1 / 55

Electronic Commerce & Agents

Electronic Commerce & Agents Frank Dignum Utrecht University dignum@cs.uu.nl Overview Historical overview Definition of Electronic Commerce (EC) Examples of EC Electronic markets and auctions Agents The role(s) of agents in EC Conclusions Historical perspective (Big) calculators

libitha
Download Presentation

Electronic Commerce & Agents

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Electronic Commerce & Agents Frank Dignum Utrecht University dignum@cs.uu.nl

  2. Overview • Historical overview • Definition of Electronic Commerce (EC) • Examples of EC • Electronic markets and auctions • Agents • The role(s) of agents in EC • Conclusions

  3. Historical perspective • (Big) calculators • Central databases • distributed information and word processing • client/server connected databases • support of (administrative) internal processes (WFMS)

  4. Historical perspective • Support of internal communication (groupware) • Knowledge management • Support of external communication (Internet & WWW) • Support of external processes (Electronic commerce)

  5. Definition (?) Electronic Commerce is: Any form of business transaction in which the parties interact electronically rather than by physical exchanges or direct physical contact

  6. Commerce Information exchange Product/service/… exchange

  7. Information exchange • Partner/product search • negotiation, market, auction • contract • contract fulfilment (directives) • legal information • etc.

  8. Product/service exchange • (micro-)payment • (intangible) product • logistics of products and services • subscription mechanisms

  9. Stages of Business Transactions

  10. Support for stages

  11. business Consumer Public agencies business 12/22

  12. EC Applications • Supply chain management • Home shopping • Remote banking • On-line marketing and advertising • Distant learning • Procurement and purchasing • Video on demand

  13. Examples of EC (B-C) • Retail • Internet bookshop • CDNow • Shopping malls • Auctions • Collective buying

  14. Item watching at e-bay now

  15. Examples of EC (B-C) • Finance • ESI (stock market) • Electronic banking

  16. Publishing

  17. Examples of EC (B-B) • Business to business support • Maxtrad (business information) • MEMO (Mediating and Monitoring EC) • Secure contracts (ICC) • Bolero (electronic document support) • Markets • Automotive industry (collective buying) • Retail world • Insurance private exchange of virtual products

  18. Role of institutions • Facilitate the transactions • Provide efficient price discovery mechanism • Provide standard transaction protocols • Provide settlement mechanisms • Enhance trust through • Provision of info on potential partners • Legal provisions to back up contracts • Provide securities/guarantees • Provide regulations on behaviour during transactions and means to enforce them

  19. Infrastructure for electronic markets • Banking facilities • Communication • confidentiality • integrity • authentication • non-repudiation • Transfer and storage of products • Advertising

  20. Banking facilities • Different payment methods should be supported • Payment should be safe • Payment and delivery guaranteed

  21. Communication • Some common language should be used. • Constructs in the language should have a precise and formal meaning. • Note: currencies should be clear • Contracts should be legally binding. • Obligations should be visible

  22. Storage and transfer of goods • Physical products can be sold only once. Their digital representation can easily be copied and sold more than once. • Downloading of digital products should be possible. • Transport should be arranged for other products.

  23. Advertisement • How is advertisement arranged? • Blackboard? • Shopping mall? • One-on-one advertisement allowed? • Format of advertisements? • Payed advertisements? • Who can advertise?

  24. Types of markets • Direct transactions • shopping mall • classified ads • direct negotiation • Brokered transactions • distributors • brokers • auctions

  25. Types of markets II • Direct transactions • direct contact buyer and seller • less structured transactions • influence market (institution) smaller • Brokered transactions • controlled contact between buyer and seller • transaction protocol very strict • institution has total control

  26. Auctions • Only “negotiate” about price. • Fixed: • product specification • payment method • transport • delivery terms • etc.

  27. Auctions • Sealed auctions • First priced sealed bid • Vickrey • Sealed double auction • Open auctions • Dutch auction • English auction

  28. First price sealed bid • Rules (protocol): • Bidders submit a single sealed bid before deadline • Outcome: • Winner is highest bid at bid price • Optimal strategy: • Bid just below private value of item • With N bidders bid: v(N-1)/N

  29. Vickrey • Rules (protocol): • Bidders submit a single sealed bid before deadline • Outcome: • Winner is highest bid at second highest price • Optimal strategy: • Bid private value of item

  30. Sealed double auction • Rules (protocol): • Bidders and sellers submit a single sealed bid before deadline • Outcome: • Auctioneer determines a single market-clearing price and matches buyers and sellers • Optimal strategy: • Bid private value of item

  31. Dutch auction • Rules (protocol): • Auctioneer calls out descending price. • Bidder calls out a bid • Outcome: • Winner is first bidder to call out at price bid • Optimal strategy: • Bid just below private value of item

  32. English auction • Rules (protocol): • Bidders successively raise bid for item until one bidder remains • Outcome: • Winner is last bidder remaining at price of second-highest bidder • Optimal strategy: • Bid until private value of item, then drop out

  33. Non-private value auctions • Value of item depends at least partly on the value others give it. • Resellable products (tasks) • treasury bills • Strategy now also depends on expectation or knowledge of the value others give the product.

  34. Other issues on auctions • Bidder collusion • Lying auctioneer • Interrelated auctions

  35. Examples of auctions • http://www.wehkamp.nl/Veiling/ • http://www.ebay.com/aw/ • http://www.onsale.com/ • http://www.band-x.com/ • http://www.auctionconnect.lycos.com/

  36. Technologies in EC • EDI • WWW • Multimedia • Work Flow Management • Agents • Electronic payment, smart cards, etc. • ...

  37. Agents • Agent properties: • autonomous • pro-active • reactive • social ability • learning • Agent functions: • information gathering and filtering • negotiation (simple like auction or ContractNet) • monitor long-term processes

  38. Agents and electronic commerce • Agents for support: • information gathering and comparison (e.g. shopbots: firefly) • logistics • Agents as delegates: • only when trust is not important or easy • Price and risk are low • Process well defined

  39. Agent operated markets • http://auction.eecs.umich.edu/ • http://www.iiia.csic.es/Projects/fishmarket/ • Stock market • Power trade

  40. Agents for negotiation • Limited use due to complexity, but • Very useful for e.g. auctions with: • “Simple” world model • Predetermined interactions • Fixed rules • One shot relations • centralised infrastructure

  41. Agents for negotiation Fully automated AMEC first in situations where: • Interactions are fast • Interactions are repeated • Trade is of relative small value • Process is repeated over long periods • Products are easy to specify Examples: stock trade, power trade and telecom

More Related