The Erudition of E-commerce

A discussion on E-learning offered in Malaysia universities: Pros and Cons from the students perspective.

2009-07-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

E-learning is a new learning concept by using the internet technology. This technology is used to support the learning process. It is also known as distance learning. In university nowadays, e-learning is largely used because it provides a learner-orient environment for the lecturers and students. There are some Pros and Cons of e-learning from the students’ perspective:

Pros

E-learning has brought its great advantages to all students through its accessibility. It helps the students to communicate with their tutors about their subjects and studies and access the teaching materials through e-libraries. This will help them become much easier than face-to-face communication.

Besides that, e-learning is time flexible. Whenever students can get an internet access, they can get online resources anytime and anywhere. They also can ask their tutors about the subjects rather than making appointment in a limited consultation time.

E-learning is becoming more and more popular among students nowadays. E-learning can help them to save money on travelling expenses, accommodation, food and high tuition fees. Therefore, now they can afford getting higher education degrees at respectable universities and colleges.

Cons

One of the problems of e-learning is lack of face-to-face communication tutors that will lead to lack of understanding between a student and a tutor. When a tutor cannot understand a student well, he or she may not know what a student’s interests, needs and motivations. Therefore, a student will then become lazy and not motivated enough because there is no fixed time for their e-learning. They will leave their work until last minutes.

Besides that, online classes and discussions are time limited and totally exclude emotional interactivity. Because of this, some of the universities and colleges that provide online courses involved voice communication through networking technologies but there is still lack of gestures and feeling of presence.

Related link:
http://www.articlealley.com/article_78603_45.html

Corporate Blogging : A new marketing communication tool for companies

2009-07-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Blogging activities have been attracting media and public eyes for the last few years. The amounts of registered blogs are increasing tremendously over the recent years. Blogging activities are popularized and appreciated by many internet users. It has been regarded as an effective communication tools for business.

Corporate blog is published and used by an organization to reach its organization goals. The main purposes of blog usage for companies are

1. Brand building

- By providing corporate blog for a company, it enables customers to have a chance to interact with the corporate members. Customers are given the opportunity to get to know more about the corporate operations. Besides, corporate members can present company’s views and aspects much more clearly.

2. Customer service

- It enhances the relationship between corporate management and customers. Customers are able to voice out their feedback in an informal way while corporate management can increase the satisfaction of customers. Hence, indirectly it increases the corporate productivity and sales volume.

3. Promotion

- Other than being a communication tool, blog can be used as a marketing tool. Corporate management can advertise and provide precise information about the products through blogging. For example, DELL , its employees will post entries whenever there is newly launched product, or some new information regarding innovation in IT and etc.

Advantages of Corporate Blog.

- Create leadership and Innovative branding image

- It is a new, informal ways of communication tools to interact with communication with a effective ways

- Improve basic e-marketing results as it can increase traffic of users, availability of information and finally, create online brand image

- It also serves as a new channel for customer service. It generates valuable information feedback from the readers and stimulates improvement in media relations online.

Disadvantages of Corporate Blog.

- Risk of losing key management personnel as employees may promote themselves to competitors through blogging activities.

- Legal issues may arise as employees are not familiar with the legislation of blogging activities.

- Employees are unable to deal with negative comments.

References

Business TV Show: YPulse founder: what makes a blog great

15 companies that really get corporate blogging

Review on local transactional e-commerce site

2009-07-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

www.flowers.com.my

flowers.com.my is a fully owned subsidiary of CARI Internet Sdn Bhd and began active operations in the year 1999. In starting up the business, the founder has but one clear goal in mind, that is to provide the most convenience way for people to purchase flowers and gifts, especially the rapidly growing online community.

With this goal in mind, he has decided to start as an online florist instead of having a shop first. Since inception, flowers.com.my has experienced tremendous growth in the process, they have since successfully established a network of over 60 florists throughout Malaysia with the trustworthy relationship to ensure quality of our suppliers and delivery channels. Now, they have their first retail shop in Kelana Jaya and more to come.

Reviews:
1. The type of products they offer are such as flowers, cakes, gifts, soft toys, fruits and others.

2. The download speed is quite good as there are no flash player, music player or other players embedded inside the website, users can get a smooth download speed of the website.

3. The design and layout is attractive with pictures of flowers around the web pages. Users can take a look at the pictures of the flowers available for sale. The price and product name is found beside the picture. They had categorized the flowers according to occasions such as celebration, appreciation, happy holiday, personal, business, condolences and special. This helps users to speed up the process of choosing the appropriate flowers for the event.

4. There is no search engine in this website.

5. Shopping carts are available in this website, so users can purchase flowers online through this website.

6. Cash out features that are available in this website, such as Master card, Visa, Maybank, Mobile money and PayPal.

7. The color used in this website is pink and white. It really suites the website.

8. In terms of navigation, it is simple and easy to use, users can follow the link and click to their desire webpage. Users just have to follow the step by step instructions to purchase the flowers online.

E-Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen’s adoption strategies

2009-07-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) is a central agency under the Prime Minister Department entrusted with the task of introducing administrative reforms in the public sector to upgrade the quality, efficiency, effectiveness and integrity of Malaysian public service in accordance with national goals. Hence, myGovernment is initiated as the single gateway to information and services provided by Malaysian Government agencies on the Internet.

Current applications available
There are many applications available on http://www.malaysia.gov.my/ and they classified in 4 major categories which are:

myServices is improving the level of conveniency of citizens to interact with government agencies. The most popular services available online are Job application, Traffic summons, EPF account statement enquiries, e-filing income tax form and etc. Besides, it provides a search engine to enable users to perform an advanced search on the services they are looking for.

myForms enables citizens to download forms online which is more convenient and contributes greater economic benefits. Examples of forms available are Certificate of Accreditation Application Form, Passport Application Form, Scheme Machinery Ownership Application Form, and etc.

myBayar enables citizens to pay all kind of fees or fines online. For example, Fines payments, purchase of GPS, renewal of license and etc. With such applications availabe, citizens can save time and cost in travelling and queuing to make payments.

myNews acts as a news center which contains latest news and updates the citizens with the events happened in Malaysia.

Problems encountered by consumers
1.Complexity
Some of the consumers may think that online applications are more complex compared to offline services. This problem is often encountered by consumers with limited computer or IT knowledge. They would prefer offline services as officers will guide and consult them.

2. Security Concern
Certain consumers are having a perception that their personal information will be revealed by third party by using online applications. They do not feel safe or secured to proceed their transactions online.

3. Language Barriers
In current mode of e-government of Malaysia, there are only two languages available which are Bahasa Melayu and English. Some consumers find it difficult to understand or assess as they are not familiar with the language used in the website.

Recommendation
Government should improve e-government's public awareness to encourage consumers to use online applications or services and to promote efficiency. Besides, government should provide proof to consumers that their information are protected and safe to make online transactions. The website should be developed into a simpler website to avoid complexity. Finally, more languages should be available for the consumers to choose as display of the e-government website.

Related Links
www.malaysia.gov.my
http://www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/vol1no2/articles/5.%20Malaysian%20Electronic%20Government%20Adoption%20Barriers.pdf

Mobile payment system in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

2009-07-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

Mobile payment systems are a form of money transaction from consumer through mobile device. It is a potential system as mobile phones are almost a necessity for everyone. In Malaysia, there are 16 million mobile phone subscribers and this might just bring the payment system to another level.

There are a lot of mobile payment systems but they all have one thing in common. That is to settle bills, payments, transactions and etc through the mobile device. Some of the examples are Mobile Money, Celcom and Maxis. The most significant system at the moment is Mobile Money because of the simplicity of the system. As these type of payment systems are new, a lot of consumers and merchants do not have the confident in them. In fact, the system actually gives more options and opportunities to all.

How it really works (example for Mobile Money)

Customer places an order and chooses to pay with MM.
Merchant bills the customer via IVR, Mobile Money website or SMS.
MM sends a SMS requesting for customer's 6-Digit Security PIN to approve the payment
Customer sends the security pin and MM request for bank approval upon transaction
Upon receipt of bank's confirmation, MM will send a payment notification with details to merchant as well as customer.
Delivery of goods

Potentials in this system

As Malaysia is focusing on e-commerce and the consumer mindset is usually focused on simplicity and effectiveness, this system will definitely work with proper marketing and promotion. It replaces the usage of cash, checks and even credit cards for smaller transactions such as parking fee, food and beverages, and even movies.

Reference
http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_overview.asp

Credit Card Debts: Causes and Prevention

2009-07-03T23:46:00.000-07:00

A credit card is part of the payment system using a small plastic card that issued to users. It is issued after the credit provider has approved the users’ account and the cardholders can start to use it to pay for goods and services.

Nowadays, users always face financial problems. After research, most of these problems come from credit card debts. This is because the users overspend and cannot afford to pay the debts at last. There are reasons and ways to prevent the overspending of credit card:

1. No saving
Saving regularly is important part of money management. If there is no saving or saving too little in saving account, users will rely on credit cards to cover expenses when uncertainty happened such as accident. This will be a common mistake that increase the users’ credit card debts.

2. Poor financial management
This is also one of the common causes of high credit card debts. Financial management includes everything from income to bill paying, saving and investment. Fail in planning one area will causes problem in other areas. For example, if a user forgot to pay the credit card bill for a month, he or she will have to suffer high interest rate for late payment.

3. Overspending
Spending too much on something that just to satisfy personal need such as entertainment will also cause high credit card debts. Most of the people nowadays especially teenagers do not how to control themselves from swiping the credit card just to get what they want. They think that there is not a limit for them to shop but at the end of the month they will have to suffer credit card debts.

Prevention methods:

1. Saving
One of the ways to prevent is to set up an automatic monthly transfer from checking account to a saving account. With this system, users do not need to worry about forgetting to save money every month. Besides that, when uncertainty happened, there will be a sum of money for backup.

2. Have a good financial planning
One of the easy ways is keeping a calendar for payments are due. This is an effective way to keep on top of your due dates and avoid late payment. Besides that, users that do not have any knowledge for financial planning can also look for a financial consultant to assist them.

3. Budgeting
It is important to make a budget for necessary expenses each month. Besides that, find out the expenses that you do not really need every month and eliminate them. Every time before buying something, ask yourself whether do you really need those things.

Related links:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card
2. http://www.pcbs.org/credit-cards-can-encourage-overspending/
3. http://www.3debtconsolidation.com/creditcardmistakes.html
4. http://seekingalpha.com/article/20337-guide-to-credit-cards-how-to-avoid-overspending-with-credit-cards

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

2009-07-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

Touch 'n Go

Touch 'n Go is used by Malaysian toll expressway and highway operators as the sole electronic payment system (EPS). The credit card sized smartcard made of plastic with Philips' MIFARE microchip technology embedded in it. The Touch 'n Go systems are designed to process up to 800 vehicles per hour to ease the queue congestion at toll plazas. Users can top-up the Touch 'n Go with any amount in locations such as LRT station and toll plazas.
Now, Touch 'n Go can be used in fast food chains like Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbin, A&W and Burger King. Touch 'n Go facility was also embedded in Buy N Fly loyalty card rewards program for Malaysia Airlines retail arm, Golden Boutiques Sdn Bhd's which was launched in December 1999. The hybrid cards have multi function on rewards airpoint, MEPS Cash & Touch 'n Go.

Octopus Card
The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. The card is launched in September 1997 to collect fares for the territory's mass transit system, the Octopus card system was the first contactless smart card system in the world and has since grown into a widely used payment system for virtually all public transport in Hong Kong.

The Octopus is also used for payment at convenience stores, supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, on-street parking meters, car parks, and other point-of-sale applications such as service stations and vending machines.

Related links:
1. http://www.touchngo.com.my/
2. http://www.octopuscards.com/enindex.jsp

Electronic Currency

2009-07-01T22:48:00.001-07:00

Electronic currency refers to money or scrip which is exchanged through electronic medium. It is also known as e-money, electronic cash or digital money which plays an important role in the cyber world. Electronic currency allows making purchases through online or sales transaction over computer network.

Electronic currency able to speed up the efficiency of transactions, provide lower transaction fees and open up new business activities opportunity through cyber world. However, there are some potential issues may rises. For example, by transferring digital currencies would create issue on how to levy taxes. Other than that, it might create macroeconomic effects such as currency exchange rate instabilities and unable to find out the availability of real cash exist.

Examples of electronic currency

1. Firstgate’s Click & Buy

- An e-commerce business which allows any business or individual to buy and sell products in cyber world conveniently and cost-effectively. With their excellent services of internet payment and billing system and continuous innovative, they had become one of the established market leaders in Europe. They offer their customers the possibility to make safe and convenient purchases of internet content and services. Click and Buy allow customers to have secure and immediate access to payment and overview of purchases made in real time.

2. Digi Cash

- Digicash Inc. was a pioneering electronic currency corporation which founded by David Chaum in 1990. Digi cash created a new personalized dimension for consumers with a brand new shopping experience. They establishing strong, high-value connection between consumers and e-commerce companies. They launched their first product which is Digicash Wallet. It gives retailers with new approaches like real-time purchases/sales, value-creating coupons and promotions to increase sales, margins and customer loyalty.

http://www.digicash.com/
http://clickandbuy.com/US/en/wasist/wasist.html

The Threat Of Online Security: How Safe Is Our Data?

2009-06-28T04:16:00.000-07:00

An internet is a global of interconnected computer networks that transmit data using the standardized Internet Protocol Suite. It consists million of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope. It carries a vast array of information resources and services such as electronic mail, online chatting, file transfer and online games.

Internet security is the protection of a computer’s internet account and files from intrusion of unauthorized users. This is because when a computer connects to the network and start communicating with others, there will be risk. There are 3 examples of threat usually appear in the internet:

Virus

A computer virus is a program that can attach and infect a computer itself without the owner’s notice. It can spread from one computer to another computer. This is because users usually share their files through internet or by a removable medium such as floppy disk or USB drive and this may let the virus have a chance to transfer to another computer.

Worm

A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program. It sends copies of itself to other computer using network without any user intervention. It is different with virus because it does not need to attach itself to a program. When computer is infected by worms, it will make the computer program slow. It sometimes also will cause system failures.

Trojan horse

A Trojan horse is a type of malware that appears to perform a desirable function to the user but in fact, it makes the computer easier of unauthorized access to the user’s computer system. Trojan horse is different with viruses and worms. They are not self-replicating and they require user cooperation to fulfill their purpose.

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

2009-06-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

6 simple solutions:

1. Install up-to-date Antivirus Program- One of the most important security step and preventive measure is to install an up-to-date antivirus program and scan your computer regularly with it. An antivirus programs acts as protective shield for your computer against the virus, spyware and other internet threats.

2. Install a firewall and only allow necessary incoming and outgoing connections- A firewall is a gatekeeper and acts as a barrier between your internal network and the public internet, and performs the function of intercepting and nullifying external threats to your system. A firewall can check incoming requests and only allow access to those that you have set up in the software as allowable. It will block all other attempts to access your computer. Firewall software protects your computer from hackers and other undesirable attacks.

3. Be wary of opening email attachments or clicking on links contained in email messages from people you don't know- Suspicious emails and email attachments is a very common cause of the viruses. The best safety measures it not to open the suspicious emails from the unknown source. If you're given a link to a site you don't know, don't click on it. The provided link may take you to a clever mockup of your financial institution's site with the intention of capturing your logons and passwords and thereby providing the baddies with access to your accounts.

4. Deploy Encryptions- Encryption refers to algorithmic schemes that encode plain text into non-readable form or cyphertext, providing privacy. The receiver of the encrypted text uses a "key" to decrypt the message, returning it to its original plain text form. The key is the trigger mechanism to the algorithm. Encryption can be used to protect data "at rest", such as files on computers and storage devices.

5. Keep your operating system and browser updated- An example, Microsoft offers an automatic update facility for their Windows operating systems and they are continually updating their systems to make them operate more efficiently and faster and to provide more security features and protection against unwanted intrusion. You can set your operating system to check and download updates to Windows automatically and in order to ensure that your operating system is secure, it is important to make sure it's always up-to-date.

6. Set up a username and password for logging on to your computer- This can be done by your administrator and will be separate from the login you enter to gain access to the network. If you're using a stand-alone computer, create a user account that will prompt you for a login and password during the boot-up process.

Phishing : Examples and its prevention methods

2009-06-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

Phishing is an act of sending fraudulent e-mail by perpetrator to users and in an attempt to steal personal information such as username, password, credit card number, bank account number from the user.

Phishing is usually carried out by e-mailing or instant messaging. Perpetrator will usually send e-mail to users which direct the users to a fictitious website. Then, the perpetrator will trick the users to update their personal information in that website by threatening the users that their accounts will be deleted if the users refuse to update; or by offering fictitious attractive prizes to users who update their personal information.

This is how perpetrator steals user’s personal information by creating fake website that is almost similar to the legitimate enterprise and tricks users to update their personal information.

Examples of phishing

An example of phishing e-mail from Citibank

A recent phishing e-mail from Citibank which threatening user to update their personal information

Example of a typical, poorly-constructed phishing e-mail message

Ways to prevent phishing

1. NEVER, open any e-mail that send by strangers. Set your junk and spam mail filter to deliver only content from those in your address book.

2. If those junk mails are sending to your inbox, just delete off! Don’t even have a second thought on wanting to open those fictitious mails.

3. If you are in doubt whether those e-mail that send by financial institutions, just pick up your phone can call to confirm.

4. Always look for the small tiny lock on the bottom right of your browser window. Valid website that requires user to transfer sensitive personal information would have that.

5. Valid website would have addresses which begin with https:// but not the usual http://

6. Don’t be a greedy person. Never get fooled by those surveys that ask for sensitive personal information by offering fictitious attractive prizes .

7. Lastly, keep yourself updated with the latest phishing methods and ways to prevent it.

So… start google today and don’t be the next victim.

Related Links

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

2009-06-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

Third party certification is an assessment carried out to ensure compliance with industry standard. This assessment is carried out by an independent, third party organization that is qualified and licensed to issue certification. Certification will be licensed when the assessment is completed sucessfully.

Third party certification programme was mainly applied in the food industry or manufacturing industry in the past; however it started to become popular in virtual business environment as e-commerce experienced a drastic growth during the recent decades. Nowadays, digital third party certification is being issued to websites to protect their servers security.

Third party certification is playing a significant role in e-commerce environment due to the overwhelming phishing cases on the internet, customers' concerns in the protection of their confidential data, and the frequent attacks by macilious software such as virus, trojan horse and worms.

The common functions of a digital certificate are user authentication, encryption and digital signatures. User authentication provides other security than using username and password. Its session management is stronger. Encryption can make the data transmission secured by using the information encrypted. The intended recipient of the data is only person to receive the message. Digital signatures are like the hand signature in the digital world. It can ensure the integrity of the data.

MSC Trustgate

MSC Trustgate was incorporated in 1999 with the vision “to enable organizations to conduct their business securely over the Internet, as much as what they have been enjoying in the physical world.”. MSC Trustgate has been operating within the Multimedia SuperCorridor and become the catalyst for the growth of e-commerce across the ASEAN region

The core business of Trustgate is to provide digital certification services such as digital certificates, software development and cryptographic products.

MSC Trustgate is one of the certificate authorities who issue digital certificate to provide verification that the website does indeed represent its company. . It provides products and services such as SSL Certificate, Managed PKI, Personal ID, MyTRUST, MyKAD ID, SSL VPN, Managed Security Services, VeriSign Certified Training and Application Development.

MSC Trustgate offers 2 types of SSL Certificates (digital third party certification) to its customers. Customer can choose in between the two products based on the length of the "session key" generated by every encrypted transaction. The longer the key, the more difficult it is to break the encryption code. 128-bit SSL encryption is the world's strongest: it would take a trillion-trillion years to crack using today's technology.

Global Server ID

GSID authenticates your web sites and enables 128- or 256-bit encryption to secure communications and transactions between the site and its visitors. Every purchase of GSID comes with a VeriSign Secured Seal that can be displayed on web site. The seal is an instant proof that the web site is genuine and build up the confidence of customers.

Secure Server ID

Secure Site SSL Certificates protect the transfer of sensitive data on Web sites, intranets, and extranets using a minimum of 40-bit and up to 256-bit encryption which includes VeriSign Secured Seal.

VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc. is founded in the year of 1995 and become the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world. VeriSign helps companies and consumers all over the world to engage in trusted communications and commerce.

The VeriSign Secured® Seal is displayed by over 90,000 domains in 145 countries and viewed over 150 million times every day.

Over 2.3 million VeriSign Identity Protection Credentials have been issued to use for strong authentication.

It also has appointed MSC Trustgate as Asia's first VeriSign Authorised Training Centre to deliver VeriSign's high-end Security and E-Commerce programmes. Including other security courses such as Watermarking and Wireless hacking, sniffing, penetration testing and etc.

In conclusion, by using the digital certificate, it will increase the trust of online users since it minimizes the exposion of confidential personal data, contamination of contaminated by third parties, and the cases of transacting party denying any commercial commitment with the users. Furthermore, the digital certificates definitely help in the development of internet based activities.

An example of an e-commerce failure and its causes

2009-06-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

Boo.com (1998-2000)
Boo.com an online fashion store, famously went bust following the dot-com boom during the late 1990s. Boo.com had already encountered with problems and mismanagement from the start. After several highly publicised delays, Boo.com launched in the Autumn of 1999 selling branded fashion apparel over the Internet. The company spent $135 million of Venture capitalists' money in just 18 months, and it was placed into receivership on 18 May 2000 and liquidated.

Fashionmall.com, which has been operating since 1994, bought the remains of Boo.com which included brand, Web address and advertising materials but this deal did not include any physical assets, software or distribution channels. In 2005 CNET called Boo.com the sixth greatest dot-com flop.

The question is what has caused Boo.com to fail????

1. Timing

The fundamental problem was that the company was following an extremely aggressive growth plan, launching simultaneously in multiple European countries. This plan was founded on the assumption of the ready availability of venture capital money to see the company through the first few years of trading until sales caught up with operating expenses.

Such capital ceased to be available for all practical purposes in the second quarter of 2000 following dramatic falls in the NASDAQ presaging the "dot crash" following the Dot-com bubble. Boo would probably have failed for this reason even if the user experience had been excellent and the launch on schedule.

2. Problems with the user experience

The boo.com website was said to be poorly designed for its target audience, going against many usability conventions. The site relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash technology to display pseudo-3D views of wares as well as Miss Boo, a sales-assistant-style avatar.

Miss Boo
The first publicly released version of the site was fairly hefty—the home page alone was several hundred kilobytes which meant that the vast majority of users had to wait minutes for the site to load, by then broadband technologies were still not widely available at that time. The site's front page did contain the warning, "this site is designed for 56K modems and above". So users which have a slower modem speed won’t have a chance to access at that time when dial-up internet usage was the norm.

3. Burn rate

Boo.com's sales did not match expectations, due partly to the very high number of products returned by customers. Poor management and a lack of communication between departments resulted in costs spiraling unchecked—the effectiveness of an eye-catching and expensive ad campaign was limited because the website wasn't ready in time, resulting in curious visitors being greeted with a holding page.

Boo spent wads of cash to market itself as a global company but then had to deal with different languages, pricing, and tax structures in all the countries it served. The company also mysteriously decided to pay postage on returns, but even more importantly, sales never reached expectations. Boo.com eventually burned through $160 million before liquidation in May 2000.

For more info on other dotcom flops checkout this website

http://www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6278387-1.html

An example of E-commerce success and its causes.

2009-06-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

Amazo n.com Inc. is a well-known, successful electronic commerce company. It is one of the America’s largest online retailers. Generally, people from all walks of life who have made transactions through the internet would have come across Amazon.com.

Amazon.com Inc.’s founder Jeff Bezos started the company in 1994 and launched Amazon.com in year 1995. Since then, the company has been evolving rapidly and became one of the most successful online retailers. It is also one of the first companies which sell products through the internet. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore and expanded to other product lines such as food, clothing, electronic media, household products and etc.

The headquarters of Amazon.com Inc is based on Seattle, WA. Currently, they have more than 25 operate sites centers around the world, such as United Kingdom, China, Japan, Canada, German and France. Amazon.com do provide international shipping services to certain countries.

The first ever book that Amazon.com sold was Douglas Hodstadter’s Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.
The first initial public offering of stock for Amazon.com was on May 15, 1997 trading under NASDAQ stock exchange. Jeff Bezos was proclaimed by Time Magazines in the year 1999 as “Person of the year” for making online purchasing becoming so popular even until today.

The success factors for Amazon.com are as follows:

1. Amazon is offering competitive prices

As compared to brick-and-mortar companies, Amazon.com is offering the same products at even lower prices which are up to 50%-100% of discounts to attract customers.

2. Customer review and Product features

Amazon.com allows its customers to voice out their opinions regarding the products and services provided. Customers are given the opportunity to give negative comments because they wanted to understand the “true views” of customers and identify the areas and direction to improve if there is any deficiency in its operations. Amazon.com also provides detail product description to let customer understand how the product operates and its functions.

3. User friendly website

The overall design of Amazon.com website is user-friendly. The outlay of the website is organized and users can easily find/search products that they needed. Other than that, they are provided with personalized recommendations. Users only need to sign in to the Amazon’s website and with the specific requirements of customers, personal recommendations will be custom made.

Related Links

Revenue model of Google, Amazon.com and Ebay

2009-06-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

Revenue model describes how an organization earn revenue and generate profit, the followings are the 5 major revenue models:

Sales revenue model
An organizaiton earns revenue by selling products, or services.

Transaction fee revenue model
An organization generates profits through receiving commission for execution of transactions, and generally the profit earned will based on the volume of transaction executed.

Advertising revenue model
An organization which advertise products or services for its client and earn revenue through receiving advertising fees.

Subscription revenue model
An organization charges subscription fees for the users who access to the content or services offered.

Affiliate revenue model
An organization which earns revenue by receiving commission for refering customers to other websites.

Google's revenue model
Majority of Google's yearly income are generated by advertising revenue model which includes Google AdWords, Google AdSense, and Google Checkout.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords is a "pay per click" Google advertising product.

When people search on Google, related advertisements will be shown on the sidebar. Advertisers would have a greater opportunity to promote their product and fulfill the needs and wants of their customers.

Google Adsense
A program that enables website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google advertisements and earn. These advertisements generate revenue on per-click or per-thousand-impression basis.

Google Checkout
A fast and secure check out process which helps companies to attract new leads, convert more sales, and protect them from frauds. When company uses Google checkout to process their sales, fees are charged per transaction, depending on monthly sales volume.

Amazon.com's Revenue Model
Amazon.com, one of the huge online retailers in America was started its business as online bookstore. Soon, it started to diversify its business into product lines of DVD, music CDs and MP3s, computer software and etc. It provides a fixed-priced online marketplace which enables sellers to offer their products alongside with Amazon.com offerings.

The revenue models of Amazon.com are transaction fee revenue model and affiliate revenue model. Amazon.com will receive commission from each transaction dealed to generate profit. Besides that, Amazon.com also charges affiliate fees from seller for refering Amazon.com customers to the sellers' websites.

AStore Amazon
AStore Amazon is one of the Amazon.com's product for Amazon associates. It enables Amazon associates to create their own stores featuring Amazon.com products in an easy and fast method. It also can be embedded within or linked to from any website. The AStore Amazon provides features of products, offer shoppoing cart for customers, and essentially, it shows product details. Only referal charges will be applied on the creation of AStore.

eBay's Revenue Model
eBay was born in 1995, created by Pierre Omidya as an online auction website. eBay provides an open trading platform where the market determines the value of items that are sold. Over the years, the site always being referred, as it provides a view into what objects consumers want most at any time. A few aquisitions of e-commerce companies such as shopping.com, rent.com, stubhub and etc has strenghten eBay's Inc in this sector. As result, this website has become the world's largest online marketplace. For more information, please watch the video provided by eBay : How Does eBay Work?

Generally, eBay generates profit through transaction fee revenue model and advertising revenue model. Fees charged on selling on eBay include:

Insertion fees
Insertion fee is charged when seller lists any product on eBay paid sites such as eBay US, UK and etc. For eBay Malaysia, insertion fee is excluded.

Final value fees
Commission is charged on the seller once the items is sold. However, eBay Malaysia does not charge such fees on the seller unless the seller lists items on other eBay paid sites.

Optional feature fees
Seller can choose to add additional features to increase bid and chances of selling success. Different charges will be applied on each additional feature used in the process of auctioning such as reserve fees, listing upgrade fees, eBay picture hosting fees, and seller tool fees.

Related links
Google AdSense
Google AdWords
Google Checkout
AStore Amazon

History and Evolution of E-commerce

2009-06-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

At first, the process of commercial transactions is execution electronically with the help of the leading technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) that allow users the exchange information and make transaction in the late 1970s. This also allowed business companies and organizations to send commercial documentation electronically.

From the 1990s onwards, electronic commerce has additionally included enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing. Besides that, Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first web browser, WorldWideWeb.

In 1994, Navigator browser was released by Netscape under the code name Mozilla. Pizza Hut offered pizza ordering on its Web page and first online bank opened.

In 1995, two of the biggest names in e-commerce were launched which were Amazon.com and eBay. In year 2003, Amazon.com had its first year with a full year of profit.

In 1999, Web 2.0 was invented by Darcy DiNucci. Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of web development and design.

In the world today, e-commerce allows us to buy, sell and exchange information through the internet. Therefore, whenever you have a computer or PDA phone with internet connection, you can make transaction anytime and anywhere. From here we can see that the world is improving every day.

Jac Jac here!

2009-06-10T01:36:00.000-07:00

Hey there, actually i'm also the 1st time blogging. I'm Tan Eng Hu, most of my friend call me Jackie and I'm taking accounting in Sg Long UTAR. I'm a person who love sports alot (any sport), going sing k, making new friends and watching movies and dramas. Actually most of the time i also like going out coz i wanna fully use my time to learn and see more things.

Besides that, i also like to find places that have nice food. May be this is because of my family background coz my parents is doing food business which is lok lok(dun mistaken, is not Fei Lou or any Van lok lok) . For more info can visit here http://www.rasarasa.net/article.cfm?id=5087. Whoever wanna have discount can find me 1st before going, hehe^^

As requested, there are few websites i most visit.

www.facebook.com
This is where i always play the mini games and other application and update myself about my friends' info.

www.youtube.com
I usually watch MTV and also trailer here. Sometimes find out some funny video here.

www.yahoo.com
This is also my homepage. I usually use this to search for info, check mail and sometimes play the mini games as well.

www.ebay.com.my
Sometimes i go this site to looking for stuff that rarely selling outside.

www.ppstream.com
This is where i usually watch drama. Movie i usually watch in cinema.

That's all for today, will update again soon. Tata

me! XD

2009-06-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Hey peeps,

I’m Tey Jo Shin. Currently in BAC Year 3 Sem 1. U can call me Jo also (yeah… same as Joseph), Mao Mao (furry furry), Joshin, shin, josin… anything u named it laaa. ;) I’m a Johorian.
Just like others, I like to sleep. Every time I switch on the television, after 15 minutes, I won’t be watching the drama anymore; however, the television will start to watch me sleeping… (:p) I cannot live without my laptop. Every morning I wake up, the 1st thing I’ll do is to switch on my laptop.

As being requested to mention about the most visited websites in this post, here are the top 3 websites that I visited most

www.facebook.com
This is where u can get all the juiciest gossip about your friends and u will be able to catch up with your long lost friends.

www.google.com
It is my homepage. So… whenever I open internet explorer it would just pop out.

www.blogspot.com
I don’t blog, but I do visit my friend’s blog.

That’s all… Au Revior~

with love,
jo

It's Me! Cpy!

2009-06-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody!
My name is Chan Pui Yan, all my friends used to call me CPY. I'm studying in accounting course at UTAR.

Let's start from my physical appearance! I'm not so tall nor short, around 160cm and I have a BIG head. Used to be slim but not anymore. (sobs! T.T) Since the day I step into the age of "woman"(20 years old and above), i've been gaining a lot of weight! Of course, it is probably related to my unhealthy lifestyle.

My hobby: sleeping! All of my friends and classmates should be very clear about this. I spend most of my time in sleeping rather than doing activities which are benefiting. That's why one of my 2009 new year revolutions is to CUT DOWN my sleeping hours!

Besides sleeping, i like to sing k, watch drama, surf web, hang-out with friends, and finally (very very very seldom), i might do some reading.

What about the inner me? Firstly, I'm not good in expressing my emotion. When I'm happy, I usually talk a lot but when i'm sad or frustrated, I usually will not speak it out. I really appreciate my family and friends who have been accompanying me for all these days. Thank you!!! I would like to take this chance to say sorry to you if my bad temper had caused any trouble to you.

As requested in the assignment, I would like to share the top 5 of my favourite websites.

www.google.com
It's such an informative, user-friendly search engine!

www.hotmail.com
This is where I check all my mails and have a good laugh on the hilarious forward mails.

www.youtube.com
I can watch a lot of funny video clips and check out the newest music video and movie trailer.

www.facebook.com
It's a very useful tool for me to keep in touch with my old friends and I enjoy its mini games too!

www.gsc.com.my
I browse this website oftenly to check the showtime of movies and book movie ticket. It definitely help me to avoid the long queue to buy ticket on the spot especially during weekends!

That's all for now. See you!

All about JO!!!

2009-06-08T03:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is my 1st time blogging, my name is Joseph Cheong Cheok Yan, u can call me Jo, im currently studying in UTAR.

My class is BAC T10. I have many nice friends there:) My hobbies are playing drums and guitar. (psst im a musician)

My top 4 websites are
www.facebook.com
www.friendster.com
www.youtube.com
www.ppstream.com

I like all those websites because I like to interact with friends online, checking photos and also watch videos online. If u guys have facebook rmb to add me!!!

My top 5 internet activies are chatting, viewing product info, watch videos, listen to music and surfing around the net.