E-comm ch 3 part 2

fraud and illegal activities

- A major problem in B2C is the increasing rate of online fraud. This can cause losses both to buyers and sellers.

Real Estate Applications

- Advice to consumers on buying or selling a home - Commercial real estate listings - Maps are available - Information on current mortgage rates - Sites for persons who want to sell their homes privately, without using a real estate agent

Insurance Online

- An increasing number of companies use the Internet to offer standard insurance policies (auto, home, life, or health) at a substantial discount - Third-party aggregators offer free comparisons of available policies - Several large insurance and risk-management companies offer comprehensive insurance contracts online

Online Billing and Bill Paying

- Automatic transfer of mortgage payments - Automatic transfer of funds to pay monthly utility bills - Paying bills from online banking accounts - Merchant-to-customer direct billing - Person-to-person direct payment - Pay bills at bank kiosks

Noninteractive Entertainment

- Event ticketing - Restaurants - Information retrieval - Retrieval of audio and video entertainment - Live events

Online travel is probably the most successful e-commerce implementation • Services provided include:

- General information - Reserving and purchasing tickets, accommodations, and entertainment - Travel tips - Electronic travel magazines - Fare comparisons

Barcode Readers for Price Comparisons

- It is now common behavior for e-commerce shoppers to gather information in physical stores and then buy online. Capitalizing on this behavior to make the search faster and easier, Amazon. com and other vendors provide smartphone apps of mobile bar scanners. Shoppers enter physical stores and take a picture of a bar code. The photo is transmitted to the vendor who provides them with an immediate price comparison.

The Internet Job Market

- Job seekers - Employers seeking employees - Job agencies - Government agencies and institutions • The Internet is a global online portal for job seekers

Limitations of Online Travel Services

- Many people do not use the Internet - The amount of time and the difficulty of using virtual travel agencies may be significant - Complex trips or those that require stopovers may not be available online because they require specialized knowledge and arrangements

Limitations of the Electronic Job Market

- Many people do not use the Internet. This limitation is even more serious with non-technology-oriented jobs - Security and privacy: resumes and other online communications are usually not encrypted, so one' s job-seeking activities may not be secure

Business Ratings Sites

- Ratings and reviews by friends, even by people that you do not know are usually available for social shoppers. In addition, any user has an opportunity to contribute reviews and participate in relevant discussions. • The major types of tools and methods are: (PAGE 137) - Customer ratings. - Expert ratings and reviews. - Sponsored reviews. - Bloggers post reviews - Video product review.

A traditional brick-and-mortar store with a mature Web site uses a click-and-mortar strategy to:

- Speak with one voice - Leverage the multichannels - Empower the customer

P2P Lending

- The introduction of online banking enables the move of personal loans to the Web in what is called online person-to- person money lending , or in short P2P lending . This model allows people to lend money and to borrow from each other via the Internet.

Corporate Travel

- To reduce corporate travel costs, companies can make arrangements that enable employees to plan and book their own trips using online optimization tools provided by travel companies, such as those offered by Rosenbluth International - Travel authorization software that checks availability of funds and compliance with corporate guidelines is usually provided by travel companie

determining the right price

- Today's comparison engines show consumers the prices of the same goods or services at many stores, for almost all commodity (or standard) products. In such a case, the click-and-brick e-tailer may be forced to offer online prices, which are lower than what the company charges in its physical store (e.g., some airlines direct you online to find special low price flights). - On the other hand, prices are determined by the corporate policy on profitability and, in a click-and-brick company, in line with the offline channel's pricing strategy. - To avoid such internal price conflicts, some companies have created independent online subsidiaries, some even with different names.

Virtual Banks

- Virtual banks have no physical location, but only conduct online transactions (such as meemKSA)

Interactive Entertainment

- Web browsing - Internet gaming - Fantasy sport games - Single and multiplayer games - Card games - Participatory Web sites - Reading

Trust Verification Sites

- With so many sellers online, many consumers are not sure whom they should trust. A number of companies evaluate and verify the trustworthiness of various e- tailers. One such company is TRUSTe ( truste.com )

e-grocer

A grocer that takes orders online and provides deliveries on a daily or other regular schedule or within a very short period of time

on-demand delivery service

Express delivery made fairly quickly after an online order is received

Shopping portals

Gateways to e-storefronts and e-malls; may be comprehensive or niche oriented - Comprehensive, or general-purpose, portals have links to many different sellers, and present and evaluate a broad range of products - Several public portals also offer shopping opportunities and comparison aids - Several of these evaluation companies have purchasing shopbots or other, smaller shopping aids, and have incorporated them into their portals

Channel conflict

Situation in which an online marketing channel upsets the traditional channels due to real or perceived damage from competition - some manufacturers have instituted direct marketing initiatives parallel with their established channels of distribution, such as retailers or dealers. In such cases, channel conflict can occur - Channel conflict may occur when a move to online trading simply shifts a company's customers from their traditional stores to an online environment, thus cannibalizing the sales from the former, and potentially negatively affecting the traditional outlets by rendering them less profitable.

The Internet Job Market

The Internet Job Market • Job ads are posted online and placement services available through specialized websites (Bayt.com ) • Larger companies are building career portals on their corporate websites as a way of reducing recruitment costs and expediting the time to fill vacancies. • Job referral social networking sites solve the need for finding the right people for the job (LinkedInn). These sites provide job seekers opportunities to promote themselves and their areas of expertise, as well as help them be discovered by employers.

reintermediation

The process whereby intermediaries (either new ones or those that had been disintermediated) take on new intermediary roles - An example of a company that provides these new roles of intermediation is Edmunds ( edmunds.com ), which provides consumers with information about cars (e.g., price comparisons, ratings, and the dealer costs). Another example would be travel agents who can arrange complicated trips, provide longer periods for holding reservations, and arrange special tours and spot deals. Such new role playing companies can grow rapidly while traditional intermediaries decline.

disintermediation

The removal of organizations or business process layers responsible for certain intermediary steps in a given supply chain - A manufacturer can bypass wholesalers and retailers, selling directly to consumers. Thus, B2C may drive regular retailers out of business.

shopping robots (shopping agents or shopbots)

Tools that scout the Web on behalf of consumers who specify search criteria

electronic banking (e-banking)

Various banking activities conducted from home or the road using an Internet connection; also known as cyberbanking, virtual banking, online banking, and home banking - E-banking saves users time and money. For banks, it offers a rapid and inexpensive strategy to acquire out-of- the-area customers. In addition, the banks may need fewer branches or employees.

Issues in E-Tailing

channel conflict determining the right price fraud and illegal activities

Online Delivery of Digital Products, Entertainment, and Media

• Certain goods, (software, music, or news stories) may be distributed in a physical form or they may be digitized and delivered over the Internet • Online delivery is much cheaper and saves sellers storage room, handling, and distribution costs. • For sellers, the costs associated with the manufacture, storage, and distribution of physical products can be enormous • Inventory management also becomes a critical cost issue, and so does delivery and distribution

Benefits of Online Travel Services - Benefits to consumers - Benefits to providers

• Large amount of free information available 24/7 • Substantial discounts can be found • Airlines, hotels, and cruise lines are selling otherwise- empty spaces • Direct selling saves the provider's commission and its processing