E-commerce | Marketing Concepts.

Background

Companies focused on electronic commerce began more than two decades ago with the introduction of the electronic interchange of data (EDI) between commercial firms (shipping and receipt of orders, information sharing and payment, etc.) Even e-commerce consumer-oriented also has a long history: whenever you use an ATM or presents a credit card, is performing an electronic transaction. EDI and ATM, however, operate in a closed system; they are a means of communication more convenient, strictly between the parties involved.
The Web has opened a new era by combining the open character of the Internet with a simple user interface. The WWW was created in the laboratory for particle physics CERN in Geneva in 1991 (with Mosaic, the predecessor of Netscape). Took it two years for Mosaic penetrate Internet, and another two years until the businesses and the public in general realize your potential.
The question that may arise to all who ask about the possibility of introducing in this new world is if this is nothing more than a fad, or really will determine the way we conceive and perceive reality. As well, both e-commerce and Internet, are not a passing fad. You can see in their international effects. Some may find it useless to open a web store; but the web stores are not e-commerce and the digital economy.
There will be new types of interfaces (navigators and protocols) and new networks (privatized), but it is the WWW represents our unstoppable march towards the digital economy and the knowledge-based society. Technologies, the Web and other processes are only means to achieve that goal.

Definition

Thermal "e-commerce" has evolved from its original meaning of electronic purchase to the current meaning covering all aspects of the processes of market and company, mostly by Internet and World Wide Web technologies.
Understood as online sales, e-commerce means to do business online or buy and sell products and services through Web storefronts. The products can be physical products such as used cars or services (e.g., travel, medical consultations, online and distance education). They can also be digital products such as news, image and sound, data bases, software and all types of information-related products. Understood thus, ecommerce seems to sale by catalogue or teleshopping it.

Electronic commerce understood as market.

E-commerce is not limited to buy and sell products online. For example, a neighborhood store can open a Web store and reconnect with the world. But, in addition to customers, you can also find investors, suppliers, competitors and Government agencies online, payment services. These new characters online or digital lead to changes in the way of doing business from production to consumption, and affect companies that may not even think that they are part of e-commerce. Apart from online sales, e-commerce will lead to significant changes in the form of customize, distribute and exchange products and the manner in which consumers search and buy products and services and also consume them.
In a few lines, the revolution that electronic commerce lies in their effects on processes. The definition process of e-commerce-oriented offers a more general vision for what makes e-commerce. The company's internal processes and corporate processes - company are affected by the technology and network in equal measure to the corporate processes - client. Even the functions of governmental, educational, social and political processes suffer from these changes.

Segments of e-commerce

The two main segments in e-commerce, currently are corporate - client and corporate - company. While the first is a small fraction compared to the second.
In e-commerce are transactions between clients, companies and Government through mechanisms based on Informatics and telecommunications and without rupture of the media.
Empresas-a - customers: Sales of goods to the final consumer. e. g. www.amazon.com (books, disks), www.fleurop.de (flowers), etc...
Empresas-a - companies: Chain of value creation digitized, e. g. order raw materials and parts with systems such as EDIFACT.
The growth of e-commerce in the short and medium term will be mainly determined by the segment corporate - company almost in all likelihood. Now you can come to occupy 80% of the total number of electronic business. The cost reduction and the improvement of the quality of products and Serbian sellers will contribute to further growth. For these reasons the corporate - business segment is likely to have a major impact in small and medium-sized enterprises.
E-commerce among the other business is highly competitive and the information about their impact is still reserved, because enough is not known for predicting the future, making this a priority in the research area.
E-commerce in the business segment customer, mainly depends on comfort for use for the customer.
Shopping behavior is increasingly influenced more by comfort.
The time spent for purchases is considered as unpleasant by 50% of the U.S. population, especially by young people.
Demand for independent of time and place shopping possibilities.
Compelling content
Time-saving
Competitive prices
Quick access
24-hour availability anywhere
Access to products that are sold exclusively through virtual channels

Implications of electronic commerce

Labour implications

E-commerce brings a new line of action in business processes, generates flatter hierarchies of organization with greater modularity and need continuous training of their employees and interrelation between the companies. Therefore the ability of enterprises to reorganize itself in the new electronic environment will crucially depend on adaptation and flexibility of its workers, apart from the continued efforts of the company to innovate. One major implication will undoubtedly be the relocation of the worker, what is known as telecommuting. One of the most important companies in the world of Telecom, British Telecom, according to a news of the country business of May 16, aims to make 10% of its workforce of teletrabajores in March of the year 2000. With this measure, the company aims to save on the installation of offices and buildings, and according to them, at the same time the worker saves money and time to scroll to the place of work.
While companies are experimenting with this new form of trade, short-term is going to create lots of jobs in network work. Anyway, the implications involving electronic commerce will depend on the country in question, as well as the size and structure of the e-commerce. This new order is making companies arise how to access new sales channel called Internet, and above all a basic question is there business on the Internet?.
For the director of the Master of engineering e-commerce i architecture La Salle, Lluís Font Prades, the answer is simple and blunt: Yes there is, and constantly growing every day as Internet increases the number of connected people. According to studies of the Association of users of Internet and Forrester Reseach, in 1998 were sold in Internet 3,300 million dollars and for the year 2001 is intended are selling 9,900 million. In Spain in 1998, there were 2.2 million people connected to the Internet and for the year 2001 will be setting to 9 million.
We have a new way of selling, e-commerce, which requires skilled professionals in the new sales techniques and marketing, a new way of understanding business. Professionals prepared for the challenge should have multidisciplinary expertise, but above all a solid technology base. Nothing will serve pure managers with little technical knowledge to a world where technology can become obsolete in months and lead to failure our trade strategy. Also specialists in programming and technology only, since we will have to answer questions such as: what is the best way to attract customers to our website? How can we create permanent links with our customers? Specialists in e-commerce should have knowledge of different disciplines: marketing and sales, international law, means of payment, information security, information systems, design of contents in Internet, telecommunications, service and customer loyalty, will be also appreciated a sectoral specialization.
Future specialists in e-commerce will come from any area of the company but must have training in all these disciplines to be real high qualification professionals and offer a high added value to their companies.
It would therefore be helpful to acquire these skills, which requires working with e-commerce, will be taught who is familiar with Internet technology to young students from the school.

Social implications

Although in principle it was an economic phenomenon, e-commerce is part of a wider process characterized by the globalization of markets, the shift to an economy based on knowledge and information, and the growth of all kinds of technologies from one day to another. This term of globalization is one of the best they defines our current society, since we are in the process of the European Union and introduction of the euro.
One of the most important changes will be acting with a mentality much more open, especially when making decisions with risk. Already will be not worth the attitude of watch and wait, but move fast, acquire a great flexibility and risk. A determining factor is going to be making strategic alliances, in such a way that there will be greater cooperation with others who can do better what we want, gaining time and money.
Although it has a few years of existence, the electronic commerce on the Internet has the power to radically change the economic activities and the social environment. In fact, it affects large sectors such as communications, finance and trade, and promises in other sectors such as education, health or Government. E-commerce alters even the relative importance of time, accelerating production cycles, and enabling companies operate together and consumers Transact forgetting time. As well as the importance of weather changes, change the structures of the business and social activities.

Implications of "policy"

In the case of large corporations and business organizations, concern about safety on the Internet is easy to understand, organizations need to protect the confidentiality of the confidential information. On the other hand, the users of a foot should also monitor closely all matters relating to the protection of your data and the identity of the sources and recipients of them.
Obviously the Internet security greatly affects businesses that operate with electronic banking, bank accounts on the Internet are nothing more than databases and, as such, are exposed. Ultimately, security affects everyone: big companies as a temptation and for the consequences of a possible leak, and individual users because of their vulnerability.
In Spain, as in her other world, computer security is still considered by the management as important or very important. A recent study by the consulting firm Ernst & Young says that this aspect is essential for 82% of the respondents. However, this importance given to information security does not always goes together with the implementation of specific security measures.
According to the same report, more than half of the companies recognize that do not analyze the access to your computer system. If we take into account that nowadays companies rely heavily on their computer system, because through their daily work they produce, generate your data and ultimately make your business, this figure is worrying.
The fact of not investigating possible evidence of access implies that sooner or more someone can access their computer systems and, therefore, the business may be in the hands of an intruder. Thus, the main problem is not technical in nature, but awareness of the potential dangers in the transmission of confidential information (our personal banking data, codes of access to accounts and transactions, etc.) through cyberspace.
I'd like to differentiate the types of safety being taken so far. Security systems that are deployed today can be divided into two groups:

• Secure communication channels. They are those that bring together a set of protocols which guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of communications via network. Among which stand out:
  • SHTTP (Secure HiperText Transfer Protocol), which gives security solutions to HTTP connections.
  • The SSL Protocol (Secure Socket Layer), designed and implemented by Netscape, which provides communication session encrypted and server authentication.
  • The Microsoft Protocol, (PCT) very similar to its competitor but compatible with various protocols.

• Key systems. It's one of the most important applications that the user can run a key from anywhere on the network for security in the transaction. Here, we would be faced with symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic systems.
  • Symmetric encryption: requires two partners (transmitter and receiver) the message to use the same key to encrypt and decrypt it (as for example the cryptosystem "DES" developed by IBM, Data Encryption Standard).
  • Asymmetric encryption, or public key cryptography which is based on the concept of key pairs, so that each of the keys can encrypt information that only the other key can decrypt the message. The key pair is associated with a single person, in such a way that the private key is only known by its owner while the other key, (the public) is published widely so that all know it (in this case highlights the famous cryptosystem RSA whose initials are those of its creators, Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman). In this respect it should be noted that U.S.A has allowed the export of cryptographic products that make use of keys to more than 40 bits, now yes until recently to allow the export of such products but provided that they include a recovery key or keys (key escrow) tank system.

This policy carried out by the Clinton Administration seems that it has not fallen well among American activists and software manufacturers. Not only in the USA it has been poorly received, to Germany for example, not been sat anything rather than a Government or foreign agency to gain access to the keys to the German users, it seems, therefore, that this policy can come into conflict with the laws of other States, since the majority of the European States do not restrict the use of this technique.
The uptake by the SET protocol of the two systems seems to be the safest measure so far. It is a hybrid system (uses both encryption systems) to avoid the slowness of the asymmetric encripatacion systems and take advantage of the speed of symmetric system. In addition to digital signatures and certification authorities is used. However this still slow its implementation. However I think that the certification authority Spanish ACE already is issuing certificates SET to financial institutions Spain.
Currently the main Spanish companies have opted for the security protocol SSL for payment with credit card:
El Corte Inglés has put into operation the "shop at home" service based precisely on SSL and client of El Corte Inglés card. After analyzing the data of the client is a personal telephone verification to validate the data.
As you can see there are many forms of security currently operating, perhaps the most widely used is SSL, which gives an effective form of encryption of card numbers. However, the most effective is the one that gets the confidentiality integrity authentication and not repudiation of the message, only achieved for the moment by the SET protocol, although IBM has made a magnificent effort on the issue of security of transactions is therefore just a matter of time to verify their reliability. Therefore the way of thinking in any type of security is never absolute, if that is not a problem of management of risk: how much (effort, money, discomfort...) I'm willing to invest in counteracting some risk?
Still, there is a large sector of the population who are not confident too still with payment via Internet. But it is a mindset that has to change because there are many systems that make us reliable, and every day there are more and better. According to a report by VISA and NFO Research, 98% of consumers who bought through the network during the Christmas of 1998, considered as satisfactory experience. In addition, 90% plan to buy again, and 88% plan to recommend it to a friend, according to the survey. Then added explanatory graphics on payment by internet.

Published for educational purposes