Called “electronic commerce (e-commerce) using electronic media to carry out commercial transactions. Most of the time he comes to the sale of products through the internet, but the term eCommerce also covers purchasing mechanisms by Internet (for the B-TO-B).
The customer making purchases on the Internet is called cyberconsumer. The e-commerce is not limited to selling only online, but also includes:
- * Achieving a quote online
- Advice to users
- The provision of an electronic catalog
- A plan for access to outlets
- The real-time management of product availability (inventory)
- Online payment
- Monitoring of delivery
- After-sale
In some cases, electronic commerce allows a high level of customization of products, especially if the e-commerce site is coupled with the production system of the business (eg business cards, personalized items such as t-shirts, mugs , caps, etc..).
Finally, for services and electronic products (MP3, software, electronic books, etc..), Electronic commerce can have their purchase in a very short time or instantaneous.
Online Stores
Most ecommerce sites are online stores, including a minimum the following at the front office:
- An online electronic catalog, with all products available for sale, price and sometimes their availability (product in stock or number of days before delivery);
- A search engine can easily find a product using the search criteria (brand, price range, keyword, …);
- On virtual caddy keeps track of customer purchases throughout his career and change the quantities for each reference;
- The secure online payment (accounting) is often provided by a trusted third party (a bank) via a secure transaction;
- A tracking system controls, to monitor the process of ordering and may obtain the information on the support of the package by the carrier.
A back office system allows the online merchant to organize their online offerings, change prices, add or remove references to products and to administer and manage customer orders.
