E-commerce Concepts and Challenges

Internet Of Things

• Billions of Internet-connected devices are contributing to an exponential growth of data.

Internet and Mobile Platforms

• Internet and mobile platforms allow content creation, sharing, and social connection.
• Online profiles contribute to privacy concerns.
• Concerns over commercial and government privacy invasion are increasing.

Government

• Successfully moved toward taxation of e-commerce sales.

Online Security

• Remains a significant issue with continuous reports of security breaches, malware, hacking, and other attacks.

Reasons To Study E-commerce

• Understand opportunities and risks in e-commerce.
• Identify technological, business, and social forces shaping e-commerce growth.
• Analyze e-commerce business ideas, identify effective models, understand technology, address security and ethical concerns, and market effectively.

Unique Features of E-Commerce Technology

Marketplace

• Physical space for transactions.

Ubiquity

• Accessible anytime and anywhere.
• Reduces transaction costs for consumers by eliminating the need for travel.
• Lowers cognitive energy needed for transactions.

Marketspace

• Extension of marketplace beyond boundaries, transcending time and location.

Global Reach

• E-commerce transcends cultural, regional, and national boundaries, making it convenient and cost-effective.
• Estimated global online population in 2020 was 4 billion, representing the potential market size for e-commerce merchants.

Universal Standards

• Shared standards by all nations.
• Lower market entry costs for merchants.
• Reduced search costs for consumers.
• Facilitates price discovery, making it efficient and accurate.

Richness

• Complexity and content of a message.

Interactivity

• Two-way communication between merchant and consumer.
• Enables engaging interactions similar to face-to-face experiences.

Information Density

• Total amount and quality of information available to all market participants.

Personalization and Customization

• Personalization: Targeting messages to individuals based on name, interests, and past purchases.
• Customization: Adapting products or services based on user preferences and prior behavior.

Social Networks

• E-commerce technologies empower users to create and share content with a global community, fostering new social networks and strengthening existing ones.

Commercial Transaction

• Exchange of goods, services, or money between parties.
• Responsible for delivery of physical goods and tracking of goods flow.

Online Banks

• Provide traditional banking services, including settlement and 24/7 service.

Administration of Commercial Activity

• Includes departments related to industry, customs, tax, and trade.

World Wide Web (The Web)

• Information system running on the Internet infrastructure, providing access to billions of web pages.
• Developed in the early 1990s.
• The key application that made the Internet commercially popular.

Two Types Of Web

• Surface/Visible Web: Web pages identified by search engines.
• Deep Web: Subscription content, databases, encrypted content.

Mobile Platform

• Enables internet access via smartphones and tablets.
• Represented a software evolution in how people interact with the internet.

Mobile Devices

• Increasingly prominent in internet access.

Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce)

• Transactions done via smartphones or mobile devices.
• Accessible with wireless internet connectivity.
• Transactions are typically simpler and faster compared to desktop or laptop experiences.

Major Trends in E-Commerce

Business

• Social Networks: Enable social e-commerce by providing advertising, search, and purchase options.

Technology

• Mobile Platforms: Drive growth in mobile advertising and enable true mobile e-commerce.
• Mobile Messaging Services: Provide an alternative platform emerging as a commerce channel
• Cloud Computing: Integral to mobile development, supporting consumer content storage and software.
• Big Data: Companies leveraging the ability to track and analyze vast amounts of online data.