1. Management information systems
E-Commerce

2. Objectives By the end of this unit, students should be able to:
Define e-commerce and m-commerce
State and explain the challenges of e-commerce and m-commerce in Ghana
Discuss the relevant e-commerce success factors
Describe the most popular electronic payment systems available today
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

3. Overview E-commerce Categories of E-commerce M-Commerce
E-commerce Applications
Electronic Payment Systems
© Lempogo Forgor

4. What is e-commerce?
E-Commerce is short for electronic commerce and refers to the field of marketing, buying, selling, distributing and servicing different products and/or services over the internet or any network.
Notice that, E-commerce is not only about buying and selling online.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

5. Categories of e-commerce
Some of the most popular e-commerce categories include:
Business-to-Business e-commerce – B2B
Business-to-Customer e-Commerce –B2C
Customer-to-customer e-commerce – C2C
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

6. Business-to-Business e-commerce – B2B
Business-to-Business e-Commerce involves both electronic business marketplaces and direct market links between businesses.
For example,
many companies offer secure Internet or extranet e-commerce catalog websites for their business customers and suppliers.
Some B2B e-commerce portals provide auction and exchange marketplaces for businesses.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

7. Business-to-Customer e-commerce – B2C
In Business-to-Customer e-Commerce, businesses develop attractive electronic marketplaces to sell products and services to consumers.
For example:
Many companies offer e-commerce websites that provide:
virtual storefronts and multimedia catalogs,
interactive order processing,
secure electronic payment systems,
online customer support.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

8. Customer-to-Customer e-Commerce– C2C
Customer-to-Customer e-Commerce involves customers selling directly with/to other customers.
The huge success of online auctions like eBay, where consumers can buy and sell with each other in an auction process at an auction website, makes this e-commerce model an important e-commerce business strategy.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

9. What is M-Commerce?
Mobile commerce (m-commerce) relies on the use of wireless devices, such as personal digital assistants, cell phones, and smart phones, to place orders and conduct business.
M-Commerce is the process of buying and selling through phones and other handheld devices.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

10. M-Commerce
Because m-commerce devices usually have a single user, they are ideal for accessing personal information and receiving targeted messages for a particular consumer.
Through m-commerce, companies can reach individual consumers to establish one-to-one marketing relationships and permit communication to occur whenever it is convenient (in short, any­time and anywhere)
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

11. Limitations of Wireless Devices
Some limitations of wireless devices include:
Small screen size,
Limited input capabilities,
Less processing speed
Low bandwidth
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

12. Wireless Application protocol - WAP
The wireless application protocol (WAP), is a standard set of specifications for Internet applications that run on handheld, wireless devices.
WAP is a key technology underlying m-commerce.
To address the limitations of mobile devices the industry has undertaken a standardization effort for their Internet communications-WAP
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

13. E-commerce Applications
E-commerce is being applied to the:
Retail and wholesale industries
Manufacturing industries
Marketing industries
Investment and finance industries
Auction industries.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

14. Retail and Wholesale
Electronic retailing - e-tailing - is the direct sale of products or services by businesses to consumers through electronic storefronts, which are typically designed around electronic catalog and shopping cart model.
A cybermall is a single Web site that offers many products and services at one Internet location-similar to a regular shopping mall.
An Internet cybermall pulls multiple buyers and sellers into one virtual place, easily reachable through a Web browser.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

15. Electronic Payment Systems
Electronic payment systems are a key component of the e-commerce infrastructure.
In an e-Commerce transaction actual payments are made in a variety of ways, including:
electronic cash;
electronic wallets;
credit, charge, debit, and smart cards.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

16. Electronic Cash
Electronic cash is an amount of money that is computerized, stored, and used as cash for e-commerce transactions.
e.g. PayPal
A consumer must open an account with a bank to obtain electronic cash.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

17. Electronic Cash
Whenever the consumer wants to withdraw electronic cash to make a purchase, he or she accesses the bank via the Internet and presents proof of identity.
After the bank verifies the consumer's identity, it issues the consumer the requested amount of electronic cash and deducts the same amount from the consumer's account.
The electronic cash is stored in the consumer's electronic wallet on his or her computer's hard drive, or on a smart card.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

18. Electronic Wallets
An electronic wallet holds credit card information, electronic cash, owner identification, and address information.
It provides this information at an e-commerce site's checkout counter.
When consumers click on items to purchase, they can then click on their electronic wallet to order the item, thus making online shopping much faster and easier.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

19. credit C ard
A credit card, such as Visa or MasterCard, has a preset spending limit based on the user's credit limit.
Each month the user can pay off a portion of the amount owed or the entire credit card balance.
Interest is charged on the unpaid amount.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

20. Charge Card
A charge card, such as American Express, carries no preset spending limit
The entire amount charged to the card is due at the end of the billing period
Charge cards do not involve lines of credit and do not accumulate interest charges.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

21. Debit cards
Debit cards look like credit cards or automated teller machine (ATM) cards, but they operate like cash or a personal check.
While a credit card is a way to "buy now, pay later," a debit card is a way to "buy now, pay now."
Debit cards allow you to spend only what is in your bank account.
It is a quick transaction between the merchant and your personal bank account.
When you use a debit card, your money is quickly deducted from your checking or savings account.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

22. Credit, charge, and debit cards
Credit, charge, and debit cards currently store limited information about you on a magnetic stripe.
This information is read each time the card is swiped to make a purchase.
The risk of bogus credit card transactions has slowed the growth of e-commerce by exposing merchants to substantial losses and making online shoppers nervous.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

23. The smart card
The smart card is a credit card-sized device with an embedded microchip to provide electronic memory and processing capability.
Smart cards can be used for a variety of purposes, including storing a user's financial facts, health insurance data, credit card numbers, and network identification codes and passwords.
They can also store monetary values for spending.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

24. The smart card – cont.
Smart cards are better protected from misuse than conventional credit, charge, and debit cards because the smart card information is encrypted.
Conventional credit, charge, and debit cards clearly show your account number on the face of the card.
The card number, along with a forged signature, is all that a thief needs to purchase items and charge them against your card.
A smart card makes credit theft practically impossible because a key to unlock the encrypted information is required, and there is no external number that a thief can identify and no physical signature a thief can forge.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

25. E-commerce versus M-commerce
Involves
Mode of connection
Mode of payment
E-Commerce
Buying and selling over the internet through PCs
Can be wireless or wired
Credit card, PayPal, etc.
M-Commerce
Buying and selling through phones and other handheld devices
Mainly wireless
Through a mobile telephone (reduction of mobile credit).
Lempogo Forgor © 2009

26. Which is more suitable for the Ghanaian business environment?
With the Ghanaian business environment, M-Commerce will be much suitable.
This is because most people own mobile phones and can easily be persuaded to do business online.
Apart from the fact that credit cards originating from Ghana are “Black-Listed” on the international markets, Most Ghanaian don’t use credit card and don’t feel secured on the internet due to “sakawa”.
Lempogo Forgor © 2009