DEVELOPMENT OF E-COMMERCE MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM FOR CUSTOMER TO CUSTOMER (C-TO-C)

SUBMITTED TO

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MINNA

ABSTRACT
E-Commerce is often thought simply to refer to buying and selling using the internet;
People immediately think of consumer retail purchases from companies such as Amazon. But e-

Commerce involves much more than electronically mediated financial transactions between

Organizations and customers. E commerce should be considered as all electronically mediated

Transactions between an organization and any third party it deals with. By this definition, non-

Financial transactions such as customer requests for further information would also be

Considered to be part of e- commerce. Is now a popular figure that has disseminated worldwide

As such it’s no longer viewed as a new phenomenal. But as stated earlier the primary cons in

Today‘s e-commerce business is best regarded to be only as consumer retail purchases from

companies, in this project, we are going to’ Deploy’ innovate, and propagate ‘: first, deploy a

Consistent technology platform. Then separate it from the pack by coming up with better ways

Of working. Finally, use the platform to propagate these business innovations widely and

reliably. In this regard, deploying IT serves two distinct roles- as a catalyst for innovation ideas
and as an engine for delivering them.

CHAPTER ONE
 INTRODUCATION

1.0 Background of the study

Even today, some considerable time after the so called ‘dot com/internet revolution,’ electronic

commerce (e-commerce) remain a relatively new, emerging and constantly changing area of

business management and information technology. There has been and continues to be much

publicity and discussion about e-commerce. Library catalogues and shelves are filed with books

and articles on the subject. However, there remains a sense of confusion, suspicion and

misunderstanding surrounding the area, which has been exacerbated by the different contexts in

which electronic commerce is used, coupled with the myriad related buzzwords and acronyms.

This project aim to consolidate the major themes that have arisen from the new area of electronic

commerce and to provide an understanding of its application and important to management. In

order to understand electronic commerce it is important to identify the different terms that are

used, and to assess their origin and using. 1 to 1 media (2008) The Time for cross- channel

measurement is Now, Article by Kevin Zimmerman, 22 September.

According to the editor-in- chief of international Journal of Electronic commerce, Vladimir

zwass, ‘Electronic commerce is sharing business information, maintaining business relationships

and conducting business transactions by means of telecommunications network; He maintains

that in its purest form, electronic commerce has existed for over 40 years, originating from the,

electronic transmission of messages during the Berlin airlift in 1948. From this, electronic data

interchange (EDI) was the next stage of e-commerce development. In the 1960s a cooperative

effort between industry groups produced a first attempt at common electronic data formats. The

formats, however, were only for purchasing for intra-industry transactions. It was not until the
late 1970s that work began for national Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Standards, which

developed well into the early 1990s. EDI is the electronic transfer of a standardized business

transaction between a sender and receiver computer, over some kind of private network or value

added network (VAN).Both side would have to have the same application software and the data

would be exchanged in an extremely rigorous format. In sectors such as retail, automotive,

defense and heavy manufacturing, EDI was developed to integrate information across larger

parts of an organization’ s value chain from design to maintenance so that manufacturers could

share information with designers, maintenance and other partners stakeholders. Before the

widespread uptake and commercial use of the internet, the EDI system was expensive to run

mainly because of the high cost of the private networks.

Thus, uptake was limited largely to case-rich multinational corporations using their financial

strength to pressure and persuade (with subsidies) smaller suppliers to implement EDI systems,

often at a very high cost. By 1996 no more than 50,000 companies in Europe and 44,000 in the

USA were using EDI, representing less than one per cent of the total number of companies in

each of the respective continents. According to Z wass, electronic commerce has been re-defined

by the dynamics of the Internet and traditional e-commerce is rapidly moving to the Internet.

Adams C., Kapashi, N., Neely, A. and Marr, B. (2000) Managing with measures. Measuring e

business performance. Accenture white paper. Survey conducted in conjunction with Canfield

School Management. With the advent of the Internet, the term e –commerce began to include:

I. Electronic trading of physical goods and of intangibles such as information.

for delivery.

III. The electronic provision of services such as after sales support or on-line legal advice.

IV. Electronic support for collaboration between companies such as collaborative on-line

design and engineering or virtual business consultancy terms.

Some of the definitions of e-commerce often heard and found in publications and the media are:

Electronic commerce (EC) is where business transactions take place via telecommunications

networks, especially the internet.

Electronic commerce describes the buying and selling of products, services, and information via

computer net works including the internet.

Electronic commerce is about doing business electronically.

E-commerce, commerce, or electronic commerce is defined as the conduct of a financial

transaction by electronic means. Agrawal, V.,Arjana, V. and Lemmens, R. (2001) E-

performance: the path to rational exuberance,McKinsey Quarterly, no.1,31-43.

The wide range of business activities related to e- commerce brought about a range of other new

terms and phrases to describe the internet phenomenon in other business sectors. Some of these

focus on purchasing from on-line stores on the internet. Since transactions go through the

internet and the Web. The terms I-commerce (internet commerce), ecommerce and even Web-

commerce have been suggested but are now very rarely used. Other terms that are used for

online retail selling include e-tailing virtual-stores or cyber stores. A collection of these virtual

stores is sometimes gathered into a ‘virtual mall’ or ‘cybermall’ .

What used to be a single physical marketplace located in a geographical area has now become a

borderless marketplace including national and international markets. By becoming e-commerce

enabled, businesses now access to people all around the world. In effect all e-commerce business

have become virtual multinational corporations. Operational cost savings. The cost of creating,

processing, distributing, storing and retrieving paper- based information has decreased.

E-commerce has revolutionized the way consumers buy goods and services.

The pull-types processing allows for products and services to be customized to the customer’s

requirements. In the past when ford first started making motor cars, customers could have any

colour so long as it was black. Now customers can configure a car according to their

specifications within minutes on-line via the w.w.w. ford com website. Enables reduced

inventories and overheads by facilitating ‘pull’-type supply chain management – this is based on

collecting the customer order and then delivering through JIT (just – in –Time) Manufacturing .

This is particularly beneficial for companies in the high technology sector, where stocks of

components help could quickly become obsolete within months. For example, companies like

Motorola (mobile phones), and Dell (computers) gather customer orders for a product, transmit

them electronically to the manufacturing plant where they are manufactured according to the

customer’s specifications (like colour and features) and then sent ti the customer within a few

days. Lower telecommunications cost. The internet is much cheapter than value added networks

(VANs) which were based on leasing telephone lines for the sole use of the organization and its

authorized partners. It is also cheaper to send a fax or e-mail via the Internet that direct dialing.

Digitization of Products and processes. Particularly in the case of software and music/ video
products, which can be downloaded or e-mailed directly to customers via the Internal in digital

or electronic format. No more 24 – hour- time constraints. Business can be contact customers or

suppliers at any time.

1.2 Aim and objectives

The aim of the study is develop ecommerce information technology software.

The objectives are:

I. Deployment of individual customer dashboard for every transaction.

II. Automation of customer to customer (C2C) Communication during transaction.

III. Improvement of communication along production line between different e-commerce

companies using online platform.

1.3 Significant of the study

24/7 access enables customers to shop or conduct other transactions 24 hours a day, all year

round from almost any location. For example, checking balances, making payments, obtaining

travel and other information. Customers not only have a whole range of products that they can

choose from and customize, but also an international selection of suppliers, Price comparisons,

Customers can ‘stop’ around the world and conduct comparisons either directly by visiting

different sites, or by visiting a single site where prices are aggregated from a number of

providers and compared (for example w. w. w. moneyextra. Co.uk for financial products and

services). Improved delivery processes. This can range from the immedicate delivery of

digitized or electronic goods such as software or audio – visual files by downloading via the

Internet, to the on – line tracking of the progress of packages being delivered by mail or courier.
An environment of competition where substantial discounts can be found or value added, as

different retailers via for customers. It also allows many individual customers to aggregate their

orders together into a single order presented to wholesalers or manufacturers and obtain a more

competitive price (aggregate buying).

1.4 Scope and Limitation

E-Commerce business is the conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but

also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. E-business includes customer

service (e-service) and intra – business tasks.

E- Commerce business serve as the transformation of key business processes through the use of

internet technologies. An e- commerce business is a company that can adapt to constant and

continual change.

There was much hype surrounding the internet and e- commerce over the last few years of the

twentieth century. Much of it promoted the Internet and e-commerce as the panacea for all ills,

which raises the question, are there any limitations of e- commerce and the Internet? Isaac

Newton’s 3rd Law of motion, ‘Fore every action there is an equal and opposite reaction ‘

suggests that for all the benefits there are limitations to e-commerce. These again will be dealt

with according to the three major stakeholders – organizations, consumers and society.

Lack of sufficient system security, reliability, standards, and communication protocols. There are

numerous reports of websites and databases being hacked into, and security holes in software.

For example, Microsoft has over the years issued many security notices and ‘patches’ for their

software. Several banking and other business websites, including Barclays Bank, Power gen and

even the Consumers’ Association in the UK, have experienced breaches in security where ‘a
technical oversight’ or ‘ a fault in its systems’ led to confidential client information becoming

available to all. Rapidly evolving and changing technology, so there is always a feeling of trying

to ‘catch up’ and not be left behind. Under pressure to innovate and develop business models to

exploit the new opportunities which sometimes leads to strategies detrimental to the

organization. Bayne,K. (1997) The Internet Marketing plan. Wiley, New York.

The ease with business models can be copied and emulated over the internet increase that

pressure and curtail longer-term competitive advantage. Facing increased competition from both

national and international competitors often leads to price wars and ‘newer’ technology. There

are Problems where older business systems cannot communicate with web based and internet

infrastructures, leading to some organizations running almost two independent systems where

data cannot be shared. This often leads to having to invest in new systems or an infrastructure,

which bridges the different systems. In both financially costly as well as disruptive to the

efficient running of organizations. Computing equipment is needed for individuals to participate

in the new ‘digital’ economy, which means an initial capital cost to customers. A basic technical

knowledge is required of both computing equipment and navigation of the Internet and the

World Wide Web. Cost of access to the Internet, whether dial-up or broadband tariffs. Cost of

computing equipment. Not just the initial cost of buying equipment but making sure that the

technology is updated regularly to be compatible with the changing requirement of the internet,

websites and applications. Lack of security and privacy of personal data. There is no real control

of the data that is collected over the web or internet.

Data protection laws are not universal and so websites hosted in different countries may or may

not have laws which protect privacy of personal data. Physical contact and relationships are

replaced by electronic processes. Customers are unable to touch and feel goods being sold on-
line or gauge voices and reactions of human beings. A lack of trust because they are interacting

with faceless computers. Bocij, P. , chaffey, D. , Greasley, A. and Hickie, S. (2005) Business

information Systems. Technology, Development and Management, 3rd edn. Financial Times

Prentice Hall, Harlow.

Breakdown in human interaction. As people become more used to interacting electronically there

could be an erosion of personal and social skills which introduction to e-commerce might

eventually be detrimental to the world we live in where people are more comfortable interacting

with a screen than face to face. Social division. There is a potential danger that there will be an

increase in the social divide between technical haves and have-nots – so people who do not have

technical skills become unable to secure better- paid jobs and could form an underclass with

potentially dangerous implications for social stability. Reliance on telecommunications

infrastructure, power and IT skills, which in developing countries nullifies the benefits when

power, advanced telecommunications infrastructures and IT skills are unavailable or scarce or

undeveloped. Wasted resources. As new technology dates quickly how you do dispose of all

the old computers, keyboards, monitors, speakers, and other hardware or software? Facilitates

just- In- Time manufacturing. This could potentially cripple an economy in times of crisis as

stocks are kept to minimum and delivery patterns are based on pre- set levels of stock which last

for days rather than weeks. Bayne,K. (1997) The Internet Marketing plan. Wiley, New York.

1.6 Motivation

The criteria that can determine the level of advancement of e-commerce can be categorized as:
1. Technological factors- The degree of advancement of the telecommunications

infrastructure which provides access to the new technology for business and consumers.

2. Political factors- including the role of government in creating government legislation,

initiatives and funding to support the use and development of e-commerce and

information technology.

3. Social factors- incorporating the level and advancement in IT education and training

which will enable both potential buyers and the workforce to understand and use the new

technology.

4. Economic factors-including the general wealth and commercial health of the nation and

the elements that contribute to it.

5. Organization culture- attitudes to research and development (R&D); its willingness to

innovate and use technology to achieve objectives.

6. Commercial benefits – in terms of cost savings and improved deficiency that impact on

the financial performance of the firm.

7. Skilled and committed workforce- that understands is willing and able to implement new

technologies and process.

8. Requirements of customers and suppliers- in terms of product and service demand and

supply.

9. Competition- ensuring the organization stays ahead of or at keeps up with competitors

and industry leaders