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| E-Commerce - A New Part of Economy
E-Commerce - A New Part of Economy
E-Commerce – A New Part Of Economy
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The Internet Economy (also sometimes called the
“New Economy” or the “Digital Economy” is being driven
by the linking of individuals and organisations through the technology of the
Internet. E-commerce creates new challenges to nearly all branches of the
economy. That means the use of this technology and not only being present in the
Web with an own website.
What Is E-Commerce?
Electronic commerce is the process of two or more
parties making business transactions via computer and some type of network. This
includes B2B (=business to business) transactions, online retail and the
digitalisation of the the financial industry, too. Furthermore it also includes
all the steps which occur in any business cycle, such as placing ads, completing
invoices, and providing customer support. E-commerce actually began in the 1970s
when larger corporations started creating private networks to share information
with business partners and suppliers. This process, called Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI), nearly replaced paperwork and human intervention. It was, and
is, the foundation of electronic commerce. Today, electronic commerce
increasingly refers to business conducted over the Internet. But the e-commerce,
which you hear about on the radio, see on TV, and read in the papers and online
refers to online retailing - using the Web to sell goods, services, and
information to consumers. It will reach 20 % of the market share or even more.
Online retailing, the typical web-shopping, began five years ago, and was
pioneered largely by Internet companies that didn`t perform traditional
retailing, such as Amazon.com and CDNow.
Electronic commerce is actually a management issue,
not just a technology issue. Therefore, the e-commerce strategy must be
consistent with the business. It is important to realise that e-commerce will
have a major influence on how business itself works in the future, and is not
just another new channel for marketing products and services.
Webvertisements
To sell goods or services, advertisement is the first
step to making them available to the public. The Web is a new way of presenting
information to the public via the Internet, therefore advertising has to be
redefined for it, too. Internet-advertising even seems to be the solution for
the biggest problem of the industry of advertising: How can you reach the
attention of the people between 25 and 35 with a high income?
However, the mode of advertising has so far been
similar to that used on TV and in newspapers. The most popular way of
advertising in the Web are banners, it’s the most effective way of
promoting a website. The structure of this direct marketing is simple: A banner,
consisting of the textinformation and animated pictures, leads the webber by
clicking on it directly to the website of the canvasser.
The advantage is obvious: Banners are much cheaper
than conventional advertisements. In addition a banner can tell WHO, WHEN and
HOW someone reacts on an advertisement, which is very important for being even
more successful on the Web.
Austria’s webvertising for 1999 was about 10
million US$, that’s under 1 % of the whole advertising-budget, this year
it will rise to 35 million US$.
In the year 2004 33 Million $ should be invested in
webvertising, which is about 5 % of the whole
advertising-budget.
A recent problem for webvertiser are webwashers,
programs that filter most advertisements on websites. A webwasher can be
downloaded from the Internet without paying for it (freeware like many other
programs, too), so everyone has the opportunity to avoid most
webvertisements.
Viral Marketing is a new trend in online-marketing:
PlanetRx.com, an online-drugstore from the U.S. was able to raise the number of
customers with the promotion-strategy “3 for free” or “Tell a
Friend”. Viral Marketing is a cheap way of gaining new customers,
it’s original and quite profitable.
Benefits [=Nutzen] Of E-Commerce
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Anytime, Anywhere – Constant change is a must
and instant interactivity is highly valued. The marketplace is real-time and
webbers expect it to be available for basic interactions 24x7, that means 24
hours per day, 7 days per week.
Unlimited Marketplace – Business can connect
with customers around the world, competition that was once local is now
international.
Online fast updating – Companies, who do
business on the Web try to have the newest e-catalogues on the Web as possible
(the comparison to traditional print catalogue is obvious). Constantly updated
product information, price lists and product support information are
standard.
Lower cost – Internet marketing is one of the
lowest cost methods of marketing products. Companies can reach a world-wide
audience at a fraction of the cost required by traditional
methods.
Secure Payment Systems – This is a very
important topic in e-commerce, because about 50 percent of online-shoppers feel
uncomfortable in providing personal information over the Web. But recent
advancements in payment technologies allow secure payment
online.
Which Products Sell Best Online?
The target market on the Web are people from 25 to 45,
who are mostly well-informed about the choices they have in the Internet. The
first group of bestsellers are products like books, CDs, PCs and equipment for
it, that means products, which people are informed about already. The e-shopper
has the possibility to browse through the Web to search for the cheapest seller.
The second group of products are the ones who were ordered by phone, after the
consumer has browsed the Web site.
Online travel agencies are quite successful, too, and
one of the latest news come from the Alaska Airlines, who want to introduce
e-ticketing. All the customers would need for it would be a software for the PC,
so they could do the whole check-in-process at home.
In America already 75 percent of new car dealers are
online and the number is expected to grow in the future. Primarily they are
focusing on disseminating information on their websites, rather than actually
selling cars. Also consumers can locate dealers through a dealer locator service
that way.
In Austria a second-hand car-exchange exists, and
since January 1, 2000 there’s even a website for new cars
(www.cybasar.com).
Webshops
E-commerce is a new way of sale for small companies,
too. Often it’s quite expensive to buy the hard- and software inclusive of
installation and programming that can cost more than 70.000 US$. But renting
this equipment can be a good way to start doing business on the
Web.
Webshops like the Yahoo! Store provide low cost
e-commerce solutions: All you have to do is to fill out online forms with the
most important information about your store, then you can already start doing
business on the Web.
Problems In E-Commerce
Reality shows us that most companies are having
problems following through on their online sales with prompt and efficient
delivery. Even 20 percent of people who bought products online reported problems
with the purchasing experience. Half of those said they had ordered products
that were not delivered, while a quarter could not reach the seller’s
customer service department.
Just because a particular product sells well in retail
stores, it is easy to think that it will sell well online, but it is not that
way.
Companies are not competitive, because they simply
take over old strategies. Often they have too high logistics-costs, but
especially the ability of supplying and the delivery period are the most
important things in satisfying the customers needs. Sellers will be forced to
hire other services for this winding up, if they want to be successful in
e-commerce.
Also most e-commerce models were built on the
universal model in e-commerce, the Amazon.com-model, which called for no
interaction between the company and the customer. But indeed even 90 percent of
online shoppers want some sort of human interaction in the process and online
stores that employ interactive tools see average sales orders increase by 15
percent.
A common mistake is to attempt to develop a site that
turns out to be too complex to ever be implemented. Often, well-intentioned
projects never get off the ground because of unrealistic plans.
It has been noted that international customers are
three times more likely to buy a product if it is available and communicated to
them in their own language. English is the language most widely used over the
Internet. But to truly penetrate an international market, one has to communicate
in the customer’s language.
Security In E-Commerce
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The lack of user confidence in e-business transactions
is the greatest impediment obstructing the growth of e-commerce. Security with
electronic datatransfer is possible through secure transcription, coding and
digital certificates.
A growing number of organisations are building public
key infrastructures to solve e-business security issues. A public key
infrastructure (PKI) will protect data trough encryption and authenticate users
through a certificate-based framework of digital signatures.
A PKI is a system of certification authorities (CA),
registration authorities, certificate management services and directories: The
CA establishes security policies and issues digital certificates to users.
Registration authorities register users into a particular domain. A certificate
management system is used to manage certificate lifecycles. Directories contain
the public encryption keys and certificates that are used in verifying digital
certificates, credentials and digital signatures. However, implementing a public
key infrastructure is not enough. Once a digital certificate is issued to an
individual or organisation it must be protected in much the same way you protect
a passport or your credit cards.
Storing digital certificates on the LAN or on your
computer makes it fairly easy for others to copy the certificate and then use it
to impersonate you.
Storing multiple digital credentials such as
certificates, private keys, logon IDs and passwords on a smart card solves a
number of the security and issues. Smart cards are an ideal secure storage
device. These are plastic cards, which have a chip inside and which will be used
in mobile phones or computers. They are simple to use and almost impossible to
duplicate. A user merely inserts the smart card into a reader, enters a PIN to
unlock the card, the credentials are presented to the application and access is
granted. Smart cards make it easy to carry digital credentials and use them with
other computers at home, in remote offices or on public access
terminals.
Businesses and consumers are attracted by the promise
of the Internet but are also facing the realities of security and
authentication. Companies that utilise smart card and public key infrastructure
(PKI) technology to address e-commerce security issues will create user
confidence in electronic business transactions will become the driving force
behind the widespread growth of the electronic economy.
The Digital Signature
In Austria the digital signature, e-signature, is
treated equivalent to the handwritten signature since January 1, 2000 (SigG). At
the beginning of October 1999 the Austrian Chamber of Commerce already ordered
10.000 A-Sign certificates at the Datakom, who acts as the certification
authority, to accelerate e-commerce in Austria. The European Union will give its
members a time of eighteen months to do the same. Surely that will help the
electronic correspondence and especially the e-commerce to boom even
more.
The Year 1999 /Today’s Situation
There are about 100 millions Internet-users all over
the world, nearly seventy percent of them are from the U.S. Therefore of course
America is the leading country in e-commerce: Even ¼ of America’s
population buys online regularly, mostly people between 25 and 45 with a yearly
income of 14.000$ or more. Although the costs for Internet are even sixteen
times higher than in America, Europe is starting to do better, especially
Germany (leading with 6.3% e-shoppers), Great Britain (with 5.9%) and France are
doing well. In Austria only 13 % of the population are even interested in
online-shopping.
America’s turnovers in e-commerce are about 6.3
million US$ this year. In the year 2003 there will be even 250 millions
online-shoppers all around the world, that’s five times more than it is
now.
The year 1999 didn’t start the best way for
e-commerce, but till the end of the year it got better, at last the year’s
holiday traffic was up to 37 % over the year 98. The top categories remained
unchanged: Primary categories are still computers, books, toys CDs and videos.
Therefore Amazon.com was the reigning king again, with about 3.6 million
visitors a week.
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E-Commerce forecasts for Western
Europe
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1998
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2002
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Users buying goods and services over the
Web
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5.2 %
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28.8 %
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E-Commerce revenue (in US millions)
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$2,944.5
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$55,544.0
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E-Commerce forecasts for Austria
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E-Commerce revenue (in US millions)
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$170
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$1,600
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The Future Of E-Commerce
Until now e-commerce meant websites, online shops and
perhaps a kind of customer relationship management, but e-chain-management will
show e-commerce a new way: Reaching customers and selling products to them easy
and quickly won’t be the most important thing, but the enlargement of the
electric business connections to suppliers, services and logistic
partners.
The key word for that is the integration of all
business processes. That sounds quite easy, but in real life it will produce a
wide change of internal process.
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