Page 189 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

172 6 Mobile Commerce and the Internet of Things

Figure 6.3 M-commerce
applications and their Mobile
classifications Technologies Business Needs Major Industries
Field Employees’ Hospitality
Mobility Education
Fleet Mobility Healthcare
Mobile Attributes Warehouse Retail
Capabilities Management Wholesale/Distribution
DSD Route Utilities
Accounting Manufacturing
Transportation/Logistics
Military
Consumer Needs
Entertainment
Transportation
Education
Healthcare

3. Warehouse management—the improvement of the opera-
tions inside warehouses. • Improves customer satisfaction through real-time
4. Direct store delivery (DSD) route accounting—the incre- apps.
ased usefulness by conducting predelivery activities (e.g., • Increases collaboration, advertisement, customer
by texting information about a new shipment from the ship- service, and sales by using IoT (Section 6.7).
per to the receiver). • Enables many enterprise applications (Section 6.4).
• Facilitates CRM and collaboration.
This chapter discusses the techniques and applications in • Reduces employee training time and help desk
the m-commerce field from a managerial point of view. A resources.
related application, ubiquitous computing, will be discussed • Improves time utilization and productivity of mobile
in Section 6.6. employees.
Also of interest is the emerging field of mobile intelli- • Expedites information flow to and from mobile
gence (see Saylor 2012). employees.
• Delivers digitized products and services directly to
mobile devices.
The Benefits of M-Commerce • Reduces order lead-time and fulfillment cycle.
• Allows for lower, competitive pricing.
M-commerce has many benefits to organizations, individu-
als, and society. As a result, many believe that the future of
EC is mobile applications (watch the 5:06 min video titled Benefits for Individuals and Customers
“The Future of E-Commerce Is: Mobile Applications” at
youtube.com/watch?v=kYSMP_RH67w).
• Allows e-commerce from any place, anytime.
Benefits for Organizations • Assists in shopping by providing real-time informa-

tion and other shopping aids.
• Helps organization of and communication while
• Increases sales due to ease of ordering by customers travelling.
from anywhere, anytime. • Expedites banking and financial services.
• Allows location-based commerce for more sales • Provides rich media entertainment anytime and any-
and revenue (Section 6.6). where.
• Provides an additional channel for advertising and • Facilitates the finding of new friends and where-
distribution of coupons (wider reach). abouts of existing ones.
• Increases customers’ loyalty. • Provides a choice of mobile devices for transactions.