Strategic Issues For A Successful E-Commerce

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1. INTRODUCTION

Electronic Commerce is for the age of Information Technology what mercantilism, the hunt for gold, and the conquest of new lands have been for the age of discovery. Like the prow of a big fishing boat, it attracts toward itself all different interests and elements of society, and it will go away discoveries and changes in its wake. The world’s good-sized networking via optic fibers, satellites, and wireless communication is growing a brand new international network and a new international market, wherein a maximum of the international locations must participate. It is strengthening, almost sarcastically, the identity of small businesses, isolated communities, and minority pastimes. They use them closer to a less steeply-priced social and monetary activity and widen their possibilities. And most importantly, it is empowering small companies to compete with multinational businesses and allowing clients to search the world for precisely what they wanted.

E-Commerce essentially way the usage of networks (Internet) to perform all the activities involved in business control and operation: shopping for and selling of services and products, era and partner search, managing opposite numbers, choosing the maximum convenient transportation and insurances, acting bank transactions, paying and billing, speaking with employer salespeople, picking up orders, and every other activity essential for trading.

A corporation may be able to submit a complete catalog of it is services and products on the Internet, which may be continuously updated to give new or up to date products, proving a massive virtual showcase for capability customers, a means to talk with customers and in that manner, adjusts it’s an offer to their requirements; whilst on the equal time, it’s going to get entry to virtual markets wherein it can purchase what it desires.

Through necessary systems already underneath improvement, one agency will connect with other groups located everywhere inside the world to buy and sell, selecting the goods and services which first-class meets its wishes from a massive network. And it is genuine that this revolution involves us all.

2. BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B)

B2B e-trade means agencies buying from and selling to every different online. It automates and streamlines the process of buying and promoting intermediate products. It presents a greater dependable updating of enterprise records. B2B makes product information to be had globally and updates it in actual time. Hence, the purchasing enterprise can take benefit of big quantity of product facts. [3]

Now, we must realize what B2B e-commerce & their concerns: Selling organization: with advertising and marketing management attitude are. Buying corporation: with a procurement management perspective.
Electronic middleman: A 1/3 party intermediating provider issuer (the provider’s scope may be extended to encompass the order success ). Deliverer: who must satisfy the JIT (Just in Time Delivery) Network platform: which includes the Internet, Intranet, and Extranet. Protocols and communique: inclusive of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and assessment buying, likely using software program retailers. Back-end Facts machine: in all likelihood applied using the Intranet and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. B2B e-trade implies that each dealer and consumers are an enterprise business. It covers a huge spectrum of packages that enable a company or business to form digital dating with their distributors, re-dealers, providers, and other partners. B2B programs will provide businesses get admission to the following varieties of statistics:

Product: Specifications, fees, income history.
Customer: Sales records and forecasts.
Supplier: Product traces and lead instances, income terms, and situations.
Product technique: Capacities, commitments, product plans.
Transportation: Carries, lead-times, charges.
Inventory: Inventory stages, wearing costs, locations.
Supply chain Alliance: Key contacts, companions roles, and responsibilities, schedules.

Competitor: Benchmarking, aggressive product offering, market percentage.
Sales and advertising: Point of income (POS), promotions.
Supply chain process and performance: Process descriptions, overall performance measures, nice, shipping time, and purchaser satisfaction.

2.1 How to get the satisfactory

People always want to get the best shot in existence. To supply a legitimate return for your funding, you need to upload on-time delivery and flavor of a few strategies. This approach should consist of the right marketing, channel control, stable technology, strategic companions, and excellent merchandise. Let us have a glance at each of them.

2.1.1 Just in Time shipping (JIT)

In one of these cases (JIT), shipping materials and elements on time have to. Using E-Commerce, it’s far highly possible to assure JIT deliveries. Just in time, shipping may be found out by way of the co-coordinated transport- provider agency and suppliers stock coverage. Quick shipping does now not necessarily mean JIT shipping. However, the device for brief shipping is the backbone of JIT transport. For the B2B E-Commerce environment, the development confirmation of the agreement degree’s shipping date is crucial. [5][15]

2.1.2 Add techniques to your commercial enterprise

2.1.2.1 Direct Marketing

In a typical business employer, shopping for decisions, especially for merchandise over some thousand bucks, is made through individuals’ institutions. As a result, direct marketers want to extend their packages to exclusive functional regions and possibly even specific stages inside a purposeful vicinity. There are multiple shoppers and influences in any enterprise who play a role in the shopping for decision. You might also recognize with reasonable reality which your primary target is, but a secondary goal can be simply as important to reach. You might also reach commercial enterprise consumers and influencers in three fundamental control areas (functional control, monetary control, and widespread management) and do it at the center of upper managerial and technical stages. To do it, corporations want an accurate E-mail list, which they could broaden by using viewing agencies Websites and reviewing annual reports and other public files.

2.1.2.2 Relationship Marketing

Business shoppers are not constantly prepared to shop for products or services when ready to sell them. Factors you can not manage, together with the corporations’ budgeting manner, the need for added approvals, or buying methods, might also have an instantaneous effect on buying plans. There can be an informal interest in the product; however, no longer an instantaneous want. The clever B2B direct marketer compensates for this uncertainty by making sure software of everyday, ongoing communications (often referred to as continuity software) is in the front of potentialities periodically. This can be carried out through direct E-mail and by placing the statistics at the internet site.

2.1.2.Three Internet Marketing

Several capacity marketing techniques can be utilized in B2B E-Commerce advertising. These strategies may be classified into the following five classes:

Generating and qualifying leads with the Internet.
Using Internet activities to promote services and products.
Executing immediate achievement on the Internet.
Generating orders thru the Internet.
Enhancing patron dating with the Internet.
2.1.2.4 Channel Management

The first element is coherent advertising or channel control. The actual check of a hit E-Commerce implementation is how properly it exploits the Internet to reach, capture and retain the right customers. Choosing which products and services can be supplied through which channel is also an essential selection. E-commerce runs throughout multiple sales channels, together with direct, oblique, and E-marketplaces. The desire of which marketplaces to use as income channels is a vital selection.

In addition to marketplaces, using oblique sales channels is likewise an area for explosive income opportunities. Enabling your selling companions to host your catalog, stock, and fulfillment databases on their systems can create a performance that grows their enterprise and yours. You also can keep your direct one-to-one trading dating with long term strategic carriers with the aid of “E-permitting” the complete business manner from the preliminary request for quote via order success to automated billing and price. These channels create a state of affairs wherein the E-Commerce sell-side platform should transact across multi-channel selling strategies –which brings us to the next detail of your strategy: technology.

2.1.2.Five Technology

Industry general gear often allows a vendor to construct and manipulate product catalogs and content as soon as and use them during the whole multi-channel promoting conduits. Evolving equipment and abilties help you develop patron-friendly web sites and win repeat clients via constructing consumer loyalty. The front quit for e-trade promoting is a crucial piece of B2B success, connecting your new internet systems with your present systems. The 24*7 online marketplace manner your E-business must always be to be had. IT infrastructure ought to offer greater performance, reliability, safety, and process integration than bricks-and-mortar surroundings. The mainframes website hosting the databases and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) structures running the management systems should be seamlessly incorporated with the e-trade engine to offer the quality of carrier clients expects and realize the cost efficiencies B2B E-Commerce can offer. Choosing a flexible E-Commerce platform and a device integrator skilled with the complete business system is a need for achievement.

2.1.2.6 Partners

Like selecting the Internet as an income channel, it’s also critical to pick the proper companions, which includes an integration companion who’s skilled in assisting in moving in advance swiftly throughout the entire E-commercial enterprise procedure. We have to be given that any pass to E-Commerce is not about incremental improvement, as an alternative essential redecorate of the key enterprise approaches.

2.1.2.7 Products

With the presence on the internet, we will correctly and efficaciously transact enterprise with our customers 24*7. But so can our competition. Survivals and success in E-Commerce entail greater than certainly building a storefront to promote online. [5]

3. BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER (B2C)

While the time period E-Commerce refers to all online transactions, B2C stands for “Business-to-Consumer.” It applies to any enterprise or company that sells its products or services to clients over the Internet for their own use.

In the late 90s, dotcoms– which have been speedy gaining in size and market capitalization — posed a danger to standard brick and mortar companies. In many methods, these dotcoms seemed to be rewriting the enterprise’s guidelines — they had the customers without the costs of maintaining bodily shops, little stock, limitless get admission to capital and little problem about real profits. The idea was to get big rapid and worry about earnings later. And a popular thought robotically comes into our thoughts: ” Learn to swim while the tide is out. Learn from the kinds of clients that can be accessible now. It is a small market- play with it; learn how to price business in this market, discover ways to examine hazard. If you could do it well, the stakes get higher, and you will succeed where others may not.”

3.1 What are the important demanding situations of B2C e-trade

Getting browsers to shop for matters — Your E-Commerce site can not stay on visitors on my own. Getting visitors to the website is the simplest half the battle. Whether they buy something is what determines if you win. Some approaches to enhance the B2C conversion fee encompass improving navigation, simplifying the checkout process (along with one-step checkout and easily changed passwords), and sending out e-mails with unique gives. Building consumer loyalty — With so many web sites obtainable, how will you construct a robust dating with customers? Here are some pointers:

Focus on personalization: A big range of software packages are to be had to assist e-trade websites in creating specific boutiques that concentrate on particular customers. Create a smooth-to-use customer service utility. Providing just an electronic mail cope with can be frustrating to customers with questions. Live chat or a minimum of; a cellphone range will help. Focus on making your website online clean to apply.

Fulfillment — E-Commerce has expanded the focal point on patron delight and transport fulfillment. Companies should enhance their logistical structures to assure on-time transport. Providing instant gratification for clients still isn’t always clean. However, a success B2C E-Commerce operations find that success complications can be eased with accelerated awareness and investment in supply chain and logistical technology. [5]

3.2 Six Keys to B2C E-Commerce achievement

So, what does it genuinely take to capture the E-customer and generate online insurance income? Based on Insurance & Technology’s interviews with both early adopters and enterprise analysts, there appear like six key fulfillment factors:

Strategic Goals Assessment/Customer Needs Assessment What are your dreams as a business enterprise? Who are your customers? What are their desires? These may also sound like fundamental questions, but each insurer and analysts emphasize that an employer’s Web presence should replicate this fact.

Create a Usable, Targeted, and Sticky Web Site Usability and placement overall performance are some of the key elements insurers want to preserve in mind when growing their B2C E-Commerce strategies. Insurers also want to be privy to all in their numerous constituencies while growing B2C initiatives. The Web can reach multiple audiences, and none should be neglected. A suitable Web website online will communicate with clients and commercial enterprise companions, dealers, suppliers, and companies. Stickiness or the achievement of a Web site is attracting and maintaining new and returning traffic, is some other achievement factor. Turning the website into a greater of a data portal with real-time news feeds and maintaining content updated and synchronized will help preserve customers coming back.

Integration The Internet is not a stand-by myself platform or medium. It should be integrated with lower back-give-up legacy structures, agent structures, call centers, advertising projects, and pricing and underwriting structures to be an effective provider and distribution channel. The Internet is clearly some other purchaser relationship channel, and integration with other customer service capabilities is clearly a variety of-one precedence.

Innovate with Web Applications and Real-Time Transactions B2C online packages vary from the exceedingly fundamental, together with updating policy facts, to the complicated, including comparative rate quoting and digital claims submission. Regardless of the unique capabilities, an employer plans to feature to its Web website online, they have to serve the E-purchaser’s wishes. In this manner that net sites ought to have interactivity and instantaneous gratification.

Partnerships Although insurers need to be selective in initiating on-line partnerships, such agreements have the capacity to increase market attain and upload functions in a rather low-fee way. According to a current Gartner Group look, 46 percent of coverage companies lively at the Web have partnerships with banks, 30 percentage have partnerships with other insurance organizations, and 22 percentage have partnerships with investment firms. Partnerships with insurance portals offer comparative quoting skills and can generate commercial enterprise.
Put Tools in Place To Keep Learning E-patron is a transferring goal. Investors should continually say that they’re still playing and constantly shooting records from all in their channels. They need to focus on organizations, used third-birthday party checks, and have employed consumer interface specialists. “The process is iterative: You simply hold studying.” [5]

4. INFRASTRUCTURE INTEGRATION

In this net-enabled international, customers rule. The capability to offer mass customization has emerged as a real fact. To unexpectedly meet these necessities, time to deployment of recent or enhanced software is shrinking dramatically. These programs must be constructed to be smooth to apply, nimble, open, extensible, and to be had across all platforms. This kind of stressful characteristic must be finished at a minimum price.

Replacement of legacy device application is luxurious, so it is visible that people started to aggregate facts from disparate assets and combine them with seamless records glide, the demand to talk with an extensive form of cellular gadgets, and the dearth of skills and know-how that are further compounded with the aid of shrinking time-to-deployment necessities. These software program integration technology lower development and deployment expenses through doing the following:

Supplying the communique and integration code so software builders can focus on the fee-added commercial enterprise logic; Providing a standard platform on which to build, set up, and control dispensed packages;
Reducing the IT skills required to supply tough company requirements; Providing rapid application development equipment to cast off custom coding and simplify integration; and Enabling the reuse of integration additives over many tasks.

4.1 What is needed for Integration

Requirements Traditional necessities definition based totally on the functionality preferred is yielding to a definition Based on time-to-deployment and the capability to combine destiny technology. New infrastructure necessities are rising, which places extra importance on planning the migration course to newer technologies.
Technology selection For the first-class result, the proper technology should usually be picked up. Technology needs to be such that the incorporated solution fulfills the following criteria’s: Extensibility and reusability, Flexibility, Efficiency, Interoperability and breadth, Cost-effectiveness, Ease of renovation, Deployment ease and efficiency, Ease of management, Industry acceptability, Enterprise integration, Technological innovation. [1]
4.2 Benefits of Integration

It has been surveyed that the end customers are benefited in various approaches after the crowning glory of

Integration assignment. Benefits hence acquired are:

Simple and entire development platform,
Platform independence,
Network-aware development and run-time platform,
Technologically unified intranet, extranet, and Internet,
Central administration of recent software versions,
Easy get right of entry to organization IT resources,
Rich and exceedingly useful consumer interface thing,
Simple and strong safety version. [1]
5. SECURITY ISSUES

Security is a prime difficulty in developing E-Commerce because this might be the most crucial cause humans hesitate to buy matters on the Net. Buying at the Net calls for your credit card’s wide variety and other private facts. But broadcasting your credit score card wide variety through the ether? It sounds pretty dicey. So, it’s a mission for companies to make their web page relaxed and safe so that human beings can fully rely on them.

5.1 What does security imply

Whatever the environment, paper or digital, securing it necessarily implies the prevention of

Destruction of information and
Unauthorized availability of data.
Five.2 Security problems

The issues that confront us with regards to securing electronic transaction are consequently:

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Authenticity/Non-reputability
Auditability
Confidentiality:
Information should be protected from unauthorized internal customers’ prying eyes, outside hackers and intercepted throughout transmission on communique networks, making it unintelligible to the attacker. The content has to be converted in one way that it isn’t decipherable by absolutely everyone who does not understand the transformation information.

Integrity:

On retrieval or receipt at the opposite stop of a verbal exchange network, the information has to seem exactly as it became saved are despatched. It needs to be possible to generate an alert on any amendment, addition, or deletion to the original content. Integrity also precludes statistics “replay,” i.E., a sparkling replica of the information is generated or resent the use of the earlier proper message’s authorization functions. Suitable mechanisms are required to ensure quit-to-end message content material and copy authentication.

Availability:

The facts stored or transmitted throughout verbal exchange networks should be available on every occasion required and anything quantity, as favored inside pre-set up time constraints. Network errors, strength outages, operational mistakes, utility software program errors, hardware troubles, and viruses are a number of the reasons for the unavailability of statistics. The mechanisms for implementation of countermeasures to those threats are to be had however are beyond the scope of cease-to-cease message safety for implementing Electronic Commerce.

Authenticity:

Any character or object from masquerading as a few different man or woman or item has to be feasible. When a message is obtained, it should be possible to verify it has certainly been sent via the character or object claiming to be the originator. Similarly, it should additionally be possible to make sure that the message is sent to the individual or object for whom it is supposed. This implies the want for the dependable identity of the originator and recipient of facts.

Non-reputability:

After sending/authorizing a message, the sender ought not to be able to deny having accomplished so at a later date. Similarly, the recipient of a message needs to be now unable to deny receipt at a later date. It must, therefore, be feasible to bind message acknowledgments with their originations.

Auditability;

Audit facts should be recorded so that each one special confidentiality and integrity necessities are met.[2]

5.3 Security answers

Cryptography is the maximum widely used method for implementing generation solutions for the above-noted protection issues. It contains encryption — the process of creating information unintelligible to the unauthorized reader and decryption – booking encryption to make the statistics readable all over again. Conventional cryptography makes use of a mystery code or key to encrypt information. The receiver utilizes the same mystery secret to decrypt the information.[14]

Password is the maximum commonplace mechanism used to authenticate humans. Passwords are anticipated to be known only with the aid of the owner. The onus is on the owner to hold the password secret. The digital signature may be used now not simplest to affirm the authenticity of the message and the sender’s claimed identity, but also to verify the message integrity. However, the recipient must no longer be capable of using the obtained virtual signature to falsely “sign” messages on behalf of the authentic sender. Here a message is encrypted with the sender’s private key to generate the ‘signature.’ The message is then sent to the vacation spot alongside this signature. The recipient decrypts the signature the usage of the sender’s public key. If the result suits with the replica of the message acquired, the recipient could be sure that the message turned into despatched by the claimed originator and that the message has now not been changed in the course of transmission when you consider that only the originator is in ownership of the corresponding encryption key. It is a key cryptosystem.
A greater effective solution can be acquired using a biometric authentication device, inclusive of a fingerprint scanner, in the e-wallet.

Smart cards are similar to credit score cards, except that they have chips embedded in them. These cards may be used to save the value and convey authentication records.

6. CONCLUSION

Changing market scenario puts stress on enterprise humans to evolve new and clever strategies to reach the fulfillment pinnacle. Innovations are hastily turning into a part of IT infrastructure. But to get powerful remarks, we need an all in one team technique consisting of business folks that can correctly perceive enterprise necessities, technology necessities, and fulfillment standards. People can lessen the hazard and time-to-deployment by considering the elements described above.

7. REFERENCES

Aberdeen Group, Inc. “e-Business Infrastructure Integration: Practical Approaches,” An Executive White Paper, Boston, Massachusetts 02108, USA, November 2001 Kamlesh K. Bajaj and Debjani Nag, “E-Commerce: The Cutting Edge of Business,” Tata-McGraw-Hill, 1999 Efraim Turban, Jae Lee, David King, H. Michael Chung, “Electronic Commerce-A Managerial Perspective,” Pearson Education Asia, 2001 Ravi Kalakota and Andrew B. Whinston, “Frontiers of Electronic Commerce,” Addison Wesley, 2001

Susmita Das, Malabika Dinda, Sudipa Batabyal, Sangeeta Mishra, “A Study on Various Aspects of E-Commerce Paradigms with One Design Implementation,” B.Tech.(Honours) Thesis, Haldia Institute of Technology (Vidyasagar University), 2002 Simon S. Y. Shim, Vishnu S. Pendyala, Meera Sundaram, and Jerry Z. Gao, “Business to Business E-Commerce Frameworks,” Computer, IEEE Computer Society, Volume 33, Number 10, October 2000.
Wenli Wang, Zoltan Hidvegi, Andrew D. Bailey Jr., and Andrew B. Whinston, “E-Process Design and Assurance Using Model Checking,” Computer, IEEE Computer Society, Volume 33, Number 10, October 2000

Tim Ebringer, Peter Thorne, and Yuliang Zheng, “Parasitic Authentication To Protect Your E-Wallet,” Computer, IEEE Computer Scciety, Volume 33, Number 10, October 2000 Abhijit Chaudhury, Debasish Mallick, and H. Raghav Rao, “Web Channels in E-Commerce,” Communications of the ACM, Volume forty-four, Number 1, January 2001
Ted Becker, “Rating the Impact of New Technologies on Democracy,” Communications of the ACM, Volume forty-four, Number 1, January 2001

Joe Mohen and Julia Glidden, “The Case for Internet Voting,” Communications of the ACM, Volume forty-four, Number 1, January 2001 Deborah M. Philips and Hans A. Von Spakovsky, “Gauging the Risks of Internet Elections,” Communications of the ACM, Volume forty-four, Number 1, January 2001 Lance J. Hoffman and Lorrie Cranor, Guest Editors, ” Internet Voting for Public Officials,” Communications of the ACM, Volume forty-four, Number 1, January 2001

Andrew S. Tanenbaum, “Computer Networks,” Third Edition, Prentice-Hall

Debajyoti Mukhopadhyay and Sangeeta Mishra, “How to Meet The Challenges Of Managing E-Commerce Successfully,” Journal of the Calcutta Management Association, Volume VII, Number 2: August 2002
Prof. Debajyoti Mukhopadhyay is Director of Web Intelligence & Distributed Computing Research Lab (WIDiCoReL) and is a Professor of Computer Science & Information Technology. He becomes a Professor at West Bengal University of Technology affiliated engineering colleges (2001-2008). He turned into a Visiting Professor inside the Division of Electronics & Information Engineering at Chonbuk National University within the Republic of Korea (October 2006 to February 2007). He has also taught at Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey (1982-1984) and Bengal Engineering College affiliated to Calcutta University, West Bengal (1980-1981). He had in advance worked in IT enterprise for sixteen years. During 1982-1994 and in 1999, he becomes in the USA. He had labored at Bell Communications Research, New Jersey, the USA, in its Computing Systems and Architecture Lab. Sangeeta Mishra received her B.Tech. In Computer Science & Engineering diploma from Haldia Institute of Technology, India in 2002. After running an IT enterprise for over the years in India, she has moved to California and is currently running in an IT Organization inside the USA.