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ECOMMERCE BEGINNERS GUIDE
Ecommerce is also referred as
ecommerce, ecom or Internet commerce.
All these terms mean selling and buying
services and products on the internet
and the time was never better for this.
If you want to start a business on the
internet, several new technologies are
available today to help you do it. There
is 1 to suit each requirement and need.
The most important fact is: Ecommerce is
very safe and secure today. The
technologies available today make
ecommerce as secure as “face to face”
transactions.
However, Ecommerce is not very simple
and therefore you will have to
understand the terms and concepts to do
it right.
Given below are a few terms and concepts
used in Ecommerce:
CSP or Commerce Service Providers
These are web sites or businesses which
provide ecom solutions.
Digital Money or Ecash or Electronic
Cash
These terms mean the same and are used
interchangeably. They refer to any
method that is used by a person to buy
services or goods on the internet by
entering some details. These details are
used by the bank to transfer real money
from one account to another. Ecash is
reusable and anonymous. Unlike a credit
card transaction, the merchant will not
know the personal details of the buyer.
Cheques or Electronic Checks
Customers can pay for their purchases
using e-checks. These can be transmitted
over the phone, fax or email. The
e-check is a message which contains the
information found on ordinary cheques.
However, these are digitally signed. The
signature is encrypted using the
customer’s digital key. Upon receiving
it, the merchant can take additional
precautions by encrypting it with his
private key. When the e-check is
processed, the reply or status message
is encrypted using the banks private
key.
There are several companies that sell
such services and software.
Electronic Wallet
Electronic Wallet is a software
application which stores sensible
information such as credit card details
in an encrypted format. Then, you can
shop at web sites which support your
type of wallet. When you click on the
pay button, you initiate the credit card
payment through a secured transaction
that is enabled by your electronic
wallet.
EC or Emmerce or Ecom or Electronic
Commerce
All these terms mean exchange of
business information through Electronic
data interchange, electronic funds
transfer, fax transmissions and
electronic boards. The terms refer to
B2B transactions, purchasing and selling
of merchandise on the net, online bond
and stock transactions and internet
shopping.
Extranet
It is the extension of the corporate
internet. It connects the intranet of a
company to the intranets of suppliers
and customers.
Disintermediation
This is a process of selling your
products and services directly to your
customer. You bypass all the retail
channels.
Soft Goods vs. Hard Goods
Soft goods exist electronically or
virtually, whereas hard goods exist
physically. For example, selling a book
in printed form is hard goods whereas
offering the book in electronic format
for download in a soft good. All
software applications are soft goods.
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