E-Commerce: Fundamentals and Applications

1. E-Commerce: Fundamentals and Applications Chapter 13 : E-Service

2. Outline • Categories of E-Services • Web-Enabled Services • Matchmaking Services • Information-Selling on the Web • E-Entertainment • Auctions and Other Specialized Services

3. Categories of e-services • Categories of e-services: • Web enabling services that were previously provided by humans in branches and/or office agencies • E-services that provides matching services • E-services that sell information content of one sort or another • Entertainment e-services • Specialized e-services such as e-Auctions.

4. Web Enabled e-services • Previously provided by humans in branches and/or office agencies. • e-services: • save time and effort for the user • bring convenience and improve the quality of life. • reduce cost for the consumer • They include: • Banking • Stock Trading • Education

5. Match Making e-services • Greatest growth in E-Services. • An individual or business specifies his/her requirements in relation to the service. • E-commerce site then does a search over its own databases or over the Internet (using mobile agents) • The information is then returned to the e-service provider site • They include: • Jobs and Employment sites • e-Travel • e-Insurance • e-Loans

6. Selling Information on the Web • Sell information content of one sort or another. • Provide some information free. • Make money on the transactions • This group includes e-commerce sites that: • Do Online Publishing such as web based newspapers • Consultancy advice • Specialized financial or other information

7. e-Auction and other specialized e-services • To achieve the best possible price for items which sellers wish to sell • Seller puts up the items for sale but does not give a fixed price for it. • The item is then subject to a series of bids until a bid is acceptable and the item is sold. • The whole process is conducted by somebody called an auctioneer. • Types of auctions includes: • English Auction • Dutch Auction and • A price quantity pair auction

8. Forward auction Vs. reverse auction Forward auction • Increasing bid auctions on the Internet • The seller puts up an item for sale and specifies an acceptable minimum price • The item is then posted on the auction site • together with the minimum price • the bidding is kept open for a specified period • During this period, potential buyers bid for the item • The latest high bid is displayed.

9. Forward auction Vs. reverse auction (cont.) Reverse auction: • the seller puts up an item for sale at a high price • price of this item is progressively reduced until a potential buyer accepts the bid • items are then deemed to have been sold to the buyer. Alternative reverse auction: • Buyer puts a request for proposal (RFP) on a website • Sellers post items/services that would meet that request along with the price they would sell the items or services • Buyer accepts the lowest bid for the items that meet his goals

10. C2C e-auction sites • A consumer selling an item to another consumer • These auction sites can be: • generalized auction sites • specialized auction sites • agent based auction supporting sites • Generalized auction sites like eBay

11. B2B e-auction sites • Three models • Use of a liquidation broker to sell excess items. • the liquidation broker is essentially a third party auction site that does the auctioning for you • Use of your own web site to auction items. • Use of the auction facility on a Virtual Market site • These approaches will be increasingly used by business particularly if they are dealing with perishable commodities.