Business Applications & Need for E-Commerce

• Retail and Wholesale

E-commerce has a number of applications in retail and wholesale. E-retailing or on-line retailing is the selling of goods from Business-to-Consumer through electronic storesthat are designed using the electronic catalog and shopping cart model. Cybermall is a single Website that offers different products and services at one Internet location. It attracts the customer and the seller into one virtual space through a Web browser.

• Online marketing and purchasing

Data collection about customer behavior, preferences, needs and buying patterns is possible through Web and E-commerce. This helps marketing activities such as price fixation, negotiation, product feature enhancement and relationship with the customer.

• Manufacturing

E-commerce is also used in the supply chain operations of a company. Some companies form an electronic exchange by providing together buy and sell goods, trade market information and run back office information such as inventory control. This speeds up the flow of raw material and finished goods among the members of the business community. Various issues related to the strategic and competitive issues limit the implementation of the business models.

• Finance

Financial companies are using E-commerce to a large extent. Customers can check the balances of their savings and loan accounts, transfer money to their other account and pay their bill through on-line banking or E-banking. Another application of E-commerce is on-line stock trading. Many Websites provide access to news, charts, information about company profile and analyst rating on the stocks.

On-line banking; issues of transaction costs; Accounting and auditing implications where “intangible” assets and human capital must be tangibly valued in an increasingly knowledge based economy.

• E-Banking

Online banking or E- banking is an electronic payment system that enables customers of a financial institution to conduct financial transactions on a website operated by the institution, Online banking is also referred as internet banking, e-banking, virtual banking and by other terms.

• Production and Operations Management:

The impact of on-line processing has led to reduced cycle times. It takes seconds to deliver digitized products and services electronically; Similarly, the time for processing orders can be reduced by more than 90 per cent from days to

minutes

• Online Auction

Customer-to-Customer E-commerce is direct selling of goods and services among customers. It also includes electronic auctions that involve bidding. Bidding is a special type of auction that allows prospective buyers to bid for an item.

• Online publishing

Electronic publishing (also referred to as e-publishing or digital publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogs.

• Online booking (Ticket, Seat.etc)

An Internet booking engine (IBE) is an application which helps the travel and tourism industry support reservation through the Internet. It helps consumers to book flights, hotels, holiday packages, insurance and other services online. This is a much-needed application for the aviation industry as it has become one of the fastest growing sales channels.

• Human Resource Management:

Issues of on-line recruiting, home working and “intra-pruners” working on a project by project basis replacing permanent employees.

• Business Law and Ethics:

The different legal and ethical issues that have arisen as a result of a global “Virtual” market. Issues are copyright laws, privacy of customer information, and legality of electronic contracts.