Module 8: E-Business and E-Commerce

Question 1

What is E-commerce?

Answer 1

The process of buying, selling, and transferring or exchanging products, services or information via computer networks, including the internet

Question 2

What is E-business?

Answer 2

In addition to EC, e-business also refers to servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, and performing electronic transactions within an organization

Question 3

What is Business-to-Consumer?

Answer 3

Business sells to consumers

Question 4

What is Business-to-Business?

Answer 4

Business sells to business

Question 5

What is Consumer-to-consumer?

Answer 5

Consumers sell to consumers

Question 6

What is Business-to-employee?

Answer 6

Business interacts with employees

Question 7

What is Government-to-citizen or Government-to-Business?

Answer 7

Government interacts with consumers or business

Question 8

What is mobile commerce?

Answer 8

Any of the e-commerce types handled using mobile systems

Question 9

What are the ethical issues of E-business and E-commerce?

Answer 9

Privacy
Tracking
Use of the Internet for illegal or unethical purposes
Fraud
Cybersquatting: is the practice of registering or using domain names for the purpose of profiting from the goodwill or the trademark that belongs to someone else
Domain tasting: is the practice of registrants using the five-day “grace period” at the beginning of a domain registration to profit from pay-per-click advertising

Question 10

What are Brick-and-mortar organizations?

Answer 10

Purely physical

Question 11

What are Virtual Organizations?

Answer 11

Engaged only in ED

Question 12

What is Click-and-mortar?

Answer 12

Conduct some e-commerce activities, yet their business is primarily done in the physical world

Question 13

What are other combinations that include a mix of digital and physical dimensions?

Answer 13

They are considered partial EC

Question 14

What are some E-commerce business models?

Answer 14

Online direct marketing : selling online directly to customers
Electronic tendering system : B2B reverse auction that involves requesting quotes from suppliers
Name-your-own-price : using an intermediary customers decide how much they are willing to pay
Affiliate marketing : logos or banners are placed on partner sites; if purchases are made then the advertiser pays a commission to the affiliate
Viral Marketing : “friend marketing”: relying on people to tell their friends electronically about products
Group purchasing : groups of buyers negotiate volume discounts
Fine-the-best-price : intermediaries search for and provide the best price for what customers want
Online auctions : products are auctioned online
Product customization : online self-configuration of products that are individually produced
Electronic marketplaces and exchanges : online private (one seller) or public (many sellers) marketplaces attract many buyers
Bartering online : exchanges or sales of products without the exchange of cash using an intermediary
Deep discounters : online direct sales at low prices
Membership : only members can use the services, which could be products or services. Membership could be free or paid

Question 15

What are some major E-commerce mechanisms?

Answer 15

Electronic catalogues: display products or services available for sale at a fixed price
On-line auctions: both types can feature thousands of products or quotes
Forward auctions: try to obtain the highest amount for a product or service placed on sale by a buyer
Reverse auctions: the buyer tries to obtain the lowest price from a seller by requesting a quote

Question 16

What are some electronic payment mechanisms?

Answer 16

Electronic cheques
Electronic cards
Electronic credit cards
Purchasing cards
Stored-value money cards
Smart cards
Digital wallets

Question 17

What are the benefits to organizations from E-commerce?

Answer 17

Makes national and international markets more accessible
Lowering costs of processing, distributing, and retrieving information

Question 18

What are the benefits to customers from E-commerce?

Answer 18

Access vast number of products and services around the clock

Question 19

What are the benefits to society from E-commerce?

Answer 19

Ability to easily and conveniently deliver information, services, and products to people in cities, rural areas, and developing countries

Question 20

What are the technological limitations of E-commerce?

Answer 20

Lack of universally accepted security standards
Insufficient telecommunications bandwidth in some areas
Expensive accessibility to the web in some countries or regions

Question 21

What are the non-technological limitations of E-commerce?

Answer 21

E-commerce is insecure
There are unresolved legal issues
It lacks a critical mass of sellers and buyers

Question 22

What are electronic storefronts?

Answer 22

They have a unique URL for a single organization; they can be extensions of physical stores

Question 23

What are electronic malls?

Answer 23

They have many individual shops also grouped under a single URL

Question 24

What are the two types of electronic malls?

Answer 24

Referral malls, which transfer you to the web site of the shop that is part of the referral mall
Purchasing malls provide a common shopping cart for multiple vendors

Question 25

What does online service involve?

Answer 25

It involves customers accessing services via the Web
Intermediaries or middlemen provide information and/or provide value-added services
When the functions of these intermediaries is automated or eliminated, this process is called disintermediation

Question 26

What are some online service industries?

Answer 26

Cyberbanking
Online securities trading
Online job market
Travel services
Online advertising

Question 27

What are some online advertising methods?

Answer 27

Advertising is an attempt to disseminate information in order to influence a buyer-seller transaction
Internet advertising redefines the advertising process, making it media-rich, dynamic, and interactive
Banners are simply electronic billboards. When customers click on a banner ad, they are transferred to the vendor’s homepage
Pop-up ad appears in front of the current browser winder
Pop-under ad appears underneath the active window
Spamming is the indiscriminate distribution of electronic ads without the permission of the receiver
Permission marketing asks consumers to give their permission to voluntarily accept online advertising and e-mail
Viral marketing refers to online “word-of-mouth” marketing

Question 28

What is channel conflict?

Answer 28

Occurs when clicks-and-mortar companies may face a conflict with their regular distributors when they sell directly to customers on-line

Question 29

What is showrooming?

Answer 29

Shoppers visit a bricks-and-mortar store to look at products in person, then research the product online, often buying it elsewhere

Question 30

What is order fulfillment?

Answer 30

Involves finding the product to be shipped; packaging the product; arrange for speedy delivery to the customer; and handle the return of unwanted or defective products

Question 31

What is multi-channelling?

Answer 31

A process many companies use to integrate their on-line and off-line channels (or omni-channelling)

Question 32

What are the B2B organizations?

Answer 32

Sell-side marketplaces
Buy-side marketplaces
Electronic exchanges

Question 33

What is the buy-side marketplace>

Answer 33

Is a model in which organizations attempt to buy needed products or services from other organizations electronically

Question 34

What are the three basic types of public exchanges?

Answer 34

Vertical exchanges connect buyers and sellers in a given industry
Horizontal exchanges connect buyers and sellers across many industries
Functional Exchanges provide needed services such as temporary help or extra office space on an “as-needed” basis