1. The Revolution is Just Beginning
Chapter 1

2. Learning Objectives
Define e-commerce and describe how it differs from e-business
Identify and describe the unique features of e-commerce technology and discuss their business significance
Describe the major types of e-commerce
Understand the evolution of e-commerce from its early years to today

3. Question
What is e-commerce?

4. Some Answers
The use of the Internet, the World Wide Web (Web), and mobile apps and browsers running on mobile devices to transact business
It can also be described as digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals
It is the convergence of:
digital information technology (e), with
exchange of value (commerce)

5. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E-Commerce AND E-Business
It is important to make a working distinction between e-commerce and e- business because they refer to different phenomena
E-business refers to the digital enabling of transactions and processes within a firm involving information systems under the control of the firm
E-business applications turn into e-commerce precisely when an exchange of value occurs

7. Eight Unique Features of E-Commerce Technology
Figure 1.2 and Table 1.2 describe eight unique features of e-commerce technology
These unique dimensions of e-commerce technologies suggest many new possibilities for marketing and selling
Each of these features potentially has positive and negative implications for organizations, individuals, and society

8. Business Significance of the Eight Unique Features of E-Commerce Technology (Table 1.2)
E-Commerce Technology Dimension
Business Significance
Ubiquity – E-commerce technology is available everywhere and anytime
The marketplace is extended beyond traditional boundaries and is removed from a temporal and geographic location. Shopping can take place anywhere, convenience is enhanced, and shopping costs are reduced.
Global reach – the technology reaches across national boundaries
Commerce is enabled across cultural and geographic boundaries seamlessly and without modification. “Marketspace” includes potentially billions of consumers and millions of businesses.
Universal standards – there is one set of Internet technology standards
There is a common, inexpensive, global technology foundation for businesses to use.
Richness – video, audio, text and other multimedia are possible
Video, audio, and text marketing messages are integrated into a single marketing message and consuming experience.

9. Business Significance of the Eight Unique Features of E-Commerce Technology (Table 1.2)
E-Commerce Technology Dimension
Business Significance
Interactivity – the technology works through interaction with the user
Consumers are engaged in a dialog that dynamically adjusts the experience to the individual and makes them a co-participant in the process of delivering goods to the market
Information density – the Internet provides access to vast amounts of information in one place which reduces information costs
Information processing, storage, and communication costs drop dramatically. Information becomes plentiful and cheap, but overall information quality may not improve.
Personalization and customization – the technology enables personalized messages to be delivered to individuals as well as groups
Personalization of marketing messages and customization of products and services are based on individual characteristics.
Social technology – user-generated content and social networks
New Internet social and business models enable user content creation and distribution, and support social networks.

10. Types of E-Commerce
There are several different types of e-commerce and many different ways to characterize them
The most common three examples, characterized by the nature of the market relationship, include:
Business-to-consumer (B2C)
Business-to-business (B2B)
Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)
Which of these three types of e-commerce generates the largest amount of revenue?
Growth in US B2C and B2B e-commerce revenue is shown in Figures 1.3 and 1.4

11. THE GROWTH OF B2C E-COMMERCE IN THE US

12. Other Types of E-Commerce
Mobile commerce (m-commerce)
Transactions are initiated through mobile devices
Social e-commerce
E-commerce that is enabled by social networks and online social relationships
Local e-commerce
E-commerce that is focused on engaging the consumer based on his or her geographic location (for example, Groupon)
Government-to-citizen (G2C)
For example, the US Internal Revenue Service
Business-to-employee (B2E)
For example, Drake’s Blueview system used by university employees for HR information, announcements, etc.

13. THE RELATIVE SIZE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF E-COMMERCE (FIGURE 1.5)
B2B $6.3 trillion
B2C $531 billion
Mobile $128 billion
C2C $100 billion
Local $25 billion
Social $3.3 billion

14. Growth of the Internet, Web, and Mobile Platform
The technology juggernauts behind e-commerce are the Internet, Web, and increasingly, the mobile platform
One way to measure the growth of the Internet is by looking at the number of Internet hosts with domain names
It is impossible to say exactly how many computers and other wireless devices are connected to the Internet at any one time, but the number is clearly more than one billion

15. Growth Patterns for Other Electronic Technologies
The Internet has shown extraordinary growth patterns when compared to other electronic technologies of the past
It took radio 38 years to achieve a 30% share of U.S. households
It took television 17 years to achieve a 30% share
It took only 10 years for the Internet/Web to achieve a 53% share of U.S. households once a graphical user interface (Mosaic browser) was invented for the Web in 1993

16. E-Commerce: A Brief History
Although e-commerce is not very old, it already has a tumultuous history
The history of e-commerce can be divided into three periods:
Invention (1995 – 2000)
Consolidation (2001 – 2006)
Re-Invention (2007 – present)

17. Invention (1995 – 2000) Technology driven Revenue growth emphasis
Venture capital financing
Ungoverned
Entrepreneurial
Disintermediation
Perfect markets
Pure online strategies
First-mover advantages
Low-complexity retail products

18. Consolidation (2001 – 2006) Business driven
Earnings and profits emphasis
Traditional financing
Stronger regulation and governance
Large traditional firms
Strengthening intermediaries
Imperfect markets, brands, and network effects
Mixed “bricks-and-clicks” strategies
Strategic-follower strength; complementary assets
High-complexity retail products and services

19. Re-Invention (2007 – present)
Mobile technology enables social, local, and mobile commerce
Audience and social network connections emphasis
Return of venture capital financing, buy-outs of start-ups by large firms
Extensive government surveillance
Entrepreneurial social, mobile and local firms
Proliferation of small online intermediaries renting business processes of larger firms
Continuation of online market imperfections; commodity competition in select markets
Return of pure online strategies in new markets; extension of bricks-and-clicks in traditional retail markets
First-mover advantages in new markets as traditional Web players catch up
Retail, services, and content

20. Web 2.0: Play My Version
Beginning in 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone, e-commerce has been transformed once again by the rapid growth of Web 2.0
The Internet started out as a simple network to support and file transfers among remote computers
The Web started out as a way to use the Internet to display simple pages and allow the user to navigate among the pages by linking them together electronically (Web 1.0)
By 2007 something else was happening, the Internet and Web had evolved to the point where users could create, edit, and distribute content to others (Web 2.0)
Example Web 2.0 sites include online social networks, blogs, video and photo sharing sites, and wikis)

21. What do these Web 2.0 applications and sites have in common?
Rely on user (regular people) and consumer-generated content
Easy search capability is a key to their success
Inherently highly interactive
Rely on broadband connectivity
Many of them are currently only marginally profitable and their business models are unproven
They attract large audiences compared to Web 1.0 applications (intensive, long lasting interactions)
The sites act as application development platforms where users can contribute and use software applications for free

22. Assessing E-Commerce: Successes, Surprises, and Failures
E-commerce has been a stunning technological success
Business results have been more mixed – only about 10% of dot-coms formed since 1995 have survived as independent companies in 2015
Interestingly, online sales are increasingly concentrated in the top ten retailers
Consumers have learned to use the Web as a powerful information source
Consumers like choice – they comparison shop online and may actually purchase through traditional bricks-and-mortar stores

23. Assessing Early E-Commerce Visions and Predictions
Prices are sometimes lower online, but it may be a function of entrepreneurs selling products below their costs
In some cases, online prices may be higher as consumers are willing to pay for convenience
Consumers are less price sensitive then expected
The concept of one world, one market, one price has not occurred in reality
Merchants use “hit-and-run” pricing
Brands remain very important in e-commerce
Intermediaries have not disappeared
Many people still like to shop in a physical store
E-commerce has not driven existing retail chains and catalog merchants out of business
First-mover advantage only succeeded for a very small group of sites
Customer acquisition and retention costs were higher than expected
Surprising successes include mobile platforms, social networks, and on-demand e-commerce (Uber)

24. MAJOR TRENDS IN E-COMMERCE
US e-commerce revenues are expected to grow about 14% per year with global growth rates even higher in Europe, China, India, and Brazil
Small businesses and entrepreneurs continue to flood into the e-commerce marketplace
A mobile computing and communications platform will rival the PC platform
Computing and networking component costs will continue to decline
Massive volumes of data will continue to be collected (Big Data) which will increase demand for sophisticated business analytics software and analytics experts
User-generated content will continue to grow and impact existing media/content industries
Americans consume more content online requiring higher bandwidth connections
Society and the marketplace will continue to deal with issues such as privacy concerns, copyright infringement, taxation of online sales, increasing online surveillance and regulation, and cybercrime
On-demand services produce a flood of temporary, poorly paid jobs without benefits