Chapter 1 Introduction

E-COMMERCE
In its simplest form ecommerce is the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet. People use the term "ecommerce" to describe encrypted payments on the Internet. Sometimes these transactions include the real-time transfer of funds from buyer to seller and sometimes this is handled manually through an eft-pos terminal once a secure order is received by the merchant. Internet sales are increasing rapidly as consumers take advantage of lower prices offer by wholesalers retailing their products. This trend is set to strengthen as web sites address consumer security and privacy concerns. Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online. It also includes the entire online process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for products and services. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices and telephones as well. A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely in electronic form for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but mostly electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-retailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers are now electronically present on the World Wide Web. Electronic commerce that takes place between businesses is referred to as business-tobusiness or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or

limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that takes place between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com. Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce where the buyer is directly online to the seller's computer usually via the internet. There is no intermediary service involved. The sale or purchase transaction is completed electronically and interactively in real-time such as in Amazon.com for new books. However in some cases, an intermediary may be present in a sale or purchase transaction such as the transactions on eBay.com. Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of business transactions.

HISTORY OF E COMMERCE Originally, electronic commerce was identified as the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, using technology such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). These were both introduced in the late 1970s, allowing businesses to send commercial documents like purchase orders or invoices electronically. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking in the 1980s were also forms of electronic commerce. Another form of e-commerce was the airline reservation system typified by Sabre in the USA and Travicom in the UK.

From the 1990s onwards, electronic commerce would additionally include enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing. In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee invented the WorldWideWeb web browser and transformed an academic telecommunication network into a worldwide everyman everyday communication system called internet/www. Commercial enterprise on the Internet was strictly prohibited by NSF until 1995. Although the Internet became popular worldwide around 1994 with the adoption of Mosaic web browser, it took about five years to introduce security protocols

and DSL allowing continual connection to the Internet. By the end of 2000, many European and American business companies offered their services through the World Wide Web. Since then people began to associate a word "ecommerce" with the ability of purchasing various goods through the Internet using secure protocols and electronic payment services. Time line: 1979: Michael Aldrich invented online shopping 1981: Thomson Holidays, UK is first B2B online shopping 1982: Minitel was introduced nationwide in France by France Telecom and used for online ordering. 1984: Gateshead SIS/Tesco is first B2C online shopping and Mrs Snowball, 72, is the first online home shopper 1985: Nissan UK sells cars and finance with credit checking to customers online from dealers' lots. 1987: Swreg begins to provide software and shareware authors means to sell their products online through an electronic Merchant account. 1990: Tim Berners-Lee writes the first web browser, WorldWideWeb, using

a NeXT computer. 1992: Terry Brownell launches first fully graphical, iconic

navigated Bulletin_board_system online shopping using RoboBOARD/FX. 1994: Netscape releases the Navigator browser in October under the code

name Mozilla. Pizza Hut offers online ordering on its Web page. The first online bank opens. Attempts to offer flower delivery and magazine subscriptions

online. Adult materials also become commercially available, as do cars and bikes. Netscape 1.0 is introduced in late 1994 SSL encryption that made transactions secure. 1995: Jeff Bezos launches Amazon.com and the first commercial-free 24 hour, internetonly radio stations, Radio HK and NetRadio start broadcasting. Dell and Cisco begin to aggressively use Internet for commercial transactions. eBay is founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb.

1998: Electronic postal stamps can be purchased and downloaded for printing from the Web. 1998: Alibaba Group is established in China. And it leverage China's B2B and C2C, B2C(Taobao) market by its Authentication System. 1999: Business.com sold for US $7.5 million to eCompanies, which was purchased in 1997 for US $149,000. The peer-to-peer filesharing software Napster launches. ATG Stores launches to sell decorative items for the home online.

2000: The dot-com bust. 2002: eBay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion. Niche retail companies CSN

Stores and NetShops are founded with the concept of selling products through several targeted domains, rather than a central portal. 2003: Amazon.com posts first yearly profit. 2007: Business.com acquired by R.H. Donnelley for $345 million. z2009: Zappos.com acquired by Amazon.com for $928 million. Retail Convergence, operator of private sale website RueLaLa.com, acquired by GSI Commerce for $180 million,plus up to $170 million in earn-out payments based on performance through 2012. 2010: Groupon reportedly rejects a $6 billion offer from Google. Instead, the group buying websites plans to go ahead with an IPO in mid-2011. 2011: US eCommerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $197 billion, an increase of 12 percent over 2010. Quidsi.com, parent company of Diapers.com, acquired by Amazon.com for $500 million in cash plus $45 million in debt and other obligations. GSI Commerce, a company specializing in creating, developing and running online shopping sites for brick and mortar brands and retailers, acquired by eBay for $2.4 billion. Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following: Document automation in supply chain and logistics Domestic and international payment systems Enterprise content management Group buying

Automated online assistants Instant messaging Newsgroups Online shopping and order tracking Online banking Online office suites Shopping cart software Teleconferencing Electronic tickets

GOVERNMENTAL REGULATION
In the United States, some electronic commerce activities are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These activities include the use of commercial e-mails, online advertising and consumer privacy. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 establishes national standards for direct marketing over e-mail. The Federal Trade Commission Act regulates all forms of advertising, including online advertising, and states that advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive. Using its authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices, the FTC has brought a number of cases to enforce the promises in corporate privacy statements, including promises about the security of consumers personal information. As result, any corporate privacy policy related to ecommerce activity may be subject to enforcement by the FTC. The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008, which came into law in 2008, amends the Controlled Substances Act to address online pharmacies.

Forms Contemporary electronic commerce involves everything from ordering "digital" content for immediate online consumption, to ordering conventional goods and services, to "meta" services to facilitate other types of electronic commerce.On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international business.

Data integrity and security are very hot and pressing issues for electronic commerce.

Global trends Business models across the world also continue to change drastically with the advent of eCommerce and this change is not just restricted to USA. Other countries are also contributing to the growth of eCommerce. For example, the United Kingdom has the biggest e-commerce market in the world when measured by the amount spent per capita, even higher than the USA. The internet economy in UK is likely to grow by 10% between 2010 to 2015. This has led to changing dynamics for the advertising industry. Amongst emerging economies, China's eCommerce presence continues to expand. With 384 million internet users,China's online shopping sales rose to $36.6 billion in 2009 and one of the reasons behind the huge growth has been the improved trust level for shoppers. The Chinese retailers have been able to help consumers feel more comfortable shopping online.

eMarketing:
There is no doubt about it the Internet has changed the world we live in. Never before has it been so easy to access information, communicate with people all over the globe and share articles, videos, photos and all manner of media.

The Internet has led to an increasingly connected environment, and the growth of Internet usage has resulted in declining distribution of traditional media: television, radio, newspapers and magazines. Marketing in this connected environment and using that connectivity to market is eMarketing.

eMarketing embraces a wide range of strategies, but what underpins successful. eMarketing is a user-centric and cohesive approach to these strategies. While the Internet and the World Wide Web have enabled what we call New Media, the theories that lead to the development of the Internet were being developed from the 1950s.

Forces fueling e-commerce: There are at least three major forces fueling e-commerce: economic forces, marketing and customer interaction forces, and technology, particularly multimedia convergence.

Economic forces: One of the most evident benefits of e-commerce is economic efficiency resulting from the reduction in communications costs, low-cost technological infrastructure, speedier and more economic electronic transactions with suppliers, lower global information sharing and advertising costs, and cheaper customer service alternatives. Economic integration is either external or internal. External integration refers to the electronic networking of corporations, suppliers, customers/clients, and independent contractors into one community communicating in a virtual environment (with the Internet as medium). Internal integration, on the other hand, is the networking of the various departments within a corporation, and of business operations and processes. This allows critical business information to be stored in a digital form that can be retrieved instantly and transmitted electronically. Internal integration is best exemplified by corporate intranets. Among the companies with efficient corporate intranets are Procter and Gamble, IBM, Nestle and Intel. Market forces. Corporations are encouraged to use e-commerce in marketing and promotion to capture international markets, both big and small. The Internet is likewise used as a medium for enhanced customer service and support. It is a lot easier for companies to provide their target consumers with more detailed product and service information using the Internet. Technology forces. The development of ICT is a key factor in the growth of e-commerce. For instance, technological advances in digitizing content, compression and the promotion of open systems technology have paved the way for the convergence of communication services into one single platform. This in turn has made communication more efficient, faster, easier, and more economical as the need to set up separate networks for telephone

services, television broadcast, cable television, and Internet access is eliminated. From the standpoint of firms/businesses and consumers, having only one information provider means lower communications costs. Moreover, the principle of universal access can be made more achievable with convergence. At present the high costs of installing landlines in sparsely populated rural areas is a disincentive to telecommunications companies to install telephones in these areas. Installing landlines in rural areas can become more attractive to the private sector if revenues from these landlines are not limited to local and long distance telephone charges, but also include cable TV and Internet charges. This development will ensure affordable access to information even by those in rural areas and will spare the government the trouble and cost of installing expensive landlines. Impact on Markets and Retailers Economists have theorized that e-commerce ought to lead to intensified price competition, as it increases consumers' ability to gather information about products and prices. Research by four economists at the University of Chicago has found that the growth of online shopping has also affected industry structure in two areas that have seen significant growth in e-commerce, bookshops andtravel agencies. Generally, larger firms have grown at the expense of smaller ones, as they are able to use economies of scale and offer lower prices. The lone exception to this pattern has been the very smallest category of bookseller, shops with between one and four employees, which appear to have withstood the trend. Most people have an understanding of commerce based on their experience as shoppers and buyers, and they bring this experience with them when they start shopping online. In order to meet the users needs, then, we must understand the typical users experience of traditional commerce. Most problems with commerce sites are due to misunderstandings on the part of the site creators about how users understand the structure and elements of typical commerce transactions. Users have formed schemas to understand commerce , but commerce sites routinely ignore these schemas.

Commerce is a communicative transaction between two parties playing very familiar roles: buyer and seller. For commerce to occur, somebody must do the selling, and somebody must do the buying, and these two somebodies must share a basic understanding of how the transaction is generally supposed to flow. Ecommerce web sites cant simply make products available to be bought (surface it, they will buy); these sites must hold up their part of role-playing the commerce transaction. Branding serves as a marker of corporate identity, and so has some value to the user, but the hubbub over branding misses some very important concerns that users have. Ecommerce web sites must pay attention to how they communicate to users. Ecommerce sites play their role of seller by trying to broadcast two messages to potential buyers: buy from us and trust us. The impact of these explicit messages, though, is often corrupted by contradictory or distracting messages implicit in the sites implementation of navigation flow, page layout, visual continuity, and information space. Ecommerce sites seem to shout the message that they are trustworthy, that users need have no trepidation over purchasing from these sites, but trust derives not from assertions but rather from experience and judgment. People interact, and they make judgments and form expectations of others based on what they experience and what they surmise; its a lot easier to decide to trust a merchant when you can speak to them face-to-face and shake their hand. Trusting a web site to deal with you fairly and deliver your merchandise, though, well, thats harder to do when you realize that anyone can build a commerce site. Ecommerce sites must work hard to build the impression of trustworthiness.

Ecommerce is not only about buying and selling its also about the marketing activities used by the company for the revenue purpose. Different type of market in Ecommerce are :

1. email marketing email marketing 2. Online advertising 3. Affiliate marketing 4. Search engine marketing

EVOLUTION OF E-COMMERCE 1. Shop Blogs

Over the years, there is been an increasing amount of shop blogs around the internet lately. So what are shop blogs? They are blogs (instead of ecommerce sites with .com, shop blogs uses url such as blogspot.com or xanga.com) which are used to sell mainly goods and services online. So the question is is a shop blog considered as an ecommerce website? Well, we would give a yes to that. And why do we say so? Firstly, ecommerce can be said to be an electronic marketing medium and shop blogs fit as an electronic marketing medium as people uses the blogs to market or promote their products and services via the blogs. Secondly, shop blogs can perform most of their transactions via the internet without the requirement of most physical encounter other forms of business needs. The only limitation to shop blogs is that delivery of goods still requires some form of physical encounter may it be courier services and/or delivery by the shop blogs owner. And with this ongoing trend, we can see more and more people are setting up their own blogs to sell goods especially. Younger generations, mainly students are developing skills to become potential entrepreneurs where the opportunities doesnt exist before now becomes easily accessible.

2. User friendliness.
The limitation to the past e-commerce is the lack of user friendly interface for the customers to come by. However, currently, e-commerce has break free from this so called barrier and customers now have user friendly interface such as the GUI when they are shopping via the internet. As we can see from e-commerce giants websites such as Ebay and Amazon, they provide easy to use interface with step to step instructions for everyone including the non computer savvy users. A function such as the shopping cart is implemented to the website to make customers shopping experience much easier. The interfaces are yet improving

day after day and soon enough we might even experience life shopping experience through the internet.

3. Interactive Medias vs. Online Advertising.

Videos, flash etc. etc, you name it all. We know that theres so much interactive media, we from the Ecommerce Gazette lost count of them every time. Here take a look at the ads by Nuffnang.com beside this post on the top left of this blog. If youre lucky, you would have seen some colourful and twinkling advertisement which you can play with. So why do we think an online advertisement would be an evolution concern to ecommerce? This is because more and more online advertising firms are emerging and making electronic marketing more efficient than before. With interactive media and online advertising merged, we can now see ads almost in every website we surf.
As a conclusion, the prospect of e-commerce is definitely even clearer as compared to the contemporary condition even though some specialist do express some involve over the increasing extension of e-commerce and its power in international trade, import/export and global sourcing.

TYPES OF E-COMMERCE
E-commerce types represent a range of various schemas of transactions which distinguished according to their participants.

Business-to-Business (B-to-B)
The exchange of products, services or information According between to market business research entities. studies

published in early 2000, the money volume of B-to-B exceeds that of B-to-C by 10 to 1. The Gartner Group estimates B-to-B revenue worldwide will be $7.29 trillion by 2004, a compound annual growth of about 41 per cent.

Web-based B-to-B includes: Direct selling and support to business (as in the case of Cisco where customers can buy and also get technical support, downloads, patches online). E-procurement (also known as industry portals) where a purchasing agent can shop for supplies from vendors, request proposals, and, in some cases, bid to make a purchase at a

desired price. For example the autoparts wholesaler (reliableautomotive.com); and the chemical B-to-B exchange (chemconnect.com).Information sites provide information about a particular industry for its companies and their employees. These include specialised search sites and trade and industry standards organisation sites. E.g. newmarket makers.com is a leading portal for B-to-B news. Many B-to-B sites may also fall into none or more than one of these groups. It is one of the cost effective way to sell out product through out the world Benefits:

Encourage your businesses online Products import and export Determine buyers and suppliers Position trade guides

Business-to-consumer (B-to-C)
B2C stands for Business to Consumer as the name suggests, it is the model taking businesses and consumers interaction. Online business sells to individuals. The basic concept of this model is to sell the product online to the consumers. B2c is the indirect trade between the company and consumers. It provides direct selling through online. For example: if you want to sell goods and services to customer so that anybody can purchase any products directly from suppliers website. Directly interact with the customers is the main difference with other business model. As B2B it manages directly relationship with consumers, B2C supply chains normally deal with business that are related to the customer. The exchange of products ,information or services between business and consumers in a retailing relationship. Some of the first examples of B-to-C e-commerce were amazon.com and dell.com in the USA and lastminute.com in the UK. In this case, the c represents either consumer or customer.

 Consumer-to-Consumer (C-to-C)
In this category consumers interact directly with other consumers. They exchange information such as: Expert knowledge where one person asks a question about anything and gets an email reply from the community of other individuals, as in the case of the New York Times-affiliated abuzz.com website.Opinions about companies and products, for example epinions.com. There is also an exchange of goods between people both with consumer auction sites such as e-bay and with more novel bartering sites such as swapitshop.com, where individuals swap goods with each other without the exchange of money.

Peerto-Peer Network (P-to-P)

It is a discipline that deal itself which assists people to instantly shares related computer files and computer sources without having to interact with central web server. If you are going to implement this model, both sides demand to install the expected software so that they could able to convey on the mutual platform. This kind of e-commerce has very low revenue propagation as from the starting it has been tended to the release of use due to which it sometimes caught involved in cyber laws.

In recent usage, peer-to-peer has come to describe applications in which users can use the Internet to exchange files with each other directly or through a mediating server.

M-Commerce
It deals with conducting the transactions with the help of mobile. The mobile device consumers can interact each other and can lead the business. Mobile Commerce involves the change of ownership or rights to utilize goods and related services.

 Business-to-Government (B-to-G)
The exchange of information, services and products between business organisations and government agencies on-line. This may include, E-procurement services, in which businesses learn about the purchasing needs of agencies and provide services. A virtual workplace in which a business and a government agency could coordinate the work on a contracted project by collaborating on-line to coordinate on-line meetings, review plans and manage progress.

Business-to-Peer Networks (B-to-P)

This would be the provision of hardware, software or other services to the peer networks. An example here would be Napster who provided the software and facilities to enable peer networking.

Consumer-to-Business (C-to-B)
This is the exchange of products, information or services from individuals to business. A classic example of this would be individuals selling their services to businesses.

Consumer-to-Government (C-to-G)
Examples where consumers provide services to government have yet to be implemented. See Government-to-Business.

Consumer-to-Peer Networks (C-to-P)

This is exactly part of what peer-to-peer networking is and so is a slightly redundant distinction since consumers offer their computing facilities once they are on the peer network.

Government-to-Business (G-to-B)

The exchange of information, services and products between government agencies and business organisations. Government sites now enable the exchange between government and business of Information, guidance and advice for business on international trading, sources of funding and support (ukishelp), facilities (e.g. www.dti.org.uk). A database of laws, regulations and government policy for industry sectors.On-line application and submission of official forms (such as company and value added tax).Online payment facilities. This improves accuracy, increases speed and reduces costs, so businesses are given financial incentives to use electronic-form submission and payment facilities.

Government-to-Consumer (G-to-C)
(Also known as e-government). Government sites offering information, forms and facilities to conduct transactions for individuals, including paying bills and submitting official forms on-line such as tax returns.

Government-to-Government (G-to-G)
(Also known as e-government). Government- to-government transactions within countries linking local governments together and also international governments, especially within the European Union, which is in the early stages of developing coordinated strategies to link up different national systems.

Peer Network-to-Consumer (P-to-C)

This is in effect peer-to-peer networking, offering services to consumers who are an integral part of the peer network.

Peer Network-to-Government (P-to-G)

This has not yet been used, but if it was, it would be used in a similar capacity to the P-toB model (see below), only with the government as the party accepting the transaction.

Peer Network-to-Business (P-to-B)

Peer-to-peer networking provides resources to business. For example, using peer network resources such as the spare processing capacity of individual machines on the network to solve mathematical problems or intensive and repetitive DNA analyses which requires very high capacity processing power. This framework can be used by organisations to segment their customers and distinguish the different needs, requirements, business processes, products and services that are needed for each.

THE IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

E-commerce and e-business are not solely the Internet, websites or dot com companies. It is about a new business concept that incorporates all previous business management and economic concepts. As such, e-business and e-commerce impact on many areas of business and disciplines of business management studies. For example: Marketing Issues of on-line advertising, marketing strategies and consumer behaviour and cultures. One of the areas in which it impacts particularly is direct marketing. In the past this was mainly door-todoor, home parties (like the Tupperware parties) and mail order using catalogues or leaflets. This moved to telemarketing and TV selling with the advances in telephone and television technology and finally developed into e-marketing spawning eCRM (customer relationship management) data mining and the like by creating new channels for direct sales and promotion. Computer sciences Development of different network and computing technologies and languages to support e-commerce and e-business, for example linking front and back office legacy systems with the webbased technology.

Finance and accounting On-line banking; issues of transaction costs; accounting and auditing implications where intangible assets and human capital must be tangibly valued in an

increasingly knowledge based economy. Economics The impact of e-commerce on local and global economies; understanding the concepts of a digital and knowledge-based economy and how this fits into economic theory. Production and operations management The impact of on-line processing has led to reduced cycle times. It takes seconds to deliver digitized products and services electronically; similarly the time for processing orders can be reduced by more than 90 per cent from days to minutes. Production systems are integrated with finance marketing and other functional systems as well as with business partners and customers. Production and operations management (manufacturing) Moving from mass production to demand-driven, mass customisation customer pull rather than the manufacturer push of the past. Web-based Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) can also be used to forward orders directly to designers and/or production floor within seconds, thus cutting production cycle times by up to 50 per cent, especially when manufacturing plants, engineers and designers are located in different countries. In sub-assembler companies, where a product is assembled from a number of different components sourced from a number of manufacturers, communication, collaboration and coordination are critical so electronic bidding can yield cheaper components and having flexible and adaptable procurement systems allows fast changes at a minimum cost so inventories can be minimised and money saved. Management information systems Analysis, design and implementation of e-business systems within an organisation; issues of integration of front-end and back-end systems. Human resource management Issues of on-line recruiting, home working and intrapreneurs working on a project by project basis replacing permanent employees.

Business law and ethics The different legal and ethical issues that have arisen as a result of a global virtual market. Issues such as copyright laws, privacy of customer information, legality of electronic contracts, etc.

Distribution channels E-commerce has grown in importance as companies have adopted Pure-Click and Brick and Click channel systems. We can distinguish between pure-click and brick and click channel system adopted by companies. o Pure-Click companies are those that have launched a website without any previous existence as a firm. It is imperative that such companies must set up and operate their e-commerce websites very carefully. Customer service is of paramount importance. o Brick and Click companies are those existing companies that have added an online site for e-commerce. Initially, Brick and Click companies were skeptical whether or not to add an online e-commerce channel for fear that selling their products might produce channel conflict with their off-line retailers, agents, or their own stores. However, they eventually added internet to their distribution channel portfolio after seeing how much business their online competitors were generating.

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE
The benefits of e-commerce can be seen to affect three major stakeholders: organisations, consumers and society. Benefits of e-commerce to organisations International marketplace. What used to be a single physical marketplace located in a geographical area has now become a borderless marketplace including national and international markets. By becoming e-commerce enabled, businesses now have access to people all around the

world. In effect all e-commerce businesses have become virtual multinational corporations.

Operational cost savings. The cost of creating, processing, distributing, storing and retrieving paper-based information has decreased.

Mass customisation. E-commerce has revolutionised the way consumers buy good and services. The pull-type processing allows for products and services to be customised to the customers requirements. In the past when Ford first started making motor cars, customers could have any colour so long as it was black. Now customers can configure a car according to their specifications within minutes on-line via the www.ford.com website. Enables reduced inventories and overheads by facilitating pull-type supply chain management this is based on collecting the customer order and then delivering through JIT (just-in-time) manufacturing. This is particularly beneficial for companies in the high technology sector, where stocks of components held could quickly become obsolete within months. For example, companies like Motorola (mobile phones), and Dell (computers) gather customer orders for a product, transmit them electronically to the manufacturing plant where they are manufactured according to the customers specifications (like colour and features) and then sent to the customer within a few days.

Lower telecommunications cost. The Internet is much cheaper than value added networks (VANs) which were based on leasing telephone lines for the sole use of the organisation and its authorised partners. It is also cheaper to send a fax or e-mail via the Internet than direct dialling.

Digitization of products and processes. Particularly in the case of software and music/video products, which can be downloaded or e-mailed directly to customers via the Internet in digital or electronic format.No more

24-hour-time constraints. Businesses can be contacted by or contact customers or suppliers at any time.

Benefits of e-commerce to consumers 247 access. Enables customers to shop or conduct other transactions 24 hours a day, all year round from almost any location. For example, checking balances, making payments, obtaining travel and other information. In one case a pop star set up web cameras in every room in his house, so that he could check the status of his home by logging onto the Internet when he was away from home on tour.

More choices. Customers not only have a whole range of products that they can choose from and customise, but also an international selection of suppliers.

Price comparisons. Customers can shop around the world and conduct comparisons either directly by visiting different sites, or by visiting a single site where prices are aggregated from a number of providers and compared (for example www.moneyextra.co.uk for financial products and services).

Improved delivery processes. This can range from the immediate delivery of digitised or electronic goods such as software or audio-visual files by downloading via the Internet, to the on-line tracking of the progress of packages being delivered by mail or courier. An environment of competition where substantial discounts can be found or value added, as different retailers vie for customers. It also allows many individual customers to aggregate their orders together into a single order presented to wholesalers or manufacturers and obtain a more competitive price (aggregate buying), for example www.letsbuyit.com.

Benefits of e-commerce to society Enables more flexible working practices, which enhances the quality of life for a whole host of people in society, enabling them to work from home. Not only is this more convenient and provides happier and less stressful working environments, it also potentially reduces environmental pollution as fewer people have to travel to work regularly.

Connects people. Enables people in developing countries and rural areas to enjoy and access products, services, information and other people which otherwise would not be so easily available to them.

Facilitates delivery of public services. For example, health services available over the Internet (on-line consultation with doctors or nurses), filing taxes over the Internet through the Inland Revenue website.

LIMITATIONS OF E-COMMERCE
Electronic commerce is also characterized by some technological and inherent limitations which has restricted the number of people using this revolutionary system. One important disadvantage of e-commerce is that the Internet has still not touched the lives of a great number of people, either due to the lack of knowledge or trust.

Limitations of e-commerce to organisations Lack of sufficient system security, reliability, standards and communication protocols. There are numerous reports of websites and databases being hacked into, and security holes in software. For example, Microsoft has over the years issued many security notices and patches for their software. Several banking and other business websites, including Barclays Bank, Powergen and even the Consumers Association in the UK, have experienced breaches in security where a technical oversight or a fault in its systems led to confidential client information becoming available to all.

Rapidly evolving and changing technology, so there is always a feeling of trying to catch up and not be left behind. Under pressure to innovate and develop business models to exploit the new opportunities which sometimes leads to strategies detrimental to the organisation. The ease with which business models can be copied and emulated over the Internet increase that pressure and curtail longer-term competitive advantage. Facing increased competition from both national and international competitors often leads to price wars and subsequent unsustainable losses for the organisation. Problems with compatibility of older and newer technology. There are problems where older business systems cannot communicate with webbased and Internet infrastructures, leading to some organisations running almost two independent systems where data cannot be shared. This often leads to having to invest in new systems or an infrastructure, which bridges the different systems. In both cases this is both financially costly as well as disruptive to the efficient running of organisations.

Limitations of e-commerce to consumers Computing equipment is needed for individuals to participate in the new digital economy, which means an initial capital cost to customers. A basic technical knowledge is required of both computing equipment and navigation of the Internet and the World Wide Web.Cost of access to the Internet, whether dial-up or broadband tariffs. Cost of computing equipment. Not just the initial cost of buying equipment but making sure that the technology is updated regularly to be compatible with the changing requirement of the Internet, websites and applications. Lack of security and privacy of personal data. There is no real control of data that is collected over the Web or Internet. Data protection laws are not universal and so websites hosted in different countries may or may not have laws which protect privacy of personal data. Physical contact and relationships are replaced by electronic processes. Customers are unable to touch and feel goods being sold on-line or gauge voices and reactions of human beings.

A lack of trust because they are interacting with faceless computers.

Limitations of e-commerce to society Breakdown in human interaction. As people become more used to interacting electronically there could be an erosion of personal and social skills which might eventually be detrimental to the world we live in where people are more comfortable interacting with a screen than face to face. Social division. There is a potential danger that there will be an increase in the social divide between technical haves and have-nots so people who do not have technical skills become unable to secure better-paid jobs and could form an underclass with potentially dangerous implications for social stability. Wasted resources. As new technology dates quickly how do you dispose of all the old computers, keyboards, monitors, speakers and other hardware or software? Facilitates Just-In-Time manufacturing. This could potentially cripple an economy in times of crisis as stocks are kept to a minimum and delivery patterns are based on pre-set levels of stock which last for days rather than weeks.

Chapter 2 Company Profile

COMPANY PROFILE
BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY
With latest deals from across India, Hotdeals provides deals on dining, travel, health, fitness and hundreds of categories on-the-go with both email and mobile apps! We bring you the best services and brands at your fingertip at the best possible prices. Hot deals aims at making life more fun for consumers. Being India's best daily deals website, we bring to you up to 90% discounts on dining, health and beauty services, travel and more. Our vision is to make Hot deals your engine of discovery for what to do, eat and buy in your city. With daily deals in close to 100 cities, we ensure that we reach consumers in every nook and corner of the country.

Today's most successful e-commerce sites routinely experience transaction closure rates in the range of 8 to 10 percent of total visitors. The primary reason for the failure of online retailing to convert customers at acceptable rates is because historically, ecommerce websites have been a one-size-fits-all proposition. For example, the majority of e-commerce websites contain a great user interface, deals, offers that remain static for every visitor. This occurs even though we intuitively know individuals have unique motivations and preferences.

Shoppers rely on different information and different types of websites when making a buying decision. Therefore, most shoppers spend a significant amount of time by going through multiple websites and related comparison websites still they cannot make a decision quicker - average time to make a decision to buy any product online is between 3 hours to a week - there are many online shopping sites offering too many deals and offers in the local markets - it creates a lot of confusion among buyers community - there is so much frustration from Buyers community for not seeing only the specific deals or offers they wanted on the website.

Hotdeals.com offers revolution technology in the e-commerce industry which identifies an individual's preferences, interests, then delivers on-the-fly adjustments that make each customer feel the site was built just for him or her. It's pretty much like having your own e-commerce or online store to fulfill your own needs on daily basis. Hotdeals.com brings the lowest offers from the sellers based on buyers request in the local markets - all the bids from sellers happen real time and very much live. Also, Hotdeals.com provides the current need analytics (on daily basis) to the sellers in the local markets. Hotdeals.com is the worlds first personalized E-commerce platform.
.

KEY MANAGEMENT TEAM

Sidharth Gupta - CEO Sidharth has over 15 years experience in the print & printmanagement business, having started his career as a trainee sales executive, in the family Yellow pages business. He further trained in North America with Quebecor World Inc. & was involved with the setting-up of Tej- Quebecor Printing Ltd., Indias largest directory printing facility. Sidharth, in 1996, set up FreeAds papers across India. In 2001, Sidharth founded asianvendors.com a B2B trade portal with participation from eight Asian countries. In 2002, Sidharth assumed the role of the COO of GETIT and since then has been responsible for various product innovations including the Findex (award winning), the all new remodeled buying guides & various new media initiatives. He assumed the role of the CEO in 2008 & now provides overall strategic direction to the company. Sidharth is a graduate in Statistics from Delhi University and has completed the ISB Wharton Global Advanced Management Programme from Indian Business School, Hyderabad & Wharton Business School, USA.

Raghavendra Shastry, President - BizList / White Pages Raghavendra Shastry is responsible for BizList operations and the companys corporate relationships with incumbent telecom operators. His responsibility also includes advertising sales for directories published for telecom departments in India. A Science Graduate from Bangalore University, Raghavendra has done courses on Business Management from Columbia University, Wharton University and a specialisation program in Negotiation Skill Management from Harvard Business School.

Dinesh Rao, Chief Operating Officer

Dinesh has a wealth of experience with a career spanning 24 years in the areas of managing large businesses and profit centers, Sales and Business development, Business Operations and launching new products & services. He has experience in building business strategy & planning, revenue assurance, productivity enhancement, process engineering and organizational design & transformation and leading organization through change as also in working with external management consultants on mandates for targeted acquisitions for inorganic growth. He has worked in multi-cultural work groups in different locations in India and overseas across industries Automobile OEM, consumer durables / white goods and Service (Express, Logistics & Distribution and Telecom- Mobile & Broadband), being associated with companies such as Lumax, ONIDA, Aristocrat, Elbee-UPS, DHL and Airtel. Prior to joining Getit, he was the Chief Operating Officer-Data & Voice of You Telecom India Pvt. Ltd., a pan India ISP promoted by Citigroup Venture Capital International.

Maneesh Goel, Chief Financial Officer Maneesh is a Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant and comes with over 14 years of experience with companies in Manufacturing, Technology and Media / Internet space. He has worked with corporations like IPCL, Honeywell, Dell and Times Group in the areas of Corporate Finance, Strategy, Compliance and Taxation. In his stint with Times Internet, he built a strong Finance Team, implemented robust Processes, created Revenue Assurance & Credit Controls systems and was responsible for driving Biz planning and Performance management. At Dell, Maneesh worked closely with Biz and Finance teams (both local and overseas) to support Dells growth in India from its early days to a large operation in the country. Maneesh is a Six Sigma Green Belt certified at Honeywell and was awarded the Dinner with the Global CEO for his contributions at Dell.

Naveen Luthra, Vice President, Strategic Alliances Naveen has a rich professional experience of 16 years, out of which he has spent last 8 years in Internet/web industry. His earlier stints include working with Times Business Solutions Ltd, (Times of India Group Co.) as Vice President in the role as Business Head for leading property portal -

www.magicbricks.com, where he has been instrumental in taking the portal to its current leadership position in India. He has also spent about three and a half years with Rediff.com, as Asst Vice President, in role of the Business Head for "Domain, Email and Hosting services" based in Mumbai, setting up this business almost from scratch. He is also credited with setting up 400+ iways (chain of branded cyber cafes by SIFY) in western India, across the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP and Goa and setting up the operations in the Punjab region for SIFY at the time of its launch in late nineties. He is an alumnus of IIM, Ahmedabad (1994). He is spearheading the Strategic Alliances role at GETIT, responsible for entering into relationships with potential partners to add value to the end user and the advertiser. Rajat Narain, Vice President - Human Resources Rajat is a 1995 batch XLRI alumni and has close to 14 years of rich experience in HR which include manufacturing, service & BPO industries. Prior to his current role at GETIT, some of the companies he has worked with include Tecumseh, Becton Dickinson, Apollo Tyres and ICICI Prudential. assignment was with IBM Daksh. His last

NATURE OF BUSINESS CARRIED OUT

Company basically deals with providing a platform for the buyer and seller for making a business ,our business is carried by as shown below

Buysell

Dailydeals Seller posts deal

Buyer sellers

posts to

request purchase

for a Buyer is able to see the dealsposted by seller only if he is interested in the category. Buyer purchase deals and can also give them to their friends and colleagues. Payment

product. System intimates sellers and they post bids for requests. System selects top 5 sellers and intimates Buyer makes the buyers. purchase.

For Buy/Sell Courier / Shipping

For Daily Deal Print Vouchers through E-Mail.

For Buy/Sell Person to Person

Confirmation to both buyer and seller Buyer and Sellers Enjoy.

Buy / Sell Model

Choose some common categories Buyer post his/her request Seller posts their offers against the buyer's requests right away Seller changes their prices real-time (to compete with one and another) along with the offer expiration time-lines

Buyer accepts the lowest price Buyer buys the item System sends the order confirmation details to both the buyer/seller via email/SMS

Buyer and seller exchanges the item(s) or security code based on shipping mode (person-2-person or courier)

Once the seller details are verified, system transfers the money to seller's account (currently it is a manual process)

End-of-Sale

Daily Deal Model

Seller posts the daily request Admin receives the same and approve (if everything OK) Admin posts the daily deal to the site Buyer will see the respective deal (if it matches with their interest) on their dashboard right away

Buyer spit the vouchers into multiple Buyer puts the names and email IDs for his/her friends Buyer buys the deal System sends the voucher confirmation code End-of-Sale

MISSION AND VISION Mission

Our mission is to create software and provide services which will improve the way our customers work; resulting in increased efficiency and productivity. Moreover, we strive to satisfy our employees, by continuously growing as a company and offering an excellent and stimulating working environment, as well as our investors, by providing the right return on their investment. We want to be globally respected organization for it's value based Products and Services and it's cost competitiveness.

Vision
The world is changing all around us. To continue to thrive as a business over the next ten years and beyond, we must look ahead, understand the trends and forces that will shape our business in the future and move swiftly to prepare for what's to come. We must get ready for tomorrow today. That's what our 2020 Vision is all about. It creates a long-term destination for our business and provides us with a "Roadmap" for winning together with our bottler partners.

Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions. Serving all our customers with integrity and fairness and with a view toward a long-term relationship. Web Reach Tech will be the market leader as vertical IT Solution Provider and System Integrator. To be the most admired, Indian Company, globally, providing Cost effective solutions and ITes services, on open source platform. Utilizing relevant technology and the specialized knowledge of our staff to provide software and services of unique value and high quality to our customers.

POLICY
1. rivacy Policy Hotdeals.com is owned and operated by Getit info services. This privacy policy describes how we handle your personal information. By using Hotdeals.com (the "Site") you consent to the storage, processing, transfer and disclosure of your personal information as described in this privacy policy. This policy is effective as of May 31, 2012.

2.

Collection To receive notifications, updates or request additional information about Hotdeals.com or this Site, we may collect the following information:

name, contact information, email address, address, company and user ID; correspondence sent to or from us; Connecting with social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and related

any additional information you choose to provide; and other information from your interaction with our Site, services, content and advertising, including computer and connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the Site, ad data, IP address and standard web log information.

If you choose to provide us with personal information, you consent to the transfer and storage of that information on our servers located in the United States.

3.

Release of Non-Personally Identifiable Information We may disclose or share Non-Personally Identifiable Information with Partners, Affiliates and Advertisers. For example, we may share aggregated demographic information and current need analytics (which does not include any Personally Identifiable Information) with Third Party Advertisers or Third Party Advertising Companies and other parties as provided below: We use Third Party Advertising Companies to serve ads when you visit our Website. These companies may use Non-Personally Identifiable Information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide, through the use of network tags, advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. We also use Third Party Service Providers to track and analyze Non-Personally Identifiable usage and volume statistical information from our Users to administer our Website and constantly improve its quality. We may also publish this information for promotional purposes or as a representative audience for Advertisers. Please note that this is not Personally Identifiable Information, only general summaries of the activities of our Users. Such data is collected on our behalf, and is owned and used by us.

4.

Use We use your personal information to provide you with the services you request, communicate with you, troubleshoot problems, customize your experience, inform you about our services and Site updates and measure interest in our sites and services.

5.

Disclosure We don't sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent. We may disclose personal information to respond to legal requirements, enforce our policies, respond to claims that a posting or other content violates other's rights, or protect anyone's rights, property, or safety. Such information will be disclosed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We may also share personal information with service providers who help with our business operations, and with members of our corporate family, who may provide joint content and services and help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts. Should we plan to merge

or be acquired by another business entity, we may share personal information with the other company and will require that the new combined entity follow this privacy policy with respect to your personal information.

6.

User Choices on Collection and Use of Information As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, although it may be required to engage in a certain activity on the Website. As a condition of purchase of our products and services, we will send you Administrative and Promotional emails. We will send you information regarding your account activity and purchases as well as updates about our products and promotional offers. You cannot opt-out of these Emails. Administrative Emails relate to a Users activity on the Website, and include emails regarding a particular Users account, requests or inquiries, and purchases of products and services.

7.

Security of Information We take security seriously and take numerous precautions to protect the security of Personally Identifiable Information. You can access your Personally Identifiable Information on our Website through a password and your email address. This password is encrypted. We recommend that you do not share your password with anyone. In addition, your Personally Identifiable Information resides on a secure server that only selected personnel and contractors have access to. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we employ commercially reasonable security measures to protect data and seek to partner with companies which do the same, we cannot guarantee the security of any information transmitted to or from the Website, and are not responsible for the actions of any third parties that may receive any such information.

8.

Data Tracking Cookies: To facilitate and customize your experience with the Website, we store cookies on your computer. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a Users computer for

record-keeping purposes which contains information about that User. We use cookies to save you time while using the Website, remind us who you are, and track and target User interests in order to provide a customized experience. Cookies also allow us to collect Non-Personally Identifiable Information from you, like which pages you visited and what links you clicked on. Use of this information helps us to create a more user-friendly experience for all visitors. In addition, we may use Third Party Advertising Companies to display advertisements on our Website. As part of their service, they may place separate cookies on your computer. We have no access to or control over these cookies. This Privacy Policy covers the use of cookies by our Website only and does not cover the use of cookies by any Advertiser. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you may be able to modify your browser settings to decline cookies. Please note that if you decline or delete these cookies, some parts of the Website may not work properly.

9.

Privacy Policies of Third Party Websites This Privacy Policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you on www.Hotdeals.com. Other websites that may be accessible through this Website have their own privacy policies and data collection, use and disclosure practices. If you link to any such website, we urge you review the websites privacy policy. We are not responsible for the policies or practices of third parties.

PRODUCT OR SERVICE PROFILE

Hotdeals is the first personalized commerce platform, ebay, e-

snapdeal bag it today and rest of sites work on usual manner where as hotdeals through the light on every individual and it shows that site is created for every individual.

The working model of e-commerce is

Order placed by user The individual enters into the e-commerce website and can see lot of products displayed regarding various categories and user dont have the choice of having the product of his own interest he should only select the items which are present there and selects the item which he want to buy from the e commerce site.

Shopping cart Immediately when a person selects the item it goes into shopping where the request stays for 14days. The customer can buy this product with in this period. If the customer failed to pay the money within the particular period of item the item will be removed from the shopping cart and is not available for the customer, if he want to buy the product after the period he can go for the product if it is available in the site or the customer lost the item.

Payment When the customer is ready to pay for the product he can pay using credit card, debit card and even internet banking and it can be through paisapay or ebs an and many more.

Order confirmation Once when the payment is made, the order gets conformed and mail is sent for both the customer and the merchant regarding the order conformation. Copy of this order is sent to the ware house from where the item is sent to the customer.

Ware house When the order is sent to ware house for fulfillment, the item will be ready for shipment and the shipment carrier will come and pick the product for shipment and it is shipped for the customer. The customer receives this item through courier.

Now Hotdeals introduced personalized e-commerce, here it is customer centric i.e it provides the items which the customer needs and wants to see.

Competitor information
The competitors for hotdeals in the fields of e-commerce are: Ebay

Ebay

is

an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that

manages

eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the notable success stories of the dot-com bubble; it is now a multi-billion dollar business with operations localized in over thirty countries. eBay expanded from its original "set-time" auction format to include "Buy It Now" standard shopping.

Snapdeal

Snapdeal.com is ranked #401 in the world according to Alexa traffic rankings. Snapdeal.com has Google page rank #4. The estimated website net worth based on its advertising revenue is around $6 Million. Snapdeal.com receives 2.7 Million page views per day and generates nearly $8,229 every day in advertising revenue. Snapdeal.com has recently shown a 6.65% Loss in the traffic rank. The average page load time is 2 seconds, which is faster than 39% of sites around the world. Snapdeal.com has website back links from #229website. Snapdeal.com appears to be hosted in Singapore. Snapdeal.com hosted on snapdeal.com.

Mydala

Mydala is YOUR platform which gets you great deals you want in your city leveraging the "power of group buying". Group buying happens when like- minded people come together to get deals that we can never get on our own as individuals. We all are the power of mydala. Launched in November 2009, mydala features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in a number of cities across India. We have about 50 wonderful people working in our Delhi office working side by side with folks in mydalas other cities.

Groupon

Groupon (a portmanteau derived from "group coupon") is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched on November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. As of October 2010, Groupon serves more than 150 markets in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America and has amassed 35 million registered users.

Taggle

It is a joint venture of Battery Ventures,Greylock Partners. The value we aim to bring to you doesn't stop at prices! We strive to provide you a secure, hassle-free online shopping experience, a timely delivery to your doorstep, and impeccable service post your purchase. Customer Delight is very central to everything we do.

The other websites that are competitors for hotdeals in the market are: http://www.mydala.com http://www.dealsandyou.com http://www.cityoffers.in http://bangalore.quikr.com http://dailydeal.in/ http://deals.buzzintown.com/ http://www.sosasta.com http://www.koovs.com/ http://open2save.com http://khojguru.com/bangalore http://www.fetise.com

INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES
In hotdeals there are various facilities provided some of them are: Work Station: For all employee reliance provide them work station of 5*5 square feet. Apart from this for each workstation there is individual computer with intranet connection (LAN connection). Pantry facility: Employee enjoys pantry facility too in Hotdeals whereby they are provided various beverages like tea, coffee, milk, etc.

Communication facility: Each employee is given individual internet connection. All employees also have individual telecom facility through which they can easily communicate to each other. Transportation facility: Hotdeals provides transportation facility to some of its executives if needed. Besides providing transportation facility they are also provided accommodation facility too.

AREA OF WORK
Analyze and make testing on website from consumers point of view. Testing of website is done from user interface that is from the point of view of customers. For any company the product or service should be of high quality when we are releasing to customers, it should be error free and very easy to understand the flow of activies which are been performed on site.As a part of e-commerce business our primary part is the front end design of web site ,its usability,looks the flow of pages on the click action.To know is every action on the user system is carried out properly or not, whether the validations are carried out in every field in order so that there are no violations. The below fig shows the tracking of errors and developing it with interaction of developers and is done on google docs.

Error Reporting process: Find the error. Using print screen option save the page. Open the page in paint and explain the error using paint tools so that the picture will be self explanatory. Upload the picture in google docs. Share the uploaded picture with developers and colleagues. Use bitly in order to short the link of the image and upload that in the error log file. Should daily check the error log file and see the comments which are given by developers and give the feed back whether it has been resolved or not. Front-end Functionalities Easy to use, checkout process for new and existing customers. Product Search, Sort, Categories, and Subcategories. Image Zoom & Multiple Images Per Product. Shipping & Tax Calculation (based on merchant provided information).

Merchant Features Comprehensive Order Management System. Comprehensive Product & Category Management System. E-mail Alert per Order. Backend Order Fulfillment System. Marketing Automation with Email marketing to clients (CRM).

Customer Features

E-mail Conformation of Successful Order Placement. Secure Client Login to view order status, past orders, open customer service tickets, and accommodate easy checkout for revisiting customers. E-mail alert upon entry of Shipment Tracking Information.

Third-party Integration Credit Card Payment Processing System supporting Authorize.net UPS Live Shipping Price Information (if required) SSL Certificate Installation

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths Ability to compete with other companies global and locally Implementing an e-commerce business solution allows companies to expand their customer base to a global level without considerable time or expense. Specialization and niche selling The larger customer base created by online sales allows e-tailers to specialize in certain niche products that could not support a more traditional business model. Low overhead cost and low barrier to entry Startup costs for an e-commerce retail operation are a fraction of the costs of starting a traditional brick and mortar company. Direct consumer communication This form of commerce allows the business to maintain a higher level of consumer communication. The communication happens when the order is placed, when the order has shipped and then at a point in the future, should the customer opt-in to receiving regular email communication.

Weaknesses High Customer Expectations Small businesses can appear to be large companies on the Internet. Customers have no way of gauge the business actual level of man power and resources. This leads to customers that demand the same level of service from business with 1-2 employees as they would from industry giants like amazon.com. Search Engine Unpredictability

Web retailers live and die by organic search engine placement. The higher the store is placed on the search engine result pages (SERPs) translates to more traffic and sales. Search engines regularly change their ranking systems and this can cause major fluctuation in placement and create an unpredictable environment.

Opportunities Global Exposure Adding an e-commerce component to a business allows the company to sell their products to a global market. High Availability: a 24/7 business Selling on the Internet allows the company to take orders around the clock on every day of the week. Orders can then be filled and processed during set business hours. Strong business-to-business networking Websites allow for business-to-business exchange links to increase traffic and search engine placement for each businesses sites. This opens lines of communication on a business-to-business level and aids in the cooperation between companies. Industry Growth Retail sales on the Internet in America have seen double digit growth each of the past 8 years. Growth is expected to continue at high rates and having a business online allows the merchant to be in a position to benefit from this expansion. Threats Competition The low barriers and the comparatively low overhead costs allow a for a relative easy entry into the market. This increases the level competition and can cause a reduction in prices and profit margins. Threats are produced not only by other retailers within the same industry but also by the manufactures that supply the products that the retailer sells. It is not uncommon for online retailers to directly compete with the manufacturer of the lines they carry. Innovation Future innovation could have an adverse effect on e-commerce businesses.

Fraud Some consumers are leery of doing business online out of concerns of fraud and misuse of their financial data. This alienates an entire segment of the population from conducting business via the Internet.

Privacy Concerns Some consumers prefer not to give any personal information out over the Internet because of fears that the information will be misused, lead to spam email or identity fraud.

Future Legislation Internet sales only have tax applied to the purchase if the buyer and seller reside in the same state. Considering the growth and amount of tax revenue lost to e-commerce, the federal government and individual states could write legislation to impose tax on all online sales. This would remove one incentive to conducting business online.

Chapter 3 Objectives

 To study the satisfaction level of consumers regarding products and services offered by hotdeal and snapdeal. To check the preference of people or customer towards hotdeal and snapdeal. To find out which factor is more preferred by the customers regarding hotdeal and snapdeal.

Chapter 4 Research methodology

CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research in general refers to the search of knowledge. One can also define research as a scientific & systematic collection of information. In simple words research is the careful investigation or enquiry of markets especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge. RESEARCH DESIGN Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. The formidable problem that follows the task of defining the research problem is the preparation of the research project, known as the research design. Decisions regarding what, where, when, how much, by what means concerning an inquiry or a research study constitute a research design.

A research Design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. In fact the research design is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. As such the design includes an outline of what the research will do from writing the hypothesis and its operational to the final analysis of data. Here, in this study, descriptive research design would be levied because it involves observing and describing the behaviour of a subject without influencing it in any way.

EXPLORATORY RESEARCH DESIGN

The study was Exploratory in nature, with survey method being used to complete the study. Exploratory research aims to develop initial hunches and provide directions for any future research needed. The primary purpose is to through light on nature of a situation and identifies any specific objectives through additional research. It is most useful when a decision maker wishes to better understand the situation or to identify decision alternatives.

SAMPLE DESIGN Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of individual observations intended to yield some knowledge about a population of concern, especially for the purposes of statistical inference. Each observation measures one or more properties (weight, location, etc.) of an observable entity enumerated to distinguish objects or individuals. In business, sampling is widely used for gathering information about a population. Population: population included online shopping in Chandigarh region. Sampling Element: Individual respondents were the sampling element. Sampling Technique: Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample. Sample Size: Sample Size was 50 respondents.

DATA COLLECTION Data collection is the basic step and of vital importance on which authentic of study depend. Before going for the study the researcher have to collect the appropriate data required for the study. Source of allocation of data are two types.

1. Primary Data 2. Secondary Data Primary data: - Primary data is as this data is not present in reports or journals etc., and is collected through a number of methods used: Personal interview e- mails. Observations Questionnaires Interview

Secondary data: - Secondary data is collected from the sources such as: books, company reports, journals, rating organization, census department etc., The secondary data is readily available and therefore is less costly and less time consuming. Sources of secondary data are: Internets. Book and Journals. Company reports. Research work of others.

ANALYTICAL TOOLS Microsoft Excel Bar charts (A bar chart or bar graph is a chart with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent). Bar charts are used for comparing two or more values that were taken over time or on different conditions, usually on small data sets. The bars can be horizontally oriented (also called bar chart) or vertically oriented (also called column chart). Sometimes a stretched graphic is used instead of a solid bar. It is a visual display used to compare the amount or frequency of occurrence of different characteristics of data and it is used to compare groups of data.

LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

The Market research has to face certain problem while doing research work. The limitations in this report are as follows: The research was conducted in Chandigarh City. If the research would have been conducted in other city. The conclusion would be different. Only sample of customers were surveyed because of limited time and economic constraints. Market research cannot provide solution to problem, it only offer accurate information, which was used to given suggestion to the company. The major limitation was scarcity of time available for the study. The time available for the study was only 50 days.

Chapter 5 Data Analysis & Interpretation

1. ARE YOU AWARE HOTDEALS AND SNAPDEAL? Table No. 5.1 Options Yes No Total Respondents 50 0 50 Figure No. 5.1 %age 100 0 100

120%

100%

80%

60%

Yes No

40%

20%

0% Yes No

Interpretation Chart 5.1 reveals that all the respondents are aware regarding hotdeals and snapdeals.

2.

From where do you aware about these websites? Table No. 5.2 Options Internet Television Advertisement SMS Newspaper Any Other Total Respondents 24 12 4 9 1 50 Figure No. 5.2
60% Internet Television Advertisement SMS Newspaper Any Other

%age 48% 24% 8% 18% 2% 100%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% Internet Television Advertisement SMS Newspaper Any Other

Interpretation Chart 5.2 reveals that 48% respondents are aware through internet sources rather than other advertisement sources. Least preference of respondents is any other.

3.

How often you visit these websites? Table No. 5.3 Options Daily Once a week Once a month Occasionally Total Respondents 3 9 13 25 50 Figure No. 5.3
60% Daily 50% Once a week Once a month Occasionally

%age 6% 18% 26% 50% 100%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% Daily Once a week Once a month Occasionally

Interpretation Chart 5.3 represents that 50% respondents occasionally visiting in these websites, 26% visit once in a month and only 6% respondents daily visit in these websites to find more discount coupons.

4.

What is the main factor you visit these websites? Table No. 5.4 Options Browsing Search Particular item Search Best deal Other Total Respondents 3 7 38 2 50 Figure No.5.4 %age 6% 14% 76% 4% 100%

Browsing 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Browsing

Search Particular item

Search Best deal

Other

Search Particular item

Search Best deal

Other

Interpretation Chart 5.4 indicates that 78% respondents search best deals for the products is the main factor, 14% search particular item, 6% browsing and rest 4% have other reason to visit these websites.

5.

According to you, which company provides best deals? Table No. 5.5 Options Hotdeals Snapdeal Total Respondents 14 36 50 Figure No.5.5 %age 28% 72% 100%

Hotdeals Snapdeal

Interpretation Chart 5.5 indicates that majority of respondents respond that Snapdeal is provides best deals to them followed by hotdeals. Snapdeal is the no.1 player of E-commerce industry in India.

6.

Which company has best advertised sales and special? Table No. 5.6 Options Hotdeals Snapdeal Total Respondents 7 43 50 Figure No.5.6 %age 14% 86% 100%

Hotdeals
Snapdeal
Interpretation Chart No. 5.6 indicates that 86% respondents replied that Snapdeal website have best advertisement sales and special followed by hotdeals. 14% respondents are in favour of hotdeals.

7.

Which website is user friendly? Table No. 5.7 Options Hotdeals Snapdeal Total Respondents 27 23 50 Figure No.5.7 %age 54% 46% 100%

Snapdeal

Hotdeals

42%

44%

46%

48%

50%

52%

54%

56%

Hotdeals Snapdeal
Interpretation According to 54% respondents, Hotdeals website is user friendly, whereas 46% respondents are replied that snapdeal website is user friendly.

8.

Which websites has better after sale services? Table No. 5.8 Options Hotdeals Snapdeal Total Respondents 21 29 50 Figure No.5.8 %age 42% 58% 100%

Hotdeals Snapdeal
Interpretation According to 58% respondents, Snapdeal website have better after sale services followed by Hotdeal.

9.

Which websites consistently provides the best values for your money? Table No. 5.9 Options Hotdeals Snapdeal Total Respondents 4 46 50 Figure No.5.9 %age 8% 92% 100%

Hotdeals
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Hotdeals 8%

Snapdeal
92%

Snapdeal

Interpretation 92% respondents replied that snapdeal website consistently provides the best values for their money as compared to hotdeal.

10.

Which websites maintains the better everyday price for the products? Table No. 5.10 Options Hotdeals Snapdeal Total Respondents 9 41 50 Figure No.5.10 %age 18% 82% 100%

Hotdeals
90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Hotdeals 18%

Snapdeal
82%

Snapdeal

Interpretation 82% respondents respond that snapdeal website maintains the better everyday price for their products compared to hotdeals, whereas 18% respondents in the favour of hotdeals.com

11.

Which websites offers best return policy? Table No. 5.11 Options Hotdeals Snapdeal Total Respondents 11 39 50 Figure No.5.11 %age 22% 78% 100%

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Hotdeals

Snapdeal

82%

18%

Hotdeals

Snapdeal

Interpretation 82% respondents respond that snapdeal website maintains the better everyday price for their products compared to hotdeals, whereas 18% respondents in the favour of hotdeals.com