 |
Further
Reading ...
|
|
Why student loans are better than credit cards - Vanessa McHooley
Why student loans are better than credit cards You need some more money for college expenses this semester. Do you whip out a credit card to pay for your books, or do you apply for a federal or private loan? Well, consider the options – -With a...
Leadership Lessons: Piloting in Turbulent Times - Eileen McDargh CSP CPAE
The pace of change impacting the insurance industry has never been greater. From consolidations, mergers, and acquisitions to re-engineering profit centers, creating new product lines and calming a variety of stakeholders, managers are faced with...
Federal Student Loans versus Private Student Loans – which is best for me? - Vanessa McHooley
Federal Student Loans versus Private Student Loans – which is best for me? You have gotten all the grants and scholarships you can, but you still need money for your education. It’s time to look at loans. But which is better – federal loans or...
Choose the Right Format for Your Ebooks - Tim Coulter
Choosing the right file format for your ebook is an essential step on the road to electronic self-publishing. This article looks at the factors affecting your choice and offers tips to help you make the most of your ebook, whatever format you...
|
|
|
eCommerce and other strange animals
|
 |
Written By:
Michael Bloch
|
|
|
eCommerce, Ecommerce, e-commerce; however you spell it, the term is now firmly lodged in our language. So just what is it?
At it's most simplistic level; eCommerce is simply the buying and selling of goods, services or information via the World Wide Web, email or other pathways on the Internet. It is here to stay and will play a bigger role in our lives over the years ahead. Ecommerce and Ebusiness are interchangeable terms. eCommerce can be broken down into the following sections:
- eTailing. These are mainly "virtual" storefronts which act as a catalogue of products of merchants and usually include a "shopping cart" system to enable consumers to purchase online with the use of credit cards. Today's Internet climate dictates that if you can't buy what you see online while you are online; you will probably lose the sale. The great advantage of etailing is international coverage at minimum cost and the ability to trade 24 hours a day with minimum staffing levels. The benefits to consumers are shopping from home and a wide range of choice. This range of choice can sometimes be a downfall as it confuses some consumers who in frustration may give up on buying the product at all!
- EDI (Electronic Data exchange). This is the business to business (b2b) flow of information between companies or within a company itself. The 90's saw the concept information equalling power. Whatever creates power also generates money and therefore creates new enterprises to supply this information. EDI is being replaced with XML. He with the most relevant data on his hard drive wins!
- Email and faxing. Direct marketing through email. Unfortunately, it also creates the equivalent of what we find in our physical mailboxes every day; junk mail - electronic junk mail is known as spam. Terrabytes of spam is circulating around the Internet at any given time, which slows down our global network. While this is one of the negative aspects of eCommerce, direct marketing ploys, if carried out properly are a very successful and acceptable way of generating income for a business
- Security services. The broad exposure of (and sometimes hyped) dangers of credit card and direct debit transactions via the Internet has rocketed the growth of many companies who provide security services to protect consumer & business transactions. This can include authorisation/encryption technologies and creating secure areas on web sites. This will be a growth area for as long as eCommerce is with us because you can guarantee that as soon as a new "unhackable" - continued below ...
|
|
|
continued ...
technology is introduced - someone has hacked it. Some hackers view themselves as rebels, antiestablishment and "socialists"; but in reality they actually fuel the security services market and provide huge dividends for shareholders in successful security services firms. Good one guys... you won't change the world for the better by sniffing around bank accounts!
- Statistics. Demographics and survey results regarding Internet habits is a huge industry. Web planners rely on information from these sources in planning web sites and justifying marketing and promotional expenediture.
- B2B (Business to Business). When I began in Computer Hardware sales some years ago, I spent a great deal of time and money on national and international phone calls to locate components. In 2001, if contacting a supplier meant having to pick up a telephone; I wouldn't bother doing business with them. The B2B world of today means that wholesalers and retailers have a means of fast and efficient communications and transactions; the Internet.
Bill Gates is reported to have said something along the lines of: "In a few years, there will only be 2 types of businesses, those that are online and those that are out of business." You may not buy anything online yourself, but I'll guarantee that most of the companies that supply you with goods and services do - knowingly or not we all have our role in this brave new world......
Michael Bloch
michael@tamingthebeast.net
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community.
Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions.
_____________________________________________
Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Taming the Beast" by including a hyperlink or reference to the website (www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!
About the Author
Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Many other free web design, ecommerce development and Internet articles, tutorials, tools and resources are available from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net (http://www.tamingthebeast.net)
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| _Additional Resources ... |
|
Understanding Real Estate Terminology - W Troy Swezey
Purchasing a home can be a complicated and confusing process, especially for first-time buyers. Throughout the process, first-time home buyers will encounter a variety of unfamiliar real state terms. There are several key terms associates with...
Influencing With Integrity - Richard Brooke
Every salesperson — whether selling a product or an idea — must deal with “objections.” Most sales training focuses on how to overcome them. In the first in a series of articles, Contributing Editor Richard Brooke, one of Network Marketing’s true...
Children in the Home Business Environment - Stone Evans
Operating a home business is seldom easy and interruptions come in all shapes, sizes and forms. Between the family, friends and neighbors who call or come by, and the telemarketers who insist on ringing your number off the hook, getting through...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
