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Chapter 10 E-commerce: Digital Markets, Digital Goods 407

TABLE 10.2 EIGHT UNIQUE FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY

E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY DIMENSION BUSINESS SIGNIFICANCE
Ubiquity. Internet/Web technology is available The marketplace is extended beyond traditional
everywhere: at work, at home, and elsewhere via boundaries and is removed from a temporal and
desktop and mobile devices. Mobile devices extend geographic location. “Marketspace” anytime, is
service to local areas and merchants. created; shopping can take place anywhere.
Customer convenience is enhanced, and shopping
costs are reduced.

Global reach. The technology reaches across Commerce is enabled across cultural and national
national boundaries, around the earth. boundaries seamlessly and without modification.
The marketspace includes, potentially, billions of
consumers and millions of businesses worldwide.

Universal Standards. There is one set of technology With one set of technical standards across the
standards, namely Internet standards. globe, disparate computer systems can easily
communicate with each other.
Richness. Video, audio, and text messages are Video, audio, and text marketing messages are
possible. integrated into a single marketing message and
consumer experience.

Interactivity. The technology works through Consumers are engaged in a dialog that
interaction with the user. dynamically adjusts the experience to the
individual, and makes the consumer a
co-participant in the process of delivering goods to
the market.
Information Density. The technology reduces Information processing, storage, and
information costs and raises quality. communication costs drop dramatically, whereas
currency, accuracy, and timeliness improve greatly.
Information becomes plentiful, cheap, and more
accurate.
Personalization/Customization. The technology Personalization of marketing messages and
allows personalized messages to be delivered to customization of products and services are based
individuals as well as groups. on individual characteristics.
Social Technology. The technology supports content New Internet social and business models enable
generation and social networking. user content creation and distribution, and support
social networks.

and newspapers, for instance, are primarily local and regional institutions with
limited, but powerful, national networks that can attract a national audience but
not easily cross national boundaries to a global audience.

Universal Standards
One strikingly unusual feature of e-commerce technologies is that the
technical standards of the Internet and, therefore, the technical standards
for conducting e-commerce are universal standards. They are shared by all
nations around the world and enable any computer to link with any other
computer regardless of the technology platform each is using. In contrast,
most traditional commerce technologies differ from one nation to the next.
For instance, television and radio standards differ around the world, as does
cell telephone technology.

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