E-commerce provides several key benefits over traditional commerce including access to a global marketplace, 24/7 trading capabilities, and low startup and running costs. However, e-commerce also faces weaknesses such as lack of consumer trust, lack of human contact, difficulties accurately describing products, and security issues. Key technologies that enable e-commerce include browsers, web authoring software, databases, IP addresses, ports and protocols, and domain names. Security measures such as strong passwords, antivirus software, and encryption help prevent hacking, viruses, and identity theft.

1. Why E-commerce?
Unit 8 e-commerce
Adam Lawson

2. Benefits of E-commerce
Global Marketplace
When there is a global presence a business can attract a
global audience, compare to a local audience which is
attracted by a traditional business.
Advantages
•Not limited to who can buy items from a business.
•An example would be game because it can sell items
they have in store to other people and place around the
world.
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3. Benefits of E-commerce
24/7 Trading
there isn’t a store that needs to be staffed, Trading can be
carried out at any time during the day or even at night.
Trading can be done during any time zones around the world.
Advantages
•Store doesn’t have to close.
•Orders can be made at any point in the day/ night.
•24/7 trading has a big advantage over traditional trading
because a traditional store can only be opened during the
day, whereas 24/7 trading can be done anytime during the
day and during the night.
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4. Benefits of E-commerce
Low Start -up & Running Costs
With low start –up & running costs an E-commerce
business doesn’t need to spend lots of money to get up
and running, whereas a traditional shop has to pay for the
shop and all the shelves and counter to go in the shop.
Advantages
•Don’t have to spend lots of money on getting the business
up and running.
•Don’t need to employ lots of people to set the business up.
•Costs that need to be considered when starting up a
website would be
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5. Benefits of E-commerce
Search Facilities
most e-commerce sites now have a search
facility where it takes just seconds to find
the product you want. There are often
different criteria you can easily add to find
exact product you looking for.
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6. Benefits of E-commerce
Fluid Pricing- Is when the price of a product is
increased or decreased quickly depending on the
situation. An example of this could be when selling
airline tickets, when there are only a few tickets
left to be sold, the ticket could become more
expensive as the demands for the last few tickets
increase. But on the other hand when selling
holiday tickets the price could go down as the time
draws closer the value of the tickets could go up to
ensure as many of the places are filled.
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7. Weaknesses of E-commerce
Consumer Trust- consumers may worry about
many different things when using an
ecommerce site, some of these worries would
be whether the company is legit, also worries
about their personal information being leaked
and security worries.
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8. Weaknesses of E-commerce
Lack of Human Contact- many customers
are put off from purchasing products online
because they can not speak directly to a
member of staff from the company, many
people find this impersonal and tend to
prefer to talk face to face.
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9. Weaknesses of E-commerce
Product Description Problems- some
consumers can worry whether the
description on a ecommerce is actually
describing the product properly. This is more
of a worry with colour options as some
computer may display the image in a slightly
different colour. Also the quality of the image
could be another problem for the consumers.
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10. Weaknesses of E-commerce
Security issues- security is one of the main
issues for people using ecommerce
sites, this is because their financial details
may not be safe, that the business may use
them to do unauthorized things or the
security of their information may not be
sufficient enough.
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11. The Technology
A browser allows you to search through the internet. The user needs to
tell the browser which page to open. One way this is done is via the
browser’s address bar.
Features of browsers: title bar, address bar, scroll bar, status bar.
Examples of browsers: Firefox, safari, Google chrome, internet explorer.
Web Authoring Software allows people without the knowledge of web
coding. The software generates the required HTML coding for the layout
of the webpage. The user can change between the graphical design and
the HTML to make changes to the webpage.
Examples of the software: adobe Dreamweaver, FrontPage, online
software is also available on sites such as wix.com
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12. The Technology
Database systems – an E-commerce site usually has a database
attached, This holds a catalogue of products and customer records.
example of an e-commerce site is that it allows users to sign in, this
means it will have a database that holds all the customers details. The
database should link seamlessly so that the user is unaware of it.
IP addresses are used to make sure the data reaches the correct location
on a network, each computer is given a unique number, called an IP
address. It is a set if four numbers each from 0 to 255. For example
185.5.28.255 would address a specific computer on a network.
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13. The Technology
Ports & Protocols- a protocol is a set way of working, if
computers don’t use the same protocols then they wouldn’t
be able to understand the data being passed between them.
Ports are used to connect protocols and ip addresses together
every computer has several ports for data to pass
through, these ports are virtual so they cannot be seen.
Browser & Platform Compatibility- a browser
is a piece of software that allows you to go
through the internet and access different
websites.
Platform compatibility
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14. The Technology
Domain Names- a domain name is used with a web
address that allows you to identify a particular web
page. It is important to have a easy to remember
domain name so when someone accesses the internet
the name will come to mind.
Multiple Domain Registration- allows a web page to
have several domain names, so if a user type the
name incorrectly they will be directed to the correct
website.
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15. Security
Hacking- is finding a weakness in a system and
exploiting it, there are different reasons why someone
would hack a computer, such as profit, protest or a
challenge. When hacking into a computer you are
breaking the computer misuse act.
Hacking Prevention- a way to prevent
hacking would be to have a strong password
which is change every 90 days, also install
anti-virus software on the all computers.
Another way would be to ensure the
operating system that is installed is up to
date. P3, M2

16. Security
Viruses- there are different types of viruses, that can
spread throughout the computer system. Trojan horse
is one of the viruses that you can get on your
computer this is usually passed through a piece of
software but doesn’t copy itself. Worms is passed
through an email and copies itself
Virus Prevention- a way to prevent viruses
would be have an up to date anti-virus
software installed, also don’t open emails if
you don’t know where they are from and
don’t download anything that is not trusted.
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17. Security
ID Theft- is a form of fraud where someone uses
another persons identity, people do this to gain access
to resources or obtain credit or other benefits from
that person.
ID Theft Protection-a way to prevent id theft
when online would be to make sure you have a
secure webpage you can check this by looking at
the bottom of your web browser for a locked icon
or you could check your address bar to see if it says
http: at the beginning this means that the webpage
is secure and your information is encrypted
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18. Security
Strong Passwords- is a way of protecting your
personal information and preventing this information
is vital. Using a unique password that consists of
letters and number is more secure than just letters or
just numbers, changing your password every 90 days
is a way of limiting a hackers’ ability to gain access to
your details. When a employee leaves a company their
username and password is immediately deleted, also
the company policy should state the consequences
faced when someone is found to be tampering with
the network.
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