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
buying and selling
The
security of business transactions
E-tailing or The Virtual Storefront and the Virtual Mall
As a place for direct retail shopping, with its 24-hour
availability, a global reach, the ability to interact and
provide custom information and ordering, and multimedia
prospects, the Web is rapidly becoming a multibillion dollar
source of revenue for the world's businesses. A number of
businesses already report considerable success. As early
as the middle of 1997, Dell Computers reported orders of
a million dollars a day. By early 1999, projected e-commerce
revenues for business were in the billions and the stocks
of companies deemed most adept at e-commerce were skyrocketing.
Apart
from computer and network products, books (Amazon.com),
gardening products (Garden.com),
music on compact disks (CDNow),
and office supplies (SuppliesOnline)
were a few of the better-known e-commerce sites. By early
1999, even businesses that have always counted on face-to-face
customer interaction were planning e-commerce Web sites
and many businesses were planning how to coordinate in-store
and Web store retail approaches. Meanwhile, new businesses
based entirely on Web sales were being invented daily.
Market
Research In early 1999, it was widely recognized that because
of the interactive nature of the Internet, companies could
gather data about prospects and customers in unprecedented
amounts -through site registration, questionnaires, and
as part of taking orders. The issue of whether data was
being collected with the knowledge and permission of market
subjects had been raised. (Microsoft referred to its policy
of data collection as "profiling" and a proposed standard
has been developed that allows Internet users to decide
who can have what personal information.) Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI) EDI is the exchange of business data using
an understood data format. It predates today's Internet.
EDI involves data exchange among parties that know each
other well and make arrangements for one-to-one (or point-to-point)
connection, usually dial-up. E-Mail, Fax, and Internet Telephony
E-commerce is also conducted through the more limited electronic
forms of communication called e-mail, facsimile or fax,
and the emerging use of telephone calls over the Internet.
Most of this is business-to-business, with some companies
attempting to use e-mail and fax for unsolicited ads (usually
viewed as online junk mail or spam) to consumers and other
business prospects. An increasing number of business Web
sites offer e-mail newsletters for subscribers. A new trend
is opt-in e-mail in which Web users voluntarily sign up
to receive e-mail, usually sponsored or containing ads,
about product categories or other subjects they are interested
in. Business-to-Business Buying and Selling Thousands of
companies that sell products to other companies have discovered
that the Web provides not only a 24-hour-a-day showcase
for their products but a quick way to reach the right people
in a company for more information.
The Security of Business Transactions Security includes
authenticating business transactors, controlling access
to resources such as Web pages for registered or selected
users, encrypting communications, and, in general, ensuring
the privacy and effectiveness of transactions. Among the
most widely-used security technologies are SSL and RSA.
Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) is an emerging industry
standard.
