Understanding e-Commerce

A-Level Ict

E-Commerce is impossible to avoid now days .Almost everyone in the western world is at one point a consumer of the growing industry of e-Commerce

Because the world is becoming busier all the time people are relying more heavily on computers to organise all their needs ;shopping for food, buying presents and even sorting out their banking.

Examples of e-Commerce

Here are some different businesses, see if you can work out which are involved in e-Commerce and why:

• EBay• Tesco• iTunes• Microsoft• McDonalds

Examples of e-Commerce cont.

As you will have noticed by now everything we do is part of e-commerce. This is because everything now can be done online as well as in the shops.

• EBay –An online based auction room• Tesco –Also does internet shopping• iTunes –Buy music online.• Microsoft –Downloads, sales and technical advice online.• McDonalds –Only advertises online.

Why e-Commerce??????

E-Commerce is growing so fast because of its quickness- whereas in years gone by people would send a cheque to the company and then the company would cash the cheque before dispatching the goods we can now use instant transactions to transfer money from account to account in a number of seconds.

Why e-Commerce?????? cont.

Another popular factor of e-Commerce is its wide availability – people from everywhere can buy- not just those the company can afford to send a leaflet to, also it means that the internet can be used as an extra income for your spare time.

E-Commerce is very low maintenance- you just have to wait for people to buy and then send the goods; simple as!!!

The Dangers of e-Commerce

As with every industry there are downfalls- in the case of e-commerce these downfalls are a way for criminals to make vast amounts of cash with minimal effort- this can happen because:

• Sellers never send the goods.• Sellers steal credit card details.• Buyers use a fraudulent account which they cease once they have

received the goods , therefore cancelling a payment.• Buyers payments or details are lost due to an error on the servers.

How It All Works

USER

WEBSITE

BUYS ITEM

CREDIT CARD DETAILS GIVEN

DETAILS SENT TO A PAYMENT COMPANY e.g. PAYPAL

ORDER RECEIVED + PAYMENTCLEARED

GOODS SENT!!!