Monday, January 21, 2008

Chapter 3 Key Concepts

E-Commerce – Week 3 Revision Notes

Chapter 3 – Selling on the web: Revenue Models & Building a Web Presence:

Revenue Models:

Not all e-commerce initiatives have the goal of providing revenue; some are undertaken to reduce costs or improve customer service.
Various models for generating revenue: web catalog, digital content, advertising-supported, advertising-subscription mixed, and fee based.
Most companies use the same revenue model for B2C and B2B.

Creating an Effective Web Presence:
Many customers and stakeholders of a web business know the company only through its web presence.
Creating an effective web presence can be critical even for the smallest and newest firms operating on the web.

Identifying Web Presence Goals:

Web based businesses and organizations have the luxury of building their web sites intentionally to create distinctive presences.
A good website design can provide many image-creating and image-enhancing features very effectively—it can serve as a sales brochure, a product showroom, a financial report, an employment ad, and a customer contact point.

Achieving Web Presence Goals:

An effective web site is one that creates an attractive presence that meets the objectives of the business or organization. The objectives include:

Attracting visitors to the web site.
Making the site interesting enough that visitors stay and explore.
Convincing visitors to follow the site’s links to obtain information.
Creating an impression consistent with the organization’s desired image.
Building a trusting relationship with visitors.
Reinforcing positive images that the visitor might already have about the organization.
Encouraging visitors to return to the site.

Web Site Usability:

Research indicates that few businesses accomplish all of their goals for their websites current web presence.
Most firms’ websites give the general impression that the firm is too important and its employees are too busy to respond to inquiries.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Chapter 2 key concepts Mind Map

Ch. 2 Key Concepts

Chapter 2 - Technology Infrastructure: The internet and the world wide web

Terms:
- A computer Network is any technology that allows people to connect computers to each other.

-The Internet is a large system of interconnected computer networks that span the globe.

- The World Wide Web (or more simply the Web) is a subset of the computers on the internet that are connected to one another in a specific way that makes them and their contents easily accessible to each other.

- Hypertext is a page linking system where the text on one page links to the text on another page.

- Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a language that includes a set of codes attached to text.  These codes describe relationships among text elements.

- Graphical User Interface (GUI) is a way of presenting program control functions and program output to users.

- The world wide web is the name for the system of hyperlinked HTML documents.

-Packet Switched Networks includes Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN).

Internet Protocols:

TCP/IP = Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol

The TCP controls the disassembly of a message or a file into packets before it is transmitted over the internet, and the reassembly  of those packets into their original formats when they reach their destination.

The IP specifies the addressing details for each packet, labeling each with the packet's origination and destination addresses.

Domain Names: 
Domain names are a set of words that are assigned to specific IP addresses.  This is to eliminate the confusion of the dotted decimal notation.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Chapter 1 Key Concepts - Introduction to E-Commerce

Introduction to E-Commerce:

Business Model - focused on all the strategic elements of a business and is bottom line driven

Revenue Model - More focused on the sales and how to generate revenue for the company

Know:
-Globalization

-Localization

-Translation

Soundbites:
-Fortunes have been made and lost.
-60% of internet content is in english
-50% of internet users do not speak english
-75% of internet users live outside the USA
-Still riding the learning curve of what works and what doesn't
-EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) have been around since the 60's
-Being first to the market is not that important.

E-Commerce Defiined:

E-commerce is the exchange of informations across electronic networks at any stage of the supply chain.

E-commerce is just commerce, but it is commerce accelerated and enhanced by IT.

E-Business Defined:

The transformation of key business processes through the use of internet technologies. -IBM

E-Commerce vs. E-Business:

two views:
1. E-Commerce is broadly equivalent to E-Business
2. E-Commerce is a subset of e-business.

Catagories of E-Commerce (or E-Commerce Models):
1. b2b (supply chain, value chain) eg. dell & their suppliers
2. b2c (commerce over the net) eg. amazon.com
3. c2b (demand aggregation) eg. consumer groups
4. c2c (community groups) eg. ebay

*There is also b2g which is business to government.

B2B vs. B2C:

B2B marketplaces (Ford's Auto Exchange)
B2C Vendors (amazon, otto, wal-mart)

Disintermediation - Getting rid of the middle man

First Wave of E-Commerce Defining Characteristics:

- Dominant influence of US businesses
- Extensive use of the english language
- Many companies started with outside inventors as a way to raise capital

2nd wave of E-commerce:

-Global enterprises are participating in e-commerce; native language websites

Product/process suitability:

-Commodity Item
Hard to distinguish from competitor's products or services.

-Shipping Profile
How easily can a product be packaged and delivered?

-High-value to weight ratio
what is the shipping cost to selling price ratio

-Digital Products

Advantages of E-Commerce:

-Can increase sales through enhanced customer service
-can decrease costs of handling inquiries and transactions
-can reach potential customers in every country
-can increase purchasing opportunities/ options for buyers


Disadvantages:

-Companies may become myopic
-Some products may require inspection by the customer before purchase
-Cultural and legal obstacles.

Global nature of E-commerce:

-Trust Issues
-Language Issues
-Cultural Issues
-Infrastructure Issues




Welcome to my bio

My name is Fergie Cancade, I am a business student at Okanagan College. I currently work for Orage clothing in Quebec. I am graduating in the summer of 2008 and plan to pursue a career in action sports.