Chapter 1: Class Notes

Intro to E-Commerce
- Revenue model: focuses on sales; how do i bring money into the company (create one channel to bring in revenue); indentify customers, market to them
- Business model: focuses on strategic elements of you busines and what it does; bottom-line driven

Sounds Bites:
- fortunes have been made and lost
- still riding the learning curve on what works and what doesn't
- being first to market isn't that important anymore
- EDI and EFT have been around since the 60's
- 60% of internet content is in English: >50% users do not read English; >75% users live outside of the US (still have to be aware of global size of the market, and English is not everything)

E-Commerce Defined
- is the exchange of info across electronic networks at any stage in the supply chain whether within an org, between businesses, between business & consumers, or between public and private sectors whether paid or unpaid
- is commerce, but enhanced and accelerated by IT (internet)
- most important thing in supply chain: exchange of info

E-Business:
- transformation of key business processes through the use of internet technologies
- encompasses e-commerce & includes front and back office applications that form engine for modern business; redefining old business models with aid of technology to maximize customer value


E-Commerce vs E-business
- e-commerce is equivalent or a subset of electronic business

E-Commerce Categories:
- B2B: supply chain, value chain (Dell)
- C2B: demand aggregation (consumer groups)
- B2C: commerce over the Net (amazon)
- C2C: community groups (eBay)
- B2G: business to government

- B2B: Disintermediation: removing the middleman

First Wave
defining characteristics:
- dominant influence of US businesses
- extensive use of english
- many companies started with ouside investor money
- piracy, hacking problems

Second Wave of E-Commerce
Defining characteristics:
- global enterprise: multi-cultural and multi-lingual
- established companies fund electronic commerce initiatives with own capital
- integration with key business processes
- many customers are now linked to broadband connections

Product/Process Suitability
- Commodity item: hard to distinguish from competitors products or services
- shipping profile: how easily can a product be packaged and delivered?
- high value-to-weight ratio: what is the ratio of shipping cost to selling price?
- digital products:

Advantages of E-Commerce
- increase sales through enhanced customers services
- decrease costs of handling inquiries and transactions
- reach potential customers in every country
- increase purchasing opportunities/options
- make negotiating price and delivery terms easier
- ability to do commerce transactions faster and easier with a audit trail

Disadvantages of E-Commerce
- perishable products harder to sell online
- companies believe that their business is centered around e-business model (draw ppl in because its new, but are they really making money at it)
- cultural and legal obstacles

Global Nature of E-Commerce
- Trust issues: use brand recognition and image to connect with customers
- Language issues: focus on localization, which considers multiple elements of the local environment (unlike translation, which is just language)
- Cultural issues: expectations of parties and how each will react (values and customers)
- Infrastructure issues