Page 29 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

6 1 Overview of Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

Defining E-Business
2. The case shows major benefits to both buyers and
sellers. This is typical in EC. Some people view the term commerce as describing only
3. The EC capabilities include the ability to offer buying and selling transactions conducted between business
products and services in many locations, including partners. If this definition of commerce were used, the term
overseas, to many customers, individuals, and busi- electronic commerce would be fairly narrow. Thus, many use
nesses. You can do so because you can have a larger the term e-business instead. E-business refers to a broader
customer base online, and people can buy from definition of EC, not just the buying and selling of goods and
anywhere at any time. services, but conducting all kinds of business online such as
4. In a regular store, you pay and pick up the merchan- servicing customers, collaborating with business partners,
dise or service. On Starbucks.com and other web- delivering e-learning, and conducting electronic transactions
stores, you order, pay, and the product is shipped to within organizations. However, others view e-business only
you. Therefore, order fulfillment needs to be very as comprising those activities that do not involve buying or
efficient and timely. selling over the Internet, such as collaboration and intra-
5. Being digital can be very useful, but a greater benefit business activities; that is, it is a complement of the narrowly
can be achieved by extending it to be a socially ori- defined e-commerce. In its narrow definitions, e-commerce
ented enterprise. Both approaches constitute the back- can be viewed as a subset of e-business. In this book, we use
bone of electronic commerce, the subject of this book. the broadest meaning of electronic commerce, which is basi-
cally equivalent to the broadest definition of e-business. The
two terms will be used interchangeably throughout the text.

In this opening chapter, we describe the essentials of EC,
some of which were presented in this case. We present some Major EC Concepts
of the drivers and benefits of EC and explain their impact on
the technology. Special attention is provided to the emer- Several other concepts are frequently used in conjunction
gence of the social economy, social networks, and social with EC. The major ones are as follows.
enterprises. Finally, we describe the outline of this book.
Pure Versus Partial EC
1.1 ELECTRONIC COMMERCE: EC can be either pure or partial depending on the nature of
DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS its three major activities: ordering and payments, order ful-
fillment, and delivery to customers. Each activity can be
As early as 2002, the management guru Peter Drucker (2002) done physically or digitally. Thus, there are eight possible
forecasted that e-commerce (EC) would significantly impact combinations as shown in Table 1.1. If all activities are digi-
the way that business is done. And indeed, the world is tal, we have pure EC, if none are digital we have no EC,
embracing EC, which makes Drucker’s prediction a reality. otherwise we have partial EC.
If there is at least one digital dimension, we consider the
situation EC, but only partial EC. For example, purchasing a
Defining Electronic Commerce computer from Dell’s website or a book from Amazon.com is
partial EC, because the merchandise is physically delivered.
Electronic commerce (EC) refers to using the Internet and However, buying an e-book from Amazon.com or a software
other networks (e.g., intranets) to purchase, sell, transport, or product from Buy.com is pure EC, because ordering, process-
trade data, goods, or services. For an overview, see Plunkett ing, and delivery to the buyer are all digital. Note that many
et al. (2015). In addition, watch the video titled “What is companies operate in two or more of the classifications. For
E-Commerce?” at youtube.com/watch?v=3wZw2IRb0Vg. example, Jaguar has a 3D application for self- configuration of
EC is often confused with e-business, which is defined next. cars online, prior to shopping (see Vizard 2013).

Table 1.1 Classifications of e-commerce
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Ordering, payment P D D D D P P P
Order fulfillment P D D P P D P D
Delivery (shipment) P D P P D D D D
Type of EC Non-EC Pure EC Partial EC
P physical, D digital