This document is a major project submitted by Shrishti Raxwal on the topic of e-commerce and business society. The project contains chapters on e-commerce, business society, a case study of Amazon, research methodology, and conclusions. It provides an overview of the emergence of e-commerce, how it affects different types of businesses, and its advantages and disadvantages. The document outlines the objectives of analyzing how e-commerce has impacted business models and society.

1. Major Project
On
E-Commerce and Business Society
Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirement of
Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A) General
BBA VI Semester (Morning)
Batch 2011-2014
Submitted to: Submitted by:
Dr. Ruchi Singhal Shrishti Raxwal
Associate Professor 02914101711
JAGANNATH INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
SCHOOL KALKAJI, NEW DELHI

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Contents
S.No. Title Page
NO.
1 Declaration Of Student 3
2 Certificate of Internal Mentor 4
3 Acknowledgement 5
4 Objectives 6
5 Chapter – I Ecommerce 7
6 Chapter – II Business Society 22
7 Chapter- III Amazon:
Company profile and study
32
8 Research Methodology 38
9 Chapter – IV Ecommerce and
business society
40
10 Chapter-V Conclusion 43
11 Bibliography 51

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Declaration of Student
This research work is my original work and it has not been
submitted elsewhere.
All care has been taken to keep this project error free and
sincerely regret for any unintended discrepancies that might have
crept into this report.
Shrishti Raxwal
02914101711

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Certificate of Internal
Mentor
Date: …………..
TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
This is to certify that student Shrishti Raxwal of BBA (2011-14)
batch has completed her Major Project on “E-commerce and
Business Society” under my guidance.
Her work is up to my satisfaction and worth appreciation.
I wish her all the best for future endeavors.
Name: Shrishti Raxwal
Project Guide: Dr. Ruchi Singhal

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Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude to all
those who have contributed significantly by sharing their
knowledge and experience in the completion of this project work.
I would like to thanks Dr. Ruchi Singhal (Associate Professor), my
mentor under whose able guidance this project was carried out. I
thank her for her continuous support and mentoring.
Shrishti Raxwal

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Objectives
 To find the emergence of e commerce
 To find out how e commerce affects various business society
 To find the advantages and disadvantages of e commerce
 To analyse the business market with the emergence of e
commerce
 To find the growth and scope in the e commerce industry
 To see how e commerce affects the various business
models
 To find out the impact on business
 To find out the various benefits that e commerce industry
offers
 To analyse the initiation and growth of a e commerce firm.

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Chapter 1
E-commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or
ecommerce, is a type of industry where the buying and selling of
products or services is conducted over electronic systems such
as the Internet and other computer networks. Electronic
commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce,
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 one point in the
transaction's life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range
of technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices social media, and
telephones as well.
Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales
aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to
facilitate the financing and payment aspects of business
transactions.

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This is an effective and efficient way of communicating within an
organization and one of the most effective and useful ways of
conducting business.
E-commerce can be divided into:
 E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on websites with online
catalogs, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall"
 Buying or Selling on various websites and/or online
marketplaces
 The gathering and use of demographic data through Web
contacts and social media
 Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business
exchange of data
 E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching
prospective and established customers (for example, with
newsletters)
 Business to business buying and selling
 The security of business transactions

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Global trends
In 2010, the United Kingdom had the biggest e-commerce
market in the world when measured by the amount spent per
capita. The Czech Republic is the European country where
ecommerce delivers the biggest contribution to the enterprises´
total revenue. Almost a quarter (24%) of the country’s total
turnover is generated via the online channel
Among emerging economies, China's e-commerce presence
continues to expand. With 384 million internet users, China's
online shopping sales rose to $36.6 billion in 2009 and one of
the reasons behind the huge growth has been the improved
trust level for shoppers. The Chinese retailers have been able
to help consumers feel more comfortable shopping online.
China's cross-border e-commerce is also growing rapidly. E-
commerce transactions between China and other countries
increased 32% to 2.3 trillion yuan ($375.8 billion) in 2012 and
accounted for 9.6% of China's total international trade.

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Other BRIC countries are witnessing the accelerated growth of
ecommerce as well. In Russia, the total ecommerce market is
projected to total somewhere between 690 billion rubles ($23
billion) and 900 billion rubles ($30 billion) in 2015, at 2010
values. This will equal 5% of total retail volume in Russia.
Longer-term, the market size of Russian e-commerce could
reach $50 billion by 2020. Ecommerce players need to
understand unique insights about trust factor, online payments
and language peculiarities to penetrate the Russian market.
Brazil's ecommerce is growing quickly with retail ecommerce
sales expected to grow at a healthy double-digit pace through
2014. By 2016, eMarketer expects retail ecommerce sales in
Brazil to reach $17.3 billion. India's ecommerce growth, on the
other hand, has been slower although the country's potential
remains solid considering its surging economy, the rapid
growth of internet penetration, English language proficiency
and a vast market of 1.2 billion consumers (although perhaps
only 50 million access the internet through PCs and some
estimate the most active group of e-commerce customers
numbers only 2-3 million).

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E-commerce traffic grew about 50% from 2011 to 2012, from
26.1 million to 37.5 million, according to a report released by
Com Score. Still much of the estimated 14 billion dollars in
2012 ecommerce was generated from travel sites.
Ecommerce is also expanding across the Middle East. Having
recorded the world's fastest growth in internet usage between
2000 and 2009, the region is now home to more than 60 million
internet users. Retail, travel and gaming are the region's top
ecommerce segments, in spite of difficulties such as the lack of
region-wide legal frameworks and logistical problems in cross-
border transportation E-Commerce has become an important
tool for small and large businesses worldwide, not only to sell
to customers, but also to engage them.
In 2012, ecommerce sales topped $1 trillion for the first time in
history.

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Ecommerce Timeline
1960-1982
Paving the way for electric commerce was the development of the
Electronic data Interchange (EDI). EDI replaced traditional mailing
and faxing of documents with a digital transfer of data from one
computer to another.
Trading partners could transfer orders, invoices and other
business transactions using a data format that met the ANSI ASC
X12, the predominant set of standards in North America.
Once an order is sent, it is then examined by a VAN (Value-
Added Network) and finally directed to the recipient’s order
processing system. EDI allowed the transfer of data seamlessly
without any human intervention.
Michael Aldrich an English inventor, innovator and entrepreneur is
credited with developing the predecessor to online shopping. The
idea came about during a stroll with his wife and Labrador when
Aldrich lamented about their weekly supermarket shopping
expedition. This conversation sparked an idea to hook a television
to their supermarket to deliver the groceries. Immediately after the
discussion Aldrich quickly planned and implemented his idea.

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In 1979 Aldrich connected a television set to a transaction
processing computer with a telephone line and created what he
coined, “teleshopping,” meaning shopping at a distance.
1982-1990
It was apparent from the beginning that B2B online shopping
would be commercially lucrative but B2C would not be successful
until the later widespread use of PC’s and the World Wide Web,
also known as, the Internet. In 1982, France launched the
precursor to the Internet called, Minitel
The online service used a Videotex terminal machine that was
accessed through telephone lines. The Minitel was free to
telephone subscribers and connected millions of users to a
computing network.
By 1999, over 9 million Minitel terminals had been distributed and
were connecting approximately 25 million users in this
interconnected network of machines. The Minitel system peaked
in 1991 and slowly met its demise after the success of the Internet
3 years later. Eventually, in 2011, France Telecom announced its
shutdown of its Minitel service system. Sadly, it had not become
what it had hoped to be, the Internet.

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90’s To Present
In 1990 Tim Berners Lee, along with his friend Robert Cailliau,
published a proposal to build a “Hypertext project” called,
“Worldwide Web.” The inspiration for this project was modeled
after the Dynatex SGML reader licensed by CERN.
That same year, Lee, using a NeXT computer created the first
web server and wrote the first web browser. Shortly thereafter, he
went on to debut the web on Aug. 6, 1991 as a publicly available
service on the Internet. When Berner’s Lee decided he would take
on the task of marrying hypertext to the Internet, in doing that, the
process led to him developing URL, HTML and HTTP.
When the National Science Foundation lifted its restrictions on
commercial use of the NET in 1991, the Internet and online
shopping saw remarkable growth. In September 1995, the NSF
began charging a fee for registering domain names. 120,000
registered domain names were present at that time and within 3
years that number grew to beyond 2 million. By this time, NSF’s
role in the Internet came to an end and a lot of the oversight
shifted to the commercial sector.

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For hundreds of years the marketplace has been growing more
complex and more confusing for consumers to navigate.
Published in 1992, long before the Internet became a household
word. Future Shop argued that new information technologies,
combined with innovative public policies, could help consumers
overcome that confusion. A prescient manifesto of the coming
revolution in e-commerce, Future Shop’s vision of consumer
empowerment still resonates today.
From the beginning, there were many hesitations and concerns
with online shopping but the development of a security protocol –
the secure socket layers (SSL) - encryption certificate by
Netscape in 1994 provided a safe means to transmit data over the
Internet. Web browsers were able to check and identify whether a
site had an authenticated SSL certificate and based on that, could
determine whether or not a site could be trusted.
Now, SSL encryption protocol is a vital part of web security and
version 3.0 has become the standard for most web servers today.

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Online Ecommerce Megastores
The mid-nineties to 2000’s saw major advancements in the
commercial use of the Internet. The largest online retailer in the
world Amazon, launched in 1995 as an online bookstore. Brick-
and-mortar bookstores were limited to about 200,000 titles and
Amazon, being an online only store, without physical limitations
was able to offer exponentially more products to the shopper.
Currently, Amazon offers not only books but DVDs, CDs, MP3
downloads, computer software, video games, electronics,
apparel, furniture, food, and toys. A unique characteristic of
Amazon’s website is the user review feature that includes a rating
scale to rate a product. Customer reviews are now considered the
most effective social media tactic for driving sales. The company
attracts approximately 65 million customers to its U.S. website per
month and earned revenue of 34.204 billion in 2010. In 2001,
Amazon.com launched its first mobile commerce site.
Another major success story of the dot com bubble was EBay, an
online auction site that debuted in 1995. Other retailers like
Zappos and Victoria Secret followed suit with online shopping
sites; Zappos being a web only operation.

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Also in 1995, was the inception of Yahoo followed by Google in
1998, two leading search engines in the US. These successful
web directories began their own ecommerce subsidiaries with
Google Shopping and Yahoo! Auction, in following years.
Global ecommerce company, PayPal, began its services in 1998
and currently operates in 190 markets. The company is an
acquired bank that performs payment processing for online
vendors, auction sites, and other commercial users. They allow
their customers to send, receive and hold funds in 24 currencies
worldwide. Currently, PayPal manages more than 232 million
accounts, more than 100 million of them active.
As more and more people began doing business online, a need
for secure communication and transactions became apparent. In
2004, the Payment card Industry security standard council (PCI)
was formed to ensure businesses were meeting compliance with
various security requirements.
The organization was created for the development, enhancement,
storage, dissemination and implementation of security standards
for account data protection.

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The growing use of the Internet, tablet devices, and smart phones
coupled with larger consumer confidence will see that ecommerce
will continue to evolve and expand.
With social media growing exponentially in recent years, the
conversation between businesses and consumers has become
more engaging, making it easier for transactional exchanges to
happen online. Internet retailers continue to strive to create better
content and a realistic shopping experience with technologies like
augmented reality.
With mobile commerce gaining speed, more users are purchasing
from the palm of their hand. The market for mobile payments is
expected to quadruple by 2014, reaching $630 billion in value.
Total sales in ecommerce have grown from $27.6 billion in 2000
to $143.4 billion in 2009 and are expected to continue its growth
for the foreseeable future.

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Benefits of E-Commerce
Hopefully by now you're aware of the main benefits of E-
Commerce, which are:
 immediacy –
No going to the shops or waiting in queues
 price –
Goods bought online tend to be cheaper
 choice –
The range of goods available is vast and with sites like
www.kelkoo.com that let you compare goods from many
retailers it is easy to find what you want
 24-hour availability –
The shop never closes
 speed –
You’ll locate what you want much quicker

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 global markets –
Neither you nor the vendor is restricted to your/their
locality
 interactivity –
Get immediate feedback on prices, features etc
 Less paperwork –
Always a good thing!
Drawbacks of E-Commerce
Some of the drawbacks to putting your business online are:
 high investment needed
 more in-house responsibility for order fulfillment and
technology
 It is necessary to frequently update your product
catalogue. You need the technical skills to do this
 reduced flexibility - it is often difficult to achieve your own
house style

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 transaction fees and/or commission have to be paid to the
service provider
 complete reorganization of your business model

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Chapter- II
Business Society
Business refers to that economic activity which is conducted on
regular basis to earn profits through production and sale of goods
and services.
Ecommerce is an electronic system of dealing in all the
commercial activities which can be done through the medium of
internet. These commercial activities include receiving information
about the goods, placing an order, receiving delivery, making
payment, etc. Under this system the sale and purchase of every
type of thing, information and services – all are possible. Buying
and selling through internet is called ecommerce.
The scope of ebusiness can be understood by the view point of
the parties involved and making electronic transactions. The
following parties are included in the scope of e-business.
 B2B Commerce (business-to-business)
 B2C Commerce (business-to-consumer)
 Intra-B Commerce (within business)
 C2C Commerce (customer-to-customer)

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A.B2B Commerce
B2B commerce is that business activity in which two firms
of two business units make electronic transactions. For
example, one can be a producer firma and other a raw
material supplier firm. Activities like enquiry about goods,
placing an order and making payments are undertaken on the
internet.
B.B2C commerce
In B2C commerce one party is a firm and the other party is a
customer. On one hand customer can through internet seek
informations about his favorite products, can place orders,
can get some items on internet, and can also make payments.
He can avail such facilities round the clock. On the other
hand, the firm with the help of internet can make a survey any
time to know who is buying what and can also know the
satisfaction level of customers.
C. Intra-B Commerce
Under it, the parties involved in the electronic transactions are
the two persons or two departments of the same business
units. For example, through internet it is possible for the

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Marketing department to interact constantly with the
production department and get the customized goods made
as per the requirement of individual customer. In similar way
one can very quickly get the inventory informations of various
branches. The personnel department can very efficiently
perform the job recruitment, selection, training, etc., through
internet.
D.C2C Commerce
Under it both the parties involved in the transaction are the
customers. As both the parties are the customer, that is why,
it is known customer-to-customer commerce. It is required for
the buying and selling of those goods for which there is no
established markets are available. For example, selling old
books and clothes either on cash and barter basis. Through
internet the customers have a world wide reach. In this
system, one can take the help of PayPal for payment. Instead
of purchasing goods directly from an unknown seller, the
buyer can send the money to PayPal. PayPal informs the
seller that they will hold the money for them until the goods
have been reached to the buyer. In this way the risk of buyer
not getting the goods is eliminated.

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E-Commerce as a Business Tool
Used appropriately, E-Commerce can be a powerful business
tool. According to James Devlin of the Belfast Times:
It can facilitate access to new markets, cost savings on marketing
and promotion, help improve customer service and even assist in
ensuring longer lasting, more profitable customer and supplier
relationships.
E-Commerce is now beginning to move ahead strongly.
Companies making the smartest use of the Internet are amongst
those operating more nimbly, efficiently and profitably than those
trying to ignore the technology. The government is solidly behind
the promotion of E-Commerce in the UK by assisting companies
to embrace E-Commerce, broadband, and other knowledge-led
techniques.
It can help them move up the value chain in terms of what they
offer their customers; to increase profitable business, and develop
the capability and confidence to innovate. It could transform their
business with a new product or service, enabling them to capture
brand-new customers and thus producing much higher growth.

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At its most potent, the technology and innovation behind e-
business could even enable them to catalyze their market and
gain a competitive edge. Take broadband, for example, and the
further potential benefits it is bringing to businesses. Broadband is
giving SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises) more than just
improved efficiency through time saving.
Outwardly facing, it has also enabled them to provide new and
enhanced customer services and even operate in completely new
ways. And for internal processes, it's impacting in other ways that
were not envisaged - such as improved staff satisfaction and
retention.
Technology and Business
Technology has the power to not only help companies improve
their business but also to move much closer to their customers.
Companies that succeed are more likely to be those harnessing
technology that allows them to listen to their customers and
develop a sophisticated understanding of their needs.

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The next step is to seek out information on how best E-
Commerce could aid your business.
There are a plethora of companies in the market offering free and
independent advice on how E-Commerce could transform your
business.
Support is available for start-up companies, established
businesses, traditional manufacturing, and information technology
companies.
Business Models
How does a business physically implement an E-Commerce
system? Some business models are:
 online catalogue
 e-shop
 e-procurement
 e-mall
 E-auction.

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Let's have a look at each one in turn.
Online Catalogue
An online catalogue is the web-based equivalent of the paper-
based catalogue you could pick up in the shop.
For example, Argos, a large retailer in the UK, issues members of
the public with a free catalogue which lists all items sold in Argos
stores in the UK. There's an index in the catalogue to help locate
specific items. You can use the catalogue at home to select an
item and then order and pay for it over the phone.
The web-based equivalent can be found at www.argos.co.uk. In
addition to the usual search facilities, this site also lets you search
by catalogue number. All items in the paper-based catalogue
have a unique number. Once located, any items you want to
purchase can be added to your 'shopping trolley' and you can pay
online.
Alternatively, you can reserve the item online and pay for it at
your local shop when you collect it.

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E-Shops
What's the difference between an online catalogue and an e-
shop? Sometimes there's little or no difference.
For example, IKEA the home furnishing shop, has a website at
www.ikea.co.uk which is listed (with Internet search engines) as
an e-shop.
It looks very similar to the Argos site though there isn't any
reference to catalogue numbers. You have to search for items
using their names.
On the other hand, both Argos and IKEA have physical shops and
their web-based facilities are an additional service to customers.
However not all goods in the catalogue can be bought online, a
scenario also present in Marks and Spencer, John Lewis and
other major retailers.
These companies only sell a limited number of goods online
compared to the goods they have in store and they all charge for
delivery.

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Companies such as ebuyer whose site can be found at
www.ebuyer.com have no physical shops and only sell online. To
my mind this is a 'real' e-shop, not a service extension to an
existing 'physical' business.
E-Malls
In the 'real world' a shopping mall is a collection of shops on a
single physical site. Similarly, an e-mall is a collection of e-shops
available from a single website.
One such site can be found at www.e-mall.uk.net.
The beauty of an e-mall from the customer's point of view is that
you can purchase multiple items from different e-shops but pay
using a single payment.
E-Auctions
As the name suggests, this is an online auction where individuals
or companies can offer items for sale and have people bid to

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purchase the item. The best known of them all is probably eBay,
which can be found at www.ebay.co.uk.
E-Procurement
Businesses require stock to sell. Whether they have the stock in
advance of the sale, or whether they order as required will be
dictated by their business rules.
Ordering as required is better for cash flow but what if they lose
customers because they can't supply the goods quick enough?
Also, in addition to the products they sell, businesses need to buy
products and services for themselves such as stationary,
temporary staff etc.
E-procurement is the term used to describe the use of electronic
methods at every stage of the purchasing process from
identification of requirement through to payment, and potentially
to contract management.
A number of companies produce e-procurement software. One
such company is Wax Digital and you can find information on their
implementation of e-procurement at www.wax-
digital.com/eprocurement.asp.

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Amazon: Company Profile
Amazon.com, Inc is an American international electronic
commerce company with headquarters in Seattle, Washington,
United States. It is world’s largest online retailer. It was started as
online book store, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, VHSs, CDs,
Video and MP3 downloads/ streaming, software, video games,
electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys and jewelry. The
company also produces consumer electronics- notably the
Amazon Kindle e-book reader and the Kindle Fire tablet
computer- and is a major provider of cloud computing services.
Jeff Bezos incorporated the company (as cadabra) in July 1994
and the site went online as amazon.com in 1995. Amazon has
separate retail websites for United States, United Kingdom,
France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Brazil, Japan,
China, India and Mexico with international shipping to certain
other countries for its products.

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Products and Services
Retail goods like books, DVDs, music CDs, software , videotapes,
apparel, baby products, consumer electronics, beauty products,
gourmet food, groceries, health and personal care items, sporting
goods, tools, toys and games.
Consumer electronics In November 2007, Amazon launched
Amazon Kindle, an e-book reader which downloads content over
"Whispernet", via Sprint's EV-DO wireless network. The screen
uses E Ink technology to reduce battery consumption and to
provide a more legible display. As of March 2011, the stated
library numbers over 850,000 titles.
In September 2011, Amazon announced its entry into the tablet
computer market by introducing the Kindle Fire, which runs a
customized version of the operating system Android. The
exceedingly low pricing of Fire ($199 USD)
was widely perceived
as a strategy backed by Amazon's revenue from its content sales,
to be stimulated by sales of the Fire.
In September 2012, Amazon unveiled the second generation
tablet, called the Kindle Fire HD. On September 25, 2013,
Amazon.com unveiled its third generation tablet, called Kindle
Fire HDX.[109]
In October 2013, the sixth generation Kindle was

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released. Amazon Art In August 2013 Amazon launched Amazon
Art as an online marketplace selling original and limited edition
fine art from selected galleries.[127]
The initial 40000 items listed
for sale included Norman Rockwell’s painting “ William Gillis:
Package from home” priced at $4.85 million, "L’enfant a la tasse
by Claude Monetfor $1.45 million and Andy warhols “ Sachikos”
for $45 000.
Private labels and exclusive marketing arrangements
AmazonBasics is a private-label consumer electronics product
line. It sells AV cables, blank DVD media and other electronics
products under the AmazonBasics product label.[134] The line was
launched in 2009.Computing services and Content production.
Amazon technology
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Information
Management (IM) support Amazon’s business strategy. The core
technology that keeps Amazon running is Linux-based. As of
2005, Amazon had the world’s three largest Linux databases, with
capacities of 7.8 TB, 18.5 TB, and 24.7 TB. The central data
warehouse of Amazon is made of 28 Hewlett Packard servers
with four CPUs per node running Oracle database software.
Amazon’s technology architecture handles millions of back-end
operations every day, as well as queries from more than half a

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million third-party sellers. With hundreds of thousands of people
sending their credit card numbers to Amazon’s servers everyday,
security becomes a major concern. Amazon employs Netscape
Secure Commerce Server using the Secure Socket Layer
protocol which stores all credit card details in a separate
database. The company also records data on customer buyer
behavior which enables them to offer or recommend to an
individual specific item, or bundles of items based upon
preferences demonstrated through purchases or items visited.
On January 31, 2013 Amazon experienced an outage that lasted
approximately 49 minutes, leaving its site inaccessible to some
customers.
Multi-level sales strategy
Amazon employs a multi-level e-commerce strategy. Amazon
started off by focusing on Business-to-Consumer relationships
between itself and its customers, and Business-to-Business
relationships between itself and its suppliers but it then moved to
incorporate Customer-to-Business transactions as it realized the
value of customer reviews as part of the product descriptions. It
now also facilitates customer to customer with the provision of the
Amazon marketplace which act as an intermediary to facilitate
consumer to consumer transactions. The company lets almost

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anyone sell almost anything using its platform. In addition to
affiliate program that lets anybody post Amazon links and earn a
commission on click through sales, there is now a program which
let those affiliates build entire websites based on Amazon’s
platform.
Some other large e-commerce sellers use Amazon to sell their
products in addition to selling them through their own websites.
The sales are processed through Amazon.com and end up at
individual sellers for processing and order fulfillment and Amazon
leases space for these retailers. Small sellers of used and new
goods go to Amazon Marketplace to offer goods at a fixed price.
Amazon also employs the use of drop shippers or meta sellers.
These are members or entities that advertise goods on Amazon
who order these goods direct from other competing websites but
usually from other Amazon members. These meta sellers may
have millions of products listed, have large transaction numbers
and are grouped alongside other less prolific members giving
them credibility as just someone who has been in business for a
long time. Markup is anywhere from 50% to 100% and sometimes
more, these sellers maintain that items are in stock when the
opposite is true. As Amazon increases their dominance in the
marketplace these drop shippers have become more and more
commonplace in recent years. The resulting damage to a supply

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and demand marketplace remains to be seen but advertising
contracts with large search engines eliminating smaller websites
from overall exposure these practices should have a negative
effect on the industry on the whole.

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Research Methodology
Research and experimental development is creative work
undertaken systematically to increase the stock of knowledge,
including knowledge of humanity, culture and society, and the use
of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications (OECD
(2002) Frascati Manual: proposed standard practice for surveys
on research and experimental development. It is used to
establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous work,
solve new or existing problems, support theorems, or develop
new theories.
A research project may also be an expansion on past work in the
field. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or
experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects, or
the project as a whole. The primary purposes of basic research
(as opposed to applied research) are documentation, discovery,
interpretation, or the research and development of methods and
systems for the advancement of human knowledge. Approaches
to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably
both within and between humanities and sciences.

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There are several forms of research: scientific, humanities,
artistic, economic, social, business, etc.
The goal of the research process is to produce new knowledge or
deepen understanding of a topic or issue. This process takes
three main forms :
 Exploratory research, which helps to identify and define a problem
or question
 Constructive research, which tests theories and proposes
solutions to a problem or question.
 Empirical research, which tests the feasibility of a solution using
empirical evidence.
There are two ways to conduct research:
Primary research
Using primary sources i.e., original documents and data.
Secondary research
Using secondary sources i.e., a synthesis of, interpretation of, or
discussions about primary sources or internet
There are two major research designs: qualitative research and
quantitative research

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Chapter- IV
Ecommerce and Business
Society
E Commerce affects society in that it makes products accessible
to people nearly everywhere in the world within just a few days.
This causes trends to spread much faster than they once did. It
also provides an easily implemented platform for small
businesses to sell their goods.
Ecommerce affects business
The Internet and the growth of e-commerce has had a
revolutionary effect upon business whether it is dealing with other
business: so called "business to business e-commerce" or
whether it is business selling to consumers: "business to
consumer" e-commerce. Here are some of those effects:
1. On-line selling allows products to be sold directly to
consumers, bypassing traditional retailers. Web sites that
sell computers directly from the manufacturer, such as
Dell.com and automobile manufacturers like Honda of
America are examples of business to consumer e-
commerce that allow the customer to specify exactly the
product they desire from the convenience of their own
home.

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2. Comparison-shopping, through e-commerce, has created
price and product competition between businesses that
benefits the consumer. It is very easy to make price and
product comparisons online. Sites such as Compare.com
will look up the best price and advertised for any product you
choose.
3. Because consumers and business can deal directly with
suppliers, intermediaries and brokers are potentially
affected. This is the so-called "disintermediation" that many
Internet commentators talk about. If you can book your
airline tickets directly through expedia.com, what do you
need a travel agent for? One way those intermediaries may
rise to this challenge by providing a more personalized
service to a smaller, higher value customer base.
4. Business to business trade is transformed, not only
because many intermediaries are removed, but also
because it is so much cheaper to issue invoices and
purchase orders electronically than it is to do so by
traditional paper means. In addition it becomes possible to
manufacture "On demand", rather ahead of that demand.
Traditional supply chains, which fulfill predicted demand for
goods, become demand chains, where goods are
manufactured to order as and when that order is received.
This allows both manufacturers and suppliers to reduce their
supply chains.

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5. The costs associated with entry into global markets are
very low in an e-commerce environment. Traditionally for
somebody to set up an overseas operation often involves
significant costs in setting up. Now with the Internet a
website can be read anywhere in the world and anyone can
be a global trader.
There are other challenges facing a company that wants to do
business online. Marketing and logistics, along with security are
the biggest challenges. In order to get your product out, E-
businesses must market their product and web site.
Many E-businesses have failed because of lack of knowledge
about their site. Logistics encompasses many aspects of the E-
commerce arena. Not only does a web site have to be easily
navigatable, the customer must be assured that the product they
are ordering will arrive on time and in the condition in which it is
expected to be in. If the E-business fails to do so, the customer
will not be back and they will tell their friends about their bad
experience. This negative response from customers is the kiss of
death to any E-business.
The last issue is security, 2/3 of internet users are concerned
about Cybercrime and worry about giving personal information,
like credit card information, online to a company they may not
know a lot about. In order to succeed, E-businesses must use the
latest in encryption technology and develop good will with their
customers in the area of personal information.

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Chapter-V
Conclusion
Concludingly, Following are the impact of ecommerce on
business society.
The impact of e-commerce on business activity
Selling through websites is the fastest growing method of trading
worldwide. There are two main forms of e-commerce:
 Business to business (B2B) trading where companies trade
and exchange information using the World Wide Web.
 Business to consumer (B2C) trading where companies deal
directly with customers through web pages, and ordering is
carried out online.
There are many different types of products and services that are
traded on line including books, CDs, cars, holidays, and
insurance.
In response to e-tailing and e-trading, most businesses have now
set up their own websites.

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Trading online
Trading online enables businesses to reach much wider
audiences while cutting the costs of traditional retailing methods.
For example, an e-tailor does not have to spend so much on an
expensive High Street presence.
Although the outlay on developing a good website is substantial
the potential benefits can be enormous. One group of businesses
that have been particularly successful as a result of the
development of the web are specialist suppliers of items such as
paintings, photographs, confectionery, and other items. An
individual working from home can now advertise and sell their
produce worldwide.
E-commerce has made a profound impact on society. People
can now shop online in the privacy of their own homes without
ever having to leave. This can force larger brick and mortar
retailers to open an online division. In some cases, it can also
force smaller businesses to shut their doors, or change to being
completely online. It also changes the way people look at making
purchases and spending money. E-commerce has changed the
face of retail, services, and other things that make our economy
work. Undoubtedly, it will continue to influence how companies
sell and market their products, as well as how people choose to
make purchases for many years to come. The following are the
impact of e-commerce on the global economy.

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Impacts on Direct Marketing
Product promotion E-commerce enhances promotion of
products and services through direct, information-rich, and
interactive contact with customers.
New sales channel E-commerce creates a new distribution
channel for existing products. It facilitates direct reach of
customers and the bi-directional nature of communication.
Direct savings The cost of delivering information to customers
over the Internet results in substantial savings to senders when
compared with non electronic delivery. Major savings are also
realized in delivering digitized products versus physical delivery.
Reduced cycle time The delivery of digitized products and
services can be reduced to seconds. Also, the administrative work
related to physical delivery, especially across international
borders, can be reduced significantly, cutting the cycle time by
more than 90 percent.
Customer service Customer service can be greatly enhanced by
enabling customers to find detailed information online. Also,
intelligent agents can answer standard e-mail questions in

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Seconds and human experts' services can be expedited using
help-desk software.
Corporate image On the Web, newcomers can establish
corporate images very quickly. Corporate image means trust,
which is necessary for direct sales. Traditional companies such as
Intel, Disney, Dell, and Cisco use their Web activities to affirm
their corporate identity and brand image.
Other marketing Impacts
Customization E-commerce provides for customization of
products and services, in contrast to buying in a store or ordering
from a television, which is usually limited to standard products.
Dell Computers Inc. is a success story of customization. Today,
we can configure not only computers but also cars, jewelry, gifts,
and hundreds of other products and services. If properly done,
one can achieve mass customization. It provides a competitive
advantage as well as increases the overall demand for certain
products and services.
Advertisement With direct marketing and customization comes
as one-to-one or direct advertisement, which is much more
effective than mass advertisement. This creates a fundamental
change in the manner in which advertisement is conducted not
only for online trades but also for products and services that are
ordered in traditional ways.

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Ordering System Taking orders from customers can drastically
be improved if it is done online. When taken electronically, orders
can be quickly routed to the appropriate order-processing site.
This saves time and reduces expenses. So sales -people have
more time to sell. Also, customers can compute the cost of their
orders, saving time for all parties involved.
Markets The physical market disappears as does the need to
deliver the goods to the marketplace. In a market space, which is
an electronic market, goods are delivered directly to buyers when
purchasing is completed making markets much more efficient. For
those products that are digitally based-software, music and
information-the changes will be dramatic. Already, small but
powerful software packages are delivered over the Internet. This
fundamentally affects packaging and greatly reduces the need for
historical distribution.
New selling models such as shareware, freeware are emerging to
maximize the potential of the Internet. New forms of marketing will
also emerge, such as Web-based advertising, linked advertising,
direct e-mail, and an increased emphasis on relationship
marketing. Customer’s convenience is greatly enhanced,
availability of products and services is much greater, and cheaper
products are offered. All these provide EC with a competitive
advantage over the traditional direct sales methods. Some people
predict the "fall of the shopping malls," and many retail stores and
brokers of services are labeled by some as "soon to be
endangered species."

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Impacts on organizations
Technology and Organizational Learning Rapid progress in E-
Commerce will force companies to adapt quickly to the new
technology and offer them an opportunity to experiment with new
products, services, and processes. New technologies require new
organizational approaches. For instance, the structure of the
organizational unit dealing with E-Commerce might have to be
different from the conventional sales and marketing departments.
To be more flexible and responsive to the market, new processes
must be put in place. This type of corporate change must be
planned and managed.
Changing Nature of Work The nature of work and employment
will be transformed in the Digital Age; it is already happening
before our eyes. Driven by increased competition in the global
marketplace, firms are reducing the number of employees down
to a core of essential staff and outsourcing whatever work they
can to countries where wages are significantly less expensive.
The upheaval brought on by these changes is creating new
opportunities and new risks and forcing us into new ways of
thinking about jobs, careers, and salaries.
The Digital Age workers will have to become very flexible. Few of
them will have truly secure jobs in the traditional sense, and all of
them will have to be willing and able to constantly learn, adapt,
make decisions, and stand by them.

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New product capabilities E-commerce allows for new products
to be created and existing products to be customized in innovative
ways. Such changes may redefine organizations' missions and
the manner in which they operate. E-Commerce also allows
suppliers to gather personalized data on customers. Building
customer profiles as well as collecting data on certain groups of
customers, can be used as a source of information for improving
products or designing new ones.
Mass customization, as described earlier, enables manufacturers
to create specific products for each customer, based on his or her
exact needs. For example, Motorola gathers customer needs for a
pager or a cellular phone, transmits them electronically to the
manufacturing plant where they are manufactured, along with the
customer's specifications and then sends the product to the
customer within a day.
Impacts on Manufacturing
E-Commerce is changing manufacturing systems from mass
production to demand-driven and possibly customized, just-in-
time manufacturing. Furthermore, the production systems are
integrated with finance, marketing, and other functional systems,
as well as with business partners and customers. Using Web-
based ERP systems, orders that are taken from customers can be
directed to designers and to the production floor, within seconds.
Production cycle time is cut by 50 percent or more in many cases,
especially when production is done in a different country from
where the designers and engineers are located.

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Companies like IBM, General Motors, are assembling products for
which the components are manufactured in many locations. Sub-
assemblers gather materials and parts from their vendors, and
they may use one or more tiers of manufacturers.
Communication, collaboration, and coordination become critical in
such multitier systems. Using electronic bidding, assemblers get
sub-assemblies 15 percent to 20 percent cheaper than before and
80 percent faster.
Impacts on Finance
E-commerce requires special finance and accounting systems.
Traditional payment systems are ineffective or inefficient for
electronic trade. The use of the new payment systems such as
electronic cash is complicated because it involves legal issues
and agreements on international standards. Nevertheless,
electronic cash is certain to come soon and it will change the
manner in which payments are being made. In many ways,
electronic cash, which can be backed by currency or other assets,
represents the biggest revolution in currency since gold replaced
cowry shells. Its diversity and pluralism is perfectly suited to the
Internet. It could change consumers' financial lives and shake the
foundations of financial systems and even governments.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ecommerce
 Business Studies
 DR.R.C.Singla
 Economic times
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ebusiness
 http://google.co.in business society
 HT Business Hindustan Times
 http://en.wikipedia.org/ecommerceindustry
 Wikipedia: Organisations in ecommerce industry
 Wikipedia: Business Models
 E Business: Applications and global acceptance
 Princely Ifinedo
 Electronic ans social impact of electronic
commerce
 Andrew Wyckoff, Alessandra
Colecchia