E-Business evolution
E-business refers to electronic business. It was a term coined in 1996 by IBM’s internet team. E-business is a term that refers to the application of information and communication technologies to achieve a business-oriented goal. Initially it was the online billboards; currently e-commerce has evolved greatly. Shopping cart platforms are being used widely. Since its basic conceptualization in 1994, online businesses are currently growing and the future holds an endless sight of success reiterating the adage “the sky is the limit”. Previously internet was slow through dial up connections as well as the online billboards. This has greatly changed with the development of faster internet.
The first online businesses that are still currently running include eBay and Amazon.com. The evolution of these two key businesses has greatly influenced the emergence of such other businesses. In the case of Amazon, they have faced numerous hurdles on their way to success but perseverance has paid off. There were times it seemed business was not growing but with each day they learnt from their mistakes helping them make even better decisions in the future. Many other e-businesses failed such as the boo.com. Their failure came because of the denial of service attacks that were commonplace on the early 2000. This period was the beginning of the internet bust for many businesses.
E-commerce, also known as electronic commerce is a subset of e-business. It refers to the buying and selling of goods and services over ICT. This includes the computers and internet technologies. E-commerce utilizes technologies such as inventory management systems, online transaction processing, internet marketing, electronic funds transfer, and supply chain management. Currently, the World Wide Web hosts at least one point of the transaction’s lifecycle. The term e-commerce and e-business are often used interchangeably but as we are going to see in this essay, there are many differences between them, this is especially concerning the supply chain management.
E-business is a superset of e-commerce. Once you incorporate e-commerce into your business, you generally become an e-business. An example is the brick and mortar shopping malls. This company went into the e-business aspect of trading and their sales shot up. A well-integrated e-business has both the physical business’s system integrated with those of their website or internet portal. E – Commerce covers a wide range of activities carried online. Such activities include provision of products and services; business to consumer and business to business interaction etc. E-commerce can be divided into online shopping and online purchasing. Online shopping refers to information provided to your customers via your website to facilitate them conducting business with you. Online purchasing on the other hand refers to technology infrastructure that facilitates the purchase of products and services online. This provides the consumer with means to place an order, or requesting a quote.
How does supply chain management fit into commerce? Supply chain management allow for the good business customer relations. This is realized when applications that allow for this information has been incorporated into your website. Such applications will help determine accurate dates of delivery depending on current inventory. These applications will also help pick distribution points, and determine the profitability of a particular order. Since e-commerce is a subset of e-business, both undoubtedly, make use of supply chain management. This is to facilitate the support of the vial virtual inventory.
References:
Readygo. (2012). E-commerce and E-business: The difference between e-Business and e-Commerce. Retrieved from http://www.readygo.com/eb_english/def02/01def02a.htm
Bermudez,J. (2012). E-commerce cocktail: One Part SCM and CRM Technology, One Part Cultural Change, Two Parts Innovation; Shake Vigorously. Retrieved from http://www.gwu.edu/~ibus266j/Global%20B2B/supplychain.htm
