Unit-1

Electronic commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, or e-business consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well. A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.

Features of E-Commerce
Ubiquity - In traditional commerce, a marketplace is a physical place we visit in order to transact. For example, television and radio are typically directed to motivating the customer to go someplace to make a purchase. E-commerce is ubiquitous, meaning that it is available just about everywhere at all times. It liberates the market from being restricted to a physical space and makes it possible to shop from your desktop. The result is called a market space. From consumer point of view, ubiquity reduces transaction costs - the cost of participating in a market. To transact, it is no longer necessary that you spend time and money traveling to a market. At a broader level, the ubiquity of e-commerce lowers the cognitive energy required to complete a task. Global Reach - E-commerce technology permits commercial transactions to cross cultural and national boundaries far more conveniently and effectively as compared to traditional commerce. As a result, the potential market size for e-commerce merchants is roughly equal to the size of world's online population. Universal Standards - One strikingly unusual feature of e-commerce technologies is that the technical standards of the Internet and therefore the technical standards for conducting e-commerce are universal standards i.e. they are shared by all the nations around the world. Interactivity - Unlike any of the commercial technologies of the twentieth century, with the possible exception of the telephone, e-commerce technologies are interactive, meaning they allow for two-way communication between merchants and consumer.

Information Density and Richness - The Internet vastly increase information density. It is the total amount and quality of information available to all market participants, consumers and merchants. Ecommerce technologies reduce information collection, storage, communication and processing costs. At the same time, these technologies increase greatly the accuracy and timeliness of information, making information more useful and important than ever. As a result, information becomes plentiful, cheaper and of higher quality. Information richness refers to the complexity and content of a message. Personalization - E-commerce technologies permit personalization. Merchants can target their marketing messages to specific individuals by adjusting the message to a person's name, interests and past purchases. The technology also permits customization. Merchants can change the product or service based on user's preferences or prior behavior.

Functions of E-CommerceCustomer's Perspective From a customer's perspective, the purpose of an electronic-commerce system is to enable that customer to locate and purchase a desired good or service over the Internet when the customer is interested in making the purchase. Its function is no more or less than providing a virtual store. Merchant's Perspective From a merchant's perspective, the key function of an electronic-commerce system is to generate higher revenues than the merchant would achieve without the system. In order for this to happen, the electroniccommerce system must recreate or utilize existing data and business processes. All of the same processes that the merchant must have in place to support an in-store or catalog purchase must also be in place for an electronic purchase: product information, inventory systems, customer service, and transaction capabilities (including credit authorization, tax computation, financial settlement, and shipping). Additional functions of an electronic-commerce system, related to revenue generation, are to help redefine and enhance an enterprise's brand strength, customer-service capability, and supply-chain effectiveness. An electronic-commerce system is one of the areas of an enterprise's infrastructure that is open to customers via the Web, but it should be linked with other information technology (IT) systems that affect customer service (i.e., inventory and billing).

Benefits and limitations of e-commerce

E-commerce has revolutionized the concept of conducting business by providing equal chance to all the businesses to mark their global presence. It has also eased the customers with online shopping and easy transactions. With the introduction of e-commerce business, communication has become effortless and has also changed a lot in recent years for the better. Still, there are people who think that conventional business practices are far better then the e-commerce business. Here, we are bringing you some of the

benefits and limitations of e-commerce that will make you aware of the certain aspects of this new trend of conducting business. Benefits Expands the reach of your business to the global market :- The foremost advantage of e-commerce is that it empowers the business to reach the global market. E-commerce caters to the demands of national as well as international business simultaneously and brings your business activities out of geographical boundaries. With e-commerce, even small businesses get the access to the global market. Round the clock availability :- E-commerce has abolished time restrictions on business activities because with this you can execute business transactions 24X7. The time factor significantly turns into the increment in sales as well as profits. Gives freedom to make choices :- It also gives customers an opportunity to look for cheaper and better quality products. With e-commerce, consumers can search the specific product or service they require and can even find the direct manufacturer from where they can purchase products at comparatively less price. Shopping online is time saving and convenient. In addition to it, you also get to see the reviews of other consumers that will help you in making beneficial purchase decision. Cost effective : - E-commerce is proved to be highly cost effective for business concerns as it cuts down the cost of marketing, processing, inventory management, customer care etc. It also reduces the burden of infrastructure required for conducting business. You can also collect and manage the information related to the customers efficiently, which in turn will assist you in developing efficient promotional strategy. Limitations Technological and inherent limitations :- The technological limitations of e-commerce have restricted a large number of people from using this revolutionizing technique. The major disadvantage of ecommerce is the limitation of the Internet, as it still has not touched the lives of every individual. Lack of knowledge restricts large number of people from using the internet and understanding online transactions. Some people refuse to trust the legitimacy of online business and some are not comfortable about disclosing their personal and confidential information online. Authenticity of e-commerce businesses has always remained in question. Not suitable for perishable commodities :- The biggest limitation of e-commerce is that it is not suitable for perishable goods and food items. For purchasing such items people prefer the conventional way of shopping. Along with that, the time period also plays a significant role in delivering goods to the customers. Customers may need to make lot of phone calls and e-mails for getting the products within the desired timeframe. Moreover, it becomes really troublesome to return the product or get refund in case if you are not satisfied with the product. After evaluating the pros and cons of e-commerce, we can clearly state that the benefits of e-commerce are sufficient enough for overpowering the limitations. If apt strategies are followed and technical issues are addressed properly, you can easily build up the customers trust in your system. The present scenario

of e-commerce can also be changed for good, so that it can easily adapt to the ever changing needs of the customers as well as of the world.

Traditional Business vs E-Commerce Business

1. Employees vs No Employees The most particular difference between is that an e-commerce business doesnt need to have employees to function as opposed to the traditional business, which needs to hire sales executive, sales managers, accountants, web designers and other staffs. If youve actually owned a traditional business before, you would realize a lot of headache and problems reside within this area. The e-commerce models uses more technology as leverage, for example a website to sell your products or services, an auto-responder to automatically sent out e-mails to targeted markets and forums to facilitate consumer and staff feedbacks. There are many advantages for a traditional company to use the technology available to further enhance the profitability of their respective businesses.

2. Setting Your Own Hours vs Following Business Hours It is easy to identify that most traditional business operates at business hours because their employees have families to go home to and colleagues to hang out with after sun-down. Most offices can only operate within a certain period of time because one can only work so many productive hours a day. The usage of software, hardware and other technological devices has enabled a person whos running an ecommerce business be productive 24 hours/ 7 days a week / 365 days a year unless their hosting servers go down for unforeseeable circumstances. A sales letter or a membership site can work for the business at any given time a day and in different time zones at any time of the day.

3. Low-Cost Start-Up/Maintenance vs High Cost Start-Up/Maintenance The barriers of entry have allowed many individuals to start their own e-commerce business. There are e-commerce businesses being run on a shoe-string budget and raking in profits like a large enterprise. Here are a few examples. The low-cost itself is a deciding factor that many individuals are learning how to operate this businesses on a home-based basis. The traditional business which requires location renting/purchasing, staff employment, advertising, inventory, shipping and handling all sums up the high-cost equation which makes many people negate from starting a business entirely.

4. Global Market vs Local Market The introduction of the Internet has leveled they playing field in business so to speak. With the World Wide Web fast becoming a place where people buy and sell their respective products and services

(ebay.com), it is becoming a heaven for business. Imagine, having access to millions of prospects, all at your finger-tips. With the advancement of e-commerce technology integrated with credit card processors, it has become imperative that any business, if it wants to survive, has to acquire a web presence if they want to continue surviving because, rest assured if you dont, your competitors will. Bill Gates once said There will be only 2 types of business in the future. Internet Businesses and Those Out Of Business.

5. Residual Income vs Linear Income The benefits of e-commerce is there is a system in place which allows you to sell your to your customer once, and without additional effort, earn a recurring commission/profit from the same customer over and over again. Its a locked in mechanism which will help your customers make their payments easily each and every time their payment is due and allows you to earn a residual income without any effort. The basis of a traditional business depends on the frequency of new and old customers buying from them to keep the business running. In any event, there are many competitors around to always try and succeed in getting your business away from you and your profits will suffer from it. Apart from that, most businesses are being run by their owners on a daily basis which makes their income a Linear Income type. Some people leave their business and come back knowing it grew without them being there whilst some return, to find their business isnt there.

Types of E-commerce:
E-Commerce process model can be viewed in four ways and categories: 1. B2C: Business Organisation to Customer 2. B2B: Business Organisation to Business 3. C2B: Customer to Business Organisation 4. C2C: Customer to Customer In B2C Model, business organization uses websites or portals to offer information about product, through multimedia clippings, catalogues, product configuration guidelines, customer histories and so on. A new customer interacts with the site and uses interactive order processing system for order placements. On placements of order, secured payment systems comes into operation to authorize and authenticate payment to seller. The delivery system then take over to execute the delivery to customer. In B2B Model, buyer and seller are business organizations. They exchange technical & commercial through websites and portals. Then model works on similar line like B2C. More advanced B2B model

uses Extranet and Conducts business transaction based on the information status displayed on the buyers application server. In C2B Model, customer initiates actions after logging on to sellers website or to server. On the server of the selling organization, E-Commerce application are present for the use of the customer. The entire Internet banking process work on C2B model where account holders of the bank transact a number of requirements such as seeking account balance, payment and so on. In C2C model, Customer Participates in the process of selling and buying through the auction website. In this model, website is used for personal advertising of products or services. E- Newspaper website is an Example of advertising and selling of goods to customer. B2G is business-to-government ,the concept that businesses and government agencies can use central Web sites to exchange information and do business with each other more efficiently than they usually can off the Web. For example, a Web site offering B2G services could provide businesses with a single place to locate applications and tax forms for one or more levels of governent (city, state or province, country, and so forth); provide the ability to send in filled-out forms and payments; update corporate information; request answers to specific questions; and so forth. B2G may also include e-procurement services, in which businesses learn about the purchasing needs of agencies and agencies request proposal responses. B2G may also support the idea of a virtual workplace in which a business and an agency could coordinate the work on a contracted project by sharing a common site to coordinate online meetings, review plans, and manage progress. B2G may also include the rental of online applications and databases designed especially for use by government agencies. Peer to Peer (P2P) - Though it is an e-commerce model but it is more than that. It is a technology in itself which helps people to directly share computer files and computer resources without having to go through a central web server. To use this, both sides need to install the required software so that they can communicate on the common platform. This type of e-commerce has quite low revenue generation as from the beginning it has been inclined to the free usage due to which it sometimes got entangled in cyber laws. m-Commerce - It refers to the use of mobile devices for conducting the transactions. The mobile device holders can contact each other and can conduct the business. Even the web design and development companies optimize the websites to be viewed correctly on mobile devices.

Safety Precautions In Doing Business With E-Commerce

E-commerce has actually provided ease to all the shoppers primarily in their effort and time. Everything is now available on the web so any person of us can easily have the stuffs that we want by exploring the web site. It is simple to simply select the product which you prefer and thus pay for it thru your debit cards. In spite of this, lots of cyber criminals in the present day have the ability to quickly acquire the information with regards to your debit cards resulting to a shocking increase in your debts. All that we will have to do is do right safety precautions when confronted with shopping on-line. 1. Be fix in making use of merely one of your bank cards mainly the one with lower credit limit and never make use of ATM or debit cards.

2. Be attentive to spammers since most of them are able to use the strategy of offering up legitimate promotions. 3. Select online shopping website that shows the complete data concerning their business including the street address and also contact number. 4. Often see the online privacy policy just before selecting to go shopping there. A number of policy says that your personal data shall be shared so never allow this to happen. 5. Check out the lock icon in the status bar and likewise choose the websites that start in https: simply because these websites are the ones employing a safe server. 6. Look at whether or not the internet websites is partnered to many of the most trustworthy sites. This allows you to see the reliability of the web site thus you are certain to acquire safeguarded buying transactions highly processed. 7. Just remember that delivery days are merely from 7 to 10 days only. Be wary of internet sites that informs you of a 20-days delay of the product. 8. Keep a file in regards to the complete info on all of your on the web financial transactions. 9. There actually are countless web sites that provides fake advertisements claims and rapid scams. Always take a look at first on whether or not the claims are accurate.

Proxy servicesproxy server- A server that sits between a client application, such as a Web browser, and a real server. It intercepts all requests to the real server to see if it can fulfill the requests itself. If not, it forwards the request to the real server. Proxy servers have two main purposes: Improve Performance: Proxy servers can dramatically improve performance for groups of users. This is because it saves the results of all requests for a certain amount of time. Consider the case where both user X and user Y access the World Wide Web through a proxy server. First user X requests a certain Web page, which we'll call Page 1. Sometime later, user Y requests the same page. Instead of forwarding the request to the Web server where Page 1 resides, which can be a time-consuming operation, the proxy server simply returns the Page 1 that it already fetched for user X. Since the proxy server is often on the same network as the user, this is a much faster operation. Real proxy servers support hundreds or thousands of users. The major online services such as America Online, MSN and Yahoo, for example, employ an array of proxy servers. Filter Requests: Proxy servers can also be used to filter requests. For example, a company might use a proxy server to prevent its employees from accessing a specific set of Web sites.

UNIT-2 Electronic Data Interchange

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a system which allows document information to be communicated between businesses, governments structures and other entities. It is a set of standards which creates a

cohesive system within which all parties are able to electronically exchange data information within a set of protocols. As more and more companies get connected to the Internet, EDI is becoming increasingly important as an easy mechanism for companies to buy, sell, and trade information. ANSI has approved a set of EDI standards known as the X12 standards. Overview of EDI benefits and drawbacks The EDI process provides many benefits. Computer-to-computer exchange of information is much less expensive than handling paper documents.

Much less labor time is required Fewer errors occur because computer systems process the documents rather than processing by hand Business transactions flow faster.

Faster transactions support reduction in inventory levels, better use of warehouse space, fewer out-ofstock occurrences and lower freight costs through fewer emergency expedites. Paper purchase orders can take up to 10 days from the time the buyer prepares the order to when the supplier ships it. EDI orders can take as little as one day. One drawback to EDI is that companies must ensure that they have the resources in place to make an EDI program work; however, the need for buying and hiring these resources or outsourcing them may be offset by the increased efficiency that EDI provides.

Advantages of EDI

Operation

Lowering Operating Cost - EDI replaces paper transactions with electronic transmissions, saving time and reduced cost of business transaction and enabling the automatic processing of documents. Reduced Error and Increases Business Information Accuracy - With the implementation of EDI, there is no need for re-entering data, thus, reducing the risk for human error. Each re-entry of data is a potential source of error. Increase Productivity - Making personnel more efficient and it improves business capabilities by speeding up throughput. Increase Security - Data security and control are maintained through out the transmission process using passwords, user identification and encryption.

Tactical

Inventory Control - EDI can directly and indirectly helps organisations improve their inventory control. Fact and accurate permits better managing on stock balance, stock in-and-out, stock handling.....etc. Distribution - Improving delivery of services and goods by reducing order and delivery time and increase the reliability of meeting targets. Accounting - EDI facilitated financial processes and potential in providing faster reconciliation or elimination of tasks, auditing, checking and improving cash flow.

Strategic

Faster Trading Cycle - EDI allows faster and streamlining trading cycle between organisations leading to improved relationships between trading partners. Marketing Competitiveness - With the use of EDI, buyer and customer can easily search for product description, specification, prices and availability. The use of computers to obtains information is replacing the use of telephone and catalogues. Companies with EDI will certainly have an edge. Better Quality Control - Quality control has becoming a key thrust for progressive organisations. Many large, corporate buyers are now insisting their suppliers to conform to company performance criteria. With EDI, customer have more accurate information on the progress of their orders. Suppliers are given more specification, inventories are better managed, wastage being minimized. Fast and accurate communications permits better management. Improve Corporate Trading Relationship - Business units, departments and regional offices are co-ordinate together. This strengthen inter-company relationship, making the entry of new competitors more difficult and gaining more new business opportunity.

Disadvantges of EDI
Too Many Standards There are too many standards bodies developing standard documents formats for EDI. For example your company may be following the X12 standard format, while your trading partner follows the EDIFACT standard format.

Changing Standards Each year, most standards bodies publish revisions to the standards. This poses a problem to EDI users. You may be using one version of the standard while your trading partners are still using older versions. EDI is Too Expensive Some companies are only doing business with others who use EDI. If a company wants to do business with these organizations, they have to implement an EDI program. This expense may be very costly for small companies. Limit Your Trading Partners Some large companies tend to stop doing business with companies who don't comply with EDI. For example Wal Mart is only doing business with other companies that use EDI. The result of this is a limited group of people you can do business with.

Unit-4

Internet-The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer

Common uses of the internet.

While the internet is widely used by many, to meet different requirements, when we summaries the usage of the internet there are some common uses of the internet. Browsing the internet is the most common use. Whether one browses for research purpose, information, software's, cracks, news or to learn new things browsing is the commonest use of the internet. In fact one cannot go far in the internet without this basic activity done properly. This in fact has become a very common past time for individuals. Browsing requires a skill of its own to be able to get the data on the topic one requires. Communication is another area where the internet is used for frequently, for various reasons as it is low cost, effortless and fast. Communication takes place in the forms of emails, chats, video & chats and video conferences. With the many open communication methods, it has become very

easy to meet new friends and pen pals to share common interests and exchange information. Communication over the internet has reached great heights where now even interviews can be conducted online through video conferencing giving the same effects as real life interviews with no issues of being late or traveling to the venue of the interview. Another growing use of the internet is to build and take part in discussion forums as per interest and express one's ideas as and when and how ever he/she wants. Almost every site provides a blog page to make the consumers and internet users provide their honest views easily And the most recent but now a very common and frequent use of the internet is buying and selling over the internet. EMarketing is very popular for many reasons. One good reason is that it takes only a fraction of the cost of advertising through other mediums like News paper and Television. Also it has been found that it can reach a far greater crowd based on interest, within the tens of millions internet and email users, thus bringing in more demand resulting in more positive results than any other medium of marketing. Because of its low production cost and flexibility one can change his/her ads quickly and as frequently as they require. Internet marketing also provides for two-way communication, which is something which didn't exist in other traditional advertising mediums, so the consumers can talk with advertisers while seeing the advertisement and get more details and even purchase the item or get the service online itself.
Job search: Nowadays, many people search for their jobs online as it is quicker and there is a larger variety of job vacancies present. Hobbies: Those who are having certain hobbies can try to improve on it by reading up on many aspects of their hobby. Research: Research papers are present online which helps in the researcher doing a literature review. Studying: Now right from kinder garden children are exposed to internet and computers. They find many useful things to learn on the internet(though with supervision). Upto doctorate level education, people rely on internet for their education. Online educational books have even reduced the need for a library.