Levels of E-Commerce - Business Models & Concepts, E-Commerce | E-Commerce - B Com PDF Download

LEVELS OF E-COMMERCE

Electronic commerce is the process of conducting commercial transactions electronically over the Internet. This process is carried out primarily in five levels, and the main aspect of e-commerce is a merchant selling products or service to the consumers.

There are five major segments under the broader category of e-business. However, the following are some popular e-commerce models used by companies engaged in e-
commerce:-

• Business to business e-commerce (B2B)
• Business to consumers e-commerce (B2C)
• Consumers to consumers e-commerce (C2C}
• Business to employees e-commerce (B2E) and
• Consumer to business e-commerce (C2B)

Business to Business E-commerce (B2B)

E-business is the process of conducting business on the Internet. Its scope includes not only buying and selling but also services, fulfilling the needs of customers and collaborating with business partners.

Business to business e-commerce is smart business. The opportunity for business to business e-commerce is even greater.

A wholesaler may sell products to the retailer. There are advanced e-commerce software which support multi-tier pricing. This helps to set up online stores to offer preferred pricing to some vendors and shared price to others.

This includes internet-enabled initiatives of an enterprise to form commercial linkages with another enterprise, dealer, warehouse or manufacturer. In this form of e-commerce,  e paperwork and time-to-market get vastly reduced. Throughout the world, this ecommerce mode is the biggest.

In a B2B transaction, the interaction is between businesses. For example, a website that is catching for the steel industry might have facility for buyers and sellers to list their requirements and post their products. It helps them in quickly closing the transactions and the buyer can get quality, material and can choose from different suppliers.

B2B commerce is a growing business in the e-commerce arena- with the increasing use of the internet, more and more business are realizing the commercial advantage of giving business clients a streamlined and easy manner to order products or service online. It facilitates access to the ordering process to only those with whom a concern has a commercial relationship.

Business to Business e-commerce provides small and medium enterprises (SMES) with an excellent opportunity to access new markets, improve customer service and reduce costs. And while hurdles exist, they should be viewed more as speed breakers rather than road barriers. As a medium of information storage and dissemination, the internet has and is emerging a clear winner. Its rate of penetration has far outpaced the growth of other popular media such as newspaper, radio and television.

B2B transactions are however relatively high value in nature and organisations are slow  to change their traditional systems for the supply chain management. The reasons for the growth in B2B e-commerce are many. In an increasing competitive scenario, e-commerce offers highly attractive cost saving options. The shift to this process is often driven by the needs of buyers

Innovative methods of enhancing B2B and B2C levels of e-commerce include:

• CD-ROM catalogues that are linked to the user's online catalogue, enabling him  to browse offline and order online.
• Kiosks placed at physical store locations or in shopping malls to introduce users  to the easy online ordering options.
• Extranets to link businesses together that conduct regular business to .business transactions and
• Affiliate programmes to drive business to your commerce site from other content related sites.

B2B e-commerce is expected to be the largest mode of transacting e-business and is a global phenomenon. It involves taking internet enabled initiatives to form commercial links with other enterprises, dealers or manufacturers. In this form of e-commerce, a business firm places orders for supplies with another business firms directly over the Internet. Paperwork and time required for processing the order and delivery of the goods are thus reduced to a great extent.