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Showing posts from August 30, 2011

E-Commerce Notes #6

Phases of development of e-commerce : E-commerce phases can be broadly classified E-Commerce I - Period of explosive growth (1995-2000) E-Commerce II - Current Era (beginning 2001) Vision behind E-Commerce I  : Existence of internet : availability of PCs, LAN Starting of Bertrand market: It’s a market where price, cost, quality  info. Is equally distributed, where infinite set of suppliers compete against one-another. Merchants have direct access to all relevant market info. Worldwide.   Development of shopping  bot : It’s a program that automatically searches web for best prices and delivery times. Cost of searching fell : There was a limit that end of wasteful ad campaigns which were meant to ….   Reduction of info. Asymmetry   Dis-Intermediation : Implies disappearance of market middleman, i.e. displacement of market middleman who traditionally are intermediaries between producer and the consumer by a new direct relationshi

E-Commerce Notes #11

Business Strategies   are set of plans for achieving superior long term returns on capital invested in a firm. It includes strategies for making profit in the competitive environment in the long run. This profit represents economic value (Economic Value is created when a customer is willing to pay for a product with a price which is more than the cost of the product) Four strategies that are commonly used are based on : Differentiate strategy - Refers to the different ways through which a producer can make the product unique & different to distinguish them from competitors. Opposite to differentiation is commoditization - when there's no difference in products and services and the only basis of choosing a product is price. In such a situation when the price alone is a parameter for competition. There are many sellers and buyers in the market and there is a great fall in the price of the product eventually the price of the good falls t

E-Commerce Notes #10

C2C Usage of tech. to enable customers to share resources with each other. Major revenue model : subscription, transaction fees and advertisements M-Commerce : With the wireless tech. its possible to conduct transactions on a mobile. Revenue model : sale of goods. E-Commerce enablers : hardware : Web Servers from IBM , Oracle , DELL ; Software : OS, Server Software from Oracle (technology). E-Commerce software system that enables B2B and B2C. Networking  products like routers from CISCO. CRM softwares : Salesforce.com Online payment system : Paypal, Cybercash, etc. Seven unique features of e-commerce technology : Ubiquity - No regional boundary, new market channels has been created causing expansion in the size of overall market, resulting in improved efficiency by lowering the cost of operations. Like travelling, and inventory mngmt. Cost is zero. Global Reach - Low cost entry in global market Universal standard - Easy

E-Commerce Notes #9

B2C Business Model Portals - Vertical | Horizontal A portal is any website which is into consumer sale. These offer integrate packages of services and contents, such as news, e-mails, shopping , download. These generate revenue by charging money from advertisers, subscription fees, transaction fees, etc. Horizontal -Portals which sell  variety of products. E.g.: Yahoo, amazon, aol are horizontal portals because they cater/provide services to  all uses of the internet, i.e. they have a wide market space. Vertical Portals ( Vortals ) - Which sells product of a particular sector. These attempt to provide similar service as of horizontal portals but are  focused on around a particular subject matter or a market segment. E.g.: iBoats.com E-tailers : Virtual Merchant : Amazon, Snapfish : It’s a online version of retail store where a customer can shop day or night without leaving home or office, i.e. travelling cost. Click and mortar : It's

E-Commerce Notes #8

Chapter - 2 - E-Commerce Business Model -------------------------------------------------------- Business Plan - Document that describes B.M. Ingredients : Value Proposition (WHY ?) - It defines how a company's products or service fulfills the needs of the customer. To develop and analyze a value proposition, one needs to include Personalization and customization Reduction of search cost Reduction of price discovery cost Facilitating transaction. (Services should speak for themselves) Managing Delivery Why should a customer come to you ? Why should he buy products from you ? Revenue Model - ( Colloquially -  How will the website earn money ). A firm's revenue model describes. How exactly a firm is going to generate profit, earn revenue an produce a superior return on its invested capital. (Also called finance model). Research about all the ways of generating money. // Breaking point - A point where

E-Commerce Notes #7

E-commerce II E-commerce II started in 2001 with stunning technology popularity, developed digital infrastructure. E-Commerce - I E-Commerce - II Technology driven It was business driven Emphasis on revenue growth. Emphasis was on earning profit It was ungoverned Strong regulation and governance Dis-intermediation Strengthening intermediaries Belief in pure online strategies Believed in traditional financing Entrepreneurial setup Mixed click & brick strategies Beneficial for first movers Survival in imperfect markets Technology : Mainframes (50 - 75) - Transaction automation used for payroll account receivables Mini - These were used for automation for business functions, e.g. HR functions, etc. PC (1980) - Desktop automation, word processing, etc LAN (1980) - used for doc sharing, communication of workgroups, proj. management, messaging & e-mail. Enterprise Wide Network - It is used for resource planni