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E-Commerce and E-Business

bank. For example, payment gateway service should handle issues like inadequate funds for
customer or the usage of invalid credit card.

5. Merchant Account: This is considered to be a special bank account. With the help of merchant
account, online payments can be done by the Web sites using credit or debit cards. The banks that
provide merchant account facility charge fees per transaction and also for transaction types.

1.4.2 E-Commerce Consumer Applications
The global consumer marketplace is spreading at a fast rate, but with its own problems. Consumer
applications such as, online stores and electronic shopping malls are fast emerging but access is still
inadequate in many cases. Many of the systems are not consumer friendly or well integrated. For
example, it may be feasible to browse the site of an e-store via the Web, but there may be no directories
or catalogs to search for the specific address of the store. Such lack of integration forces the consumer to
spend more time searching for stores and online information. There is no standardization of electronic
payment methods on the Web and the security of online payment still remains a major concern. These
basic issues need to be resolved.
Some fundamental business issues must be addressed before consumer-oriented e-commerce can
become widespread. These are:
1. Establishment of standard business processes for buying and selling products and services in
electronic markets
2. Standardization of protocols for order-taking, online payments and service delivery
3. Development of privacy and security methods for secure transactions
In other words, to make consumer-oriented e-commerce more effective, we need to understand the
components of the business process, the technology and the integration of the two.
Table 1.3 shows the classification of consumer-oriented e-commerce applications.

Table 1.3: Classification of Consumer-Oriented E-
Commerce Applications

Consumer services Complementary multimedia
services
Entertainment Movies on Demand, video
cataloging, interactive ads, multi
user games
Financial services Home banking, financial services,
financial news
Essential services Home shopping, electronic
cataloging, telemedicine
Education and training Interactive education, distance
learning
Information Online databases, directories.

1.4.3 E-Commerce Organization Applications

Organizations implement technology to save money and improve their profit margins. Organizations
do not buy information and communications technology simply because it is new or because it is
interesting to the employees.
Following are the various organizational applications of e-commerce:

1. Adapting to a Changing Business Environment: As there is a rapid change in the business
environment, the consumers and businesses are looking for flexibility to change trading partners,

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