1. Describe e-commerce in your own words?

Explain how does it differ from e-

business? Where does it intersect with e-business?
Ecommerce alludes to any type of business exchange directed on the web. The most
famous of eCommerce is web based shopping, which is characterized as purchasing
and selling of merchandise by means of the web on any gadget. Be that as it may,
eCommerce can likewise involve different sorts of exercises, for example online
auctions, payment gateways, online ticketing, and internet banking. More or less,
eCommerce is only the way toward purchasing and selling of products and services,
or the transmitting of assets or information, over an electronic system, principally the
web. This system enables individuals to work with no obstruction of distance and
time.
E-business and e-commerce are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, and
sometimes they're used to differentiate one vendor's product from another. But the
terms are different, and that difference matters to today's companies.
In both cases, the e stands for "electronic networks" and describes the application of
electronic network technology - including Internet and electronic data interchange
(EDI) - to improve and change business processes.
E-Business in addition to encompassing E-commerce includes both front and back-
office applications that form the engine for modern E-commerce. E-business is not
just about E-commerce transactions; it's about re-defining old business models, with
the aid of technology to maximize customer value. E-Business is the overall strategy
and Ecommerce is an extremely important facet of E-Business. Thus e-business
involves not merely setting up the company website and being able to accept credit
card payments or being able to sell products or services on time. It involves
fundamental re-structuring and streamlining of the business using technology by
implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, supply chain management,
customer relationship management, data ware housing, data marts, data mining, etc.
E-commerce and e-business intersect at the business firm boundary at the point where
internal business systems link up with suppliers. For instance, e-business turns into e-
commerce when an exchange of value occurs across firm boundaries.
2. What are some of the unique features of e-commerce technology?

Ecommerce technologies provide a number of unique features that have impacted the
conduct of business. These unique dimensions of e-commerce technologies suggest
many new possibilities for marketing and selling—a powerful set of interactive,
personalized, and rich messages are available for delivery to segmented, targeted
audiences. Some of the unique features of ecommerce technology are described
below:
a. Ubiquity
Because they are web-based, eCommerce technological features are available
anywhere you can connect to the Internet at any time, including homes, offices,
video game systems with an Internet connection and mobile phone devices.
Because ecommerce is ubiquitous, the market is able to extend its traditional
geographic boundaries and operating hours. An example includes the ability to
access the Internet wherever there is a Wi-Fi hotspot, such as a cafe or airport.
Moreover, individuals who have cell phones with data capabilities can access the
Internet without a Wi-Fi connection.

b. Global reach
Technologies within ecommerce seamlessly stretch across traditional cultural and
national boundaries and enable worldwide access. Pearson Education states that
instead of just offering goods and services to a population within a specific
boundary, businesses can market to and serve an international audience. The
Internet and multilingual Web sites, as well as the ability to translate a Web page,
allows international visitors all over the globe to access company Web sites,
purchase products and make business interactions.

c. Universal standards
Technologies within eCommerce seamlessly stretch across traditional cultural and
national boundaries and enable worldwide access. Pearson Education states that
instead of just offering goods and services to a population within a specific
boundary, businesses can market to and serve an international audience. The
Internet and multilingual Web sites, as well as the ability to translate a Web page,
allows international visitors all over the globe to access company Web sites,
purchase products and make business interactions.
d. Richness
Users can access and utilize text messages and visual and audio components to
send and receive information. Pearson Education states that such aspects provide a
rich informational experience in regards to marketing and the consumer
 experience. An individual may see information richness on a company's blog if a
post contains a video related to a product and hyperlinks that allow him to look at
or purchase the product and send information about the post via text message or
email.

e. Interactivity
Technologies used in eCommerce require consumer interactions in order to make
an individual feel as though he is an active participant in the transaction process.
As a result, eCommerce technologies can adjust to each individual's experience.
For example, while shopping online, an individual is able to view different angles
of some items, add products into a virtual shopping cart, checkout by inputting his
payment information and then submit the order.
f. Information density
The use of eCommerce reduces the cost to store, process and communicate
information, according to Pearson Education. At the same time, accuracy and
timeliness increase; thus, making information accurate, inexpensive and plentiful.
For example, the online shopping process allows a company to receive personal,
shipping, billing and payment information from a customer all at once and sends
the customer's information to the appropriate departments in a matter of seconds.

g. Personalization and customization

Technologies within eCommerce allow for the personalization and customization
of marketing messages groups or individuals receive. Pearson Education states
that companies can base such messages on individual characteristics of a
consumer. An example of personalization includes product recommendations
based on a user's search history on a Web site that allows individuals to create an
account.

h. Social technology
E-Commerce has played a huge role in Social Technology. Sites like Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and so on, are not merely there for your
entertainment. They all collect information about you and as I mentioned above,
show you the kinds of ads and sites you would most likely be interested in based
on that information. Social technology has changed E-Commerce in many ways. It
has allowed people all over the world to start networking and share their interests,
which in turn has allowed companies to more selectively target their customer
bases.
3. Describe the three different stages in the evolution of e-commerce.
a. Innovation
Innovation took place from 1995–2000 and was characterized by excitement and
idealistic vision s of markets in which quality information was equally available to
both buyers and merchants. However, e-commerce did not fulfill these visions
during its early years.

b. consolidation
After 2000, e-commerce entered its second stage of development: consolidation.
In this stage, more traditional firms began to use the Web to enhance their existing
businesses. Less emphasis was placed on creating new brands.

c. reinvention

In 2006, though, e-commerce entered its current stage, reinvention, as social

networking and Web 2.0 applications re-invigorated e-commerce and encouraged the
development of new business models

4. Define disintermediation and explain the benefits to internet users of such a

phenomenon. How does disintermediation impact friction-free commerce?
Disintermediation means the removal of the market middlemen—the distributors,
wholesalers, and other intermediaries—between producers and consumers. The predicted
benefits to Internet users include the decline of prices for products and services as
manufacturers and content originators develop a direct relationship with their customers,
and the elimination of payments to these middlemen. Disintermediation of markets would
create intense competition. This, along with lowered transaction costs, would eliminate
product brands, eventually resulting in the elimination of unfair competitive advantages
and extraordinary returns on capital: the vision of friction-free commerce.

5. What are the major limitations on the growth of e-commerce? Which is

potentially the toughest to overcome?
Though e-commerce offers many advantages to customers, business, society and
nation, there are still some areas of concern that need to be addressed. The following
are some of the limitations or disadvantages of e-commerce.

1. Security
The biggest drawback of e-commerce is the issue of security. People fear to provide
personal and financial information, even though several improvements have been made
in relation to data encryption. Certain websites do not have capabilities to conduct
authentic transactions. Fear of providing credit card information and risk of identity
limit the growth of e-commerce.

2. Lack of privacy
Many websites do not have high encryption for secure online transaction or to protect
online identity. Some websites illegally collect statistics on consumers without their
permission. Lack of privacy discourages people to use internet for conducting
commercial transactions,

3. Tax issue
Sales tax is another bigger issue when the buyer and seller are situated in different
locations. Computation of sales tax poses problems when the buyer and seller are in
different states. Another factor is that physical stores will lose business if web
purchases are free from tax.

4. Fear
People fear to operate in a paperless and faceless electronic world. Some of the
business organizations do not have physical existence, People do not know with
whom they are conducting commercial transactions. This aspect makes people to opt
physical stores for purchases.

5. Product suitability
People have to rely on electronic images to purchase products. Sometimes, when the
products are delivered, the product may not match with electronic images. Finally, it
may not suit the needs of the buyers. The lack of ‘touch and feel’ prevent people from
online shopping.

6. Cultural obstacles
E-commerce attracts customers from all over the world. Habits and culture of the
people differ from nation to nation. They also pose linguistic problems. Thus,
differences in culture create obstacles to both the business and the consumers.

7. High Labour cost

Highly talented and technically qualified workforce are required to develop and
manage the websites of the organization. Since internet provides a lot of job
opportunities, business organizations have to incur a lot of expenses to retain a
talented pool of employees,
 8. Legal issues
The cyber laws that govern the e-commerce transactions are not very clear and vary
from country to country. These legal issues prevent people from entering into
electronic contracts.

9. Technical limitations
Some protocol is not standardized around the world. Certain software used by vendor
to show electronic images may not be a common one. It may not be possible to
browse through a particular page due to lack of standardized software. Insufficient
telecommunication bandwidth may also pose technical problems.

9. Huge technological cost

It is difficult to merge electronic business with traditional business. Technological
infrastructure may be expensive and huge cost has to be incurred to keep pace with
ever changing technology. It is necessary to allocate more funds for technological
advancement to remain competitive in the electronic world.

In my opinion, the toughest limitation to be overcome would be the “security and

privacy issues”. A lot of intelligence criminal is embezzling consumer’s privacy
information they have filled in the Internet and steal their identity with the aid of
advanced technology and software. This is difficult to overcome since the rules and
regulations for the Internet are incomplete and unclear and undefined. The
punishment for the Internet criminal should be more rigorous to prevent the Internet
criminal being increases in the future.

6. State five advantage of electronic commerce over traditional commerce.

There is no doubt that customers now prefer ecommerce over traditional offline
retail shopping. There has been an ongoing debate since forever regarding the
advantages of one over the other. E-commerce websites have become popular and
the whole online world is a proof of it. Social media, news websites and search
engines are filled with advertisements of ecommerce website.
Customers now use the internet on a daily basis. E-commerce allows the customer
to make a particular purchase in just a few clicks. You can easily expand your
businesses from local to global by starting an ecommerce website. The following
points are the advantages of e-commerce website over traditional commerce.

1. No geographical limitation
When it comes to traditional commerce, you can only do business where you have
set up your physical store. This is not the case with E-commerce websites. For
them, the whole world is their playground if planned strategically. People from
one corner of the world can easily order a specific product from another corner of
the world with the few clicks.

2. Easy way to gain customer by search engine visibility

Traditional commerce shops depend mostly on branding and relations to drive
more customers to their shop but on the other hand e-commerce drive most of its
traffic from search engines. Over 30% of e-commerce traffic comes from organic
searches on search engines. This is just the traffic from organic searches and then
we have advertisements, social media traffic which is the tipping point for many
e-commerce businesses.

3. Lower cost/investment
One of the best reasons to open an e-commerce website is because it requires a
low investment as compared to a physical store. Some of the ways to cut down
the price are by choosing the best marketing strategy for your e-commerce
website like: – organic search, pay per click or social media traffic, also the
number of employee and properties required to get the business up and running is
much less as compared to a physical store.

4. Locate product quicker

We have all been through the hassle of locating a specific product in a huge store,
running up and down the aisles and asking the person in charge to assist you. This
is not the case with e-commerce platforms, as the customer just has to click
through intuitive navigation or just type the specific product in the search box to
immediately find their requirement.

5. Save travel time and cost

The main reason for people shifting from traditional commerce to e-commerce is
because it saves the travel time and cost. For a physical shop, the customer has to
visit the outlet to purchase the item whereas for an ecommerce website he can just
do it with few clicks sitting on the couch. With the advent of m-commerce, it has,
even more, saved the time of the customer by allowing them to purchase the
products on the go.