ASSIGNMENT# 01

Batch:2020f

E-Commerce (SWE-318)

Submitted by:
Rabia Syed AjazUddin 2020f-SE-258
Submitted to:
Sir Abdul Moeed Khan

Software Engineering Department

Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology
University Road, Karachi 75300
http://www.ssuet.edu.pk
Answer the Following Questions based on Self Study:

1. Where do you use the opportunities of E-Commerce in your daily life?

Answer:
Today every one of us knows E-Commerce implies electronic commerce. ECommerce
basically means to buy, sell and exchange products, services, and information through
computer networks.

Electronic- Banking:
Many banks have introduced mobile apps for electronic banking. Using a computer or
mobile phone, customers can now connect to the bank’s computer
system via the internet and control their daily financial dealing from the comforts of
their home. This reduces the staff and building of banks. Many customers pay their
various kinds of bills from their bank accounts directly using this facility.

Electronic shopping.
Shopping has become very easy for people using the internet from their home.
Different manufacturers present their products online at their websites. Consumers
browse the website, place orders and even make payments using a credit card. This
has made shopping a very simple process.

Video conferencing:
Video calling has reduced the distance and removed boundaries that kept people
away. With the advancement of internet, it is now very much possible to connect with
anyone, anywhere, and any time. Video conferencing is meeting using video cameras
and microphones for discussions. This provides an environment as in a physical normal
meeting. It enables participants to see, hear and present material to each other and
interact as if they were in the same room. Video conferencing has helped speed up
business process and procedures.

As E-learning tools:
Living in the digital era has upgraded everything around us even the education.
Online education has become very renowned over the past few years amongst

the students. With the different types of interactive tutorials, like e-books, video
tutorials available on the internet, students are able to study, download study
materials for free or with some price. Moreover, some of the learning websites even
provide lectures for student and even one-on-one sessions with their mentors for
clarification and a better understanding of the subject.
2. Which companies do you know which are doing E-Commerce?

Answer:
Top Ecommerce Companies:

Amazon: Amazon doesn’t need any introduction.

Ali Baba: When it comes to top ecommerce companies, we simply cannot forget Ali
Baba. Founded in 1999, this ecommerce giant originated from China.

eBay: With headquarters in San Jose, California, eBay is one of the top ecommerce
companies in the world. Founded in 1995

Jingdong: Jingdong is a must in any list of the top ecommerce companies. It operates
out of Beijing, and given the rapid growth, many top ecommerce stores (including
Alibaba) consider it a worthy rival.

Zappos: is an online shoe store that is extremely popular for its customer service. They
are one of the top ecommerce companies with the best customer support in the world.

Rakuten: Previously known as Buy.com, the ecommerce marketplace got rebranded

after Rakuten.com bought it. It is one of the top ecommerce companies and the biggest
ecommerce website in Japan. It is also known as the “Amazon of Japan”

Daraz: Daraz is an online marketplace and logistics company which operates in markets
of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It was founded in 2012 as an online fashion e-
commerce marketplace in Pakistan by Muneeb Maayr (Founder) & Farees Shah (Co-
Founder) at the based venture builder, Rocket Internet

Flipkart: Flipkart is a Singaporean online retail store that operates from

Bengaluru, India. Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, graduates of the Indian Institute of
Technology, founded it in 2007. After working for Amazon, the pair decided to launch
their own online store.
3. Consider the Internet-based businesses, which we have listed above. Are they new

business categories?

INTERNET BASED BUSINESS:

Access provider: The access provider ensures (technical) access to the Internet. We
should have in mind, that somebody has to pay the access provider so that we can get
access to the Internet. Who pays? We or somebody else? In many (most?) areas of the
world it is a totally privatized business, though sometimes in the political arena the
access to the Internet is declared as a modern human right. Obviously there is a
similarity to telephone network(s). However, it (normally) works in this privatized form.

Traditional business models, which are somehow similar to the business of an access
provider, are operators of a technical infrastructure, e.g. telephone networks, car
highways, or railways.

Search engine: Search engines are the most used software in the Internet. They
are the starting step for many Internet-based activities, not only but, of course, also if
somebody is looking for a business opportunity. Again we must ask: Who pays? The
one, who wants to find something or someone? Or the one, who wants to be found? A
traditional and similar business model is given by the so-called “yellow pages”, where
firms are listed and grouped according to branches and locations.

Online shop: An online shop is a website, where you can buy products or services,
e.g. books or office supplies. Traditional and similar business models are direct mail
selling (no shop facility, offering of goods via a printed catalogue, ordering by letters or
telephone calls) and factory outlets (producer has own shop facility, does not sell his
products via merchants).

Content provider: Content providers offer content, a completely digital good, e.g.
information, news, documents, music. A specific variant of a content provider is the
information broker Traditional business models in this area are newspaper publishers,
magazine publishers, radio and television broadcasting services or publishing
companies.

Portal:A portal is a website, which provides a set of services to the user so that
he/she sometimes thinks that he/she is using a single but very complex software
system. Portals are often used in big organizations to control the access of employees
to the different ICT systems; each employee gets a specific menu of “his”/“her”
applications. Also content providers use portals, though in the narrow sense that they
only deliver content and no application systems.

Online marketplace/electronic mall An online marketplace is a website,

where suppliers and potential customers can come together like on a real marketplace
in a small town. An E-Mall is a set of online shops, which can be found on one
website.Examples of traditional and similar business models are shopping centers,
omnibus orders (One person is customer of the shop and buys for a group of people),
marketplaces and buying associations.

Virtual community: A virtual community is a platform for communication and

exchange of experience. It is similar to a virtual club or association.

Information broker: An information broker collects, aggregates and provides

information, e.g. information with respect to products, prices, availabilities or market
data, economical data, technical information. Traditional and similar business models
are magazines running tests of computers, cars, consumer goods, restaurants.

Transaction broker: A transaction broker is a person or an organization to

execute sales transactions. Sometimes those brokers are used to hide the real
customer to the supplier. A transaction broker is an agent who is an expert in a specific
area and can take over parts of a business.A similar traditional business model is the
free salesman.

Online service provider/cloud service provider (CSP):An online service

provider provides services, which can be run electronically, e.g. application software
services or ICT infrastructure services like storage or backup services. If this
organization uses so-called cloud technologies it is called a cloud service provider (ten
Hompel et al 2015; Marks & Lozano 2010).
4. Find additional advantages and disadvantages of digital businesses.

Advantages:
24/7 Availability: business is open for online transactions 24/7 around the clock with no
business hours restrictions. This 24/7 availability is a crucial advantage of having an e-
business.

Saving Time and Cost: an e-business helps the consumer to reduce time and cost since they
do not have to go physically to your brick and mortar store to do their shopping.

Not Dependent on Opening Hours: With an e-business, consumers are not relying on
opening hours of business since they can transact business with around the clock via
website, app, or social network channels.

Convenience: With an e-business, customers can transact business with from the comfort
of their home or offices. This convenience, in most cases, is what attracts many
consumers to this e-business.

Immediate Price Comparison: Customers can go online and compare prices with
competitors to ensure they are getting a fair deal or the lowest price. We will also see a
lot of low-cost items online, more than we will see in-store.

Disadvantages:
Cost and Shipping: Factors such as exchange rate, taxes and shipping might sometimes
make your product unaffordable for your consumers living in another geographical
location.

Customers Can Remain Anonymous: Depending on the e-commerce platform or CRM

platform you use with an e-business, there is the tendency for your customers to stay
anonymous since you are not relating to them face-to-face, and sometimes, their
business interaction with you might be a one-off affair.

Handling Returns: There is a limit to how can describe a product on screen. So when the
product eventually reaches the consumer and is not what they were expecting, they will
return it. Is digital business ready to accommodate these returned products? Is company
capable of absorbing all the requests for money back? Company need to meditate on
these things when adopting an e-business, especially if it will deal with physical products.

Innovation Pressure: With an e-business model, it exposes you to a global competitive

field, and there is a tendency for your brand’s voice to be drowned out in a sea of several
thousand competitors. This situation leads to constant pressure to innovate.
5. Consider the above-mentioned technical and economic challenges of E-

Commerce

Finding The Right Product To Sell: Shopping cart platforms like Shopify have
eliminated many barriers of entry. Anyone can launch an online store within days and
start selling all sorts of products. Amazon is taking over the eCommerce world with their
massive online product catalog. Their marketplace and fulfillment services have enabled
sellers from all over the world to easily reach paying customers. Let’s not forget about
AliExpress. They’ve simplified product sourcing by giving access to Chinese
manufacturers within a couple of clicks. All of this has made it very difficult for retailers to
source unique products unless they decide to manufacture your own.

Attracting the perfect customer: Online shoppers don’t shop the same way as they
used to back in the day. They use Amazon to search for products (not just Google). They
ask for recommendations on social media. They use their smartphones to read product
reviews while in-store and pay for purchases using all sorts of payment methods. Lots has
changed including the way they consume content and communicate online. They get
easily distracted with technology and social media. Retailers must figure out where their
audience is and how to attract them efficiently without killing their marketing budget.

Retaining customers: Attracting new customers is more expensive than retaining the
current ones you already have. Retailers must implement tactics to help them get the
most out of their customer base in increase customer lifetime value.

Choosing the right technology & partners: Some online retailers may face growth
challenges because their technology is limiting them, or they’ve hired the wrong
partners/agencies to help them manage their projects. Retailers wanting to achieve
growth must be built on a good technological foundation. They must choose the right
shopping cart solution, inventory management software, email software, CRM systems,
analytics and so much more.

Attracting and hiring the right people to make it all happen: Let’s face it, online
retailers may have visions and aspirations, but one fact remains, they need the right
people to help them carry out their desires. Attracting the right talent is key to achieve
desirable online growth. Also, having the right leader plays an even bigger role.
6. What is E-Commerce? How does it differentiate from traditional business models?

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. E-
commerce can be a substitute for brick-and-mortar stores, though some businesses
choose to maintain both The history of ecommerce begins with the first ever online
sale: on the August 11, 1994 a man sold a CD by the band Sting to his friend through his
website NetMarket, an American retail platform. This is the first example of a
consumer purchasing a product from a business through the World Wide Web—or
“ecommerce” as we commonly know it today. Almost anything can be purchased
through e-commerce today.
7. What are different business models available for E-Commerce?

B2C – Business to consumer: B2C businesses sell to their end-user. The B2C
model is the most common business model, so there are many unique approaches
under this umbrella.Anything you buy in an online store as a consumer — think
wardrobe, household supplies, entertainment — is done as part of a B2C transaction.

B2B – Business to business: In a B2B business model, a business sells its

product or service to another business. Sometimes the buyer is the end user, but often
the buyer resells to the consumer. B2B transactions generally have a longer sales cycle,
but higher order value and more recurring purchases.

C2C - Consumer to Consumer: the C2C business model helps consumers to sell
their assets like residential property, cars, motorcycles, etc., or rent a room by
publishing their information on the website. Website may or may not charge the
consumer for its services. Another consumer may opt to buy the product of the first
customer by viewing the post/advertisement on the website.

C2B - Consumer to Business: In this model, a consumer approaches a website

showing multiple business organizations for a particular service. The consumer places
an estimate of amount he/she wants to spend for a particular service. For example, the
comparison of interest rates of personal loan/car loan provided by various banks via
websites. A business organization who fulfills the consumer's requirement within the
specified budget, approaches the customer and provides its services.

B2G - Business to Government: B2G model is a variant of B2B model. Such

websites are used by governments to trade and exchange information with various
business organizations. Such websites are accredited by the government and provide a
medium to businesses to submit application forms to the government.

G2B - Government to Business: Governments use B2G model websites

to approach business organizations. Such websites support auctions, tenders,
and application submission functionalities.

G2C - Government to Citizen: Governments use G2C model websites to

approach citizen in general. Such websites support auctions of vehicles, machinery, or
any other material. Such website also provides services like registration for birth,
marriage or death certificates. The main objective of G2C websites is to reduce the
average time for fulfilling citizen’s requests for various government services.
8. How can customers benefit from E-Commerce?

E-commerce saves money: Costs incurred by a provider of products or services

in cooperation with an intermediary are paid by the customer. When there are no
middlemen, the customer may not have to spend so much money. Products offered
over the Internet are generally cheaper than those in the shops.

E-commerce saves time: Saving time is one of the major benefits of online
shopping. The time required to choose, buy, and pay for an online product is not more
than 15 minutes! Products are delivered to customers within a week. If you order
goods that are heavier, you do not have to worry about it. The messenger will bring
them to your doorstep.

Simplicity and comfort: Customers can buy any product from any e-commerce
in the world without having to step foot from their workplace or home. Due to bad
weather, economic situation, or for any other reason, many people cannot go
shopping. Ecommerce is convenient when buying goods or services without creating
physical limitations for consumers. In addition, just a few clicks from the comfort of
your home and the merchandise is yours! No cash? No problem! Simply fill in your
credit or debit card details and make an immediate payment.

Availability round the clock: E-commerce allows the customers to shop from
their favourite website 24/7. It doesn’t involve waiting for a weekend or a half-day just
so that you can do the necessary retail therapy! E-commerce allows websites to be
functioning round the clock and benefit their customers with appropriate product
details, warranty details, product reviews and product descriptions so that they can
make the right choice. readily available information: It provides readily available
information. A customer can see the relevant detailed information within seconds,
rather than waiting for days or weeks.