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What is E Commerce

E-Commerce stands for electronic commerce. E-Commerce means to carryout financial and business dealings using Internet. A person can deal with his customers throughout the world. People can buy and sell good on Internet. Even payments can be made using Credit Card numbers etc. The trend of E-Commerce is rapidly becoming popular.

Role of E-Commerce

The role of e-commerce in daily life is becoming very important. E-commerce can be used in the following ways:

1. Online Education

Online education is becoming very popular. Different types of interactive tutorials are available on the Internet. The students can browse these online books and tutorials or can download them after purchasing. Some websites provide online lectures for the students.

2. Electronic Banking

Many banks are now introducing electronic banking. Using your computer, you can connect to the bank’s computer system via the Internet and control your daily financial dealing from home. It reduces the staff and building of banks. Many customers pay their bills from their bank accounts using this facility.

3. Electronic Shopping

It has become very easy for the people to shop from home using Internet. Different manufacturers present their products on the Internet. People can browse the website, place an order and even make a payment using credit card. It has made shopping very easy

4. Job Search

Internet is used to search different types of jobs all over the world. Many websites are developed that provide information to the people about job vacancies. Job seekers can also apply for the job using Internet.

5. Conducting Auctions

Many websites provide the facility of auction. People participate in the auction to purchase a product. They can also pay the price using their credit cards etc. A popular website that provides this facility is eBay.

6. Collaboration with Partners

Businessmen can collaborate with their partners using the Internet. They can discuss ideas, exchange views and make strategies in collaboration with all of their business partners in the world.

7. Marketing and Advertising

E-commerce is playing an important part to market and advertise products all over the world. The use of popular websites can be an effective way of introducing a product to the customers.

8. Providing Customer Services

Businessmen can interact with their customers using the Internet. They can discuss different issues about their products. They can also deal with their complaints and provide different services to them.

9. Online Travel Reservations

Online travel reservation is a popular use of e-commerce. People can reserve seats in airline flights, hotels or car using the Internet.

10. Online Trading

Online trading is a process of conducting business using the Internet. The stockbrokers can do all trading activities electronically. They can submit and receive bids using computers. They can also interconnect with computer display screens where brokers match the buyers with sellers. It reduces the cost as no paper or special building is required to conduct these activities.

Types of E-Commerce

Three types of E-Commerce are as follows:

1. Business-to-consumer

Business-to-consumer or B2C e-commerce consists of the sale of goods and services to the general public. In this type, customers or consumer can visit the website and purchase goods online. It is done by an electronic storefront that contains product details, graphics and shopping cart. Shopping cart is used to collect the purchases. Online shopping is normally performed using a secure Internet connection.

2. Consumer-to- consumer

Consumer-to-consumer or C2C e-commerce takes place between two consumers. For example, one consumer sells an item through online auction. The other consumer purchases the item by offering highest bid. Many websites provide the facility of online auction where C2C e-commerce occurs. A popular website providing this facility is eBay.

3. Business-to-business

Business-to-business or B2B e- commerce takes place between two businesses. One business provides services to other business. Online advertisement, recruiting, sales, marketing, technical support and training are some examples of B2B e-commerce. For example, some companies provide online purchasing, tracking and transaction facilities to ‘other companies.

Advantages of e-commerce

Following are some important adv4ntages of e-commerce:

• Geographic Reach — Organizations at distant places can interact with customers easily. Any person from any part of the world can be their customer.
• Speed — interaction between buyer and seller takes place almost instantaneously.
• Productivity — enables to search and obtain information, products and services online. It increases the productivity of individuals and organizations.
• Information Sharing — digital information can be transmitted anywhere in the world easily. It is easier to do this than any traditional sharing method.
• New Features — e-commerce participants are constantly identifying new product features and services that they can offer online. For example, the organizations can deliver digital music online.
• Lower Costs — the cost of conducting business online is much lower as traditional physical resources are not needed. .
• Competitive Advantage — companies using e-commerce are more competitive because they can offer their products and services to more customers well in time.

Functions of e-commerce Web sites

The four functions performed by B2C e-commerce Web sites are:

• Catalog and content management — it is the information of a commercial Web site. It must be up-to-date at all times and easy to access for the customer.
• Shopping and checkout — the site must allow the customer to identify multiple items they want to purchase as they shop then allow them to purchase all of them.
• Back office processing — it deals with final steps of sale such as processing credit card payments, updating inventories and preparing to send items to customers.
• Advertising — The Web site must work with search engines, ads on other sites, online marketing and email to advertise the product and services to online customers.

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