Chapter 1 Questions

Chapter 1

1.    What is e-commerce? How does it differ from e-business? Where does it intersect with e-business?

E-commerce is the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web to transact business.  E-business refers primarily to the digital enabling of transactions and processes within a firm.  These two intersect when they both are using the internet to conduct business.

2.    What are some of the unique features of e-commerce technology?

A few unique features of e-commerce technology are ubiquity which means the internet technology is available everywhere, global reach which means the technology reaches across national boundaries around the Earth, universal standards which means there is one set of technology standards, richness which is video, audio and text messages are possible, and interactivity which means the technology works through interaction with the user.

3.    What is Web 2.0? Give examples of Web 2.0 sites and explain why you included them in your list

Web 2.0 is many of the unique features of e-commerce and the Internet combined together in a set of applications and social media technologies.  A few examples of Web 2.0 would be facebook, myspace, google, etc.  All of these allow users to create, edit, and share content.

4.    Give examples of B2C, B2B, C2C, and P2P Web sites besides those listed in the chapter materials.

An example of B2C would be chegg.com; they sell products to consumers.  Example of B2B would be a wholesaler selling raw materials to another company to produce they’re final product to sell.  An example of C2C would be like gowilkes.com.  An example of P2P would be like youtube.com.

5.    What factors will help define the future of e-commerce over the next five years?

Factors that will help define the future of e-commerce over the next five years are online sales growing, technology such as new phones or new Xbox 360.  The overall revenues by the number of online shoppers, which includes the real costs of doing business on the web rising.  Also, the number of successful pure online companies will remain smaller than integrated online/offline stores.