Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

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Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

1) Warigon is a retail company and they want to automate the payment system. Assume that you are the design engineer of that company. What are the factors that you would consider while designing the electronic payment system?
The following factors like non technical in nature, that must be consider while designing the electronic payment system for the retail company to automate the payment system: Privacy. A user expects to trust in a secure system; just as the telephone is a safe and private medium free of wiretaps and hackers, electronic communication must merit equal trust. Security. A secure system verifies the identity of two-party transactions through "user authentication" and reserves flexibility to restrict information/services through access control. Tomorrow's bank robbers will need no getaway cars-just a computer terminal, the price of a telephone call, and a little ingenuity. Millions of dollars have been embezzled by computer fraud. No systems are yet fool-proof, although designers are concentrating closely on security. Intuitive interfaces. The payment interface must be as easy to use as a telephone. Generally speaking, users value convenience more than anything. Database integration. With home banking, for example, a customer wants to play with all his accounts. To date, separate accounts have been stored on separate databases. The challenge before banks is to tie these databases together and to allow customers access to any of them while keeping the data up-to-date and error free. Brokers. A "network banker" -someone to broker goods and services, settle conflicts, and facilitate financial transactions electronically-must be in place. Pricing. One fundamental issue is how to price payment system service. For example, should subsidies be used to encourage users to shift from one form of payment to another, from cash to bank payments, from paper: based to e-cash. The problem with subsidies is the potential waste of resources, as money may be invested in systems that will not be used. Thus investment in systems not only might not be recovered but substantial ongoing operational subsidies will also be necessary. On the other hand, it must be recognized that without subsidies, it is difficult to price all services affordably. Standards. Without standards, the welding of different payment users in different networks and different systems is impossible. Standards en at interoperability, giving users the ability to buy and receive information, regardless of which bank is managing their money. None of these hurdles are insurmountable. Most will be jumped within t next few years. These technical problems, experts hope, will be solved as technology is improved and experience is gained. The biggest question concern how customers will take to a paperless world.

2) List the advantages and disadvantages of ecommerce.

Advantage of E-Commerce Some of the key strengths of using the Internet for businesses include the following:

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

1. 24 x 7 operation. Round-the-clock operation is an expensive proposition Web Client TCP/IP Web Server In the 'brick-and-mortar' world, while it is natural in the 'click-and conquer' world. 2. Global reach. The net being inherently global, reaching global customers is relatively easy on the net compared to the world of bricks. 3. Cost of acquiring, serving and retaining customers. It is relatively cheaper to acquire new customers over the net; thanks to 24 x 7 operations and its global reach. Through innovative tools of 'push' technology, it is also possible to retain customers' loyalty with minimal investments. 4. An extended enterprise is easy to build. In today's world every enterprise is part of the 'connected economy'; as such, you need to extend your enterprise all the way to your suppliers and business partners like distributors, retailers and ultimately your end-customers. The Internet provides an effective (often less expensive) way to extend your enterprise beyond the narrow confines of your own organization. Tools like ERP, SCM and CRM easily deployed over internet, permitting amazing efficiency in time needed to market, customer loyalty, on-time delivery and eventually profitability. 5. Disintermediation. Using the Internet, one can directly approach the customers and suppliers, cutting down on the number of levels and in the process, cutting down the costs. 6. Improved customer service to your clients. It results in higher satisfaction and more sales. 7. Power to provide the 'best of both the worlds'. It benefits the traditional business side-byside with the Internet tools. 8. A technology-based customer interface. In a brick- and-mortar business, customers conduct transactions either face-to-face or over the phone with store clerks, account managers, or other individuals. In contrast, the customer interface in the electronic environment is a 'screento-face' interaction. This includes PC based monitors, ATM machines, PDAs, or other electronic devices such as the DoCopMo iMode in Japan and the Nokia 7100 in Europe. Operationally, these types of interfaces place an enormous responsibility on the organization to capture and represent the customer experience because there is often no opportunity for direct human intervention during the encounter. If the interface is designed correctly, the customer will have no need for a simultaneous or follow-up phone conversation. Thus, the 'screen-to- - customer' interface has the potential to both increase sales and decrease costs. When the interface does not work, not only is the revenue lost but the organization also incurs the technology costs. Thus, a poorly designed customer interface has both negative revenue and cost implications.

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

9. The customer controls the interaction. At most websites, the customer is in control during screen-to-face interaction, in that the Web largely employs a 'self service' model for managing commerce or community based interaction. The customer controls the search process, the time spent on various sites, the degree of price/product comparison, the people with whom he or she comes in contact, and the decision to buy. In a face-to-face interchange, the control can rest with either the buyer/seller or the community member. At a minimum, the seller attempts to influence the buying process by directing the potential buyer to different products or locations in the store, overcoming price objections and reacting in real item to competitive offering. The virtual store can attempt to shape the customer experience with uniquely targeted promotions, reconfiguration of storefronts to reflect past search behavior, recommendations based on previous behavior of other similar users, and access to proprietary information. 10. Knowledge of customer behavior. While the customer controls the interaction, the firm has unprecedented access to observe and track individual consumer behavior. Companies, through a third-party measurement firm such as Vividence and Accrue, can track a host of behaviors on web sites visited, length of stays on a site, page views on a site, contents of wish lists and shopping carts, purchases, dollar amounts of purchases, repeat purchases behavior, conversion rates of visitors who have completed transactions and other metrics. This level of customer behavior tracking, in contrast with tracking consumer attitudes, knowledge or behavioral intentions, is not possible in the brick-and-mortar world. Armed with this information, companies can provide one-to-one customization of their offerings. In addition, companies can dynamically publish their storefronts on the Web to configure offerings to individual customers. In a tactical embellishment, electronic retailers can welcome a user back by name. In more strategic terms, an online business can actually position offers and merchandise in ways that uniquely appeal to specific customers. 11. Network economics. In information intensive industries, a key competitive battleground centers on the emergence of industry standard products, services, components, and or architecture. Network effects, as described by Metcalfe's law, can best be expressed as the situation where the value of a product or service rises as a function of the number of other users who are using the product. A classic example is the fax machine of other people who adopt the technology. A key characteristic of network's economic is positive feedback, that is, as the installed base grows, more and more users are likely to adopt the technology because of the installed base. Many commercial wares in the digital economy revolve around setting a standard, growing the installed base and attempting to 'lock-in' customers to the standard because of rising switching costs. This applies to both hardware (e.g. cable modems versus DSL lines) and software (e.g. MP3 versus streaming audio). A key result of network effects and positive feedback is 'increasing return' economies as compared to the traditional decreasing-returns model often

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

associated with the brick-and-mortar world. It also means that the traditional realities of marketing such as the importance of word-of-mouth (WOM) among potential customers, become greatly magnified in this new environment. It is this turbo charged WOM phenomenon that makes viral marketing a reality for consumer-oriented e-commerce business such as ICQ in instant messaging system. Disadvantages of E-commerce Some business processes may never lend themselves to electronic commerce. For example, perishable foods, and high-cost items (such as jeweler, antiques, and the like), may be difficult to inspect from a remote location. Most of disadvantages are from the newness and rapid pace of underlying technologies, which would disappear as e-commerce matures and becomes more and more available to and gets accepted by the general population. Many products and services require a critical mass of potential buyers who are well-equipped and willing to buy through the Internet. Businesses often calculate the return-on-investment before committing to any new technology. This has been difficult to do with e-commerce, since the costs and benefits have been hard to quantify. Costs, which are a function of technology, can change dramatically even during shortlived ecommerce implementation projects, because the underlying technologies are changing rapidly. Many firms have had trouble in recruiting and retaining employees with technological, design, and business process skills needed to create an effective e-commerce atmosphere. Another problem facing firms that want to do business on the Internet is the difficulty of integrating existing databases and transaction-processing software designed for traditional commerce into a software that enables e-commerce. In addition to technology and software issues, many businesses face cultural and legal obstacles in conducting e-commerce. Some consumers are still somewhat fearful of sending their credit card numbers over the Internet. Other consumers are simply resistant to change and are uncomfortable viewing merchandise on a computer screen rather than in person. The legal environment in which e-commerce is conducted is full of unclear and conflicting laws. In many cases, government regulators have not kept up with the trends in technologies.

3) Discuss the working concepts of EDI

Preparation of electronic documents The first step in any sequence of Electronic Data Interchange is the collection and organization of data by ABCs internal application systems. Instead of printing out purchase orders ABCs system builds an electronic file of purchase orders. Outbound translation:

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)
The electronic file is then translated into a standard format. The result is a data file that contains a series of structured transactions related to the purchase orders. ABCs EDI translation software will produce a separate file for each manufacturer. Communication: ABCs computer automatically makes a connection with its Value Added Network, and transmits all the files that have been prepared. Each file is processed by the VAN and is routed to the appropriate electronic mailbox for each manufacturer. Several manufacturers do not subscribe to the ABCs VAN, so files are automatically routed to the appropriate network service.4. Inbound translation: The manufacturers retrieve the files from their electronic mailboxes at their convenience, and reverse the process that ABC went through, translating the file from the standard format into the specific format required by the manufacturer's application software.5. Processing electronic documents: Each manufacturer will process the purchase orders received in their internal application systems. In the example, we saw the EDI process between a supplier and its vendors. The process will be similar in a wide variety of other business relationships, whether for goods or services. Now let us take more detailed look at these steps, to get a better idea of the range of possibilities and situations where EDI can be submitted. 1. Preparation of electronic documents: The most demanding part of implementing EDI in any business is preparing the electronic documents. There are a number of different methods to generate electronic documents as there are many different numbers of businesses and applications. Some methods of generating electronic documents are: Transcribing data: Data from printed reports is manually entered into a small computer based software package buyers. Most small businesses need to communicate information electronically to their customers or vendors, but they do not have the computing resources to automatically generate information. A computer might be the only computing resource. In this case, a relatively inexpensive "off-the-shelf" EDI software packages can be used. This requires only a modem and a computer. Most of these products include options to allow users to generate entry forms, permitting them to enter information via the keyboard. Reformatting existing computer based data: Database products or spread sheets are commonly used by small businesses. These data processing tools can be used to export data for EDI transactions. It is also possible with inexpensive commercially available computer software to read electronic report files from other applications and re-format them into data files that can be used by EDI packages. Updating existing applications: Companies that have active application systems can consider having the applications enhanced to generate output in a format that could be easily translated. Custom software development is required for this approach. The enhancement of the existing software depends on the extent of the existing software portfolio. Generation of purchase order data is done by making use of a program to read existing files from a purchasing system and extracting the necessary information. The existing software can be modified to create new output files. Purchasing software: If a company wants to purchase software that ensures that it will meet their EDI requirements

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)
then it should be predetermined as an evaluation requirement. Many software vendors include such capability in packages of basic software. If the capabilities are not included, then the vendor can also provide the additional functionality at a cost that will be less expensive than in-house modifications. From the above discussion, we can arrive at a conclusion that participation in EDI trading partnerships can be accomplished by any business. It does not require a heavy investment in computing resources, and a sophisticated portfolio of business applications software to begin using EDI. If a company has already developed its business applications, the capabilities of that existing software can be enhanced to provide even more benefits. 2. Outbound translation EDI can be simply defined as electronic exchange of data in a mutually agreed-upon format. There are numerous application software packages creating purchase orders, all constructed for specific needs and based on different industry and data requirements. Hence, there arises a need to provide a common definition of data formats. However, the difficulty of accomplishing this is evident. Twenty different companies will almost certainly yield twenty different definitions of how a part number should be formatted. This issue could be avoided in a simple one-to-one EDI relationship by providing the schematic layout of the data to the receiver, and simply transmitting the data to the receiver without any translation. The receiver can alter and reformat the data to suit their purpose. The sender and the receiver will agree upon a common file definition for their use. Many EDI relationships started out using similar methods. However, if we consider the example, ABC has several hundred suppliers, and the chance of getting them all to agree upon ABCs definition of a purchase order format is quite small, particularly if those suppliers are also dealing with hundreds of other customers. There has to be a unique set of rules for each partnership. The resulting confusion would quickly drive customers and suppliers to return to paper forms regardless of the benefits or savings. The solution to this would be to have a comprehensive set of national and international standards. The standards are developed by specific industry or business groups. The standards provided commonly agree upon formats for use in virtually every type of business communication. Using these types of standards, information can be organized in a transaction format with definitions for the format. An internal system or a separate software package can be used to translate data into a standard format. Irrespective of the means used for translation, the end result of the process will be an output file generated in specific format that any subscriber to the standard can understand. 3. Communication Transferring data in a one-to-one EDI relationship can be as easy as connecting a modem and transferring the file. This would become impractical with more number of vendors. If a manufacturer has to send out hundreds of purchase orders each week to hundreds of suppliers, it would require many employees and a very tight schedule, to transmit all of their purchase orders. Even if the manufacturer had an extensive private network available for successful transmission, it is necessary that all vendors be linked into the network. These problems can be avoided by a connection allowing receivers to access the senders systems and collect the necessary data, but it poses a serious security issue. With careful control it will work on limited base including separate hardware to isolate the system being accessed by third parties. Some companies might accept these approaches, but this would lead to chaos, and once again most EDI users would quickly return to preparing printed documents, so that they could rely on the mail to distribute all their documents. To overcome these issues, EDI users can

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)
make use of third-party network services, commonly referred to as "Value-added Networks" or VAN's. The VAN works as a clearing house for electronic transactions. It serves as a private electronic mail service. A company can send all of their purchase order files to a single destination. Each vendors data is routed to their own electronic mailbox by the VAN. If the recipient of the file does not subscribe to the particular VAN used by the sender then the transaction can be routed from one VAN to the other. The security issue is resolved by using a VAN. It allows trading partners to trade information, but at the same time avoid giving information away. Both the parties cannot access each others systems. However, they can still freely exchange agreed-upon information. The implementation process can be made even easier by using a full service VAN, which provide other services, including translation, standards compliance checking, and EDI software. 4. Inbound translation The inbound translation process is the reverse of outbound translation. Once the purchase orders have been transferred to the electronic mailboxes by the VAN, the vendor can retrieve them at their convenience. The files will be translated into a specific format required by the vendor's application. This is called as de-map process. The usage of a standard format makes it easier for the vendor to recognize, which company the transaction is from, and then which type of transaction it is. Once the translation is complete, then it can be made usable in any desired format to the receiver's internal applications. 5. Processing the electronic document The vendor base will range from large corporations with sophisticated application systems to small shops with only a modem and a computer to a large manufacturer. A vendor with a highly automated process may process the information directly into their applications and act upon it without any interference. The small business may print reports. In both the case, and regardless of the scale, EDI can be successfully implemented. The final step is to close the loop by transmitting an acknowledgment transaction back to the vendor.

4) Give examples for different models of ecommerce and explain what is the benefit of that model in your example.
Business Models Let us now discuss the various business models that have emerged since the birth of ecommerce. Introduction to business models A business model can be defined as the particular way in which a business organization ensures that it generates income, one that includes the choice of offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, trading practices, and operational processes and policies.

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

Developments in computing technology and communication systems have not only created many new business opportunities, but they have also created new ways of doing business. Now, let us discuss the most common business models in e-commerce. The merchant A merchant is a dealer of goods and services. The merchant provides the product information on a website and he also gives an online ordering mechanism. Consumers can select the products which they want to buy and place an order. The product price is either fixed or negotiable and the customer can either collect the ordered products from the shop or get it delivered. Infact, the merchant operates in almost the same way as a traditional brick-andmortar shop-owner. This business model is most appropriate for dealing in physical goods and services such as books, computers or a pizza delivery service. The only advantage in this model is that the merchant can directly reach the end users and sell to them without engaging wholesalers or retailers. Click-and-mortar merchants Click-and-mortar shops combine a website with a physical store. The advantage with this models that they have a physical store to promote the website. In this model, consumers can return unwanted or defective products simply by visiting the stores website instead of mailing it to a web site operator. Build to order merchants Under this model, customers have the advantage of buying goods or products that are made to order. Build to order merchants not only offer pre-manufactured or developed products for sale, but they also offer customization of products according to the requirements of the customers. Customers can specify the features and benefits of the products that they require and the product is assembled individually and shipped to the customer. This model is best suited for electronic and computer products, which can be customized to requirements. The service provider For some services, like a pizza delivery service, where a pay-per-item type of payment is followed, the merchant model is quite appropriate. However, many Internet-based services cannot easily be offered this way. This is because, quite often, it is difficult to define the product" that is sold, or to set a price for this product, as they are information based. For example, a news site offering the service of access to its archive, might find it difficult to set a proper price for its services. To overcome this problem, e-commerce marketers offer advertising- based access to their service. This way, they do not charge the end customers, but recover the costs through revenue from the advertisers. However, this strategy does not seem to be very popular, as only very few advertisement-driven sites are able to earn sufficient income.

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

Subscription-based access Under this model, businesses provide subscription-based access to their service. A user usually pays a fixed amount per month or year and in return gets unlimited access to the service. One more option would be to pay a monthly base fee and pay a surcharge for all access beyond certain limit. This model is most suitable for services like databases with articles, news, and patents and online games or adult websites. However, this model has not proved to be profitable, as users find their own ways to access the content without paying the subscription. To overcome this problem, certain service providers make only some portions of the articles available for preview. The customers get to read the complete articles only after payment of the necessary charges. Prepaid access In this scheme, after paying certain amount of money users get access to the service for certain amount of time. After the amount is spent, the user has to renew or prepay again for further access. The best example for this business model is usage of smart cards. The broker Brokers create markets by bringing buyers and sellers together and helping them in transactions. Brokers charge for every transaction, usually as a percentage of the price of the transaction. Examples are classified ads, group buying and bounties. The sales representatives Sales representative usually works on a basis of commission that for selling each item they take commission from producer. On the web, this model is known as affiliate programs or referral fees. In this someone creates a website on some specific topic and adds links to products on retailer site which are related to the topic, so that the visitors can buy those products. For example, a music reviewer can add a link in a review to an online music store where the users get an authority to order the CD being reviewed. If the user likes the review then he can follow the link and buy the CD then the retailer pays a commission to the reviewer for referring the site. Anyone who can build a website can link to a product and if everything goes well, then they can make money. This model describes the popularity and usage of the World-Wide Web. The advertiser Advertising driven sites are one of the key foundations of e-commerce. The principle behind this is simple and well known. A site gives free access to some products and shows advertisements on every page. When the user clicks on advertisement an advertisement page appears. The advertiser has to pay the site operator for advertising the product. Targeted advertising

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

We all know that an advertisement on the site will get high exposure because those advertisements are targeted to the site visitors. While advertising on the net, it is possible to target the advertisement to the purpose of the program for example, football games can show billboards in the game to give a look of the real playing field. The site operator earns more money by placing targeted advertisements. Free access Let us try to understand this by looking into some examples below: Free web space providers usually provide advertising banners at the top or bottom of the users sites or as a separate, pop-up window. Free Internet access providers show advertisements on the starting page so that the user can have a look at the advertisements when they browse something or when they go online. Advertisements and electronic greeting cards are also sent with a personal message. From the above examples it is clear that in this model the users are given access to something for free. And with this free access product, shops or sites are also advertised. The auction room This model follows the guidelines followed in an auction sale the only difference being that the auction is carried on online. There are basically two types of auctions open auction and reverse auction. Open auction: In this, the product is repeatedly bid by the participants. The participant who places the highest bid is awarded the product. Through networks such as the internet, it is possible for many bidders to participate at the same time in one auction. The participants of an online auction have to enter an initial bid, an amount with which to increase the bid and a maximum amount. Whenever some other participant places a higher bid, the system then automatically raises the bid with the indicated amount until any of the bidders have won the auction. Reverse auctions: In this, the price is initially set at a very high level and the price is dropped at regular intervals. Participants can bid the price at which they want to buy and should also know the fact that there may be chances of bidding by someone else at a higher price. This model is well known for bidding for high-priced items like automobiles or airline tickets. The virtual mall A virtual mall is a site that hosts many retailers, service providers, agents and other businesses. The virtual mall operator usually charges a fee for managing and maintaining the retailers shop and for including him in the site-wide inventory. Additionally, the virtual mall operator may also charge a fee for every transaction the seller performs. Virtual malls can operate within the framework of a larger site, such as a portal. We will be discussing about the portals in the next sub section. The virtual mall can act as a mediator between individual customer and the retailer, for example guaranteeing the full refund if a merchant is unable to deliver the product on time.

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

The virtual community A virtual community is a site which has a gathered group of users who all have interest on common topic and who work together and share their knowledge. Users feel highly loyal to the site and always visit the site as this site is created because of their interest. This offers possibilities for advertising. A specialized type of virtual community is the knowledge network or expert site, where people, layman and expert, share their expertise and experiences In these sites, users can get their questions answered and they can even raise the topics for discussion. Example of this type of community may be Usenet newsgroups. A simple method to monitor a virtual community is to register for free access to the website. This allows intersession tracking of customers site usage patterns and thus produces data of higher value in targeted advertising promotions. Registration can be made more attractive and interesting by giving limited access to unregistered users and by allowing the registered users to modify the site after registration or by allowing them to participate in chat or message boards. The infomediary An infomediary collects, analyses and sells information on customers and their buying behavior to other producers who want to know about these customers. Infomediary usually offers something free for customers such as free internet access or free web access. This is very useful as this allows the infomediary to control and observe the users online activities. The information which is collected by the infomediary is very important for marketing purposes. Usually an infomediary makes money with an advertising-based model, in which the advertisements are established by the information that the infomediary has gathered. The infomediary model is helpful when it is used together with a virtual community model or virtual mall, as these models offer the ability to collect essential information.

5) Write short notes on a. False and malicious sites

The basic idea behind building the false or malicious web sites are for stealing visitors IDs and passwords, stealing credit card information, spying on a visitors hard drive, uploading files from visitors hard drive and so on. Users should be careful from these kinds of websites and users should never reveal their personal information like phone numbers, address and so on, to any such kind of websites. Users should never reveal their credit or debit card numbers, login IDs, passwords and other information.

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)

b. Stealing visitors credit card information Malicious web sites may also be built and temporarily termed as legal businesses for the purpose of stealing visitors credit card information. We can explain this with an example consider a malicious web site which is built to sell and deliver a gift to anywhere in India on Diwali. However, such sites vanish suddenly, and this is identified only after Diwali, with no clue to where to find the site. Such kinds of websites are just built to steal the visitors credit card information. Setting up such false Web sites to cheat users into passing along vital information like passwords or credit card numbers is called spoofing. c. Stealing customers data from selling agent and internet service providers Most of the customers who purchase goods and services on internet pay through their credit cards or cyber cash. Such customers also need to take the support of their internet service providers for accessing the internet. The credit card information is stored by the internet service provider and selling agents and many times hackers are successful in breaking into the systems of selling agents and internet service providers and obtain the information on customers credit cards d. The use of cookies:
The use of cookies to get user information is a threat to the privacy of users. Cookies are pieces of information that a web site collects and transfers to a visitors hard drive for record keeping purposes[1]. Java Script programs related with web sites record information revealed by a visitor on request by the web browser. When a visitor visits any false or malicious websites for the first time, many web sites ask visitors to register themselves with the web site and when the visitors fill the information, it is recorded in a text (.txt) file along with a registration number assigned by the site. This file is stored on the visitors hard drive. The Web site server also stores the registration number and some other information such as the user ID and password if the user gives all this information. When the user visits the site again and again, the cookies record the details on the web links examined or clicked on into the server. Based on the web browser used, the cookies may be placed in a single file for different websites. Cookies cannot be used for life long. Depending upon the objectives of the website, cookies are assigned the expiration dates which may be of very short period or very long period. Recent versions of web browsers are designed in such a way that the user gets the authority to accept or reject the cookies. This is done in order to provide privacy to the users. In the recent versions users also have the authority to edit a cookie file to remove the cookies, so that the user can visit web sites without any fear

6) Define Mcommerce. Describe the areas of potential growth and future of mCommerce.

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0039 ecommerce -4 Credits (Book ID: B1325)
M-commerce does not have any precise definition. M-Commerce and its definition vary from every individual. M-Commerce is called as next generation e-commerce. The process of buying and selling of goods and services through wireless devices such as cellular telephone and personal digital assistants (PDAs) is called as m-commerce. The newly appearing technology behind m-commerce is based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). The traditional e-commerce is replaced by the m-commerce. Anywhere anytime is the important feature of m-commerce that leads us to implement m-commerce in place of e-commerce. Areas of potential growth and future for m-commerce: New Channels of banking services are emerging and are working on m-commerce technologies. These new channels can facilitate deposits, payments, transfers and withdrawals. If the operational costs of the banking sector in m-commerce is reduced drastically then, efficiency in the transaction processing can be increased. The travel industry is concentrating more on m-commerce. m-Commerce will allow customers to schedule, reschedule, plan trips through their mobile devices instantly before they give a second thought. Traders in the retail sector focus more on how to locate customers more easily and will be able to provide secure payment methods through mobile digital certificates or voice recognition. Some of the todays and up-coming attributes of m-commerce are discussed in the table

Attributer Today

Emerging Attributer

Ubiquity-Independent access anytime Reachability-access on your demand from anywhere Form Factor-use the device that suits their need and user preference Security-use of means such as SSL, provide personal security, privacy of communication and data integrity

Localization-merging capabilities and sharing cost between retailers or region wishing to push or promote mutual services and products Instant Connectivity- access to application on demand using ,multiple technology and more network option Personalization-use of existing technology to receive what you want when you want and how you want.in addition retailer has more direct access to individual user as device are more personal than a pc or TV that may have multiple users