Introduction to E-commerce and Internet Marketing

Introduction The internet is a worldwide collection of computer networks, cooperating with each other to exchange data using common software standards. Through telephone wires and satellite links, Internet users can share information in a variety of forms. It began in the late 1960’s as a project of US defense department.

Uses of Internet Resource sharing Communicating and transmitting files Requesting and providing assistance with problems and questions. Marketing, publicizing products and services, facilitating other business transactions. Gathering valuable information and suggestions from customers and business partners Training, education, evaluation and assessment Information dissemination

What is Internet Marketing? E-marketing- Online advertising, also called Internet advertising, uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. It includes email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. ...

What is E-business? E-business refers primarily to the digital enabling of transactions and processes within a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm. For the most part, e-business does not involve commercial transactions across organizational boundaries where value is exchanged.

What is E-commerce? E-commerce involves digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals. Digitally enabled transactions include all those mediated by digital technology meaning, for the most part, transactions that occur over the Internet and the Web. Commercial transactions involve the exchange of value (e.g., money) across organizational or individual boundaries in return of products or services,

E-Commerce is an industry where the buying, selling, transferring, or exchanging of products or services over such systems such as the Internet and intranets. The induction of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s created an important benchmark in the development of E-Commerce. When the Internet became commercialized and users began flocking to participate in the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, the term electronic commerce was coined (Turban et al 2011: 11).

The major types of E-commerce B2C involves businesses selling to consumers and is the type of e-commerce that most consumers are likely to encounter. In 2010, consumers will spend about $255 billion in B2C transactions. B2B e-commerce involves businesses selling to other businesses and is the largest form of e-commerce, with an estimated $3.6 trillion in transactions in 2010. C2C exchanges involves transactions between and among consumers. These exchanges can include third-party involvement, as in the case of the auction website eBay. Also referred to as peer-to-peer (P2P) C2B. Consumers can band together to present themselves as buyer group in a consumer-to-business (C2B) relationship. These groups may be economically motivated, as with demand aggregators, or socially oriented, as with cause-related advocacy groups at SpeakOut.com.

Unique features of E-commerce technology and their business significance Ubiquity – available just about everywhere, at all times, making it possible to shop from your desktop, at home, at work or even from your car. Global reach p permits commercial transactions to cross cultural and national boundaries far more conveniently and cost-effectively that is true in traditional commerce. Universal standards- shared by all nations around the world. In contrast, most traditional commerce technologies differ from one nation to the next.

Unique features of E-commerce technology and their business significance 4. Richness – refers to the complexity and content of a message. It enables an online merchant to deliver marketing messages with text, video, and audio to an audience of millions, in a way not possible with traditional commerce technologies such as radio, television, or magazines. 5. Interactivity- allows for two-way communication between merchant and consumer and enabling the merchant to engage a consumer in ways similar to a face to face experience, but on a much more massive, global scale. 6. Information density – is the total amount of quality information available to all market participants. The internet reduces information collection, storage, processing, and communication costs while increasing the currency, accuracy and timeliness of information.

Unique features of E-commerce technology and their business significance 7. Personalization and customization – merchants can target their marketing messages to specific individuals by adjusting the message to a person’s name, interests, and past purchases. Because of the increase in information about the consumer’s past purchases and behavior can be stored and used by online merchants. The result is a level of personalization and customization unthinkable with existing commerce technologies. 8. Social Technology – Provides a many-to-many model of mass communications. Millions of users are able to generate content consumed by millions of other users. The result is the formation of social networks on a wide scale and the aggregation of large audiences on social network platforms.

Benefits and Limitations of E-commerce What are the benefits of e-commerce? What are the limitations?