E-Commerce Systems

Definition of Internet Commerce

2011-02-28T22:40:00.000-08:00

Definition of Internet Commerce
The internet is redefining relations between businesses and consumers enabling companies to sell their products and services around the globe on an unprecedented scale.

Shoppers can buy online at their convenience at any time and from anywhere.

It is necessary to distinguish terms e-commerce, e-business and internet commerce at the very start of the discussion.

There is a range of definitions for e-commerce relative to its perspective, may it be communications, business process, service or in the context of on-line business.

E-commerce can be defined as “the buying and selling of information, products and services via computer networks”.

While e-commerce encompass business activities that is conducted electronically, such as using the world wide web, the multimedia interactive component of the internet, telephone lines, leased lines and wireless, e-business can be understood as a superior set which extends the understanding of e-commerce to reflect the vision of the organization.

The goods or services are ordered over the internet, but the payment or ultimate delivery of the good or service may be conducted on or off line.

Internet or the information superhighway, has been well understood as the enabler or the enabling technology.

Subsequently, internet commerce refers to the marketing, selling and buying of products and services on the internet.
Definition of Internet Commerce

Ease to Use online

2010-09-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ease to use is the single most most importance need to fulfill for your potential customers. Building site that are speedy and easy to use has become increasingly important.

Thus, a successful, stickiness strategy would involve making large amounts of information and resource available without forfeiting the sense of familiarity and user friendliness that the site encapsulates.

Online customers are lazy; many are not technical savvy; and they will go elsewhere rather than tolerate difficulties.

Ease to use involves simplicity in access and in navigation online. They don’t want to wait more than ten seconds for a site to download.

They don’t want to scroll horizontally because a Web page doesn’t fit in their browser window, although vertical scrolling is OK.

They don’t want to wade through dozens of features and links that don’t interest them. They don’t want to try to understand unfamiliar jargon or to read long paragraphs of text.

Online customers want a professional, clear, and concise site, they want to be able to search and get accurate search results. They want the technolingo replaced by easy to understand wording.

They want to be able to find the right product and conduct the transaction quickly. After the transaction, they want fats shipping and an easy return process if return are necessary.

According to both conceptual and empirical studies of online trust, website ease to use impacts a trustor’s trust in the party who is considered accountable for the sign and maintenance of the website interface.

Expert argue that website interfaces that are perceived to be easy to use indicate that the other party associate with this interface invests in the relationship with website users and is thus trustworthy.

An easy to use website interface is also likely to signal that the party who is held responsible for this interface has the resources and qualifications to live up to his commitments and is thus trustworthy.
Ease to Use online

Electronic Commerce

2010-07-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Electronic Commerce
The business phenomenon that we now called electronic commerce has had an interesting history.

For humble beginning in the mid - 1990s, electronic commerce grew rapidly until 2000, when a major downturn occurred. Many people have seen news stories about the “dot-com boom” followed by “dot-com bust” or the “dot-bomb.”

In the period from 2000 to 2003, many industry observers were obituaries for electronic commerce.

Just as the unreasonable expectations for immediate success fueled the high expectation during the boom years, overly gloomy news reports colored perceptions during this time.

Beginning in 2003, with the general economy still in the doldrums, electronic commerce began to show signs of the new life.

Companies that had survived the downturn were not only seeing growth in sales again, but may of them showing profits.

Although the rapid expansion and high levels of investment of the boom years are not likely to be repeated, this wave of electronic commerce is well under way.
Electronic Commerce

Tables on the web

2010-06-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Tables on the web
Using HTML tables on a web page allows the organized and specific arrangement of data. The data can be text, images, links, forms, form field, other tables, etc, arranged into rows and columns of cells.

Tables let you control the look of your websites by breaking your pages into precise segments while controlling the placement of text and graphics.

You can create columns and grids that can contain images and text. Cells can be utilized as templates or style sheets to give a uniform look and, through use of color, add visual contrast to your website.

If you use colored cells in your tables, some browsers might not display the cell in color unless there is text or an image in it.

For example, older browsers can only see the background coir described in the tag.

There are also other problems with tables. They may loaded more slowly than plain text since some browsers must “place” the items in a table, which means the table won’t be shown until al the text and graphic items have downloaded.

However, you can mitigate this problem by breaking a long table into smaller tables an specify the height and width for all the images.

This fix allows the browser to size the table before a series of smaller table instead of one long table is that it is easier to change the page’s design in the future.
Tables on the web

Targeting the Best Shoppers

2010-05-11T01:46:00.001-07:00

Targeting the Best Shoppers
E-commerce ventures, like retail stores, will sell their merchandise to three types of customers: the customers who know what they want and go get it, the customers who want to buy something but are undecided, and the potential customers who merely browse the web.

The more directed the shopper, the easier the sale – as long as that shopper can quickly and easily find the product online, get all information on the product and then complete the purchase.
Therefore, web sites should concentrate on the shopper who came for a product and wants to quickly and easily purchase that product.

The well known Amazon.com has a small search box that allows its customers to search for any product by title, author, artist or other applicable data, then quickly lists all available version, prices and the average shipping time of that product on the screen.

One click shopping allows past customers to purchase the book or books without reentering credit card information.

The direct shopper can access, buy, and leave the site with minimum effort.

However, sites that ignore the less directed, undecided buyers will miss a good deal of clientele. If your site and product attract these types of buyers, you must prepare to develop a storefront that help them easily and quickly browse products by brand, agent, manufacturer, category, price and any other appropriate criteria.

These shoppers will buy when they find a product they like so they should be exposed to as many products as possible.

At the online clothing outlet Bluefly.com, customers can enter their email address and then enter a size or a range of size for many different types of clothing, shoes and accessories.

Customers can chose what types of merchandise interest them and what designers and styles they prefer.

From then on, they will be presented with their own personalized catalog of merchandise every time they log on.

The least directed , browsing shoppers are the most difficult to convert into buyers. Personalized searches, specialty shops, hot product lists ,and online promotions help attract these shoppers, who often will be drawn to a web site’s “glitter,” or its look and feel, rather than its content, service or products.

Sophisticated marketing campaigns and online tools such as generalized, all product queries; chat room and discussion groups; and other promotions can help turn these browsers into buyers but a web site should not count on these shoppers to succeed.

Targeting a strong and directed base of customers is essential.
Targeting the Best Shoppers

The Benefits of a Collaborative Approach

2010-04-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

The Benefits of a Collaborative Approach

Greater involvement means more commitment and understanding of E-Business.
People working together and sharing information tend to trust each other more.
Involvement and shared knowledge produces better quality work.
There is back-up within the team and among the project leaders.
Working on issues together helps to build skills of the people in E-business.
E-Business work is more likely to end successfully on time and within budget.
A ready forum is available in which to gather lessons learned on E-Business.
Better communication allows for earlier warning of problems.

Collaboration does involve some additional startup work to get team members up to speed.

Project members have to be trained in some of the project management methods.
More project leader time is spent in managing the coordination.

However, these are offset by the benefits.
The Benefits of a Collaborative Approach

Tracking and Logistics Management

2010-04-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

Tracking and Logistics Management
Dell computers, Amazon.com and many other companies trade internationally. Dell computers CISCO systems, and Microsoft products are found in every country of the world.

Microsoft Word can be used in Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Swahili, English, German or French.

A tone level in reflects national culture, being able to write Thai script, Japanese Kanji or Chinese Hanzi reflects the culture in that the technology is being used but at the other end, there is a sense of globalization.

It is still Microsoft Word and whether a person is using the Japanese or the German version, a Japanese or a German keyboard, there exists a standardized practice. The keyboard is standardized, Word software is standardized and their practice of Word is standardized.

There is at the global level a view that there is equity, equilibrium and a sense of saneness at the national level.

This can be reinterpreted recontextualised and reused in ways that fit the national culture.

The apparent paradox is resolved by separating the process that is global and uniform from the interpretation and use that is nationalistic and imbued with culture and cultural practice.

Logistics management across the world deals with the same problem. Transporting goods by UPS or FedEx is the same process whether it is from United States to Africa or Chile or from Chile to Africa.

While the languages differ, while the cultural practices of loading and storing and managing the logistics might be different, the fact is that process of logistics management across international boundaries is determined by a set of standards that is not imbued with politics, but that is accepted internationally and globally.

The paradox again is challenged, the paradox of coexistence remains at one level. The way materials are combined together or packaged represents a cultural influenced.

On the other hand the barcodes that are used to transport and track the goods from one country to another country is an international standard that everyone can read and understand.

The barcode printout in Japan will be in Japanese language in the United States it will be in English. The uniformity at the global level parallels the cultural interpretation that differentiates one nation from another.
Tracking and Logistics Management

Performance inside the Website

2010-03-23T02:23:00.000-07:00

Performance inside the Website
Long download times are unnecessary and unprofitable. Making a potential customer wait for your website to download is a surefire way to increase your competitors’ bottom line, not yours.

There are many reasons why a page may load slowly, e.g. the size of the pipe to the internet, the traffic hitting the web-hosting service and/or the server hosting your website the robustness of the web server etc.

But at this juncture you just need to ensure that your website’s design is not a contributing factor when a customer experiences a slow download.

So keep your homepage less than 200 KB in size. By doing this, your website will load in less than 20 seconds with a 56 K modem.

If your must display graphics on your homepage keep in mind the different graphic formats that are available each with its own qualities and capabilities an what is best to use in specific situation.

Most website based images use “indexes color” which is only 8 bits (one byte) of color per pixel. This means that the image can display only 256 colors.

If you pick the right colors, even a color photo can be made to look presentable on your website.

GIF and JPEG (also known as JPG) are the most commonly supported formats throughout the world. GIF stands for “Graphic Interchange (Image) format.”

CompuServe developed the GIF format so that its subscribers could send image files to each other and the images could be viewed in different kinds of computers.

JPEG stands for “Joint Photographic Experts Group.” JPEG s perhaps the bets format to use photographs since it support full 24 bit color.
Performance inside the Website

What is your line?

2010-03-16T01:59:00.000-07:00

What is your line?
Ask yourself if your product/service will translate to a virtual market, i.e., the Web. If the answer is “yes” decide which website model you want to build and consider what your website is going to offer.

Then build your website and expend your efforts in driving customers to that website.

If you are an entrepreneur find your niche market, design your website for that market and then let your customer know you are open and ready for business.

If the answer is “no”, a website still may be a necessity – due to the frowing power of web customer who expect the vast majority of all business to have some sort of a web presence.

Build a good brochureware site that will drive customers to your brick and mortar business.

Use that website to provide detailed information about your company, your products and services, as the first tier in your customer service support efforts (FAQ, online manuals and other documentation, knowledge base, etc); and perhaps even incorporate a forum for your customers to converse with each other about your products and services.
What is your line?

Access Issues with Business Online

2010-02-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Access Issues with Business Online
Once you know what types of people may be accessing your website online, it’s important to recognize how they will be accessing it.

You already know that Hispanic and black families in mid to low income brackets are more likely to access the Web via libraries or their other shared sites while their white counterparts are more likely to have web access at home.

The type of equipment they find to access the web at any location and the privacy they have whole accessing the web could have tremendous impact on their ability and desire to conduct transactions and to interact online.

More than nine times out of ten, the connection a customer uses to access a website is slower than the connection of the company gurus who originally navigated and approved the web site design.

The average web user’s online experience can be classified as moderately to severely inhibited. He or she may be likely to interact online where multiple graphics increase download times that lag on lethargic, aging moderns.

A site that requires a plug in for viewing – even of that plug in offered as a free download elsewhere on the web may require its customers to spend many minutes downloading prior to viewing the intended site.

Unless they’re intensely dedicated to viewing that particular site, many customer will just give up rather than devote their evening to downloading.

In the end, a site that boasts the best and most creative designs, replete with multimedia displays and attention catching visual energy, might in fact be alienating the bulk of its clients if the majority of them hail from the customer base at large.

Variances in equipment are expected online, but they can be inconvenient for web businesses.

Research into your customer base can improve this, but in the end, the most accessible sites are those that can be quickly navigated by customers with the lowest common denominator of computer and internet capabilities.
Access Issues with Business Online

Why Globalization

2010-02-06T06:02:00.000-08:00

Why Globalization
Globalization is important it is one of the fundamental drives of international trade in the 21st century.

As new technologies associated with transported have emerged with larger ships, more efficient airplanes, more services to shift product from one place of the world to another, a clearer understanding of comparative advantage has developed where agricultural surplus are converted into consumer goods imported into a country.

Labor is seen as a valuable commodity that can be used to induce manufacturers of traditional developed country goods like luxury cars, chemicals, or clothing and textiles.

There is a sense of inducement to use human capital to make those industries attractive in developing countries.

In addition, globalization has awakened the world to the importance of not only information management, but also knowledge management.

New knowledge management is being created constantly, with increase and effective communications systems in the globalised world.

New knowledge passes very quickly from one phase to another, from one nation to another and from one organization to another.

There is an increasing trend to see what can be produced as an agricultural surplus in one country can be traded very effectively and quickly with another.
Why Globalization

Collaborative E-business Management – Key Ingredients

2010-01-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

Collaborative E-business Management – Key Ingredients
What is a collaborative management approach? Some of the key ingredients:

Each person on the team is responsible for indentifying details tasks, updating tasks, addressing issues associated with their tasks and participating in joint project work. An E-Business effort is so large that even several leaders cannot do all of this work following traditional methods. They would be absorbed in administration.
A substantial percentage of the E-Business had to be assigned to more than one person. In some cases, 30 to 40 percent of the tasks are joint among two of three people. Joint assignments are important in E-Business because of the size of the tasks, the benefit of different perspectives and the benefit of a back up.
The E-Business leaders share all information except the really political elements with the team. This sharing gets the team more involved on E-Business.
E-Business leaders share information amongst themselves. This includes schedules, issues and lessons learned. They share the same information with line managers in departments which are the homes of team members.
E-Business leaders work together and with line mangers in assigning people and other resources to tasks on a routine basis (typically weekly) – obviously critical in E-Business.

Collaborative E-business Management

Gender Online

2009-12-30T19:08:00.001-08:00

Gender Online
Men, long stereotype the electronics and technology loving gender, don’t have a huge leg up online.

There has been a report the gap between the number of men and women online has narrowed to 4 percent or less.

Men prefer to seek out electronic, entertainment, and office supplies online. Women click sites health and beauty products, apparel and online greetings.

Even among experiences shared joints by men and women, such as travel and child rearing, women were much more likely to be found clicking around toy and children apparel web sites.

These patterns hold true when men and women stop clicking to open their online wallets and purses. Both men and women buy mostly books, music and computer online.

After the top trio, men buy more electronics, videos and travel arrangement.

Women buy more beauty supplies, toys and clothing. Men and women also differ in how they spend money online.

Men were likely to buy online via auction sites.
Gender Online

Web Store Requirements

2009-11-07T02:27:00.001-08:00

Web Store Requirements
Most business to consumer E-commerce ventures takes the form of retail business sites on the World Wide Web.

Whether a huge retail Web portal like Amazon.com or a small specialty Web retailer, the primary focus of such E-tailers is to develop, operate and manage their websites so they become high priority destinations for consumers who will repeatedly choose to go there to buy products and services.

Thus, these websites must be able to demonstrate the key factors for E-commerce success.
Web Store Requirements

E-Commerce Success Factors Part II

2009-10-17T00:42:00.000-07:00

E-Commerce Success Factors Part II
Advertising and Incentives
Some Web stores may advertise in traditional media, but most advertise on the Web which targeted and personalized banner ads and other Web page and E-mail promotions. Most B2C sites also offer shoppers incentives to buy and return.

Typically, this means coupons, discounts, special offers and vouchers for other Web services, sometimes with other E-tailers at across linked websites.

Many Webs stores also increase their market reach by being part of Web banner adverting exchange with thousand of other Web retailers.

Personal attention
Personalizing your shopping experience encourages you to buy and make return visits. Thus E-commerce software can automatically record details of your visits and build user profile of you and other Web shoppers. Many sites also encourage you to register with them and fill out a personal interest profile.

Then when ever you return, you are welcomed by name or with a personal Web page greeted with special offers and guided to those parts of the sites that you are most interested in. This one to one marketing and relationship building power as one of the major advantages of personalized Web retailing.

Community Relationship
Giving online customers with special interest a a feeling of belonging to a unique group of like-minded individuals helps build customer loyalty and value.

Thus, website relationship and affinity marketing programs build and promote virtual communities of customers, suppliers, company representative, and others via a variety of Web base collaboration tools.

Examples include discussion forums or newsgroup, chat rooms, message board systems and cross-links or related website communities.

Security and Reliability
As a customer of a successful Web store you must feel confident that your credit card personal information and details of your transactions are are secure from unauthorized use.

You must also feel that you are dealing with a trustworthy business, whose products and other websites information you can trust to be as advertise.

Having your order filled and shipped as you requested, in the time frame promised and with good customer support are other measures of an E-tailer’s reliability.
E-Commerce Success Factors Part II

What is A Computer?

2009-09-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

What is A Computer?
The word “computer” comes from the word “compute” which means to calculate. So a computer is normally considered to be a calculating device that can perform arithmetic operations at enormous speed.

The electronic computer is the most versatile and efficient machine for processing data.

Generally, the word COMPUTER means Commonly Operated Machine Particularly Used for Training Education and Research.

More accurately, a computer may be defined as a device that operates upon information or data. Data can be anything like bio-data of various applicants when the computer is used for recruiting personnel, or the marks obtained by various students in various subjects when the computer is used to prepare results, or the details.

Thus, data comes in various shapes and size depending upon the type of computer application. A computer can store process and retrieve data as and when desires. The fact that computers process data is so fundamental that many people have started calling it a data processor.

A computer is an electronic device made up of electronic circuits and wires etc. In modern age, computer (which is nothing but just an electronic device) is the most advance tool for solving the wide range of practical problems.

More precisely computer is an electronic device which works under the instructions of stored programs, automatically accepting the supplied data to analyze and process the data to produce the information called the result or output of that processing.

It manipulates the number of symbols, which it accepts as input, process this input are reproduces this is as output in a formatted manner. The word computer has been derived form the word compute.

When computers were developed, it was thought that they would be fast calculating machines. But today most of the work done is of non-numerical in nature like processing the records of students or employees of details of passengers for reservation.
What is A Computer?

Website for E-commerce

2009-09-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

Website for E-commerce
A successful e-commerce business requires a well coordinated plan that takes into account among many other elements, design competency, programming abilities (transactional and databases), server configuration public relations and sales and marketing abilities.

E –commerce is as much about selling as it is about technology. Even there are a lot of advices and information on technology, just as in a brick and mortar store, the selling environment i.e. your web pages are what will make or break your e-business.

You can have the best product or service in the world; but if your website doesn’t provide intuitive navigation, offer an easy-to-use process for order and fulfillment and maintain high standard of quality control, you will never archive consistent customer satisfaction.

A website is an infinite number of web pages connected by a common theme and purpose. A good design is important to provide your customers with easy access to all of your website’s pages.

Careful considerations of the numerously design possibilities for your website is essential.
Website for E-commerce

Know Your Customers

2009-08-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

Know Your Customers
You should know your customers, you then will know what types of customers are available and willing to buy online and you can identify your best prospects.

Then you must learn how these best prospects are accessing your site, how they shop and what they want online.

Only then can you develop marketing and branding strategies and begin to build your sit appropriately.

In order to begin E-commerce successfully, these twelve steps should be followed:

Know who comprises the bulk of Web users.

Learn how children will figure into the Web’s future.

Track how teens spend disposable income online.

Watch the heavy hitter – baby boomers and senior users.

Know what income brackets dominate the Web.

Know what races and nationalities are Web users and in what proportions.

Note how gender contributes to online use and sale patterns.

Know how much customers in different income brackets are willing to spend online.

Know what nationalities and countries are doing business globally online.

Research the computer and Web access technology most of your customers will use to access your site.

Know what types of shoppers will access your site and how to attract them.

Know what these shoppers are looking for online, and give it to them.

Know Your Customers

E-commerce Success Factors Part 1

2009-08-06T00:42:00.000-07:00

Three E-commerce Success Factors
Selection and Value
Obviously, a business must offer Web shoppers a good selection of attractive products and services at competitive prices or they will quickly click away from web store.

But a company’s price don’t have to be the lowest on the Web if they build reputation for high quality, guaranteed satisfaction, and top customer support while shopping and after sale.

Performance and Services
People don’t want to be kept waiting when browsing, selecting or paying in a Web store. A site must be efficiently designed for ease of access shopping and buying with sufficient server power and network capacity to support website traffic.

In addition, products offered should be available in inventory for prompt shipment to the customer.

Look and Feel
Business to consumer sites can offer customers and attractive Web storefront, shopping areas and multimedia product catalogues.

This could range from an exciting hopping experience with audio, video, and moving graphics, to a more simple and comfortable look and feel.

This, most retail E-commerce sites let customers browse product sections, select products, drop them into virtual shopping cart and go to a virtual checkout station when they are ready to pay for their order.
Three E-commerce Success Factors

Auction Site

2009-07-05T01:35:00.000-07:00

Auction Site
Auctions have been around for thousands of years. Traditionally, a person offers an item for sale and potential buyers bid on the item.

The bidder willing to pay the highest price for the item wins the bid and takes the item home – the same with online auctions.

The main difference between traditional auctions and web-based auctions is that the actual bidding and selling takes place over the Internet with interested buyers submitting bids electronically.

The person with the highest bid at the timed close of the auction wins the bids and arranges to receive the item.

The auction site acts as the middleman in the buying and selling transaction process.

There are numbers of ways you can use the auction model. First, you could build an auction website and let that be you business model.

Or you could add an auction component to another e-commerce model.

Many auction sites are built or sponsored by major vendors who have an established website, and use their auction site either to attract customers, or to offer merchandise that is surplus, outdated and/or seconds.

Many readers, however, will find established online auctions such as those offered by eBay, Amazon auctions and Yahoo auctions a way to build a credible e-commerce business.

Using an established auction website to build a wed-based business is inexpensive and allows you begin making a profit immediately.

There are none of the expenses of the typical e-commerce model – no advertising costs, no host costs, etc. Auction sites receive billion of visits daily

If you used one of the online auction sites as a means to enter the world of of e-commerce, understand that you are responsible for listing your items on the auction site, and you assume responsibility for all aspect you auction listings, including product descriptions, identification of quantities, establishment of starting and maximum bid prices and shipping.

Once the auction closes, it is up to you and the buyer to make arrangements for payment and shipping.
Auction Site

Business Oriented of E-Business

2009-06-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

Business Oriented of E-Business
E-business does involve implementing new systems and technology, which is a minor but important part of the puzzle.

E-business impacts the technology, processes, organization, and management of the organization. These statements have strong implications for carrying out a successful e-business effort.

*Politics is an important part of e-business implementation. You cannot ignore it or sweep it under the rug. It is there because e-business has such far-ranging impacts. E-business alters the power structure of departments and the entire organization.

*The culture of the society, organization and environment is an important factor in e-business because you are dealing with customers, suppliers and employees.

*Information technology (IT) has a major role that goes beyond systems work. Information technology is the only group that spans the organization and addresses the technology. Information technology must have a central role in e-business implementation.

Golden rules of E-business:
*Buyers, not market makers, will drive the growth of e-business.

*Measuring e-business is mush more than just measurable a web site’s traffic and usability.

*Relationships are everything.

*Cybermediaries are a risky venture

*Real collaboration among enterprises is very rare.
Business Oriented of E-Business

Weblog

2009-06-02T05:21:00.000-07:00

Weblog
It’s difficult t define of website, mainly due to diversity of models adopted for individual weblogs (also known as “blogs”).

This interesting weblog can be defined: “A web page containing brief, chronologically arranged items of information. A weblog can take the form of a diary, journal, what’s new page, or links to other websites.”

The key to the popularity of weblog is the person or people producing it. Since weblog readers often develop relationships with the weblog author(s), interaction between reader and author is inevitable.

But you don’t necessarily need to establish a new website to attract a niche audience of readers.

Since weblogs are ideally suited to interaction between people sharing special interest, some e-commerce businesses may want to consider adding a weblog to their website.

A weblog’s capacity for information dissemination and feedback can tap into buying power of a blogging community.
Weblog

Business to Consumer E-Commerce

2009-05-05T02:28:00.000-07:00

Business to Consumer E-Commerce
E-commerce applications that focus on the consumer share an important goal: to attract potential buyer, transact goods, and services, and build consumer loyalty through individual courteous treatment and engaging community features.

What does it take to create a successful B2C E-consumer business venture?

That’s the question that many are asking in the wake of the failure of many pure B2C dotcom companies.

One obvious answer would be to create a Web business initiative that offers attractive products or services of great customer value, and whose business plan is based on realistic forecasts of profitability within the first year or two of operation – a condition that was lacking in may failed dotcoms.

But such failure haven not stemmed the tide of millions of business, both large and small, that are moving at least part of their business to the Web.

On the Internet the barriers of time, distance and form are broken down, and businesses are able to transact the sale of goods and services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week., 365 days a year with consumers all over the world.

In certain cases, it is even possible to convert a physical goods (CDs, packaged software, a newspaper) to a virtual good (MP3 audio, downloadable software, information in HTML format).
Business to Consumer E-Commerce

E-Commerce Trends

2009-04-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

E-Commerce Trends
B2C E-commerce moves from simple Web store fronts to interactive marketing capabilities that provide a personalized shopping experience for customers and then toward a totally integrated Web store that support a variety of customer shopping experience.

B2C E-commerce also moving toward a self-service model where customers configure and customize the products and services they wish to buy aided by configuration software and online customer support as needed.

B2B E-commerce participants moved quickly from self-service on the Web to configuration and customization capabilities and extranets connecting trading partners.

As B2C, E-commerce moves toward full-service and wide-selection retail Web portal, B2B is also trending toward the use of E-commerce portals that provide catalog, exchange and auction markets for business customers within or cross industries.

Both of these trends are enabled by E-business capabilities like customer relationship management and supply chain management, which are the hall marks of the customer-focused and internet-worked supply chains of the successful E-business enterprise.
E-Commerce Trends

Subscription Site

2009-02-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

Subscription Site
A subscription site targets a specific niche market that places a value on expert information, service or a digital product delivered in a timely manner.

Technical newsletters, access to research information, and graphics, music and computer game downloads are all examples of products and services that can be sold for a monthly fee, an annual subscription, or small per transaction fee.

While the revenue from such service and products should be able to fund the operating costs of a subscription site, in most instances, the income may not be substantial – the exception are sites that offer video, music and/or computer game downloads.

A subscription site can be process payments offline and provide via email a user’s name and password for access or it can provide a secure, reliable, cost effective online system for authorizing payment and managing transactions.

The best systems are based on Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and/or Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) technology to encrypt the data, and generate and display a “result page” to the customer following the transaction.

E-commerce technology continuous to become more sophisticated, and with every advance the financial prognosis for a subscription site should improve.
Subscription Site