e biz question bank

8/8/2019 e Biz Question Bank

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Q1. Define eCommerce and eBusiness

eBusiness:

The conduct of business with the assistance of telecommunications and telecommunications-

based tools.

The transformation of key business processes through the use of Internet technologies.

The key business processes referred to in the IBM definitions are the organizational processes

or units. They include research and development, marketing, manufacturing and inbound and

outbound logistics. The buy-side e-commerce transactions with suppliers and the sell-side e-

commerce transactions with customers can also be considered to be key business processes.

The majority of Internet services are available to any business or consumer that has access to

the Internet. However, many e-business applications that access sensitive company

information require access to be limited to qualified individuals or partners. CRM(Customer

Resource Management), ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning), SCM(Supply Chain Management),

SFM(Sales Force Management) and EP(Electronic Procurement) are systems found in

eBusiness.

If information is restricted to employees inside an organization, this is an intranet. If access is

extended to some others, but not everyone beyond the organization, this is an extranet.

Whenever you log-on to an Internet service such as that for an e-retailer or online news site,

this is effectively an extranet arrangement, although the term is most often used to mean a

business-to-business application.

eCommerce:

The conduct of commerce in goods and services, with the assistance of telecommunications

and telecommunications-based tools.

E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on

the Internet, especially the World Wide Web.

E-commerce can be divided into:

• E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered

into a "virtual mall"

• The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data

• e-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established

customers (for example, with newsletters)

• Business-to-business(B2B) buying and selling

• Business-to-customer(B2C) buying and selling

• Customer -to- customer(C2C) buying and selling

• The security of business transactions

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Q2. Differentiate between eCommerce and eBusinessE -business and e-commerce are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, and

sometimes they're used to differentiate one vendor's product from another. But the terms are

different, and that difference matters to today's companies.

In both cases, the e stands for "electronic networks" and describes the application of

electronic network technology - including Internet and electronic data interchange (EDI) - to

improve and change business processes.

E-commerce covers outward-facing processes that touch customers, suppliers and

external partners, including sales, marketing, order taking, delivery, customer

service, purchasing of raw materials and supplies for production and procurement

of indirect operating-expense items, such as office supplies. It involves new business

models and the potential to gain new revenue or lose some existing revenue to new

competitors.

It's ambitious but relatively easy to implement because it involves only three types of integration: vertical integration of front-end Web site applications to existing transaction

systems; cross-business integration of a company with Web sites of customers, suppliers or

intermediaries such as Web-based marketplaces; and integration of technology with modestly

redesigned processes for order handling, purchasing or customer service.

E-business includes e-commerce but also covers internal processes such as

production, inventory management, product development, risk management,

finance, knowledge management and human resources. E-business strategy is more

complex, more focused on internal processes, and aimed at cost savings and improvements

in efficiency, productivity and cost savings.

An e-business strategy is also more difficult to execute, with four directions of

integration: vertically, between Web front- and back-end systems; laterally, between a

company and its customers, business partners, suppliers or intermediaries; horizontally,

among e-commerce, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management

(CRM), knowledge management and supply-chain management systems; and downward

through the enterprise, for integration of new technologies with radically redesigned business

processes. But e-business has a higher payoff in the form of more efficient processes, lower

costs and potentially greater profits.

E-commerce and e-business both address these processes, as well as a technology

infrastructure of databases, application servers, security tools, systems management and

legacy systems. And both involve the creation of new value chains between a company and

its customers and suppliers, as well as within the company itself.

All companies should have an e-commerce strategy. (Governments should have an e-public

service strategy.) Electronic networks in general and the Internet in particular are too

important for firms to ignore if they want to interact with customers, suppliers or distribution

partners.

But some companies need to move beyond e-commerce and form e-business strategies -

especially large companies that already have links to EDI networks or have completed major

ERP implementations. These companies have already reaped some of the biggest benefitsfrom e-commerce strategies. They're also likely to experience organizational pain as conflicts

develop among their ERP, EDI, supply-chain management and e-commerce strategies. And

last, they have enough experience and knowledge in electronic-network technologies - and in



process redesign and integration - that they have a chance of being successful in an e-

business strategy.

Still, the coordination and organizational obstacles to developing an e-business strategy are

formidable. It involves major and potentially disruptive organizational change. The risks of

failure and the consequences from limited success are higher in an e-business

strategy than in an e-commerce strategy. Being a leader in e-business can contribute to

long-term success, but the stresses and strains of business transformation can cause near-

term damage.



Q3. Explain eCommerce modelA Business model is a method of doing business by which a company can generate revenue to

sustain itself.

Types of business models

• Business to consumer

• Business to business

• Consumer to Consumer

• Revenue Model

B2C

The type of Ecommerce business model that most of us are familiar with is the B2C model.

Examples include:

• E-shops

o It involves web marketing of a company or shop. The primary objective is to

promote the goods or services of the company and to take orders and accept

payment.

o It is often combined with traditional marketing channelso Challenge is to develop strategies to increase demando Other objectives include cost-reduction of promotion and saleso Revenues are from reduced cost, increased sales, ando possibly advertising

• E-malls

o It is a collection of e-shops, under a common umbrella, for example of a well-known brand

o Might be enriched by a common, guaranteed, payment method.o Might have a single entry point to individual e-shopso Industry marketplace: When shops belong to a certain market segmento They can have virtual community features (FAQ, discussion forums, closed user

groups)o Revenues are from membership fee, advertising, and transactions fees (if

payments are processed by the mall provider).• 3rd party marketplace

o It is an emerging model - for companies wishing to leave the Web marketing endof the operations to a 3rd party (Yahoo)

o It frequently is an add-on to their other channels.o It is a user interface to a company’s product catalogueso It can be enhanced by special marketing features, branding, payment, logistics,

ordering, and the full scale of secure transactionso Revenues can be generated on the basis of one-off membership fee, service

fees, or percentage on transaction value• Virtual communities

o The value added is to the members (customers or partners)



o They add their information into a basic environment provided by the virtualcommunity company

o Membership fees and advertising generate revenueso Virtual communities can also be an important addon to other marketing

operationso It can be used to build customer loyalty and receive customer feedback

• Information brokerage and other services

o These companies add value to data available on the open networks or comingfrom integrated business operations

o Examples include customer profiling, business opportunities brokerage,investment advice, competitive intelligence

o Usually information and consultancy are directly paid for either throughsubscription or on a payper- use basis

o Some companies are experimenting with advertising schemes

B2B

A less familiar Ecommerce business model to most of us is the B2B model. Examples include:• E-procurement

o They help with electronic procuremento Electronic Data Interchange is the model

Value added is the keyo Typical EDI applications have focused on an industryo Opportunities exist for expanding the scope to go across multiple industrieso Create new, specialized markets

• Value-chain service providero They provide a specific function for the value chaino It could be secure electronic payments, credit card processing, or logisticso For example, banks have done this offlineo New approaches are also emerging in production/stock management where the

specialized expertise required to analyze and tune productiono A fee or percentage based scheme is the basis for revenues

• Value chain integratorso They focus on integrating multiple steps of the value chaino They will provide several business processes within a single corporate entityo Secure transactions, credit card processing, and server log analysiso Revenues are obtained from consultancy fees, long term contracts, or possibly

pay-asyou-go transaction fees.

• Collaboration platformso A company provides a sets of tools, expertise, and an information environment

for collaboration between enterpriseso Focus on specific functions, such as collaborative design and engineeringo Provide technologies such as net audio/video conferencing, shared whiteboards,

distributed GDSSo One business opportunity is managing the platform and collecting membership

and usage feeso Another is charging for providing expertiseo A third is selling or licensing the specialist tools (e.g. for design, workflow,

document managementMost knowledgeable observers concur that this is the segment where most of the action willbe over the next few years.

C2CConsumer-to-consumer e-commerce can be defined as individuals doing business in an onlineenvironment, typically utilizing the Internet in one way or another.



Any website where people are brought together to buy, sell, or trade. Online auctions such asEbay are a perfect example of this business model.

Revenue model

How an eCommerce project or company will make or earn money. Major revenue models are,

• Sales: revenue from selling on their web site or providing services

• Transaction fees: commissions based on the volume of transactions made. ( fixed or

incremental)

• Subscription: payment of fees usually monthly or quarterly to get some type of service

• Advertising fees: companies charge others for placing ads on their sites

• Affiliate fee: companies get paid for referring customers to other sites

• Other revenue models: game sites, licensing fees etc.



Q4. Write on evolution of eBusiness.

Since 1990, by the introduction of the World Wide Web (www) our lives have been changed,the way we communicate, the dissemination of information, the integration of the media, andthe way Democracy conducts its governments has a new dimension to the human race. IT is

called the IT ERA, of the Internet revolution.

In today’s rapidly evolving world, companies need to adjust their business models constantlyto changes in their environment. However, they also need to do so in a controlled manner. Anapproach to evolving business models needs to strike a balance between capitalizing on newopportunities, and entering uncharted territories by mitigating the risks involved with such achange. The approach must be lightweight in order to quickly evaluate alternative models,but also be reliable.

Brief History:

• 1970s: innovations like electronic funds transfer (EFT)—funds routed electronically from

one organization to another (limited to large corporations)• electronic data interchange (EDI)— electronically transfer routine documents

(application enlarged pool of participating companies to include manufacturers,retailers, services)

• inter-organizational system (IOS)—travel reservation systems and stock trading• 1969 U.S. government experiment—the Internet came into being initially used by

technical audience of government agencies, academic researchers, and scientists• 1990s the Internet commercialized and users flocked to participate in the form of dot-

coms, or Internet start-ups• Innovative applications ranging from online direct sales to e-learning experiences• Most medium- and large-sized organizations have a Web site

• Most large U.S. corporations have comprehensive portals• 1999 the emphasis of EB shifted from B2C to B2B• 2001 the emphasis shifted from B2B to B2E, c-commerce, e-government, e-learning,

and m-commerce

The rapid evolution of e-business architectures is opening many new avenues of collaborationin the apparel and retail industries, and companies across the supply chain are leveragingnew software applications that promise to facilitate large-scale trading networks at all levels.

eBusiness Evolution



Business must change to adopt this new media, or they will be left out to stagnate and die. Itis no longer the Power of the Seller, to command the sales of their goods and services, it isnow shifted to the Buyer. The role of middle man traders has diminished and evolve into arelevant link in the Supply Chain, Logistics.

Significant New Product Trends are those who has value-add to the Supply Chain. Structuresof the organisation reconstruct, and firms become more agile and efficient to deal with thisnew way of conducting business.

• CommunicationWith the introduction of the new media, the volume of communication has increased,and cost has been significantly reduced by the introduction of emails text messagingWeb Chat and Conferencing over the Internet. Now it is VoIP that cuts down overseascommunication cost to near zero.

• Roles of the companiesInformation has become easily accessible by the masses, the consumer has widerchoice, and can buy the same product from the hundreds, and thousands of suppliersover the Internet. Companies who want to stay relevant on the Supply Chain has to

take the role of the Logistic distribution and Customer Relation Management, ratherthan be a mere Import-Export role. They have to add value to the merchandise, andprovide a safe and secure mean of transaction. Also a strong element of trust andintegrity.

• InteractivityIn the past, a firm who wants to sell its products, put up an advertisement in the prints,one that exposes to the public, like the newspaper, or magazines. Other media of advertisements are the Radio and Television, and one media which is no longerrunning, the Cinemas. Now, it has to be a media which provides interaction with theconsumers, feedbacks, and customer-service, such as downloads of software drivers,

help to solve problems pertaining to the products purchased, and catering for the after-sales warranty. There is a lot more interactivity between seller and buyer, and thecommunication has become 1 to 1, from 1 to many.

• Assistive technologies



The way a product is presented, and the information given on the product is enhancedand magnified by the assistive technologies of softwares such as JAVA, animated GIF,FLASH, and Slide shows. Sound and vision play important part to influence the decisionof the buyer or prospects. This is used by the advertisers to customize their product forindividual preferences. For example the colour of a car can be selected by the browser,and other features and add ons such as spoilers, headlights, LED flashing lights, etc canbe changed to suite individual preference. The skill to use these technologies tomaximise impact is crucial to the sales promotion.

• Convergence of media eMarketing uses various media to promote the product. Some interactive, and someare one-way communication such as the print media. However, these various mediasuch as sound, vision and face-to-face demonstrations, exhibitions, television ads, etc.are converged into a single channel of market communication. The Yellow Pagesadvertisement ought to lead the reader to the company's website, or channel of communication through emails, fax, telephone or physical showroom address. Similarlythe advertisement on the Web has also to lead to one direction where the potentialbuyer knows how to buy the product and where to view it.

• Attractive benefitsIn the jungle, there are many plants, trees, grass and undergrowth, all struggling to geta place for the Sun. Same way, an advertisement has to appeal to the audience andthey are only interested in their benefits. They don't care about too much technicalterms, or features, unless they see them as benefiting to their:

o Health and Wellnesso Social Statuso Safety and Securityo Family cohesion and unityo Vision and faitho Financial cost savingso Relationship with spouse, friends and neighbours

• Business IntelligenceAs we know, the introduction of the www brings both good and bad, opportunities andthreats. Customers and competitors, and the business has to lower the threats byhaving Business intelligence, verifying potential buyers and sellers of their genuinenessand integrity. Most importantly identifying SCAMs, phishing, Threats of Softwareattacks, Denial of Service, email bombing, and spyware. The business also has to dotheir own search and BI, to minimize risks.



Q5. What are the challenges of eBusiness?In today’s business climate, e-Business can have an impact on every facet of the organization,including processes, applications, staffing, infrastructure, relationships, sales, and saleschannels. Not only is e-business transforming companies and industries, it’s doing so at anaccelerating rate. Business cycles that use to be measured in years are now measured indays.

As part of this transformation, enterprise borders are starting to disappear. e-business is allabout providing open access to infrastructure services, data, and applications. Partners,suppliers, customers and, in some cases, even your competition will be able to peer 3intoyour corporate nervous system.

Customer expectations are rising mercilessly in terms of the speed and reliability they expectfrom your e-Business applications. Studies show that Web customers will wait only eightseconds for a page view, even if they are on a slow connection that you have no control over.

Technological

• Lack of universally accepted standards for quality, security, and reliability

• Telecommunication bandwidth is insufficient (mostly for m-commerce)

• Software development tools are still evolving.

• Difficulties in integrating the internet and EC software applications and databases.

• Special web servers are needed in addition to the network servers (added cost)

• Internet accessibility is still expensive and/ or inconvenient

• Order of fulfillment of large-scale B2C requires special automated warehouses

• Increasing innovations and new technologies

• Rapid technological obsolescence

• Rapid decline in technology cost versus performance ratio

Non-technological

• Security and privacy concerns deter some customer from buying

• Lack of trust in EC and in unknown sellers hinder buying• Many legal and public policy issues, including taxations, remain unresolved

• National and international government regulations sometimes get in the way

• Difficulty in measuring some benefits in EC. (e.g. advertising,) lack of maturedmeasurement methodology

• Some customers like to touch and feel the product

• Adamant to change from physical to virtual store

• Lack of trust in paperless, faceless transactions

• Insufficient number (critical mass) of sellers and buyers (some cases) needed tomake profit

• Increasing number of fraud on the net



• Difficulty to obtain venture capital due to the dot-com disaster

Societal

• Changing nature of workforce

• Government deregulation- more competition

• Shrinking government subsidies

• Increased importance of ethical and legal issues

• Increased social responsibility of organizations

• Rapid political changes

Business as usual no more enough (price reduction & closure of unprofitable facilities)

Need for new innovations (critical response activities)

• Customization

• Creating new productsProviding superb costumers services

Q6. Explain how CEO can harness the power of eBusinessIn today’s business climate, e-Business can have an impact on every facet of the organization,including processes, applications, staffing, infrastructure, relationships, sales, and saleschannels. Not only is e-business transforming companies and industries, it’s doing so at anaccelerating rate. Business cycles that use to be measured in years are now measured indays.

As part of this transformation, enterprise borders are starting to disappear. e-business is allabout providing open access to infrastructure services, data, and applications. Partners,suppliers, customers and, in some cases, even your competition will be able to peer 3intoyour corporate nervous system.

Customer expectations are rising mercilessly in terms of the speed and reliability they expectfrom your e-Business applications. Studies show that Web customers will wait only eightseconds for a page view, even if they are on a slow connection that you have no control over.

Following points will help the CEO in harnessing the power of ebusiness:

• Strategic systems: provides org. with strategic adv.

• Increase their market share

• Better negotiation with their suppliers

• Prevent competitors from entering their territory

e.g. FedEx tracking system

• Continuous improvement efforts & BPR: continuous efforts to improve productivity, qualityand customer services. E.g. Dell ERP and Intel’s customer tracking.

• Customer relationship management: e.g. personalization, sales-force automation

• Business alliances: org. enter collaborate for mutual benefit aided mostly by e-commerce.

• Electronic markets

• Reduction in cycle time & time to market: e.g. use of extranet



• Empowerment of employees: the ability to take decision on costumers (decentralization)

• Supply chain improvement:

o Reduce supply chain delays

o Reduce inventories

o Eliminate inefficiencies

• Mass customization: production of large customized items ( in an efficient way)

• Intra-business: from sales force to inventory control

• Knowledge management: the process creating or capturing knowledge, storing andprotecting it, updating, maintaining and using it.

An organization can turn digital to gain competitive adv by using EC:

Brick & mortar against digital

Brick & mortar

• Selling in physical stores• Selling tangible goods• Internal inventory/production

planning• Paper catalogs• Physical marketplace• Physical & limited auctions• Broker-based service

transactions• Paper-based billing• Paper-based tendering• Push production• Mass production (standard)• Physical based commission

marketing• Word-of-mouth slow

advertisement• Linear supply chain• Large amount of capital

needed• Cost>value

Digital• Selling online• Selling digital goods• Online collaborative inventory

forecasting• Smart e-catalogs• Electronic market-space• Online auctions everywhere,

anytime• Electronic Info-mediaries, value

added services• Electronic billings•

Pull production• Mass customization• Affiliate, viral marketing• Explosive viral marketing• Hub-based supply chain• Less capital needed• Small fixed cost• Cost=value

Internet tools for marketers

• Distribution: a company can distribute through the internet

• A company can use the internet to build and maintain a customer relationship

• Money collection part of a transaction can be done online

• Leads can be generated by through short trial periods, before long-term signing

• Advertising

• Avenue for collecting direct response.

Benefits of e-marketing



• If and when properly and effectively implemented, the ROI from e-marketing will far

exceed that of traditional marketing.

• It is at the forefront of reengineering or redefining the way businesses interact with

their customers.

• Most of the benefit can be derived from the

o REACH: truly global reach and cost reduction

o Scope: wide range of products and services

o Interactivity: two way communication path

o Immediacy: provide an opportunity for immediate impact

o targeting: savvy marketers can easily have access to the niche markets they

need for targeted marketing

o Adaptivity: real time analysis of customer responses leading to minimal

advertising spend wastage.

• Other benefits include,

o Access to unlimited information to customers without human intervention

o personalization

o Enables transaction between firms and customers that will typically require

human intervention

Benefits of Extranets

• Enhanced communication: enables improve internal communications, improved

business partnership channels, effective marketing, sales, and customer support,

facilitated collaborative activities support

• Productivity enhancements: enables just-in-time information delivery, reduction of

information overload, productive collaboration between work groups, and training on

demand.

• Business enhancements: enables faster time to market, potential for simultaneous

engineering and collaboration, lower design and production cost, improved clientrelationships and creation of new business opportunities

• Cost reduction: results in fewer errors, improved comparison shopping, reduced travel

and meeting time and cost, reduced administrative and operational cost, and

elimination of paper-publishing cost

• Information delivery: enables low-cost publishing, leveraging of legacy systems,

standard delivery systems, ease of maintenance and implementation, and elimination

of paper-based publishing and mailing costs.

•

Ready access to information, ease of use, freedom of choice, moderate setup cost,simplified workflow, lower training cost, and better group dynamics.



Q7. "Technology is cause & driver of eBusiness" explain

.



Q8. eBusiness is changing the business to suit the businessE-business describes the use of electronic means and platform to conduct a company's

business. The advent of the Internet has greatly increased the ability of companies to conduct

their business faster, more accurately over a wide range of time and space, at reduced cost,

and with the ability to customise and personalise customer offerings. Countless companieshave set up website to inform and promote their products and services. They have created

intranets to facilitate employees communicating with one another to facilitate downloading

and uploading information to and from the company's computers. Companies have also set

up extranets with major suppliers and distributors to facilitate information

exchange,orders,transactions and payments. Bill Gates of Microsoft claims that Microsoft is

almost entirely run electronically, there is hardly any paper flowing through the company

because every thing is on the computer screen.

The new business environment

• Highly competitive (due to economic, societal, legal and technological factors)

• Quick and sometimes unpredictable change

• The need for more production, faster and with fewer resources

• Huber (2003) “new business environment created due to accelerated advances in

science”

• This advances creates scientific knowledge

• This scientific knowledge feeds on itself resulting in more and more technology

• Rapid growth in technology results in a large variety of more complex systems.

• As a result the business environment is characterized by

o A more turbulent environment ( more business problems and opportunity)

o Stronger competition

o Frequent decision making by organizations

o Large scope for decisions considerations (market, competition, political and

global)

o More information/knowledge needed for decisions

Pressure on businesses

• Market and economic

o Strong competition

o Global economy

o Regional trade agreement

o Extremely low labour cost in some regions



o Frequent and significant changes in markets

o Increase power of consumers

• Societal

o Changing nature of workforce

o

Government deregulation- more competition

o Shrinking government subsidies

o Increased importance of ethical and legal issues

o Increased social responsibility of organizations

o Rapid political changes

• Technological

o Increasing innovations and new technologies

o Rapid technological obsolescence

o Rapid decline in technology cost versus performance ratio

• Need for new innovations (critical response activities)

o Customization

o Creating new products

o Providing superb costumers services

• E-commerce facilitate most of these responses

There are various types of marketplaces

• B2C

o Electronic storefronts: single company’s Web site where product/services are

sold (electronic store)

A storefront has various mechanism for conducting sale

• Electronic catalogs (presentation of product information in an

electronic form)

• A search engine ( a program that can access a database of Internet

resources, search for specific information/keywords, and report the

result)

• An electronic shopping cart: order processing technology that allow

shoppers to accumulate items they wish to buy while they continue

to shop)

• E-auction facilities

• A payment gateway etc.



o Electronic malls: an online shopping center where many stores are located

• B2B

o Private E-Marketplace: owned by a single company

Sell-side E-Marketplace: a private e-market in which a company sells

either standard or customized to qualified companies

Buy-side: a private e-market in which a company buys from invited

suppliers

o Public E-Marketplace: e-market usually owned by am independent 3rd party with

many buyers and many sellers (exchanges)

o Consortia: usually owned by a small group of major sellers or buyers usually in

the same industry

• Electronic auctions (e-auctions): auctions conducted online.

o Dynamic pricing: change in price due to demand and supply relationships at any

given time.

Dynamic pricing has several forms (bargaining and negotiations)

There are 4 major forms of dynamic pricing depending on how many

buyers or sellers there are,

• One buyer, one seller

• One seller, many potential buyers

• One buyer, many potential sellers

• Many buyers, many sellers

Benefits of e-marketing

• If and when properly and effectively implemented, the ROI from e-marketing will far

exceed that of traditional marketing.

• It is at the forefront of reengineering or redefining the way businesses interact with

their customers.

• Most of the benefit can be derived from the

o REACH: truly global reach and cost reduction

o Scope: wide range of products and services

o Interactivity: two way communication path

o Immediacy: provide an opportunity for immediate impact

o targeting: savvy marketers can easily have access to the niche markets they

need for targeted marketing



o Adaptivity: real time analysis of customer responses leading to minimal

advertising spend wastage.

• Other benefits include,

o Access to unlimited information to customers without human intervention

o personalization

o Enables transaction between firms and customers that will typically require

human intervention

E-Commerce is more specific than e-business, it means that in addition to providing

information to visitors about the company, its history, policies, products and job opportunities,

the company or site offers to transact or facilitate the selling of products and services online.

Most company sites are still just providing information, not doing e-commerce. Amazon.com,

CDNow, e-Toys, e-steel and e-plastics net are samples of e-commerce sites.

E-commerce has given rise in turn to e-purchasing and e-marketing. E-purchasing means

companies decide to purchase goods, services and information from various online suppliers.Smart e-purchasing has already saved companies millions of dollars. E-marketing describes

company efforts to inform, communicate, promote and sell its products and services over the

internet. The e term is also used in terms such as - e-finance, e-learning, and e- service. But

as some one observed the e will eventually be dropped when most business practice is online.



Q9 Explain in detail the use of internet in eBusinessAns:

The internet provides a global network infrastructure that is shifting business models,

strategies and processes.

The world is becoming more and more interconnected. The number of companies that operate

on a multinational scale is constantly rising because they need new market places.

More than 500 million people worldwide are using the internet on a regular basis, with email

and search engines as the most popular services. Information is power. People are able to

influence, direct, convince, educate and manipulate others through one single tool: The

distribution of information. Email and discussion forums allow people to share their thoughts,

ideas and experiences with other people from all corners of the world. Within a relatively

short period of time the Internet and its communication channels will be part of our daily lives.

The Internet has a wide variety of uses. It provides an excellent means for disseminatinginformation and communicating with other people in all regions of the world. While the

greatest use of the Internet has been sharing information, other sources of use are rapidly

developing.

Following are the ways in which the World Wide Web can be used by businesses:

Reach a worldwide audience The Internet is a worldwide network allowing you toreach people even very expensive advertising could not.

Provide product information Give customers direct access to information aboutyour products. Some people prefer to learn about products on their own. The Internethas an unsurpassed ability to make information about your company's products orservices available to potential customers. It also provides the information when thecustomer wants it (now).

Save on literature costs Providing the information online reduces the need to printand mail product literature, thereby resulting in significant cost reductions.

Augment/replace phone banks Often people staffing phone banks are servingmerely as interfaces to computer databases. In an age of graphical, networked

computing, this function is less necessary. Simple graphical interfaces can bedesigned to allow customers to find the information they want quickly andinexpensively.

Provide easy access to customer service representatives Human interactioncannot be totally replaced by even the best graphical interface. When customers havea question, or would like to speak with a person, provide a list of contacts and phonenumbers or allow them to send e-mail directly to a customer service representative,requesting that they be contacted.

Level your customer service load How many customers are turned awayunsatisfied when your customer service lines are busy? How often do you have slacktimes when customer support personnel are not handling calls but still cost yourbusiness money? E-mail provides "asynchronous communication" that can help levelthe load. Customers with problems that do not require immediate attention can send



an e-mail message through your Web site which can be handled when support peopleare not busy. Telephone-tag is eliminated for your customers, and you.

Inexpensively create/augment your corporate image It is easy and inexpensiveto define your image on the Internet, whether you are a one-person-company or alarge corporation. If your company information changes rapidly due to market forces,there is no easier way to change your image than electronically.

Recruit new employees Many companies (now nearly all), provide currentinformation about job openings and attract talented people from places they could notreach otherwise.

Provide useful information to attract customers Ski shops often have a boardlisting local snow conditions. Search sites like " yahoo " and " Lycos " provide usefulsearch services for the Web. Providing useful information to potential customers is agood way to get them to come to your site and return again and again (a propertynow called "stickiness").

Provide your service on-line Many products and services can be delivered over theInternet. Online services will become an even brighter option for many businesses.Since the transaction is electronic, billing and inventory control can be automated,increasing accuracy and reducing your accounting and product storage costs.

Give customers access to searchable information Computers on the Internetallow companies to post information in the form of static Web pages. But, with someof the latest software (or some clever programming) , these computers can also helpyour customers find the information you are providing quickly. Federal Expresscreated an award winning Web site that allows customers to track their packages. Indoing this, Fed- Ex is providing a useful customer service while also promoting their

product (service).

Help customers understand why they need you Another thing computers do wellis provide artificial intelligence, expertise, or analysis. The Internet allows you todeliver custom software applications and extend your expertise virtually. Suppose youmanufacture thermopane windows. A spreadsheet application could allow potentialcustomers to determine how much money they would save in energy costs if theyinstalled your windows. A financial services company could allow potential customersto analyze their investments in light of a financial service the company offers.

Let customers try a sample of your product or service Many new Web tools arebecoming available that will allow consumers to try out a sample of what you have tooffer before they buy. Gain a competitive advantage by offering a "test drive" of yourproduct or service.

Eliminate the middleman Middlemen exist in some industries where there arebarriers to direct contact between producers and consumers. The Internet is a vehiclefor removing these barriers. This lowers prices for consumers and increases profits forproducers.

On-line commerce This has been much touted in the popular press. Some products

and services are well suited for sales on-line. Rapid growth in this area will occur assecure credit card transactions become (are now) standardized. Efficiency of shippingand delivery methods for hard goods is important for typically impatient internetshoppers.



Consider an Intranet Use the same Internet technology within your company tohelp workers communicate better and work more productively. Many companies arefinding an Intranet to be a much more cost effective solution to their networkinformation needs than proprietary software.

From notes given by Prof. Column Issue indicate the use of internet in eBusiness.

The Internet can be used by your business to:

Research and purchase goods and services online Collect customer and competitive intelligence Increase market awareness of your business Provide introductory information and contact coordinates

Sell online The Internet and related technologies can change the way you develop and conduct your

business processes, making them more time and cost efficient. They can diversify your

marketing channels, and ultimately help you increase your business revenue.

The Internet levels the playing field for small businesses. That is, it allows small business

operators to compete on equal footing with larger businesses in the same industry.



Through the Internet, your small business can distribute information online to a global

audience, immediately, with little out of pocket expense. This means you all reach more

clients or customers in a shorter period of time.

It gives you the ability to interact with your clients and customers in new ways, putting power

in the hands of the buyer, giving your clients or customers more choice than they have ever

had before.

And finally, the Internet gives you, the seller, the ability to readily assess your online businesspractices and modify them on the fly to ensure they meet the needs of your

clients/customers.

In short, you can use the Internet to:

Collect vital information for your business about your customers and yourcompetitors. The Internet is a valuable research tool and, as a readily accessibleinformation medium, its ability to allow you to remain competitive in your industry shouldnot be underestimated.

Increase awareness about your company. Even if you are not considering selling

online, having a website that promotes your business, provides contact information, andoutlines your unique value proposition -â€“ that is, the unique collection of benefitsattributed to your product or service which create value for your customers or clients -- willsimply increase your reach and value in the marketplace, and make it easier for yourpotential clients/customers to find you.

Streamline communications and improve customer service. Email communications,website FAQs and auto-responders are examples of simple and cost effective electronictechniques that can help to improve communications between you and yourclients/customers.

Improve productivity and reduce costs. Simply by streamlining communications usingInternet technologies, you can improve your business productivity. And, out of pocketcosts can be reduced further by implementing a readily updatable website in place of shortshelf life printed material to relay pertinent information to your customer base.

Sell your products online. For those considering making the leap to eâ€“commerce,selling online can lower your upfront set-up costs and operational costs, increase yourreach to a global marketplace, and allow you to be open 24/7. Further, it can allow you toautomate your order processing and order tracking capabilities, develop cheaper onlinecatalogues and update your product lists on the fly.



Q10 Explain the type of business one can carry on using the

internetAns: From notes given by Prof.

Note: Some more explanation from internet.

B2B - it is that business activity in which 2 firm or business units make electronic transaction

in which 1 can be a producer firm and other are raw material supplier firm.

B2C - in B2C commerce, 1 party is the firm and other party is a customer. on the one hand,

customer can seek info. , can place an order, get some items on the Internet and can also

make the payment. on the other hand, a firm can make a survey to know, who buying what

and can also know satisfaction level of customer. a firm can also make delivery of goods likeair and train tickets etc.

C2C - under C to C commerce, both the parties involved are customers. it is required for

buying and selling of those goods for which there is no established markets are available.

Roughly dividing the world into providers/producers and consumers/clients one can classify e-

businesses into the following categories:

business-to-business (B2B)

business-to-consumer (B2C)

business-to-employee (B2E)

business-to-government (B2G)

government-to-business (G2B)

government-to-government (G2G)

government-to-citizen (G2C)

consumer-to-consumer (C2C)

consumer-to-business (C2B)



Q11 What's EDI and its benefitsAns: Definition of EDI

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) refers to the structured transmission of data between

organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents from one

computer system to another, i.e. from one trading partner to another trading partner. It is

more than mere E-mail; for instance, organizations might replace bills of lading and even

checks with appropriate EDI messages. It also refers specifically to a family of standards,

including the X12 series. However, EDI also exhibits its pre-Internet roots, and the standards

tend to focus on ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)-formatted single

messages rather than the whole sequence of conditions and exchanges that make up an

inter-organization business process.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology in a 1996 publication defines Electronic

Data Interchange as "the computer-to-computer interchange of strictly formatted messages

that represent documents other than monetary instruments. EDI implies a sequence of messages between two parties, either of whom may serve as originator or recipient. The

formatted data representing the documents may be transmitted from originator to recipient

via telecommunications or physically transported on electronic storage media.”

OR

Electronic data interchange(EDI) is the inter-organisational exchange of business documents

in structured, machine processable form.Electronic data Interchange can be used to

electronically transmit documents such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping bills, receiving

advices and other standard business correspondence between trading partners. EDI can also

be used to transmit financial information and payments in electronic form. Payments carriedout over EDI are usually referred to as Electro- nic Funds Transfer (EFT).EDI should not be

viewed as simply a way of replacing paper documents and traditional methods of tran-

smission such as mail, phone or in-person delivery with electronic transmission. But it should

be seen not as an "end" but as a means to streamline procedures and improving efficiency

and productivity.

Benefits/Advantages of using EDI over paper systems

EDI and other similar technologies save a company money by providing an alternative to, orreplacing information flows that require a great deal of human interaction and materials such

as paper documents, meetings, faxes, etc. Even when paper documents are maintained in

parallel with EDI exchange, e.g. printed shipping manifests, electronic exchange and the use

of data from that exchange reduces the handling costs of sorting, distributing, organizing, and

searching paper documents. EDI and similar technologies allow a company to take advantage

of the benefits of storing and manipulating data electronically without the cost of manual

entry. Another advantage of EDI is reduced errors, such as shipping and billing errors,

because EDI eliminates the need to rekey documents on the destination side. One very

important advantage of EDI over paper documents is the speed in which the trading partner

receives and incorporates the information into their system thus greatly reducing cycle times.For this reason, EDI can be an important component of just-in-time production systems.

According to the 2008 Aberdeen report "A Comparison of Supplier Enablement around the

World", only 34% of purchase orders are transmitted electronically in North America. In EMEA,



36% of orders are transmitted electronically and in APAC, 41% of orders are transmitted

electronically. They also report that the average paper requisition to order costs a company

$37.45 in North America, $42.90 in EMEA and $23.90 in APAC. With an EDI requisition to order

costs are reduced to $23.83 in North America, $34.05 in EMEA and 14.78 in APAC.

OR

1. Remove document re-keying

By removing the manual keying of key business documents such as Orders, Invoices,

Acknowledgments and Despatch Notes your company can benefit significantly from:

reduced labour costs elimination of human keying errors

faster document processing instant document retrieval removal of reliance on the postal service.2. Eliminate paper

Paper-based trading relationships have some inherent disadvantages when compared withtheir electronic trading equivalents:

stationery and printer consumable costs document storage costs lost documents

postage costs.3. Reduce lead times and stockholding

Electronic trading documents can be delivered far more quickly than their paper counterparts,

thus the turnaround time from order to delivery can be reduced.

By using EDI for forecasting and planning, companies are able to get forward warning of likely

orders and plan their production and stock levels accordingly.

Companies receiving Advanced Shipping Notes or Acknowledgments know in advance what is

actually going to be delivered and are made aware of shortages so alternate supplies can be

sourced.

Integrating electronic documents means they can be processed much faster, again reducing

lead times and speeding up payments.

4. Benefit Four: Increase the quality of the trading relationship

Electronic trading documents, when printed, are much easier to read than copies faxed or

generated on multi-part stationery by impact printers.

Accurate documents help to ensure accurate supplies.

Batches of electronic documents are usually sequentially numbered, therefore missing

documents can easily be identified - saving companies the trouble of wading through piles of

paper.

5. Competitive edge

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) makes you attractive to deal with from your customers'

point of view, so in their eyes you are cheaper and more efficient to deal with than a

competitor trading on paper. Your costs will be lower because you will require less manpower

to process orders, deliveries or payments.



It is no accident that the leading UK retailers all rely on EDI for placing orders and receiving

invoices - they know the benefits they get and the costs that can be saved.

Above 5 are not only the Benefits of EDI listed below

Builds closer business partnerships Reduces/eliminates manual handling of data, errors and rework

Transfers information faster and more accurately

Automates routine transactions Improves productivity and business controls Reduces costs

Shortens transaction processing cycles Enhances data accuracy Lowers inventory levels Contributes to better in-stock positions

Lowers freight costs Provides Quick Response capability Improves cash-flow management Creates a competitive advantage



Q12 What are challenges in implementing EDI in India?Ans:

Barriers/Challenges in implementing EDI

There are a few barriers to adopting electronic data interchange. One of the most significant

barriers is the accompanying business process change. Existing business processes built

around slow paper handling may not be suited for EDI and would require changes to

accommodate automated processing of business documents. For example, a business may

receive the bulk of their goods by 1 or 2 day shipping and all of their invoices by mail. The

existing process may therefore assume that goods are typically received before the invoice.

With EDI, the invoice will typically be sent when the goods ship and will therefore require a

process that handles large numbers of invoices whose corresponding goods have not yet

been received.

Another significant barrier is the cost in time and money in the initial set-up. Thepreliminary expenses and time that arise from the implementation, customization and

training can be costly and therefore may discourage some businesses. The key is to

determine what method of integration is right for your company which will determine the cost

of implementation. For a business that only receives one P.O. per year from a client, fully

integrated EDI may not make economic sense. In this case, businesses may implement

inexpensive "rip and read" solutions or use outsourced EDI solutions provided by EDI "Service

Bureaus". For other businesses, the implementation of an integrated EDI solution may be

necessary as increases in trading volumes brought on by EDI force them to re-implement their

order processing business processes.

The key hindrance to a successful implementation of EDI is the perception many businesses

have of the nature of EDI. Many view EDI from the technical perspective that EDI is a data

format; it would be more accurate to take the business view that EDI is a system for

exchanging business documents with external entities, and integrating the data from those

documents into the company's internal systems. Successful implementations of EDI take into

account the effect externally generated information will have on their internal systems and

validate the business information received. For example, allowing a supplier to update a

retailer's Accounts Payables system without appropriate checks and balances would be a

recipe for disaster. Businesses new to the implementation of EDI should take pains to avoid

such pitfalls.

Increased efficiency and cost savings drive the adoption of EDI for most trading partners. But

even if a company would not choose to use EDI on their own, pressures from larger trading

partners (called hubs) often force smaller trading partners to use EDI. An example of this is

Wal-Mart`s insistence on using EDI with all of its trading partners; any partner not willing to

use EDI with Wal-Mart will not be able to do business with the company.



Q13 Explain emerging markets in India on B2B and B2CAns:

B2B: - Business to Business is that business activity in which 2 firm or business units make

electronic transaction in which 1 can be a producer firm and other are raw material supplier

firm. Commodity trading is an emerging market in India. There two major nation wide

Commodity Exchanges already come in recent years eg NCDEX, MCX. And many more which

are active at state level are growing to become nation level. There lot many B2B sites are

coming in for example http://www.eindiabusiness.com/, http://www.indiabizclub.com/ etc.

which are proving very good market place for SME.

B2C: Business to Customer is 1 party is the firm and other party is a customer. on the one

hand, customer can seek info. , can place an order, get some items on the Internet and can

also make the payment. on the other hand, a firm can make a survey to know, who buyingwhat and can also know satisfaction level of customer. a firm can also make delivery of goods

like air and train tickets etc. In B2C fastest growing market is of ticketing. In India you book

trains online using B2C site provide by Indian Railways. They not only the ticket they deliver

at your door steep. All air lines operating in India gives facility of online ticket booking.

Another big industry coming in is Hotel all big chain of hotels operating in India offers facility

of online room booking. Movie rental business now started growing in tier-II cites also. In

movie rental business customer request for particular movie online and same movie CD/DVD

are deliver to customer at nominal charges.

Automobile manufacturer makes several B2B transactions such as buying tires, glass for

windscreens, and rubber hoses for its vehicles. The final transaction, a finished vehicle sold to

the consumer, is a single (B2C) transaction.

(Note: I written this answer as per my Knowledge and Understanding, in exam you can write

your own examples.)



Q14 What are the future trends in eBusiness?Ans: (Note: This answer I just copied pasted from book so please read it and write in short

during Exam)

Future Trends of E-Business

As the key premise of e-partnerships lies in a thriving e-business environment, the future of e-

partnership development is tightly bound with, and determined by, the future of e-business.

The author speculates possible development trends in e-commerce and e-business in the near

future on the basis of current development patterns, which contribute directly to the viability

of e-partnerships.

E-commerce and e-business practices will continue to grow. Industry analysts and renowned

research groups, such as Gartner Group, have projected a strong growth in e-commerce and

e-business, estimating the market will be worth US$7.3 trillion worldwide in 2004 and will

continue to grow in the next few years. However, unlike some of the present examples, e-business will be more mature (rather than experimental) in nature, in terms of the scope,

quality and credibility of online customer services and products. Participating in e-business

will be part of every executive's job in the near future. Despite its success, the recent initial

public offering (IPO) of Google's shares saw them fall below the price range set by its

executives, suggesting that many investors are still very cautious about e-business in the

wake of the disastrous dotcom crash in which millions of shareholders around the world were

badly burned. The response to Google's IPO indicates that the public expectation for high-tech

e-business ROI tends to be normal now and views e-business and e-commerce as the same as

other businesses.

In terms of supply chain network integration, McCormack et al.'s study shows that mostindustry supply chains today have not reached the stage at which information and system

integration is in place to build a supply chain network (McCormack, Johnson, & Walker, 2003).

Full network integration, that is, all key business processes online and aligned within the

network, will be the next step that organizations need to take to gain competitive advantage

over other supply chain networks. E-supply chains or virtual supply chains will become a

critical part of the future supply chain landscape. Virtual manufacturers, virtual distributors,

virtual retailers and virtual service providers will dominate the virtual supply chains. E-

business cybermediaries that do not need to own physical inventories or products will be a

prominent force in the future supply chain. They will leverage the Internet to perform

matching of products and buyers or coordinate marketing and transaction processes amongnetwork trading partners (Ross, 2003).

The collaboration of e-businesses is, and will continue to be, the key to sustained business

success. An e-business strategy will be ineffective without an integrated e-partnership

strategy because the ability to leverage collaborative relationships becomes essential in

today's competitive e-business world. Consumer/purchaser power will dominate the e-

business world and propel smaller e-businesses to bind together to provide customers with an

everwidening array of products and services, real-time and rich information, and speedy and

quality transactions. Moreover, collaborative e-partnerships help to streamline the product-to-

market process through collaborative planning and design, improve efficiency from thechannel network by reducing inventories and ultimately generate profitability.

Lee and Whang (2002) maintain that the future of e-business lies in intelligence. They believe

that the next trend of e-business is intelligence at the supply chain level. Intelligence refers to



the capacity for processing, accessing, controlling and managing information and knowledge.

If this view holds true, the implications for future e-partnership are profound, as intelligence is

crucial in the selection of e-partners, information exchange among e-partners, performance

measurement of outcomes of e-partnerships and the detection problems in the e-supply

chain.

In terms of e-marketplaces, it would appear that a trend has developed whereby the current

highly successful mega-e-marketplaces, such as Amazon.com, eBay and the like, increasingly

drive smaller players out of markets and limit competition, thus turning e-marketplaces into

oligopolies (Murtaza, Gupta, & Carroll, 2004). However, the ubiquity of the Internet is and will

continue to be a strong counter-force to the formation of oligopolies as there are actually no

barriers to market entry in the cyber-world, and the Internet provides constant opportunities

to engineer new types of trading partner relationships. Future e-marketplaces will require a

whole range of quality services and products from e-business partnerships and alliances to

deliver supreme value to customers. Thus, partnerships and deals based only on price will be

obsolete in future e-marketplaces because price cannot be the sole criterion for selection of

partners.

Although the concept is as old as the manufacturing process, quality management will gainmomentum in e-business management. The failure of many e-businesses and the dotcom

crash have on the whole been caused by poor quality customer services and support,

problems with Web site security and technologies, and weaker change management (Janenko,

2003). The key principles of quality management will be the fundamental cornerstone to e-

business success, including:

Customer focus; Continuous improvement and measurement to achieve customer satisfaction;

Acquiring customer and market knowledge; Mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual benefit of all stakeholders; Consistent and precise performance to high standards in all areas of the organization; Striving for excellence through benchmarking and so forth;

Measurement of quality using data and tools; Improving quality and efficiency of decision making; Better use of resources to achieve effectiveness and efficiency; Results focus;

Management by facts and processes; Effective leadership and team commitment; Team building and collaboration; Valuing employees, human and intellectual capital;

Employee training/education/development; Empowerment and involvement; and Opening channels of communication.

These familiar components of quality management undoubtedly offer an essential guide for

the quality operations of e-business. It is a widespread fallacy that a good quality Web site

design and a high volume of hits or traffic are good indicators of quality and will lead

automatically to e-business success (Janenko, 2003; Ross, 2003). Indeed, it is this

misconception that turned the "dotcom boom" into "dotcom doom". The primary fundamental

quality management constructs therefore still have appeal in current and future e-business

management.

OR



FUTURE TRENDS

From Competitive Advantage to Necessity

As more small businesses are using the Internet to support business activities, it is no longer

an option but a key to competitiveness. For small businesses that have suppliers and/or

customers who have adopted e-commerce, not being able to interact using Internet

technologies is a competitive disadvantage. As such, small businesses are expecting to be e-

commerce ready or risk losing out in the future. As e-commerce software and services arematuring and becoming affordable, widespread adoption is expected.

From Fragments to Clusters

For a few years, e-commerce adoption has been a fragmented process, meaning individual

small businesses tried to establish a Web presence or install e-commerce software onto their

systems. As efforts such as application service providers, B2B marketplaces, and industry-

wide platforms are maturing, small businesses are becoming part of a supply web, a member

of a B2B marketplace, or are tightly integrated into a large organization's extranet. The result

is that small businesses will become part of one or more e-clusters, reflecting the nature and

flows of business activities.

From Paper Based to Paperless

While clichés about a paperless office have been around for over a decade, it becomes closer

to such a reality when B2C, B2B, and B2G (business to government [or public

establishments]) activities are increasingly popular. In some countries, submission of

information such as taxation assessments is now carried out as part of an e-government

setup. Small businesses are under pressure to carry out business transactions not only with

other businesses, but also with government and public organizations over the Internet.

From Driven to Driving

Many small businesses in the 1990s were driven to adopt e-commerce, sometimes

unwillingly. This might be due to the lack of knowledge and human resources to address

related technical and business issues. As technologies are becoming more user friendly and

affordable, together with readily available technical specialists, adoption of some kind of e-

commerce applications and/or systems has risen dramatically. The complexity of e-commerce

systems from a user's perspective is not that much different from office software. Most

importantly, the e-commerce strategy should not be someone else's agenda, but the driving

solution of the small firm.



Q15 How eBusiness shape up in India in next 5 yearsAns: With the help of Q13 and 2nd part of Q14 you can write answer to this question.

Following martial is also helpful in writing answer

Organization in Retail will catalyze eCommerce eco-system

First and foremost, as the retail industry gets organized in India, the overall supply chain

infrastructure will see a significant improvement. This will have a direct and positive impact

on the online channel. Today, the online supply chain infrastructure is virtually non-existent.

Distributors use adhoc means to replenish inventories and fulfill customer orders. This leads

to significant “out of stock” situations, which impacts the overall online customer experience.

Having a solid supply chain infrastructure in place, distributors will be able to fulfill online

orders in a predictable way.

Second, organized retailers will push for standardization across manufacturers and fulfillment

partners. If we look at categories such as apparel, one of the biggest reasons consumers don’tlike to shop online is that they don’t know what they are getting in terms of size, quality and

fit. However, as there is standardization in quality as well as the attributes, consumers will

feel more confident in purchasing the products online, without needing to “touch and feel” the

physical product.

Another factor that will play a significant role in building this eco system is technology

automation across the value chain. For nationwide retailers to maintain a competitive cost

structure, they will push the manufacturers as well as suppliers to offer sophisticated

technology integration so that they can better manage the flow of merchandise across the

value chain. Online retailers will directly benefit from this sophistication in technology

because they will be able to fulfill customers’ orders in a predictable fashion.

Lastly, national retailers will need to pool large amount of inventory in their distribution

centers to service their stores across India. Holding inventory comes with an inevitable risk of

over-forecasting. In these excess inventory conditions, retailers will need outlets for clearing

the merchandise to free up the capital, and to flow fresh season merchandise into the stores.

Web is a great channel for the clearance strategy, and retailers will be able to offer deep

discounts online to clear up the inventory before they get ready for the next buying season. In

US, various online retailers such as Overstock.com are built around the business model of

buying overstock merchandise from retailers across US, and offering deep clearance pricing

to customers.

Looking beyond Supply Chain & Fulfillment

The factors discussed above will help improve the adoption of eCommerce by making the

online channel much more reliable. However, the role of online channel doesn’t end here.

With organization in retail, new online business models will emerge that will help facilitate

online as well as offline sales. In Sears, we used to call these “Web Influenced Sales”. Over

70% of retail sales across high consideration categories in the United States are influenced by

some kind of research on the internet. There are online businesses that provide comparison

shopping services (e.g. Shopping.com), discussions on hot deals (e.g. Fatwallet.com), product

reviews (e.g. CNET.com), Local store promotions (ShopLocal.com) etc. All these services arepart of the online eco-system, that provide information at consumer’s fingertips so that they

don’t have to scour through 100s of printed store ads or rely on word of mouth to determine

where can they purchase that new XBOX 360 console. As retail organizes in India, we will see



the evolution of similar online aggregation and retail focused services that will not only help

customers make informed purchase decisions, but will also put the online channel in the

center stage of online and offline retail.

The confluence of above factors will set the stage for a perfect storm that will redefine the

role of online channel in the minds of Indian shoppers.



Q16 Give detail of eBusiness implementation on an organisation -

case study E-BusinessAns:

e biz question bank

Documents