Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) ProjectElectronic CommerceElectronic Commerce is the process of buying and selling products and services online. It is also commonly known as E-Commerce. Even though the internet has come a long way the concept of electronic commerce is still new to many people. This concept is still emerging and people are getting used to using e-commerce.Many literature and books have been penned on this subject; still there is great confusion and misunderstandings about the concept. Every book has a different way of explaining the subject of e-commerce and hence this has left the users confused as to what is the actual meaning of electronic commerce. This book has been prepared with an idea to provide the readers a clear understanding about e-commerce and how the application can bring profits to the business and how the management will benefit from it.The concept of electronic commerce can be understood easily if the user can understand the various technical terms which are used in the literature and also the user has to understand where the terms have been taken from and the uses of these technical terms. The editor in chief of the International Journal of Electronic Commerce Mr.Vladimir Zwass has termed the e-commerce as A medium of sharing the business information, business transactions, helpful in maintain the business relationships with the help of telecommunication networks. Mr. Vladimir Zwass has further mentioned that the concept of electronic commerce existed before 40 years. It was initially originated in Berlin in 1948 where the airlifting was done with the help of electronic transmission of the messages.The next step in the early electronic commerce was the electronic data interchange also commonly known as (EDI). Many industry groups had come together in the 1960 to get a common platform on the electronic data formats. The main utilization of the electronic formats was for purchasing; maintaining the finance data, transportation and it was also majorly used for intra industry transactions. The further development in the electronic commerce took place in the late 1970.There were a group of experts who started developing the electronic data interchange and could develop it by 1990. EDI essentially means the transferring of business transactions between the sender and the receiver computer. This can be done on any private network or value added network. In case of EDI both the sender and receiver should have same type of software hence the data is transferred at a faster pace compared to other applications.The EDI application in electronic commerce is mainly useful for the retail industry, automobile industry, industries which manufacture heavy machineries for defense etc. The application helps the industry to coordinate between the designing department to the maintenance department to help the manufacturers to share the information regarding designing and maintenance to their various stakeholders.The EDI application of the electronic commerce was very expensive to be used for any industry before the advent and commercial use of internet. This was mainly because of the high costs of the private networks which were to be installed for the functioning of EDI. Since the usage of internet has increased the electronic commerce includes: Electronic trading of the physical products and also service information. It helps in all the stages of electronic trade like online marketing, ordering of goods, payment for products and services and also further support for delivery of products and services. The electronic commerce helps in after sales support and also provides legal advice to the customers about the products and services.E- commerce solutions are mainly derived for business purposes which help in streamlining the process and making it more efficient. It enables and effective media of communication. Nowadays, electronic process will play vital role in controlling important decisions while there is collaboration between two big companies which cater to engineering, consultancy services, online design, media, electronics and much more.There are some crucial definitions which are significantly found in media and journals like:Electronic Commerce project is the process which is established at various levels in the company and the place where the transaction and media mode is telecommunications. The network is being authenticated and the internet is the only communication mode.Now internet is an important and safe communication mode as service providers secure the network. So platform in which the buying, selling of products is done via online and payment mode is also online then its called as eCommerce transaction.Trading or doing commercialization of any online communication media, email or chat is called as e-commerce communication. Essential media sources are used for any form of commercialization taking place. There have been extensive range of options which contribute in every successful transaction attempt with online media. Today eCommerce solutions are also possible with from small town to urban areas which has compelled every business engage in e-commerce.Online shopping, banking, money transfer all is kind of e-commerce functionalities. Now these essentials have contributed in getting several kinds of commercial media activities. This will include web commerce, icommerce (internet) which are nothing but same terms. Now there are certain cyber stores, icommerce and virtual e-selling stores which have opened new avenues of online trading, thus promoting the cyber selling transactions and concept. Now there have been important potential pointers in commerce for retailers, wholesalers, buyers, sellers and much more.Marketing strategies for e-commerce marketingGlobal competitive forces have compelled firms to design adaptive strategies .Out of the innumerable activities which a firm indulges in marketing as a process determines the expectations of a products success or failureMarketing and sales are cogent applications of logic. Some companies have developed and converted their marketing strategy in to their unique selling proposition. Different channels of marketing involve television, print media, agents of mass communication, banners, posters, hoardings, word-of mouth, internet etc. The latest and advanced technique of marketing is mobile marketing.It would be better to discuss both mobile marketing and the firms strategy of marketing in detail to further understand how they are synchronous in nature.According to Kotler et al(2005), marketing mix involves a set of marketing tools which are convenient and fused by the organization so that the target audience can get attracted towards it.Marketing theory was first presented by MMA(2006) the credit for placing the market research foundation. There is 4Ps which exists and they are theory of place, price, promotion and product according to author Mc Crathy. No critics have argued on the marketing mix theory but there is a possibility of a support tool which can recognize the difficulties implicated in the theory of the marketing mix.An efficient tool for obtaining the set prospect and goals from marketing is marketing communications and is used by personal marketing, advertisements, direct marketing, sales promotions, public relations managers, etc.Policy of Integrated Marketing CommunicationsAccording to Petler et al(2003, p93), IMC is a theory of marketing communications policy which identifies the additional value of using a complete policy in order to assess the policy roles of different communications disciplines. The author explains that IMC is obsessed by the marketing policy which leads to additional planning resulting in taking crucial decisions which are compulsory for implementing marketing activities. The following figure explains the mobile marketing environment framework (Matti Leppaniemi and Heikki Karajaluoto, n.d, p.5).According to Kitchen et al(2004), IMC theory is used by communicators thus results in contemplation of various communication channels, message delivery channels, prospects and customers and contains possible contacts. This is the reason why immediate marketing policies implementation and communication policies take place.Therefore, for an effective mobile marketing policy, the above activities give more importance. These consist of creating and initiation of mobile marketing campaign by the organization and the communication tools necessary for marketing organizations product and services and integration of various communication channels to convey an enjoyable, interesting and reliable message to the audience.It is necessary to have an analysis of the organizations on the whole which contain the status of the market, competitors, its products and consumers, etc. which is the first stage of IMC procedure. The target audience and market communication both depend on this step and so this step is critical. Product choice and consumer market are tremendously important for the point of analysis. Some essential factors which are necessary for product choice are demography, behavioral pattern, geography, etc.It is essential to recognize the correct customers and Customer Relationship Management(CRM) plays a vital role in attaining this task. CRM spotlights on marketing communication policies and also offers guidelines for fulfilling customers wants and requirements.(Peppers et al 1999, and Peltier et al 2003).Marketers require a goal to plan their policy for attaining the goal and to accomplish the prospect. In simple words, a goal will explain the marketers what should be attained and policy tells what they should do to attain the goal. According to Smith (1999), plan plays an important role in the path of marketing as it allows the manufacturers or sellers to produce products as per the needs of their customers and which can convince them.Hence, strategies are measured as a communication tool and signifies how good a product can execute in the market as far as selling is concerned. Organizations are continuously developing and working on the policies, however, rising competition force the organizations to take up the new rules of competition and plan the policies accordingly.The author Balasubramanian.et.al (2002), explains marketing communication goals are set hierarchically in an organization based on the company's goals. Marketing communication goals are concerned with attitudes, consciousness, creation, etc.The demanding responsibilities are identifying the correct customers. This duty can be simply held by use of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) where it allows the marketers to spotlight on the marketing communication policies and offer rules in satisfying the exact requirements of customers (Peppers et al. 1999 and Petlier et al. 2003). Butterfield (1977) discovers that the marketers want to construct the goals of marketing communications program after they choose the customers and get the knowledge on their requirements in detail.Smith, (1999), tactics has played crucial role in a marketing course because the sellers or and manufacturers of the customers can satisfy them. Therefore, tactics are considered as a communication tool and indicates how well can a product perform in the market as far as selling is concerned. The working strategies are constantly developed with the growing competition that face new designing strategies accordingly.Balasubramanian.et.al (2002), has arranged hierarchically the marketing communication objectives which satisfy hierarchy levels. The marketing objectives for communication cluedde generation, knowledge,analysis and lots more.CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is quite challenging with varied aspects as per (Peppers et al. 1999 and Peltier et al. 2003). Butterfield (1977) explore marketers for marketing communications by selecting customers having knowledge on the needs. Smith (1998) mentions tactics as a common in marketing having detailed strategy. Direct mail, PR, advertising are assessing growth for the firm for any new product in the market.Any firm marketing communications having segregated objectives as stated by Bickton and Broderick (2005)are hierarchically related to corporate levels. It is quite essential for making the specific strategies integrate for giving an achievement.DesignEfforts made by the website made.com for implementation of digital information systems have been both successful and effective (LAAKSONEN,(2005). Digital system and analog I&C systems differ in many ways. The importance of digital systems' signals has been emphasized by made.com because they are sampled and digitized. Moreover, they have the advantage of transmitting the information in sequence.This system implies that the functional specifications that exist now were given due consideration prior to their application to the new digitaldesign.Compared to the analog systems, Digital I&C systems are advantageous because they have no drifts and are highly accurate, easy for implementation and are flexible. Referring to the website, it may be confirmed that the company maintains the sequences in timing (Rutgers, 2010).Last two decades have seen wide utilization of linear digital systems by website in processing of signal processing that has been used in a number of mission critical applications, Digital Business management as applicable in military satellite and medical. On the contrary, Consumer applications are not so much critical. In an environment associated with hospital, even a second of delay in detection of error may be fatal.At the same time, delay of this kind may be tolerated or may even be desired in case of multimedia application, particularly in case of introduction of latency for significant reduction in cost. This website has developed different techniques for the test of digital systems concurrently.A scheme for detection of fault in the matrix operations has been developed by this company (LAAKSONEN, 2005). The techniques so developed for matrix operations, find their applicability on linear systems since they can be represented as simple matrix operations. Another technique developed by the company website finds extension of algorithm-based approaches to non-linear systems, suggesting models of the non-linear operators as linear time varying operators.As regards the Digital Librarian (DL), the company emphasizes that the next generation of the digital libraries should typically be a specialist librarian who has the capability of managing and organizing the digital library. At the same time, it is capable of handling the specialized task of massive digitization, storage, access, digital knowledge mining, digital reference services, and electronic information services. In addition to all these, it is in a position in searching co-ordination and managing the archive and its access.The website has created a symbolic Human-Machine Guru in the shape of the digital librarian that guides the information superhighway or the universal digital library or the global digital library. Moreover, the website enlightens various roles and functions of a Digital Library in retrieving the information, delivering the content, navigating and browsing.The website aims at educating and training the digital librarians in a professional manner for enabling them to manage the digital information systems. Moreover, it specifies various features related to the Digital Library that includes its interface functions, roles, skills. It also determines competencies for managing the digital information systems applicable to the areas of importance such as imaging technologies, optical character recognition, mark-up languages, cataloguing, metadata, multimedia indexing, database technology, user interface design, programming and web technology (LAAKSONEN, 2005).Significance of E-commerce networkE-Commerce and Its Extensive NetworkIt doesnt mean that e-commerce and e-business will only include the internet surfing, online transaction and different times of email marketing systems. Its extension is wide covering different fields to enhance the multifunctional features of e-marketing and e-trading.The business management online program has extended its hands to bring different disciplines under one umbrella for the benefits of personal observation and research. For instance, e-marketing covers the telemarketing, endorsement programs and sophisticated marketing methods to enhance the proper betterment of the business using the hi-tech interactive technology. Comparing to the conventional marketing, internet based telemarketing is more advantageous and powerful.In past businessmen had to do door-to-door campaigns for the endorsement of products. However, with times advancing, the format of promotional survey and the advertisement has undergone a prominent transition. This type of switchover from the traditional stereotyped marketing and advertisement to the upgraded online campaigns to ensure the trouble free promotional campaigns is more user-friendly and cost effective.Customer Relationship ManagementCustomer relationship management is another area of concern and you will have to gain efficiency to communicate with different types of customers whose demands are at variance. They like to buy sophisticated products. Now you will have to understand pulse rates of consumers and try to choose the best business to earn revenues in higher percentage.Up gradation of Computer ScienceModern telemarketing prioritizes the proper usage of laptops to support the web based marketing. The up gradation of the computer science has made it easier for consumers and dealers to come closer for commercial purposes.Finance and AccountingThe e-commerce also includes net banking, online dealing, auditing, file keeping and account ledger updating. The intangible intellectual property will be made tangible and profitable sources.EconomicsTo some extent, e-business also values the economics. It is obvious that to realize the changes in the global market, one should be knowledgeable in the economics. He will have a better understanding about the deep impact of e-commerce on the land based local market. The difference between e-commerce and conventional open market is becoming brighter. You will have to apply economic strategies to get constructive information in this regard.Production and Operations ManagementE-business has brought a breakthrough in the conventional setups. Online shipment processes are more cost effective, hazard free and speedy. It will take few seconds to support the transaction online. It saves time and money. The process is simple and easy to understand. The whole transaction is not complicated and long lasting.Production and Operations Management (manufacturing)In online business, instead of wasting time only to put emphasis on the production, entrepreneurs need to take care of better presentation of products to attract consumers. It revives the friendship among dealers and consumers through the online chatting, email exchanges and inbound linkage systems. The way of placing the order via ERP is speedy and less time consuming.Management Information SystemsOnline business gives scope to researchers to do analysis, site optimization, evaluation and surveys to know the mindsets of consumers.Human Resource ManagementThere is enough scope for home based business operating online sites. It also ensures the data protection, safekeeping of intellectual property, legal transaction, redressed forums to give justice to consumers and the protection of consumers rights. E-commerce takes care of multi-tire aspects to facilitate consumers for completing dealings via web based portals.Benefits of e-commerce project to the companiesInternational marketplaceDid you some back imagine that e-commerce popularity will put the smallest of any venture on the world map and people will be accessible to its services/products. E-commerce have taken the technology resource by storm by enabling the business to grow wide and reach further audiences. E-commerce have made global communication better and fused the energies in the right direction. After several years technology has made the world come close and exchange trade secrets. E-commerce has surpassed the geographical boundaries.Decrease in operational costE-commerce is breath taking which has lead significant impact on every process. The operation cost earlier which involved many systems, documents and all is free from materials and it has now only been limited to Intel mini case which stands out as perfect e-commerce gadget.Customization is another aspect which has been affected greatly as now personalization after e-commerce is just at your finger clicks and no one connecting emotionally to someone is just part which has changed the thought process of buying and selling of products on the web. Earlier e-commerce during the emergence was not safe but now has shredded new aspects. E-commerce has really improved sales, organized the company process and helped in drawing fruitful results.There are inventory storage problems, stack issues and calculation problems which were pertinent before when only the manually valuation of things was done. The e-commerce solutions have reduced all these shortcomings and made processing, distribution of all expensive goods from electronics to other valuables easy.The listing is done on the website portals of the order released. The components use has now been counted and authentication of every step is quite possible which was unlike earlier. There are stocks which are obsolete have taken the place in listing and status is always being updated. E-commerce solutions have been are not only part of the technology sector but finance, marketing and many allied professions today. Life has changed with e-commerce solutions as every step using online methods are well guarded. Every company has so many products the technology oriented e-commerce trade has really simplified various aspects including the features and characteristics of customer products. E-commerce is climbing the popularity charts rapidly.E-commerce is now new to the entire world but the increase in its dynamics has certainly made it the best mode of communication and. E- commerce solution also have affordable rather cheap telecommunications cost. Internet communication is quite cheap and reliable too when compared to VANs. The internet does not comprise of leasing the cables unlike other communication media. The laying down of cables is difficult rather sending any fax, mail, message or the direct calling.It is because of e-commerce the world trading is possible at such extensive level and people have come closer.Benefits of e-commerce to consumersE-commerce has made all the transaction and accessing online process transparent between the buyer and seller only. If we look back and see the development of e-commerce it cannot be denied that services and 24x7 customer service support have made it possible. Buying, selling, money transactions at any point of time in life and availing to all other tech friendly tools for customers have made many not so web friendly people indulge in this force. The services are secure all the time and transaction made are clearly reflected in your accounts. So now with e-commerce world is at the users finger tip in just a few clicks from the comfort and allows them to login from anywhere.Array of choices: In e-commerce shopping from websites and portals, there are plenty of choices the customer can enjoy, view the features, specifications of the product and decide to buy as many companies list the prices too. Today the services have increased to free shipping and immediate home delivery. E-commerce benefits can be enjoyed on any services and shopping from pin to expensive jewellery.Price comparison is another aspect which has made the world be competitive and develop comprehension. The size and functionalities of the e-commerce have grown drastically into leaps and bounds. There are essential and primary services based on which the outcome is divided. You can easily get varied comparisons of prices, product features and extensive services with reviews written by viewers. This helps the customer buy the trustworthy and durable making them an addict of e-commerce trading. Today many countries are using online sites for shopping whereas few countries still are not entirely equipped with it.The best part of trading in e-commerce arena is no bound to buy. If you like the product and satisfied with the price then only can get whereas while walking in the shop, customers may be compelled to buy You can view endless products and check out same designer products on the official website. A little research will help you save many hard earned bucks with effective use of e-commerce. It is a value added service for customers which not only makes them feel happy but the user friendly platform and communication today used by many sites have made addictions grow in society.Limitations of e-commerce to consumersWell there are not only flowery aspects of the e-commerce overtime but rather some limitations exists which can be overcome easily. Few just for your information are:As technology has progressed this has enabled an increase in electronic and many computing equipment. In e-commerce business today digitization is the basic need and extensive need of equipments has been required such that the network never is interrupted and functionalities always keep on increasing by making every portal and site user friendly, interactive too. Now in e-commerce there is a need for dialling connections, broadband and networking connectivity devices. Now there are various internet costs associated which is not the case today in offline commercialization. In e-commerce there is an initial good equipment cost for establishing. The e-commerce ventures have to always keep in mind the technology changes and always be updated with it.Security is another important aspect which was not a concern in an offline commercial market but since the number of threats, virus, hackers have grown so the protection of e-commerce platforms have just changed and new softwares are used with firewall protection to completely safeguard the security of the commerce online. The transaction and payment systems too are secured and governed by cyber law and privacy as per company guidelines. The data security is difficult to control on the internet. As there are no specific cyber laws and varies from one state to another so implementation of data tasks can cause private data hampering.The electronic process has replaced the physical contacts with any customers causing problem for the image of the company. In e-commerce the customers cannot touch the quality of products, they have to rely on companies. This also results in lacking trust as faceless justifying money is not accepted culture in many parts of the globe.As the main focus is on the internet so the e-commerce environment has really become quite complex which enables in strategically making a different presence on the web with additional value added services which are integrated as per the business and depends on several aspects keeping the operational areas into consideration. There are several businesses which have been converted to an electronic process. E-commerce operation of any kind are performed at lightening speed and saves plenty of processing time unlike any other manual method. Perhaps it has lead to an increase pushing features and adding many new features which gratify customers easily because of the instant results they see happening.Communication via online chat option and customer care is so swift that all the queries are solved at click of a button. The outcome of services/products is reliable and trustworthy because the guideline of e-commerce is facile in nature which makes any vendor buy and sell services easily. There are imperative businesses available online which have flourished in few years and being young earned fortune and become a brand. This is all because they have channelized the tools and methods of business and e-commerce trade in ideal manner for building effective communication and approach which can be used by patrons worldwide. However, website development is the primary requirement of any business because if you have to use the substantial norms of e-commerce then strategic planning is required for any online business.Impact of social networking sites on consumersNowadays internet marketing is playing vital role in the success of company and its products that builds the relationship between customers and companies. It includes different types of activities online in order to support the customers with required products, goods and services etc. Internet marketing process includes different types of marketing aspects that can be used to market the specific product or service of the company. Among them social media marketing is playing key role in the internet marketing process in which customers will perform the advertiser role and promote the company products through word of mouth strategy.The satisfied customers yield more productivity and refer other customers by using the product feedback. Each and every customer has their own product preference and their buying behavior changes continuously. In general, there are different types of marketing aspects that addict customer towards the specific product. Among them word of mouth strategy can be considered as the significant aspect in which the individual feedback of the existing customers shows major impact on buying behavior of new customers.According to the views of (Kirby 2006), social media marketing can be considered as the significant marketing technique that can be used to convey the marketing messages to the customers in order to improve the brand image of specific product or service of the company.In views of Kiss & Bichler (2008), social marketing can be considered as the important marketing technique which uses different types of social networks in order to create brand awareness among the customers that distribute the messages in the form viral messages that spreads from one customer to the other.(Hennig-Thurau et al. 2004) stated that social marketing is the customer communication process through which the brand information of the company will be shared from one customer to other customer by using customer contacts.Social Media NetworksAmong the total internet networks, social media networks are playing vital role in connecting users from different ends. Especially the popular social media networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut and Twitter are playing vital role in social marketing process. By using these social networking sites many companies are marketing their products by using social messages of customers (Kirby, 2006)According to the views of Kirby (2006) social network marketing is the process that allows the existing customers to perform the advertiser role in order to promote specific product of the company to the new customers.Ferguson (2008) specified that, social marketing is not only the process of marketing products to the new customers by using old customers feedback, but it is the process of supporting the product with existing customers in order to build trust among new customers.In views of De Bruyn & Lilien, (2008) the messages communicated between existing and new customers might be of active or passive in nature because active promotion process allows the companies to market their products successfully but in some situations passive promotion process doesnt support the company with required resources.Hotmail can be considered as the beset example for successful social marketing process when compared with other social networks. Hotmail services include a signature message of particular company by which each and every message or mail transferred from hotmail includes the promotional message that reaches to the other users as marketing message. For this particular reason, among the total social media networks hotmail services are widely used for social marketing process (De Bruyn and Lilien, 2008).Kirby (2006) argued that social marketing process is widely accepted by many customers because there will be no physical disturbances in the marketing process. Social marketing process includes customers as their major marketing resources. This is the reason why customers prefer internet marketing process rather than using traditional marketing processes. Even though internet marketing is allowing many companies to successfully market their products, still they are facing many failures because most of the customers are blocking and ignoring the company advertisements and messages about the products. At this particular situation, companies can make use of social marketing process in order to allow the customers to market the products. Social marketing process includes critical decisions of the customers through which customers will decide whether to market the product or not (Jurvetson & Draper, 1997; Helm, 2000; Thomas, 2004; De Bruyn & Lilien, 2008).Online Social MarketingOnline viral marketing process includes viral marketing process through different types of online marketing resources that are explained in below as follows:Search Engine CampaignNowadays internet marketing process is playing key role in individual lives and many users are depending on internet for different purposes especially on search engines in order to find appropriate product according to their preferences. By using the search engines customers will select their required product and even refers them to the other user.Text Messages through Mobile phonesAlong with internet mobile phones are widely used by many users over the world and the text messages forwarded from mobile phones will spread fast when compared with other devices. Customers can send the feedback to their friends on the products and goods purchased recently which increases the awareness of particular brand of the company.