E-business (electronic business), derived from such terms as "e-mail" and "e-commerce," is the conduct of business on the Internet,

not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. One of the first to use the term was IBM, when, in October, 1997, it launched a thematic campaign built around the term. Today, major corporations are rethinking their businesses in terms of the Internet and its new culture and capabilities. Companies are using the Web to buy parts and supplies from other companies, to collaborate on sales promotions, and to do joint research. Exploiting the convenience, availability, and worldwide reach of the Internet, many companies, such as Amazon.com, the book sellers, have already discovered how to use the Internet successfully. Increasingly, much direct selling (or e-tailing) is taking place on the Internet of computer-related equipment and software. One of the first to report sales in the millions of dollars directly from the Web was Dell Computer. Travel bookings directly or indirectly as a result of Web research are becoming significant. Custom-orderable golf clubs and similar specialties are considered good prospects for the immediate future. With the security built into today's browsers and with digital certificates now available for individuals and companies from Verisign, a certificate issuer, much of the early concern about the security of business transaction on the Web has abated and e-business by whatever name is accelerating. IBM considers the development of intranets and extranets to be part of e-business. e-business can be said to include e-service, the provision of services and tasks over the Internet by application service providers (ASP). eBusiness (electronic business) is using technology to improve your business processes. This includes managing internal processes such as human resources, financial and administration systems, as well as external processes such as sales and marketing, supply of goods and services, and customer relationships. The way in which you manage your business relationships has not changed, but the way they are referred to when using eBusiness tools has. They are becoming more often known as:

business to business (B2B) business to consumer (B2C) (also known as eCommerce) government to consumer (G2C) government to business (G2B).

Activities using eBusiness tools include:

trading of goods or services online, such as eProcurement, primarily through websites electronic retailing (eTailing) use of the Internet, intranets or extranets to conduct research and manage business activities website marketing

online communications, such as email online training for staff (eLearning).

eBusiness tools include:

mobile phones personal digital assistants (PDAs) electronic data interchange file transfer facsimile video conferencing, Internet, intranets and extranets.

eBusiness and your business

eBusiness is more than having a website for your business. Using eBusiness tools can make your administrative and operational activities more efficient through:

accessing the Internet to source information about your industry, suppliers and products and for general research the use of electronic transaction, for example online banking, financial management, stock control and compliance reporting to regulatory bodies such as the Australian Taxation Office purchasing and selling without a web presence by using email or efax human resources management, through the development of an intranet for news, policies, staff movements and enabling staff to apply for leave and access their personnel information online customer relationship management, which integrates front and back office functions of an organisation through electronic capabilities using appropriate project management software.

Advantages
The benefits of implementing eBusiness tools is not so much in the use of technology, as in the streamlining of business processes and the ease in finding new markets. Some of the advantages include:

quicker and easier communications strengthened marketing capabilities and reach increased hours of operation (a website provides 24 hour 7 day information to existing and potential customers) access to broader information through research

reducing the cost of doing business by lowering transaction costs and increasing efficient methods for payment, such as using online banking and reducing stationery and postage costs the opportunities to adopt new business models and develop tailored customer support.

What is B2B e-commerce?

B2B e-commerce is simply defined as e-commerce between companies. This is the type of ecommerce that deals with relationships between and among businesses. About 80% of ecommerce is of this type, and most experts predict that B2B e-commerce will continue to grow faster than the B2C segment. The B2B market has two primary components: e-frastructure and emarkets. E-frastructure is the architecture of B2B, primarily consisting of the following:

logistics - transportation, warehousing and distribution (e.g., Procter and Gamble); application service providers - deployment, hosting and management of packaged software from a central facility (e.g., Oracle and Linkshare); outsourcing of functions in the process of e-commerce, such as Web-hosting, security and customer care solutions (e.g., outsourcing providers such as eShare, NetSales, iXL Enterprises and Universal Access); auction solutions software for the operation and maintenance of real-time auctions in the Internet (e.g., Moai Technologies and OpenSite Technologies); content management software for the facilitation of Web site content management and delivery (e.g., Interwoven and ProcureNet); and Web-based commerce enablers (e.g., Commerce One, a browser-based, XML-enabled purchasing automation software).

E-markets are simply defined as Web sites where buyers and sellers interact with each other and conduct transactions.10 The more common B2B examples and best practice models are IBM, Hewlett Packard (HP), Cisco and Dell. Cisco, for instance, receives over 90% of its product orders over the Internet. Most B2B applications are in the areas of supplier management (especially purchase order processing), inventory management (i.e., managing order-ship-bill cycles), distribution management (especially in the transmission of shipping documents), channel management (i.e., information dissemination on changes in operational conditions), and payment management (e.g., electronic payment systems or EPS).11

What is B2C e-commerce?

Business-to-consumer e-commerce, or commerce between companies and consumers, involves customers gathering information; purchasing physical goods (i.e., tangibles such as books or consumer products) or information goods (or goods of electronic material or digitized content, such as software, or e-books); and, for information goods, receiving products over an electronic network.12 It is the second largest and the earliest form of e-commerce. Its origins can be traced to online retailing (or e-tailing).13 Thus, the more common B2C business models are the online retailing companies such as Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, Beyond.com, Barnes and Noble and ToysRus. Other B2C examples involving information goods are E-Trade and Travelocity. The more common applications of this type of e-commerce are in the areas of purchasing products and information, and personal finance management, which pertains to the management of personal investments and finances with the use of online banking tools (e.g., Quicken).14 eMarketer estimates that worldwide B2C e-commerce revenues will increase from US$59.7 billion in 2000 to US$428.1 billion by 2004. Online retailing transactions make up a significant share of this market. eMarketer also estimates that in the Asia-Pacific region, B2C revenues, while registering a modest figure compared to B2B, nonetheless went up to $8.2 billion by the end of 2001, with that figure doubling at the end of 2002-at total worldwide B2C sales below 10%. B2C e-commerce reduces transactions costs (particularly search costs) by increasing consumer access to information and allowing consumers to find the most competitive price for a product or service. B2C e-commerce also reduces market entry barriers since the cost of putting up and maintaining a Web site is much cheaper than installing a brick-and-mortar structure for a firm. In the case of information goods, B2C e-commerce is even more attractive because it saves firms from factoring in the additional cost of a physical distribution network. Moreover, for countries with a growing and robust Internet population, delivering information goods becomes increasingly feasible.

What is B2G e-commerce?

Business-to-government e-commerce or B2G is generally defined as commerce between companies and the public sector. It refers to the use of the Internet for public procurement, licensing procedures, and other government-related operations. This kind of e-commerce has two features: first, the public sector assumes a pilot/leading role in establishing e-commerce; and second, it is assumed that the public sector has the greatest need for making its procurement system more effective.15 Web-based purchasing policies increase the transparency of the procurement process (and reduces the risk of irregularities). To date, however, the size of the B2G e-commerce market as a component of total e-commerce is insignificant, as government e-procurement systems remain undeveloped.

What is C2C e-commerce?

Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce or C2C is simply commerce between private individuals or consumers. This type of e-commerce is characterized by the growth of electronic marketplaces and online auctions, particularly in vertical industries where firms/businesses can bid for what they want from among multiple suppliers.16 It perhaps has the greatest potential for developing new markets. This type of e-commerce comes in at least three forms:

auctions facilitated at a portal, such as eBay, which allows online real-time bidding on items being sold in the Web; peer-to-peer systems, such as the Napster model (a protocol for sharing files between users used by chat forums similar to IRC) and other file exchange and later money exchange models; and classified ads at portal sites such as Excite Classifieds and eWanted , Pakwheels.com (an interactive, online marketplace where buyers and sellers can negotiate and which features Buyer Leads & Want Ads).

Consumer-to-business (C2B) transactions involve reverse auctions, which empower the consumer to drive transactions. A concrete example of this when competing airlines gives a traveler best travel and ticket offers in response to the travelers post that she wants to fly from New York to San Francisco.

Ecommerce definition and types of ecommerce

Ecommerce (e-commerce) or electronic commerce, a subset of ebusiness, is the purchasing, selling, and exchanging of goods and services over computer networks (such as the Internet) through which transactions or terms of sale are performed electronically. Contrary to popular belief, ecommerce is not just on the Web. In fact, ecommerce was alive and well in business to business transactions before the Web back in the 70s via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) through VANs (Value-Added Networks). Ecommerce can be broken into four main categories: B2B, B2C, C2B, and C2C.

B2B (Business-to-Business) Companies doing business with each other such as manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. Pricing is based on quantity of order and is often negotiable. B2C (Business-to-Consumer) Businesses selling to the general public typically through catalogs utilizing shopping cart software. By dollar volume, B2B takes the prize, however B2C is really what the average Joe has in mind with regards to ecommerce as a whole. Having a hard time finding a book? Need to purchase a custom, high-end computer system? How about a first class, all-inclusive trip to a tropical island? With the advent ecommerce, all three things can be purchased literally in minutes without human interaction. Oh how far we've come!

C2B (Consumer-to-Business) A consumer posts his project with a set budget online and within hours companies review the consumer's requirements and bid on the project. The consumer reviews the bids and selects the company that will complete the project. Elance empowers consumers around the world by providing the meeting ground and platform for such transactions. C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) There are many sites offering free classifieds, auctions, and forums where individuals can buy and sell thanks to online payment systems like PayPal where people can send and receive money online with ease. eBay's auction service is a great example of where person-to-person transactions take place everyday since 1995.

Companies using internal networks to offer their employees products and services online--not necessarily online on the Web--are engaging in B2E (Business-to-Employee) ecommerce. G2G (Government-to-Government), G2E (Government-to-Employee), G2B (Government-toBusiness), B2G (Business-to-Government), G2C (Government-to-Citizen), C2G (Citizen-toGovernment) are other forms of ecommerce that involve transactions with the government--from procurement to filing taxes to business registrations to renewing licenses. There are other categories of ecommerce out there, but they tend to be superfluous.

What is Difference Between E-commerce and E-Business?

E-commerce is buying and selling using an electronic medium. It is accepting credit and payments over the net, doing banking transactions using the Internet, selling commodities or information using the World Wide Web and so on.

E-Business in addition to encompassing E-commerce includes both front and back-office applications that form the engine for modern E-commerce. E-business is not just about E-commerce transactions; it's about re-defining old business models, with the aid of technology to maximize customer value. EBusiness is the overall strategy and E-commerce is an extremely important facet of E-Business. Thus e-business involves not merely setting up the company website and being able to accept credit card payments or being able to sell products or services on time. It involves fundamental re-structuring and streamlining of the business using technology by implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, supply chain management, customer relationship management, data ware housing, data marts, data mining, etc.

E-commerce or Electronic Commerce encompasses those businesses offering products or services to either consumers or other businesses over the internet. E-commerce can be broken up into two main categories:

Online Purchasing: This business presents the customer with those technologies that make it easier for them to find data and buy commodities. The businesses encompassed in this category serve the customer by giving them the option of order placement, purchase order submission or requisition of quotes. Online Shopping: This involves businesses giving information to customers so that they can make a decision and buy a certain commodity from you. To explain these two concepts lets say you go to XYZ.com and you are reviewing ABC product. When you are doing this, you are participating in Online Shopping. You then decide whether the commodity ABC is the right choice, you then add it to the shopping cart. After you have chosen whatever products you want, you then click the purchase button. As soon as you click the purchase button, you then participate in an online Purchase. This process involves all those secured pages that ask you for details such as credit card information, shipping details and other particulars. E-business or Electronic Business on the other hand, are those businesses that run the traditional way but also cater to the needs of online requests. An e-business status is received when you can handle the calls, mail orders and the online activities. The difference between e-commerce and e-business is that e-commerce is about transaction processing and e-business is about inter-business communication Business leaders realize that in order to maintain their competitive edge they must become an eBusiness. So what is the difference between e-business and e-commerce? E-commerce, or electronic commerce, is defined as conducting business communications......Professional Riverside web design company.