E-Commerce

Online services for business are very varied. the main service for e-commerce is the world wide web. Sellers will set up their web stories, which are specialised websites without payment processing interfaces . The storefront is usually a set up of web pages with pictures and descriptions of the goods that will be provided for the users of the webpage, these will all be linked to a database and probably a search facility. The shopper will choose an item by transeffering it to a virtual shopping basket. When all of items the usr want have been selected they will go their shopping basket where they will go through a small process to pay and order their items to their delievery address.

Amazon

Amazon is one of the most popualr e-commerce websites. This website provides a variety of different services . The screenshot ont he side of this text shows the variety of different catergories of products that amazon provide for all the users. This website is popular to a variety of users as they are normally cheaper than other websites and can cater for everyones needs.  Like e-bay people can also sell items they no longer want. So as well as it being a business to user online retail site it is also a user to user retail site

For example this CD can be brought at the normal retail price of £5.99 but can be purhased at second hand price of £4.18. When on the home screen it provides a service that recomends people to services that are most popular, this is an effective service as people are able to shortcut to the main products that have just been realease.

When on amazon there are a variety of thigns you can do with when accessing your account. The screen shot above shows the variety of different things that you can do. Alot of people use the main feature of their account to track an order they have placed. This is very effective for the account holder as they are able to find out informationabout when there parcel will be delievered and information such as if it has been dispatched etc. There are other action you can perform with orders such as: Return items or gifts, Manage subscribe & save items, Manage magazine subscriptions, leave seller feedback, leave packaging feedback and view your emails with sellers. After placing orders you are also able to view your history of orders.

Other features you do whilst on your account is sell stuff through amazon for other buyers, change your main account settings and also edit payment methods this can help the users process when the are going to pay for products later on.

Amazon provide an effective page where they do deals of the week, this is good for people that are looking for a deal on certain preducts. Amazon will provide differnet offers each week where people can save money on prodcuts they need. On the main screen of this page they provide information for the most popular deals of the week and the prducts that have the best deals, this will help some people to find a deal on then product they are looking for quickly rather than searching for the exact product. The deals provdied are off a wide variety as shown on the left toolbar there is a wide variety of categories to find things in.

iTunes

Apple launched an update to its iTunes software for Macs and pcs. The new version 10.0.1 mostly adds bug fixes, but the most important addition is an overhaul of how you share your music with friends on ping, the musical social network that Apple released.

Now you can “Like” or “Post” a song from your library or playlists with a menu that appears next to the title of whichever song is playing, as seen in the picture above. The original version of Ping lived in its own world apart from your music library, making it kind of a pain to use. There’s also a Ping sidebar that lets you view updates from artists and friends you’re following without leaving your library. A button has been placed in the bottom right corner of the iTunes window that expands or contracts the sidebar. 

Apps on the iPhone

Every app you download from the App Store makes your iPhone do even more. And with hundreds of thousands of apps to choose from, we mean a whole lot more. Enter the App Store to shop for amazing apps in almost every category: games, lifestyle, social networking, and education, for starters. Many apps are even free. If you’re just browsing, the App Store makes it easy. You can see what’s new in Featured, check out the Top 25, and flick through a few screenshots. Find apps by doing a quick search, then download them wherever you are and start using them right away.* You can even purchase apps to send as gifts to friends and family.   

Stay up to date   

Developers are constantly improving their apps. When you visit the App Store, the Update icon shows you when an update is available for an app you have. With a tap, you can download the updates either one at a time or all at once. Then you’ll always have the latest versions.      

Recommendations

With so many apps available, you need an easy way to find new ones to enjoy. That’s where Genius comes in. With just a tap, Genius gives you personalized recommendations for apps you might like based on apps you and others have downloaded.                    

Library

Your library contains everything you’ve imported into iTunes and your iTunes Store purchases: music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, books, iPod games, apps, lectures from iTunes U, and ringtones.

The benefits of Ecommerce:

• Ecommerce allows people to carry out businesses without the barriers of time o

  Store

  One click takes you to the iTunes Store. iTunes adds everything you buy to your library. Downloading starts when you click Buy Now in the iTunes Store.

  Devices

  Your iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV appear in iTunes under the Devices section when they’re connected to your computer. CDs you’re burning or importing appear there, too. Click your device and iTunes shows you a summary of everything on it. Click a CD to check the progress of an import or a burn.

  Shared

  Look under Shared to see music, video, podcasts, audiobooks, and other media in the iTunes libraries of computers on your local network. With Home Sharing enabled, you can import movies, music, TV shows, apps, books, and more from up to five authorized computers in your home.

  Genius

  Genius playlists and Genius Mixes appear under Genius. Whenever you create and save a Genius playlist, this is where you’ll find it. Genius Mixes automatically appear here, too. And you can play them all with a click.

  Playlists

  All the playlists you create appear here — standard playlists as well as your Smart Playlists. iTunes DJ also appears under Playlists.
  
  r distance. One can log on to the Internet at any point of time, be it day or night and purchase or sell anything one desires at a single click of the mouse.
• The direct cost-of-sale for an order taken from a web site is lower than through traditional means (retail, paper based), as there is no human interaction during the on-line electronic purchase order process. Also, electronic selling virtually eliminates processing errors, as well as being faster and more convenient for the visitor.
• Ecommerce is ideal for niche products. Customers for such products are usually few. But in the vast market place i.e. the Internet, even niche products could generate viable volumes.
• Another important benefit of Ecommerce is that it is the cheapest means of doing business.
• The day-to-day pressures of the marketplace have played their part in reducing the opportunities for companies to invest in improving their competitive position. A mature market, increased competitions have all reduced the amount of money available to invest. If the selling price cannot be increased and the manufactured cost cannot be decreased then the difference can be in the way the business is carried out. Ecommerce has provided the solution by decimating the costs, which are incurred.
• From the buyer’s perspective also ecommerce offers a lot of tangible advantages.
  
  1. Reduction in buyer’s sorting out time.
  2. Better buyer descisions
  3. Less time is spent in resolving invoice and order discrepancies.
  4. Increased opportunities for buying alternative products.
• The strategic benefit of making a business ‘ecommerce enabled’, is that it helps reduce the delivery time, labour cost and the cost incurred in the following areas:
1. Document preparation
2. Error detection and correction
3. Reconciliation
4. Mail preparation
5. Telephone calling
6. Data entry
7. Overtime
8. Supervision expenses
• Operational benefits of e commerce include reducing both the time and personnel required to complete business processes, and reducing strain on other resources. It’s because of all these advantages that one can harness the power of ecommerce and convert a business to ebusiness by using powerful turnkey ecommerce solutions made available by ebusiness solution providers.

Disadvantages

One of the major disadvantages of online shopping is the necessity to have a personal computer or at least access to one and, of course, the ability to master its use sufficiently well to make use of the internet shopping market. Although members of the public who come within one or other of these categories is definitely in the minority, it remains a disadvantage of this means of shopping.

When you shop in a real market, you are able to see, feel and even try out the goods that you are buying. No such facility exists when you buy online. The most you will be able to achieve is to see a picture of the goods that you are interested in acquiring. Whilst invariably this will provide and accurate representation of the product, the fact remains that, contrary to the popular saying - the camera does occasionally lie!

There can sometimes be a significant delay in receiving your goods that have been acquired on the internet, whereas, of course, you have immediate access to those that have been purchased in a store. You also have to organise your personal schedule to be at home whenever the goods are actually delivered. Additionally, there are sometimes some quite significant delivery costs involved, which do not apply if you collect the goods yourself from a real store.

The major disadvantage is the scope for compromise of your personal financial information. Whilst this risk has clearly been reduced by the development of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption to protect the integrity of your personal financial details, it remains essential that a purchaser uses great care in divulging financial information online, particularly to a site that he is not familiar with. The concern about releasing personal financial information on the internet remains the single most cited reason, anecdotally, for people avoiding online shopping, despite all its apparent benefits.

Another example of E- commerce is ebay, this is different from normal e commerce websites as the products that are being sold on ebay are from anyone user with an account and not from a company like a normally website.

  



   

 This is a screenshot of the homepage of ebay This is has a search bar which allows people to search for the product the are looking for. It also has  adrop down menu this has a variety of different catagories which people can choose from.

Ebay contains an auto-bidding system. This is where a person states the maximum amount of money they are willing to bid for an item. A computer program then places a bid only a small amount above the current price. If another person places a higher bid the auto bidding computer system then increases the bid. This continues until on of the people reach their max bid. When this happens the computer stops bidding for that person. This is useful as it means that people will not have to constantly watch the item they are bidding on. It also means that people will pay the lowest possible price. They also provide a system where people can buy the gifts straight away this alows the seller to get the price they wish to sell at. Another way is that the seller can put a reserve price on this is a minimum buying price that has to be exceeded in order for the product to sell.
As anyone can sell stuff on ebay there is a risk that the product may be damaged. People also have to be careful of what they buy. Although by law people have to accurately describe the product in the description box, sometimes people only read a bit of the description and focus more on the picture which can lead to them buying something they do not want. An example of this was when somebody took a photo of their car and turned it into a poster. He then put the poster up on Ebay . In the description box he described all the features of the actual car. Halfway throughthe description he mentioned it was a poster. However many people did not read this part and proceded to bid ridiculously high amounts of money. The person could not get prosecuted as he had said that e was selling a poster.
However an advantage of anyone being able to sell objects can result in people being able to find rare or limited edition items that can not be brought from a company.
Ebay uses a feature called pay-pal. This is were you tell the compnay pay-pal your credit card information. This is so that you can make payments through pay-pal and not directly. This is very useful becuase it dramatically reduces the risk of someone illegally gaining your credit card information, which they can work out if you pay them directly. The only concern is that pay-pal may use your credit card. However pay-pal is a professional company so it is very unlikely for that to happen.