Although people think that e-commerce and e-business are the same, technically, e-business refers to a broader definition of e-commerce.
E-commerce (EC)- describes the process of buying, selling, transferring, servicing or exchanging products, services, or information via computer networks.
E-business- refers not only to buying and selling of goods and services, but also servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, conducting e-learning and conducting electronic transactions within an organization.
EC can take several forms depending on the degree of digitization. The degree of digitization can relate to: (1) the product (service) sold, (2) the process, or (3) the delivery agent (or intermediary). In traditional commerce, all three dimensions are physical. Purely physical organizations are referred to as brick-and-mortar organizations. If there is at least one digital dimension, then it is called partial EC.
TYPES OF E-COMMERECE TRANSACTIONS
The common types of e-commerce transactions are the following:
1. Business-to-business (B2B)- both sellers and the buyers are business organizations. (e.g. Dell and ASUS)
2. Collaborative commerce (c-commerce)- business organizations/partners collaborate electronically. (e.g. airline companies)
3. Business-to-consumers (B2C)- sellers are organizations and the buyers are individuals. (See http://appstatebryce.blogspot.com/) (e.g. Pizza Hut and us)
4. Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)- individuals sells products or services to other individuals. (e.g. EBay)
5. Business-to-business-to-consumers (B2B2C)- business sells to a business but delivers the product or service to an individual consumer. (e.g. Amazon)
6. Consumers-to-businesses (C2B)- consumers make known a particular need for a product or service, and suppliers compete to provide the product or service to consumers. (e.g. Priceline)
7. Intrabusiness (interorganizational ) commerce- organization uses EC internally to improve its operations. (e.g. company's website where you can do your supply request, etc.)
8. Government-to-citizens (G2C) and to others- government entity provides servicesto its citizens via EC technologies. (e.g. USPS, FAFSA, etc.)
MAJOR BUSINESS MODELS OF EC
1. Value-chain integrators- Integrators aggregate information and package it for customers, vendors, or others in the supply chain.
2. Online auctions- Businesses conduct online tendering, requesting quotes from suppliers.
3. E-classified- presentation of items for sale at fixed prices. Popular sites are craiglist.com and classifieds2000.com.
For more major business models of EC, visit www.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html.
BRIEF HISTORY OF EC
1. Early 1970s- EC applications began in the early 1970s with such as innovations as electronic transfer of funds (ETF). Then came along electronic data interchange (EDI).
2. Early 1990s- EC applications expanded rapidly, following the commercialization of the Internet and the introduction of the Web.
3. Over the last 12 years- EC has continuously added products and services.
THE SCOPE OF EC 
1. People- e.g. sellers, buyers, intermediaries and any external participants.
2. Public policy- legal and other policy and regulating issues that are determined by the government and by international agreements.
3. Marketing and Advertising- EC requires the support of marketing and advertising, like any other business.
4. Support Services- Many services, ranging from payments to order fulfillment, are needed to support EC.
5. Business partnerships- joint ventures, e-marketplaces and business partnerships are common in EC.
BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE
The following are the benefits of e-commerce. Note that the information delineated below are just few of the many benefits that e-commerce offers.
To Organizations
1. Shortens or even eliminates marketing distribution channels, making products cheaper and vendors' profits higher.
2. Enables companies to procure material and services from other countries, rapidly and at less cost.
3. Help some small businesses compete against large companies.
To Customers
1. Makes it possible for people to work and study at home.
2. Makes possible electronic auctions that benefit buyers and sellers.
3. Retrieves relevant and detailed information.
To Society
1. Allows some merchandise to be sold at lower prices, therby increasing people's standards of living.
2. Enables individuals to work at home and to do less traveling, resulting in less road traffic, less energy use and less air pollution.
LIMITATIONS OF E-COMMERCE
As we all know there is always two sides of a coin. In the e-commerce example, though there are benefits attached to the use of e-commerce, there are also limitations/disadvantages attached to e-commerce. The following are few of the many limitations of e-commerce.
Technological Limitations
1. Insufficient telecommunications bandwidth.
2. Still-evolving software.
3. Need for special Web servers in addition to the network servers.
4. Lack of unversally accepted standards for quality, security, and reliability. 5. Some websites require softwares/application programs that are not readily available on a standard browser.6. Limitations of access using, dial-up, ISDN, cable or wireless connections.
Nontechnological Limitations
1. Some unresolved legal issues
2. Some unresolved ethical issues
3. Perception that EC is expensive and unsecured.
4. Many sellers and buyers waiting for EC to stabilize before they take part.
5. An insuffficient number of sellers and buyers exists for many EC products and services. 6. People's resistance to change especially when change comes with acquiring new knowledge for such specific change.
7. Information is limited to what is posted on the website. People may want more or they may ask for more information.
8. Wrongful use of personal information.
Most pieces of information contained in this specific blog were obtained from Information Technology for Management Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy 6E by Turban, Leidner, McLean and Wetherbe
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