Internet based E-commerce

E-commerce and the Net

The Internet facilitates E-commerce by providing a cost effective communication medium. For many small organizations, which cannot afford the cost of leased lines or value-added-networks, it may be the only alternative.

 

Leased lines cost between $ 60,000 and $ 100,000 each to set up and thousand more per year to operate; they are a major expense for big companies and beyond the reach of small companies with many customers.

 

Many value-added-network vendors such as Premenos, IBM, GEIS, Sterling Software and Harbinger are jumping onto the Internet bandwagon and have announced major Internet initiatives.

 

Kalakota and Whinston say, ‘‘The backbone of E-commerce would be the existing infrastructure of Information Superhighway, especially the Internet, which is raising connectivity to such a level that the feasibility of implementing E-commerce is greatly enhanced in sectors where it was not possible to do so before.’’

 

Benjamin and Wigand make another argument and state that: “Electronic markets may soon affect the evolution of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) or Information Superhighway, as well as the emerging global infrastructure”.

 

Generic framework

 

Kalakota and Whinston have suggested a framework for elements involved in E-commerce. The framework consists of three parts.

 

·         The first part consists of a variety of EC applications including both inter- and intra-organizational and electronic market examples.

·         The building blocks of a common business services infrastructure, messaging and information distribution infrastructure, multimedia content and network publishing infrastructure and the Information Superhighway infra­structure make up the second part.

·         In the third part, the public policy and technical standards necessary to support the applications and the infrastructure are included.