A Brief History Of E Commerce Information Technology Essay

A Brief History Of E Commerce Information Technology Essay Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the term used for any type of business or commercial transaction that involves the transfer of products, services and information over electronic systems such as the internet and other computer networks. The trader and customer are not face to face at any point during these transactions, the business being conducted remotely, regardless of location. E-commerce covers a range of different types of businesses, from consumer based retail sites, through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. It is currently one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web. Although most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in one way or another, a large percentage of e-commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items, such as access to certain information on a website, purchasin g software or other on-line services. E-business is a superset of e-commerce   [ 1 ]   . Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions. E-commerce can be mainly divided into Business-to-Business electronic commerce (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer electronic commerce (B2C). B2B implies that both sellers (suppliers) and buyers are business corporations, while B2C implies that buyers are individual consumers. Business-to-business e-commerce is significantly different from business-to-consumer e-commerce. While B2C merchants sell on a first-come, first-served basis, most B2B commerce is done through negotiated contracts that allow the seller to anticipate and plan for how much the buyer will purchase. In some cases B2B is not so much a matter of generating revenue as it is a matter of making connections with business partners. 1.1.1 . B2B e-commerce B2B e-commerce requires the technological sharing of information among supplies, retailers, distributors, and other interested parties to create electronic relationships. B2B e-commerce does not just comprise the transaction via the Internet, but also the exchange of information before and the service after a transaction. From the purchasing company’s point of view, B2B e-commerce is a medium for facilitating procurement management by reducing the purchase price and the cycle time.   [ 2 ]    The key players usually include selling and buying companies, deliverers, and often some type of electronic intermediaries, or third-party service providers. These associations can take many forms, yet most fall into three models. These models are classified depending on who controls the marketplace: the supplier, the buyer or the intermediary: (a) In a Supplier-Oriented Marketplace: many buyers face few suppliers. (b) In a Buyer-Orientated Marketplace: few buyers fa ce many suppliers. (c) In an Intermediary-Oriented Marketplace: many buyers face many suppliers. A) Supplier-Oriented Marketplace Supplier-Oriented Marketplaces offer a group of customers a wide spectrum of products and services and also support them in their own business. The markets can involve proprietary auctions, bid systems, and exchanges. By using Supplier-Oriented Marketplaces, suppliers are offered new types of market channels in marketing and distribution. Products can be sold directly to the customer without using intermediaries. Most manufacture-driven electronic stores use this form of market place. Successful examples of this business model are e.g. Dell and Cisco.   [ 3 ]   Both Dell and Cisco sold and sell their products via the Internet. However, not only Dell and Cisco use the Supplier-Oriented Marketplace, there are thousands of other companies using this model. Cisco’s main business is providing electronic support using the Internet. The main applicati ons are software downloads, defect tracking and technical advice. Cisco’s business model also includes customer service and finding order status, as well as selling routers, switches and other network interconnect devices.