CS 111 – Oct. 13

• With a network, you can make $: E-commerce

• Commitment:– Homework #1 due Oct. 18: Discuss your favorite

infamous example of a computer crime. Why is it significant, and could it happen again?

E-commerce

• Means the browsing, buying, and selling of goods and services using public or private computer networks.

Two types of commerce:• Business to consumer

– Web site used as the showroom.– Some businesses exist only online. (amazon)– Some sites are “portals” that tell you where to buy. Examples: Kayak

and salescircular. The travel-agent model.

• Business to business (the client is another business)

• Benefits and challenges of e-commerce?• What are some goods/services that are easy vs. hard to sell

online?

Desired functions

• Advertise elsewhere, draw people in

• On Web site: provide product information

• Shopping cart

• Back-office processing– Update inventory– Process payment (credit card)– Send goods to consumer, provide return mechanism

• This is on top of other ordinary business functions, such as payroll, taxes, insurance, etc.

Behind the scenes

• Commerce usually involves the following players:– Supplier of raw materials– Manufacturer– Distributer– Retail outlet– Consumer

• Between each, there can be an e-commerce relationship. – Besides business-to-customer, we have “business-to-

business” or B2B for short.– Gives rise to a “supply chain”

Supply chain

• Need to manage flow of materials and $ between your suppliers (upstream) and your customers (downstream).– You don’t want to be sold out of an item.

– The business has its own bills to pay.

• Example goals where IT can help:– Keep inventory low, but not zero. (Detect when getting low.)

– Cut cost of keeping inventory.

– Reduce replenishment times.

– Reduce transportation costs!

– Perhaps outsource activities that do not add value to the company ($ or reputation).

– Anticipate change, look at trends. (school supplies, Christmas)