2. Flow of presentation Objective Meaning of E-commerce Evolution and Growth Benefits E-commerce suitability for small enterprises Prospective areas Challenges Concluson
3. Objectives On completion of this chapter ,you should be able to Define e-commerce Trace out the evolution and growth of e-commerce Enumerate the benefits e-commerceoffers Explain how e-commerce is suitable for small business What are the challenges and areas of e-commerce.
4. Meaning of e-commerce “production , distribution , marketing, sale or Delivery of goods and services by electronic means . A commercial transaction can be divided into three main stage advertising and searching stage , delivery stage and ordering and payment stage any or all of these may be carried out electronically and may , there for , be covered ,by the concept of electronic commerce.”
5. “In other words, e-commerce encompasses the use of technologies, processes and management practices that enhance organizational competitiveness through strategic use of electronic information. E-commerce is, thus, a modern methodology that addresses the need of organizations merchants, and consumers. It cuts cots while improving the quality of good and increasing the speed of service delivery.”
6. Evolution and growth The evolution of e-commerce is traced back to 1970’s with the emergence of internet. E-commerce was developed for the business community in the early 1970’s to facilitate processing high volume and high value transactions electronically. Electronic Data interchange(EDI) was the first business-to-business (B2B) application. Subsequently, internet, as a global access , was realised with the arrival of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1994.
7. After its fast debut in US, e-commerce is rapidly spreading beyond US boundaries and is growing speedly global.
8. Till now , internet penetration in India is about 0.5 per cent of population against 50 per cent in Singapore. Nevertheless, India is fast emerging as the largest country for registering domain names in the entire Asia-pacific region. According to the latest dotcom index for the year upto February 2000, India occupies 11th place in it after US, UK, Korea, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, China, Spain and Italy. Presently, India has nearly 35 ISPs in various stages of operations. Added to these are 187 more IPSs granted licenses. The popular IPSs already providing access to internet in the country are the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Satyam Online, BT internet, Intel India, Max India, Quark, HCL Perot, Infosys, future Divices and Dishnet. Satyam Online, India’s largest IPS mega corporation has got over 1,15,000 subscribers across the country with 3.2 million internet users. According to Forrester Research, over 27 million households in India will access the internet by 2003.
9. Benefits E-commerce is a win-win situation for the consumer and the product/services provider . The distinct advantage e-commerce can offer to the consumer are.
10. Benefits Consumer have a much wider choice available on the cyber market. They can compare products , features , prices and even look up reviews before they select what they want . They also have the convenience of having their orders delivered right to the door step. Finally, consumer are driven to e-shopping in horder as even branded goods cost less on the net .
11. The major advantage that e-commerce can bring to the companies are It minimizes inventory cost It improve customer services It reduces distribution costs as well It helps business globalised It helps market products more quickly
12. The information revolution has opened up a great deal of potential for small enterprises in the marketing field. The excellent opportunities e-commerce offers to small enterprises are to; Access new market Improve customization Lower various kind of costs Reduce the size of enterprise Sell products/goods into global market
13. Prospective area E-commerce is ideally found suitable for certain types of products and services amenable to online transaction. Computer products Books Music Gift and flowers Clothing and food items
14. E-commerce provide services like Advertising and marketing Financial services Tourism Entertainment and informative Successful example; Amazon.com
15. In India , small sector is an all embracing term Small enterprises including Agriculture and agro based industries Transportation Handy crafts Ready med garment Foot ware Chemical and pharmaceutical Retail , bakery , health care In metropolitan cities itself
16. Challenges Infrastructural problem Absence of cyber laws Privacy and security concern Payment and tax related issues Digital illiteracy and consumer psyche Virus problem English specific
17. Conclusion In simple words, electronic commerce is the process of doing business electronically or over internet .