MBA- Semester IV-MI0039 E-Commerce

Q1. Warigon is a retail company and they want to automate the payment system. Assume that you are the design engineer of that company. What are the factors that you would consider while designing the electronic payment system? Answer : Analysing the electronic pay system : The following factors like non-technical in nature, that must be consider while designing the electronic payment system for the retail company to automate the payment system: Privacy A user expects to trust in a secure system; just as the telephone is a safe and private medium free of wiretaps and hackers, electronic communication must merit equal trust. Security A secure system verifies the identity of two-party transactions through "user authentication" and reserves flexibility to restrict information/services through access control. Tomorrow's bank robbers will need no getaway cars-just a computer terminal, the price of a telephone call, and a little ingenuity. Millions of dollars have been embezzled by computer fraud. No systems are yet fool-proof, although designers are concentrating closely on security. Intuitive interfaces The payment interface must be as easy to use as a telephone. Generally speaking, users value convenience more than anything. Database integration With home banking, for example, a customer wants to play with all his accounts. To date, separate accounts have been stored on separate databases. The challenge before banks is to tie these databases together and to allow customers access to any of them while keeping the data up-to-date and error free. Brokers A "network banker" -someone to broker goods and services, settle conflicts, and facilitate financial transactions electronically-must be in place. Pricing. One fundamental issue is how to price payment system service For example, should subsidies be used to encourage users to shift from one form of payment to another, from cash to bank payments, from paper: based to e-cash. The problem with subsidies is the potential waste of resources, as money may be Invested in systems that will not be used. Thus investment in systems not only might not be recovered but substantial on going operational subsidies will also be necessary. On the other hand, it must be recognized that without subsidies, it is difficult to price all services affordably. Standards. Without standards, the welding of different payment users in different networks and different systemsis impossible. Standards en at interoperability, giving users the ability to buy and receive information, regardless of which bank is managing their money. None of these hurdles are insurmountable. Most will be jumped within next few years. These technical problems, experts hope, will be solved as technology is improved and experiences gained. The biggest question concern how customers will take to a paperless world.

Q2. For many years companies have been using computers to send business documents instead of mailing paper documents (i.e. most of our pay checks are directly deposited into our bank accounts). This transfer of funds is accomplished by the use of an electronic file being sent from your company to your bank). The problem was that the all employed proprietary used unique formats to pursue this task. The absence of a standard format led to the condition where computers could no longer talk to one another without a great deal of effort by programmers. For example, Supplier X could recognize an electronic Purchase Order from Retailer A but not from Retailer B. To avoid the above condition ANSI formulated a committee for the entire world to have standardized format for the electronic transaction. What is the name of the standard? Discuss the working concepts of that standard. Answer: Recognition of standard : The standard formulated by ANSI for electronic transaction was EDI for e commerce. Components of EDI: 1. Translator and mapper: As received, an EDI transaction set contains all the information about a purchase order or payment, but not in a form that is either human-readable or usable by any other electronic business software 2. Communication tools : Most EDI software packages will contain a communications management tool used for sending and receiving trading partner data. This tool will typically support multiple transport protocols such as TCP/IP, FTP, HTTP, SMTP, AS1, AS2, etc.

Q3. The four Ps concepts in marketing are the four major ingredients of a traditional marketing mix directed at the customer or target market. List and explain the four Ps of marketing? Are the 4 Ps really applicable to Internet marketing? How? Answer : 4 Ps of marketing : 1. Product 2. Place 3. Price 4. Promotion Explanation : 1. Product : Products are the goods and services that your business provides for sale to your target market. When developing a product you should consider quality, design, features, money dollars covering costs expenses packaging, customer service and any subsequent after-sales service.

2. Place

Place is in regards to distribution, location and methods of getting the product to the customer. This includes the location of your business, shop front, distributors, logistics and the potential use of the internet to sell products directly to consumers.

3 .Price

Price concerns the amount of money that customers must pay in order to purchase your products. There are a number of considerations in relation to price including price setting, discounting, credit and cash purchases as well as credit collection.

4. Promotion

Promotion refers to the act of communicating the benefits and value of your product to consumers. It then involves persuading general consumers to become customers of your business using methods such as advertising, direct marketing, personal selling and sales promotion.

Q4. Website is the most important front end tool in the online marketing. It provides the interactive mode of operation to the user. Define what is a website? Analyse the structure of a website. Answer : Website : A webpage is a document, typically written in plain text interspersed with formatting instructions of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, XHTML). A webpage may incorporate elements from other websites with suitable markup anchors. Analyzing the structure of Website : The website structure is similar to the human skeleton or nervous system. A website is connected through a network of links into something that provides form and function to the site. In order to analyze the web structure, we first have to understand the basic web structure. A website consists of three main areas or three tiers, which is the home page, the main sections and subsections as shown in figure One of the factors for the success of a websites structure is the ease with which the viewers can navigate the site.

Q5. RIBA is one of the famous online library which uses online catalogues. Online catalogues are the best way to browse and locate material from the collections of the British Architectural Library at the RIBA. List the benefits of online catalogue Answer : Benefits of online catalogue : 1. Facilitates the buyer to buy at anytime and tracks the product line interest. 2. Broadens your market reach locally and globally. 3. Saves customers time and money with the help of online capability. Explanation : An online catalogue is a list or itemized display, as of titles, course offerings, or articles for exhibition or sale, usually including descriptive information or illustrations. It is a time saving tool that provides valuable information to the prospective customers about your product specifications. It facilitates the potential customers to locate the products according to their specifications.

Q6. Mobile advertising has become a no-brainer for some brands to drive in-store traffic and online revenue. This is possible only after the growth of M commerce. Define M commerce. Describe the areas of its potential growth and future of m Commerce Answer : Definition of M-Commerce : m-commerce does not have any precise definition. m-Commerce and its definition varies from every individual. m-Commerce is called as next generation e-commerce. The process of buying and selling of goods and services through wireless devices such as cellular telephone and personal digital assistants (PDAs) is called as m-commerce. The newly appearing technology behind m-commerce is based on the Wireless Application Protocol(WAP). The traditional e-commerce is replaced by the m-commerce. Anywhere anytime is the important feature of m commerce that leads us to implement m-commerce in place of ecommerce.