Catalogue

• Introduction of E-Commerce

• B2B E-Commerce

• B2C E-Commerce

• C2C E-Commerce

A Brief Introduction to Electronic Commerce

Electronic Commerce and Electronic Business

Many people think the term “electronic commerce” (EC) means shopping on the Internet . However , electronic commerce also includes many other activities , such as businesses trading with other businesses and internal processes that companies use to support their buying , selling , hiring , planning and other activities.

A Brief Introduction to Electronic Commerce

Some people use the term “electronic business”(EB) when they are talking about electronic commerce in the broader sense . Most people use the terms “electronic commerce” and “electronic business” interchangeably. In this book , the term “electronic commerce”(EC) is used in its broadest sense and includes all business activities conducted by electronic data transmission technologies.

A Brief Introduction to Electronic Commerce

Classification of EC

A common classification of EC is by the types of entities participating in the business processes . The following types of EC are commonly distinguished.

What is B2B E-Commerce?

The leading items in B2B EC are computing electronics, utilities, shipping and warehousing, motor vehicles, petrochemicals, paper and office products, food and agriculture. B2B EC is the electronic support of business transactions between companies and covers a broad spectrum of applications that enable an enterprise or business to form electronic relationships with their distributors, resellers, suppliers, and other partners. B2B EC 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 EC is a medium for facilitating procurement management by reducing the purchase price and the cycle time. According to Schneider and Schnetkamp, Business-to-Business EC is expected to grow explosively in the next years and to continue to be the major share of the electronic commerce.

In this section, the three models of B2B EC are described. They are classified depending on who controls the marketplace: the buyer, the supplier or the intermediary. - In a Buyer-Orientated Marketplace few buyers face many suppliers. - In a Supplier-Oriented Marketplace many buyers face few suppliers. - In an Intermediary-Oriented Marketplace many buyers face many suppliers. Other important B2B models are virtual corporation, networking between the headquarters and subsidiaries and online services to business. This paper concentrates on the three B2B EC models.

Three models of B2B EC

Characteristics of the Buyer-Oriented Marketplace

By using Supplier-Oriented Marketplaces, buyers would have to search electronic stores and electronic malls to find and compare suppliers and products. This would be very costly and time consuming for big buyers, who purchase thousands of items on the Internet. As a result, such big buyers prefer to open their own marketplace, which is called a Buyer-Oriented Marketplace. By supporting transactions and procurement processes, these marketplaces offer great potentials in cost savings. Buyer-Oriented Marketplaces are found in industrial sectors with few and dominant buyers.

Potentials of Electronic Procurement

In many companies, procurement has become one of the most important functions in the last years. Companies realized the existence of great potentials in cost savings by supporting procurement electronically. Product-, process- and inventory costs can be reduced by using electronic procurement (E-Procurement). E-Procurement is mostly realized in Buyer-Oriented Marketplaces

A Brief Introduction

In the real world, retailing is done in stores that customers must visit in order to

make a purchase. Retailing conducted over the Internet is called electronic retailing,

or e-tailing, and those who conduct retail business online are called e-tailers.

Business-to-consumer electronic commerce means retail transactions of products

or services from businesses to individual shoppers. (B2C电子商务是指产品或服务由企业零售给个人消费者 ) In fact, the distinction between B2C and B2B is not

always clear. For example,Amazon.com is considered as a typical B2C Web site,

but it also sells to businesses. Wal-Mart and Dell sell to both consumers and

businesses.

Characteristics of Successful B2C

Successful B2C comes from offering quality merchandise at good prices, coupled with

excellent service. In that sense, the online and traditional channels are not very different.

However, e-tailers can offer expanded consumer services which are not available in traditional

retailing. Products with the following characteristics are expected to facilitate higher sales

volumes. （具有以下特点的商品容易获得更高销售量）High brand recognition(e.g. Dell,Sony)

Digitized format(e.g. software,music,videos)

Relatively inexpensive items(e.g. office supplies)

Commodities with standard specifications(e.g. books, CDs, airline tickets)

Well-known packaged items that cannot be opened even in a traditional store( e.g.

chocolates,vitamins)

As consumers become more and more accustomed to purchasing products online, more

products categories will become popular.

Classification of E-tailers(网络营销商 )

E-tailers in B2C can be classified in several ways. For example, some classify e-tailers by

the scope of items handled ( general VS. special) or by the scope of the sales region covered

( global VS. regional). Here we will classify e-tailers by the distribution channel adopted.

1. Pure- play e-tailers:These e-tailers do not have physical stores, but an online sales

presence. Amazon.com is an example of pure-play e-tailers. It has grown from a book seller to

a virtual Wal-Mart of the Web selling a diverse group of products and services to the customers.

2. Click-and-mortar(多渠道 ) retailers:These are traditional retailers with a

supplementary Web site (e.g. walmart.com).Some experts believe that, in the long term, this

type of businesses would be more successful than pure-play e-tailers.

3. Manufacturers: Manufacturers, such as Dell, Nike and Sony, market directly online

from company sites to individual customers. Most of these manufacturers are click-and-mortar,

also selling in their own physical stores or via retailers.

B2C EC has grown rapidly in recent years, especially after the widespread use of the

Internet and improvement of the services offered over the Internet. Both businesses and

consumers have gained benefits from engaging in B2C EC.

What is C2C E-Commerce?

Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce or C2C is simply commerce between private individuals. This type of e-commerce is characterized by the growth of electronic marketplaces and online auctions, particularly in vertical industries where firms/businesses can bid for what they want from among multiple suppliers. It perhaps has the greatest potential for developing new markets.

C2C E-Commerce comes in at least three forms:

* auctions done at a portal, such as eBay, which allows online real-time bidding on items being sold in the Web;

 * peer-to-peer systems, such as the Napster model (a protocol for sharing files between users used by chat forums similar to IRC) and other file exchange and later money exchange models;

 * classified ads at portal sites such as Excite Classifieds and eWanted (an interactive, online marketplace where buyers and sellers can negotiate and which features “Buyer Leads & Want Ads”).

C2C Auctions

In many countries, selling and buying on auction sites is exploding. One of the major determinants of auction site success is attracting enough buyers and sellers, therefore some Web sites that already have a large number of visitors have come into this business.

How do auction sites work? In general, to participate, both sellers and buyers need to register with the site. Sellers need to pay a flat fee or a certain percentage of the final sales price to list their merchandise. Buyers pay the sellers directly the products’ value and the shipping costs as well. Auctions are usually time-based, meaning that the highest qualified bid wins the item at the end of the predetermined period.

Support Services for C2C

When individuals buy products or services from other individuals online, most of the time the buyer and seller are strangers. How to assure quality, fulfill payments and prevent fraud are critical to the success of C2C. One service that helps C2C business is payment by intermediary companies such as PayPal.