Final Assignment

Academic Year: 2012-2013 Course: Hotel Management (3 years, Higher Diploma) Subject: E-COMMERCE Semester: 5th & 6th Fall 2012 Code: FSB 311

Tutor/Instructor: Andriani Manoli

Student name: Gurbinder Singh Student number: 3109

E-commerce
Final assignment
(You should submit this assignment a week before the end of semester that is on 22nd of April 2013.)

Question 1

Search the Web for an example of each of the five major types of e-commerce and create an electronic slide presentation or written report describing each Web site (take a screenshot of each, if possible) and explain why it fits into one of the five types of e-commerce. The purpose of this project is for students to begin looking at the Web sites they visit from a critical perspective and begin analyzing the information they can find at those sites. Presentations/reports submitted for this project will differ depending on the examples selected by students. Examples might include the following: B2C: Any one of a number of B2C companies such as e-tailers, service providers, portals, content providers, and community providers, might be selected. B2B: Any one of a number of B2B companies such as Elemica (consortia), Grainger.com (e-distributor), and ChemConnect (exchange), could be selected. C2C: Leading examples of C2C e-commerce companies include eBay, Half.com, Craigslist and others that act as an intermediary between consumers seeking to make transactions. P2P: Companies engaged in P2P e-commerce include: The Pirate Bay, Blubster.com, and Frostwire. For each example chosen, the student should describe the features of the company that indicate which particular category of e-commerce it falls into. For example, if barnesandnoble.com is chosen as a representative of B2C ecommerce, the student might describe the features he or she sees available on the home page. They should note that barnesandnoble.com focuses primarily on the sale of books, music, software, magazines, prints, posters, and related products to individual consumers.

Question 2

Choose an e-commerce Web site and assess it in terms of the eight unique features of e-commerce technology. Which of the features does the site implement well, and which features poorly, in your opinion? Prepare a short memo to the president of the company you have chosen, detailing your findings and any suggestions for improvement you may have.

Students should visit a number of Web sites and begin analyzing the information they can find at those sites. Presentations/reports submitted for this project will differ depending on the example selected by students. In assessing a Web site in terms of the eight unique features of e-commerce technology, a student might focus on the following: Ubiquity: What kinds of m-commerce applications, if any, does the site offer? (Such applications increase ubiquity by making e-commerce available from a wider range of devices.) Global reach: Does the Web site try to reach consumers outside of its host country? If so, how well is this implemented? Universal standards: There should not be much variance between Web sites with respect to this feature of e-commerce technology. Richness: Does the Web site use animated graphics, Flash animations, or streaming media to deliver marketing messages? If so, how effective does the student find these features? Do they aid the consuming experience, or hinder it? Interactivity: In what ways is the Web site interactive? Information density: Students should note what, if any, information (via registration or through other means) a Web site overtly collects from visitors or users. Personalization/Customization: In what ways does the Web site personalize its marketing messages? For instance, is the user greeted by name? Can products and services be customized? Social technology: Does the Web site offer ways for consumers to share opinions and preferences?

E-COMMERCE

E-commerce is buying and selling goods and services over the Internet. Ecommerce is part of ebusiness. E-business is a structure that includes not only those transactions that center on buying and selling goods and services to generate revenue, but also those transactions that support revenue generation. These activities include generating demand for goods and services, offering sales support and customer service, or facilitating communications between business partners.

Major Types of E-Commerce

B2C (Business to Consumer) Amazon.com

B2C is an acronym for "business to consumer". A B2C business is one that provides products or services direct to the consumer.

Amazon.com, (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American e-commerce company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, and launched in 1995, Amazon.com began as an online bookstore before diversifying its product lines by adding VHSs, DVDs, music CDs, MP3s, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and more. Amazon has since established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, China, and Japan.

Since starting out in his garage in Bellevue, Washington, Jeff Bezos has gone on to form one of the greatest ecommerce sites the internet has ever seen. This is the story and history of Amazon.com as told through a timeline of events.

Features of Amazon.com

You sell it, we ship it. Amazon has created one of the most advanced Fulfilment networks in the world, and your business can now benefit from our expertise. With Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) you store your products in Amazons Fulfilment centres, and we directly pick, pack and deliver them as well as provide customer service. You can even offer your products for sale on other Amazon Marketplaces in Europe (Germany, France, and Italy) and we fulfil these orders from your inventory stored in the UK.

Amazon start in market with selling books but now we can find everything on amazon.com. Example,mp3,dvd,computer,book,clothes,sports products,games,industrial and sentific

products,shoes.etc.

B2B (Business to Business)

Globalsources.com

Commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer.

Merle Hinrichs founds Asian Sources Ltd in Hong Kong with partner Joe Bendy.

Over 42 years, Global Sources has been dedicated to serving the international B2B trade industry and building a quality buyer community for suppliers. Engage with target buyers and promote your unique strength and value through media channels commonly used by buyer, including online, magazine, trade shows and Private Sourcing Events.

Global Sources, through its joint venture with United Business Media, delivers all the information needed by electronics engineers and manufacturing executives across Asia and China through an integrated media combination that covers local-language publications, websites and premier technical events.

Features of Globalsources.com

Through this website we can find the supplier whom can help us to supply product. In this website we can find almost every product supplier. Example Auto Parts, computer products, Baby & children's, Electronic components, electronic, fashion accessories, garments and textiles, hardware and diy, gifts and premium, home products, machinery , sports ,telecom and etc.

C2C (Consumer to Consumer)

ebay.com

C2C stands for consumer to consumer electronic commerce. The Internet has facilitated new types of C2C although it is important to note that this kind of commerce -- in the form of barter, yard sales, flea markets, swap meets, and the like -- has existed since time immemorial. Notably, most of the highly successful C2C examples using the Internet actually use some type of corporate intermediary and are thus not strictly "pure play" examples of C2C. An example of consumer-to-consumer electronic commerce would be Ebay.

EBay was founded in Pierre Omidyar's San Jose living room back in September 1995. It was from the start meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services for individuals.

In 1998, Pierre and his cofounder Jeff Skoll brought in Meg Whitman to sustain the success. Meg had studied at the Harvard Business School and had learned the importance of branding at companies such as Hasbro.

Features of ebay.com

The main feature of ebay.com is that we can buy and sell items at reasonable prices. We can buy and sell anything through this website even its new or even its used. Like other website we can buy and sell anything either for business or for home anything. The main difference in this web sites is consumer can also sell their products without any middle agent.

P2P (Peer to Peer)

Gnutella

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing sites allow users to download and share digital files over the Internet. Peer-to-Peer sites allow users to connect to either central computers or directly to other user computers for the purpose of file sharing. P2P networks are based upon a distributed

architecture. In pure P2P networks, each user becomes a node of the network, acting both as a client and as a server, while connecting to other nodes in the network. Each node utilizes its own resources (such as storage and bandwidth), thus as more nodes are added to the network, the total resources available in the network increases. P2P networks are often used to legally share various types of digital files, however, early lawsuits over copyrights (of music, movies and software) sometimes shared over these networks have caused some of the earlier P2P networks, such as Napster, to charge for services pay royalties to copyright holders.

Gnutella is a decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing network. With similar results as the old Napster, users of Gnutella are able to search for a song or file through one of Gnutellas clients and then download that file onto his or her own hard drive. What makes Gnutella different from Napster is the fact that it lacks a central server and, instead, each of the computers networked perform as both server and client.

Features of Gnutella

One of Gnutella's most touted qualities is the fact that it is always working; if a user is able to connect with at least one other computer, the entire network is queried during the search, not merely one server. This does, however, mean that there is no guarantee the desired file is on any of the computers reached through the network. The search can also take a minute or more before a response is received. M-Commerce (Mobile Commerce) paulfredricks.com

The use of wireless handheld devices such as cellular phones and laptops to conduct commercial transactions online. Mobile commerce transactions continues to grow, and the term includes the purchase and sale of a wide range of goods and services, online banking, bill payment, information delivery and so on. Also known as m-commerce.

The rapid growth of mobile commerce is being driven by a number of positive factors - the demand for applications from an increasingly mobile customer and consumer base; the rapid adoption of online commerce thanks to the resolution of security issues; and technological advances that have given wireless handheld devices advanced capabilities and substantial computing power.

Features of paulfredricks.com

Paul Fredrick through this website we can buy all kind of cloths, sandals shorts, shoes, socks, ties, dress, shirts, etc.

QUESTION 2. UNIQUE FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY

Electronic commerce, commonly known as ecommerce, is a type of industry where buying and selling of product or service is conducted over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and

automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices social media, and telephones as well. Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of business transactions. I think in Ebay company all feature of e commerce is well implemented because of their successes in the market is a sign that all the feature is well implemented. Unique features of E-Commerce technology Interactivity Technologies used in Ebay require consumer interactions in order to make an individual feel as though he is an active participant in the transaction process. As a result, Ebay can adjust to each individuals experience. For example, while shopping online, an individual is able to view different angles of some items, add products into a virtual shopping cart, checkout by inputting his payment information and then submit the order.

Personalization

Technologies with in Ebay allow for the personalization and customization of marketing messages groups or individuals receive. Pearson Education states that companies can base such messages on individual characteristics of a consumer. An example of personalization includes product recommendations based on a user's search history on a Web site that allows individuals to create an account. Information Richness In Ebay Users can access and utilize text messages and visual and audio components to send and receive information. Pearson Education states that such aspects provide a rich informational experience in regards to marketing and the consumer experience. An individual may see information richness on a company's blog if a post contains a video related to a product and hyperlinks that allow him to look at or purchase the product and send information about the post via text message or email. Universal Standards Consequently, universal standards help simplify interactions. An individual can see these standards while shopping online, as the process to purchase items is similar on Ebay that use eCommerce technologies. Similarly, when an individual creates an online account, the site generally requires an individual to create a username and password so he can access his account. Ubiquity Because they are web-based, Ebay technological features are available anywhere you can connect to the Internet at any time, including homes, offices, video game systems with an Internet connection and mobile phone devices. Because Ebay is ubiquitous, the market is able to extend its traditional geographic boundaries and operating hours. An example includes the ability

to access the Internet wherever there is a Wi-Fi hotspot, such as a cafe or airport. Moreover, individuals who have cell phones with data capabilities can access the Internet without a Wi-Fi connection. Information Density The use of Ebay reduces the cost to store, process and communicate information, according to Pearson Education. At the same time, accuracy and timeliness increase; thus, making information accurate, inexpensive and plentiful. For example, the online shopping process allows a company to receive personal, shipping, billing and payment information from a customer all at once and sends the customer's information to the appropriate departments in a matter of seconds. User-Generated Content Social networks use Ebay technologies to allow members, the general public, to share content with the worldwide community, according to Kurt Grashaw in an article for the Web site Merchant Circle. Consequently, consumers with accounts can share personal and commercial information to promote a product or service. When a company has a professional social networking account, a member of the same social network has the option of associating himself with the company or a product by saying he likes or recommends it. When an individual updates his status on a social networking account, he may also mention a product or company by name, which creates word-of-mouth advertising. Global Reach Technologies within Ebay seamlessly stretch across traditional cultural and national boundaries and enable worldwide access. Pearson Education states that instead of just offering goods and services to a population within a specific boundary, businesses can market to and serve an

international audience. The Internet and multilingual Web sites, as well as the ability to translate a Web page, allows international visitors all over the globe to access company Web sites, purchase products and make business interactions.