Ecommerce Raihan’s Suggestion Solution

1. Define E-commerce, M-commerce & L-commerce.

Ans: E-commerce (Electronic commerce) is a type of business model, or segment of a larger
Business model that enables a firm or individual to conduct business over an electronic network,
typically internet. Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major segments: business to
business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business. Almost any
product or service can be offered via ecommerce, from books and music to financial services and
plane tickets.

M-commerce (Mobile commerce) or mcommerce, includes any monetary transaction completed

using a mobile device.
It is an advancement of ecommerce, enabling people to buy and sell goods or services from almost
anywhere, simply using a mobile phone or tablet device.
But mobile commerce is more than just a simple evolution of ecommerce.
It has also served as a trigger for new industries and services, or helped existing ones grow,
including:
*Mobile money transfers.
*Electronic tickets and boarding passes.
*Digital content purchases and delivery.
*Mobile banking.
*Contactless payments and in-app payments.
*Location-based services.
*Mobile marketing, coupons, and loyalty cards.

There are disadvantages to many forms of doing business, but this should never be viewed as a
significant hindrance.

The advantages usually outnumber the disadvantages, and there are ways to overcome many of the
pitfalls, especially when you know what some of them are.

L-commerce refers to location commerce which is a service used by mobile users to locate any
information on the Map. Through L-commerce, users can access LBS i.e location-based services.
There are basically two types of L-commerce are as follows: push-based L-commerce in which a
user requests for the location-based information and pull-based L-commerce in which the network
itself sends the location-based services to the user.
L-commerce helps the users to locate and track their physical devices on the network.

2. What is E-business? Differentiate between E-commerce and E-business.

Or, How does e-commerce differ from e-business?
Ans: Electronic business (e-business) refers to the use of the Web, Internet, intranets, extranets
or some combination thereof to conduct business. E-business is similar to e-commerce, but it goes
beyond the simple buying and selling of products and services online. E-business includes a much
wider range of business processes, such as supply chain management, electronic order processing
and customer relationship management. E-business processes, therefore, can help companies to
operate more effectively and efficiently.

E-Commerce and E-Business are distinguished below:

E-Commerce E-Business

E-commerce involves commercial E-Business is conduct of business processes on the

transactions done over the internet. internet.

E Commerce is a subject of E Business. E business is the superset of e-commerce.

E-commerce is used as an electronic E-Business also includes the exchange of

transmission medium that caters for information directly related to buying and selling
buying and selling of products and of products.
services.

Thus, those activities which essentially E-Business includes activities like procurement of
involve monetary transactions are termed raw materials or goods, customer education,
as “e-commerce”. looking for suppliers etc.

E-Commerce usually requires the use of E-BUsiness involves the use of CRM’s, ERP’s that
just a website. connect different business processes.

E-Commerce covers outward facing E-Business can involve the use of the internet,
processes that touch customers, suppliers intranet or extranet.
and external

E-Commerce is a narrower concept and E-Business is a border concept that involves

restricted to buying and selling. market, surveying, supply chain and logistics
management and using Data mining.

It is more appropriate in B2C context. It is used in the context of B2B transactions.

E-Commerce involves the mandatory use E-Business can involve the use of the internet.
of the internet.

Example- Buying pen drive from Example-Using of Internet by Dell,Amazon for

Amazon.com is considered e-commerce. maintaining business processes like online
customer support, email marketing, supply chain
management.
3. What are the different categories of e-commerce? Exemplify each category.
Ans: Different categories of e-commerce are given below:

1.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.

2. 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.
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 e commerce 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.

OR,
E-commerce business models can generally be categorized into the following categories.
 Business - to - Business (B2B)
 Business - to - Consumer (B2C)
 Consumer - to - Consumer (C2C)
 Consumer - to - Business (C2B)
 Business - to - Government (B2G)
 Government - to - Business (G2B)
 Government - to - Citizen (G2C)
Business - to – Business: A website following the B2B business model sells its products to an
intermediate buyer who then sells the product to the final customer. As an example, a wholesaler
places an order from a company's website and after receiving the consignment, sells the end
product to the final customer who comes to buy the product at one of its retail outlets.

Business - to – Consumer: A website following the B2C business model sells its products directly
to a customer. A customer can view the products shown on the website. The customer can choose
a product and order the same. The website will then send a notification to the business organization
via email and the organization will dispatch the product/goods to the customer.

Consumer - to – Consumer: A website following the C2C business model helps consumers to
sell their assets like residential property, cars, motorcycles, etc., or rent a room by publishing their
information on the website. Website may or may not charge the consumer for its services. Another
consumer may opt to buy the product of the first customer by viewing the post/advertisement on
the website.
Consumer - to – Business: In this model, a consumer approaches a website showing multiple
business organizations for a particular service. The consumer places an estimate of amount he/she
wants to spend for a particular service. For example, the comparison of interest rates of personal
loan/car loan provided by various banks via websites. A business organization who fulfills the
consumer's requirement within the specified budget, approaches the customer and provides its
services.

Business - to – Government: B2G model is a variant of B2B model. Such websites are used by
governments to trade and exchange information with various business organizations. Such
websites are accredited by the government and provide a medium to businesses to submit
application forms to the government.

Government - to – Business: Governments use B2G model websites to approach business

organizations. Such websites support auctions, tenders, and application submission functionalities.
Government - to – Citizen: Governments use G2C model websites to approach citizen in general.
Such websites support auctions of vehicles, machinery, or any other material. Such website also
provides services like registration for birth, marriage or death certificates. The main objective of
G2C websites is to reduce the average time for fulfilling citizen’s requests for various government
services.

4. Differentiate between traditional commerce & E-commerce.

Ans:

Traditional Commerce E-commerce

1 Heavy dependency on information Information sharing is made easy via electronic

exchange over person to person. communication channels making little dependency
on person to person information exchange.

2 Communication transactions are done Communication or transaction can be done in

in a synchronous way. Manual asynchronous way. Electronics systems
intervention is required for each automatically handle when to pass communication
communication or transaction. to a required person or do the transaction.

3 It is difficult to establish and maintain A uniform strategy can be easily established and
standard practices in traditional maintained in e-commerce.
commerce.

4 Communication of business depends In the e-commerce or electronic market, there is no

upon individual skills. human intervention.

5 Unavailability of a uniform platform E-commerce websites provide users a platform

as traditional commerce heavily where all information is available at one place.
depends on personal communication.
 6 No uniform platform for information E-commerce provides a universal platform to
sharing as it depends on personal support commercial/business activities across the
communication. globe.

5. Describe the process that is part of the electronic life-cycle.

Or, With diagram describe the cycle of E-commerce.
Or, Describe the five processes that are the part of the new electronic commerce
life cycle.
Ans: The process of electronic commerce life cycle:
There are five process of electronic commerce life cycle as follows:
 Startup: Companies in this stage are in survival mode. It can be a great way to save
money and limit IT requirements. After all, with little to no internal IT budget, letting
someone else look after the software side of our business can get your product to market
quickly and give our business important stability in these first few years.
 Expansion: As a business starts to experience significant growth, a major piece of the
puzzle becomes scalability. Scalability is whether business processes can continue as-is
when growth occurs or do bottlenecks and resource issues increase operating expenses at
the same rate. A focus on scalability means investing in the business's overall commerce
architecture, the ecosystem of software components that are used to operate the business.
This includes the ecommerce platform, CMS’s ERP’s, CRM's, OMS's, PIM's, marketing
suites, analytics and reporting, etc.

 Establish: An established business has proven itself in terms of being able to survive in a
competitive marketplace, but that competition doesn’t go away as a business evolves.
Companies need to innovate further to remain competitive. As long as a company is
running efficiently, there should be capital available for strategic technology investments.
What that investment is could be internal operational tools or external tools for
influencing the target market.

 Business maturity: Mature ecommerce businesses don’t stop refining their operations, but
this process has slowed significantly. At this stage, the business’s commerce architecture
and operational efficiency are always considered in business decisions. However, just
because a business has reached this stage and is a smooth-running (hopefully) operation,
new tools and better methods are always on the horizon. It’s important to stay on top of
our technology and technology suppliers in order to remain competitive in the
marketplace.
Renewed growth: Many business owners think that the solution to the issue of plateauing growth
is a quick fix or a swift change of direction, which can be an ecommerce platform move or, perhaps,
the recruitment of a new ecommerce manager. This is not necessarily thinking strategically. A re-
plat forming project might indeed be the answer – perhaps to a more advanced or modern e-
commerce platform. We need to make a clear business case before deciding to migrate platforms.

6. Mention the benefits of e-commerce marketing.

Ans:
Benefits of e-commerce marketing:
- E-commerce marketing enables fast and secure shopping.
- It is making digitalized world.
- E-commerce marketing also enables to choose different goods and services according to
your choice.
- It is a simple way of selling and buying products and services.
- E-commerce marketing replaced the paper work as all transactions are through internet
today.
- It provides better management system, as it has a centralized database.
- E-commerce marketing via internet covers a large number of customers worldwide.
- Customers Get a Less Invasive Experience.
- It gains Access to Customer Data Easily

7. What do you understand by the term “Clicks and bricks” in e-commerce?

Ans: Bricks and clicks is a term for a business model by which a company integrates both offline
and online presences sometimes with the third extra flips. Additionally many will also offer
telephone ordering and mobile phone apps or at least provide telephone sales support.

In this procedure when a chain of stores allows the customer to order products either online or
physically in one of their stores also allowing them to either pick-up-their order directly at a local
branch of the get it delivered to their home. There are many alternative combinations of this model.
The success of the model in many sectors has lessened the credibility of some analysts who argued
that the internet would render traditional retailers absolute through.

8. What are ad clicks? Mention the use of them?

Ans: Ad clicks: An ad click is a click on a banner ad or button. The ad acts as a link to a website
or landing page.
Uses of ad:
 - The ad server sorts placed ads, publisher websites and clicks that have been generated by
an ad.
- Cookies or canvas fingerprints are often used to assign an ad click to an actual visitor of a
website
- Affect the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

9. What is an electronic payment system? What are the benefits and types of
electronic payment system?
Ans: E-payment system is a way of making transactions or paying for goods and services through
an electronic medium without the use of check or cash. It's also called an electronic payment
system or online payment system. Read on to learn more.

The electronic payment system has grown increasingly over the last decades due to the widely
spread of internet-based banking and shopping. As the world advances more on technology
development, a lot of electronic payment systems and payment processing devices have been
developed to increase, improve and provide secure e-payment transactions while decreasing the
percentage of check and cash transactions.

Benefits of electronic payment systems:

Time savings: Money transfer between virtual accounts usually takes a few minutes, while a wire
transfer or a postal one may take several days. Also, we will not waste our time waiting in lines at
a bank or post office.
Expenses control: Even if someone is eager to bring his disbursements under control, it Is
necessary to be patient enough to write down all the petty expenses, which often takes a large part
of the total amount of disbursements. The virtual account contains the history of all transactions
indicating the store and the amount we spent. And we can check it is important in this anytime we
want. This advantage of electronic payment system is pretty important in this case.

Reduced risk of loss and theft: We cannot forget our virtual wallet somewhere and it cannot be
taken away by robbers. Although in cyberspace there are many scammers, in one of the previous
articles we described in detail how to make our e-currency account secure.

Low commissions: If we pay for an internet service provider or a mobile account replenishment
through the UPT (unattended payment terminal), we will encounter high fees. As for the electronic
payment system: a fee of this kind of operation consists of 1% of the total amount, and this is a
considerable advantage.

User-friendly: Usually every service is designed to reach the widest possible audience, so it has
the intuitively understandable user interface. In addition, there is always the opportunity to submit
a question to a support team, which often works 24/7. Anyway we can always get an answer using
the forums on the subject.
Convenience: All the transfers can be performed at anytime, anywhere. It's enough to have access
to the Internet.

10. Write down the requirements for the e-payments system.

Ans: 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 organizations 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 a credit card is one of the most common modes of electronic payment. Credit card
is a small plastic card with a unique number attached to an account. It also has a magnetic strip
embedded in it which is used to read credit cards via card readers. When a customer purchases a
product via credit card, the credit card issuer bank pays on behalf of the customer and the customer
has a certain time period after which he/she can pay the credit card bill. It is usually a credit card
monthly payment cycle. Following are the actors in the credit card system.
 The card holder − Customer
 The merchant − seller of a 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 a 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 situations 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 e money
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 a certain amount to that account. Customer's bank transfers the
amount to another 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 another account and the amount
is deducted from the customer's account. Once the amount is transferred to another account, the
customer is notified of the fund transfer by the bank.

11. With diagram briefly describes the Credit Card processing system. Or,
briefly discuss the process that is involved in handling credit cards.
Ans: Credit card processing can be reduced to one of six steps. For the most part, each of these
steps is involved with transferring a cardholder's payment information and authorization from one
party to another. The primary job of the credit card processing cycle is to determine whether a
purchase has the necessary funds to be completed. Transactions with an EMV chip credit card take
on average 15 seconds to complete.

Consumer: The first step in credit card processing happens on the consumer level, when a
cardholder swipes, dips their card, or hands over their payment information to the merchant.

Merchant: Next, the merchant accepts and collects the payment information. This can be done in
one of two ways. The payment can be accepted physically in so-called card present transactions.
This usually happens at a storefront, with some credit card reader. The merchant step can also
happen online for card not present transactions. Instead of a card reader, merchants use an online
gateway to collect the payment from their customer.

Processor: The credit card processor collects that information and is responsible for routing that
data across to the other stages, and facilitating communications between various parties, Initially,
however, their primary role is, to send the payment information to the card network.

Card Networks: Your customer's card will operate one of the major credit card networks the most
common ones are Visa and MasterCard. Once the networks receive the payment information from
the processor, they pass it to your customer's bank.
Consumer Bank: The cardholder's bank then receives the payment request and they verify
whether the cardholder has the appropriate funds or credit to complete the purchase. The bank may
also run through additional security measures to verify whether they purchase is legitimate, and
not fraudulent. Once they establish that the customer has the funds needed and that the purchase
is not fraudulent, they send a message back through the networks and through the credit card
processor, allowing the transaction to go through. Common reasons why the cardholder bank
denies a transaction include; insufficient funds in the account, a credit limit has been reached, or
the bank suspects the purchase is being made by a non-authorized user.

Back to The Merchant: Lastly, the message that the payment has been requested or denied flows
back through the same channels it did to get to the cardholder's bank. When the transaction is
handled in-person; this usually corresponds with a message on the card reader like "Approved" or
"Declined". Assuming a transaction is cleared, the merchant is expected to provide the customer
with whatever goods or services were promised in return for the payment.

12. What is cryptography? Describe the components of cryptography with

block diagrams.
Ans: Cryptography is the art and science of making a cryptosystem that is capable of providing
information security.
Cryptography deals with the actual securing of digital data. It refers to the design of mechanisms
based on mathematical algorithms that provide fundamental information security services. You
can think of cryptography as the establishment of a large toolkit containing different techniques
in security applications.
A cryptosystem is an implementation of cryptographic techniques and their accompanying
infrastructure to provide information security services. A cryptosystem is also referred to as a
cipher system.
Let us discuss a simple model of a cryptosystem that provides confidentiality to the information
being transmitted. This basic model is depicted in the illustration below −
The illustration shows a sender who wants to transfer some sensitive data to a receiver in such a
way that any party intercepting or eavesdropping on the communication channel cannot extract
the data.
The objective of this simple cryptosystem is that at the end of the process, only the sender and the
receiver will know the plaintext.

Components of a Cryptosystem

The various components of a basic cryptosystem are as follows −

· Plaintext. It is the data to be protected during transmission.
· Encryption Algorithm. It is a mathematical process that produces a ciphertext for
any given plaintext and encryption key. It is a cryptographic algorithm that takes plaintext
and an encryption key as input and produces a ciphertext.
· Ciphertext. It is the scrambled version of the plaintext produced by the encryption
algorithm using a specific the encryption key. The ciphertext is not guarded. It flows on
public channel. It can be intercepted or compromised by anyone who has access to the
communication channel.
· Decryption Algorithm, It is a mathematical process, that produces a unique plaintext
for any given ciphertext and decryption key. It is a cryptographic algorithm that takes a
ciphertext and a decryption key as input, and outputs a plaintext. The decryption algorithm
essentially reverses the encryption algorithm and is thus closely related to it.
· Encryption Key. It is a value that is known to the sender. The sender inputs the
encryption key into the encryption algorithm along with the plaintext in order to compute
the ciphertext.
· Decryption Key. It is a value that is known to the receiver. The decryption key is
related to the encryption key, but is not always identical to it. The receiver inputs the
decryption key into the decryption algorithm along with the ciphertext in order to compute
the plaintext.
For a given cryptosystem, a collection of all possible decryption keys is called a key space.
An interceptor (an attacker) is an unauthorized entity who attempts to determine the plaintext. He
can see the ciphertext and may know the decryption algorithm. He, however, must never know the
decryption key.

13. How does public key cryptography solve the drawback of private key
cryptography?
Ans: Cryptography or cryptology is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication
in the presence of third parties called adversaries. More generally, cryptography is about
constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private
messages, various aspects in information security such as data confidentiality, data integrity,
authentication, and non-repudiation are central to modern cryptography.

Public key cryptography solves the drawback of private key: The problems of key distribution
are solved by public key cryptography, the concept of which was introduced by Whitfield Diffie
and Martin Hellman in 1975. Public key cryptography is an asymmetric scheme that uses a pair of
keys for encryption: a public key, which encrypts data, and a corresponding private, or secret key
for decryption. You publish your public key to the world while keeping your private key secret.
Anyone with a copy of your public key can then encrypt information that only you can read. Even
people you have never met. It is computationally infeasible to deduce the private key from the
public key. Anyone who has a public key can encrypt information but cannot decrypt it. Only the
person who has the corresponding private key can decrypt the information.

The primary benefit of public key cryptography is that it allows people who have no preexisting
security arrangement to exchange messages securely. The need for sender and receiver to share
secret keys via some secure channel is eliminated; all communications involve only public keys,
and no private key is ever transmitted or shared. Some examples of public key cryptosystems are
RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and DSA, the Digital Signature Algorithm.

14. What is public key cryptography? Explain its advantages and

disadvantages.
Ans: Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is an encryption scheme that uses two
mathematically related, but not identical, keys - a public key and a private key. Unlike symmetric
key algorithms that rely on one key to both encrypt and decrypt, each key performs a unique
function. The public key is used to encrypt and the private key is used to decrypt.
It is computationally infeasible to compute the private key based on the public key. Because of
this, public keys can be freely shared, allowing users an easy and convenient method for encrypting
content and verifying digital signatures, and private keys can be kept secret, ensuring only the
owners of the private keys can decrypt content and create digital signatures.
The advantages of public key cryptography are:
 No need to exchange the keys
 Another key cannot be derived from one key
 The confidentiality of the message can be ensured by using the public key
cryptography
 It is possible to establish authentication of the sender by using public key
cryptography (digital signature)
 It is possible to ensure the confidentiality and authentication of the message at the
same time
 It is possible to use public key cryptography for session key exchange

The Disadvantages of public key cryptography are:

 Slow due to the enormous amount of computation involved.
 Keys must be long (at least 1024 bits these days).
 There is no proof that any public key scheme is secure.
 It has not been around long enough to be tested as much.

15. What is digital signature? Name some attributes who issue digital
certificates. What are the contents of a digital certificate?
Ans: Digital signature: A digital signature is a mathematical technique used to validate the
authenticity and integrity of a message, software or digital document.
Some authorities who issues digital certificate:
 Trusted third party: digital certificate is issued by a trusted third party which proves
sender’s identity to the receiver and receiver’s identity to the sender.
 Certificate authority (CA): issued by a certificate authority to verify the identity of the
certificate holder. The CA issues an encrypted digital certificate containing the
applicant’s public key and a variety of other identification information.
Digital certificate contains:
- Name of certificate holder
- Serial number which is used to uniquely identity a certificate, the individual or the entity
identified by the certificate.
- Expiration dates.
- Copy of certificate holder’s public key.
- Digital signature of the certificate issuing authority.
16. Explain different security protocols used for e-commerce applications.
Ans: Security Protocols in Internet
We will discuss here some of the popular protocols used over the internet to ensure secure online
transactions.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

It is the most commonly used protocol and is widely used across the industry. It meets following
security requirements −
 Authentication
 Encryption
 Integrity
 Non-reputability

"https://" is to be used for HTTP urls with SSL, whereas "http:/" is to be used for HTTP urls
without SSL.

Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (S-HTTPS)

S-HTTP extends the HTTP internet protocol with public key encryption, authentication, and
digital signature over the internet. Secure HTTP supports multiple security mechanisms,
providing security to the end-users. S-HTTP works by negotiating encryption scheme types used
between the client and the server.

Secure Electronic Transaction

It is a secure protocol developed by MasterCard and Visa in collaboration. Theoretically, it is the
best security protocol. It has the following components −
· Card Holder's Digital Wallet Software − Digital Wallet allows the card holder to
make secure purchases online via point and click interface.
· Merchant Software − This software helps merchants to communicate with potential
customers and financial institutions in a secure manner.
· Payment Gateway Server Software − Payment gateway provides automatic and
standard payment process. It supports the process for merchant's certificate request.
· Certificate Authority Software − This software is used by financial institutions to issue
digital certificates to card holders and merchants, and to enable them to register their account
agreements for secure electronic commerce.

17. Describe how SET protocol helps transactions in E-commerce.

Ans: Secure Electronic Transaction or SET is a system which ensures security and integrity of
electronic transactions done using credit cards in a scenario. SET is not some system that enables
payment but it is a security protocol applied on those payments. It uses different encryption and
hashing techniques to secure payments over internet done through credit cards. SET protocol was
supported in development by major organizations like Visa, Mastercard, Microsoft which provided
its Secure Transaction Technology (STT) and Net-Scape which provided technology of Secure
Socket Layer (SSL).
SET protocol restricts revealing of credit card details to merchants thus keeping hackers and
thieves at bay. SET protocol includes Certification Authorities for making use of standard Digital
Certificates like X.509 Certificate.
Before discussing SET further, let’s see a general scenario of electronic transaction, which includes
client, payment gateway, client financial institution, merchant and merchant financial institution.

18. Explain on SSL has an E-commerce system to be secure.

Ans: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology is the industry standard method for protecting web
communications developed by Netscape Communications Corporation. The SSL security protocol
provides data encryption, server authentication, message integrity, and optional client
authentication for a TCP/IP connection. Because SSL is built into all major browsers and web
servers, simply installing a digital certificate turns on their SSL capabilities. Installing Digital
Certificates on your web servers and implementing an online payment system are the two essential
components for a secure infrastructure. Digital certificates for Web servers provide authentication,
data integrity and privacy through encryption. Also, implementing a secure online payment system
will allow your e-commerce website to process payments online. However, this paper is not focus
on the payment system.

19. Why is non-repudiation? How can it be achieved in designing an e-cash

based system? Give a suitable algorithm.
Ans: Non-repudiation is the assurance that someone cannot deny the validity of something. Non-
repudiation is a legal concept that is widely used in information security and refers to a service,
which provides proof of the origin of data and the integrity of the data. In other words, non-
repudiation makes it very difficult to successfully deny who/where a message came from as well
as the authenticity and integrity of that message.
Digital signatures (combined with other measures) can offer non-repudiation when it comes to
online transactions, where it is crucial to ensure that a party to a contract or a communication can't
deny the authenticity of their signature on a document or sending the communication in the first
place. In this context, non-repudiation refers to the ability to ensure that a party to a contract or a
communication must accept the authenticity of their signature on a document or the sending of a
message.
E-cash is fundamentally an online solution. The buyer should validate the coins by the issuer so as
to get the purchase completed. The coins used within the system comprise the value of the coin,
the serial number which is unique for each coin and identity strings connecting the coin to the user
withdrawing this. Conversely, neither the issuer nor the merchant can infer the identity of the
customer by examining the coins when the coin is used only once.
The user of the e-cash system should have an account into a bank which is a certified eCash minter.
The secret splitting and blind signature techniques are used, which makes sure that the coins are
anonymous till used twice. The appropriate algorithm is RSA and DES.

20. What is EDI? Compare the services offered by Internet access

providers and VAN for handling EDI.
Ans: EDI: EDI stands for Electronic Data Exchange. EDI is an electronic way of transferring
business documents in an organization internally between its various departments or extremely
with suppliers, customers or any subsidiaries etc. In, EDI, paper documents are replaced with
electronic documents like word documents, spreadsheets etc.

An EDI VAN (Value Added Network) offers a B2B (business to business) network of electronic
communications, a network which includes an array of ‘value added’ services, as well as facilitated
communication protocols that otherwise would not be available when going through the Internet
or regular phone lines.
Using and EDI VAN allows for seamless and automated communication channels between trading
partners, while offering multiple formats for EDI translation. This, in turn, results in a proficient
and effective supply chain management. Most importantly, EDI VANs (Value Added Networks)
are not industry-centric; they work across all industries, in which case scalability is fundamental!
Let’s move on to examine some of the key advantages and benefits to using an EDI VAN (Value
Added Network) as the preferred mode of electronic business communication!
·

Data Integrity- EDI VANs typically audit both incoming, as well as outgoing data, to detect

errors. There are checks and balances in place and, in some cases, EDI VANs (Value Added

Networks) may provide corrections and adjustments services to enable successful transmissions

and receipt of data.

Improved B2B (business to business) exchanges– VANs (Value Added Networks) allow for the

use of multiple protocols to send data and for each trading partner to employ the data format best

suited for their organization.

Speedy business communication– the exchange of documents through a VAN (Value Added

Network) is significantly faster than other means of data transfer as data is exchanged directly

from one business software to another. Manual processing is typically eliminated which therefore

significantly reduces the risks associated with errors and consequent time delays.

Secure and reliable communication channels– VANs (Value Added Networks) are highly

secure and meet government and HIPAA security standards.

Unrestricted accessibility– with a 24/7 accessibility of the VAN (Value Added Network), the

exchange of data is secure to anywhere in the world, with no time constraints or disruption to your

daily business operations.

Simpler EDI compliance– EDI testing and compliance are required by most retailers, to be met

and complied with by their supply chain vendor community. Furthermore, retailers often require

to do so through the use of an EDI VAN (Value Added Network), their preferred EDI method of

communication. Consequently, going through a VAN (Value Added Network) will facilitate and

simplify, to some degree, the EDI

Visibility tools– A handful of VAN (Value Added Network) providers, such as EDI Gateway Inc,
offer a monitoring web tool and corresponding reports to allow you to track the data you exchange
and with your trading partners and its delivery status. Such ‘value add’, multi –user visibility tools
have unrestricted and unlimited accessibility- from anywhere, at any time.

21. What is digital cash? Depict the procedure of paying for an item with digital
cash.
Ans: Now, more and more people are using debit cards as a mode of payment. A reason for this is
the convenience and speed of payment that it offers. Similar in look to a credit card, a debit card
differs in that it is linked directly to a fund source such as a savings or a checking account. When
the debit card is used, the payment is automatically deducted from the fund.
 I. Activate the debit card with the bank where we obtained it from: Upon receipt of the
debit card from our bank, make sure to activate it to make it ready for use. This can
normally be done by contacting the number of the bank‘s assistance center listed on the
back of the debit card.
II. Make sure that we have enough cash in the account linked to the debit card to fund for
our purchases: Whereas we can use a credit card to make purchases even if we do not have
enough funds in our account at the moment, For a debit card, we can typically only make
as much purchases as the amount of funds we have in our account. In some cases, we can
make purchases higher than the amount left in our account, but these would result in
overdraw fees. Check that the fund in our account is not below the amount that we intend
to spend, in order to maximize the use of the debit card.
III. Know the PIN number of our debit card: A debit card would usually come with a four
digit PIN (personal identification number), which you can change to another number that
you can easily remember. Make sure that you have memorized our PIN, and that we do not
disclose it to anyone.
IV. Hand our debit card to the cashier of the store where we are making a purchase: The
cashier will swipe the debit card through the card reading machine. The card reader will
then present an option whether to pay through debit or credit. Even if we are using a debit
card, we can still opt to pay through a credit method. Debit: Verify that the amount of
purchase entered in the card reader is correct. The card reader will then prompt you to enter
your PIN. If you choose the debit option, we can normally opt for cash back as well. Instead
of having to go to the ATM to get extra cash, cash back allows us to obtain the cash along
with our purchase. The cash will be deducted from our account as well. Credit: Verify that
the amount of purchase entered in the card reader is correct. Instead of having to input a
PIN, we will be asked to sign the receipt, but the purchase amount will still be automatically
deducted from our account.
V. Check that our transaction has been approved: A notice will be sent in the card reader
indicating if our transaction has been approved. If it has not been approved, it is likely that
we do not have sufficient funds in our account to make the purchase.
VI. Keep track of the purchases that we make with our debit card: It is always a good idea
to log the expenses we pay with our debit card, to keep our spending patterns in check.
Even if we would not incur debts as we might have with a credit card, forgetting to keep
track of our debit card purchases might lead us to spend more than what we intended to,
and leave us with less funds than we expected in our account.

22. What is Supply Chain Management? What are the characteristics of Supply
Chain Management in an e-commerce environment?
Ans: Supply chain management (CSM) is the oversight of materials, information and finances as
they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply
chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among
companies.
E-commerce impacts supply chain management in a variety of key ways. These include:
Cost efficiency: E-commerce allows transportation companies of all sizes to exchange cargo
documents electronically over the Internet. E-commerce enables shippers, freight forwarders and
trucking firms to streamline document handling without the monetary and time investment
required by the traditional document delivery systems.
Changes in the distribution system: E-commerce will give businesses more flexibility in
managing the increasingly complex movement of products and information between businesses,
their suppliers and customers.
Customer orientation: E-commerce is a vital link in the support of logistics and transportation
services for both internal and external customers.
Shipment tracking: E-commerce will also establish an account and obtain real-time information
about cargo shipments. They may also create and submit bills of lading, place a cargo order and
carry out many other functions.
Shipping notice: E-commerce can help automate the receiving process by electronically
transmitting a packing list ahead of the shipment. It also allows companies to record the relevant
details.
Shipping Documentation and Labeling: There will be less need for manual intervention because
standard bills of lading, shipping and carrier manifests will be automatically produced.
Online Shipping Inquiry: This gives instant shipping information access to anyone in the
company, from any location.

23. What is e-brokerage? How do electronic brokerage facilities search and

retrieval of information?
Ans: An e-brokerage is a brokerage house that allows you to buy and sell stocks and obtain
investment information from its Web site. Some e-brokerages are provided by traditional and well-
established &”offline” brokerage houses and a few are exclusively online only.

E Brokerage facilitates search and retrieval of Information:

The success aspect of a brokerage is its capability to retain existing clients and to raise their
satisfaction from effective coordination and enactment of CRM (Customer relationship
management) activities.
CRM stands for Customer relationship management is the strategy for optimizing the lifetime
value of customers.
This allows companies to gather and access information regarding customers' buying histories,
preferences, complaints, and other data than they can better anticipate what customers need.

24. Describe a generic framework for electronic commerce with suitable

diagrams.
Ans: Generic Framework for electronic commerce comprises the Applications of EC (as like
banking, shopping within online stores and malls, finding a job, conducting an auction, buying
stocks and collaborating electronically upon research and development projects).To implement
these application, it is essential to have Supporting Information and Organization Infrastructure
and System, which contains.
 Common Business services Infrastructure (security smart cards/authentication.
electronic payment, directories/catalogs)
 Messaging and Information Distribution infrastructure (EDI, e-mail, Hypertext
Transfer Protocol).
  Multimedia content and network publishing infrastructure (HTML, java, World
Wide Web, VRAM)

25. Describe the requirements of traditional financial transaction systems.

Ans:

26. Describe ethical, social and political and social issues associated with e-
commerce.
Ans: The ethical, social, and political issues raised in e-commerce, provide a framework for
organizing the issues, and make recommendations for managers who are given the responsibility
of operating e-commerce companies within commonly accepted standards of appropriateness.
Understanding Ethical, Social, And Political Issues in E-Commerce Internet and its use in e-
commerce have raised pervasive ethical, social and political issues on a scale unprecedented for
computer technology.
The major ethical, social, and political issues that have developed around e commerce over the
past seven to eight years can be loosely categorized into four major dimensions: information rights,
property rights, governance, and public safety and welfare. Some of the ethical, social, and political
issues raised in each of these areas include the following:

· Information rights: What rights to their own personal information do individuals

have in a public marketplace, or in their private homes, when Internet technology makes
 information collection so pervasive and efficient? What rights do individuals have to
access information about business firms and other organizations?
· Property rights: How can traditional intellectual property rights be enforced in an
internet world where perfect copies of protected works can be made and easily
distributed worldwide in seconds?
· Governance: Should the Internet and e-commerce be subject to public laws? And if
so, what law-making bodies have jurisdiction - state, federal, and/or international?
· Public safety and welfare: What efforts should be undertaken to ensure equitable access to the
Internet and ecommerce channels? Should governments be responsible for ensuring that schools
and colleges have access to the Internet? Is certain online content and activities - such as
pornography and gambling - a threat to public safety and welfare? Should mobile commerce be
allowed from moving vehicles?

27. Write down the legal issue associated with e-commerce.

Ans:
 E-contracts: Electronic contracts are governed by the basic principles which
mandates that a valid contract should have been entered.
 Data Protection: Security of the information provided during the online transaction
is a major concern. Interface with payment gateways is yet another challenge in
online transactions.
 Intellectual Property Rights ("IPR"): There are enormous possibilities of trade mark,
copyright or patent infringements in online mediums. E-commerce websites are
designed and made by other parties and often the content is also created.
 Efficient delivery system: It is important to always keep consumer protection issues
in consideration in e-commerce.
  Advertising: Advertising is an important and legitimate means for a seller to awaken
interest in his products.
Competition: E-commerce has already generated a lot of competition with ever increasing
players and acquisition of several old players in the market.

28. In Bangladesh which marketing strategy would produce better results:

Social marketing or traditional online marketing? Verify your answer.
Ans: Despite ongoing changes in the web, traditional online marketing is still an important part of
a successful online strategy, and should not be neglected. Classic banner advertising still draws
the attention of many potential customers. Even intelligent email marketing offers opportunities if
implemented properly. Offline marketing can also be effectively linked to online marketing in
order to significantly increase traffic.

Classic banner advertising in affiliate marketing continues to generate significant traffic and
should be taken advantage of. We have a network of competent and reliable partners to optimally
position your appearance. So-called "retargeting" sends banners with new offers to customers,
adjusted to their online purchases, to generate customer loyalty.

Moreover, an intelligent mailing strategy can be used to make customers specifically aware of
online offerings. It is important that the offering also provides the customer with real value.

Clever ideas using a combination of offline and online marketing at POS can be used to generate
traffic to websites, which makes sense where brand loyalty already exists.

29. Explain the difference steps involved in the development of an e-commerce

website.
Ans: Different steps involved in the development of an e-commerce web site:

Buying the domain name: Every ecommerce website needs a platform and a catchier name that
is easy to remember. Do a little research and consider buying a good platform name that is efficient
and catchy at the same time. For example, “Amazon” has a right name which is easy to remember
and at the same time sounds catchy too.

Selecting the right platform: The next step to consider is the selection of the right platform that
will be used. We can build an e-Commerce website and shopping cart from scratch. However, this
will involve a long development time. The best alternative is to select an already existing platform
that is reliable. For instance, there are Shopify, Amazon Web store and Volusia.

Customization of design: We can effectively use and customize the themes that are readily
available in these platforms. This is the most important process in e-Commerce website
development as we can customize our website according to our likes and dislikes. The important
aspect includes having a nice theme color, catchy logo, categories to the products, good landing
page and nice images of the items.
Search engine optimization: Now that our site is well designed and developed, the other
important aspect is search engine optimization (SEO). As an online business owner, we want to
make a good amount of savings in terms of online marketing and this can be achieved via SEO.
With SEO, our website will achieve good visibility and many people can easily find you through
search engines. Thus, investing in good SEO will help you in the long run. The key aspects of SEO
include quality descriptions to the items, well linked and optimized pages, high-quality content
etc. This is a very important thing to have in a website which will ultimately lead to higher online
sales and more profitability.

30. With diagram explain how electronic check work.

Ans: Electronic checks are another form of electronic tokens. They are designed to accommodate
the many individuals and entities that might prefer to pay on credit or through some mechanism
other than cash. Buyers must register with a third-party account server before they are able to write
electronic checks. The account server also acts as a billing service. The registration procedure can
vary depending on the particular account server and may require a credit card or a bank account to
back the checks. Once registered, a buyer can then contact sellers of goods and services. To
complete a transaction, the buyer sends a check to the seller for a certain amount of money. These
checks may be sent using e-mail or other transport methods. When deposited, the check authorizes
the transfer of account balances from the account against which the check was drawn to the account
to which the check was deposited.

The e-check method was deliberately created to work in much the same way as a conventional
paper check. An account holder will issue an electronic document that contains the name of the
payer, the name of the financial institution, the payer’s account number, the name of the payee and
amount of the check. Most of the information is in uncoded form. Like a paper check, an e-check
will bear the digital equivalent of a signature: a computed number that authenticates the check as
coming from the owner of the account.

And, again like a paper check, an e-check will need to be endorsed by the payee, using another
electronic signature, before the check can be paid. Properly signed and endorsed checks can be
electronically exchanged between financial institutions through electronic clearinghouses, with the
institutions using these endorsed checks as tender to settle accounts. The specifics of the
technology work in the following manner: On receiving the check, the seller presents it to the
accounting server for verification and payment. The accounting server verifies the digital signature
on the check using any authentication scheme. A user’s digital “signature” is used to create one
ticket-a check which the seller’s digital “endorsement” transforms into another-an order to a bank
computer for fund transfer. Subsequent endorsers add successive layers of information onto the
tickets, precisely as a large number of banks may wind up stamping the back of a check along its
journey through the system.

31. Describe the social marketing process.

Ans: The social marketing approach differs greatly from how public health agencies have typically
gone about developing programs or materials. In the past, health educators often focused on
providing information to the general public about a particular topic, with the hope that the people
who needed it would realize they are at risk and change their behavior as a result. In contrast, social
marketers know that there is no such thing as "targeting" the general public. To be most effective,
a program must precisely specify its target audience and use very customized methods to reach
those people. In addition, social marketing does not rely solely upon educating people about an
issue, but uses persuasive messages developed through research with members of the target
audience. The participation of the people for whom the program is intended is critical.
A social marketing program has as its core the wants and needs of its consumers. These are
determined through market research methods that aim to learn as much about the target audience
and how it thinks, feels and behaves in relation to the issue the program is addressing. These
methods include quantitative research, such as a knowledge, attitude and behavior (KAB) survey,
which reveals how many people think or do something. Qualitative research, on the other hand,
provides insight into why people think or do what they do, through techniques such as focus groups
and individual interviews.
The process of developing a social marketing program involves research at every stage, with
constant reevaluation to assess whether the program is on track. This process consists of five
general stages, each of which involves several different types of activities: 1) Planning; 2) Message
and materials development; 3) Pretesting; 4) Implementation; and 5) Evaluation and feedback. The
figure below visually depicts the process as a pyramid of sequential steps; in practice, social
marketing is not necessarily a clear series of linear steps but rather a process of feedback and
adjustment that might require revisiting past stages to make changes based on new information.

The planning phase (Step 1) forms the foundation on which the rest of the process is built. To
create an effective social marketing program, you must understand the problem you are addressing,
the audiences you are targeting, and the environment in which the program will operate. Research
is used to analyze these factors and to develop a workable strategy for effecting behavior change.
The message and materials development phase (Step 2) uses the information learned in the
planning phase to design the messages to be conveyed as well as the materials that will carry the
messages to the target audience.
The pretesting phase (Step 3) involves using various methods to test messages, materials and
proposed tactics with the target audience members to determine what works best to accomplish
the program's objectives. It is not uncommon to go back and forth several times between
development and pretesting as you make necessary changes in the messages, materials or overall
strategy and explore whether the new approach works.
In the implementation phase (Step 4) the program is introduced to the target audience. Preparation
is essential for success and implementation must be monitored to ensure that every element
proceeds as planned.
Finally, the evaluation and feedback phase (Step 5) assesses the effects of the program as a whole
as well as the individual elements of the strategy. Evaluation occurs throughout the process of
program development, not just at the end, and feedback is used at each stage to improve the
program.

32. Explain briefly the five sages in the consumer decision process.
Ans: The Consumer Decision Processes (also known as Buyer Decision Processes) refer to the
decision-making stages that a consumer undergoes before, during, and after they purchase a
product or service.

John Dewey introduced 5 stages which consumers go through when they are considering a
purchase:
 Problem or need recognition
 Information search
 Evaluation of alternatives
 Purchase
 Post-purchase behavior

Problem or need recognition

This is the first stage of the Consumer Decision Process in which the consumer is able to recognize
what the problem or need is and subsequently, what product or kind of product would be able to
meet this need. It is oftentimes recognized as the first and most crucial step in the process because
if consumers do not perceive a problem or need, they generally will not move forward with
considering a product purchase.

A need can be triggered by internal or external stimuli. Internal stimuli refers to a personal
perception experienced by the consumer, such as hunger, thirst, and so on. For example, an elderly,
single woman may feel lonely so she decides that she wants to purchase a cat. External stimuli
include outside influences such as advertising or word-of-mouth. For example, a consumer who
just moved to Minnesota may not realize he needs a heavy winter coat until he sees a store
advertising for it, which triggers the need in his mind.
Information Search
Information Search is a stage in the Consumer Decision Process during which a consumer searches
for internal or external information.

During the information search, the options available to the consumer are identified or further
clarified.
An internal search refers to a consumer’s memory or recollection of a product, oftentimes triggered
or guided by personal experience.

An external search is conducted when a person who has no prior knowledge about a product seeks
information from personal sources (e.g. word of mouth from friends/family) and/or public sources
(e.g. online forums, consumer reports) or marketer dominated sources (e.g. sales persons,
advertising).

Key Terms
Consumer Decision Process: Also known as the Buying Decision Process, the process describes
the fundamental stages that a customer goes through when deciding to buy a product. Many
scholars have given their version of the buying decision model.
Information Search: The second of five stages that comprise the Consumer Decision Process. It
can be categorized as internal or external research.
External Research: When a person has no prior knowledge about a product, which then leads them
to seek information from personal or public sources.

During the evaluation of alternatives stage, the consumer evaluates all the products available on a
scale of particular attributes.

Key Points
During this stage, consumers evaluate all of their products or brand options on a scale of attributes
which have the ability to deliver the benefit that they are seeking.
In order for a marketing organization to increase the likelihood that their brand is part of the evoked
set for many consumers, they need to understand what benefits consumers are seeking and
specifically, which attributes will be most influential to their decision-making process.
It is important to note that consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the functional and
psychological benefits that they offer.
During this stage, consumers can be significantly influenced by their attitude as well as the degree
of involvement that they may have with the product, brand, or overall category.
Ultimately, consumers must be able to effectively assess the value of all the products or brands in
their evoked set before they can move on to the next step of the decision process.
Key Terms
Evoked Set: The number of alternatives that are considered by consumers during the problem-
solving process.
Evaluation of Alternatives: This is the third stage in the Consumer Decision Process. During this
stage, consumers compare the brands and products that are in their evoked set.
Purchase
During the purchase decision stage, the consumer may form an intention to buy the most preferred
brand or product.
Key Points
During this time, the consumer may form an intention to buy the most preferred brand because he
has evaluated all the alternatives and identified the value that it will bring him.
The final purchase decision can be disrupted by two factors: 1. Negative feedback of others and
our level of motivation to comply or accept the feedback. 2. The decision may be disrupted due to
a situation that one did not anticipate, such as losing a job or a retail store closing down.
During this stage, the consumer must decide the following: 1. from whom he should buy, 2. when
to buy, and 3. whether to buy.
Key Terms
Purchase Decision: The fourth stage in the consumer decision process and when the purchase
actually takes place.

Post-Purchase Behavior
Post-purchase behavior is when the customer assesses whether he is satisfied or dissatisfied with
a purchase.

Key Points
How the customer feels about a purchase will significantly influence whether he will purchase the
product again or consider other products within the brand repertoire.
Cognitive dissonance is when the customer experiences feelings of post-purchase psychological
tension or anxiety.
Some companies like to engage their consumers with post-purchase communications in an effort
to influence their feelings about their purchase and future purchases.
Key Terms
Cognitive dissonance: This term is used in modern psychology to describe the state of
simultaneously holding two or more conflicting ideas, beliefs, values, or emotional reactions.

33. Describe commercial transactions with and without intermediaries.

Ans:

34. Discuss the different online marketing strategies in e-commerce.

Ans: Some different online marketing strategies are given below:

1. Produce Original Content

The first step in setting up an ecommerce website is creating the content for it. Creating
high-quality and original content will set you up for success because it will resonate with
your customers in a way that makes them want to interact with you, purchase from you,
and maintain a following.
Be creative. Be original.
Promoting original content is a great way to make a statement, strike a compelling idea,
and make a mark on the user’s mind. There is a fine line between content that engages
users and content that deters them.

2. Optimize your website layout

After launching your e-commerce site, it’s important to test your website’s layout,
language, and placement of conversion elements. When customers visit your website, you
want to make sure it’s easy and simple to check out, that they feel naturally inclined to
purchase your products and that it’s abundantly clear how to do so.
You should test the language displayed on your landing and product pages, the language
in your conversion elements, and even the strategic placement of icons and elements.
One really nifty tool is Mouseflow — a free heatmap software that reveals valuable patterns
in customer behavior on your website. One of their most popular heatmaps, the movement
heatmap, reveals the most attractive parts of your website — based on visitor movement
data to your website.

With a color guide, Mouseflow will tell you where your customers spend the most time,
and the least amount of time! If a specific area of your page receives more attention (in
white), you should consider moving your conversion elements to those more attractive
areas.
Test it for a week and see how your conversions change. Mouseflow’s heat maps can help
improve your conversions, increase sales, and keep prospects interested. Mouseflow is
truly one of your competitor’s best kept secrets — and they offer a free account, so there’s
no cost to you.

3. Content Marketing
Proper content marketing can attract more positive attention, interaction, and sustainable
conversions in a way no other marketing method can. By creating and promoting original
content, you are ensuring that your audience is receiving new information that matters to
them on a continual basis.

Brainstorm with your team to create a list of the different types of content you wish to
create. This can be blog posts, videos, and newsletters. Also, make sure you are utilizing
your marketing budget by consulting with experts, outsourcing work when necessary.
Invest in high-quality software, subscriptions, employees, and training for your team.

You will also find that if you work with the right people, many of the things you’ve paid
for in the past can be done internally. Create diversity within your team and listen to
everyone’s ideas.

We also suggest that you create content based on Pareto’s 80/20 rule, which means that
your promotions should comprise 80% informational content, and 20% promotional
content. All of the content you publish should be relevant, interesting, and unique.

4. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a very powerful tool. It allows you to communicate with your
industry, customers, and market in a personal way. You can utilize social media to generate
engagement and interaction, boost traffic to your website, and develop a larger base of
customers.

Utilizing different social media platforms for different purposes also creates a rich presence
for your company that diversifies your abilities, efforts. This will ultimately help you cater
to your customers’ needs in a way that grows your business over time.

Maintaining a solid tone and personality of your company through social media is very
important because consistency is what will create trust within your audience. In order to
develop and maintain brand recognition and authority, make sure your outreach efforts are
unified by ensuring your team is on the same page with your company’s communication
style.

5. Email Marketing
One of the most effective forms of reaching out to your customer base is through email
marketing. Although you have to be very careful about the content within your emails and
who is included in your outreach, the reason email marketing has been around for so long
is because it works.

In order to reach your audience most effectively, provide useful content within your
emails. Make them as personal as you can, offer valuable promotions, and use it as an
opportunity to socialize.

Open up about what your business is doing, any events you are attending, new features or
products, and be transparent about your company. You want to relate to your customers on
a level that gauges their interest and keeps them engaging with your emails.

As always, make sure you are monitoring the analytics of your email marketing efforts.
One great tool that can help you with this is the Google Analytics Dashboard, which is a
free solution that gives you useful data about your email marketing efforts.

You can also track users who entered your website from your email campaigns with the
previously mentioned tool, Mouseflow. All you have to do is set a custom URL that users
“visit” when entering your site, and their entry page will contain that unique URL. A great
way of doing this is to append UTM variables to your URL.

You can use Mouseflow filters or the search feature to find users whose sessions contained
your custom URL. From here, you can save and export the list, perform analytics, and
watch how they interacted on their site.

You can also filter your heatmaps for this data to analyze how they engage with each page
of your site, which elements they find most attractive, and more!

6. Search Engine Optimization

One of the most important and manual methods of optimizing a successful eCommerce
website is making sure it’s optimized for search engines. With today’s Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) standards, it’s now more important than ever to make sure your
website is constantly updated with rich and relevant content, promotes a good user
experience (UX), and is optimized to be as error-free as possible.

The content within your website should be rich, reliable, and provide information to the
public that is useful and relevant to what they’re looking for. For example, if you have an
eCommerce store selling camping supplies, it’s wise to provide detailed product
information and possibly even host sections of your website that offer generous amounts
of content that elaborates on the topics of camping, supplies, or related subjects. Using
keywords within your content in a genuine way will also flag your website as a matching
result in search engines when users are looking for something specific.

7. Pay-Per-Click Marketing
There are three basic elements to any pay-per-click marketing campaign: the ad, the offer,
and the landing page.

All three must be in good harmony and synchronization if you want to maintain the interest
of the lead. The landing page must be a continuation of your ad, delivering what was
promised as the reward of clicking on the ad, in order to take the visitor through your
conversion funnel. It must also be customized for keywords to appear somewhere near the
top of search engine results.

Keep the landing page free of distractions and unnecessary bells and whistles. Also, keep
in mind that your landing page is the most appropriate place to boast your product benefits
to the customer.

8. Optimize Your Marketing Efforts for Mobile Devices

It is absolutely crucial to make sure your website is responsive to any user layout. Mobile
users are starting to dominate the sea of internet use, and it’s important to accommodate
their needs to provide a good user experience (UX) for everyone.

People who visit your website do not want to be redirected to an app or web version of
your website, they want the full-meal-deal. So, make sure you deliver what they are
expecting and make the investment to enhance your website so that it’s fully responsive.

You can also use mobile marketing techniques to target mobile users specifically. One of
the most popular marketing trends is called geo-targeting, which advertises to mobile users
based on their location. This technique enables you to reach out to customers who are
within a specific distance of your business, and provide them with an incentive to stop by
or make a purchase.

9. Target Wearable and VR Technology

Targeting wearable and Virtual Reality (VR) technology is a trending technique that grabs
users in a new and exciting way. People are still getting used to this technology, and are
not yet overwhelmed by or habituated to advertisements.

Your target audience for these mediums will be very refined, as these users are the part of
the population that carries the latest technology at the palm of their hands at all times, keeps
up to date with trends, and doesn’t mind dropping some extra cash for items they desire.
Although creating campaigns that are designed for these technologies can be expensive,
the right approach can be worth the initial investment because a filtered audience is more
likely to convert.

10. Launch Stores on Multiple Platforms

Consumers have become the power player in the eCommerce industry. Which means your
business needs to stand out in a unique way. Because of this, it’s more important than ever
to customize your user experience (UX) to cater to the needs of your audience.

Make your outreach efforts personal by taking the time to learn about your customers.
People love it when they feel special, and if you make sure to add personal touches like
addressing your prospects by name, sharing videos and pictures of your employees, and
being transparent about your company processes and procedures, you will reap the benefits
of a loyal customer base.

All of this adds to the overall ‘face of the business’. This will hopefully make its way to
the hearts of your customers.

11. Retargeting
Customers who have already shown an interest in your website are more likely to make a
later purchase.

Retargeting is a technique that tracks customers who have visited your website and displays
ads to them while they’re browsing the internet with the intent of getting them back on
your website. When these visitors enter your website again, they are far more likely to
make a purchase.

To effectively manage a retargeting campaign, make sure your ads are as specific as
possible. Was the customer looking at a specific product? Make sure the ads displayed to
them are ads of that specific product and link to the page of the product. Just like with
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing, it’s important to
display the information the user is looking for the instant they click on your ad.

If they click on an ad for hiking boots and are redirected to the homepage of your camping
website, they aren’t going to be thrilled. But, if they are directed to the exact hiking boots
they were considering, or even had added to their cart, before leaving your website, they
will be much more likely to continue with a purchase.
35. Write about internet advertisement categories in the e-commerce scenarios.
Ans: Online advertising is any type of marketing message that shows up with the help of the
Internet. That means it could appear in a web browser, search engine, on social media, on mobile
devices, and even in email.

Savvy advertisers are increasingly making use of this forum for reaching consumers, for a number
of reasons:

 It's relatively inexpensive

 It reaches a wide audience

 It can be tracked to measure success (or failure)

 It can be personalized for a target audience

Online advertising has evolved since its humble beginnings as a static image that pops up at the
top of a website. Now, there are a wide variety of advertising types we could use - we've listed the
seven top types here:

Display Ads: The original form of online advertising, these are visual ads that appear on third
party websites (usually ones that are related to your content or service in some way). Display ads
have evolved from the basic form of banner ads. Nowadays, display ads come as:

Static images - these are your basic banner or square ads that appear around the content.

Text - these are text ads that are created by algorithms to make text ads relevant to the surrounding
content.

Floating banners - these move across the screen or float above the regular website's content.

Wallpaper - these appear and change the background of a website, filling the whole page.

Popup ads - these are new windows that appear in front of the website content; newly opened
windows display the full ad so visitors can see.

Flash - these are moving ads that “flash” different content at the viewer.

Video - these are small video ads that autoplay or wait for the video to be played by the visitor.

Display ads are usually very affordable.

Social Media Ads: It's a marketing arena that is not only efficient but effective. Very similar to
Display Ads, Social Media ads can be anything from a simple banner or image to an auto-play
video. Social Media advertising is great because we can target our audience perfectly.

Here are two types of Social Media advertisements:

· Organic – creates loyalty and gives you feedback from your target audience; new form of
Word-of-Mouth

· Paid - leverage promoted posts and reach specific people

The best platforms to target are:

· LinkedIn for B2B sales

· Facebook for display and top of funnel marketing

· Stumble Upon for amazing, attention-grabbing content

Other platforms to hit up if you have the budget for it:

· Twitter

· Google+

· Pinterest

· Instagram

· Tumblr

· Reddit

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): The most dependable form of online paid advertising (and
also the most common). SEM works based on keywords - we and other businesses like ours bid
on keywords through search engines in an effort to get our website up higher on the Search Engine
Results Page (SERP).

All SEM ads that appear in Google, Bing and other search engines are text ads. They're listed at
the top or sides of the SERP.

We can also use SEM in the unpaid form by optimizing our website for keywords (also known as
SEO): Search engines list the unpaid results based on relevance so improving the SEO of our site
means we'll be able to get more hits for free if we improve our site’s SEO.

The best platforms for SEM are Google AdWords, which allow us to create highly targeted
campaigns: to make the most of our Google AdWords campaigns. Another platform that's great
for SEM is Bing, which has less competition than AdWords.

Native Advertising: Native advertising is those sponsored listings at the end of blog posts,
appearing on your Facebook feeds and posted to other Social Media. These pieces of content are
integrated and camouflaged into the platform on which they appear. You can promote and post
your Native Advertising through networks like Adblade, Adsonar, Outbrain and Taboola.

There are several forms of Native Advertising:

· In-feed

· Search ads

· Recommendation widgets

· Promoted listings

Remarketing/Retargeting: The best way to market to people who already know about our
product and service is to remarket to them. Or retarget. Depends on who we're talking to.

When people visit our site, we drop a cookie on them so that, as they travel around the web, our
ads will appear over and over to remind them about our product or service.

This form of advertising is inexpensive and, if done right, can be more effective than PPC. It
increases conversions because it reminds people of us who already know who we are.

We can try to set this up ourselves on Facebook Remarketing, Google Remarketing and more. Or,
we can use a third-party platform or provider to set up our remarketing campaigns - read our
Retargeting Cage match for the 4.1-1 on all of the available platforms you could use... and which
are best.

Video Ads: While YouTube ads are the most popular and well known of video ads, there are
actually several different formats, types and content options.

We can go the route of educational/informative. Or maybe we want to post a bow-to. Try to pull
on the emotional strings of our viewers by creating a visual story. Ideal for branding, especially if
we have a product or service that is best demonstrated visually. Whatever we choose, Video Ads
are gaining in popularity because they avoid blatant advertising while also attracting the limited
attention span of many YouTubers.

Once we've created your video, we can post to:

· YouTube/Google

· Facebook

· Twitter

· Vimeo

· Brightroll

· YuMe

· Hulu

· Live Rail
· Adap.tv

· Specific Media

· Tube Mogul

· Tremor Video

· AOL

· Auditude

YouTube also has the fun little Pre-Roll ads (those short... sometimes long... ads that appear before
the video we actually want to watch starts).

Email Marketing: Hanging out with Display Ads back near the start of online advertising, Email
Marketing is a cheaper, faster and effective form of advertising. It's a great way to build customer
loyalty and boost sales; when we use an email campaign manager (see the list below) to prepare
and send our emails, we can easily track how well they do and monitor our ROI.

Email Campaign Managers:

· Mail Chimp

· Constant Contact

· Weber

· Convert Kit

· Get Response

· Campaign Monitor

· Active Campaign

In order to succeed at email marketing, we first need to build a list of email addresses We can do
so by using quizzes, or we can put a simple Newsletter sign-up on your site. Then, we can send
email campaigns that focus on promotions, discounts, features or content we've posted to our blog.
Most emails are short, sweet and to the point. A concise message makes it easy to get your point
across and increase conversions.

36. What is online publishing? What are the benefits and most common
applications of online publishing?
Ans: Online publishing is the process of publishing content on the internet. It includes creating
and uploading websites, updating websites and posting blogs online. The published content may
include text, images, videos and other types of media.
In order to publish content on the web. You need three things. They are

i) Web development software ii) An internet connection iii) A web server.

Advantages & Disadvantages:

While the information available online is staggering even in our technological age, we cannot
forget to mention the fact that not everyone in this day is ready to sit down at a computer screen
and read for any great deal of time.

Costs: The costs of online desktop publishing are fairly low in consideration to those of print.
Granted one must have access to a networked computer and a decent amount of usable software
but those are things that anyone in the publishing business, print or online will have to have
anyway.

Profits: It remains difficult to make any money off of online publishing. Most Publications online
right now are free to readers and merely charging for ad space. However some are attempting to
require subscriptions.

Marketing: Although there are no or few distribution costs for online publishing it does take a bit
of marketing to get people to your site. You must register your publication with as many search
engines as possible and often this entails a cost.

Editing: Editing is another plus involved in online publishing for the most part. Editing should
and does occur before the new issue goes online. However we all come across several types in
print documents of any kind that weren‟t caught before the publication was sent off to the printer.

Time: An online publication also requires constant upkeep even in-between issues. Links need to
be tested regularly in order to avoid ‘linkrot’. And because editing can be done at any time, there‟s
a responsibility attached to make sure what needs to be fixed is.

Audience: Audience is a category that can be considered both a pro and a con for online publishing
while your audience is not limited to only those hit in your distribution efforts. it is also not the
dedicated group of readers that mast print publications can count on.

Standard: Because online desktop publishing is a fairly new field, there are no set standards that
demand a quality layout format. This can be seen as both a pro and a con. There‟s more room for
experimentation.

Submissions: It is another tough area to tackle in online publishing. It enables for free information.

37. What is an organizational structure? Different between vertical and

horizontal organization.
Ans: Organizational structure: An organizational structure is a system that outlines how
certain activities are directed in order to achieve the goals of an organization. These activities can
include rules, roles, and responsibilities.
The organizational structure also determines how information flows between levels within the
company. For example, in a centralized structure, decisions flow from the top down, while in a
decentralized structure, decision-making power is distributed among various levels of the
organization.

Different between vertical and horizontal organization are as follows:

Vertical organization Horizontal organization

A vertical organization is the traditional Horizontal organization is More commonly
business model of a CEO underpinned by called a flat structure, flat organization or
managers and departments. It is a trickle- even a “flatarchy,” the horizontal
down concept of corporate power and organization is one where democracy tends
responsibility that is bureaucratic and to rule the day.
departmental in nature.
The rigid structure of a vertical organization Communication in a horizontal organization
tends to slow communication between tends to be more organic and easily flows from
departments and from management to one work group to the next.
employees.
Companies with a tall organizational structure Horizontally structured businesses tend to have
are better at designating tasks to employees or the best employee morale because there is less
departments within the company, have well- red tape when dealing with problems. Also, it
defined responsibilities for employees, and are costs less to run a horizontal company because
generally easier to manage, according to managers cost more than rank-and-file
Practical Management. employees.
In Horizontal organization, offices at equal Vertical organization is hierarchical and
levels on the organizational chart can talk to communication must go up the organizational
each other and the communication is hierarchy and down by another path to reach
"flattened." another office at the same level of the
organizational chart.
A vertical org chart looks like a pyramid. At In contrast, a horizontal org chart has no
the top is the CEO or company president. A middle management, hence normally all
single segment consists of a series of middle employees need to report to only one
management and the manager who is manager. Such type is also called the flat org
responsible for their department. chat.
In a vertical organization, a decision is made In a horizontal organization, employees can
by the top management and descended down make a decision by themselves for daily
to employees through the hierarchy. operation and only have to ask for instructions
Employees are required to follow orders and when it comes to very important issues. In
guidance from their upper level in order to most cases, staffers are not driven by their
complete the tasks. manager’s command, but instead the
company’s goal.
The Vertical approach has a top-to-bottom Horizontal orientation has a level
management arrangement configuration focusing on superior employee's
autonomy.
 38. Define business system modeling. What does a business system engineering
model accomplish?
Ans: Business system modeling: Business Systems modeling or system modeling is
the interdisciplinary study of the use of models to conceptualize and
construct systems in business.
Again, Business Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary engineering management process
that evolves and verifies an integrated, life-cycle balanced set of system solutions that satisfy
customer needs.

Disciplined business system engineering model is accomplished by integrating three major

activities. These activities are:
1. Development phasing that controls the design process and provides baselines that
coordinate design efforts,
2. Establishing a Systems Engineering Process that provides a structure for solving design
problems and tracking requirements flow through the design effort, and
3. Life-cycle integration that involves customers in the design process and ensures that the
system developed is viable throughout its life.

Systems engineering models and processes usually organize themselves around the concept of
a life cycle. Like the definition of systems engineering, the detailed conceptualization of life
cycle is by no means unique across the communities that employ the discipline.

BSE is focused on many tasks and products throughout the typical DoD acquisition programs.
Below is a list of the main task/products that are expected of SE in the DoD acquisition process.
For a more detailed list of tasks and products, check out the Systems Engineering Activity Map.

 Requirements Development, Management and Control (ICD, CDD, JCIDS

Process, KPP, CONOPS)
 Develop Systems Engineering Plan
 Develop and Establish SE Tools and Resources (Modeling & Simulation)
 Verification and Validation
 Technical Planning
 Configuration Management
 Configuration Baselines
 Life-Cycle Integration
 Functional and Physical Architectures
 Milestone & Program Reviews (Milestones, Milestone Requirements Matrix, Major
Reviews, SRR, SVR)
 Interface Management
The Business Systems Engineering Process is a comprehensive, iterative and recursive problem
solving process, applied sequentially top-down by integrated teams. It transforms needs and
requirements into a set of system product and process descriptions, generate information for
decision makers, and provides input for the next level of development. The process is applied
sequentially, one level at a time, adding additional detail and definition with each level of
development.

39. What are the restraining factors that a business system engineer should
consider?
Ans:
To construct a system model, the engineer should consider a number of restraining factors:
1. Assumption that reduce the number of possible permutations and variations, thus enabling a
model to reflect the problem in a reasonable manner.
2. Simplifications that the model has to create in a timely manner.
3. Limitations that help to bound the system.
4. Constraints that will guide the manner in which the model is created and the approach taken
when the model is implemented.
5. Preference that indicate the preferred architecture for all data, functions, and technology.

40. What is change management? Why is it important in an e-commerce

environment?
Ans: Change management is a process that helps ease any organizational transitions. More
specifically, it aids on the people side of change. In essence, it helps “employees to understand,
commit to, accept, and embrace changes in their current business environment.”

The importance of change management in an e-commerce environment is as follows:

Change can occur in an e-commerce environment in many ways – strategic, leadership, or

technological changes. In recent years, companies are seeing change management play an
important role during the implementation of new technology. Many people fear that as
technology develops, it will take over the workplace. This often causes resistance to change
in firms looking to implement new technology. By helping employees better understand change,
you create a workplace that is more open-minded and open to change. Change management can
help ease this tension and create a smooth process.

Change management is a formal way of communicating with employees. It tells them why
change is happening, what it will look like for them, and how it will ultimately benefit them in
the end. Keeping employees informed from the start helps smooth the transition and shorten the
time. Also, if employees are more open to change, they will be more engaged in the process of
making it happen. When employees are more engaged, the transition can happen more quickly
and ultimately save your e-commerce organization time and resources.

By opening this line of communication in your organization, you set a standard. Over time this
will increase the trust your employees have in the firm and the decisions top management is
making. Ultimately, people fear the unknown. Having a strategy in place can help to lessen if not
eliminate that fear. Setting a standard for change early on and maintaining consistency can
help create a more adaptable and innovative workplace.

41. What are the risks associated with e-commerce?

Ans:
10 common risks of running an ecommerce business that you need to beware of:

1. Online Security: There is a whole range of security threats out there to beware of, including
malware, phishing attacks, hacking and spam mail.To defend against these threats, make sure
that you update your platform’s operating system regularly, and use a strong SSL (Secure
Sockets Layer).
2. System Reliability: The Internet service provider (ISP) server could crash, your online
payment system could show errors and the ecommerce plugin could have bugs.Except keeping
all operating systems and APIs updated, these are just some things that may happen outside of
our control.
3. Privacy Issues: Customers’ personal data could be compromised and used for spamming,
identity theft and unsolicited marketing. In addition to the online security measures previously
mentioned, make sure to require customers to use strong passwords.
4. Customer Disputes: A customer might not have received their order, their credit card was
charged twice, or the product their received didn’t fit the online description. Whether
the customer is right or not, it’s important to always have great customer service and to rectify all
possible mistakes that were made.
5. Credit Card Fraud: Someone could use a stolen credit card to make an online purchase, or a
hacker could use stolen credit data from other customers in your system. No matter how good
your online security measures are, always watch out for any suspicious transactions.
6. Intellectual Property Issues: Your website images, product descriptions, logos, videos,
music, as well as your products, could be copied by others, or violate someone else’s intellectual
property.
7. SEO: Google or other platforms could do a complete makeover of their algorithm at any time,
and make your website traffic drop significantly overnight.
8. Taxation: You might not be including the appropriate sales tax in your sales, or you are not
paying fair shipping and/or import taxes depending on your shipping destination.
9. Return of Goods and Warranty: Common headaches when dealing with product returns:
Increase in supply chain costs and not being able to resell the items at their original price.
10. Warehousing and Logistics Issues: You could run out of stocks while orders are coming in,
a product shipment might be delayed, or a parcel could be delivered to the wrong recipient.
42. Explain Electronic Wallet and Stored Value Cards in brief.

Ans: Electronic wallet: An electronic wallet, also called an e-wallet or a digital wallet, allows
people to more conveniently conduct transactions online. Much like a traditional wallet, an e-
wallet contains information about its owner. For the consumer, the main advantages of using an
electronic wallet is that it can automatically fill out lengthy forms when making online transactions
and can also keep personal details more secure. User information, such as one's name, address and
credit card numbers, are contained in an electronic wallet. When the user wants to make a purchase,
he or she clicks on the electronic wallet and online forms on participating sites are filled in
automatically. These time-consuming forms had previously deterred some shoppers from buying
online. E-commerce has always been attractive to consumers primarily because it can be more
convenient than visiting a brick-and-mortar shop. E-wallets make the process even easier and,
arguably, much safer as well.

Stored value cards: A Stored Value Card (SVC) is a card-based electronic alternative to cash. It
uses a "smart card" that contains a microprocessor computer chip that both stores electronic
currency and processes financial transactions. SVCs use the computer chip on the card to verify
and perform financial transactions in an "offline" communications mode, versus traditional
debit/credit cards that contain a magnetic stripe and run in an "on-line" communications mode.
The term closed-loop stored-value card means the funds and or data are metaphorically 'physically
stored on the card, in the form of binary-coded data. With prepaid cards the data is maintained on
the card issuer's computers.

OR

Stored-Value Card: A type of electronic bank debit card. Stored-value cards have a specific dollar
value programmed into them. Banks provide these cards as a service for customers who cannot
open checking or other deposit accounts. Stored-value cards can be divided into two categories.
Closed-loop cards have a one-time limit; merchant gift cards and prepaid phone cards are two
examples. Open-loop cards, on the other hand, can be reloaded with cash and used again.

E-wallets: E-wallet is a type of electronic card which is used for transactions made online through
a computer or a smartphone. Its utility is the 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 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.

43. What do you mean by Web Advertising? Discuss the main reasons to
prefer the internet for advertising.
Ans: Online advertising, also called online marketing or Internet advertising or web advertising,
is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing
messages to consumers. It includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media
marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile
advertising.

Main reasons for prefer internet for advertising:

Instant information: With online ads you get information on what ads are generating clicks, who's
doing the clicking and where they saw the ad. This is a wealth of information that is not available
with print ads.

Advertise to ideal clients: With online advertising you can make sure that your ads reach exactly
the people you want. You can target and even retarget your ideal clients so that you never waste
an ad on people who will not be interested.

Increase brand recognition: One of the biggest benefits to online ads is the ability to increase
brand recognition. You can use the constant internet presence to create eye-catching campaigns
that get your and noticed and shared.

Change is easy: Perhaps the best part about online ads is that you have constant access to them.
Unlike print ads which are set in stone once they are printed, you can always go back and make
changes to your online ads.

Customize your audience: Just like the ability to target your ideal clients you can also customize
how big your advertising campaign is.

Affordability: If you are wondering about fitting online ads into your budget that should not be
a major concern. Online ads are more affordable than print or television ads.

Access: Many people are turning away from television because they are tired of commercials or
because they can get their favorite shows cheaper through online sources.

44. What is a virtual factory? What is the architecture of BPR available and
how to develop it?

Ans: Virtual factory: Virtual factory refers to an integrated model that includes a variety of
software, tools and methodologies in order to solve any real time problem of manufacturing
systems. This model sees a real factory as a combination of various sub-systems and includes them.
In manufacturing it creates a virtual simulation exercise that helps in replicating the real life
scenario and helps in designing and implementation.

BPR (Business process re-engineering) is the radical redesign of business processes to achieve

5. Implement future state changes and be mindful of dependencies

Inform every stakeholder of the new process. Only proceed after everyone is on board and educated
about how the new process works. Constantly monitor the KPIs.

Many companies like Ford Motors, GTE, and Bell Atlantic tried out BPR during the 1990s to
reshuffle their operations. The reengineering process they adopted made a substantial difference to
them, dramatically cutting down their expenses and making them more effective against increasing
competition.

45. Write short notes on -line communities and new marketing opportunities.

Ans: Online communities and new marketing opportunities: An online community is a virtual
community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. For many, online
communities may feel like home, consisting of a family of invisible friends. Those who wish to be
a part of an online community usually have to become a member via a specific site and necessarily
need an internet connection. An online community can act as an information system where
members can post, comment on discussions, give advice or collaborate. Commonly, people
communicate through social networking sites, chat rooms, forums, e-mail lists and discussion
boards. People may also join online communities through video games, blogs and virtual worlds.

Marketing Opportunities: The definition of a new marketing opportunity analysis looks at the
current state of an industry or market in order to determine where there is room to attract more
customers, introduce new products, sell products or achieve company growth. New opportunities
can be emerging markets or just those new to a provider. They can be new concepts or hot topics
that are attracting the attention of IT and business buyers. A continuous search and assessment
process will aid identification and achievement of next level performance.

Solved by: Safin Shahri,

Md. Arif Hossain Hridoy,
Md. Sefayat Shameem &
Raihan Chowdhury