INTRODUCTION

OF
E-COMMERCE
 MEANING OF E-COMMERCE

Everything you need to know about the E- Commerce. The term electronic

commerce or e-commerce refers to any sort of business transaction that involves

the transfer of information through the internet. By definition it covers a variety

of business activities which use internet as a platform for either information

exchange or monetary transaction or both at times. E-commerce means using

the Internet and the web for business transactions and/or commercial

transactions, which typically involve the exchange of value (e.g., money) across

organizational or individual boundaries in return for products and services. Here

we focus on digitally enabled commercial transactions among organizations and

individuals. Electronic commerce, known as E-Commerce, occurs daily when

sellers and buyers use the internet to conduct business transactions. Technology

makes it possible for anyone to buy or sell practically anything online. E-

commerce means using the Internet and the web for business transactions and/or

commercial transactions, which typically involve the exchange of value (e.g.,

money) across organizational or individual boundaries in return for products

and services. Here we focus on digitally enabled commercial transactions

among organizations and individuals. E-business applications turn into e-

commerce precisely, when an exchange of value occurs. Digitally enabled

transactions include all transactions mediated by digital technology and

platform; that is, transactions that occur over the Internet and the web. Hence, e-
tailing is a subset of e-commerce, which encapsulates all “commerce”

conducted via the Internet. It refers to that part of e-commerce that entails the

sale of product merchandise and does not include sale of services, namely

railway tickets, airlines tickets and job portals.

Question 1
A. LIST AND DESCRIBE DIFFERENT TYPES OF E-COMMERCE

1. B2C – Business to consumer.

B2C businesses sell to their end-user. The B2C model is the most common

business model, so there are many unique approaches under this umbrella.

Anything you buy in an online store as a consumer — think wardrobe,

household supplies, entertainment — is done as part of a B2C transaction. The

decision-making process for a B2C purchase is much shorter than a business-to-

business (B2B) purchase, especially for items that have a lower value. Think

about it: it’s much easier for you to decide on a new pair of tennis shoes than for

your company to vet and purchase a new email service provider or food caterer.

Because of this shorter sales cycle, B2C businesses typically spend less

marketing dollars to make a sale, but also have a lower average order value and

less recurring orders than their B2B counterparts. And B2C doesn’t only include

products, but services as well. B2C innovators have leveraged technology like

mobile apps, native advertising and remarketing to market directly to their

customers and make their lives easier in the process. For example, using an app

like Lawn Guru allows consumers to easily connect with local lawn mowing

services, garden and patio specialists, or snow removal experts. Additionally,

home service businesses can use Housecall Pro’s plumbing software

app to track employee routes, text customers, and process credit card payments

on the go, benefitting both the consumer and business alike.

2. B2B – Business to business.

In a B2B business model, a business sells its product or service to another

business. Sometimes the buyer is the end user, but often the buyer resells to the

consumer. B2B transactions generally have a longer sales cycle, but higher

order value and more recurring purchases. Recent B2B innovators have made a

place for themselves by replacing catalogs and order sheets with ecommerce

storefronts and improved targeting in niche markets. In 2020, close to half

of B2B buyers are millennials — nearly double the amount from 2012. As

younger generations enter the age of making business transactions, B2B selling

in the online space is becoming more important.

3. C2B – Consumer to business.

C2B businesses allow individuals to sell goods and services to companies. In

this ecommerce model, a site might allow customers to post the work they want

to be completed and have businesses bid for the opportunity. Affiliate marketing

services would also be considered C2B. Elance (now Upwork) was an early

innovator in this model by helping businesses hire freelancers. The C2B

ecommerce model’s competitive edge is in pricing for goods and services. This

approach gives consumers the power to name their price or have businesses
directly compete to meet their needs. Recent innovators have creatively used

this model to connect companies to social media influencers to market their

products.

4. C2C – Consumer to consumer.

A C2C business — also called an online marketplace — connects consumers to

exchange goods and services and typically make their money by charging

transaction or listing fees. Online businesses like Craigslist and eBay pioneered

this model in the early days of the internet. C2C businesses benefit from self-

propelled growth by motivated buyers and sellers, but face a key challenge in

quality control and technology maintenance.

5. B2A – Business to administration

This part of e-commerce encompasses all transactions conducted online

between companies and public administration. This is an area that involves a

large amount and a variety of services, particularly in areas such as fiscal, social

security, employment, legal documents and registers, etc. These types of

services have increased considerably in recent years with investments made in

e-government.

6. C2A – Consumer to administration

The Consumer-to-Administration model encompasses all electronic transactions

conducted between individuals and public administration.

Examples of applications include:

 Education – disseminating information, distance learning, etc.

 Social Security – through the distribution of information, making

payments, etc.

 Taxes – filing tax returns, payments, etc.

 Health – appointments, information about illnesses, payment of health

services, etc.

Both models involving Public Administration (B2A and C2A) are strongly

associated to the idea of efficiency and easy usability of the services provided to

citizens by the government, with the support of information and communication

technologies.
B. WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESFUL MARKET

SEGMENTATION

1. Measurable and Obtainable:

The size, profile and other relevant characteristics of the segment must be

measurable and obtainable in terms of data. It has to be possible to determine

the values of the variables used for segmentation with justifiable efforts. This is

important especially for demographic and geographic variables. For an

organisation with direct sales (without intermediaries), the own customer

database could deliver valuable information on buying behaviour (frequency,

volume, product groups, mode of payment etc).

2. Relevant:

The size and profit potential of a market segment have to be large enough to

economically justify separate marketing activities for this segment. If a segment

is small in size then the cost of marketing activities cannot be justified.

3. Accessible:

The segment has to be accessible and servable for the organisation. That means,

the customer segments may be decided considering that they can be accessed

through various target-group specific advertising media such as magazines or

websites the target audience likes to use.

 4. Substantial:

The segments should be substantial to generate required returns. Activities with

small segments will give a biased result or negative results.

5. Valid:

This means the extent to which the base is directly associated with the

differences in needs and wants between the different segments. Given that the

segmentation is essentially concerned with identifying groups with different

needs and wants, it is vital that the segmentation base is meaningful and that

different preferences or needs show clear variations in market behaviour and

response to individually designed marketing mixes.

6. Unique or Distinguishable or Differentiable:

The market segments have to be that diverse that they show different reactions

to different marketing mixes. If not then there would have been no use to break

them up in segments.

7. Appropriate:

The segments must be appropriate to the organisation’s objectives and

resources.
 8. Stable:

The segments must be stable so that its behaviour in the future can be predicted

with a sufficient degree of confidence.

9. Congruous:

The needs and characteristics of each segment must be similar otherwise the

main objective of segmentation will not be served. If within a segment the

behaviour of consumers are different and that they react differently, then a

unique marketing strategy cannot be implemented for everyone. This will call

for a further segmentation.

10.Actionable or Feasible:

It has to be possible to approach each segment with a particular marketing

programme and to draw advantages from that. The segments that a company

wishes to pursue must be actionable in the sense that there should be sufficient

finance, personnel and capability to take them all. Hence, depending upon the

reach of the company, the segments must be selected.

11.Some general considerations:

Apart from the above-mentioned characteristics, the segment must have some

other features:

i. Growth potential
ii. Profitable

iii. Less risk prone

iv. Less competition intensive

Question 2
A. WHAT ARE DISADVANTAGE OF E-COMMERCE

1. Lack of Personal Touch:

Customers lack the facility of touching and feeling products in case of online

shopping. They are sometimes more satisfied by purchasing at physical outlets

by properly checking the product before buying.

2. No Guarantee about Product Quality: 

Customers cannot get ensured regarding the quality of products available

online. They may be cheated by companies and receive faulty products.

3. Security Issues: 

Customers may lose their essential credentials while shopping online. There are

various hackers over the internet which may steal customer’s data and may

cause great loss to them. 

4. Long Delivery Period: 

Another major disadvantage of online shopping is that customers need to wait

for longer time periods for getting their products delivered. In the case of offline

shopping, customers get on-spot delivery of their products.

5. Cannot try before Buying: 

Customers cannot take a trial of products before purchasing when they are

doing online shopping. They don’t have a facility of negotiating the prices and

cannot acquire better information regarding usage and features of the product as

in case of the physical outlet where salesperson interacts directly.

B. DESCRIBE PROCUREMENT

The procurement cycle is the series of actions required to obtain goods or

services from an outside source. The events may include researching vendors,

order requests, budget negotiation, purchases, and audits.

The procurement cycle can require significant time and capital to complete. For

example, if a retailer needs to restock a product, they must first complete

internal procedures like purchasing order requests and invoicing approvals.

Once all of the requests are approved, management handles inventory costs and

warehousing fees with external vendors and storage facilities. Only when all of

these processes are complete can the business finally purchase their inventory.

Understanding the importance of procurement management and properly

implementing its steps can help businesses optimize their profits.

Procurement encompasses a range of activities involved in obtaining goods or

services. What is the purpose of procurement? In general, procurement teams

work to obtain competitively priced supplies that deliver the most value.

However, not all companies define procurement in the same way. Many

companies consider that procurement encompasses all the stages, from

gathering business requirements and sourcing suppliers to tracking the receipt of

goods and updating payment terms, while others define procurement as a

narrower range of activities, such as issuing purchase orders and making

payments.
The 3 P's of Procurement

From order requisition to the final purchase, the procurement method uses

elements called the 3 P's to ensure efficient execution. These three components

include-

1. People

Many people can be involved in the procurement process. Therefore, it is vital

for management to assign a person for every step. Decision-makers such as

human resources, financial advisor, legal department, and operations manager

should also be involved in determining the risk factors. For example, ordering

new computers would require less approval and assistance than renovating a

business's building.

2. Process

The process of ordering goods should include checkpoints at each step for

quality assurance. Stages, including reviewing products, ordering, delivery, and

payment, must be performed accurately and punctually. Any errors in the

process can result in delayed vendor payments, affecting the supplier-distributer

relationship.

3. Paperwork

Although many companies use procurement software to streamline their

processes, paperwork refers to all process documentation. Businesses need to

complete adequate reports and paperwork at each stage for auditing purposes.
C.. DEFINE THE FOLLOWING

I. PRODUCT

Product in marketing mix refers to the good or service produced to serve the

consumers of a company. A product can be tangible in the form of any finished

good or intangible in the form of any service. “The first step in marketing is

the manufacturing of a product”, this statement is debatable in itself as some

may argue about the role of the R&D department of an organization.

Nonetheless, it is true when we only talk about marketing mix. Every product

goes through a certain lifecycle that has three stages: the growth phase, the

maturity phase, and the sales decline phase. Marketers have to take good care of

the fact that a product should not enter the last phase too quickly and even if it

does, immediate action is sought to reinvent the product and stimulate more

demand. It is the quality of a product or service that increases the brand value of

a company. If there is no product there would be no company because we

recognize a company by the services or the products they offer. A product is not

always brand new. As we have mentioned above, when a product reaches the

sales decline phase, it is needed to be reinvented. The R&D department of an

organization goes among the customers to discover the reason behind the

decline in demand for a product. The introduction of technology like Big Data

Analytics has made the research work easy for the R&D department. One thing
that should be brought to your attention is that companies also come up with

new products that have an additional value as compared to the original product. 

II. PLACE

Place in marketing mix refers to the geographical location in which the

company sells its products and provides its services. It is said that location is

one of the most important parts of marketing strategy. Where you sell your

products is important because the location must have your target customers.

There is no sense in selling products to people who are not interested in your

product or service. So, a firm should position and distribute its product in a

place that is easily accessible to its potential buyers/customers. Place does not

always refer to the store location. It also refers to the placing of products inside

a store. Generally, companies like P&G demand their products to be prioritized

in the planogram for a store. This would mean that their products should be

placed in a manner where the products meet the eye-level of the customer

walking inside the store. Nowadays, when everything is shifting towards digital

platforms, it becomes necessary for firms to place them on those digital

platforms and leverage digital marketing. So in some cases, placement may also

refer to the act of including a product on television shows, in films, or on web

pages in order to seek attention for the product.This increased placement of

more and more firms on digital platforms has led to a rise in e-

commerce sector. 

III. PRICE

Price in marketing mix refers to the value we pay in exchange for the product

and services offered by a company. Price is considered a vital element of the

marketing mix because it dictates a company’s survival and profit. Pricing of a

product plays an important role in determining the success of a company.

Several factors like list price, competitor’s price, discount, terms of sales, etc.,

are taken into consideration before deciding on the price of a good or service.

Even a little fluctuation in the price of a product can heavily impact its demand

in the market. This sensitiveness of demand against price change is reckoned as

the Price Elasticity of Demand (PED). The vice-versa also holds true. The price

of a good is also determined after looking at the demand elasticity of the

product. Companies should keep a check on the price of a product because an

overpriced or underpriced product does not attract customers. For example, a

discount on a particular product can sometimes draw more customers but it

might also give an impression of the product being less exclusive. Thus,

marketers have to be careful when and if discounting is appropriate. 

IV. PROMOTION

Promotion in the marketing mix refers to the communication that aims at

promoting a product, activity, or a brand among the target customers; in order

to drive sales, and involves both buyer and seller. However, promotion can also

aim at building the reputation of the organization rather than just increasing

sales. We refer to this type of promotion as public relations. Promotion is an

essential component of the marketing mix because without communicating

about a product, a company can not attract customers. It is also used to

influence customers to buy a product or choose a particular brand. Promotional

activities can involve spreading awareness about a product or the brand or also

an activity. There are different tools that are leveraged for the purpose of

promotion. The seven tools of Integrated Marketing Communication

(IMC) are: 

1. Advertising

2. Public Relations

3. Digital Marketing

4. Direct Selling

5. Personal Selling
 6. Sales Promotion

7. Event Marketing

One or more than one tool of IMC is used at a time to promote a product. For

example, if a company is advertising for a product, it must ensure that the

advertisement is backed by a report in the newspaper that talks about the

product. 
Question 3
A. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF EMAIL MARKETING

The benefits of email marketing include:

 Cost- effective - the costs of email marketing can be much lower than

many other forms of marketing. There are no advertising fees, printing or

media space costs.

 Permission-based - your marketing list will be made up of people who

have actively chosen to receive email communications from you.

Customers who are genuinely interested in your products and/or

services are more likely to engage with your business.

 Flexible design - you can send plain text, graphics or attach files -

whichever suits your message best. A choice of design options gives you

scope to convey your business branding.

 Scalable - email marketing can be used to reach large audiences or

smaller targeted lists.

 Personalisation and segmentation - with email marketing you can

personalise messages. You can also segment your marketing list, so that

your customers receive messages from you that they are interested in -

this will help boost their engagement with you.

 Shareable - it's easy for people to forward and share your email content,

building your reputation by word-of-mouth or viral marketing. This may

help influence new customers to become followers of your brand. 

 Conversions and increased sales - if you have a new promotion people

can click on links and follow your call-to-action immediately. Email

marketing is also effective at every stage of the buying process. For

example, you can influence someone to choose your product, nurture the

customer relationship post-transaction and also encourage future

purchases.

 Measurable - you can evaluate the success of a campaign by using web

analytics software. You can easily test different copy, subject lines and

designs to see which is most effective. This allows you to optimise future

campaigns.

 Benchmark - you can compare your results against others in your

industry. There are many free email marketing benchmarking reports

available - you will find these by searching online. Benchmarking data

can help you to evaluate and prioritise improvement opportunities.

 Test before you send - A/B testing of subject lines, calls-to-action,

personalisation, email copy, images or messages ensure your email

content is as effective as it can be before you send it.

 Less intrusive - unlike telephone marketing, recipients can read your

message at a time that suits them.  Customers can also update their

preferences if they would like to receive different messages from you or

unsubscribe if they feel they no longer want to receive your email

communications.

 Environmentally-friendly - email marketing is better for the

environment than direct marketing by postal mail because nothing is

printed.

 Time-saving - through automation you can trigger emails to be sent to

customers based on an action they have performed on your website - eg.

send a welcome email when a user signs up to your website, or issue an

email offering a discount incentive if user abandons an online shopping

cart. Once you have developed a template you can reuse for numerous

email campaigns.   

 Real-time marketing - through email marketing you can connect with

customers in real-time. Using automated triggers, such as website

activity, recent purchase or shopping cart abandonment, you can reach the

right audience, at the right time, in the right place and with the right

offer. 
B. BRIEFLY EXPLAIN ABOUT E-GOVERNMENT

Electronic government (or e-Government) is the application of Information and

Communication Technologies (ICTs) to government functions and procedures

with the purpose of increasing efficiency, transparency and citizen participation.

This definition demonstrates how e-Government uses ICTs as a support tool in

the development of good governance. The appropriate application of e-

Government allows for higher levels of effectiveness and efficiency in

governmental tasks, improvement of processes and procedures, increases the

quality of public services, also improves the use of information in the decision-

making processes and allows for better communication among different

governmental offices. Municipalities have a unique direct interaction with

citizens. The relationship between municipalities and their citizens is

unavoidable: business registrations, auto registry, real state development or

even the subscription of a child in a school, for instance - all require citizens to

come in contact with the municipality. The e-Government objective is to create

a new dynamic relation between governments and citizens: a cycle that will

become simpler and more participative for citizens. In order to achieve this, it is

not only important for the introduction of technology in the conventional tasks

of the municipality, but also in public sector management, with public citizens

and their needs being the focal point of this innovation. The catalyst of this
public administration renovation are the ITCs. A significant increase in the use

of ICTs over the past few years, has had a great impact on different aspects of

society and economic activities by making everyday procedures easier and more

efficient.
Question 4
A. WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS MUST THE SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT MUST ADDRESS

Supply chain management must address the following problems:

 Distribution Network Configuration: number, location and network

missions of suppliers, production facilities, distribution centers,

warehouses, cross-docks and customers.

 Distribution Strategy: questions of operating control (centralized,

decentralized or shared); delivery scheme, e.g.,direct shipment, pool point

shipping,cross docking, DSD (direct store delivery), closed loop

shipping; mode of transportation, e.g.,motor carrier, including

truckload,LTL,parcel;railroad; intermodal transport, including TOFC

(trailer on flatcar) and COFC (container on flatcar); ocean freight;

airfreight; replenishment strategy (e.g., pull, push or hybrid); and

transportation control (e.g., owner-operated,private carrier,common

carrier, contract carrier, or3PL).

 Trade-Offs in Logistical Activities: The above activities must be well

coordinated in order to achieve the lowest total logistics cost. Trade-offs

may increase the total cost if only one of the activities is optimized. For

example, full truckload (FTL) rates are more economical on a cost per

pallet basis than less than truckload (LTL) shipments. If, however, a full
 truckload of a product is ordered to reduce transportation costs, there will

be an increase in inventory holding costs which may increase total

logistics costs. It is therefore imperative to take a systems approach when

planning logistical activities. These trade-offs are key to developing the

most efficient and effective Logistics and SCM strategy.

 Information: Integration of processes through the supply chain to share

valuable information, including demand signals, forecasts, inventory,

transportation, potential collaboration, etc.

 Inventory Management: Quantity and location of inventory, including

raw materials, work-in-progress (WIP) and finished goods.

 Cash-Flow: Arranging the payment terms and methodologies for

exchanging funds across entities within the supply chain.

Supply chain execution means managing and coordinating the movement of

materials, information and funds across the supply chain. The flow is bi-

directional.
B. AN EFFECTIVE SITE IS ONE THAT CREATES AN ATTRACTIVE
PRESENCE THAT MEETS THE OBJECTIVES OF THE BUSINESS
ORGANIZATION .WHAT ARE THESE OBJECTIVES?

1. Getting and Staying Profitable

Maintaining profitability means making sure that revenue stays ahead of the

costs of doing business. Focus on controlling costs in both production and

operations while maintaining the profit margin on products sold.

2. Productivity of People and Resources

Employee training, equipment maintenance and new equipment purchases all

go into company productivity. Your objective should be to provide all of the

resources your employees need to remain as productive as possible.

3. Excellent Customer Service

Good customer service helps you retain clients and generate repeat revenue.

Keeping your customers happy should be a primary objective of your

organization.
4. Employee Attraction and Retention

Employee turnover costs you money in lost productivity and the costs

associated with recruiting, which include employment advertising and paying

placement agencies. Maintaining a productive and positive employee

environment improves retention.

5. Mission-driven Core Values

Your company mission statement is a description of the core values of your

company. It is a summary of the beliefs your company holds in regard to

customer interaction, responsibility to the community and employee

satisfaction. The company's core values become the objectives necessary to

create a positive corporate culture.

6. Sustainable Growth

Growth is planned based on historical data and future projections. Growth

requires the careful use of company resources such as finances and personnel.
7. Maintaining a Healthy Cash Flow

Even a company with good cash flow needs financing contacts in the event

that capital is needed to expand the organization. Maintaining your ability to

finance operations means that you can prepare for long-term projects and

address short-term needs such as payroll and accounts payable.

8. Dealing with Change 

Change management is the process of preparing your organization for growth

and creating processes that effectively deal with a developing marketplace.

The objective of change management is to create a dynamic organization that

is prepared to meet the challenges of your industry.

9. Reaching the Right Customers

Marketing is more than creating advertising and getting customer input on

product changes. It is understanding consumer buying trends, being able to

anticipate product distribution needs and developing business partnerships that

help your organization to improve market share.

10. Staying Ahead of the Competition

A comprehensive analysis of the activities of the competition should be an

ongoing business objective for your organization. Understanding where your

products rank in the marketplace helps you to better determine how to improve

your standing among consumers and improve your revenue.

C. BRIEFLY EXPLAIN ABOUT CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT IN
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

When parties enter into contracts with each other and they are interacting face

to face, it is easier to avoid mistakes than when they are at a distance and

contracting with each other through the internet as medium. When parties enter

into electronic contracts the whole contract can literally be concluded within

seconds at the click of a button. The traditional paper based contract law has

rules that apply to matters such as jurisdiction, validity, formation of contract,

modifications to contracts. In the world of online trading these are all issues that

arise in online contracts and is a challenge to the traditional concepts of contract

law. Over the past decades, e-commerce has developed from an emerging

industry to a regular part of our daily lives. Most of us purchase goods and

services, post media, perform financial transactions, review proprietary

information, and perform other important activities online on a regular basis.

Fortunately, as electronic transactions have become more common, the law of

digital commerce has developed solutions to some of the new issues raised by

the internet age. Despite the novelty of many electronic transactions, courts and

legal scholars have worked out a relatively straightforward standard for review

of contracts common in software and information technology transactions.

Likewise, state and federal lawmakers have developed statutes setting forth

requirements for validity and authenticity of electronic agreements and

consumer protection agencies have created guidelines for mandatory disclosures

and other best practices for fair dealing. These legal protections create a robust

framework that helps to make sure e-commerce customers and businesses are

protected in their daily activities.

Question 5
A. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE

1. LOW COSTS

Opening a store is expensive. You have to pay rent, furnish the space, get the

equipment you need, and hire employees to work in it. The total dollar cost will

depend on how much space you need and where you want to open your store,

but it will run you at least a few thousand dollars to start and then rent and

ongoing expenses thereafter. Opening a business online, on the other hand, is

much less expensive. If you already have a customer base and want to build out

a custom website, you’ll probably pay a few thousand dollars for the coding and

building of that site. If you’re just starting out, you can look for a “hosted”

solution. That means the website’s e-commerce functions are already built and

you just have to customize your information. Shopify is one popular choice; it

charges anywhere from $30 – $180 per month to host your online store.
 2. FLEXIBILITY AND SPEED

Opening a brick and mortar store takes time. You have to find a space, get

through the commercial leasing process, and get the store set up. That may

involve construction time, or at least the time to decorate and prepare your

space. An e-commerce website, on the other hand, can be up and running in just

a few days if you use a hosted solution. A custom-built website, of course, will

take longer. On an e-commerce site, you can change your product offerings,

display, and marketing materials almost instantly. In a brick-and-mortar store,

you’ll have to physically move things around and it just takes longer. An e-

commerce site is extremely flexible and lets you adapt to the changes needs of

your customers and the changing demands of the business environment. Finally,

an e-commerce business is flexible for you. As the owner, you can work from

anywhere with an Internet connection. You may not even need to have office

space; you can work from home!

 3. DATA

In 2016, data is king. All of the websites we use every day collect tons of data

about us to learn how we surf the web, what sorts of sites we visit, and what

kinds of things we purchase. If you’re running an e-commerce site, you’ll be

able to collect data on how long your customers stay on your site, what they

look at, and how they go about making purchases. That gives you direct insight

into what’s making them click “Buy” or what’s stopping them. You can use that

information to improve the shopping experience and improve the likelihood that

your site’s visitors will turn into customers. It’s much harder to get that

information in a brick-and-mortar store. There’s no record of what every single

customer looked at or how long they spent with a particular product before

buying it.
B. GUIDELINES THAT WEB DESIGNERS CAN FOLLOW WHEN
CREATING A WEB SITE

1. Immediate Page Loading

Visitors never wait with patience for a website to load. If your website is slow

and takes a long time to open then it can’t be considered as an ideal website.

Therefore, design your website by using quick loading rates. High conversion

rate is another benefit of designing a fast loading website.

2. Mobile- Friendly

In the world of smartphones, ensure that you create a mobile-friendly website.

Designing a responsive website that loads perfectly on any mobile is the best

way to win the user response.

3. Responsive designs

Responsive design is the contrast of programming and device which is difficult

to add after a specific website is designed. It is mainly a part of a redesign. That

is why it is a compact, not a Company standard. Responsive design has been

regularly changed over the years.

4. Analyze conversion rate

A successful website is successful which creates by analyzing the business

goals. Therefore, it is recommended to develop a website to determine the goals

of the business. It will help to know about the number of visitors, user

engagement track, conversion rate, etc.

5. SEO- Friendly

Web designers ensure that the website is SEO friendly. It means to develop your

website keeping in mind the On-page SEO elements. Also, modify your website

with SEO techniques. They can use XML sitemap and schema for SEO-friendly

website. It helps to rank your website on top of Google’s result engine page.

6. Content Management System

To provide strong digital marketing energy to your website, publish the unique

and attractive content at your website so that customers get attracted. This will

help the customer to be updated.

7. Social Media Integration

Social media sites are integrated with your website. This will help visitors to

look on social media pages directly from the website. It helps in attracting

traffic and engaging visitors. Custom web development software helps to

integrate your social media accounts with a website.

8. Provide on-site Security

Online security is a must. Web designers need to be considered while

developing a website. The designs should provide important security checks.

Using significant safety and privacy etiquette, they can able to provide safety to

the website from hackers.

9. Search feature

A website must have a search feature. Many marketing sites don’t have a search

feature. It appears globally on the page as an icon or search box. Search feature

should be on the header of the page.

10. Impressive home page

The home page of your website has a specific value proposition. It should be

impressive and attractive. The home page with high-value proposition means

that your website explains their value to the viewers.

So these are top web design and development guidelines for 2019 that should be

kept in mind while designing website. Creating a simple, user-friendly and

secure website are the keys to business success. The guidelines will surely

attract visitors.
C. LIST THE PRINCIPLE FOR HANDLING CUSTOMER DATA

Customer data management is the process of acquiring, organizing, and using

customer data to better understand customers and ultimately increase

conversions and retention. Customer data management encompasses the

tools businesses use to collect and analyze customer data, the ethical

framework of acquiring customer data, and the security measures involved

with storing and accessing this data. When talking about customer data

management, we’re usually referring to first-party data, meaning data

collected by your company and used by your company. This can be anything

from data about how website visitors browse your website to transaction data

about what visitors have purchased. Any software that stores customer data is

involved in management, which is where it gets difficult and messy. You might

have three different tools used by three different departments all collecting

the same customer information in slightly different ways. Organizing all of that

data in a way that makes it useful for your entire company is the ultimate goal

of customer data management.

Principle 1: Have a data governance strategy

Data governance is the first principle of good customer data management

because data governance will help you identify what data you will collect and

how it will be collected. Data governance will also keep all employees on the

same page about your plan for customer data management.

Every data governance strategy will have three parts:

Alignment: This step standardizes customer data collection across your

company. Validation: During validation, you’ll confirm that all data is being

collected properly. Enforcement: This ensures that any changes to data

collection will go through the proper channels so that all collected data is useful

and collected in the correct way.

The end result of your data governance strategy will be a tracking plan, or data

dictionary, that clearly explains every piece of data that you’re collecting, who

is using it, what it’s being used for, and who owns it. Typeform is one company

that benefited from implementing a data governance strategy. Prior to doing

this, they didn’t even realize how messy their data was. When someone on the

marketing or analytics team tried to put their data to use in analytics tools, they

often found too many events monitoring the same things. That made it unclear

which data was accurate and which data wasn’t. Typeform also found that they

had multiple events for different data points but with the same event name. That
 made it impossible to figure out why that data was being collected in the first

place. Once they implemented a data governance strategy, they were able

to clear up all of this confusion. Typeform now has standardized data that

could be put to good use.

Principle 2: Focus only on critical data

You need to make sure you’re only collecting data for your customer database

that’s actually useful to your company. Collecting unnecessary data leads to

your customer data platform (CDP) becoming overloaded. Unnecessary data

can also lead to you collecting data that makes your customers uncomfortable.

Audit every piece of data you collect and ask yourself these questions:

 Who needs this data?

 What does it do? What’s the use case for this data?

 If we didn't collect it, could we still operate in the same way?

If you don’t know the answers to those questions, that doesn’t mean toss that

data point out. Ask around. Maybe there’s a reason for it. For example, let’s say

you’re collecting data about the company revenue of your website visitors.

Seems like that could be a good data point, right? But, when you ask the four
questions we mentioned above, you find out that the data doesn’t address any

business needs, no one is using it, and not collecting it won’t change a thing. In

that case, get rid of it. Collecting unnecessary data can land your company in

hot water. That recently happened to a publicly traded company. The company

was collecting data about its customers, even when the customers had finished

using the company’s service. The FTC filed a complaint against the company,

and as a result, they were faced with negative press and forced to reverse their

decision.

Principle 3: Avoid data silos

Data silos happen when data is being collected by different departments in the

same company, and they’re not sharing that data with each other. This usually

isn’t intentional. It comes from a lack of a data governance or data

orchestration strategy (and the fact that there are thousands of data analytics

tools and data sources). Customer support, product, and dev teams all working

with different tools, resources, and datasets is a recipe for confusion. Say you’re

trying to understand how people feel about your product, but your team is

completely siloed by department. The tool your social media team uses to

respond to customers doesn’t share data with the customer service team or the

product success team. Both customer service and product success would love to

know what feedback they’re getting on social media, but it doesn’t happen
because of data silos. One of the data points your website analytics team

monitors is cart abandonment. That’s a number the development team would

like to know, so they can take steps to reduce cart abandonment if necessary.

Unfortunately, because of another data silo, the development team doesn’t have

that information. These types of problems can happen across all departments.

Finance might accidentally be holding back useful data from the sales team. The

sales team might use a customer relationship platform (CRM) that has data that

the marketing team needs. You can see how data silos can become a huge

problem. Data works best when it's shared across departments because that can

promote collaboration and problem-solving across the company. Data

collaboration allows marketers to get a complete view of the customer journey

and the various touchpoints in it. With a Customer Data Platform (CDP) you

can use this data to create a single customer view that consolidates your data

into unified customer profiles. It allows the product management team to

develop products that better align with customer expectations. It allows you to

create personalized marketing campaigns targeted to specific stages of the

customer journey. It can even help the analytics team get a more accurate view

of customer acquisition costs and lifetime value. Data shared across

departments also leads to a better customer experience. You may have

experienced a data silo when talking to a customer service representative at a

company. If the customer service rep is asking you questions about things they

should already know, there’s a good chance that the company isn’t sharing data
across departments. When that’s the case, it gets worse if you’re transferred to

another department and have to repeat the process all over again.

Principle 4: Data security is essential

Data security has a simple definition — “the protection of data from

unauthorized access, use, change, disclosure, and destruction,” but it’s a very

complex topic. It’s one of the most important parts of customer data

management. No matter what type of data you’re collecting from your

individual customers, they want to know that their information is safe. Not only

will a data breach give your company a lot of negative press, but it can also be

very costly to your company. In the United States, the average data breach costs

companies $7,910,000. If you’re using a customer data platform to manage your

customers’ data, you might not have much say in that platform’s data security

standards. That’s why it’s crucial to make sure the platform you’re using

operates with an ISO 27001-based security program. That security program

means that the customer data platform is constantly reviewing, refining, and

improving its security practices.

Principle 5: Have a Data accuracy process

The accuracy of your data can be affected when you collect it, but it can also be

affected months or years down the road because data can change over time —

this is known as data decay. Data inaccuracy at the point of collection can

happen when a company doesn’t have a defined data governance strategy. For

example, even a simple data point such as dates can cause data inaccuracy. Are

you collecting dates in the MM/DD/YYYY format or are you using

DD/MM/YYYY? Data inaccuracy can also happen if data collection events

aren’t set up properly. To solve this problem, use automatic data validation.

This automation will test your tracking code to make sure it’s working properly.

Over time, data can become inaccurate through data decay. This happens when

there are changes in email addresses, phone numbers, physical locations, and

more. For example, that email address you collected from the Chief Information

Officer at Company X might be wrong now if that person left the company.

Clearing up data decay can be as simple as dumping data from prospects and

customers who haven’t engaged with your company in a certain number of

months or years.

Principle 6: Comply with data regulations

As data privacy becomes more important to the public, you’re going to see more

governments enacting laws similar to the General Data Protection Regulation

 (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). These laws have

already changed the way companies collect and store their customers’ data. It’s

now crucial to get consent to collect data about your website visitors. This is

why many company websites now have banners asking for your permission to

use your data. Another important piece of both the GDPR and the CCPA is that

they require companies that collect data about their users to give those users

access to their own data. Users need to be able to not only see what data you’ve

collected from them (such as demographic or behavioral data) but also request

that you delete that data. The process of deleting customer data can become

difficult when you’re using multiple tools to collect data on your users. A single

user’s data could be stored on 10 different tools. A good customer data platform

will make GDPR & CCPA compliance much easier by allowing you to delete

user data from all of your tools at once. Even if your company doesn’t have a

physical presence in Europe, it can still be subject to GDPR if you’re collecting

data on website visitors from the European Union. You have two options when

an EU visitor accesses your website:

 Completely block people from the EU from accessing your website

 Use consent management on your website

There’s a chance that the United States will create a law similar to the GDPR,

so it’s a good idea to get ahead of this now so that you’re not scrambling to

update your website when it happens.

Question 6
A. COMPARE INTERNET DEVELOPMENT VS OUTSOURCING IN

DEVELOPING E-COMMERCE BASED WEB SITE

What is website development?

A website is basically a publicly accessible estrade that is devoted to any

specific purpose, service, or product. It usually contains all types of multimedia

files including texts, videos, pictures, etc. A website can also contain

‘hyperlinks’ that connect it with other websites. A website can fulfill many

purposes like personal, governmental, e-commercial, and organizational.

These websites usually consist of a number of interlinked pages and have a

specific domain name such as www.Amazon.com or www.Flipkart.in etc. These

pages contain information about any product or service. A lot of manpower

(group or organization) is needed to maintain these websites. Any website

which is publicly accessible comprises World Wide Web (WWW).

Now in the 21st century, most customers have access to the internet. And they

usually rely on the product depending on the website and customer service of

the organization. If an organization uses only conventional marketing

techniques like ads on newspapers, pamphlets, visiting cards, etc. there is a

chance to lose their potential customers. This is because customers are more

comfortable visiting their website and get information.

These websites can be accessed from any device, any location, and at any time

worldwide. This increases your marketing strategies, targeted customer base,

 and popularity of the organization. Thus, website development is important for

both established and uprising companies.

What are the process and benefits of Web development?

To create a website, you have to follow these steps,

1. You have set a unique domain name for your

organization like organisationname.com. You will be able to set that name only

if a similar domain name not present on the web. To verify your website name

is available or not, just go to google search and enter your website name. If it

redirects straight to registration then the name is available for you.

2. By choosing a specific organizational email you have to create your

domain. Then you have to select a host for your domain. This will work as a

store and will allow the visitors.

3. Then you have to design the pages of your website. For design purposes,

you can hire a webpage designer.

4. After the designing part, you have to decide what will the website say to

its customers? It can say about the business, about the product about the source

of the business, and how it can help your customers. In this stage, you have to

think about the images, the text, and other multimedia files that can be added. A

better website is user-friendly, easy to find all options, and informative.

5. Some of the options that you have to add to your domain are,

 Home- Homepage contains few lines about the organization. And also,

categories of product you are selling, unique one-liner, and why the visitor

should choose your organization.

 Services- On this page you can specify the types of service you can

provide the customers and also the locations.

 About Us- Here you have to mention the source of the organization, how

its started, background and aim.

 Contact us- Here you can specify the contact phone number, official

email address, and the location of the organization. You can also provide the

social media handles of the organization like Facebook, Instagram, and

Twitter. You can also give the google map link of your company’s location.

6. After all these steps you have to decide on a logo for your company

which should be unique. This logo will define your company and people will

recognize your company by it. So, choose a web development service

provider very carefully.

Maintaining these few steps, you will be able to create a fully functioning

website for your business.

Some of the benefits of website development are,

 Customers will get 24x7 access to your company products.

 Includes a larger spectrum of visitors

 Better advertising at low cost.

 Regular updates can be given on products.

 Easy to keep track of the visitors.

 Emails and SMS make communication with customers easier.

 The uniqueness of the website leads to more visitors and more leads.

 Record on the transactions from both organization’s and the customer’s

end.

 Survey on activities and people of the organization becomes easy.

How to create an effective website?

A better-looking, easy to browse website gain customers easily. With a better-

quality website and customer service, a company can rise within a very short

time. So here are some tips to create a better and effective website,

 Keep your website as simple as possible as the people like the website

with precise information. Instead of writing long paragraphs use only

informative points to know the product. Avoid too many decorations and keep

space between the writings. If possible, use pictures to visualize your points.

Don’t keep the language very hard use simple words.

 Use attractive button signs so that the customers don’t think much before

pressing them. This also leading the visitors to buy the products.

 Make your website open as quickly as possible. Usually, people start to

look for other websites if your website takes more time than usual. As a

result, choose your host wisely to get a better browsing speed.

 Try to keep your website simple and user-friendly. Visitors should easily

find every option regarding the product. Visitors should find the description,

and price of the product easily. Customers should not feel frustrated and exit

your website.53.

You also have to take care of your employee’s health insurance, paid sick

leaves, and holidays. Moreover, after creating the website you have to keep

them on a continuous payroll. As the employees are not only developers, they

are human beings and have a family to feed. As a result, they search for a

permanent job.

 Advantages of the In-house Development process- After hiring the

crew they will be in your hands. You can control these IT professionals to

create a website specific to you in each and every aspect.

You can expect better productivity, as all the crew members will focus on your

product and business. All members will have a common goal i.e., to create a

better java web application development. You will get full transparency on the
 progress of the project and even the major or minor setbacks. Moreover,

delivery dates headache will be less as you can have daily updates on the

progress.

 Risk of In-house Web Development process-Hiring IT professionals

itself is a risky process. You will not know the evolving skillset of the person

will fit your requirements or not. Although skills of the professional play a

vital role in the web development field. It takes more manpower to maintain a

website than to create it. Nowadays, it takes a combined skill set and the

resources of many IT professionals to succeed in an uprising company. Here

are some resources which are mandatory for rising company’s,

 Project Manager

 Font-end (maintain webpages) and Back-end (maintain servers)

developers

 iOS and Android (as you have to get access on both platforms)

 Data Scientist

 Business Analyst (helps to build the business)

 ASO expert (App Store Optimizer)

 App Marketing expert (it can be done by ASO also)

Also, you have to keep track of the PayScale of the rival companies. While

evolving your IT professional through various training and works, your rival
 company can ask to work with them in a better package. In that scenario again

hiring a worthwhile professional can put your whole progress on hold.

What is In-house Web Development?

In-house web development is the process where a company itself hires a group

of people or employees. They were hired for creating and maintenance of the

company’s website. Choosing an In-house web development process usually

governs by 3 factors such as,

 Cost of In-house development process- The cost of hiring an in-house

web development team is itself a costly process. The work cannot be done by

a single person so you have to heir a group of people. A better IT professional

can charge a good amount of money every year.

What is Out-sourcing Web Development?

Out-sourcing web development is a process where a company hires another IT

company who will create and maintain the website. These IT companies have a

group of well-trained IT professionals who will work on your projects. Out-

sourcing we development also governed by 3 factors such as,

 Cost of the out-sourcing development project- Trusting an unknown IT

company and signing a contract with them, itself is an intimidating process.

 Though the amount paid is less than the in-house web development process,

still it is huge. There is always a risk of getting a bad product in spite of your

huge investment. There are many It companies who will promise you big

during the contract but give you less satisfying results.

A well-reputed firm can cost you more but they will make sure to deliver the

best result available on the market. This is because these companies hire the top

IT professionals who have a better skillset and knowledge of the product.

 Advantages of Out-sourcing web development-The most advantage of

outsourcing web development to an IT company is you can save both time

and money in hiring individuals. A good IT firm provides you IT

professionals with a better skill set. You don’t have to think about hiring

different individuals for each and every work as they will have everything.

You just have to pay the company and let them worry about the heavy lifting

and risk of the project.

A better IT firm will be able to deliver the project timely and with minimal risk.

This is because they will first ensure your requirements then assume the risk.

After calculating the risks, they will place the perfect individual who handles

your project without a hitch. Although you will not get the full transparency on

the project progress. They will update you on time and ensure your

requirements were met before the launch of the product.

 Turnover of employees in this Java application development is also considered

a risk. But if you outsourcing your project to an IT company it is less likely to

worry about. This is because no matter what, they will work until your

requirements for the project were met.

 Risk on Out-sourcing web development process- Giving your project

to a right Firm is very necessary to avoid some risk such as;

 Business can go out of order.

 They can do scams after taking your money.

 They may not be able to deliver the right product.

 Can ask more money for finishing the project.

 Whether they can provide you proper portfolio

 Timely updates on the progress may or may not be provided.

 Satisfactory results may not be given by the hired company.

 Delay in schedule may happen.

 Can help to build the same project for a rival company.

 Can delay the work to charge more

All these possible risks that you have to take while out-sourcing the web

development process.
 Pros and Cons of In-house Web Development and Out-sourcing Web

Development

The advantages and disadvantages of these 2 processes depend on the type of

project, investments, and also time. The pros and cons of this development can

be divided into 4 key categories such as;

 Communication

Communication is one of the key factors as it can increase efficiency among the

employees. English being the formal and 2nd language helps the Indians to break

the language barrier while communicating.

While using the in-house web development process you will gain full

transparency of the project. As you are the boss you can get daily updates on the

progress of the project as well as setbacks. Total visibility will be there and you

can specify requirements in each and every part.

In the out-sourcing web development process, a better java development

service providing an IT company will update you during the project duration.

But you will receive the update through electronic mediums like skype and

emails.

Overseas out-sourcing can be helpful as nowadays time zone difference does

not matter. Due to the evolution of technology, anyone can work from anywhere

and at any time.

 Skill Set
 A group of well evolved IT professionals is needed to survive and succeed in

this digital era. You will need people for not only creating the project but for

executing, launching, maintenance and marketing.

So, in the In-house web development process, you have to hire individuals for

all the possible works. Moreover, you have to hire people for recruitment and

manage them, plus also people for marketing. This is because you are not

making an app but a business.

Also, out-sourcing these work to a well-established and reputed IT company can

provide you all these perks. You don’t have to take any headache for hiring,

managing, and marketing. But it comes with its own risks such as delay in time,

getting unsatisfied results, and spending over budget. So, to avoid those risks

choose a well reputed IT company.

 Cost

In both, the process you have to spend a huge amount on your project.

In this category outsourcing, development is very cost-effective if you calculate

the quality to cost ratio. Moreover, you will be free from all the hassle of hiring

and managing IT professionals.

On the other hand, the in-house, web development process is very costly. As

you have to hire people individually for all the departments. Plus, you have to

take care of their insurance, paid sick leaves, and holidays. You also have to
arrange office space, equipment’s and facilities which is also money consuming

matter

After spending so much on the in-house process there is a possibility that your

product will not succeed. Whereas in the out-sourcing IT company already have

desired professional and can deliver you in the given time at less cost.

This is also a key aspect for both the process. As it can affect the progress of the

project and also the time deadline.

During the in-house web development process, there is a risk that includes IT

professional change ships. This means if an evolving IT professional from your

projects gets a better salary package from your rival company. If he or she takes

the offer, it can put your on-going project on a long hold. This is because again

finding a person who will fit the job profile is very time-consuming. Resulting

delay in the launch of the product.

Whereas out-sourcing to a custom software development company you don’t

have to think of this kind of risk. A well-reputed company will never delay the

launch schedule. If any problem occurs in the company, they will do their best

to resolve the problem. And put more man-hours to finish it within time.

Though out-sourcing a project can have a lot of uncertainties you don’t have to

worry about employee growth and turnover.

A. LIST AND EXPLAIN THE TYPES OF PAYMENT CARDS USED IN E-

COMMERCE

E-commerce sites use electronic payment, where electronic payment refers to

paperless monetary transactions. Electronic payment has revolutionized the

business processing by reducing the paperwork, transaction costs, and labor

cost. Being user friendly and less time-consuming than manual processing, it

helps business organization to expand its market reach/expansion. Listed below

are some of the modes of electronic payments −

 Credit Card

 Debit Card

 Smart Card

 E-Money

 Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)

Credit Card

Payment using credit card is one of most common mode of electronic payment.

Credit card is small plastic card with a unique number attached with an

account. It has also a magnetic strip embedded in it which is used to read credit

card via card readers. When a customer purchases a product via credit card,

credit card issuer bank pays on behalf of the customer and customer has a

certain time period after which he/she can pay the credit card bill. It is usually

credit card monthly payment cycle. Following are the actors in the credit card

system.

 The card holder − Customer

 The merchant − seller of product who can accept credit card payments.

 The card issuer bank − card holder's bank

 The acquirer bank − the merchant's bank

 The card brand − for example , visa or Mastercard.

Debit Card

Debit card, like credit card, is a small plastic card with a unique number

mapped with the bank account number. It is required to have a bank account

before getting a debit card from the bank. The major difference between a debit

card and a credit card is that in case of payment through debit card, the amount

gets deducted from the card's bank account immediately and there should be
sufficient balance in the bank account for the transaction to get completed;

whereas in case of a credit card transaction, there is no such compulsion.

Debit cards free the customer to carry cash and cheques. Even merchants

accept a debit card readily. Having a restriction on the amount that can be

withdrawn in a day using a debit card helps the customer to keep a check on

his/her spending.

Smart Card

Smart card is again similar to a credit card or a debit card in appearance, but it

has a small microprocessor chip embedded in it. It has the capacity to store a

customer’s work-related and/or personal information. Smart cards are also used

to store money and the amount gets deducted after every transaction.

Smart cards can only be accessed using a PIN that every customer is assigned

with. Smart cards are secure, as they store information in encrypted format and

are less expensive/provides faster processing. Mondex and Visa Cash cards are

examples of smart cards.

E-Money

E-Money transactions refer to situation where payment is done over the

network and the amount gets transferred from one financial body to another

financial body without any involvement of a middleman. E-money transactions

are faster, convenient, and saves a lot of time.

Online payments done via credit cards, debit cards, or smart cards are examples

of emoney transactions. Another popular example is e-cash. In case of e-cash,

both customer and merchant have to sign up with the bank or company issuing

e-cash.

Electronic Fund Transfer

It is a very popular electronic payment method to transfer money from one

bank account to another bank account. Accounts can be in the same bank or

different banks. Fund transfer can be done using ATM (Automated Teller

Machine) or using a computer.

Nowadays, internet-based EFT is getting popular. In this case, a customer uses

the website provided by the bank, logs in to the bank's website and registers

another bank account. He/she then places a request to transfer certain amount

to that account. Customer's bank transfers the amount to other account if it is in

the same bank, otherwise the transfer request is forwarded to an ACH

(Automated Clearing House) to transfer the amount to other account and the

amount is deducted from the customer's account. Once the amount is

transferred to other account, the customer is notified of the fund transfer by the

bank.
Question 7
A. LIST THE GENERAL AREA STAFFING NEEDED FOR E-COMMERCE

1. FACEBOOK

Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered

users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in

touch with friends, family and colleagues. The site, which is available in 37

different languages, includes public features such as:

 Marketplace - allows members to post, read and respond to classified ads.

 Groups - allows members who have common interests to find each other

and interact.

 Events  - allows members to publicize an event, invite guests and track

who plans to attend.

 Pages - allows members to create and promote a public page built around

a specific topic.

 Presence technology - allows members to see which contacts are online

and chat.
Within each member's personal profile, there are several key networking

components. The most popular is arguably the Wall, which is essentially a

virtual bulletin board. Messages left on a member's Wall can be text, video or

photos. Another popular component is the virtual Photo Album. Photos can be

uploaded from the desktop or directly from a smartphone camera. There is no

limitation on quantity, but Facebook staff will remove inappropriate or

copyrighted images.  An interactive album feature allows the member's contacts

(who are called generically called "friends") to comment on each other's photos

and identify (tag) people in the photos. Another popular profile component is

status updates, a microblogging feature that allows members to broadcast short

Twitter-like announcements to their friends. All interactions are published in a

news feed, which is distributed in real-time to the member's friends. Facebook

offers a range of privacy options to its members.  A member can make all his

communications visible to everyone, he can block specific connections or he

can keep all his communications private. Members can choose whether or not to

be searchable, decide which parts of their profile are public, decide what not to

put in their news feed and determine exactly who can see their posts. For those

members who wish to use Facebook to communicate privately, there is a

message feature, which closely resembles email. In May 2007, Facebook

opened up its developers' platform to allow third-party developers to build

applications and widgets that, once approved, could be distributed through the

Facebook community. In May 2008, Facebook engineers announced Facebook

Connect, a cross-site initiative that allows users to publish interactions on third-

party partner sites in their Facebook news feed. 

2. AMAZON

Amazon is a massive online retailer that has a market capitalization as of June

2018 that is in excess of $268 billion U.S. As well as being an online retailer,

Amazon allows for individuals and business to sell and display products for sale

on line. It is the largest internet retailer in the world by revenue, with 2017

revenues of more than $177 billion. Amazon is one of the most popular online

marketplaces used by both individual as well as businesses, and the site is

available in many different countries and languages. Amazon Kindle is one of

its most popular products as well as the Amazon app store. Lastly, Amazon

offers software and infrastructure solutions for business and individuals.

Amazon was begun in 1994 in Seattle Washington by Jeff Bezos, and was

initially little more than an online bookstore. From those humble beginnings,

Amazon has become the largest online ecommerce retailer, and one of the most

powerful brands in the world. Not only has it expanded its offerings of goods

and services, but it also participates in the streaming video marketplace, the

cloud computing marketplace, and most recently Amazon has entered into
banking. Not only is Amazon the most valuable internet retailer in the world, it

is the most valuable retailer period, having surpassed Wal-Mart back in 2015. It

is also the fourth most valuable company in the world, topped only by Alphabet,

Apple and Microsoft. It has often taken a low profit margin approach to new

product offerings to capture market share, and this strategy has worked

amazingly for Amazon as they have come to dominate many of the markets in

which they participate. Amazon has storefront website for over a dozen

different countries, and ships to nearly every country in the world. It also hosts

the retail websites of brands such as Sears Canada, Marks & Spencer, Lacoste

and others. It also owns over 40 subsidiary brands such as Zappos, Diapers.com,

Goodreads, IMDb, and many more.

3. SHOPEE

Launched in 2015, it is a platform tailored for the region, providing customers

with an easy, secure and fast online shopping experience through strong

payment and fulfillment support. We believe online shopping should be

accessible, easy and enjoyable. This is the vision Shopee aspires to deliver on

the platform, every single day.

4. UNIFI

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) is a Malaysian telecommunications company

founded in 1984. Beginning as the national telecommunications company for

fixed line, radio and television broadcasting services, it has evolved to become

the country's largest provider of broadband services, data, fixed-line, pay

television and network services.[4] TM ventured into the Long Term Evolution

(LTE) space with the launch of TMgo, its first 4G offering. TM's

850 MHz service was rebranded as unifi Mobile in January 2018. With a total

of 2.23 million broadband subscribers in 2014,[5] unifi is Malaysia's first high-

speed fibre optic broadband service.[6] Given the rate at which Malaysians are

adopting digital technology, TM represents one of the largest government-

linked companies in the country, with more than 28,000 employees and a

market capitalisation of more than RM25 billion.

B. BRIEFLY DESCRIBE WHAT IS ELECTRONIC WALLET

Definition:

E-wallet is a type of electronic card which is used for transactions made online

through a computer or a smartphone. Its utility is same as a credit or debit card.

An E-wallet needs to be linked with the individual’s bank account to make

payments. E-wallet is a type of pre-paid account in which a user can store

his/her money for any future online transaction. An E-wallet is protected with a

password. With the help of an E-wallet, one can make payments for groceries,

online purchases, and flight tickets, among others. E-wallet has mainly two

components, software and information. The software component stores personal

information and provides security and encryption of the data. The information

component is a database of details provided by the user which includes their

name, shipping address, payment method, amount to be paid, credit or debit

card details, etc. For setting up an E-wallet account, the user needs to install the

software on his/her device, and enter the relevant information required. After

shopping online, the E-wallet automatically fills in the user’s information on the

payment form. To activate the E-wallet, the user needs to enter his password.
Once the online payment is made, the consumer is not required to fill the order

form on any other website as the information gets stored in the database and is

updated automatically.

Examples of Digital Wallets

 1. PayPal One Touch™

The PayPal One Touch™ app is an extension of the usual services offered

by PayPal. It enables users to make payments or transfer funds faster by

allowing them to skip the login screen and eliminate the need to enter

passwords. PayPal’s mobile wallet app can also be operated on a desktop,

laptop, or tablet.

 2. Apple Pay

The Apple Pay digital app is streamlined and available exclusively for users of

iPhones, iPads, and Apple watches. It allows users to make transactions for both

online and in-store purchases. For in-store transactions, users can unlock their

phones and hold them near a compatible point of sale system. The Apple Pay

app enables a seamless and secure way of payments, providing ease of

experience.

 3. Google Pay

The Google Pay app enables users to make transactions on an app or any

website using debit or credit card details saved to the users’ Google Account,

Google Play, Chrome, YouTube, Android phones, and watches. The app also

supports other electronic documents such as student ID, movie tickets, gift

coupons, store cards, and transportation tickets.

C. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGE OF ELECTRONIC CASH

Advantages

You can dispute a transaction

If you make a mistake when using EFT, you have the right to ask your bank to

investigate the issue.

Although it may take some time, you have the security of knowing that you

won’t lose money over any transaction.

It is fast

Sometimes when you transfer money traditionally, it may take some time for

you to access the money. However, with electronic money transfer, you can

access it within 1-2 business days, or even the same day.

If you transfer money overseas, it will take 3-4 business days for the recipient to

access the money.

Cheaper and safe

Traditional money transfer is more expensive because of the bank fees charged.

It also eliminates any chances of you losing your money through fraud.

You don’t have to use a credit or debit card

If you want to pay for something, you can do it directly from your phone or pay

using an electronic check conversion.

You can organize automatic payments

If you have monthly subscriptions, it can be easy for you to forget to pay for

them every month. Electronic money transfer allows the business person to bill

money directly from your account without you doing anything.

They don’t need a hold on your funds

You do not have to wait for any money to clear before claiming or using your

money.

Convenience

You do not have to walk to the bank to transfer money overseas or domestically

because you can do it anywhere, anytime.

Disadvantages

You must have the money immediately

To transfer money electronically or pay for something, you need to have the

money with you, unlike when you use a credit card.

You don’t get a canceled check

After making payments using electronic money transfer, you do not get a

canceled check from the bank, so you have to look at your statements to ensure

it was the right transaction.

SUMMARY
CONCLUSION OF E-COMMERCE

 E-commerce still represents one of the business methods that take advantage if

done the right way, even if the stock market and commodities fell, but E-

Commerce still able to survive and receive high transaction. E-commerce has a

tremendous opportunity in the course of or business in Malaysia. In addition, it

is also to introducing new techniques and styles in a transaction. Use the

extensive E-Commerce in the Internet world is actually much better to bring the

goodness of the individual or the state.

    E-Commerce has undeniably become an important part of our society. The

successful companies of the future will be those that take E-Commerce

seriously, dedicating sufficient resources to its development. E-Commerce is

not an IT issue but a whole business undertaking. Companies that use it as a

reason for completely re-designing their business processes are likely to reap

the greatest benefits. Moreover, E-Commerce is a helpful technology that gives

the consumer access to business and companies all over the world.

DURING PANDEMIC COVID-19 

We’re told to expect the unexpected. But none of us expected Covid-19.

Pandemic-era life unfolded before our eyes. From personal relationships to

business frameworks, we’ve been forced to rethink, reset and readjust. And the

world of business was not spared. With malls closed, businesses boarded up and

everyone at home, shutdowns have forced small businesses and big commerce

alike to do business differently. Our world was already moving online. And in

my experience, it was those forward-thinking businesses with online provisions

already in place that rode out the initial waves of pandemic uncertainty with the

greatest success. Why? Because, as time has proven, the pandemic has actually

been good for one type of business in particular: e-commerce. The pandemic

has been a tough time for everyone, but there’s no reason why your business

can’t succeed during these unprecedented times. And I believe the magic

ingredient can be found online. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, e-

commerce has experienced rapid growth. With the right business idea and

marketing strategy, making it in e-commerce could be very profitable indeed.