Chapter 1

Question 1

Why study e-commerce?

Answer 1

1. Understand opportunities and risks
2. Analyze e-commerce ideas, models, issues

Question 2

3 technology building blocks underlying e-commerce

Answer 2

Internet, World Wide Web (HTML/Deep-Surface web), Mobile platforms

Question 3

E-commerce=

Answer 3

Use of Internet to transact business
– Includes Web, mobile browsers & apps

More formally:
– Digitally enabled commercial transactions between
and among organizations and individuals
* Directly generating revenue

Question 4

E-business=

Answer 4

Digital enabling of transactions and processes within a
firm, involving information systems under firm’s control
- Does not include commercial transactions involving an
exchange of value across organizational boundaries

Question 5

Major trends in e-commerce (business, technology and societal)

Answer 5

Business: Covid-19 pandemic fuels surge in retail e-commerce,
m-commerce, and certain on-demand services
Technology trends include:
– Mobile platform and cloud computing
– Big data and Internet of Things
Societal trends include:
– Increased concern about impact of social networks
– Concerns about increasing market dominance of big
technology firms

Question 6

8 unique features of E-commerce technology

Answer 6

1. Ubiquity: e-commerce is available everywhere, always.
   a. Result: a marketspace: marketplace extended beyond traditional boundaries and removed from a temporal and geographic location.
2. Global reach: the total number of users of customers an e-commerce business can obtain.
   - The technology reaches across national boundaries.
3. Universal standards: standards that are shared by all nations around the world.
   - Lower market entry costs.
   - Network externalities: benefits that arise because everyone uses the same technology
4. Richness: the complexity and content of a message.
   - Video, audio and text messages are possible
5. Interactivity: e-commerce technology allows for interactivity. They enable 2-way communication between merchants and consumers.
6. Information density: the total amount and quality of information available to all market participants increases.
7. Personalization (of marketing messages) and customization (of products and services).
8. Social technology: Users generated content and social network.

Question 7

6 types of E-commerce:

Answer 7

1. Business-to-Consumer (B2C): online businesses selling to individual consumers. Amazon.
2. Business-to-Business (B2B): online businesses selling to other businesses.
3. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C): e-commerce consumers selling to other consumers. Uber
4. Mobile e-commerce (M-commerce): the use of mobile devices to enable an online transaction. Smartphone, tablet
5. Social e-commerce: e-commerce enabled by social networks and online social relationships. Facebook
6. Local e-commerce: e-commerce that is focused on engaging the consumer based on his/her current geographic location. Groupon

Question 8

History of E-commerce

Answer 8

1995–2000: Invention
* Sale of simple
retail goods
* Limited bandwidth
and media
* Euphoric visions of
Friction-free commerce &
First-mover advantages
* Dot-com crash
2001–2006: Consolidation
* Emphasis on business-driven approach
* Traditional large firms expand presence
* Start-up financing shrinks
* More complex products and services sold
* Growth of search engine advertising
* Business web presences expand
2007–Present: Reinvention
* Rapid growth of Web 2.0 (incl.
online social networks), Mobile
platform, Local commerce &
On-demand service economy
* Entertainment content
develops as source of
revenues
* Transformation of marketing

Question 9

3 organizing themes of e-commerce:

Answer 9

• Technology:
  – Development and mastery of digital computing and
  communications technology
• Business:
  – New technologies present businesses with new ways
  of organizing production and transacting business
• Society:
  – Intellectual property, individual privacy,
  public welfare policy