Functions of e-Commerce Introduction Zwass (2003) states that e-Commerce has five (5C) The increase in internet use and improvements in internet functions. These are connection, computation, commerce, infrastructure have brought shopping habits to the internet collaboration, and communication. Functions of environment. This system that is electronic commerce- e-Commerce provide some opportunities for companies. based has been widely accepted for its benefits to both consumers and companies. With e-Commerce, the Connection: e-Commerce provides connectivity at any time concepts of time and space in commerce have lost their and anywhere using communication tools and platforms. importance. Consumers can benefit from e-Commerce 24 Computation: e-Commerce allows companies to make hours a day, 7 days a week. Consequently, these financial utility calculations. developments brought globalization and intercompany competition. Commerce: e-Commerce creates virtual market places, global worldwide supply-chain networks, and modern Conceptual Framework of e-Commerce business models that provide customization and flexible
In this section, the definition of e-Commerce, its scope, pricing. terms used in e-Commerce, functions of e-Commerce, its history, factors affecting e-Commerce, advantages, and Collaboration: e-Commerce provides, collaboration disadvantages of e-Commerce. environment, long term customer relations, and loyalty.
Definition of e-Commerce Communication: e-Commerce sees customer communities as a source of novelty, knowledge, and attachment. Electronic commerce or e-Commerce is briefly buying and selling products and services on the internet. The most A Brief History of e-Commerce
common description of e-Commerce was defined by e-Commerce emerged and became widespread after the 90s. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and But the foundations of e-Commerce are based on Development) in 1997. According to the definition of technological developments in previous years. Considering OECD, e-Commerce is a process that includes; the development of e-Commerce in ten-year periods (Kulkarni, 2008) (see pages 150 and 151 for more details). • Determination of the company in line with the information collected in the online environment, The Factors Affecting e-Commerce • The opportunity for companies to come together e-Commerce is affected by various factors, both in an online environment, technologies, and humans. The main ones are internet • Processing payment, usage and infrastructure, demographic factors, • Making the contract, globalization, mobile device usage, social media, logistic • Delivering the product or service to the customer, infrastructure, and digital payment methods (see pages • Providing maintenance and support services after 151 and 152 for the details). These all factors supply to the sale, etc. for creating customer satisfaction. develop and accelerate e-Commerce activities. (Çelik and Kalaycı, 2003). Advantages and Disadvantages of e-Commerce e-Commerce is the exchange of products and services for e-Commerce brings some advantages and disadvantages. a certain price. e-Business is the work done electronically. The most important benefit of electronic commerce for the
Scope of e-Commerce customer is that it saves time and it can be accessed from anywhere in the world. The main advantages of The concept of “Electronic Commerce” covers all profit and e-Commerce for customers include: comfort, convenience, non-profit organizations. Briefly, e-Commerce includes a time-saving, accessibility, cost saving, ease of variety of commercial activities such as shopping, banking, management, relations improving and profit maximizing renting, and investing (Niranjanamurthy et. al., 2013). (Sharma et. al 2019). Furthermore, e-Government applications, stock market transactions, digital content creation and distribution, crypto On the other hand, besides its benefits, electronic money transactions, transfer and protection of intellectual, commerce has some difficulties and disadvantages. The industrial and commercial rights, etc. take part in the scope disadvantages of e-Commerce for businesses are as of e-Commerce. follows (Sharma et. al 2019; Büyükyıldırım, 2014);
The Terminology of e-Commerce Payment Security Concerns: Customers concerned about e-Commerce is constantly growing and expanding its security when using a credit card at e-Commerce websites.
scope. In order to better understand the concept and scope Information Security Concerns: Customers worry about of e-Commerce, it is important to know some personal information security. e-Commerce concepts. Table 6.1 (see page 149 and 150) presents the main important e-Commerce concepts. Competition: e-Commerce builds a highly competitive environment for companies. While this competitive
environment creates a disadvantage for companies, classification according to the parties. The types of providing better deals to customers. e-Commerce methods are detailed below.
Other disadvantages of e-Commerce for customers are Business to Consumer (B2C) e-Commerce given below. B2C e-Commerce refers to activities of selling products and
Connection: Customers need an Internet connection for services from business to end consumers. It provides a very using e-Commerce platforms. wide customer base. Amazon.com is the most known e-Commerce website in the world. In Turkey, Hepsiburada, Delay: In e-Commerce, delivery time is higher than Trendyol, and N11 are examples of e-Commerce platforms. traditional trade. Business to Business Server: Customers cannot access products when servers Business to Business (B2B) e-Commerce refers to selling are down. products and services activities from business to other Tools of e-Commerce business (see page 156 for the advantages of B2B e- e-Commerce tools include two parts as classic and modern Commerce).
tools. Classic tools are TV, radio, telephone, fax, electronic Business to Employee (B2E) e-Commerce fund transfer (EFT), electronic data interchange (EDI), Business to Employee (B2E) e-Commerce refers to the e-Payment, and monetary system (ATM, Credit cards, POS transfer of internal duties, responsibilities, and procedures machines). Modern tools are the Internet, FTP, e-Mail, to the business environment. In-house activities such as conference systems, mobile communication systems (Avcı, announcements, policies, special offers, etc. are examples 2017). The most known and used electronic commerce tools of business to employee (B2E) e-Commerce. are described below (Turban, 2017). Business to Government (B2G) e-Commerce Telephone Business to Government (B2G) e-Commerce refers to Making payments, placing orders, and performing banking activities from companies to governments. Online tax transactions can be done easily by using the phone. Phones payments and online government tenders are shown as are also used to organize audio and video conferences. examples.
Fax Consumer to Consumer (C2C) e-Commerce
Fax is a support tool rather than a single tool used in Consumer to Consumer (C2C) e-Commerce is also known electronic commerce. as a citizen to citizen e-Commerce. C2C e-Commerce
Television allows transactions such as buying or selling between Today’s smart television systems are an important tool of individual consumers.
electronic commerce. Consumer to Business (C2B) e-Commerce
EDI Consumer to business (C2B) e-Commerce includes Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a tool that enables transactions between individual consumers and business information and documents to be transmitted companies. In this type of e-Commerce, consumers make between trade institutions through electronic an offer to businesses for a particular good or service.
communication tools that can be used by all parties (see Citizen to Government (C2G) e-Commerce page 155 for the advantages and disadvantages of EDI). Citizen to Government (C2G) e-Commerce refers to
Internet e-Commerce between individual consumers and The Internet offers the opportunity to access information government or government agencies. Formal payment easily, cheaply, quickly, and securely at any time and works such as paying taxes, traffic fines over the internet, place. and paying school fees over the internet are examples.
Social Media Government to Government (G2G) e-Commerce
e-Commerce has started to shift to social networks to a Government to Government (G2G) e-Commerce refers to great extent with the great interest of social networks and the e-Commerce model between governments. It provides the increasing number of users. exchanging of products and services between different governments. WhatsApp Mobile e-Commerce (m-Commerce) Whatsapp is offered free of charge around the world. It is a fast, easy, and secure messaging and calling application. Mobile e-Commerce enables buying or selling goods and services via smart devices such as mobile phones and Types of e-Commerce tablets.
e-Commerce types are classified in various ways. The most common and traditional used method is the
Social e-Commerce 4. Integrity: Integrity provides data transmitting Social e-Commerce allows for executing commerce without any change or manipulation. activities within social network sites such as Facebook, 5. Availability: Availability refers to data that is Instagram, etc. accessible by the user that has the right to access. 6. Encryption: Encryption is a procedure for hiding e-Commerce Payment Methods information.
In e-Commerce, there are different payment systems as 7. Auditing: Auditing holds a record of transactions well as standard payment systems. thus providing confirmation of all actions by buyers or sellers. Credit Card Payments It provides the opportunity of installment, therefore, credit Security Threats in e-Commerce
card payments are more advantageous than other methods. Security systems such as security, privacy, integrity, and conditions that may threaten the system, person, and Debit Card Payments software are considered as threats for these systems. These
Payments made through debit cards are withdrawn directly threats can be counted as the stealing of financial data of from the consumer’s personal account (Bezovski, 2016). companies, deleting customer databases, stealing, infecting the system, stealing files with commercial Prepaid Card Payments confidentiality, stealing customer credit card information, Prepaid cards are payment cards used with tools such as and disconnecting the internet (Diker & Varol, 2013). physical pos, mobile pos, virtual pos, and atm. Security Strategies in e-Commerce Electronic Cheque Payments The most known security strategies used in e-Commerce Electronic check is used where payment is committed by a are creating a strong security policy, educating people, digital signature, reliable enough for the Internet. using encryption, firewalls, and systems, precaution for
Electronic Fund Transfer database security. These e-Commerce security strategies are explained below. Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the transfer of monetary funds from one place to another in a very short time by • Strong Security Policy: The risks related to the using modern communication techniques and computers system should be well understood and a security instead of payment tools such as banknotes, checks, and policy covering all necessary measures should be payment orders used in traditional banking. established, and the necessary security software should be implemented in line with this policy e-Wallets • Education: As in every field, education is one of The payment method called digital wallet or e-Wallet is a the most important issues in the field of computer tool used for online shopping. security.
Cash on Delivery • Encryption: The most important step in securing The cash on delivery separates from other payment communication on the Internet is encryption. methods by providing a safer payment environment for • Firewalls and Systems: Firewalls are computer customers. programs that monitor and prevent traffic when it comes to and from a computer. Cryptocurrencies • Precautions for Database Security: The most
Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency that uses important attacks against databases are SQL- cryptography (encryption science) in its structure (Gandal Injection attacks. In order to prevent such and and Halaburda, 2016). similar attacks, the inputs provided by the user should be checked. e-Commerce Security e-Commerce security is the protection of e-Commerce e-Commerce Trends
assets against unauthorized use, modification or Various technological innovations to be used in destruction by others. e-Commerce and the current technological applications are expected to be developed. Some of these innovations The Purposes of Security in e-Commerce can be summarized as follows (Çiğdemli, 2020). The security in e-Commerce has seven purposes. Personalization in Products and Services 1. Authentication: It verifies the identity of the user. • Communication between the customer and the 2. Authorization: Authorization procedures only brand will become more personal. allow resources to be changed in certain ways. 3. Privacy: Privacy is the user’s control over • The need for software that can do deeper data sharing data with other parties. analysis will increase. • Targeted and creative ads will come to the forefront, which will not disturb the consumer.
• It will be important to create a target audience pricing, technologies to broadcast from the specific to the product, service or campaign. country the visitor enters, and international cargo • Personalized discounts and product shows will integration will be popular topics in e-Commerce.
become a requirement for e-Commerce sites. Voice Search-Chatbots
Deep Data Analysis • Voice search systems such as Amazon Echo,
• It will also play an active role in deep data Google Home, and Alexa will increase the use of analysis, pricing and supply chain processes. internet searches. • Artificial intelligence-based software will come • In e-Commerce, the use of artificial intelligence- to the fore for problems in inventory and delivery based chatbots, virtual assistants, and voice management. search modules will become widespread.
Artificial Intelligence Podcast Content
• Artificial intelligence is at the top of e-Commerce • Podcast publications are expected to be used in trends and it has many effects in the field of e-Commerce as brand communication and e-Commerce. advertising channels.
• One of the most important is that it responds to Video Shopping customer demands 24/7. • It has the ability to instantly respond to the • e-Commerce sites will start to share product customer who has a problem with the product it review videos on their own websites and will bought, to place an order, to return immediately expand sales through video.
to the questions asked, to direct the customers, Experiential Marketing or Marketing 4.0 and make suggestions. • According to the visitor’s facial expression, Fast Delivery software that makes instant discounts will be • Delivery should be done not only fast but also by used. paying attention to both fast and customer • The use of algorithms that make emotion analysis satisfaction. from customer reviews will increase.
• Fast and flawless delivery has an enormous impact both on gaining superiority to competitors and gaining customer loyalty.
Augmented Reality
• It is more difficult to decide when shopping in a market where the product variety is unlimited. At this point, augmented reality applications are used. • For example, augmented reality applications can be used on how the table will look in the room, which of the clothes will suit best. • Augmented reality has been specially integrated into mobile applications.
Mobile Sales
• Although internet users make their e-Commerce purchases mostly through laptop and desktop computers, mobile sales are expected to increase gradually. • Interfaces, designs, and content that appeal to the mobile user, in short, all the details that will facilitate mobile sales are among the new trends that will attract internet users.
e-Export Oriented Solutions
• Increasing awareness of e-Exports will feature innovative e-Export software. • Solutions such as multi-language, multi-currency, location-based visitor recognition, location-based