The major areas of business and commercial
activities where E-commerce is widely used today includes trading of goods
which comprises of marketing and selling, auctions of goods, financial services
like banking and insurance. E-commerce is not limited to the areas
discussed here but spreads many other developing areas for doing business and
other activities.
Internet Bookshops
One of the first applications of E-commerce
is Internet bookshops. Customers prefer purchasing books on Internet
as they do not require to be physically checked and can be easily described. Books can be easily shipped to the customers
place little or no damage to them. Online bookstores need a good website
displaying all the books category wise, picture of the cover page, description
of the books including the number of pages, price of the book, discounts and
reviews of other customers. The search of a book can be made by title of
the book, author’s name or publication name. The online bookstores may also
record the customer’s interests and inform them about new arrivals to attract
and retain their interest.
Electronic Newspaper
An electronic newspaper also known as
E-newspaper is a newspaper that exists on the Internet in digital form. It has advantages over the printed newspaper
and the news broadcasted on television and radios. It can give us up-to-date news on the issues
that are happening worldwide. With the advent of digital technologies, the
browser can be set to select the news as per the interest of the reader. It also removes the hassle of printing
process and further help in reducing the costs. Majority of the leading newspaper now provide
E-newspaper to the readers.
Online Auctions
An auction is the process of buying and
selling products or services by offering the customers to bid the price and
selling the product to the highest bidder. The traditional auctions have limited
participation of people. Today, the same auction mechanism can be
implemented using E-commerce technologies which allow the people to bid on
Internet. This is known as Online Auction. There are many websites providing live
auctions of goods. These websites provide the platform for both
the seller and the bidders. When a product is placed by someone for
auction on these sites, he or she becomes the seller. At the same time if someone bids for a
product which is placed by other sellers on the site, in that case one becomes
a bidder. To sell an item through an online auction
site, one needs to first register with the site. This is required so the items one sells or
bids on, can be tracked and also to determine the winning bids and build a
database of seller and bidder feedback. Members are also required to provide their
basic contact information before they are allowed to sell. Then, the member must go through the site’s
steps to sell each item that they want to put up for auction. The member generally puts a digital picture
of the item and writes a brief description about the item. By placing goods for auction, a person can
get a good price through bidding and once the target price is reached or the
time limit is over, the item is transferred to the bidder. Various payment options are also provided to
the bidder. The sellers can get the advantage of getting
best price for their products and the bidders save time to get the product of
their choice.
Marketing and Selling
Many companies’ now-days conduct their
business of marketing and selling of goods and services by their websites. They provide their product catalog online
over Internet for better marketing. The catalog displays different categories
of products with images, videos in some cases, brief description and features
of the product. The customers can view the catalog and
select the products of their choice by adding them to the shopping cart. An online shopping cart is similar to the
original store shopping cart. The store, the customer selects the products
and puts it in the shopping cart. When finished, the final billing is done for
all the products in the shopping cart purchased by the customer. Similarly, in online shopping cart the
customer can add the product, review what he/she has selected, make necessary
modification or addition and finally order the products while checking out. The user needs to provide shipping detail. The payment of the purchase can also be made
through Internet. Today, one can purchase groceries, toys,
computer accessories, mobiles and many more products from Internet. Some websites provide holiday packages along
with airline tickets. Today buying an airline or railway ticket can
be easily bought online. Once the ticket is booked the E-copy of the
ticket is sent on one’s mail as well as an SMS on one’s mobile.
Online billing
In online billing, companies send their bills
to customers through E-mail. Once the customer receives the bills, he/she
can pay on the company’s website using credit card or net banking facility. Companies who need to send the bills to a large
number of customers periodically can use these facilities.
Information
Services
Many organizations use the Internet to
provide latest information to their users or members. This includes educational institutes and
universities, which provides the examination results, online enrollment forms,
examination schedule and seating arrangement and important notices. Students can view their results using the
website from anywhere. Another example of information services is
the notices and reminders sent to the customers by the companies or banks. Many organizations provide various forms to
be downloaded so that the customer can easily download and use it. Companies can also get the information or
details about the customers by filling the forms online.
Support services
Support services have become increasingly
important due to the huge technological changes that have taken place in the
last decade. Today, even the simplest products utilize
sophisticated electronics which require specialized knowledge and technical
ability for the maintenance and support when any problem arises. After selling the products, companies are
providing online support to the customers. For example, a company selling electronic
product provides online complaint registration to their customers, which is
then forwarded to the support engineer. Customers can also track the status of their
complaint placed online. Software companies provide online support to
their customers for any problem in installation, configuration or use. Software vendors also allow their licensed
customers to download the recent updates of the software. Hardware vendors put software drivers for
their devices so that the customer can download them by choosing proper product
type and model.
Net Banking
Net banking or electronic banking is getting
more popular day by day. Sometimes a customer may want to make an
urgent payment or check his account without visiting the bank due to some
problems. Online banking can help the customers solve
these problems. Online banking is the process of conducting
the banking transactions over the Internet. Today majority of the leading banks have
started providing online banking facility to its customers. With the help of online banking customers can
avail the following services. Check account balance at any time. Transfer the money from one account to other. Obtain statements for any credit or debit. Find status of transactions. Pay various bills online like telephone,
electricity and many more without going to the bank. The customer is provided with a password for
online banking services with which he can log in to the bank site and performs
all the banking activities from his computer or mobile.
