Section 5.3 Business-to-Consumer Applications

Electronic retailing or "e-tailing", is the direct sale of products and services through electronic storefronts or electronic malls, usually designed around an electronic catalog format and/or auctions.

Electronic commerce has many advantages over actual in-store shopping:

consumers can shop 24/7/365

wider variety of products and services

lower prices on many items

very detailed product info

easy to compare products and prices with competitors'

Popular shopping mechanisms - electronic storefronts and electronic malls. Electronic storefronts can be an extension of physical stores, each with its own unique URL (Wal-Mart.com, Dell.com). Electronic malls are collections of individual shops under one Internet address (shopping.yahoo.com).

Selling products online may reduce vendors' selling costs by 20 to 40 percent.

Online Service Industries

Cyberbanking

Securities Trading

Job Market

Travel

Real Estate

Customer service with regards to electronic commerce is very important since the two parties do not meet face-to-face. There are 4 phases in the customer service life cycle:

1) Requirements

2) Acquisition

3) Ownership

4) Retirement

Customization and personalization is a major benefit that electronic commerce has taken advantage of, i.e. Dell.

Issues in Electronic Commerce

  Resolving channel conflict

Resolving conflicts within click-and-mortar organizations

Organizing order fulfillment and logistics

Determining viability and risk of online e-tailers

Identifying appropriate revenue models