Saturday, June 14, 2008

history and evolution of e-commerce

Meaning of e-commerce
Ecommerce meant the process of execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of the leading technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) which gave an opportunity for users to exchange business information and do electronic transactions. However, in year 2000, People began to define the term ecommerce as the process of purchasing of available goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic payment services.

History of e-commerce
E-commerce came from the development of the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).What is EDI? EDI is a set of standards developed in the 1960’s to exchange business information and do electronic transactions. At first, companies might not be able to interact with each other due to several EDI formats that business can see.
In 1984, ASC X 12 standards became stable and reliable in transferring large amounts of transactions.
In 1991, e-commerce became possible when the Internet was opened to commercial use. There is thousand of companies have taken up residence at websites.
In 1992 the first ‘point and click’ browser was occurred when the Mosaic web-browser was made available.
In 1994, netscape arrived; it allowed easier access to electronic commerce. Internet began to advance in popularity among the general public.
In 1998, arrival of DSL or Digital Subscriber Line.DSL allowed quicker access and a persistent connection to the Internet. After the DSL is the arrival of Linux. Linux gave users another choice in a platform other then Windows that was reliable and open-source.
In early 2000, there is a merger between AOL and Time Warner.
In February 2000, because of the hackers attacked some of the major e-commerce, there is the improved security in the development of e-commerce.
By the end of 2001, the largest form of ecommerce, Business-to-Business (B2B) model, had around $700 billion in transactions
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Evolution of E-Commerce
E-Commerce was birth out of the World-Wide-Web (WWW). While the Internet was developed in the late 1960s, the WWW came into existence more than a decade ago - in the early 1990s. Since then, however, it has grown phenomenally to become the most widely used service on the Internet. Although the web has made online shopping for many business and individuals, e-commerce has existed for many year. For decades, banks have been using electronic funds transfer (EFT). Businesses also have been using EDI. In the 1960s, businesses realized that many of the documents they exchange related to the shipping of goods ,such as invoices, credit note and purchase order ,they also spending a good deal of time and money entering these data into their computers. By creating a set of standard formats for transmitting that information electronically, businesses were able to reduce errors, avoid printing and mailing costs, and eliminate the need to re-enter the data.

Example of the early-adopter of the e-commerce

http://www.dell.com.my/

an American company located in Texas
Launched in 1994 as a static page by the end of 1997 was the first company to record a million dollars in online sales
selling goods over the World Wide Web with no retail outlets and no middlemen

http://www.pizzahut.com.my

Pizza Hut, a division of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., is the world's largest pizza restaurant company with more than 8,000 units in the United States and nearly 4,000 units in 90 countries. The company is the recognized leader in the $25 billion pizza category.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

An example of an E-Commerce failure and its causes - PETS.COM


Pets.com was an online business that sold pet accessories and supplies direct to consumers in the world over the World Wide Web. The company rolled out a regional advertising campaign using a variety of media, such as TV, print, radio and eventually a Pets.com magazine. The company succeeded wildly in making its well known mascot, the Pets.com sock puppet. The Pets.com site design was extremely well received, garnering several advertising awards. The company went public in February 2000; the former Nasdaq stock symbol was IPET. It was the last dot-com to go public before the bubble burst.


Pets.com closed its business in the same year (2000) that it went public. The reason that causes the Pets.com became failure is that the management and board realized that they would not be able to raise any further capital. They aggressively take actions to sell the company to others. The PetSmart has offered less than the net cash value of the company, and the Pets.com's board of directors turned down that offer. Later, the company announced they were closing their doors on the afternoon of November 6, 2000. In the time, the Pets.com stock had fallen from over $11 per share in February 2000 to $0.19 the day of its liquidation announcement. The Pets.com management stayed on to provide an orderly wind down of operations and liquidation of assets.

An example of an e-commerce success & its causes

E-commerce means we can buy and sell products or services over electronic system such as the internet & other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily since the spread of the Internet. Thus, there are many success examples of e-commerce website that have been created such as www.amazon.com, www.ebay.com, www.florist.com, www.bestbuy.com, www.target.com, www.futureshop.com, etc.

One of the examples,Bestbuy.com that i chosen is an international retailer of consumer electronic & entertainment software such as televisions, DVD players, home audio, car audio, computers, cameras, music, movies, games & etc. The natigation of this website consists of deals, coupons, rebates, freebies, categories,...etc. Bestbuy.com coupons & deals are usually only valid for a short period of time, so that the older bestbuy.com coupons & deals may be expired.


Bestbuy.com successed due to it emphasizes customer services by placing toll-free numbers on each page along with a click-to-call option to request a call from an agent. It plays up friendly images & leaving no doubt that it's backed by the same service customers expect in stores.

Besides that, bestbuy.com emphasizes pricing deals but leaves much of its shopping assistance features on its internal pages. Thus, they hit shoppers on the home page with a message about how to choose a TV, for instance, making a balanced statement between ' we have good pricing' & ' we can help you choose good products'.


In addition, bestbuy.com let shoppers submit rebate forms online instead of through the mail, it's not only save customers time & postage but also give them another reason to visit bestbuy.com. Thus, bestbuy.com is able to success continuously.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Revenue model for Google,Amazon.com,and eBay.

An e-commerce model is the most well-known revenue stream where the website sells products and services online. However, there are billions of websites on the internet and about 30 million domain names are registered. Among these surviving players on the internet, how many of the websites do make real money and have real profits? Recent years, Google, Amazon.com, and eBay have been viewed as big e-commerce merchants and took over the lead of e-market. Then, another question may be aroused…How do people derived their revenue through these websites?


Now, let’s me explain the different revenue model that adopted by Google, Amazon.com, and eBay.



Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, web-based e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing as well as selling advertising-free versions of the same technologies. The principal services offered by Google include Google AdWords and Google AdSense.






AdWords is Google's flagship advertising product and main source of revenue.Google AdWords allows Web advertisers to display advertisements in Google's search results and the Google Content Network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. An advertiser has to pay every time his ad receives a click. The Advertisers decide the keywords relevant to their offer that should display their ad and the maximum amount they are willing to pay per click for that keyword.
  • Google AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the ads are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the ads is often relevant to the website. Google is currently testing a new advertising program which called Cost-Per-Action. This program pays site owners based on a Cost-Per-Click model.



Amazon was one of the first major companies to sell goods by Internet.Amazon.com started as an on-line bookstore, but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music CDs, MP3 format, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, etc. Amazon.com successfully earned distributed transaction fees which are fixed at price through creating virtual marketplace. However, Amazon is also a pioneer in affiliate partnership marketing. An Amazon partner website can display Amazon books directly on their website, and sends customers to the Amazon's website when the visitor is ready to buy it. So far, Amazon has been the crown prince of consumer E-commerce, favored to rule over an expanding E-empire.





eBay popularized the auction format listing. Like most auction companies, eBay does not actually sell goods that it owns itself. It merely facilitates the process of listing and displaying goods, bidding on items, and paying for them. It acts as a marketplace for individuals and businesses that use the site to auction off goods and services.



eBay offers several types of auctions such as below:



1.Auction-style listings allow the seller to offer one or more items for sale for a specified number of days. The seller can establish a reserve price. 2.Fixed Price format allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale at a Buy It Now price. Buyers who agree to pay that price win the auction immediately without submitting a bid.
3.Dutch Auctions allow the seller to offer two or more identical items in the same auction. Bidders can bid for any number from one item up to the total number offered.
In other words, eBay generated its revenue through transaction fees by using online auction business model.