WHY E-COMMERCE?

BY HARRY

PARKER

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE

Global Marketplace

P2

The Global Marketplace allows you to sell internationally almost anywhere in the world instead of serving just a local audience. This means that you have access to a much wider range of customers as they can purchase from all over the world. This brings in more revenue and profits due to the larger amount of access to your business by customers purchasing internationally.

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE

24/7 Trading

P2

Having a computer replace staff means that you can sell 24/7 which is more convenient to customers. This also means that you can meet the needs of customers in different time zones, and therefore improving customer satisfaction further.

Being able to sell 24/7 means that you are selling items all the time, this also gives you an advantage over businesses which do not sell 24/7.

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE

Low Start -up & Running Costs

P2

Running an online store is much cheaper than purchasing a real store and the maintenance is much cheaper too. This means more people have the opportunity to run their own business which can improve the economy.

The fact that running an online store instead of running an actual shop means that no staff are usually required, therefore the expenses of the business reduce.

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE

Search Facilities

P2

Search Facilities allow you to quickly find the items, products or services that you need. This allows you to easily compare prices.

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE

Fluid Pricing

P2

Fluid Pricing means that the cost of something can change depending on circumstances, such as supply and demand.

If a certain item is in high demand, but low supply, the price of the item will rise so that businesses can claim as much money out of customers.

WEAKNESSES OF E-COMMERCE & HOW TO ADDRESS THIS

Consumer Trust

P2

Certain websites may not be legit or safe to use and they may steal personal information such as your address, credit card details and name.

Well known websites are also well trusted, so offering a good customer service helps to improve the relations with the customers, which therefore helps spread awareness of the site.

WEAKNESSES OF E-COMMERCE& HOW TO ADDRESS THIS

Lack of Human Contact

P2

A lack of human contact means that people could become unused to interacting with other people. Also the support offered to customers may not be as good as purchasing in person.

Human contact can also improve the trust between the business and customers, as they are aware that the business exists and is likely legit.

WEAKNESSES OF E-COMMERCE& HOW TO ADDRESS THIS

Product Description Problems

P2

Products may be described incorrectly, and the customer may receive something different to what they expected, or in a different condition than described. Also, sometimes the picture of the product may not actually be the product being sold.

There are also technological errors with product descriptions, if a user has difficulty identifying colours because their monitor is damaged, or perhaps the display settings are different, the products description may seem misleading.

WEAKNESSES OF E-COMMERCE& HOW TO ADDRESS THIS

Security issues

P2

Security issues such as having your financial details stolen through the use of unsafe sites. Using trusted purchasing methods such as PayPal can make customers feel safe when purchasing from you.

THE TECHNOLOGY

Browsers

Web Authoring Software

P1

Web Authoring Software is where a HTML code is generated for you if you do not know how to write the code yourself. This type of software is good for small businesses as it can save a lot of money/time or training.

The browser or ‘Internet Browser’ such as Internet Explorer and Google Chrome is used to retrieve information and data by the user entering words. The browser will then search for the most relevant results. These results are recognised by the URI (Uniform Resource Identifier).

THE TECHNOLOGY

Database systems

IP addresses

P1

A Database System simply organised all of the data on a computer by using software. This does a similar job to what the defragmentation software does on a computer, it gives finding files and folders more stable to reduce the chance of them becoming corrupted or lost and also vastly improves the speed of finding/using them too.

IP stands for Internet Protocol and is a unique string of numbers used to identify a users machine on the internet/network and/or a website. Each website has its own IP address behind the domain name (to save users from typing in a string of numbers to get to a website, which would not be practical for them nor the business).

THE TECHNOLOGY

Domain Names

Multiple Domain Registration

P1

A Domain Name is the name in which a website is identified, it is a unique name given to every website. A DNS (Domain Name System) then uses this name to find the IP address to connect to. For example, for the website www.ebay.co.uk the domain name is ebay.co.uk. The shorter this name is the more memorable it is and the less chance of making a mistake typing it in there is.

Multiple Domain Registration is where for example there are multiple domain names out there, but they all lead to the same IP address, so therefore the same website. These names are usually related to what the website is about. An example is a website called www.gamingzone.com could have multiple domains such as www.gamingarea.com and www.gamingfield.com which would lead the user to the original single site. This increases the amount of visits and traffic the website gets.

THE TECHNOLOGY

Ports & Protocols

Browser & Platform Compatibility

P1

Ports range from the number 0 to 65535 and act as a form of ‘gateway’. Each port has a specific job and will allow/disallow certain information only.

The browsers compatibility depends entirely on the system and software used. Certain Operating Systems may not be able to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the O/S does not contain the required files/software to run it.

PROMOTION

Paying to be prominent in search engine results

M1

Companies can pay to be at the top of search results in web browsers. The ones which pay the most will be displayed at the top, this can be very useful for the company as most users will click on the top result as they think it is the best and most relevant.

PROMOTION

Newsgroups & Forums

M1

Forums are a great way to advertise. Forums are usually close communities and the chances are it will get a lot of voluntary views because of this. Newsgroups are message boards which are commonly open to the public, so you could advertise on a Newsgroup or Forum and have a lot of views, even if nobody reads the advert, they will read the name and remember it.

PROMOTION

Banners & Pop-ups

M1

Banners and Pop-ups are a great way to advertise as the user is forced to look at them and close them, though they are often very irritating and will direct you to the link even if you decided to close it. This can harm your website as customers will be reluctant to return.

Popups and Banners can seem very unprofessional and are not trusted due to links to Malware and false websites.

An example of a Banner

PROMOTION

Spam

M1

A user can receive Spam if they give the website their email address. Adverts and Offers will be sent to the users email address in order to get their attention, and hopefully to make them click on it. This is called ‘Spam’ and a lot of it is fake and used to scam, or contains Malware.

PROMOTION

Ensuring An Effective User Interface

M1

An ‘Effective’ User Interface is a simple one which is easy to navigate and looks good and modernised. Having the appropriate categories for purchasing something and a reliable search engine can help ease the navigation in the site.

An interface which requires less effort and stress for the customer to use will promote your website as it can be swiftly used with ease.

PROMOTION

Establishing Customer loyalty in a virtual environment

M1

Establishing Customer loyalty usually means to get the a stakeholder/customers trust within your virtual environment (website). This can all depend on good product and customer service. Using methods such as this will promote your ‘virtual environment’ and you will receive your customers ‘loyalty’ or trust.

If perhaps your customer service is good, you deliver quality products/services and your site is relevant and legitimate (no pop-ups, malware etc..) then you will gain the customers/stakeholders trust and loyalty.

PROMOTION

Site Names

M1

Shorter site names are more memorable and there’s less chance of the user making a typing error whilst entering it. This means that most businesses will shorten their site name into an abbreviation.

Site names that are more basic and use well known words are likely to be more successful, for example, a site called funny.com will likely be more successful than lotsoffunnythings.com.

PROMOTION

Direct Marketing

M1

Direct Marketing means the company can advertise to an individual ‘directly’. This usually means they must have your details as Direct Marketing comes in the terms of Emails, Texting, Mail and adverts online. Although a lot of this is considered as spam mail and usually disregarded, so if somebody can see that the mail is from your business it may have the opposite effect.

SECURITY

Hacking

Hacking Prevention

P3, M2

Hacking is where an individual or group of people gain access to a protected or perhaps even non-protected system without permission. This way they can gain access to sensitive personal data and cause damage to your system or website.

Hacking Prevention usually comes from using Passwords and advanced security software (for example, PayPal has hacking prevention using a high-standard of security when purchasing online). Other software such as your Firewall and Anti-Virus can block potential Malware which can be used to retrieve your passwords.

SECURITY

Viruses

Virus Prevention

P3, M2

Viruses are a form of Malware, along with things like Spyware they cause damage to your system, through either breaking it or slowing it down. They can be obtained usually from downloading carelessly or from visiting harmful websites.

To prevent a system from getting Viruses, you should use the systems Firewall (by making sure it’s turned ON) and by using a separate Anti-Virus programme which can do a few things:•Block Potential threats when they enter the system or try to run•Remove threats through a PC Scan

Security Software such as Microsoft Security Essentials is free and highly effective.

SECURITY

ID Theft

ID Theft Protection

P3, M2

ID Theft is usually done from customers and other users from visiting harmful and legitimate websites. When they enter their details to sign up for certain things, they can use the persons Email address and name to send them spam email, or to sell the information onto other businesses.

If you purchase from the Website, the website could easily steal your credit card credentials and any other personal information that is used with it.

To protect against ID Theft, most legitimate and safe websites use payment schemes such as PayPal and will have documents which state that none of your information will be passed on, though this is a requirement from the Data Protection Act.

SECURITY

Strong Passwords

P3

Strong Passwords are passwords which are long and contain both capital letters, lower case letters, numbers and perhaps even symbols. The longer it is with the more of these in place the stronger it is.

Alongside this, if you do not use real words, and more of a combination of them instead (for example, using the password ‘apples123’ is less secure than using the password ‘wEjhtU3K672’

EVALUATE EXISTING E-COMMERCE

D1

Business Summary

Discuss: What business sells, Why they would have moved into e-commerce, Structure of website, Layout of products, Website security, Ease of use, Delivery options

EVALUATE EXISTING E-COMMERCE

D1

Strengths

Weaknesses

Strengths- think about the benefits for this company when moving into e-commerce. Strengths of current site. Weaknesses- think about problems that may have had to overcome. Weaknesses of current site.