Assignment-

QUESTIONS

(01) a) Why do customers like web-based purchase?
b) What cultural and social Iactors would aIIect Sri Lankan web-based
purchases?
(02) Compare and contrast with aid oI an example the diIIerence between
traditional commerce and electronic business transaction?
(03) Internet is the most important Iactor Ior electronic commerce transaction. Do
you agree this statement? BrieIly explain.















, Why do customers like web-b,sed purch,se?

lectronic commerce reIers to the buying and selling oI products or services over electronic
systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. That is buying and selling products
online.
The World Wide Web can change human behavior and human interactions to a very large extent.
Web based shopping behavior is one major example to point out the trends in this direction.
Web based shopping has arrived and it is here to stay. The Internet provides both Iirms and
consumers with new methods Ior communication. For instance, the Internet provides consumers
with access to rich new inIormation sources and with the potential to make better-inIormed
decisions. According to the Nielsen`s media research and commerce net (1998), worldwide
Internet users exceed 120 million and the value oI electronic commerce transactions is inching
towards the US$20billion mark.
Internet shoppers are classiIied into three broad categories:
Active shoppers: Consumers who shop on a very regular basis.
Inactive shoppers : Consumers who shop on a very irregular basis and remain inactive
Ior long stretches oI time
Auction/ bargain hunters: Customers who Irequent the auction sites and bargain sales
and purchase Irom these sites.
The reasons Ior customers like web based purchase:
Elimin,te tr,;el time ,nd cost
Web based purchase allows people to carry out businesses without the barriers oI time
or distance. One can log on to the Internet at any point oI time, be it day or night and
purchase or sell anything one desires at a single click oI the mouse.

!ro;ide comp,rison shopping
Web based purchasing Iacilitates comparison shopping to the customers. There are
several online services that allow customers to browse multiple ecommerce merchants
and Iind the best prices.

oc,te the product quicker
It is no longer about pushing a shopping cart to the correct passageway, or scouting Ior
the desired product. On an ecommerce website, customers can click through intuitive
navigation or use a search box to immediately narrow down their product search. Some
websites remember customer preIerences and shopping lists to Iacilitate repeat purchase.

#em,in Open All the Time
Store timings are now 24/7/365. commerce websites can run all the time. That is an
"always open" store is more convenient Ior the customers. Because oI this too customer
like web based purchase.

ustomiz,tion
Some Web businesses, particularly media, music, computers businesses already
customize the product to an audience oI one. The result is customized products
comparable to those oIIered by specialized suppliers but at competitive mass market
prices

ower ost
One oI the most tangible positives oI ecommerce is the lowered cost. A part oI these
lowered costs could be passed on to customers in the Iorm oI discounted prices. Here are
some oI the ways that costs can be reduced with e-commerce:
O Advertising and Marketing
Organic search engine traIIic, pay-per-click, and social media traIIic are some oI the
advertising channels that can be cost-eIIective.
O !ersonnel
The automation oI checkout, billing, payments, inventory management, and other operational
processes, lowers the number oI employees required to run an ecommerce setup.
O #eal state
This one is a no-brainer. An ecommerce merchant does not need a prominent physical
location.









b Wh,t cultur,l ,nd soci,l f,ctors would ,ffect Sri ,nk,n web-b,sed purch,ses?
Web based purchase is the use oI inIormation technology to provide customers more convenient
purchase oI the goods and services and to provide the easy delivery services to the customers.
Under the global pressure oI inIormation technology, the adoption oI web-based technologies in
purchasing has created the new supplier and customer interIace.
Merchants and consumers dealing happen each and every day in the every corner oI the world in
web-based or not. There are some oI the social and cultural Iactors in the web based purchase.
Technological InIrastructure :
Lack oI technologies is a major bottleneck Ior the developing countries such as SriLanka
aiming to maintain the web based purchase. Legacy systems may also represent considerable
obstacles to change.

InIormation overload :
There are inIinite bytes oI inIormation in the web and the demand Ior it is limited by human
capacity. For e.g. people do not like Spam. It was amazing to see Google making use oI this
weakness. Coming up with the product "!riority Inbox" in Gmail.

Time poverty
Multitasking is around the corner and consumers do not want to spend time looking Ior
inIormation. For e.g. No one will comment here iI they were asked to sign up Ior the web
site. They basically do not have time!

Work Irom Home
II you take Sunday observer you will see lots oI Ads asking you to work Irom home. This
phenomenon is making a Iree environment in the web creating lot oI consumers browsing
thru home.

Online Oxygen
ven in Sri Lanka, there is a community building up to be "I CANT LIV WITHOUT
INT#NT". This is a good target market Ior many online-businesses and can make use Ior
indirect marketing by popularizing your brand in social media.

What i want when i want
Anytime anywhere concept is really important. Consumers want to access inIormation even
while they are travelling. For e.g. they expect you to respond to an email within 24hrs. This
is a very good Iact Ior our web clients. We know very good examples oI missing clients
because oI non-response and late-response. II you do not reply, well - there are many other
options Ior the consumer.

SelI Service
Consumers like to logon, access inIo, purchase goods and contact people all on their own. So
do not have too much automation on your web site.

Sophisticated consumers
Consumers like to Ieel they are in control and help themselves on their own. When designing
your web site, have room Ior visitors to help themselves. For e.g. Iill a Iorm online, order a
sample product...etc.

!rivacy, online crime and Data Security
I know a Sunday Sinhala newspaper which publishes oI some article about bad aspects oI
internet every week. There are pros and cons, but the Iact is that consumers are aware oI this
and we have to be careIul in designing web-sites that deal with private data and transactions.


























02. omp,re ,nd contr,st with ,id of ,n ex,mple the difference between tr,dition,l
commerce ,nd electronic business tr,ns,ction?
Traditional commerce means communicating (ordering, paying) with customer and
supplier using diIIerent applications in many time-consuming diIIerent steps. It can be
done Face-to-Iace, telephone lines, or mail systems.
g. You need a 1TB hard-drive Ior your computer see a sale on the local newspaper at
Compxxx store. Get in your car and go and get it. That`s traditional commerce.

-commerce is buying and selling goods over the internet, and means shopping on the
World Wide Web. It can be done using internet or other network communication
technology.
g. You need a 1TB hard-drive Ior your computer, browsing the web see a sale on
Compxxx.com and decide to buy it using your credit card. A week later u get your hard-
drive at your door. That`s e-commerce.
While consumers can visit only a Iew traditional outlets per day, they have access to
countless Web retailers in the same timeIrame. Because oI the ease oI access to many
retailers and greater opportunities Ior bargain-hunting, "competition on the web is Iierce.
!rice transparency is the rule. With shopping-comparison services, it is possible to check
the price oIIered by hundreds oI merchants with a couple oI mouse clicks".

g. II we want to buy a car in a traditional commerce we can visit only one or two
shops. But in an e-commerce we can see number oI shops within the same time Irame.


In traditional commerce transactions processing is done in manually. In e-commerce
transactions processing is done in automatic.
The most particular diIIerence between is that an e-commerce business doesn`t need to
have employee`s to Iunction as opposed to the traditional business, which needs to hire
sales executive, sales managers, accountants, web designers and other staIIs.

xample: Website to sell your products or services, an auto-responder to automatically
sent out e-mails to targeted markets and Iorums to Iacilitate consumer and staII
Ieedbacks. There are many advantages Ior a traditional company to use the technology
available to Iurther enhance the proIitability oI their respective businesses.

Direct interaction is present in traditional commerce.


In traditional commerce customer can veriIy the identity oI the seller and their physical
location, whereas in e-commerce customers Ieel insecure because they cannot identiIy
the seller and are unaware about many things.
-commerce proves to be Ieasible Ior the standard products, low-value products ,
intangible products and digital products. Traditional commerce is the best when it comes
to convincing the customers on certain products.
-commerce uses e-cash, credit cards , debit cards and etc,.
-commerce is developing a highway system called the inIormation super highway as
we have the interstate highway system Ior traditional e-commerce.
In traditional commerce more manpower is needed in a traditional or as usual way,
whereas in e-commerce globalization oI commerce through internet is possible by the
use oI less manpower.
commerce is made great impact on the buying behavior oI the people. In present era
people are not getting time to go to store and purchase the things, and also it mainly
saves time, energy, and more convenient too compare to the traditional commerce.
Traditional commerce's are losing its existence in developed countries, some oI the high
end items still requires traditional commerce, the items like car, purchasing ornaments,
buying property, still application is there.
In e-commerce lot oI companies competing in the market, one oI them is 'Nichesuite'
most leading ecommerce solution provider across globe. it is more Ilexible, convenient
and user Iriendly solution.












03 Internet is the most import,nt f,ctor for electronic commerce tr,ns,ction Do you
,gree this st,tement? Briefly expl,in

I agree that the internet is the more important Iactor Ior the e-commerce transaction Ior the
Iollowing reason.
lectronic commerce or ecommerce is a term Ior any type oI business, or commercial
transaction that involves the transIer oI inIormation across the Internet. It covers a range
oI diIIerent types oI businesses, Irom consumer based retail sites, through auction or
music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. It is
currently one oI the most important aspects oI the Internet to emerge.

commerce allows consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with no
barriers oI time or distance. lectronic commerce has expanded rapidly over the past Iive
years and is predicted to continue at this rate, or even accelerate. In the near Iuture the
boundaries between "conventional" and "electronic" commerce will become increasingly
blurred as more and more businesses move sections oI their operations onto the Internet.

The technology juggernauts behind e-commerce are the Internet and the World Wide
Web. Without both oI these technologies, e-commerce as we know it would be
impossible.

Internet is an enabler Ior e-commerce as it allows businesses to showcase and sell their products
and services online and gives potential customers, prospects, and business partners access to
inIormation about these businesses and their products and services that would lead to purchase.

Technological advancements in the Internet have especially accelerated the process oI
change in business activities; ecommerce development has created highly competitive
markets across all industries.

Companies have realized this Iact and have used the Internet as a tool to expand their
businesses. -commerce, or electronic commerce, is a way to conduct minor and major
business transactions online instead oI going into a store.

#eIerences:
http://wiki.answers.com
www.arraydev.com/commerce/jibc/0403-01.htm
http://www.ribelz.com/emarketing-blog/73-Iactors-eIIecting-consumer-behaviour-online-
2-socio-cultural-context.html

http://edis.iIas.uIl.edu/Ie820