Page 11 - DCAP306_DCAP511_E-COMMERCE_AND_E-BUSINESS

E-Commerce and E-Business

The best example of successful use of the Internet for enhanced customer service
and support is Brazil’s Submarino. It is the first largest company to sell books,
CDs, video cassettes, DVDs, toys, electronic and computer products in Argentina,
Mexico, Spain, and Portugal despite being a local Sao Paulo B2C e-commerce
company in Brazil. Submarino has enhanced its customer service to offer logistical
and technological infrastructure to other retailers including experience and
expertise in credit analysis, tracking orders and product comparison systems.
3. Technology Factors: The key factor in the growth of e-commerce is the development of ICT.
Technology has played a very important role in digitizing content, compression and promotion of
open systems for the convergence of communication services into one single platform. This has led
to the setup of separate networks for cable television, television broadcast, telephone services, and
eliminated the need for Internet access. From the perspective of organizations, having only one
information provider implies lower communications costs.
In addition, technology convergence has helped to achieve the principles of universal access. At
present, the costs involved in installing telephone landlines in rural areas has a negative impact on
telecommunication companies. Revenues from installing landlines can be more attractive if the
landlines include cable TV and the Internet charges, instead of limiting to local and long distance
telephone charges. This implementation will help the government in minimizing the cost of
installing expensive landlines and providing access to information at a low cost to those in rural
areas.

1.2 Comparison of E-Commerce with Traditional Commerce
In spite of the fact that the goals and objectives of both e-commerce and traditional commerce are the
same, they can be differentiated based on their business processes. The Web and telecommunication
technologies play a major role in e-commerce. In e-commerce there may be no physical store, and in
most cases the buyer and seller do not see each other.

In most of the cases, traditional commerce activities are used in business processes very efficiently and
these processes do not need improvement with the help of technology. It is very difficult to sell using e-
commerce when buyers wish to touch, smell, or examine the products.

Customers might be unwilling to buy high fashion clothing or food products if
they cannot examine the products closely before agreeing to purchase them.

On the other hand, retail merchants engaged in traditional commerce have years of experience in
creating a store environment that helps to convince a customer to buy. Sales people can develop skills
that allow them to identify customer needs, and find products and services that meet those needs.
Therefore, the art of personal selling and merchandizing is difficult to practice over electronic medium.
Branded products like books or CDs can be effortlessly sold through e-commerce as one copy of a new
book or CD is identical to other copies. The advantage of e-commerce over traditional commerce is the
ability of a Web site to offer a wider selection of products and services and the facility to browse.

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