool that addresses the desire of firms, consumers, and management to cut service costs while improving the quality of goods and increasing the speed of service delivery.

4. Online Perspective

EC provides the capability of buying and selling products and information on the internet and other online services.

Benefit of e-Commerce

• Access new markets and extend service offerings to customers
• Broaden current geographical parameters to operate globally
• Reduce the cost of marketing and promotion
• Improve customer service
• Strengthen relationships with customers and suppliers
• Streamline business processes and administrative functions

Scope of E-Commerce

• Marketing, sales and sales promotion
• Pre-sales, subcontracts, supply
• Financing and insurance
• Commercial transactions: ordering, delivery, payment
• Product service and maintenance
• Co-operative product development
• Distributed co-operative working
• Use of public and private services
• Business-to-administrations (e.g. customs, etc)
• Transport and logistics
• Public procurement
• Automatic trading of digital goods
• Accounting
• Dispute resolution

History of E-commerce

The history of e commerce is a history of how Information Technology has transformed business processes. Some authors will track back the history of e commerce to the invention of the telephone at the end of last century. EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is widely viewed as the beginning of ecommerce if we consider ecommerce as the networking of business communities and digitalization of business information.

Large organizations have been investing in development of EDI since sixties. It has not gained reasonable acceptance until eighties. EDI has never reached the level of popularity of the web-based ecommerce for several reasons:

• High cost of EDI prohibited small businesses and medium-sized companies from participating in the electronic commerce;
• Slow development of standards hindered the growth of EDI; and
• The complexity of developing EDI applications limited its adaptation to a narrow user base.