This document provides an overview of e-commerce. It defines e-commerce as the process of buying and selling online via electronic networks. A brief history is given starting in the 1970s with EDI and moving to widespread internet use in the 1990s and 2000s. The main categories of e-commerce are defined as business-to-consumer, business-to-business, consumer-to-consumer, and mobile commerce. Benefits to organizations include lower costs, improved customer relations, and a global reach, while consumers benefit from more options, cheaper prices, and instant delivery.

1. E-COMMERCE
INTRODUCTION

2. Table of Contents
1. E-Commerce overview
1.1 Definition of e-commerce
1.2 Brief history of e-commerce
2. E-Commerce categories
2.1 Two major categories
2.2 Other categories
3. Benefits of e-commerce
3.1 Benefits to organizations
3.2 Benefits to consumers
4. Business applications
5. Online shopping
6. Interesting facts and figures
7. Summary and Conclusion
8. References

3. E-Commerce Overview
 Definition of E-Commerce
 Brief History of E-Commerce
1

4. Definition of E-Commerce
 E-Commerce or Electronic commerce is a
process of buying, selling, transferring, or
exchanging products, services, and/or
information via electronic networks and
computers

5. 5
 ‘Formulating commercial transactions at a
site remote from the trading partner and
then using electronic communications to
execute that transaction.’
 The definition includes business to
business and business to consumer
transactions.
Definition of E-Commerce

6. Brief History of E-Commerce
 1970s
 E- commerce meant the facilitation of
commercial transactions electronically, using
technology such as Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds
Transfer (EFT), allowing businesses to send
commercial documents like purchase orders
or invoices electronically.

7. Brief History of E-Commerce (cont)..
 1980s
The growth and acceptance of credit cards
Automated teller machines (ATM)
Telephone banking
Airline reservation system
2

8. Brief History of E-Commerce
(cont)..
 1990s
The Internet commercialized and users
flocked to participate in the form of dot-coms,
or Internet start-ups
Innovative applications ranging from online
direct sales to e-learning experiences

9. Brief History of E-Commerce
(cont)..
 2000s
Many European and American business
companies offered their services through the
World Wide Web.
Since then, People began to associate a word
“e-commerce”

10. E-Commerce Categories
 Two major categories
 Other categories
3

11. Two Major Categories
 Business-to-consumer (B2C) :
Online transactions are made between
businesses and individual consumers. E.g.
Amazon.com, eBay.com.
 Business-to-business (B2B):
Businesses make online transactions with other
businesses.

12. Other Categories
 Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)
 Mobile commerce (m-commerce)
 E-learning
 E-government
4

13. Benefits of E-Commerce
 Benefits to organizations
 Benefits to consumers
5

14. Benefits to organizations
 Global reach
 Cost reduction
 Supply chain improvements
 Extended hours: 24/7/365
 Customization
 Improved customer relations

15. Benefits to consumers
 More products and services
 Cheaper products and services
 Instant delivery
 Information availability
 Participation in auctions

16. Business applications
 Email
 Instant messaging
 Online shopping and order tracking
 Online banking
 Shopping cart software
 Teleconferencing
 Electronic tickets

17. Online Shopping
 Online shopping is the process of buying
goods and services from merchants who
sell on the Internet
 Online consumers are evenly split
between men and women and tend to be
better educated, younger, and more
affluent than the general population

18. Online Shopping (cont)..
 Advantages:
24-hour access
Ability to comparison
shop
The in-home privacy
Variety
6

19. Online Shopping (cont)..
 Favourite websites for shopping include
those featuring:
Event tickets
Online periodicals subscription
Flowers and gifts
Consumer electronics
Travel

20. Online Shopping (cont)..
How do you buy something
7

21. Interesting Facts and Statistics
 Every 1.2 seconds, a Canadian makes a
purchase with their PayPal account
 Almost 20 per cent of Canadians make three or
more online purchases per month (comScore
2009).
8

22. Interesting Facts and Statistics
(cont..)
 Ninety per cent of Canadians do their
online shopping exclusively from home
and only one per cent of Canadians shop
online exclusively from work (comScore
2009).
 Experts predict that online sales will reach
US$328 billion by 2010

23. 23
E-Commerce technologies
 The three e-Commerce technologies
are:
Electronic Markets
Electronic Data Interchange
Internet Commerce
Electronic
Markets
Internet
Commerce
EDI

24. 24
Electronic markets
 The use of information and
communications technology to present a
range of offerings available in a market
segment and hence enable:
the purchaser to compare the prices (and
other attributes);
make a purchase decision.
 The usual example of an electronic market
is an airline booking system.

25. 25
Electronic markets
 There is the potential for new electronic
markets to be created using Internet
technologies.

26. 26
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
 EDI provides a standardised system
for coding trade transactions so that
they can be communicated directly
from one computer system to another.
 EDI removes the need for printed
orders and invoices and avoids the
delays and errors implicit in paper
handling.

27. 27
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
 EDI is used by organisations that
make a large number of regular
transactions. Examples are the large
supermarket chains and the vehicle
assemblers which use EDI for
transactions with their suppliers.

28. 28
Internet commerce
 Information and communications
technologies can also be used to advertise
and make once-off sales of a wide range
of goods and services.
 This type of e-Commerce is typified by the
commercial use of the Internet. The
Internet can, for example, be used for the
purchase of books that are then delivered
by post or the booking of tickets that can
be picked up by the clients when they
arrive at the event.

29. 29
Internet commerce
 It is to be noted that the Internet is not the
only technology used for this type of
service and this is not the only use of the
Internet in e-Commerce.

30. 30
The trade cycle
 Conducting a commercial transaction involves
the following steps:
 Pre-Sale:
 Search - finding a supplier
 Negotiate – agreeing the terms of trade
 Execution:
 Order
 Delivery
 Settlement:
 Invoice
 Payment
 After-sales, e.g. warrantee and service