The Wonderful World of E-Commerce
Group 7
Jonathan Bull, Justin Jones, and Ashley Robinett
Key Words: e-Commerce, World Wide Web, Security, Electronic Data Interchange
E-commerce is a relatively new phenomenon that is infiltrating the business world, and is quickly becoming a must for successful organizations. According to Wikipedia, “Electronic commerce (or e-commerce) consists primarily of the distributing, buying, selling, marketing, and servicing of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks…It can involve electronic funds transfer, supply-chain management, e-marketing, online marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange, automated inventory management systems, and automated data-collection systems.” The advantage of this exciting new trend is just that—it is exciting, and it is new! Offering your customers the option of shopping, buying, or otherwise doing business with your company over the Internet is offering your customers a better, more convenient, more modernized experience.
E-commerce has not always been as we know it today, not will it continue to be for long. As with all technology, the changes have been rapid and rampant. In the late 1970’s e-commerce meant taking care of commercial transactions electronically using, for instance, and electronic data interchange systems to send such things as purchase orders and invoices. Later e-commerce came to include specific web-commerce transactions, such as the purchase of goods and services over the World Wide Web. In 1994, when the World Wide Web was becoming familiar to the general public, business forecasters were placing their bets on e-commerce as a dominant player in the future. It took four years, however, for sufficient security measures to be developed to make web-commerce a trusted channel of exchange. From 1998 to 2000, the e-commerce boom began. A significant number of companies developed basic Web sites, and they were among the first to test the waters of this new marketplace. Though they stumbled through the pitfalls of contradictory communication, imperfect security, impersonal customer service, and novel methods of marketing and competition, they were the ones who paved the business information highway that we all travel today. (Wikipedia, 2006.)
According to the United States Census Bureau, “Total e-commerce sales for
2005 were estimated at $86.3 billion, an increase of 24.6 percent (±3.3%) from
2004. Total retail sales in 2005
increased 7.2 percent (±0.3%) from 2004.
E-commerce sales in 2005 accounted for 2.3 percent of total sales. E-commerce sales in 2004 accounted for 2.0
percent of total sales.” (
The advantages proffered by
e-commerce are many and diverse. From a
technological viewpoint, it provides an easy and secure way for customers to
order. “Credit cards
are the most popular means of sending payments on the internet, accounting for
90% of online purchases. Card numbers are transferred securely between the
customer and merchant through independent payment
gateways.” (Wikipedia,
2006.) Also, being
technologically savvy has other qualitative benefits. For an organization to establish itself as
cutting-edge and twenty-first century material, it must incorporate any and all
new technology that will portray this image to the customer. From an organizational viewpoint, it provides
a 360-degree picture of the customer and his/her relationship to the
organization. All employees, suppliers,
and partners will have the same complete view of the customer. In addition, a well-integrated e-commerce
venue will allow a company the awareness and agility to take action in response
to changes in the economic, social, and physical environment. (Wikipedia,
2006.) Incorporating e-commerce
into a business is also customer-oriented.
The twenty-first century customer wants things faster and better and
more convenient than ever before.
E-commerce can provide a sense of security, a personal touch, and even a
sense of community if the customer so desires.
Because of the risks taken by
those pioneers in the late 1990’s, we are now seeing a booming new marketplace
in e-commerce. Retail e-commerce sales
are projected to increase by 21.4% in 2006, and increase again by another 20.2%
in 2007. (E-Marketer.com,
2006.) Thanks to companies like
E-bay and Amazon, customers are able to enjoy a whole new method of
shopping. Although it had to overcome
many drawbacks along the way, e-commerce has proven to be secure,
customer-oriented, and competitively sound.
References
Amazon.com. (2006). Annual Reports. Retrieved April 17, 2006, from http://us.f815.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=1832_11293663_926_2132_839_0_1213_-1_0&Idx=4&YY=89876&inc=25&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=Inbox.
E-Bay.com. (2006). Annual Reports. Retrieved April 17, 2006, from http://investor.ebay.com/annual.cfm.
E-Commerce
Times. (2006). Keynote E-Commerce Transaction Performance Index. Retrieved April 17, 2006,
from http://www.ecommercetimes.com/ectpi/.
Grau, Jeffery.
(2006). Retail E-commerce: Future Trends. Retrieved April 17, 2006, from http://www.emarketer.com/Report.aspx?shopping_feb06.
Wikipedia. (2006). Electronic Commerce. Retrieved April 17, 2006,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce.