Ethical Issues of e-Commerce

In the Information Age, technology evolves fast and data travels even faster. It can be difficult for the law to keep up with new technologies and inventive ways to conduct e-business. Because of this, the law often lags behind, and lawmakers end up drafting laws to clean up Internet messes instead of preventing them. Take digital file sharing dubbed piracy for example, laws were not created to prevent digital piracy until millions of albums were stolen and the music industry was crippled. The lag in laws mean that e-business executives must rely on ethics as they move forward in e-commerce.

  1. Client Privacy

Internet businesses have a legal obligation to protect the private information of their customers. E-commerce activity often involves collecting secure data such as names and phone numbers associated with email addresses. Many e-business activities also involve transactions, so customer banking or credit card information also ends up stored online. Legally, it is up to the e-business to store and protect or dispose of this sensitive data. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, for example, protects the online privacy rights of children. Under this law, parents have control of what personal information their children can give to e-businesses.

  1. Advertising Online

Several online marketing issues spring from the inherent anonymity of the Internet. It is often difficult to know the real identity of an e-business owner. A few online businesses take advantage of this in unethical or illegal ways. Some e-businesses track the online activity of their customers so that they can show advertisements based on the customer’s behavior. Behavioral advertising is not illegal, and it is not illegal to refrain from disclosing that an e-businesses tracks activity, although many people consider this nondisclosure unethical.

  1. Copyright Infringements

Due to the Internet’s free flow of information, plagiarism and copyright infringement is a continual problem. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act addresses plagiarism and copyright infringement in the specific context of the Internet and e-business. Under this law, it is illegal to use online technology to copy and distribute legally copyrighted material, such as photography, articles or books, music or videos.

  1. Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is the hotly debated idea that Internet users should have equal access to all websites. Most computers retrieve websites at the same speed, depending on the user’s Internet account settings or service, no matter if the site is a multibillion-dollar company or a neighbor’s blog. But some Internet providers have the capability to deliver different websites at different speeds. This is an issue because some websites could pay providers to deliver their content at faster speeds, while smaller business with less capital might not be able to afford the faster processing, and the Internet would lose its free-access-for-all feel. The Federal Communications Commission currently supports net neutrality and bans providers from participating in any program that offers extra pay for higher speed access to any websites.

  1. Disintermediation and Reintermediation

 Intermediation is one of the most important and interesting e-commerce issue related to loss of jobs. The services provided by intermediaries are-

(i) Matching and providing information.

(ii) Value added services such as consulting.

The first type of service (matching and providing information) can be fully automated, and this service is likely to be in e-marketplaces and portals that provide free services. The value added service requires expertise and this can only be partially automated.  The phenomenon by which Intermediaries, who provide mainly matching and providing information services are eliminated is called Disintermediation.

The brokers who provide value added services or who manage electronic intermediation (also known as infomediation), are not only surviving but may actually prosper, this phenomenon is called Reintermediation.

The traditional sales channel will be negatively affected by disintermediation. The services required to support or complement e-commerce are provided by the web as new opportunities for reintermediation. The factors that should be considered here are the enormous number of participants, extensive information processing, delicate negotiations, etc. They need a computer mediator to be more predictable.

Legal Issues of E-Commerce

With the advanced and increased use of online media, online business is becoming a fast emerging trend. Every five in eight companies are operating online, conducting e-commerce business. But being functional online doesn’t mean you can escape legal matters.

There are various legal issues associated with eCommerce businesses as well. And if these issues are not taken care of in time, they can lead to serious problems for your business.

Described below are some of the common legal issues an e-commerce business faces.

  1. Incorporation Problem

If you are a company operated merely via a website, not being incorporated is a crucial problem. Any purchase and selling activity related to your products will be considered illegal and you can’t claim your right in case of any fraud and corruption. Without incorporation, your business has no shelter.

  1. Trademark Security Problem

Not getting your trademark protected is one of the main legal issues in the field of e-commerce. Since trademark is your company’s logo and symbol, the representation of your business all over the web, it must be protected. If you don’t secure it, it won’t take long before you’ll realize your trademark is being infringed upon. This is very common legal issue and can become a deadly threat to your e-business.

With the hackers on loose and cybercrime so common, trademark infringement of your business or by your business can be a serious legal matter and may hinder your business’s progress.

  1. Copyright Protection Issue

While publishing content for your e-commerce website, using content of any other company can be a severe legal problem. This might mark an end to your e-business. There are many sites online which are royalty free and allow you to access their content and images. You may use those sites for creating web content for your business site.

Even if you unintentionally used copyrighted content, the other party can easily sue your business.

  1. Transaction Issues

The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) governs all e-commerce transactions in Australia. Therefore, if you do not abide by the rules, you can get into serious law violation problems.

If your business fails to provide clear and complete description of the product, cost and purchase details, information about delivery i.e. when the customer will receive products and other information related to exchange and refunds, the ACL can impose penalties on your business.

  1. Privacy Issues

When it comes to online businesses, privacy is the major issue that can create problems both for the business and customers. Consumers share information with businesses online and they expect the sellers to keep their information confidential. By just one minor mistake and leakage of valuable information of a customer, you’ll not only lose your potential customer but your image and reputation will become a question mark. Moreover, you’ll be subjected to serious legal problems according to Australian privacy laws.

If e-commerce businesses lead to exposure and advantages for businesses online, then it certainly has given rise to some legal issues too that can be avoided by keeping in mind the rules and laws framed by Australian Government.

Social Issues of E-Commerce

Nowadays, the internet has created a fresh function called e-commerce. E-commerce is commonly known as electric commerce and today already turn into a virtual main road of the world. It really is essentially cover all the activities on internet and stimulate the customer to buy the product online. Thus, it is another way to jogging their own business over the internet and it used to selling and buying the product over the internet with other business man and customer on other condition. E-Commerce is an excellent way to do their business since it can enlarge their business to entire world so that they can do their business bigger and makes more money in future. Besides that, it can also let more folks know more about their product by discovering the picture of product that they upload and the details of the merchandise that they list out on internet. Apart from buying and selling product online on e-commerce, it likewise have another function on e-commerce called supply chain management, digital data interchange (EDI), electric funds copy, inventory management, online deal handling, and data collection systems to make it simpler for business man for reselling their product.

I choose this at the mercy of discuss their issues because e-commerce is typically the most popular on the internet and it has been become a digital main streets of the world. Besides that, it also offers many issues for all of us to discuss therefore i decide to choose this subject to discuss. First, I’ll discuss the problems for e-commerce is security & privacy. It is the most important issues for e-commerce because without security & privacy, the customer will frightened get cheated by the seller. For example, the customer will scared owner products whether is good or bad because they just saw the picture of the merchandise online so the customer have no idea whether the product are good or bad so they terrified the seller will post up an awful thing to sell at internet. Another example is frightened after the customer transfer the money to the seller then they won’t send the product to the customer. Other than this 2 example, there still have another example is the customer don’t know the real price at marketing and the seller just simply setup the price and did not follow the marketing price to gain their profit more than market price such as dual or triple from the marketplace price. These 3 samples will be the impacts of world because if owner fraud the customer then the contemporary society will become lower standard. Moreover, the impacts of IT industry is the buyer will not go to the web-sites again to buy their products such that it will influence IT division said that e-commerce is bad in use on internet to do business because the customer get cheat by the seller plus they won’t online to buy the products again plus they would rather choose the products on marketing by finding the products themselves.

Besides that, there still have other issues of e-commerce. The second issues that I’ll discuss are transport issues. Shipping issues means that when the buyer will buy a product from the seller and the seller is from other state then they should use transport to send the products to the customer such that it can arrive to the place of buyer stay. In shipment, there have to have a good data management means that owner need to manage the data firmly such as addresses of buyer, titles of buyer, visa or mastercard information of the buyer, and contact information of the buyer. They have to have a good management upon this because if owner never manage the info of the buyer securely and simply just write it down only then when they need to send the merchandise to buyer after confirm all the exchange then only believe that some information already lost because of the newspaper that list out the buyer details can’t think it is out then it’ll become a transport issues because without the info of the buyer then they cannot send the product to the customer so when the buyer did not obtain any products that they assure before with the particular date that the product will turn up to the customer then your buyer will feel that they get cheat by owner. It is rather important because if the buyer feels they get cheat by seller then they won’t go compared to that websites again to get the merchandise. Besides that, for transport price, it is calculate with the weight of the products so after determine the purchase price out for shipment charge then it still need to include up the price of the products so it will become an extremely high cost for the products compare with marketing price so it will definitely cost highly if want to acquire the product over the internet and the seller are not stay in your country. These issues will have an impact on the population become low standard if the buyer fell they get cheat by owner and the customer will think that mostly of owner that stay at that country also same with him/her so their country can be low standard. Besides that, these issues will have an effect on IT industry because the customer will fell that although using internet to get a product is more easy but need to pay dual or triple of the marketing price and they’ll they better buy themselves and not purchase though the internet so that it can saves additional money compare with purchase online then your buyer won’t use the internet again to purchase product so that it can be less people used for sale products.

Other than 2 issues above, there still have another issues called complexity of process. This means when the customer want to get that such products they need to check out their step to buy a products from them such as register as a member of this website, fill up the arrangement form, type in all your personal details, type in your credit greeting card number etc. There have many step to follow if want to acquire a products online. Although some step to do before choose the products is for the best security & privacy however the buyer will believe that the process of buying the products over the internet are complexity equate to buy a products outdoors. These issues also will be the same impacts to modern culture and IT industry like the society can be low standard and cannot improvement to be better, and IT industry also will become not many people to utilize it to purchase the products online.

Conclusion

After we discuss all of these the issues for e-commerce, we know that what’s the impact of this all issues to population and IT industry so we have to learn from the problems so that we can make it better and increase the efficiency for e-commerce. First, we have to increase the security & privacy such as build-up a good impression for your website which is do not fraudulence people and so forth so the buyer can trust your website when they want to purchase products. When the customer trust your website then our population will become more high standard because nowadays they are employing ecommerce to purchase products. Secondly, we need to decrease to transport issue such as have a good data management so that the data won’t get lost. Moreover, we also need to determine the cost-effective ways to ensure that your products will appear to the buyer with enough time that you guarantee before and the delivery fee won’t cost highly so that the buyer will continue to keep purchase products online. When the customer feel that shipment cost and product cost is a good cost and not cost highly then the buyer will keep purchase the products from your website so it can improve our world and and yes it industry. Lastly, we have to decrease the step before purchase products such as we just ask the customer to fill his/her details that can contact his/her then uses email to verify again their details and then only send out the products to the buyer so that the buyer won’t feel the process of buy a product complexity plus they also will always use internet to purchase the product so our population may become high standard and IT industry will have a good opinions from customer. After discuss how to reduce the issues of e-commerce, I believe e-commerce can be more users friendly and can become a virtual main road of the world to allow them to purchase any products that they want online.

Developing e-Business Framework

E-Business framework is related to software frameworks for e-commerce applications. They offer an environment for building e-commerce applications quickly.

E-Business frameworks are flexible enough to adapt them to your specific requirements. As result, they are suitable for building virtually all kinds of online shops and e-commerce related (web) applications.

Features of e-business

Configuration, Product management, Marketing & Design, Technology & Storefront, Internationalization, PayPal Extensibility, manufacturer support, extendable via plugins, product Streams.

They provide an overall structure for e-commerce related applications.

An e-business framework must

  • Allow replacing all parts of the framework code
  • Forbid changes in the framework code itself
  • Contain bootstrap code to start the application
  • Be extensible by user-written code

E-business frameworks should

  • Define the general program flow
  • Consist of reusable components
  • Be organized in functional domains

Examples of e-business frameworks are

  • Aimers (Laravel, Symphony, Typo3, Flow)
  • Spyker (Symfony only)
  • Sylius (Symfony only)

The key framework feature which are vital for e-businesses are:

  1. Quality Search Functionality

This is one of the functions which play a very big role in the market with search functions that helps in conversion rates. Basically this function is kind of filtering which processes keywords and helps you to get precise effect over search and into your sales too.

  1. Content Management System (CMS)

It is the system which makes your website unique in searches across the global markets. This is one of the features which highly impact over the website as speed key to efficiency.

  1. Multi-channel Functionality

In current retail market and environment, it is highly considered that your business is spread all across global and though it is possible to get done through managing products, listings and orders in a multi-channel environment.

  1. Mobile Supported E-commerce

The fact is that everyone is looking forward to have easy browsing on mobile than to go for getting an efficacious platform, which will surely help to grow user and customer’s attraction.

  1. Third Party Systems and Plug-ins

It must have ability to use the third party plug-ins which is meant to provide adaptability, customization and innovation. These features can be used while developing a website and though some may not be the part of the standard package.

  1. Business Intelligence

When it comes to managing the data, it is mandatory to get precise and accurate details over the data. The tempo should be maintained while managing the data, business intelligence helps to get that done on your website because only through the tempo and flow, which you will be able to analyze the depth of transaction and then take advantages of the opportunities that comes up.

Developing e-Business Models

Ecommerce business models of all types are thriving. Sales from online stores are expected to increase 78% by 2020.

It’s easy to get caught up and excited in the latest ecommerce trends, but unless you know the fundamentals, you’ll hit a profitability wall without knowing it.

A booming ecommerce business takes intuition, knowledge of your market, a solid business plan, and careful research into products and business models. But one of the biggest hurdles most newcomers to the space face is easy to solve. Many would-be ecommerce business owners just don’t know how ecommerce businesses are set up and what different types of e-commerce are available to them.

E-business models can generally be categorized into the following categories:

  1. Business – to – Business

A website following the B2B business model sells its products to an intermediate buyer who then sells the product to the final customer. As an example, a wholesaler places an order from a company’s website and after receiving the consignment, sells the endproduct to the final customer who comes to buy the product at one of its retail outlets.

  1. Business – to – Consumer

A website following the B2C business model sells its products directly to a customer. A customer can view the products shown on the website. The customer can choose a product and order the same. The website will then send a notification to the business organization via email and the organization will dispatch the product/goods to the customer.

  1. Consumer – to – Consumer

A website following the C2C business model helps consumers to sell their assets like residential property, cars, motorcycles, etc., or rent a room by publishing their information on the website. Website may or may not charge the consumer for its services. Another consumer may opt to buy the product of the first customer by viewing the post/advertisement on the website.

  1. Consumer – to – Business

In this model, a consumer approaches a website showing multiple business organizations for a particular service. The consumer places an estimate of amount he/she wants to spend for a particular service. For example, the comparison of interest rates of personal loan/car loan provided by various banks via websites. A business organization who fulfills the consumer’s requirement within the specified budget, approaches the customer and provides its services.

  1. Business – to – Government

B2G model is a variant of B2B model. Such websites are used by governments to trade and exchange information with various business organizations. Such websites are accredited by the government and provide a medium to businesses to submit application forms to the government.

  1. Government – to – Business

Governments use B2G model websites to approach business organizations. Such websites support auctions, tenders, and application submission functionalities.

  1. Government – to – Citizen

Governments use G2C model websites to approach citizen in general. Such websites support auctions of vehicles, machinery, or any other material. Such website also provides services like registration for birth, marriage or death certificates. The main objective of G2C websites is to reduce the average time for fulfilling citizen’s requests for various government services.

e-Commerce Websites

Recent years have seen an exceptional evolution in the way India trades and shops. E-commerce is one of the rapidly growing sectors, stimulating an entire generation of entrepreneurs, large scale manufacturing of small and medium-sized enterprises. E-commerce has enabled helped reduce barriers and bring the manufacturer closer to the customer. The presence of a virtual store on e-commerce websites has helped millions of business flourish in India and has led to more employment opportunities as well.

Today, technology has advanced at a rapid pace and with the use of smart phones, the online shopping experience has become seamless for customers. With easy to use mobile apps with elaborate store catalogs, e-commerce has ushered new opportunities for both traders and consumers.

India is one of the largest markets of e-commerce players. With giants like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Myntra, new entrants like PayTm Mall, Shopclues, etc are also establishing a strong hold in the Indian market.

Top 7 e-commerce websites in India

  1. Amazon

Amazon is one of the biggest online stores with a global presence. It not only provides a variety of product choices but also provides a great user experience and splendid customer service. Besides putting prominence to personalization, Amazon also monitors user’s browsing and purchase patterns in order to provide them recommended products for future purchases. It operates in India as a marketplace rather than a retailer.

Amazon has started two new initiatives for sellers in India: the ‘Self Service Registration (SSR)’ and ‘Amazon Easy Ship’.

Amazon SSR allows sellers to self register in Amazon marketplace, irrespective of location and size of the catalog. It enables sellers to start selling within a day without any third party intervention. With Amazon Easy Ship, the seller has to pack the shipment and confirm to Amazon that they are ready to ship. Amazon Logistics ensures that the pack is delivered to the customers within two to three working days. With new features such as Amazon Prime, customers can receive delivery of products within 24 hours. By reducing the shipping time, Amazon keeps both retailers and customers happy and increases customer stickiness on the website.

Right from mobile phones, to fashion products, electrical appliances, books, and grocery, Amazon has become a one-stop shop for all consumer needs.

  1. Flipkart

Flipkart is an Indian based e-commerce venture and over the years, it has garnered a lot of interest in the minds of Indian consumers. It has opened up the scope for Indian e-tail market in a tremendous way. It started out as an online bookstore and now it has a gamut of products ranging from: books, apparels, electronics, digital music, home care and beauty. Moreover, it has now become a mega marketplace.

Flipkart’s fundamental differentiator is its supply chain efficiency— definitive delivery of goods. It has been continuously developing and improving the customer experience. The website is easy to browse, hassle-free, and convenient.

Two of the most important reasons for Flipkart’s grand success are the discounts and the option of Cash- on- Delivery which makes consumers more confident in purchasing products. Flipkart has an amazing customer retention rate with 70% of repeat customers.

Apart from the shopping experience, Flipkart’s biggest online shopping festival – Big Billion Days is one of the most successful campaigns and it churns out millions of orders during that shopping season.

  1. Jabong

Jabong came into the e-commerce market with a bang and created a revolution within 6 to 7 months of launch. Besides selling products on their own through inventories, Jabong is also an online marketplace for third-party sellers. They predominantly cater to apparel, footwear, jewelry, and accessories and catalog more than 50,000 products across 700 brands.

Jabong is known for its own logistics network that ensures fast delivery. If you are in a city like Delhi, you are bound to receive the product within 24 hours of order placement. Jabong is also trying to expand its international presence through its site ‘JabongWorld.com’. It ships Indian products to international customers.

One of Jabong’s uniqueness lies in its new idea of a fashion magazine— “The Juice”an interesting blend of fashion, people, trends and pop culture. The magazine has everything in it that readers would love to read in a fashion magazine. Jabong has also collaborated with films such as “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”, “Main Tera Hero”, and “Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya” to offer exclusive products inspired by the movie.

The various payment gateways offered by Jabong have made it convenient for consumers to order products from the website. In 2016, Jabong was acquired by Myntra.

  1. Snapdeal

Snapdeal is a successful e-commerce portal catering to customer’s buying needs at a much wider aspect. It was established with a concept of making products available to the customers at a discounted rate through offers and Snapdeal coupons.

It gives you the best deals in a particular city in various service categories ranging from: restaurants, spas and salons, apparel, footwear, baby care, home and décor. It has adopted the marketplace business model. Snapdeal came up with a unique idea of permitting local vendors and manufacturers to publish their product catalog and sell it on the Snapdeal portal. This avoids expensive costs involved in building own inventory.

Snapdeal’s business model was awarded with mammoth funding to scale up their products, business and operations. It focuses on logistics and efficient delivery to customers.  It operates in such a fast pace that a new product is added in every 30 seconds.

  1. Myntra

Myntra is one of the largest shopping e-tailers in fashion and lifestyle merchandise. It supplies a wide range of products from clothing to footwear and accessories. It focuses on bringing the most fashionable brands for its customers. In 2014, Myntra was acquired by Flipkart.

Myntra has created a niche in the territory of e-commerce and subtle trust from people. Additionally, from discounts to Cash-on-Delivery benefits, the Myntra success mantra belongs to its hybrid logistics model. It takes uttermost care of its supply chain management and employs delivery agents with high experience.

Myntra has also come up with a complete guide to your everyday fashion and latest style trends. The “MyntraLookGood” is a daily fix of style tips, beauty tricks, celeb fashion, and non-stop entertainment. The tie-ups with celebrities and events are an outstanding strategy by Myntra to represent that fashion is in its DNA. Myntra has many celebrity brands— Hrithik Roshan’s HRX, Salman Khan’s Being Human, Deepika Padukone’s All About You, and Farhan Akhtar’s MARD. They believe that Bollywood influences fashion and frequent tie-up with celebrities helps to bring customers closer to Myntra.

  1. Shopclues

Shopclues is the latest addition to the top e-commerce websites in India. Unlike Amazon and Flipkart, Shopclues is a market place that focuses on unstructured categories of home, electrical, fashion, and daily utility items.  The mass market of shopclues comes from tier 2 and tier 3 cities and most of its business comes from smaller cities. Shopclues helps give brands from unstructured markets a voice of its own.

Shopclues has a comparatively larger merchant base. It focuses on small and medium sized traders located in smaller cities and helps them take their business online. With over 50 million visitors on its website, one of the major revenue generating categories has been the home and kitchen appliances category.

  1. PayTm

PayTm is the second largest e-commerce platform in India and has also made its way to the list of unicorn startups. Primarily started as a mobile wallet, in 2016, PayTm entered the e-commerce industry with PayTm Mall. As the name suggests, it is an online market place for products ranging from electronics to daily consumer needs.

One of the attractive features of PayTm has been its cashback feature. Consumers are given a variety of discount coupons to choose from and also provide good savings on the purchase of goods. With close to 120 million buyers on the platform, PayTm Mall is finding new ways to enhance the buying experience. It is also collaborating with retail brick-and-motor stores and with use of its mobile app and QR codes, it takes the customer through an online shopping experience with attractive discounts.

Thus, India is a growing marketplace and e-commerce industries are bound to flourish. But with the right technology and design strategy, new entrants can have a competitive edge.

Be it a website, a mobile app, or even building a market place software from scratch, GoodWorkLabs has helped clients in the retail, real estate, and fashion industry build powerful e-commerce applications for their business.

Software Hardware and Tools

Hardware Tools

The following are the tangible, hands-on tools you should have available for your use when managing and maintaining your network. While virtually monitoring your system is made easier with the right software, the network itself still lives and breathes through the technological foundation you’ve built here in the real world.

  1. Butt Set

Used in telephony, a butt set allows you to test your network’s phone lines using alligator clips and a handheld set.

  1. Cable Certifier

Want to verify your cable’s bandwidth and frequency? A cable certifier can help you confirm that your CAT 5e cable meets proper specifications, supporting speeds of 1000 Mbps.

  1. Cable Tester

A cable tester can help you verify that your cable is wired correctly or to troubleshoot suspected faulty cables, allowing you to identify short or open cables. Fluke Networks is a great resource for high quality cable testing and diagnostic hardware.

  1. Crimper

You’ll need a crimper to attach cables and connectors.

  1. Toner Probe

Need to find the other end of a cable? Then a toner probe’s your new best friend, allowing you to place a tone on one end of the wire to find the corresponding tone on the other end with a speaker and contact probe. This excellent troubleshooting tool can also be used to identify cable continuity because a short or open cable will not complete the circuit and produce the tone.

  1. Environmental monitor

Your environmental monitor will log the conditions (temp and humidity) of the room in which your sensitive network equipment resides. An excellent tool for monitoring the conditions in your data center(s) and/or server rooms, an environmental monitor can help you identify those issues that could potentially cause problems for your equipment helping you to sidestep a down. Tracking these logs can also assist you in ferreting out potential environmental causes of problems like random reboots or overheated systems. AVTECH makes a wide range of tools to monitor your environmental and power status in server rooms.

  1. Loop back plug

Want to test your data ports and NIC jacks? A loop back plug can help you verify that data is flowing properly on that port, both sending and receiving.

  1. Multimeter

Your multimeter can help you with continuity checks, measuring voltages, amperage, and resistance. Touch the probes to two ends of a wire and listen for the multimeter’s characteristic beep. No beep? Your cable has a break in continuity it’s that simple.

  1. OTDR & TDR

The optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) and time domain reflectometer (TDR) work similarly, allowing you to isolate the locations of breaks, measuring the distance between cable ends by sending a signal down the cable and measuring how long it takes to return or reflect the signal back from a break. Both are invaluable in troubleshooting breaks and even more minor disruptions in the electrical flow of your cables. OTDR works on fiber optic cables.

  1. Punch Down Tool

Allowing you to “punch down” connecting cables to wiring blocks or terminate cables to jacks with a small amount of pressure, the punch down tool is spring loaded and a must have for all those maintaining a network.

Hardware or Software Tools

Some tools offer an opportunity for choice between hardware or software to do the same job, which you choose will depend on your network’s needs, budget, and priorities.

Protocol Analyzer aka “Packet Sniffer”

Want to hunt down an unauthorized application or suspected attack on your network? Send in the sniffer. Protect your network by analyzing traffic, troubleshooting problems or suspicious activity using a protocol analyzer. While many folks view a hardware-based protocol analyzer solution as superior to software solutions, the cost difference and network priorities of your organization may make a software solution a better choice for you.

Regardless of which you choose, this hardware device or software program is used to sniff out issues and allows you to see a snapshot of wireless traffic on your network, capturing packets traveling over the network for analysis. Packets are then saved in a capture file and can be inspected for information like the source and destination IP addresses, service set identifier (SSID), source and destination media access control (MAC) addresses, source and destination ports, and payload data, allowing admins to verify they’ve been compromised and to identify the location of the computer involved. Wireshark provides both free and commercial resources for deep inspection of network activity.

Software Tools

While there are many all-in-one solutions available to help you monitor, analyze, and maintain your network – we’ll leave the choice of which to use up to you. Here is a list of the most common tools your network management software should contain and how they can assist you in doing what you do.

  1. Bandwidth Monitor

Monitor the average BPS and utilization percentage of interfaces, identifying traffic bottlenecks in a switch or router in real-time with this vital bandwidth tool. Presented in an easy-to-understand graphical format.

  1. Network Monitor

Continuously monitoring device response time, your network monitor alerts you via email, reporting node status and prioritizing severity. Ipswitch creates industry leading tools to visualize and monitor your network.

  1. Port Scanner

Track down unknown or unwanted services running on your system using a port scanner to scan for port status, associating ports with known services.

  1. Switch Port Mapper

Manual cable tracing is both time consuming and a total drag, save yourself from tedium and identify each switch port a device is connected to within a switch using a switch port mapper. Useful in helping you quickly assess port availability and gain real-time operational status and speeds of each port.

  1. System Details Update

Streamline your system details update process using this handy tool that lets you to view, scan, modify, and update the details on a range of devices all at once.

  1. TCP Reset

Providing a list of all established TCP connections in a device, the TCP reset lets you verify legitimate connections and reset those that are unwanted or unauthorized.

  1. Wake-On-LAN

Wake it up when you’re on the go-go. Wake-on LAN allows you to remotely “wake” or boot up a machine in low power mode on the network with the use of a remote command. Solarwinds provides free tools to manage your network power consumption and use wake-on-lan technology to save energy and remotely control system power.

Planning, Implementing and Controlling of E-Business

E-Business plan for an E-Commerce company typically involves creating a document to use to obtain financing and start the business. Using the resources and tools provided from mentoring organizations such as SCORE.org, small E-Business owners can develop a comprehensive E-Business plan to get an online business up and running efficiently.

These are the way that planning E-Business

  1. Executive Summary

Writing a business plan typically starts with downloading a template or developing a simple format. Alternatively, the Small Business Administration provides an online wizard to generate a plan for you. This tool guides a potential E-Business owner in describing his E-Business’ objectives and goals. Effective small business owners create an executive summary that clearly states how they intend to overcome problems commonly associated with online businesses, such as difficult-to-use websites and inefficient distribution systems. An executive summary usually includes a mission statement that explains the company’s primary purpose. It lists the names of company founders and their roles as well as office locations. It also provides graphs and charts to show projected growth plans.

  1. Market Analysis

To conduct a market analysis for your E-Business, research online companies serving the industry in your area of expertise. For example, a budding E-Business owner might search the Internet to find out how many other companies supply the same type of products and services. This will give him an idea of how much competition is out there, and whether there is enough demand to support another company. After learning about other businesses, write a description of how you plan to differentiate your E-Business from others. This will help you build a compelling story that investors find attractive.

  1. Company Description

The company description section of an E-Business plan describes how the business owner plans to organize and manage his company. It articulates the vision for marketing, selling and distributing the website’s products and services, and lists the features and benefits to customers. The plan should also describe research and development activities the founders have conducted so far, as well as activities planned for the future.

  1. Financial

The financial section of an E-Business plan states the budget. If the business owner seeks funding, it lists the amount required and the projected return on investment for the online business. This section also identifies the costs associated with building the e-Business website, including desktops, laptops and mobile devices. It can list free or low-cost tools as well. For example, websites such as Homestead, Openxcell and Free Webstore provide functions to set up an online shop and accept payments for it, using applications like Google Checkout and PayPal.

  1. Regulations

Writing an E-Business plan also involves researching the rules and regulations associated with conducting business online. The Small Business Administration Online Business Law website provides details on these laws. You should learn how to avoid legal and financial liabilities, how to conduct business securely, how to protect your privacy, and how to adhere to copyright and tax laws. Conducting business online usually means working in the global marketplace. An effective E-Business plan proposes a strategy for shipping products overseas and handling taxes, duties and international laws. It also describes a plan to collect sales taxes when necessary.

Framework for Successful Ecommerce Implementation and Controlling

  1. Strategic business planning and roadmaps

Strategy is about making the right choices that will help reach the stated business objectives.

There should to be a clear cut vision, mission and objective about what will be achieved, in how much time, within what budget, identification of the right resources for and constraints in the face of execution of the strategy mentioned in the business plan, and what elements will be considered for roadmap.

Knowledge and deep understanding of the digital marketing tools and techniques that will help in reaching and acquiring customers is required. Your business must reach out to customers who are online across multiple dimensions and devices.

So, the assumptions considered in preparing the strategic business plan should be in alignment with the ecommerce industry’s norms and trends.

  1. Technology selection/ website audit and analysis

In order to provide the maximum benefit to the end customer, your chosen ecommerce technology should be fully capable of being customizable, and be able to complement the business model, and adhere to the existing best practices in offline retail.

If you’re a retailer taking the first-time plunge into ecommerce, various functionalities on the e-commerce website should be carefully thought over based on the industry, audience being targeted, various customer segments who may be buying the offered products and services.

With respect to retailers who have implemented an ecommerce strategy and have not yet received the rewards of the complete capability of the ecommerce technologies, there needs be a complete assessment of how the website can perform better by examining the store front and customer flow, analysis of competing websites, identification and implementation of solutions based on the gap analysis carried out (‘as-is’ and ‘to-be’). It is equally important to measure and monitor the process that was made because of the implementation of the suggested changes.

  1. Customer acquisition

Online or popular digital marketing encompasses multiple tools for reaching out to the new generation of customers, who are actively engaged in using multiple devices, through search engine optimization, search engine marketing (paid advertisement that includes both cost per click and cost per thousand impressions), social media marketing (that includes both cost per click and cost per thousand impressions), email campaigns, display advertisements using various ad networks, referral programs and re-targeting campaigns.

Going by the sales principles of AIDA (awareness, interest, desire and action), it’s important to note that the cost of customer acquisition will be very high for brands and retailers that are newly establishing their product offerings exclusively online.

However, for brands that are well established offline and are pursuing ecommerce strategy, the cost of customer acquisition is lesser compared to the new entrants.

  1. Customer engagement

Customers these days are actively seeking to engage with brands to understand the core benefits and unique value proposition that the brand offers, discount and offers during special seasons, a robust support mechanism for queries/clarifications regarding the products displayed and interaction with customer support executives to know more about policies on returns and exchange, etc.

Engaging customers through various social media channels also instills superior trust in the minds of customers.

  1. Customer retention

With the advent of sophisticated e-commerce technologies, new age retailers will be able to leverage an almost one-to-one customer experience and that’s the best a customer can really expect.

However, it should be noted that to fully leverage best-in-class technology, there needs to be a constant effort to look out for features and functionalities that will enhance the customer experience.

  1. Optimization based on key metrics

Some of the key metrics to measure the health of an ecommerce venture are the total revenue generated, cost of customer acquisition, % of customers converted, and % of customers entering the website through various channels.

However, these metrics may vary significantly based on the business objectives and so every business needs a fully customized approach for defining the key metrics and further analysis.

Once these are defined and there are a substantial number of customers visiting the website, a deeper level of optimization is needed at 2 levels on the technology and the business front.

  • Technology: This generally includes optimizing the page load speed, shopping cart, check-out and other web pages, a/b and multivariate testing, etc.
  • Business: Optimization here includes analysis of the total revenues generated, total spends for running the e-commerce operations, optimizing the gross net margins, conversion rates from each of the various channels, customer loyalty and retention rates, rate of repeat purchase, frequency of repeat customers (across multiple dimensions), % of carts abandoned, etc.
  • There are a lot of features and functionalities to helping online retailers improve these numbers. There is a lot of research evidence supporting the incorporation of features like reviews and ratings, and display of the right products either through up-selling or cross-selling.
  • Based on the statistics, 47% of shoppers read product reviews prior to their online purchases and 63% are more likely to buy from websites with online reviews or ratings. Similarly, online companies that leverage a recommendation system can increase sales by 8-10%.
  1. Business analysis and customer insights

The final step in the entire process is about fine-tuning and understanding the product categories that have performed well compared to other products displayed in the webstore. Assessing this is crucial since each of these categories and products within those categories occupy the prime real estate in the online world – the web store.

  • It also should consist of understanding the customer segments, demographics, profitable customers, source of channels through which the profitable customers came to the web store, % of revenue each profitable customer contributes to and the marketing spends that has gone into acquiring these customers.
  • These metrics are only a small representation of a larger list that can be optimized further. These metrics vary based on the business needs and require a customized approach for defining, monitoring and optimization.

Creating the Marketing Mix of e-Business

Getting buyers to visit, buy and keep buying is the essence of marketing for websites selling things online. When people share your content with their friends, your campaigns gain far more reach at no additional cost.

Selling online requires a specialized marketing mix but the same principles can be applied to almost any website.

  1. User experience

First thing’s first. If customers can’t figure out where to go and what to do on your website then they won’t stay or come back. By definition that means they won’t buy anything, and they definitely won’t be referring their friends to your store.

When it comes to selling things online, you don’t have the luxury of in person conversations or salespeople, so you need to fill those gaps in the customer experience with a great user experience. Remember that a great user experience doesn’t mean fancy or expensive design. It just means having a logical and intuitive workflow.

With a little bit of thought and planning you can even replicate in a reasonable way some of the elements of an in-person shopping experience on your site.

  1. Design

Your store design and user experience go hand in hand. Not only should the layout and navigation of your site be easy to follow, but the first aesthetic impression you leave on your customer counts too. Product photos should be clean and professional, your font and color selections should all work together, and everything on your site should look like some design thought was put into it.

If you’re not a designer yourself, this is an area where it pays off to bring in some professional help.

  1. Content

Good content is one of the most strategic things you can add to your online store. Content helps users find your store and also helps users make the decision to buy from your store.

Content helps sell your business, your expertise and your products. This includes everything from the copy, to the images and video you use on your site.

Another great place to contribute content is through a store blog. If you’re looking for a hand in crafting super shareable content here is a technique we’ve come to know and love called the skyscraper technique.

  1. Search

If your business is online, there is one marketing tactic that you absolutely cannot afford to ignore. Search. Search engine marketing and search engine optimization are critical to the discoverability of your business.

Consumers are now trained to ask Google all of the questions they have in life. This is especially true when it comes to shopping and product questions. Knowing how to make your site easily searchable by Google and other search engines (like Bing and DuckDuckGo) should be top of mind when it comes to any online marketing strategy.

  1. Email

With the breadth of choice out there for marketers, some of the older, proven, tactics fall to the wayside. Email is an example of one of those. I‘m amazed by how often people I advise are surprised by the effectiveness and the engagement levels that can be generated by email marketing.

I think the world of business has had the fear of being called a spammer drilled into them, to the point where many businesses actually overlook their most valuable marketing asset their opt-in subscriber list. Remember customers who have opted-in to communications from you expect just that. Communication from you.

More than ever consumers are reading and catching up on email through a mobile device. Here’s some advice on making sure your messages are coming in clearly.

  1. Social Media

The last thing the world needs is another blog post with advice on social media. So I’ll just leave it at that. Social media is no longer a fad, it’s a must when it comes to your marketing mix and marketing channels. Here are some thoughts on how to make the most of it.

  1. PR and Publicity

Now we’re getting a bit more old school. Public relations (mentions on news outlets, blogs and other news outlets) can be a huge help for businesses starting out. They help to get you more search juice when it comes to Google and SEO and also more importantly help to establish credibility for your brand in the eyes of consumers.

Here’s some advice on creating a simple (but effective) PR strategy.

Organizational and Managerial issues in E-Business

According to recent data, E-Commerce spending has risen to $2.1 trillion in the past few years and will reach $5 trillion by 2020.

Such rapid growth promises a great future for the Indian e-commerce industry signifying a strong market and increased customer demand. Despite these growth trends, many e-commerce businesses fail to take off within their first year. It is worth exploring the various challenges which the ecommerce.

Over the past 10-15 years, electronic trading platforms have emerged in the depths of large enterprises as a system of resource allocation between departments. Shoes, furniture, consumer electronics – there is almost nothing that cannot be ordered on the Internet. But the consumption in the net has also dark sides. Bogus orders, fake websites, illegal purchases, etc. are also more frequent. In such a case, the protection of user data has also become a major challenge in the online world. With the growing financial services, the type of payment your business accepts also effects the e-commerce today. Payment solution like My Payment Savvy provides a custom payment solution for your business which can maximize your conversion. We have listed some of the major challenges facing e-commerce today, and their solutions.

  1. Dependence on Google for traffic

Google is the world leader in search engines, and by extension, responsible for the visibility of websites. More than 50% of online shops are dependent on Google for traffic. Despite plans for new search engines that are competing with Google, the supremacy of Google seems destined to last a few more years. And this can impact e-merchants when Google changes the rules of the game. Recently, there was the requirement to switch to HTTPS to make Google Shopping campaigns, in addition to displaying the non-security of data in the Chrome and Firefox browsers. Unencrypted web pages that query passwords, bank details or credit card information was marked as “unsafe” by major browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and others. Therefore, it is recommended changing the traffic acquisition channels of websites, so as not to depend solely on Google for visibility and transactions.

  1. Absence of online verification of customers

The genuineness of the new customers is questionable in an online portal. When a visitor signs up, e-websites have nothing but the address and phone number entered by them. If those visitors are a scam, and if they order cash on delivery purchases to a fake address, it can be a huge loss for the company. It becomes impossible to contact them if the number is also fake. Therefore, to be at the safe side, e-websites or online portals should take all necessary steps required to decline these risks. It is necessary to recognize bogus orders, fake phone numbers, invalid zip code, etc. Alternatively, they can install services or software that automates a call on placing an order. These services also send some verification code through SMS to validate the customers’ identity. It can help in reducing the number of cancellation and bogus orders which may otherwise be expensive for the business.

  1. Maintain Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is an important indicator of firm performance. The modern consumer is so sophisticated and busy that showing content or sending offers that are not relevant to him at all is a real failure. If the online store does not understand what the potential consumer wants or does not consider it necessary to understand, then it may cost the store a customer. Unlike normal street shopping, the buyer and seller do not see each other in online shopping. Therefore, it is difficult to build trust between them. Building trust, therefore, can take some time and transactions in online shops. You can also earn customers loyalty through excellent customer service. By displaying your address, answering calls, adding a live chat option on your website, etc. can also help you in building trust among customers.

  1. Customer Service

In a general store, the customer leaves the store with his product. However, this situation is not the same as e-commerce. In e-shopping, the user sends you money for a product he does not have yet. He waits impatiently for the arrival of his order. Problems can still arise if the delivery service provider has lost a package, or the product has been damaged during transport, or you have simply fallen behind before shipping. This can cause customer dissatisfaction, which will then need to be managed. The idea is to be transparent and responsive and to keep customers abreast of the situation as soon as possible. If you are in a discussion with the delivery provider to find a lost package, keep the user informed of your steps, do not wait for him to come to the news. Similarly, if you are late in your parcel preparations, inform him of the expected date of shipment. If the product has been damaged during transport, quickly propose a solution according to your legal notice, whether a total or partial refund or a replacement. Internet users who have received good communication in the case of litigation generally keep good relations with the e-commerce site, 95% of the negative opinions turn into loyal customers if a solution has been made. The responsiveness of the after-sales service greatly affects the image of a company.

  1. Plan your digital strategy

In the continuity of the multidisciplinary profession, the e-merchant forgets to promote and animate his merchant site. E-merchants should determine the communication channels to be used (social networks, newsletters, partnerships, online advertising) and define the messages to be transmitted, set up editorial planning, create the visuals, etc. Getting help from an outside provider for some of these tasks can help to free up time for managing your e-commerce site.

The everyday life of the e-shopkeeper is filled with things to manage, to plan, and lots of small tasks to do. As such, it requires outstanding strategies to survive in the e-commerce competition.

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