E-commerce (electronic commerce) describes the buying, selling, and exchanging of products, services, and information via computer network. The term e-commerce as describe transactions, conducted between business partners.
There are many applications of e-commerce ,such as home banking,shopping in electronic malls, buying stocks, finding a job, conducting an auction, collaborating electronically with business partners around the globe, marketing & advertising and providing customer service.
Collaborative Commerce
There are several types of e-commerce like collaborative commerce, Business to commerce, consumer to consumer, and Mobile commerce etc. Mobile satellite communications also promise to extend the global reach of voice, data and other services. The following services of e-commerce are used most frequently in e-business.
- Electronic Mail (E-mail): The e-mail is a service that transports text messages from a sender to one or more receivers via computer. Voice mail systems capture, store and transmit spoken messages.
- Video conferencing: Video vonferencing is a type of conference in which video cameras and microphones capture sight and sound transmission over networks. It is a advance form of teleconferencing. Videoconfererencing should provide a complete simulation of a normal meeting environment, enabling both parties to see, hear and present material, just as if they were in the same room. It can speed up business process and procedures in the same way that the fax and the e-mail have revolutionized the way we share information. Tangible benefits are most easily related to actual cost savings. The most obvious quantifiable saving is the cost of travel and cost of the time wasted during travel.
Figure 4.5: Video Conferencing actual cost saving meeting in different places
- Electronic-shopping (E-shopping): Many business now have website that allow Internet users to buy their goods or services. Shopping can take place using a computer at home, from work or at a cyber café and e-shop can be anywhere in the world working 24 hours a day.
- Electronic Banking: An electronic banking is also known as cyber-banking or online includes various banking activities conducted from home, a business, or on the road instead of a physical bank location.