CHAPTER - 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO E COMMERCE

The term e-commerce refers to the use of an electronic medium to carry
out commercial transactions. Most of the time, it refers to the sale of
products via internet, but the term eCommerce also covers purchasing
mechanisms via internet.
Commerce is the exchange of something of value between two entities. That
"something” may be goods, services, information, money, or anything else the
two entities consider to have value. Commerce is the central mechanism
from which capitalism is derived.

What is “E-Commerce” ?
There are many different definitions and understanding about E-
Commerce.
According to Frederick J. Riggins and Hyeun-Suk Rhee, a recent pilot
survey shows that some practitioners and managers view commerce
buying and selling goods and products over internet.
However, researchers believe the E-Commerce practice should include a wide
variety of presale and post-sale activities.

1.2 Features of E-Commerce

1) Global reach –
E-commerce allows business transactions on the cross country
bound can be more convenient and more effective as compared
with traditional commerce. On the e-commerce business
potential market scale is roughly equivalent to the network
the size of the world’s population.

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 2) Universal standard –
Technologies is the usual feature, is the technical standard of
the internet, so to carry out the technical standard of e-
commerce is shared by all countries around the world
standard.

3) 24*7 service availability –

E-commerce is available on all time buying and selling of
goods and service will be do anytime at any place.

4) Digital payment –
In e-commerce buying and selling of goods and services it may
increase the digital payments in the country.

5) Advertising –
E-commerce increase the reach of advertising of products and
services of business. It helps in better marketing management
pf products and services.

6) Communication improvement –
E-commerce provides ways for faster, efficient, reliable
communication with customers and partners.

7) Support –
E-commerce provides various ways to provide pre sales and
post sales assistance to provide better services to customers.

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 8) Improved sales –
Using E-commerce, orders for the products can be generated
any time, any where without any human intervention. By this
way dependencies to buy a product reduce at large and sales
increases.

1.3 Scope of E-commerce

• Business to business –
When a business sells and buy goods from other
business are known as B2B commerce example – Dell
company buy processer from Intel company.

• Business to consumer –
When a business sell goods and services to consumer
are known as B2C commerce example – Dell company
sell laptops to consumer through websites.

• Consumer to business –
When a consumer sells goods and services to business
are known as C2B commerce example – consumer sell
laptops on cashify.

• Consumer to consumer –
When a consumer sells goods and services to consumers
are known as C2C commerce example – a consumer sells
its car on OLX to another consumer
• Financing and Insurance
• Commercial transactions :ordering, delivery and
payments
• Transport and logistics

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1.4 Benefits of E-commerce
 Market expansion to national and international market
 Reduced cost of creating, processing, distributing, storing and retrieving
paper based information
 Reduced inventories.(Just-in –time manufacturing)
 Automated business processing
 Cost-effective document transfer
 Reduced time to complete business transactions, speed-up the delivery
time
 Improved customer service.
 Increased productivity
 Reduced transportation Costs

1.5 Framework of E-commerce

The basic framework of e-commerce enables doing

business online.
The framework consists of a comprehensive structure beginning
with the based technology layer to the general service layer.

1)The First layer: Network Infrastructure

2)The Second Layer: Multimedia Content and Network Publishing
3)The Third layer: Messaging and Information Dissemination
4)The Fourth layer: Security Protection in Business Services
5)The Fifth layer: Practical Application of E-commerce

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 1) The First layer: Network Infrastructure

•“Information superhighway”
•The foundation layer of hardware infrastructure.
•Mixture of many forms of information transport systems, which
include telecom, cable tv, wireless and the internet.

•These systems, in particular the internet,

provide various types of telecommunication channels for
transmission of contents used in e- commerce

2) The Second Layer: Multimedia Content and Network

Publishing

 Provides an architecture that enables the content to be

developed in a programming language HTML for publishing on
the world wide web (WWW).
 Another programming language in use is java, which enables
multimedia content to be transmitted to end users’ personal
computer.

3) The Third layer: Messaging and Information

Dissemination
Messaging transmission is usually done by the following
technologies:

• Communicating non-formatted data

• Communicating formatted data
• HTTP
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 •Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
4) The Fourth layer: Security
Protection in Business Services

• Regarded as the essential facilities for doing business

because it is required by both business corporations
and individuals in business transactions.
• The facilities include standardized product
catalogues, price lists, electronic payment methods,
secured transmission of business information, and
the authentication of identity of both trading parties.

5) The Fifth layer: Practical Application

of E-commerce

Electronic marketing, online publishing, electronic advertising,

online shopping, online entertainment, pay-information service
and network banking etc.

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1.6 Working procedure of E-commerce

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 1) Online buyer purchases a product at merchant
site.

Buyer Browser

2) Consumer’s Information is encrypted While

being transferred over the internet.

3) The online store Transmits the formatted order

from the web host to the payment Gateway

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 4) The Payment Gateway continues processing the
transaction, if then transmits a request for the
card to be changed to MEPS for validation.

ENABLE
SECURE
PAYMENT

Payment Gateway

5) Payment Gateway transfer the fund to the

merchant’s bank account.

Bank Transaction complete

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 6) Sent E-mail to Customer and merchant.

Customers

Merchants

7) Sent warehouse for fulfillment order

8) Shipping carrier picks up shipment.

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 CHAPTER – 2

2.1 Models of E-commerce

 Business-to-business (B2B)
 Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
 Business-to-government (B2G)
 Co n s um er-t o -c on su m e r (C2C)
 Governm ent t o c on su m e r (G2C)
 Governm ent-to-business (G2B)

1) Business-to-business (B2B)
B2B e-commerce is simply defined as e-commerce between companies.
About 80% of e-commerce is of this type.
Examples:
a. Intel selling microprocessor to Dell
b. Heinz selling ketchup to McDonalds

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 2) Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

Business to Consumer e-commerce, or commerce between companies and

consumers, involves customers gathering information; purchasing physical
goods or receiving products over an electronic network.
Example – Dell selling me a laptop.

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 3) Business-to-government (B2G)
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.
Example:
Business pay taxes, file reports or sells goods and services to govt.
agencies.

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 4) Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
Consumer to consumer e-commerce or C2C is simply commerce between
private individuals or consumers.
Example: Tarun buying a mobile from Rahul on OLX

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 5) Government-to-Consumer
Government to consumer is a part of e-governance. The objective of this
model is to provide goods and services to each citizen of the country.
Example: different welfare scheme.

6) Government-to-Business (G2B)
Government to business is a business model that refers to government
providing services or information to business organization.
Example: tenders

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2.2 Applications of E-commerce

1) E-Banking
It is also known as internet banking. A method of banking in which the
customer conducts transactions electronically via internet.

2) E-Ticketing
An e-ticket is paperless document used for ticketing passengers,
particularly in commercial airline industry. Virtually all major airlines
now use this method of ticketing.

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 3) E-Advertising
E-advertising is a marketing strategy that involves the use of the internet
as a medium to obtain website traffic and target and deliver marketing
messages to the right customers.

4) E-Trading
E-trading is buying and selling of stock or shares through electronic
medium or internet.

5) E-Post
The internet revolution has allowed rapid exchange of communication
through email.

2.3 Merits of E-commerce

 Faster buying/selling procedure, as well as easy t o find
product s.
 Buying/selling 24*7.
 More reach t o customers, t h e r e is n o theoretical
geographic limitations.
 Low operational costs a n d b e t t e r quality of services.
 No n e e d of physical company set-ups.
 Easy t o s t a rt a n d m a nag e a business.
 Customers ca n easily select produ c t s from different
providers w i t h o u t moving a r o u n d physically.

2.4 Demerits of E-commerce

 Unable t o examine prod u ct s personally.
 Not everyone is co n n ect e d t o t h e I n t e r n e t .
 There is t h e possibility of credit card n u m b e r t h e ft .
 Mechanical failures c a n cause u n pre dict abl e effect on the
total process.

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 2.5 TRADITIONAL COMMERCE VS E-COMMERCE

Basis Traditional commerce E-Commerce

1.Meaning Traditional commerce is a E-commerce means
branch of business which carrying out commercial
focus on the exchange of transaction or exchange
products and services, and of information
includes all those activities electronically on
which encourages internet.
exchange, in some way or
the other.
2.Processing of Manual Automatic
transactions

3. Accessibility Limited time 24*7*365

4.Physical Goods can be inspected Goods cannot be

inspection physically before purchase inspected physically
before purchase
5.Customer Face-to-Face Screen-to-Face
interaction

6.Scope of Limited to particular area Worldwide reach

business

7.Resource focus Supply side Demand side

8.Marketing One way Marketing One-to-One marketing

9.Payment Cash, Cheque, Card Credit card, fund

payments transfers

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 CHAPTER – 3
BUSINESS MODEL OF FLIPKART

INTRODUCTION
 Online Retail Industry
 It is one of the leading e-commerce players in the country
 With over 11.5 million book titles listed, 11 different categories, more than
2 million registered users and sale of 30000 items a day.
 Founded by Sachin bansal & Binny bansal in Bangalore, Karnataka in
2007.
 Started with initial capital of INR 4 lakh.

What makes it stand out?

 The procurement model is at the heart of Flipkart’s success, as most delays
or troubles occur in this part of business.
 Flipkart employed consignment model i.e. procurement based on demand.
 It is the robust logistics at Flipkart that sets it apart from other wannabe
e-commerce sites.
 An amazingly well-oiled warehousing and delivery system..
 They offer a huge range of titles (more than 7 million) which really sets
them apart from the rest of the crowd.
 They have started UPI payment to place an order.
 Big Billion day

Acquisitions
 2014: Acquired Myntra.com in an estimated ₹20 billion (US$310 million)
deal.
 2015: Flipkart acquired a mobile marketing start-up Appiterate as to
strengthen its mobile platform.
 2016: Flipkart’s Myntra acquires rival fashion shopping site Jabong for $70
million.
 2016: In April, Flipkart acquired payment start-up PhonePe.
 2017: In January, Flipkart funded Parenting Network Tinystep With $2
Million.
 2017: In April, in exchange for an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay agreed to
make a $500 million cash investment in and sell its eBay.in business to
Flipkart; however, according to a company statement eBay.in would
continue to operate as a separate entity from Flipkart.

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BUSINESS MODEL

Challenges faced by flipkart

 Because of cut throughout competition flipkart faces losses many times .
 Due to International competitor such as amazon.com , ebay.com, flipkart
has to change its strategy according to the competition .
 Delivery in a rural areas.
 Logistics & supply chain.
 Payments
 Large value in India is cash based.

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 Business model of OYO Rooms
INTRODUCTION
 Ritesh Agarwal is the founder & CEO of OYO.
 OYO started with one city and one hotel in Gurgaon in January 2013.
 Named India's largest budget hotel chain.
 It has also launched in Malaysia
 The company as of October 2018 has around 7500 hotels in 220+ cities of
India.

BUSINESS MODEL
 Oyo Rooms Business Model is a hotel aggregator model. The services are
bought by the users under the name of Oyo rooms. Just like uber, Oyo
provides rooms with standardized quality and price.
 Oyo Rooms provide visitors with quality hotel room stays at different places
around India. They have partnered with hotels and made them work with
them under their name.
 Books a part of Hotel’s inventory beforehand, Organizes those hotel rooms
under their brand name – Oyo Rooms
 These partner hotels provide standardized service to customers of those
rooms as decided in a contract with Oyo
 Bookings are made through the Oyo Rooms website and mobile application.

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 BUSINESS MODEL OF MAKE MY TRIP
INRODUCTION
 Make-My-Trip Inc. is an online travel company headquartered in Gurgaon,
Haryana.
 It is founded in the year 2000 by Deep Kalra.
 Company provides online travel services.
 It has been consistently recognized as one of India’s best travel portals.
 The company also operates through 59 retail stores across 37 cities.
 Every eleventh domestic flights in India booked via MMT.

PROMOTION
 Promotion in all social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, News papers,
Magazine.
 Sales promotions:
• By giving festival discounts.
• Round trip tickets discounts coupons. Best deal of the
month.
• Special offers to different holiday destination.

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 BUSINESS MODEL OF ZOMATO
INTRODUCTION
 Started In- July 2008, Delhi NCR.
 Founded By: Deepinder Goyal, Pankaj Chaddah
 Initially named- “FoodieBay”
 In November 2010 it was renamed as“ZOMATO”
 Parent Company - Info edge
 Category – Mobile Application Based Sector - Food & Restaurant guide.
 Tagline/ Slogan - Discover great places to eat around you
 USP - Content is what sets Zomato apart – The restaurant & nightlife guide
with menus, pictures and map locations
 Segment - Young population, working professionals looking for information
of restaurants
 Target Group - All Smartphone Users
 Positioning - Zomato provides the “guide” or the “discovery” experience of
restaurants & food guide.

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 CHAPTER – 4
ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION
Electronic Payment is a financial exchange that takes place online between
buyers and sellers. The content of this exchange is usually some form of digital
financial instrument (such as encrypted credit card numbers, electronic cheques
or digital cash) that is backed by a bank or an intermediary, or by a legal tender.
Electronic payment system is a system which helps the customer or user to make
online payment for their shopping.
EXAMPLE
 Online Reservation
 Online Bill Payment
 Online Order Placing
 Online Ticket Booking (Movie)

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TYPES OF ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEM

E-CASH E-WALLET

SMART CARDS PAYMENT CARD

1) E-CASH
 In case of e-cash, both customer and merchant have to sign up with
the bank or company issuing e-cash.
 Enables transactions between customers without the need of
banks.

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 2) E-WALLET
E-wallet is a type of electronic card which is used for transactions made
online through a computer or a smartphone.
eg:-Paytm, Mobikwik, PayUMoney, etc.

3) SMART CARD
A smart card is a plastic card about the size of a credit card or a small size
with an embedded microchip that can be loaded with data, used for
telephone calling, cash payments and other applications Example – metro
card.

4) PAYMENT CARD
 CREDIT CARDS
 DEBIT CARDS
 CHARGE CARD

A) CREDIT CARD
 A small plastic card issued by a bank, building society, etc., allowing
the holder to purchase goods or services on credit.
 Credit cards issued by credit companies(e.g. Master card, visa) and
major banks (SBI, HDFC etc.).

B) DEBIT CARD
 A debit card is a Plastic payment card that can be used instead of
cash when making purchases.
 It is similar to a credit card, but unlike a credit card, the money
comes directly from the user's bank account when performing a
transaction.

C) CHARGE CARD
Are similar to credit cards except they have no revolving credit line so
they have make payments every month.

MERITS OF E - PAYMENT SYSTEM

 Faster receipt of goods or services – no wait for post or cheque to clear.
 Quicker to enter credit card details than send a cheque in the post.
 Time savings
 Reduce risk of lost and theft.
 User friendly.
 Expense control.
 Convenience.

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DEMERITS OF E – PAYMENT SYSTEM
 Restrictions
 The risk of being hacked.
 Problem while transferring money.
 The necessity of internet access.

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 CHAPTER – 5
WHAT IS DIGITAL PAYMENT
A digital wallet is a software component that allows a user to make an electronic
payment with a financial instrument and hides the low-level details of executing
the payment protocol that is used to make the payment.
A digital wallet allows a user to make an electronic payment with a financial
instrument (such as a credit card or digital cash), and hides the low-level details
of executing the payment protocol that is used to make the payment.
It authenticates the consumer through the use of digital certificates or other
encryption methods, stores and transfers value, and secure the payment process
from the consumer to the merchant.
It can hold other than payments like Bank account details, Credit Cards, Gift
coupons and reward certificates, Loyalty cards Offers.

WORKING OF DIGITAL WALLET

 Sender Mobile sends request to Transfer Money.
 System checks available balance in Sender’s A/C from that particular Bank.
 It transfers money from senders A/C to receivers A/C.
 After a successful money transfer it sends a confirmation notification
(SMS/Email) to receiver.
 Money can be send and/or receive from PayPoints.

ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL WALLET

 Ease of use:
• Withdraw or deposit value by telephone
• Pay the exact amount, no fiddling for change
• No signature required
• Immediate payment

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  Flexibility:
• Transfer value by telephone
• Pay person to person
• For low or high values
• Multi-currency capability
• No age limit, so suitable for all the family
 Safety and control:
• Spend only what you have
• Read your balance
• Load value at home
• Lock your card or wallet
• Keep track of what you have spent and where
• Customer is traceable if a lost card is found
 Accessibility and convenience:
• Cash machines and telephones give more access points to funds in
bank account
• Available 24 hours / 365 days
• Cash machines and telephones cannot run out of electronic cash

DISADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL WALLET

 System Outages: Information for digital wallets are stored on the cloud of
business servers; therefore, the risk of a system malfunction or shut down
is always present. As a result, businesses will not be able to process
payments or they will become increasingly slow due to high traffic in the
servers.
 Security: Companies must ensure that their customers' information is
encrypted and well protected. One of the biggest concerns of adopting a
digital wallet application is "will my information be safe"? This is the hurdle
that companies must face and as a result, must develop security systems
that are as safe and full proof as possible to avoid potential security issues.

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  Stake Holder Dynamics: Satisfying the business and strategic goals of
multiple stake holders such as banks, retailers, regulatory bodies, is
difficult.
 Compelling user experience: A user-friendly wallet interface, easy to use
and intuitive is difficult to produce.

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 PAYTM WALLET

Established in 2001.
Inspired by BSNL enquiry no 197.
3 months efforts – telecom directory Cofounder left him
Approached Airtel – VAS as Live Astrology Suffered loss of 11 lacs 2001-2002
• Smartphones becoming popular
• Experimenting with 3 basis internet content, advertising, commerce.
• Big eureka moment in 2010
• Picked the idea of entering payment ecosystem in front of his board
• Launch of Paytm– online recharge portal
• Paytm – PAY THROUGH MOBILE

WHAT MAKES PAYTM STAND OUT?

• Services offered by Paytm – everyone has a distinctive taste of his own &
Paytm offers what consumers exactly needs.
• Buy & sell via Paytm.
• Larger number of parties onboard.
• Deeper penetration to lower rungs of buisness.
• Easy money transfer

PAYTM WALLET WHATS THAT ?

“A secure digital wallets that lets you manage your money , recharges, paybills,
shop on Paytm, send money to friends & pay for various brands & services like
Uber, Make my trip < Book my Show and many more”

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POSITIONING
• Paytm Promotes Itself As An Alternative To Money
• No hard cash, just Paytm.
• Single digital window for all payment.
• App that caters common man’s need.

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 OXIGEN WALLET

Oxigen Wallet is the wallet of the mobile generation. It lets you…

 Send money to any mobile number on any mobile network
 Send money to 60+ bank account pan India
 Recharge your prepaid mobile number, data card and DTH
 Pay all your postpaid mobile bills and data card bill
 Pay your electricity bill
 Shop online at over 2000 partner websites

Benefits of Oxigen Wallet

 Safety
 Wide acceptance
 Instant
 Reliable
 Flexible
 Simple
 Smart

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Why Use Oxigen Wallet?
 Certified by RBI
 Tied up with NPCI for Instant Money transfer Services
 Oxigen Wallet is supported by bank grade technology, hence it is trusted,
secure & reliable
 You can Send money to Anyone, Anywhere on ANY mobile network
 You can Send Money instantly to ANY mobile number, even if it is not
registered with Oxigen wallet
 Wide Acceptance

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 MOBIKWIK
Mobikwik is an indian company founded in 2009 that provides a mobile based
payment system and digital payment.
In 2013 Reserve bank of india authorised the company’s use of mobikwik wallet
and in may 2016 the company began providing small loans to consumers as part
of its services.

Services offered
 Recharge
• Mobile Phone
• Data Card
• DTH
• Toll Etag or smart card
 Bill Payments
• Postpaid Mobile bills
• Landline bills
• Electricity bills
 Money Transfer
• Load Money
• Send Money
• Withdraw Money
 UPI transfer

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 FREECHARGE

 FreeCharge.com, It is an E-commerce website.

 It provides online facility to recharge any prepaid mobile phone, DTH &
Data Cards in India.
 FreeCharge launched on Aug. 15, 2010.
 On 8 April 2015, Snapdeal acquired Freecharge which is being referred as
the biggest take over in Indian E- commerce sector so far and the biggest
Venture Capital exit in India till date.
 Snapdeal announced that it has acquired FreeCharge to build the most
impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India.

Service offered
 Account transfer
 Pay at point of purchase
 Bill payments
 Recharges
 Electricity bills
 Insurance

Freecharge Rewards Its Users

 The amount paid by the users for recharge is returned in form of
shopping coupons of some of the top retailers in India, thereby making
the recharge
 The first two retailers for which coupons were available were McDonald's
and Barista Lavazza.

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 CHAPTER – 6
ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE

INTRODUCTION
Data interchange is defined as the interchange of standard formatted data
between computer application system of trading partners with minimal manual
intervention.
According to International Data exchange association (IDEA)
“The transfer of structured data , by agreed message standards, from one
computer system to another, by electronic means.”

FEATURES OF EDI
1) A simple, seamless user experience. Business users in departments like
customer service and shipping need to process EDI transactions efficiently
and accurately, without having to become EDI experts. You should be able
to manage EDI “by exception” so that transactions are automated unless
exceptions occur. You should also be able to automatically schedule
everyday tasks like importing and exporting EDI documents to and from
your accounting system. More automation means faster processing and less
errors—which, for suppliers and distributors, means happier customers and
fewer chargebacks.
2) Scalability and configurability for your specific needs. Look for an EDI
software provider that allows you to implement only the features you need
now, with the option to add more capabilities (e.g., support for remote
warehouse/3PL documents) on-demand in the future. Configurability to
your specific accounting/ERP environment and business processes without
customizations that could complicate your upgrades is also crucial. You
want a proven, turnkey implementation and upgrade path that minimizes
risk as your accounting and ERP environment changes.
3) Lowest total cost of ownership. A low initial cost doesn’t mean that TCO
will be low also. Monthly network charges can vary widely, for example.
Likewise, many providers charge for updating trading partner mapping
specifications, which change all the time. What about monthly maintenance
fees? These costs can add up fast as a business grows. Are these included in
the support contract or are they extra?
4) Easy onboarding of new trading partners. Growing companies need to
onboard new EDI trading partners quickly and smoothly. Make sure an EDI
provider offers prebuilt templates and rules to make onboarding and
compliance with major retailers and other partners quick and painless.
Make sure also that it’s easy to create partner-specific business rules.

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 5) Single-vendor Product support You want an EDI software solution that is
developed, maintained and supported end-to-end by the same vendor. In
particular, many EDI companies own only the EDI translator software and
rely on systems integrators for their ERP integrations. A third party might
also support the VAN you’re using. This can result in support problems and
an increased risk of product obsolescence.
6) Web-based and managed services options EDI for small businesses, and
even large companies, is more and more commonly web-based. Choosing
EDI “in the cloud” compounds the advantages of a web-based
accounting/ERP system, like faster time-to-value, reduced IT complexity,
ubiquitous access to data and fewer firewall, security and connectivity
worries.

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WORKING OF EDI
A two- way working process of EDI-based transaction between vendor and
supplier is described in figure

Purchasing System Ordering System

Internal Internal Format

Format Conversion
Conversion

EDI Translator
EDI Translator
Transmit Purchase Order

Send Back
EDI Envelope for Acknowledgement
Document EDI Envelope for
Messaging Document Messaging

Internet

A step-wise execution of process involved in EDI transaction for purchase,

shipment, and payment is as follows
1. The sender’s EDI translation software translates the document into a
standard format and establishes the communication connection by dialing
telephone number of the network.
2. The message from the sender is transferred to an electronic mailbox on the
network .
3. From the electronic mailbox, the trading partner’s software will retrieve the
file, and finally the message, check that it complies with EDI standards.
And finally store it. It also sends a functional acknowledgement to inform
the sender if the message was received and complied with the EDI
standard.
4. To read and process the interpreted message, the receiver has two options.
Either use the EDI translation software to produce a hard copy of the

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 message or re–structure(map) the message into a format required by the
existing computer applications before further processing.

ADVANTAGES OF EDI

1) Expedite transmission
Information is transmitted from one organization to another organization
efficiently and swiftly.

2) Automated Data entry

Data is entered automatically by EDI software. For instance, when
purchase order (PO) from one company is received by another company.
Sales order (SO) is automatically generated at other company’s system
with the help of EDI software.

3) Receipt verification
Receipt verification can easily be done with help of EDI software. No
human intervention is involved so there are minimal chances of error or
delay.

4) Data Validation
Data validation is automatically done.

5) Availability of free software

Free software’s are available depending upon the EDI format chosen. For
example- In TRADACOMS EDI format, Price Information file and order
files are available for free.

6) Low cost
Lower administrative, resource and maintenance cost.

7) Faster processing
With the help of EDI, business processes can be executed at a much faster
rate as compared to the traditional method sending information.

8) Building long-term relationships

EDI helps in building long term relationships with trading partners and
hence helps in business growth.

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 9) Reduction in error
EDI has discarded manual data entry and paperwork. So there are
minimal chances of error.

DISADVANTAGES OF EDI

1) Expensive
Setup and maintenance of some of the formats of EDI is expensive.

2) Initial setup is time consuming

Initial cost to setup EDI is time consuming.

3) EDI Standard changes

The business process depends on EDI standard format. If any of the
standard format changes then the business process has to be changed
accordingly.

4) System electronic protection

An EDI enabled system needs electronic protection from viruses,
hacking, malware and other frauds.

5) Staff training cost

Staff needs training in order to run EDI enabled software. Investment
has to be done in training.

6) Proper backup
It should be maintained as the whole data depends on EDI. In case of
any crash of EDI system, proper backup has to be maintained and extra
cost is required for it.

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 APPLICATION OF EDI

EDI Application in Business

Different scenarios in industries that use EDI extensively:
1. International or cross-border trade
2. Health care EDI for insurance claims processing
3. Manufacturing & retail procurement

1. International or cross-border trade

 EDI has always been very closely linked with international trade.
 Trade efficiency, which allows faster, simpler, broader & less costly
transactions.

Role of EDI in international trade

EDI facilitates the smooth flow of information
 It reduces paper work
 EDI benefits for international trade are
 Reduced transaction expenditures
 Quicker movement of imported & exported goods
 Improved customer service through “track & trace” programs
 Faster customs clearance & reduced opportunities for corruption, a
huge problem in trade

Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) Transfers

 ACH transfers are used to process high volumes of relatively small-dollar
payments for settlement in one or two business days
 It provides services: preauthorized debits, such as repetitive bill
payments; & consumer-initiated payments.

Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) Transfers

 ACH transfers are used to process high volumes of relatively small-dollar
payments for settlement in one or two business days
 It provides services: preauthorized debits, such as repetitive bill
payments; & consumer-initiated payments.

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2. Health care EDI for insurance EDI
 Providing good & affordable health care is a universal problem
 EDI is becoming a permanent fixture in both insurance & health care
industries as medical provider, patients, & payers
 Electronic claim processing is quick & reduces the administrative
costs of health care.
 Using EDI software, service providers prepare the forms & submit
claims via communication lines to the value-added network service
provider
 The company then edits sorts & distributes forms to the payer. If
necessary, the insurance company can electronically route
transactions to a third-party for price evaluation
 Claims submission also receives reports regarding claim status &
request for additional information

3. Manufacturing & retail procurement using EDI

 These are heavy users of EDI
 In manufacturing, EDI is used to support just-in-time.
 In retailing, EDI is used to support quick response

Just-In-Time & EDI

 Companies using JIT & EDI calculates how many parts are needed each
day based on the production schedule & electronically transmit orders.
 Delivery has to be responsive, or it will cost too much in money & time.
 Getting data to suppliers quickly
 A major benefit of JIT & EDI is a streamlined cash flow.

Quick Response & EDI

 For the customer, QR means better service & availability of a wider range
of products
 For the retailer & supplier, QR may mean survival in a competitive
marketplace
 Much focus of QR is in reduction of lead times using event-driven EDI.
 In QR, EDI documents include purchase orders, shipping notices, invoices,
inventory position, catalogs, & order status
Limited Distribution channel reach: Although its logistics arm has kept cost’s
low, the reach has been affected which is a weakness

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 CHAPTER – 7

MOBILE COMMERCE
Mobile e-commerce (m-commerce) is a term that describes online sales
transactions that use wireless electronic devices such as hand-held computers,
mobile phones or laptops. These wireless devices interact with computer networks
that have the ability to conduct online merchandise purchases. Any type of cash
exchange is referred to as an e-commerce transaction. Mobile e-commerce is just
one of the many subsets of electronic commerce.

FEATURES OF M-COMMERCE
Eliminate bugs and errors

If your mobile app wasn’t developed properly, it’s going to have lots of
glitches, crashes, and error reports.

This will frustrate a user. Don’t think that’s a big deal? Think again.

Just look at how significant app performance is to your customers—84% of

customers agree it’s important.

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 But what happens when your app doesn’t perform well? Very bad things.

In fact, 48% of mobile users are less likely to use an app if it doesn’t perform
well. An additional 34% of people say they’ll use a competitor’s app after a
negative experience.

This is obviously bad news for your mobile commerce strategy.

You can’t afford to lose any customers, especially not to your competition.
You’ve invested too much time and money into this venture. You’ve got to make
sure you prioritize performance.

Don’t get me wrong, nobody’s app is perfect. But you should always be trying
to make improvements.

Use beta testers before a launch to help you identify and work out any bugs.
Get notifications when something crashes so you can get it fixed as soon as
possible.

Come out with new updates on a regular basis. All of this will improve the user
experience and make it easier for them to buy.

Retail integration

If you have a mobile app in addition to a physical store, have them compliment
each other.

Your customers are already using their phones when they shop at your store.
Here’s a look at what they’re doing with these devices:

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Embrace it. Make this experience even better for your customers.

Start off by offering free Wi-Fi in your stores so that they can easily connect their
devices and access the app when they walk in, without using their data plans.

When someone browses for items from within the app, they may be interested in
buying a product. But for one reason or another, they may want to check out the
item in person.

Have a feature that allows them to save the item to a “want” or “favorite” list.
Then, they can check the inventory at local stores to see if it’s available.

When they get to the store, your app should tell them exactly which aisle the
product is in to make it even easier for the customer. This will increase the chances
that they’ll buy it.

You can have the reverse feature as well. If someone sees something in your store
but wants to think about it before buying, they can scan the barcode through the
app and add the product to their “want” list. Then, they can purchase it later.

Integrating your app with retail locations also gives more people a reason to
download your app in the first place.

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It will encourage downloads from customers when they enter your store. More
downloads will usually translate to more money for your business.

Flash sales and discounts

You want to give people a reason to buy.

What do customers love more than anything? Getting a good deal.

Send them a discount from your mobile app. This could also be part of your
strategy to get downloads in the first place.

Check out this example from the Jabong shopping app:

They are offering new users a 20% discount if they make a purchase from within
the app.

Once the app is downloaded, you can offer additional exclusive deals not found
online.

Have a section designated for items on sale. Run seasonal discounts and build
hype for holiday promotions as well.

You can also run flash sales by sending push notifications to app users, but we’ll
talk about that concept in greater detail later.

Detailed product descriptions

Just like with your ecommerce site, you need to have detailed descriptions of all
the products on your mobile commerce app.

However, these descriptions will have a slight variation on your app.

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That’s because when you’re viewing items on a mobile device, there is much less
room on the screen. You’ll need to have detailed but concise product descriptions.

Cut out any unnecessary words and use bullet points. This makes your
descriptions easy to read and scan.

Clearly explain what the product does, without adding unneeded information.
Start with a basic description, and then have expandable text that provides more
details.

These descriptions will work together with your product images, which we’ll
discuss next.

Quality product images

As I just said, you’ll need to include images on your mobile commerce app.

Each product should have lots of images. Think about how people shop. If they are
in a store, they’ll pick up the item, try it on, or test it out.

But you can’t get the in-person experience of looking, touching, feeling, or tasting
a product on the phone. OK, so you probably won’t taste a product before you buy
it in a store either, but you know what I mean.

The consumer relies on your product images to get a sense for what the product
will look like.

Show it form every angle. Zoom in on the most important features. Give a
demonstration.

If it’s a piece of clothing, don’t just show it lying flat on a table. Demonstrate its fit
by showing what it looks like on a model.

The ability to see pictures is the most important feature for mobile shoppers.

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Your images need to be high quality and professional.

If they are blurry, with a shadow, under poor lighting, or aren’t centered, etc.,
they’ll make the product look unappealing.

Sure, it’s going to take time to upload lots of pictures for each item. But it’s worth
it in the long run because it’ll be easier for you to generate sales.

Customer service

No matter how well your app performs, people will still have questions and
problems.

It’s inevitable.

When this occurs, you’ll need to be able to handle the situation appropriately. How
do they contact your customer service team?

If they are in the app, they should be able to do this directly from the mobile
platform. Don’t force them to go to Google or visit your website to find a phone
number or email address.

Offer this type of communication from your app.

Live chat. Phone support. Email.

As a result, you’ll be able to boost revenue by optimizing the customer experience.

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Fast and secure checkout

Your mobile app needs to be smooth. Just like with your website, you’ll want
to avoid common navigation mistakes.

It should be easy for app users to find what they are looking for through your
search and menu options. Once someone decides they want to buy something, you
don’t want them to have to jump through hoops to get it.

That’s where a mobile app stands apart from a mobile website:

With a mobile site and ecommerce site, the shopper has to input all their
information each time they make a transaction.

This is tough to do from a mobile device. It’s too easy to make a mistake with the
smaller buttons and screen. Plus, people can’t type as fast without a full keyboard.

But with an app, they have to do this only once, and then their purchases in the
future can be made with just one click. You’ll have all the necessary info saved to
their personal accounts.

Now checkouts will be fast and convenient. This also helps with personalization.

Less friction in the checkout process will lead to lower cart abandonment rates
and higher sales.

Here’s something else you need to keep in mind. When you’re storing important
information like this, your app needs to be completely secure.

This will protect not only your customers but also your brand. If your app gets
hacked or has a credit card breach, it could destroy your reputation.

When you store a credit card on file, don’t display the entire card number. Just
show the last few digits, card type, and expiration date. This will prevent someone
from accessing the credit card if the user’s phone is lost or stolen.

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App users will know you’re protecting their information and be less hesitant to
make purchases.

Alternative payment options

Your mobile commerce app needs to accept all major credit cards. I don’t care if
certain ones charge you a higher processing fee, you still need to give your
customers as many options as possible.

In addition to accepting all credit and debit cards, you need to offer more options
as well.

I’m talking about alternative payment methods such as:

 PayPal
 Apple Pay
 Venmo

For security reasons, people may be hesitant to enter their credit card information
into an app. But they know these other methods help protect their funds, and you
don’t want to miss out on those sales.

Plus, you don’t know someone’s personal financial situation. They might have
credit cards that are maxed out, or they may have funds on a Venmo or PayPal
account they want to use instead.

Further, if one of these payment processing apps is already on their phone, it’s one
less step for the user. This is perfect when they’re shopping on the go.

They can buy something with just one click, without having to enter any additional
information. This is much easier for them to do than having to take out their credit
cards while walking, taking transit, or grabbing a coffee.

Push notifications

So you’re running a promotional deal. How will you tell your app users?

Just send them a push notification, like in this example from Charlotte Russe:

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This method is better than an email because the message gets sent straight to
your customers’ phones, like a text message.

Just be careful with this approach. Sending too many push notifications can be
annoying. You don’t want users to turn off your push notifications.

Once that happens, you won’t be able to communicate with them as effectively.

Use them sparingly, but definitely use them. In addition to flash sales, you can
send personalized notifications based on customer preferences and location.

FRAMEWORK OF M – COMMERCE

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Existing Framework for Mobile Commerce Because mobile commerce is a fairly
new and still emerging phenomenon, there are very few established frameworks
available. One of the most representative ones so far is by Upkar and Ron Vetter
(2001). Their proposed framework for mobile commerce application shows a user
plane with four levels and a developer-provider plane with three. This framework
defines several functional layers, simplifying the design and development so that
different parties—vendors, providers, designers, and so on—can address
individual layers. However, there are some shortcomings in this framework. For
example, while it is obvious that there is a tight relationship between the user
plane and the developer and provider plane, the authors failed to address it well
in their framework. Another disadvantage is that the authors put all mobile
commerce applications into some classes among the application layer without
addressing any relationship among them. Because there are various products and
services involved in this layer and many of them indeed have some different
characteristics and internal relationships, we need a more detailed framework to
address these differences.

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Proposed Framework for Mobile Commerce Criteria for Choosing a Framework
Before building a framework, it is necessary to discuss the criteria for choosing a
framework in the context of mobile commerce. Because building a framework and
choosing dimensions is a rather subjective work, it is hard to measure the goodness
of the framework along with its dimensions. However, there are indeed some
criteria for choosing a framework’s dimensions. Hereby, I choose the following
criteria in accessing the goodness of a framework. Chen et al./A Framework for
Mobile Commerce 2001 ó Seventh Americas Conference on Information Systems
445 Figure 1. Framework for Mobile Commerce One criterion is that the
framework should be useful, which means that the framework will either helps
the players in m-commerce arena to strategize and effectively implement mobile
commerce applications, or it should be useful in research. Another one is that the
framework should show sufficient consistency in categorizing a wide range of
mobile commerce applications. That is to say, all those now existing and future
possible mobile commerce applications that could be included in the framework
should exhibit consistent logical relationships among the various categories of
products and services. The third one should be the fitness of the framework, which
means that the mobile products/services can be fit well into this framework.
Proposed Framework and Dimensions Framework Structure Above is the
structure of our proposed framework for mobile commerce (figure 1). It has three
planes all together: the value chain plane, technical support plan and applications
plane. The advantage of using the mobile commerce chain as one dimension is that
the players in the value chain theoretically provide all possible services and
products for mobile applications and there is one obvious and consistent
relationship among them, that is revenue flow gained by value their added
applications. So each layer in this dimension refers both to the players and the
products/services they provide. As to another dimension, the reasons why we
propose it is because it is a hierarchical one and we can describe by it how various
mobile commerce applications get support from technology and infrastructure.
Although there is no tight or logical relationship between various layers in the
third plan/dimension, they are categorized by their inbuilt value-adding
characteristics of mobile commerce so that we can differentiate them more clearly.
Three Dimensions of the Framework In this framework, the value chain plane is
faced with or say gets support from an outside layer that stands for end-users and
business partners (the business partners here refer to advertisers or other third
parties that make use of mobile commerce services and products, they are not
necessary to be the players in mobile commerce arena.). It is because the revenue
source of mobile commerce mainly comes from end-users or business partners, and
nearly all layers in this plane can get revenues directly from them. The technical
support plane is also support by an outside layer. This layer refers to the
environment infrastructure and fundamental technology. It means that, despite
not having been built well yet, environment infrastructure such as government
regulation and fundamental technology like PKI (public key infrastructure) act as
the cornerstone of mobile commerce and is the fundamental requirement to the

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development of mobile commerce. The third plane, i.e. the mobile commerce
application plane, can be also looked upon as one part in the mobile commerce
value chain, that why we have positioned it where it now stands. The mobile
commerce business strategy is added because when those service and products
provider companies are looking for further development in the long run or when
some traditional companies want to reorganize their structures to fit in the
intensive competition in m-commerce era, business strategy is need. The
framework shows that the strategy layer gets support from various m-commerce
applications in application plane.

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Applications of M-commerce

Other than the straightforward m-commerce transactions of buying and selling of

goods and services, they have so many applications. Let us take a look at a few
examples:

 Mobile Banking: Using a mobile website or application to perform all your

banking functions. It is one step ahead of online banking and has become
commonplace these days. For example, in Nigeria, the majority of banking
transactions happen on mobile phones.

 Mobile Ticketing and Booking: Making bookings and receiving your tickets on
the mobile. The digital ticket or boarding pass is sent directly to your phone
after you make the payment from it. Even in India now IRTC and other
services provide m-ticketing services.

 E-bills: This includes mobile vouchers, mobile coupons to be redeemed and even
loyalty points or cards system.

 Auctions: Online auctions having now been developed to be made available via
mobile phones as well.

 Stock Market Reports and even stock market trading over mobile applications.

Advantages of M-commerce
 It provides a very convenient and easy to use the system to conduct business
transactions.

 Mobile commerce has a very wide reach. A huge part of the world’s population
has a mobile phone in their pocket. So the sheer size of the market is
tremendous.

 M-commerce also helps businesses target customers according to their location,

service provider, the type of device they use and various other criteria. This
can be a good marketing tool.

 The costs of the company also reduced. This is due to the streamlined processes,
now transaction cost, low carrying cost and low order processing cost as well.

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Disadvantages of M-commerce
 The existing technology to set up an m-commerce business is very expensive.
It has great start-up costs and many complications arise.

 In developing countries, the networks and service providers are not reliable. It
is not most suitable for data transfer.

 Then there is the issue of security. There are many concerns about the safety
of the customer’s private information. And the possibility of a data leak is very
daunting.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E-COMMERCE AND M-

COMMERCE

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 CHAPTER – 8
E-Procurement
E-Procurement is the ‘Electronic Procurement’ which in turn refers to the process
of purchase and sale of goods or services through electronic methods using
the Internet as a primary medium. This method of procurement was introduced
as a substitute of the manual procurement where energy and time consumption
was high. But, e-Procurement is better in many ways than manual procurement
in terms of efficiency and optimal utilization of resources. Many organizations are
increasingly opting for e-Procurement platforms, realizing its potential to
eradicate irregularities and unnecessary costs.

As the term procurement means ‘obtaining’ something, supply chain management

is very essential in the current market. Right from the manufacturing unit to the
customers, procurement plays a very crucial role in the market. Thus e-
procurement is widely getting accepted by the both the customers and
organizations for an easy and efficient procurement processes.

Introduction
E-procurement is nothing but electronic data transfer to support operational,
tactical and strategic procurement. E-procurement has been existence for long
time in one form or the other earlier it was done through electronic data
interchange. In today’s environment, most of the e-procurement is done through
the Internet.

Traditionally, procurement of supplies and material was done through paper,

which slowly migrated to usage of an electronic medium for order printing and
storing. With the advent of the Internet e-commerce flourished, and procurement
was done through email and websites. As the Internet technology evolved e-
catalogue came in the forefront thus traditional procurement was getting done
through the Internet.

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 E-procurement in the procurement cycle

 E-sourcing supports the specification phase; it identifies suppliers that can be

used in the selection phase.
 E-tendering supports the selection phase; it facilitates the REOI and ITB/RFP
activities, usually including support for the analysis and assessment activities.
 E-reverse auctioning supports the contract phase; it enables closing a deal with
a supplier;
 E-ordering and web-based ERP is the process of creating and approving
procurement requisitions, placing purchase orders, as well as receiving goods
and services ordered, by using a software system based on the Internet.
 E-informing is not directly associated with a phase in the procurement process;
it is the process of gathering and distributing procurement information both
from and to internal and external parties using Internet technology.

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E-Procurement Methods

Procurement Methods
Generally speaking, there are six procurement methods used by the procurement
team in a company. The actual names of these could vary depending on your
company and industry, but the process remains the same. The six times of
procurement are open tendering, restricted tendering, request for proposal, two-
stage tendering, request for quotations and single-source procurement.

Open Tendering
Open tendering is shorthand for competitive bidding. It allows companies to bid
on goods in an open competition or open solicitation manner. Open tendering
requirements call for the company to:

1. Advertise locally
2. Have unbiased and coherent technical specifications
3. Have objective evaluation measures
4. Be open to all qualified bidders
5. Be granted to the least cost provider sans contract negotiations

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Arguably, the open tendering method of procurement encourages effective
competition to obtain goods with an emphasis on the value for money. However,
considering this is a procedures based method a lot of procurement experts feel
that this method is not very suitable for large or complex acquisitions due to
the intense focus on the output process instead of stringent obedience to
standards. In this Quality Management course learn about the ways to
evaluate quality products on incoming orders, and to create quality products for
sale.
There are course also disadvantages to this kind of procurement method
including:

1. Complex requirements are typically not suited for this method

2. The timeline for needing the goods
3. Complications in defining the exact needs of the requirement by the
procuring company

Restricted Tendering

Restricted tendering is a procurement method that limits the request for tenders
to a select number of suppliers, contractors or service providers. This method of
procurement is also called: Limited Bidding and Selective Tendering.

Although considered a competitive procurement method, competition is limited to

only firms shortlisted or invited by the procuring entity.

A process should be in place for arriving at the number and specific firms that will
be invited; that number however is dependent on the stipulations of the public
procurement legal framework.

Request for Proposals (RFP )

Request for Proposal is a term that is used all across the business world. Social
media managers receive RFP’s from potential clients all the time when a client
is seeking a new manager of their venture. This kind of proposal is a compelling
and unique document stating why the business is the best fit for the type of
project at and. Similarly, in the procurement world, a RFP is a method used when
suppliers or service providers are proposing their good or service to a
procurement team for review. If you’re a supplier, understanding the in’s and
out’s of quality service management is key to winning your bid. Read more about
this in service quality management.
Procurement teams are often on the hunt for the best valued, most marketable
items to bring into circulation. A client may feel they have all of the qualifications
to fit the needs of fulfilling a specific requirement of a procurement team – but

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they have to prove it. The agencies writing the RFP’s should submit a two-
envelope proposal to the procurement manager. The two-envelope process allows
the procurers’ to review the proposal through and through without knowing the
financial component. The financial proposal is sealed in the second envelope and
should only be opened after the content of the first-envelope proposal is approved
or rejected. This eliminates any persuasion by cost and allows an objective lens
to look through when analyzing a good fit. The proposal with the best fit
qualifications and best price will be selected. If a lesser qualified (yet still
qualified) selection has a lesser price, no contract should be negotiated. The most
qualified and appropriate proposal, regardless of price, should be selected. Are
you a supplier? Learn how to price your goods based on value in the course Value
Centric Selling.

Two Stage Tendering

There are two procedures that are used under the two stage tendering method.
Each one of the procedures has a two stage process. This can be disadvantageous
for some procurement teams if there is a time limit on securing a contract. In the
same vein, this option is more flexible for both parties, allowing more room for
discussion to meet mutual needs.
The first procedure is very similar to the RFP method as discussed above. The
procurement team receives a proposal with two envelopes – one with the proposal
itself and one with the associated financial information. The difference is the
bidder is required to submit a technical proposal that highlights their solutions
to fulfilling the requirements as specified by the procuring department. This
proposal is scored according to the relevance of the solution to the needs of the
procurer. The highest scored proposal is invited for further discussion in an
attempt to reach an agreement. After the final agreement for the technical
proposal is reached, the bidder is invited to submit their financial proposal and
then further discussions ensue to negotiate a contract.
The second procedure is much like the above, however, instead of the bidder
submitting a fully-completed technical proposal, a partial proposal is submitted.
The methodology and technical specifications will be included but not to the
fullest extent. This allows room for even more customization and discussion.
Once the highest qualified bidder is selected, they will be invited to submit a
thorough technical proposal along with a financial proposal. The technical
proposal will be evaluated and only then will the financial proposal be opened.
The combined score of both the technical proposal and the financial proposal are
the grounds on which a bidder is contracted.

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Request for Quotations
This procurement method is used for small-valued goods or services. Request for
quotation is by far the least complex procurement method available. If you have
the option, use this method to ensure a fast procurement process and not a lot of
paperwork. There is no formal proposal drafted from either party in this method.
Essentially, the procurement entity selects a minimum of three suppliers or
service providers that they wish to get quotes from. A comparison of quotes is
analyzed and the best selection determined by requirement compliance is chosen.

Single-Source
Single source procurement is a non-competitive method that should only be
used under specific circumstances. Single source procurement occurs when the
procuring entity intends to acquire goods or services from a sole provider. This
method should undergo a strict approval process from management before
being used. The circumstances which call for this method are:

 Emergencies
 If only one supplier is available and qualified to fulfill the requirements
 If the advantages of using a certain supplier are abundantly clear
 If the procurer requires a certain product or service that is only available
from one supplier
 For the continuation of work that cannot be reproduced by another
supplier

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APPLICATIONS OF E-PROCUREMENT

Oracle
Oracle is a Business to Business (B2B) e-Commerce solution provider. Oracle's
procurement software and web-based network enable e-procurement integration
between buyers and suppliers globally. The iProcurement™ sofware application
is designed to support order management, work approval and general business
rules associated with standard requisitioning, as well to support receiving and
reconciliation needs.

SAP
SAP is one of the major players who offer (B2B) e-commerce solutions. Their
original offering was known as BBP however since the relationship with
Commerce One was forged the joint product is now known as EBP or Enterprise
Buyer Professional. This solution handles order management, work approval and
business rules associated with standard requisitioning as well and it supports
receiving and reconciliation needs

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CC-Hubwoo
Hubwoo is a global leader of On-Demand electronic procurement solutions,
services and supplier relationship management. With operations
internationally, and a SAP® global BPO partnership dedicated to procurement,
Hubwoo provides a fully integrated suite of tools and services, delivered as-a-
service to companies.

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 CHAPTER – 9

ONLINE RESEARCH

INTRODUCTION

Online research is a research method that involves the collection of information

from the internet. With the advent of the internet, the traditional pen-and-paper
research techniques have taken a backseat and made room for online research.
Online survey research is much more impactful than the traditional means,
considering the ease of access and cost savings they come with. The response rates
received for online research are much higher than the others as the respondents
are assured that their identity will be protected.

There’s a constant progress in the field of online survey research with the progress
that’s happening in the field of internet and social media. Social media has been a
catalyst in the entire process of online research in terms of the access to the
database and the experiments that can be conducted on this platform.

Online surveys, polls, questionnaires, forms, focus groups, are various tools of
online research that are vital in gathering information essential for market
research. The internet has created amazing avenues for small and large
businesses for conducting market research with zero to minimum investment.
Online research can be carried out for product testing, the targeting of an
audience, database mining, customer satisfaction.

PROCESS

Step 1: Identify the Problem

The first step in the process is to identify a problem or develop a research question.
The research problem may be something the agency identifies as a problem, some
knowledge or information that is needed by the agency, or the desire to identify a
recreation trend nationally. In the example in table 2.4, the problem that the
agency has identified is childhood obesity, which is a local problem and concern
within the community. This serves as the focus of the study.

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Step 2: Review the Literature
Now that the problem has been identified, the researcher must learn more about
the topic under investigation. To do this, the researcher must review the literature
related to the research problem. This step provides foundational knowledge about
the problem area. The review of literature also educates the researcher about what
studies have been conducted in the past, how these studies were conducted, and
the conclusions in the problem area. In the obesity study, the review of literature
enables the programmer to discover horrifying statistics related to the long-term
effects of childhood obesity in terms of health issues, death rates, and projected
medical costs. In addition, the programmer finds several articles and information
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that describe the benefits of
walking 10,000 steps a day. The information discovered during this step helps the
programmer fully understand the magnitude of the problem, recognize the future
consequences of obesity, and identify a strategy to combat obesity (i.e., walking).

Step 3: Clarify the Problem

Many times the initial problem identified in the first step of the process is too large
or broad in scope. In step 3 of the process, the researcher clarifies the problem and
narrows the scope of the study. This can only be done after the literature has been
reviewed. The knowledge gained through the review of literature guides the
researcher in clarifying and narrowing the research project. In the example, the
programmer has identified childhood obesity as the problem and the purpose of
the study. This topic is very broad and could be studied based on genetics, family
environment, diet, exercise, self-confidence, leisure activities, or health issues. All
of these areas cannot be investigated in a single study; therefore, the problem and
purpose of the study must be more clearly defined. The programmer has decided
that the purpose of the study is to determine if walking 10,000 steps a day for
three days a week will improve the individual's health. This purpose is more
narrowly focused and researchable than the original problem.

Step 4: Clearly Define Terms and Concepts

Terms and concepts are words or phrases used in the purpose statement of the
study or the description of the study. These items need to be specifically defined
as they apply to the study. Terms or concepts often have different definitions
depending on who is reading the study. To minimize confusion about what the
terms and phrases mean, the researcher must specifically define them for the
study. In the obesity study, the concept of “individual's health” can be defined in
hundreds of ways, such as physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health. For
this study, the individual's health is defined as physical health. The concept of
physical health may also be defined and measured in many ways. In this case, the
programmer decides to more narrowly define “individual health” to refer to the

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areas of weight, percentage of body fat, and cholesterol. By defining the terms or
concepts more narrowly, the scope of the study is more manageable for the
programmer, making it easier to collect the necessary data for the study. This also
makes the concepts more understandable to the reader.

Step 5: Define the Population

Research projects can focus on a specific group of people, facilities, park
development, employee evaluations, programs, financial status, marketing efforts,
or the integration of technology into the operations. For example, if a researcher
wants to examine a specific group of people in the community, the study could
examine a specific age group, males or females, people living in a specific
geographic area, or a specific ethnic group. Literally thousands of options are
available to the researcher to specifically identify the group to study. The research
problem and the purpose of the study assist the researcher in identifying the group
to involve in the study. In research terms, the group to involve in the study is
always called the population. Defining the population assists the researcher in
several ways. First, it narrows the scope of the study from a very large population
to one that is manageable. Second, the population identifies the group that the
researcher's efforts will be focused on within the study. This helps ensure that the
researcher stays on the right path during the study. Finally, by defining the
population, the researcher identifies the group that the results will apply to at the
conclusion of the study. In the example in table 2.4, the programmer has identified
the population of the study as children ages 10 to 12 years. This narrower
population makes the study more manageable in terms of time and resources.

Step 6: Develop the Instrumentation Plan

The plan for the study is referred to as the instrumentation plan. The
instrumentation plan serves as the road map for the entire study, specifying who
will participate in the study; how, when, and where data will be collected; and the
content of the program. This plan is composed of numerous decisions and
considerations that are addressed in chapter 8 of this text. In the obesity study,
the researcher has decided to have the children participate in a walking program
for six months. The group of participants is called the sample, which is a smaller
group selected from the population specified for the study. The study cannot
possibly include every 10- to 12-year-old child in the community, so a smaller
group is used to represent the population. The researcher develops the plan for the
walking program, indicating what data will be collected, when and how the data
will be collected, who will collect the data, and how the data will be analyzed. The
instrumentation plan specifies all the steps that must be completed for the study.
This ensures that the programmer has carefully thought through all these
decisions and that she provides a step-by-step plan to be followed in the study.

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Step 7: Collect Data
Once the instrumentation plan is completed, the actual study begins with the
collection of data. The collection of data is a critical step in providing the
information needed to answer the research question. Every study includes the
collection of some type of data—whether it is from the literature or from subjects—
to answer the research question. Data can be collected in the form of words on a
survey, with a questionnaire, through observations, or from the literature. In the
obesity study, the programmers will be collecting data on the defined variables:
weight, percentage of body fat, cholesterol levels, and the number of days the
person walked a total of 10,000 steps during the class.
The researcher collects these data at the first session and at the last session of the
program. These two sets of data are necessary to determine the effect of the
walking program on weight, body fat, and cholesterol level. Once the data are
collected on the variables, the researcher is ready to move to the final step of the
process, which is the data analysis.

Step 8: Analyze the Data

All the time, effort, and resources dedicated to steps 1 through 7 of the research
process culminate in this final step. The researcher finally has data to analyze so
that the research question can be answered. In the instrumentation plan, the
researcher specified how the data will be analyzed. The researcher now analyzes
the data according to the plan. The results of this analysis are then reviewed and
summarized in a manner directly related to the research questions. In the obesity
study, the researcher compares the measurements of weight, percentage of body
fat, and cholesterol that were taken at the first meeting of the subjects to the
measurements of the same variables at the final program session. These two sets
of data will be analyzed to determine if there was a difference between the first
measurement and the second measurement for each individual in the program.
Then, the data will be analyzed to determine if the differences are statistically
significant. If the differences are statistically significant, the study validates the
theory that was the focus of the study. The results of the study also provide
valuable information about one strategy to combat childhood obesity in the
community.
As you have probably concluded, conducting studies using the eight steps of the
scientific research process requires you to dedicate time and effort to the planning
process. You cannot conduct a study using the scientific research process when
time is limited or the study is done at the last minute. Researchers who do this
conduct studies that result in either false conclusions or conclusions that are not
of any value to the organization.

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 METHODS

1. Online focus group

A subset of the online research techniques, online focus groups are methods
usually used for B2B research, consumer research and political research. A
moderator is assigned to conduct and supervise the focus group who invites
pre-selected and qualified participants who represent a specific area of interest
to be a part of this focus group at a particular time. The respondents are
usually incentivized for being a part of the discussion that usually is an hour
and 90 minutes.

2. Online interview
This online research method is quite similar to the face-to-face interviews yet
different in terms of the required standard practices, understanding with
respondents and sampling. Online interviews are organized using various
computer-mediated communication (CMC), essentially, SMS or Email. On the
basis of the response time for these interviews, they’re classified into
synchronous and asynchronous methods. Synchronous online interviews are
carried out via mediums such as online chat, where the responses are received
in real-time while asynchronous online interviews are those that happen over
Email where the responses are usually not in real-time.Just like face-to-face
interviews, the online interviews probe into respondent thoughts and
feedbacks about a particular topic to get insights into their experiences, ideas
or attitudes.

3. Online qualitative research

Other than the mainstream online focus groups and online interviews, there
are various aspects of online qualitative research. These aspects include
blogs, mobile diaries, and communities. These methods contribute towards cost
and time savings and are supremely convenient for the researchers to gather
information for their research topics.The level of sophistication that online
qualitative research methods bring to the table is superior to any other
traditional forms as the respondents can be either recruited from existing
databases, panels or can be added by conducting surveys.

4. Online text analysis

This analysis technique is an extension of text analysis which exists since the
17th century which is a collection of various online research examples used to
derive insights from content available online. By using this online research
technique, researchers can explain penned, verbal or graphic communication
formats. Categories such as web pages, paragraphs, sentences, quasi-
sentences, documents, etc. It is most often used for quantitative research but
for better interpretation of the text, researchers also use qualitative
techniques.

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5. Social network analysis
Social network analysis is an emerging online research technique which is
gaining acceptance due to the increased adoption of social networking
platforms. By conducting social network analysis, a researcher can map and
measure flows and relationships between people, organizations, URLs, groups
or computers using graph theory. For instance, the latest meme culture has
developed new social structures in which the people associated are termed as
“nodes” and memes are the “links” between these nodes.

Advantages of Online Research

1) Increased Response Rate

The low cost and overall convenience of online surveys bring in a
high response. Respondents get to answer questions on their own
schedule at a pace they choose.

2) Low Cost
Collecting data doesn’t have to break the bank anymore. There are
plenty of websites and platforms that make creating your survey
fast and affordable.

3) Real-time Access
Respondents’ answers store automatically so you get results at your
fingertips in no time. This turns analyzing your results into an
effortless and immediate action.

4) Convenience
Respondents answer questions on their own schedule and can even
have flexibility with completion time.

Rapid deployment and return times are possible with online

surveys that don’t use traditional methods. And, if you have bad
contact information for some respondents, you’ll know it almost
immediately.

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 5) Design Flexibility
Surveys can be programmed even if they’re very complex. Intricate
skip patterns and logic can be employed seamlessly. You can create
the layout, questions, and answer choices with no hassle.

6) No Interviewer
Since respondents are not disclosing their answers directly to
another person, it is easier for them to open up. Interviewers can
also influence responses in some cases.

Disadvantages of Online Research

1) Survey Fraud
This is the biggest challenge. If your survey is long and/or confusing you
might get fake answers. Since there is less accountability, the chances for
people just hitting buttons to finish are high. Check the questions you use
carefully.

People often take surveys because they’re promised a reward at the end,
resulting in them not accurately contributing to your study.

2) Limited Sampling and Respondent Availability

Certain populations are less likely to have internet access and to respond
to online questionnaires. Drawing samples is harder based on email
addresses or website visitations.

3) Possible Cooperation Problems

Online surveys could be deleted and ignored. People hate feeling poked
and if they get annoyed, they just have to click delete.

4) No Interviewer
The lack of a trained interviewer to clarify and probe can lead to less
reliable data.

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Online Market research Tools

1. Google’s Keyword Planner

This free AdWords tool can steer you in the right direction, giving you metrics and
informing you where the demand is. You can search keywords and gauge the
demand for an industry or service in specific geographical locations. This can be
helpful if you are looking to expand; you narrow down the best location with the
highest demand for your business. – Stanley Meytin, True Film Production

2. SurveyMonkey

Use a service that can help you conduct effective customer market research
surveys, such as that offered by SurveyMonkey. It will help you create customized
surveys to send to your customers in order to get the market research data that
you need to make more informed business decisions. – Andrew Schrage, Money
Crashers Personal Finance

3. Open Strategy

Open Strategy is a great market research resource. The site compiles up-to-date
tools and reports on consumer research, market data, case studies and much more.
– Shalyn Dever, Chatter Buzz

4. Ask Your Target Market

Ask Your Target Market (AYTM) is a platform that allows you to create surveys
that can be sent out automatically to your email list or to AYTM's community of
over 4 million users. It is affordable and allows you to really know who you're
speaking to daily, as well as what people react well to and which ones are the most
engaged. All of these factors play key roles in our overall marketing strategy.
– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

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5. One-on-One Conversations

I believe that we can do a lot of data analysis by reading Amazon product reviews,
doing surveys and observing social media, but actually talking to a potential or
existing client and digging deeper when they say something is always going to give
us more information. That's where the marketing gold really lies! – Nathalie
Lussier, AmbitionAlly

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 CHAPTER - 10
E-RETAILING

Electronic retailing is the sale of goods and services through the internet.
Electronic retailing, or e-tailing, can include business-to-business (B2B) and
business-to-consumer (B2C) sales of products and services, through subscriptions
to website content, or through advertising.
Huge amount of information is provided to the customers by the e-retailing with
the help of websites having some useful links of identical sites which facilitates a
comparison of different products in fact, the comfort of online shopping cannot be
compared with any other phenomenon.
E-tailing requires businesses to tailor traditional business models to the internet
and its users.

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STRATIGIES OF E-RETAILING

1) Target People Who are Ready to Buy

The easiest people to sell are people who are already looking to buy.
As a result, Google Shopping is an incredibly important tool in any
retail marketer’s arsenal.
Google delivers results for over 40,000 internet searches a second, so
running ads on Google Shopping is virtual must for most ecommerce
businesses—especially if you want to stand a chance of showing up
on the first page when someone is searching for a product you sell.

2) Get People Ready to Buy

Google Shopping allows you to get your products in front of people who
are already searching for them. But what about the people who don’t yet
realize that they want and need what you’re selling?
To reach them, you need Facebook Ads.
Unlike Google Shopping ads, Facebook Ads allow you to put your
business in front of people who aren’t looking to buy…yet.

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 Unfortunately, most people won’t make a purchase the first time they
see your ads on Facebook. And, if they do buy, you can expect to spend a
$1-5+ for every click (and a lot more for a sale).
So, to make the most of your Facebook campaigns, you need to generate
brand awareness and guide people towards making a purchase.
For example, instead of running an ad showcasing a product and asking
people to buy, it’s often better to run an engaging video ad that will grab
their attention. Instead of paying $1-5 a pop for clicks that might turn
into a sale, you’ll probably pay around $0.05 to build guaranteed brand
awareness.

3) Provide More Detail with Video

Product descriptions and images are great, but they can only get you
so far. To really sell someone on a product that they can’t see or feel
in real life, nothing beats a good product video.
Let’s look at a few different types of product videos you can create.

4) Suck Them in with Lifestyle Shots

Like video, lifestyle shots give your potential customers a better feel
for what your products are like. This is especially important if you
can’t afford to put videos together.

5) Build Trust with Influencer Marketing

These days, brands have trouble developing strong trust with their
targeted audiences. People are constantly inundated with an endless
stream of retail marketing, so it can be hard to convince them to buy
from you…instead of the competition.
In fact, Nielsen reports 92% of people trust recommendations from
individuals—even if they don’t know them—over brands.

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 To put that trust to work for you, you need a social influencer on your
side.
People trust people, so influencer marketing is a way to build your
business trust. When you align your business with a well-known
person that people trust, not only do they bring their loyal audience
to your business, they also bring an audience that already trusts
them and—by extension—you.
For example, Twitter reports nearly 40% of Twitter users say they’ve
made a purchase as a direct result of a Tweet from an influencer.
Those numbers are often even higher for Pinterest and Instagram.

ADVANTAGES OF E-RETAILING:
 Easy access to market
In many ways the access to market for entrepreneurs has never been easier.
Online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon allow anyone to set up a
simple online shop and sell products within minutes. See selling through
online marketplaces.

 Reduced overheads
Selling online can remove the need for expensive retail premises and
customer-facing staff, allowing you to invest in better marketing and
customer experience on your e-commerce site.

 Potential for rapid growth

Selling on the internet means traditional constraints to retail growth - eg
finding and paying for larger - are not major factors. With a good digital
marketing strategy and a plan a scale up order fulfilment systems, you can
respond and boost growing sales. See planning for e-commerce.

 Widen your market / export

One major advantage over premises-based retailers is the ability expand
your market beyond local customers very quickly. You may discover a strong
demand for your products in other countries which you can respond to by
targeted marketing, offering your website in a different language, or
perhaps partnering with an overseas company. See basics of exporting.

 Customer intelligence
Ability to use online marketing tools to target new customers and website
analysis tools to gain insight into your customers’ needs. For advice on
improving your customer’s on-site experience see measuring your online
marketing.

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DISADVANTAGES OF E-RETAILING

 Website costs
Planning, designing, creating, hosting, securing and maintaining a
professional e-commerce website isn’t cheap, especially if you expect large
and growing sales volumes. See common e-commerce pitfalls.

 Infrastructure costs
Even if you aren’t paying the cost of customer-facing premises, you’ll need
to think about the costs of physical space for order fulfilment, warehousing
goods, dealing with returns and staffing for these tasks. See fulfilling online
orders.

 Security and fraud

The growth of online retail market has attracted the attention of
sophisticated criminal elements. The reputation of your business could be
fatally damaged if you don’t invest in the latest security systems to protect
your website and transaction processes. See e-commerce pitfalls - security
weaknesses.

 Legal issues
Getting to grips with e-commerce and the law can be a challenge and you’ll
need to be aware of, and plan to cope with, the additional customer rights
which are attached to online sales. See the law and selling online.

 Advertising costs
While online marketing can be a very efficient way of getting the right
customers to your products, it demands a generous budget. This is
especially true if you are competing in a crowded sector or for popular
keywords. See pay-per-click and paid search advertising.

 Customer trust
It can be difficult to establish a trusted brand name, especially without a
physical business with a track record and face-to-face interaction between
customers and sales staff. You need to consider the costs or setting up a
good customer service system as part of your online offering. See manage
your customer service.

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E-RETAIL STRATEGY OF FLIPKART

Segmentation, targeting, positioning in the Marketing strategy

of Flipkart –
Behavioural & Psychographic are the segmentation strategies used by Flipkart to
segment the market to cater to the customers changing needs & wants. With the
rise in per capita income and change in buying patterns, customers are getting
more acquainted and are comfortable in buying online.

Flipkart uses undifferentiated targeting strategy, since people of

all demographypurchase items online which is available to everyone where the
delivery is possible. National & Multinational E-commerce companies are giving
neck to neck competition to each other, due to which their positioning is very
important. Flipkart has positioned itself as a trust worthy and customer friendly
E-commerce brand.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
If there was a list of top Indian online companies, then Flipkart will surely be on
top. There are very few Indian companies worth more then 2 billion dollars and
Flipkart as on date is worth more then 11 billion dollars. The company was started
in 2007 by the brothers Sachin and Binny bansal who took it to staggering heights.
This article presents the SWOT analysis of Flipkart.

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Flipkart

1. India’s Largest E-commerce Retailer: Flipkart is the India’s largest E-
commerce company & had sold GMV (gross merchandising value) of $1
billion till now.

2. Experienced founders: The Founders of Flipkart, Sachin & Binny bansal

are Ex-Amazon employees. Having prior experience in the E-commerce
industry helped the founders to work strategically and differentiate their
business in a highly competitive market.

3. Acquisition: With its series of acquisitions like Letsbuy.co,, chakpak.com,

weread.com, Mine360 & the recent one Myntra in 2014 has helped the
company to expand in the E-commerce space & used the capabilities and
existing resources of acquired companies.

4. High Brand recall: Flipkart has established itself as a renowned E-

commerce company in India through TV ads, online branding and through
its presence on social media. Brand activities like the “Big billion day” have
really increased the brand recall of the company.

5. Own Payment gateway & Logistic arm: Having its own Logistics arm E-
kart & payment gateway Payzippy has helped the company to control its
Expenses. Thereby passing the benefits to the end customers.

6. Exclusive & broad range of products: From having Exclusive rights to

launch some products like MotoG MotoX, Xiaomi Mi3 as well as personal
designers segments in garments category, has helped the company to
differentiate and localize its offerings.

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Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Flipkart
1. Cost of Acquisition: Due to stiff competition in the market & low customer
retention, the cost of Acquisition is high because Flipkart acquires a lot of
customers through online advertising. As per Flipkart data, the company
spends R.s 400/- on acquiring a new customer on an average.

2. Power in the hand of buyers: Since this industry is flooded with many
players, buyers have a lot of options to choose. Switching costs are also less
for customers since they can easily switch a service from one online retail
company to another. Same products will be displayed in several online retail
websites. Product differentiation is almost absent and the fight then begins
on the basis of price only.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Flipkart

1. Expansion of business: By targeting other emerging markets company can
increase their revenues as well as it can have Economies of scale.

2. Expanding their Product categories: This will increase their customer base
& at the same time will reduce the cost of acquisition and customer switch.

3. Changing mentality of Indian customers: With increasing numbers of

customers getting comfortable with online shopping & increase in numbers
of Internet users in India, there is huge potential in this Industry.

4. Supply chain: By optimizing their supply chain they can compete with the
other players & can manage the loosing sales on account of not making the
product available due to delivery constraints.

5. Establishing in other developing economies: Like Amazon, Flipkart can

slowly start expanding out of India and establish operations in other
countries as well which will help improve revenues.

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Threats in the SWOT analysis of Flipkart
1. Competition: Stiff competition from the global players like Amazon, eBay
as well as local player like Snapdeal, Tolexo and Shopclues who are
continuously trying to eat each other’s market share.
2. Government regulations on the issues related to FDI in multi branding
retail has been a big hurdle in the success of the E-commerce industry in
India.

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SWOT Analysis of Flipkart with USP, Competition, STP
(Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) - Marketing Analysis

Flipkart

Parent Company Flipkart Private Ltd (FPL)

Ecommerce - Online Retail-Apparel, Electronics and

Category more

Sector IT & Technology

Tagline/ Slogan The Online megastore; AB har wish hogi puri

Flipkart has a wide variety of products across many

USP segments

Flipkart STP

Segment Customers who prefer online medium of shopping

Target Group Middle and upper-middle income online shoppers

Flipkart is a one stop online store to cater to all

Positioning customer needs

Flipkart SWOT Analysis

1. Innovative advertisements of Flipkart featuring

kids who portray the role of adults. This increases
brand awareness and also expands the customer base
of online shoppers.
2. Flipkart is backed by global investors like Tiger
Global, DST Global, and Naspers
3. Impressive list of acquisitions like Myntra,
LetsBuy, Chakpak, AdiQuity etc.
4. Exclusive tie-ups with brands like Motorola
Mobility, Xiaomi led to very successful product
launches
5. Venturing into product manufacturing For eg-
Digiflip tablets, Citron home appliances and health
care devices
Strengths 6. Flipkart has a strong logistic support of eKart

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 7. Flipkart is the first billion dollar ecommerce
company in India.
8. Millions of people are registered users with the
brand
9. Strong presence of Flipkart due to extensive
advertising, marketing etc.
10. Good customer support like helpline, online
feedbacks, product replacements etc.

1. Huge investment leading to losses over the years

hurts the brand image of Flipkart
2. Acquisition of loss making firms can add to its
Weaknesses burden

1. Business expansion to other countries can be big

boost for Flipkart
2. Foray into furniture and fresh product business to
increase its breadth of product categories
3. Ever expanding internet penetration in India can be
tapped by Flipkart
4. Better online secure payments can instill more
Opportunities confidence in people to shop online

1. Global competitors like Amazon making its foray in

Indian online retail market can reduce Flipkart's
market share
2. Investigations by authorities to check its FDI
regulations compliance
3. Flipkart's business can be affected by fluctuating
economy and unfavorable market conditions & govt.
Threats policies

Competition

1. Amazon
Competitors 2. Snapdeal

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Competitive advantage in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

In a highly competitive E-commerce market of India. companies are finding it hard

to differentiate their offering from others.
Flipkart have gained several competitive advantages over others:

1. They have acquired companies like Myntra, Jabong, Appiterate, Letsbuy,

Mine360, chakpak.com, weread and the latest one being UPI-based
payments start-up PhonePe. These companies are helping it in enhancing its
functional capabilities.
2. Founders are Ex-Amazon employee so they have the required know how of
e-commerce.
3. Flipkart had received $700M of funding last year after which its valuation
gone to $15 billion.
4. It has a fantastic positioning in the mobiles and small appliances segment.

BCG Matrix in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Flipkart’s merchandising section (including Myntra) as well as its electronics
segment is a Star in the BCG matrix. The reason is that the segment is growing
and more & more customers are getting accustomed with online buying of clothes
& electronics items in India. But as the market is huge, the market share is less
for each E-commerce player and they are fighting hard for it.
All other segments are question mark due to intense competition between the
players. Profitability is low overall so the future is unknown.

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Distribution strategy in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Having its own distribution firm (Ekart) and payment gateway payzippy has
helped the company in controlling its expenses and passing the benefits to the end
customer.
The very demerit of Flipkart’s distribution channel is its reach as compared to the
peer E-commerce companies like Amazon, Snapdea, ebay etc. who can deliver the
customer’s order even to the remote locations.
One more problem of Flipkart is that it does not support sellers with package size
of above 8 kg. You have to use flipkart advantage for the same.

Brand equity in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Flipkart have garnered a market leader position through its innovative branding
strategies. The “big billion day”, “ No Kidding, No Worries”, “Fair-Tale”,
“Shopping ka Naya Address” , “Shop Anytime, Anywhere” are the successful
campaigns that helped the company in creating top of the mind awareness.
Flipkarts brand valuation is a whopping $15 billion by 2015.
Different mediums i.e. twitter, facebook, TV commercials and promotion of mobile
app shopping have helped Flipkart in becoming a household name in the target
market.

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Competitive analysis in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

In India most of the companies are facing issue of government regulations where
only 26% FDI was allowed earlier which is now increased to 100% in recent budget
of FY16-17. Flipkart is extending their category which is helping it to acquire more
& more customers.
W.S retail is its exclusive supplier for 1/4rth of the items sold through Flipkart,
which means less supplier & more hold on them in terms of pricing because they
will face head on competition from small suppliers.
Externally, the competition is dynamic as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal are
always at loggerheads. Where Flipkart has the advantage of small items,
Snapdeal has the industrial advantage and the reach of Snapdeal is far and wide.
The competition is growing worse as all of them are pouring in a lot of mone

Market analysis in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Changing government regulations and entry of some biggies like Alibaba, ebay,
Snapdeal and various other start-ups is driving growth in the industry. Indian
government have allowed 100% FDI in marketplace setup which will help the
companies in their expansion and further penetration in the current market.

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Customer analysis in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Flipkart customers consist of middle class social groups who are comfortable with
online shopping and find it convenient. Majority of the customers are the
professional who are busy with their business/Job & find it convenient to purchase
anything online rather than visiting the physical outlet in order to save time &
money.

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 CHAPTER – 11
E-COMMERCE SECURITY

E-Commerce security refers to the principles which guide safe electronic

transactions, allowing the buying and selling of goods and services through the
Internet, but with protocols in place to provide safety for those involved. Successful
business online depends on the customers’ trust that a company has eCommerce
security basics in place.

Privacy
One of the most obvious eCommerce security basics is privacy, which in this
situation means not sharing information with unauthorized parties. When you
shop online, your personal details or account information should not be accessible
to anyone except the seller you have chosen to share it with. Any disclosure of that
information by the merchant would be a breach of confidentiality. The business is
responsible to provide at least the minimum in encryption, virus protection, and a
firewall so that bank details and credit card information remain private.

Integrity

A second concept which is crucial within secure E-Commerce is the idea of

integrity—that none of the information shared online by the customer will be
altered in any way. This principle states that a secure transaction includes
unchanged data—that the business is only using exactly what was entered into
the Internet site by the buyer. Any tampering with information is breaking the
confidence of the buyer in the security of the transaction and the integrity of the
company in general.

Authentication
For eCommerce to take place, both seller and buyer have to be who they say they
are. A business cannot sell unless it’s real, the products are real, and the sale will
go through as described online. The buyer must also provide proof of identification
so that the merchant can feel secure about the sale. In eCommerce, fraudulent
identification and authentication are possible, and many businesses hire an expert
to make sure these kinds of eCommerce security basics are in place. Common
solutions include technological solutions—customer logins and passwords or
additional credit card PINs.

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THREAT TO NETWORK SECURITY

Malicious Code
It is code present in any part of software system which damages the system(e.g,
computer). It includes software programs such as viruses ,worms, Trojan horses,
logic bombs, backdoors, malicious active content, etc. It not only affect a system
but also the network and other computers connected to it.
Cyber-Crimes
The crimes in which the main target of committing the crime is a computer
(hacking, phishing, spamming) or the computer is utilised as the main weapon for
committing the crime are termed as Cybercrime. Cybercrime can also be known
as Computer crime. To have an unauthorised access to the personal information,
business trade secrets or utilising the computer for performing any spiteful or
repressive act, computer technology is mainly utilised by the cybercriminals.
Unwanted Programs
Unwanted programs are normally found on social networking or user generated
content sites, which mislead users for downloading them. Along with malicious
code, e-commerce security environment also faces some challenges caused by
unwanted programs such as adware, browser parasites, spyware, and other
applications that install themselves on a computer without its awareness to the
user.
Credit Card Fraud/Theft
Credit card fraud or theft refers to unauthorised use of someone’s credit card by
another person for any type of transaction. It is a form of identity theft. Cyber
theft is the process of stealing important information with the use of computer or
communication system in electronic format. For example- when hackers crack the
bank’s computer and transfer the money in their accounts. So, this process of
stolen money is known as Cyber Theft.
Cyberstalking
When any types of electronic mode or the internet is used for harassing and
stalking anyperson, groups of individuals or any firm, then it is termed as
cyberstaking. False accusation or statement of facts i.e; defamation, threatening,
monitoring, damage to data, identity theft, gathering information for harassing or
the solicitation of minors for sex, may be included in it.

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Spoofing
Spoofing is the process used by hackers to hide their true identity. The hacker uses
fake email IDs and personal information to misrepresent themselves. Spoofing a
website is also known as ‘pharming’.

NETWORK SECURITY TOOLS

Virtual Private network
This provides the network interconnection between two different computers
virtually and the data is transmitted in encrypted form. Thus, it reduces the
chance of stealing and hacking.
Firewall
Firewall is simply a software or hardware that works as a barrier between users
and network. It prevents the unauthorized access by a specified access control
policy. Firewall allows access only to authorized users.
Identity Services
These services include passwords, digital certificates, and digital authentication
keys, which are given to authorized users to avail the services. With the support
of these services, the identity of users can be recognised and also their actions can
be controlled.
Cryptography
Cryptography is done to make sure that the message being transmitted is
encrypted and any unauthorized user cannot read and analyse the message.
Digital Signature
A digital signature is a mathematical technique that is used to validate
authenticity of a digital message, software, digital document, etc. It is like a
handwritten signature or stamped seal.
Cyber Law
The legal issues related to the communication, network and internet technologies
are encapsulated through cyber laws. These laws are meant for minimizing
cybercrimes, hacking and stealing.

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DIGITAL SIGNATURE

A digital signature can be seen as an electronic signature which is employed to

authenticate the identification of the sender of certain message or the person who
has signed the document and it makes sure that there is no variation or changes
in the original content of the sent messages or documents. Digital signatures can
be transported quite easily and it is not possible to copy it so easily by any other
user and it is feasible to have automated time stamping.
Digital signature of the certificate issuing authority is attached with the digital
certificate in order to facilitate the verification of the certificate by anyone. For
business transaction, using digital signature reflects the authenticity which has a
similar function for the digital document as handwritten signatures for printed
documents.

BENEFITS
Reduce Costs

There are a lot of direct savings from switching to a paperless process, including
the cost of paper, ink, printer maintenance and shipping costs (download this ROI
spreadsheet to see how much your business spends on these fixed costs). But you
will also notice a lot of indirect savings, including the time saved that would’ve
been spent filing documents, rekeying data, searching for lost documents or
tracking down a contract that’s been lost in the mail. In fact, a report by
AIIM found that 81% of digital signature users saw a payback within 12 months,
and 25% saw ROI in three months or less.

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Enhance Customer Relationships

Your customers are used to doing business online, and they’ve come to expect
businesses they work with to provide online services. As of May 2013, 91% of
American adults own a cell phone, 56% have a smartphone and 34% have a tablet
computer, according to the Pew Research Center. With so many clients doing
business online, it’s essential to modernize the last step in business operations—
the signature.
With digital signature software, your customers can sign contracts online with
nothing to download or install. As long as they have an Internet connection, they
can sign documents no matter where life takes them. This service adds value for
your customers by making it fast and easy to do business with your company.

Get Paid Faster

Because it’s so fast and easy to sign documents online, you’re sure to see faster
contract turnaround. It’s also easy to quickly execute contracts that have multiple
signers. After the first person signs, the electronic signature software
automatically routes documents to the next signer in the workflow. And when you
get documents signed in minutes, you can get paid faster than ever before. In fact,
businesses in a variety of industries have reported that electronic signatures help
speed up sales cycles by up to 400 percent.

Track Your Progress

It can be so frustrating to wonder, “Has he signed yet?” or “Did my fax go through?”

You can say goodbye to those days if you adopt electronic signatures. Digital
signature software makes it easy to track your documents in your online
dashboard. And some software will even send signers a reminder email if they
forget to sign.

Upgrade Document Security

In the paper world, you secure your documents by putting them in a locked file
cabinet. You may even put that file cabinet in a locked room. But even with those
precautions, someone could break in and tamper with documents. The only
evidence you’d have would be a broken lock (if that), and then you would have to
guess which file was altered.

This type of document security is a liability for your company, and it’s
unnecessary. With advanced electronic signature software (a type of electronic
signature called a “digital signature”), you can safeguard your documents with a
high level of document security and evidence. Each signature is protected with
a tamper-evident seal, which alerts you if any part of the document is changed

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after signing. Signed documents also come with a highly detailed log of events of
the document’s lifecycle. Using this evidence, you can see when each person signed
the document, which signers downloaded a copy of the finished document, and
much more.

LIMITATIONS
Software: Software is one of the main issues while using a digital signature
certificate (DSC). Before using it you must have to install all the required soft
wares.
Compatibility: You need to trouble shoot all the compatibility problem. There
are a lot compatibility setting like updated version of drivers and software.
If you are belonging to the corporate world and running an export-import
organization, you need to procure Digital Signature for E-Ticketing. We provide
all kind of DSC Solution.

CRYPTOGRAPHY

Cryptography is the study of ways to convert information from its normal,

comprehensible form into an obscured guise, unreadable without special
knowledge — the practice of encryption. In the past, cryptography helped ensure
secrecy in important communications, such as those of spies, military leaders, and
diplomats. In recent decades, the field of cryptography has expanded its remit.
Examples include schemes like digital signatures and digital cash, digital rights

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management for intellectual property protection, and securing electronic
commerce.
Cryptography is now often built into the infrastructure for computing and
telecommunications; users may not even be aware of its presence.is the study of
ways to convert information from its normal, comprehensible form into an
obscured guise, unreadable without special knowledge — the practice of
encryption. In the past, cryptography helped ensure secrecy in important
communications, such as those of spies, military leaders, and diplomats.

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TYPES OF CRYPTOGRAPHY

Symmetric-key Cryptography

Here only one key is used for both encryption and decryption. This type of
encryption is also referred to as symmetric encryption. Both sender and receiver
share a single key. The sender uses a key to encrypt the plaintext and send
ciphertext to the receiver, the receiver applies the same key which applied by send
to decrypt the message and recover the plain text. The key is must be known by
both to encrypt or decrypt the message in plaintext. Advanced encryption standard
(AES) with 128, 192, or 256-bit keys is the standard for symmetric encryption.

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Public-Key/asymmetric Cryptography

In Public-Key Cryptography, two related keys which public and private key. A
public key is freely distributable and used for encryption. But the paired private
key remains secret and used for decryption. That means, the private key can be
accessible only by the owner. The sender encrypts the information using the
receiver’s public key. If the receiver knows who sent that message, the receiver
can decrypt it by using his/her private key. RSA and elliptical curve cryptography
(ECC) with at least 2048-bit keys are the standards for asymmetric encryption.

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Hash Functions

Hash functions are different from SKC and PKC. They use no key and are also
called one-way encryption. Hash functions are mainly used to remained
unchanged a file when applying cryptography. Because of that, in its algorithm,
there is no key to be used. A fixed-length hash value is computed as per the plain
text that makes it impossible for the contents of the plaintext to be recovered.
Hash functions also used by many OS to encrypt passwords. MD5 and SHA-1 are
common hashing algorithms used today

MERITS OF CRYPTOGRAPHY
Cryptography is an essential information security tool. It provides the four most
basic services of information security −

 Confidentiality − Encryption technique can guard the information and

communication from unauthorized revelation and access of information.

 Authentication − The cryptographic techniques such as MAC and digital

signatures can protect information against spoofing and forgeries.

 Data Integrity − The cryptographic hash functions are playing vital role in
assuring the users about the data integrity.

 Non-repudiation − The digital signature provides the non-repudiation

service to guard against the dispute that may arise due to denial of passing
message by the sender.
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 CHAPTER – 12

WALMART AND FLIPKART ACQUISITION DEAL

Walmart announced over the weekend that it has completed a $16 billion
investment in Flipkart that sees it become the majority owner of the Indian e-
commerce company.

The deal was first revealed back in May and now it has closed after receiving the
necessary approvals. It sees Walmart take a 77 percent share in the company,
buying out a number of prior investors in the process and expanding its rivalry with
Amazon to a new horizon. The investment capital also includes $2 billion in new
equity funding which will be used for growth while the transaction was structured
so that Flipkart itself can still go public. That latter point could mean that the
Indian firm must go public within four years, as TechCrunch previously reported.

Flipkart will continue to be run by its leadership with Tencent and Tiger Global
retaining board seats. Those two have remained investors in the business, alongside
others that include Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and Microsoft. Walmart
previously suggested that other allies would come aboard as investors. Google was
strongly mooted, but so far there have been no strategic additions.

Walmart said that its plans for India will include investments that “support
national initiatives and will bring sustainable benefits in jobs creation, supporting
small businesses, supporting farmers and supply chain development and reducing
food waste.”

As we previously reported, it also plans to use Flipkart as a “key center of learning”

for the rest of its business across the world, and that includes its home market.

“Not only is [Flipkart] innovative [with the] problem-solving culture that they have,
but they are doing some great work both in the AI space, how they are using data
across their platforms but particularly in terms of the payment platform that
they’ve created through PhonePe. All of those things we can learn from for the

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future and see how we can leverage those around the international markets and
potentially into the US as well,” Walmart COO Judith McKenna said back in May
when the deal was announced.

Flipkart’s business could also get a whole lot more transparent since its quarterly
results will be reported as part of Walmart’s earnings. Although they will be part of
its international business so that might provide some protection from direct
scrutiny.

E COMMERCE UNICORNS
In business unicorns are private start-up companies that are valued at $1 billion+
market value as determined by private or public investment. The term was
originally coined by Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures.

Well maybe not. Venture capital tracking company CB Insights has put together
a complete list of global unicorns. While there’s plenty of big names like Uber and
WeWork included, there’s also a number of ecommerce companies who have
secured valuations of over $1 billion.
In order of highest to lowest valuation, we take a look at these 26 ecommerce
unicorns to see how they secured their investment and what clues they can give
us on the future of retail.

Retail ecommerce is defined by the ability for consumers to buy and sell products.
It’s these companies that we’ve focused on, rather than brands like Airbnb which
leverage the internet to facilitate their business. The sales could be direct-to-
consumer, third-party business-to-consumer or peer-to-peer.

Flipkart (India)
Valuation: $11.6 billion

Established by former Amazon employees, Flipkart has used this ecommerce

understanding to establish India’s biggest ecommerce site. The company has
expanded over the years with an offering that now includes various own-label
products. Flipkart’s sales and large customer base have attracted considerable
investment as internet access and online purchasing grows in India. Why is it the

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most valuable? Because it has the best combination of executive know-how and
brand recognition in the market.

What clues does this give us about the future of retail?

Much like Amazon, Flipkart started out selling just books. Once it had tapped into
that customer base it then began to expand its offering. We may see more well-
established retail names diversify into related areas so as not to lose market share
to new players.

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Snapdeal (India)
Valuation: $7 billion

Having started life as a daily deals website, Snapdeal is now a full-blown

ecommerce marketplace. The shift was a surprise to its investors as it had around
70% market share for daily deals. Deals and discounts are still a large part of its
business though, with a customer base that has a perception of getting a good deal
when buying through it – thanks to its beginnings. The investment has continued
as the company proves that enabling customers to buy directly through it’s
platform has more value than sending them elsewhere.

What clues does this give us about the future of retail?

Customers like deals, but they also like convenience. With most daily deals sites
coming armed with terms and conditions, or hoops to jump through to redeem
discounts, shoppers are wising up to the fact that not everything is a good deal. As
such, we’ll likely see a shift in how retail demonstrates value

ShopClues (India)
Valuation: $1.1 billion

ShopClues was India’s first true ecommerce marketplace designed to stop people
hopping from one site to another. It’s now a place where customers can shop for
almost anything they can think of across 8.5 million+ products. It also runs special
online markets designed to mimic India’s physical local markets. Its valuation
comes down to its position as first-mover in the market.
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What clues does this give us about the future of retail?
Being a first mover can pay off, especially if you are bringing a model that is
already proven elsewhere into a new market. With consumer power growing in the
places like India, retailers that are able to quickly respond may be bettered
positioned going forward.

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 CHAPTER - 13
SEARCH ENGINE

Search engine is application software. It searches information available on WWW

(World Wide Web). It aids the users by locating them to the web sites that have
lots of valuable information. Search engine provides an interface to users for
searching information by entering some keywords or phrases or partial
statements, pertaining to information. After completing the search, the search
engine returns several documents related to searched keywords or statements.
Archie is the first search engine developed for searching the files of FTP servers.
Later, search engine called Veronica was developed, inspired by Archie. It is the
first text-based search engine. Now-a-days, thousands of search engines are
present in which Google is the most popular and widely used search engine. Some
more search engines are Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, AOL, etc., have their own features
and capabilities.

IMPORTANCE OF SEARCH ENGINE

 It significantly increases your visibility. Imagine you are able to position your
website for a keyword with 500,000 monthly hits. If the first result that is
shown on search engines get about 20% of the clicks, that equals 100,000
monthly organic visitors, which imply no extra cost.

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 It improves your website. When well done, web positioning techniques not
only improve your website in the eyes of search engines, but users also agree.
And improving user experience means better results.

 It is a long term investment. Optimizing your website does imply some initial
costs, but, if you are able to position yourself among the top results, you will
obtain an incredible source of high quality traffic at no extra cost. Continuing
the previous example, imagine 1 in every 100 users that visits your website
ends up purchasing online and that each client’s life time value is 100$. In
this case, you would we generating 100,000$ in monthly income. And,
obviously, if you are able to position yourself under several different
keywords, or invest in International SEO, the benefits only multiply.
 It makes your website more profitable. If you invested significant amounts of
money, time and resources to build a website that showcases your brand, it
is only logical to make as many people as you can visit it, in order for it to
pay off.

 It increases your impact on social media. Web positioning creates synergies

with social media, as the links that are shared on social networks use the
titles and descriptions that you will have optimized as part of your
positioning strategy.

 It builds trust and reliability. As explained above, authority and relevance

are the two key factors in SEO. Meaning that when your website is shown
among the first search results, users know that it is a website that contains
the information they are looking for, and that it has been “approved” by
several users before them. It is most definitely an extra push that gives them
the trust they need to convert.

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DIGITAL COPYRIGHT

Digital rights refers to the relationship between copyrighted digital works (such
as film, music and art) and user permissions and rights related to computers,
networks and electronic devices. Digital rights also refers to the access and control
of digital information.

Certain digital right/digital rights management (DRM) subcategories are of

growing concern - such as information/Internet privacy and freedom of
information.
Essential to organizations, DRM provides intellectual property (IP) protection and
is primarily applied by entertainment industries and enterprises. DRM's access
control halts copyright violations of music, films, TV shows, PC games and similar
Internet entertainment.

Digital rights advocacy groups include:

 Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA): U.S.-based nonprofit

organization dedicated to the interests of computer and video game players
in the U.S. and Canada.
 Free Software Foundation (FSF): Nonprofit organization supports the free
software movement.
 Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): International nonprofit organization
that oversees digital rights advocacy and legal affairs.
 Digital Rights Ireland (DRI): Organization in the Republic of Ireland that
works for civil liberties related to digital rights.
 European Digital Rights (EDRi): International advocacy group based in
Belgium and focused on copyright, security, privacy and freedom of
expression.

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  Open Rights Group (ORG): U.K.-based organization committed to digital
rights preservation and focused on controlling issues like censorship,
knowledge access, privacy, freedom of information and electronic voting.

BENEFITS OF MARKETING AND ADVERTISING ON

INTERNET
1. Convenience And Quick Service

The incredible convenience of marketing online is one of the biggest advantages of

internet marketing. The internet has extremely easy accessibility with consumers
using the internet and reaching markets anywhere in the world. Because of this,
purchasing goods from across borders now reduces the cost of transportation.
For importers, this is a huge advantage as it means they can order online right
from the comforts of their home. In addition, you can easily track sales items
online as they make their way into delivery. You can download digital products
from the internet with just a click of a mouse. Internet marketing is great for
business as it gives consumers a better and more comfortable shopping experience.

2. Low Cost For Operations And A Wider Reach

One of the significant advantages of online marketing for businesses is its low
operating cost. You can advertise at a cheaper rate with internet marketing than
with traditional methods of advertisement such as ads in newspapers, on
television and on the radio. Plus, these advertisements have a wider reach, owing
to the increased use of devices by most consumers. In fact, according to some
figures shared by Google, at the 2016 Canadian Doubleclick Leadership Summit,
every two out of three Canadians use two or more devices on a regular basis. And
to add to this, around 69% of them use multiple devices while making just one
purchase.
In addition, the internet allows you to contact your customers in a jiffy in
comparison to how you would contact them traditionally. Also, it is much more
affordable, time-saving, and environment-friendly than any traditional
communication methods. For instance, sending multiple mail-outs or printing
brochures involves several tedious steps of getting them printed on paper, sending
them out through your distribution team for delivery or ensuring that they are
delivered on time to the right person. On the contrary, with internet marketing,
you can send the same information in a personalized email or share the

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information on any of the social media platforms, thereby saving you on printing,
paper, and postage.

3. Measure And Track Results

An aspect of internet marketing that is rarely available with traditional marketing

is the ability to measure and track results. With online marketing, your business
can utilize various tools, such as Google Analytics, Hootsuite, Doppler and Crazy
Egg, for tracking results of your advertising campaigns. Using these tools, not only
can you measure and track the effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns,
but also illustrate its progress in detailed graphics.
Measuring and tracking results gives you a better idea of how your marketing
campaign is faring. It gives you an insight into the actual effectiveness of the
campaign, tells you what works and what does not, and gives you a direction as to
how you can better grow your traffic, leads, sales, and conversions. Without the
ability to measure and track your results, you cannot alter or modify your
marketing campaign to ensure it delivers better results.

4. Demographic Targeting

Have you ever wondered why more than 90% of users who visit a website do not
necessarily get converted into customers? Mass marketing is the answer to this.
Also, the ongoing debate about using online marketing strategies optimally and
the huge list of online marketing advantages and disadvantages need to be looked
into.
Research reveals that custom-made, strategic advertisements get you eight times
more the returns than otherwise. Therefore, demographic targeting plays a key
role in the success of your business. Marketing your products and services online
gives you the ability to target your audience based on demography. This allows
you to concentrate your efforts on the audience that you truly want to offer your
products or services to. In other words, it gives you the ability to target specific
customers you think are likely to purchase your product or hire your services.
Every time someone visits your website and fills in a form, it gives you an idea of
who may be interested in your products and services and lets you discover
important details about them such as age and interests, which better shapes your
services to match their needs.

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5. Global Marketing

The ability to market your products and services across countries is one of the
biggest advantages of global marketing for business. Within several months of
following aggressive SEO techniques, you can expect a huge number of hits your
website, secure millions of viewers and reach audiences from across the world.
Take the case of Airbnb. This company started operations in 2008 in San
Francisco, California. Since then, it has seen a continuous rise in its number of
listings, which now stands over 1,500,000 in more than 34000 cities. So, what
contributed to its huge success? It is pure internet marketing through social
media.
This is a true example to portray how with internet marketing, you can easily
reach beyond your geography to offer your products or services to customers
worldwide. Wherever your target audiences are, you can reach them 24/7 and from
any country all over the world.

6. Ability To Multitask

One of the core benefits of online marketing is its ability to handle millions of
customers at the same time. This is also the reason why it is important for you to
optimize your website to make it device-friendly. It must be built to ensure that is
accessible through any device, be it a notebook, smartphone, or a laptop. As long
as a website’s infrastructure is efficient, numerous transactions can take place
seamlessly and simultaneously.
This means that even with a large number of transactions taking place, your
website is capable of providing satisfactory service to every customer who makes
a purchase online. This high adaptability of internet marketing is an important
benefit that businesses can take advantage of to gift their consumers the best
shopping experience.

7. 24/7 Marketing

Internet marketing reduces cost and runs around the clock. That means that your
marketing campaigns run for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Compared to
traditional marketing, internet marketing does not have any limitations in terms
of opening or closing hours. At the same time, you would not have to worry about
overtime pay for your staff.

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In addition to this, you need not put in any extra efforts to adjust any regional or
international time difference that may affect the reachability or availability of
your offers or online campaigns. Whenever someone opens their computer and
connects to the internet, there is a high chance of them seeing your marketing
campaign. Furthermore, customers can look for their favourite product at their
most convenient time and right from the comforts of their home or office.

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