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Accounting (Technologies) 224
Group Research Project

Identify and discuss the unique features of e-commerce technology compared to traditional commerce, & discuss the business significant of each of the features you identify?

Marking guide

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Abstract

With technology development E-commerce has become more widely used in trading, particular for international business. E-commerce is businesses trading with other businesses via interne. The most commonly used three types are B2B, B2C and C2C. E-commerce's unique features we are identifying are Ubiquity, Global Reach, Information Richness, Personalisation & Customisation, Cost Effectiveness and Interactivity. Traditional commerce can be described as buying and selling goods face to face. Customers can see and touch the product just like shopping in our daily life. Each feature of E-commerce technologies has positive and negative impact compact with traditional commerce. Therefore this report will be discussing six unique features of E-commerce technologies that compare with traditional commerce.
According to our discussion and analysis, it is identified that E-commerce has much more advantages than traditional commerce. E-commerce allow sellers to reduce transaction costs, due to targeting a global market, expanding the customer base can increase sales and improve cooperation using face time communicate with partners, and save time. For the buyers, customers can have higher quality product because they can compare products and prices on the website. In addition, it allows customers to save time, shopping online can happen anywhere; you only need access to the internet. It is also allowing customers to have more selection, in the store there may be limited product choice but online there can be unlimited choice of products. Traditional commerce cannot gain advantages from the six unique features. However, with E-commerce we recognise there are still security issues existing, such as threats from viruses and hackers, which have the potential to violate systems and privacy of both companies and customer. There are ongoing needs to constantly improve and update security such as firewalls and antivirus software to avoid the loss of both sides.

Contents

Marking guide 2

Abstract 3

Contents 4

Introduction 5

Discussion 6

Ubiquity 6

Global reach 7

Information richness 8

Personalisation & Customisation 9

Cost effective 10

Interactivity 11

Conclusion 13

Glossary 14

References 15

Group member appraisals forms 17

Introduction

In today's world, there are two types of commerce: e-commerce and traditional commerce. With technological developments E-commerce is becoming a more popular choice to use in trading, particular for international business. E-commerce is businesses trading with other businesses using the internet (Schneider 2011), the most commonly used three types are B2B, B2C and C2C. E-commerce can bring some benefits for both sellers and buyers. For sellers, e- commerce can increase sales and decrease transaction costs and provide price quotes. For buyers, they can save time searching on the market and therefore allow time to do other things. Traditional commerce is buying and selling goods face to face (Schneider 2011). Customers can see and touch the product just like shopping in our daily life. E-commerce's unique features are Ubiquity, Global Reach, Information Richness, Personalisation & Customisation, Cost Effectiveness and Interactivity. Each feature of E-commerce technologies has positive and negative impacts compared with traditional commerce. Therefore this report will consider these six unique features of E-commerce technologies and how they compare with traditional commerce.

Discussion

Ubiquity

Not that long ago, shopping for customers had to be readily available in their area, and they traveled to the physical