Definition of E-Commerce
“All electronically mediated information exchanges between an organisation and its external stakeholders.” (Chaffey, 2002).
“E-Commerce is the exchange of information across electronic networks, at any stage in the supply chain, whether within an organisation, between businesses, between businesses and consumers, or between the public and private sector, whether paid or unpaid.” (Cabinet Office, 1999)
Four Perspectives of E-Commerce
- Communications Perspective
- Delivery of:
- Information
- Products
- Service
- Payment
- Delivery of:
- Business Process Perspective
- Using new technology to automate business processes
- Service Perspective
- Enables Cost Cutting
- Increase Speed
- Increase quality of service
- Online Perspective
- Buying and selling products and information online
The Two Sides of E-Commerce
Buy-side
This is the transactions between the organisation and its suppliers.
Sell-side
This is the transactions between the organisation and its customers (whether is a consumer or another business). There are four main types of a sell-side E-Commerce website and they are:
- Transactional sites
- Service-oriented or relationship-building sites
- Brand building sites
- Portal or media sites
Definition of E-Government
“The application of e-commerce technologies to government and public services for citizens and businesses.” (Chaffey, 2002).
The range of applications E-Government covers:
- Citizens
- Suppliers
- Internal communications
Definition of E-Business
“All electronically mediated information exchanges, both within an organisation and with external stakeholders supporting the range of business processes.” (Chaffey, 2002).
Three Views of the Relationship Between E-Commerce and E-Business
- E-Commerce and E-Business overlap in some way.
- E-Commerce and E-Business are exactly the same.
- E-Commerce is a subset of E-Business.