Unit-4

e-Business Models
E-commerce business models can generally be categorized into the following categories.

 Business - to - Business (B2B)

 Business - to - Consumer (B2C)
 Consumer - to - Consumer (C2C)
 Consumer - to - Business (C2B)
 Business - to - Government (B2G)
 Government - to - Business (G2B)
 Government - to - Citizen (G2C)

Business - to - Business

A website following the B2B business model sells its products to an intermediate buyer who then
sells the product to the final customer. As an example, a wholesaler places an order from a
company's website and after receiving the consignment, sells the endproduct to the final
customer who comes to buy the product at one of its retail outlets.
Business - to - Consumer

A website following the B2C business model sells its products directly to a customer. A customer can
view the products shown on the website. The customer can choose a product and order the same. The
website will then send a notification to the business organization via email and the organization will
dispatch the product/goods to the customer.

Consumer - to - Consumer

A website following the C2C business model helps consumers to sell their assets like residential property,
cars, motorcycles, etc., or rent a room by publishing their information on the website. Website may or
may not charge the consumer for its services. Another consumer may opt to buy the product of the first
customer by viewing the post/advertisement on the website.
Consumer - to - Business

In this model, a consumer approaches a website showing multiple business organizations for a particular
service. The consumer places an estimate of amount he/she wants to spend for a particular service. For
example, the comparison of interest rates of personal loan/car loan provided by various banks via
websites. A business organization who fulfills the consumer's requirement within the specified budget,
approaches the customer and provides its services.

Business - to - Government

B2G model is a variant of B2B model. Such websites are used by governments to trade and exchange
information with various business organizations. Such websites are accredited by the government and
provide a medium to businesses to submit application forms to the government.

Government - to - Business

Governments use B2G model websites to approach business organizations. Such websites support
auctions, tenders, and application submission functionalities.

Government - to - Citizen
Governments use G2C model websites to approach citizen in general. Such websites support auctions of
vehicles, machinery, or any other material. Such website also provides services like registration for birth,
marriage or death certificates. The main objective of G2C websites is to reduce the average time for
fulfilling citizen’s requests for various government services.

Advantages and Disadvantages of E-Commerce:

There’s no doubt that the ability to sell online has made a number of businesses profitable and viable. Just
like all the other business models, eCommerce also has its pros and cons.

Advantages of eCommerce
1. A Larger Market: E-Commerce allows individuals to reach customers all across the country and
all around the world. E-Commerce gives business owners the platform to reach people from the
comfort of their homes. The customers can make any purchase anytime and anywhere, and
significantly more individuals are getting used to shopping on their mobile devices.
2. Customer Insights Via Tracking And Analytics: Whether the businesses are sending the visitors
to their eCommerce website via PPC, SEO, ads, or a good old postcard, there is a way of tracking
the traffic and the consumers’ entire user journey for getting insights into the keywords,
marketing message, user experience, pricing strategy, and many more.
3. Fast Response To The Consumer Trends And The Market Demands: Especially for the business
people who do “drop ship,” the logistics, when streamlined, allow these businesses to respond to
the market and the trends of eCommerce and demands of the consumers in a lively manner.
Business people can also create deals and promotions on the fly for attracting customers and
generate more sales.
4. Lower Cost: With the advancement of the eCommerce platforms, it has become very affordable
and easy to set up and run an eCommerce business with a lower overhead. Business people no
longer need to spend a big budget on TV ads or billboards, nor think about personnel and real
estate expenses.
5. More Opportunities For “Selling.”: Business people can only offer a limited amount of
information about a product in a physical store. Besides that, eCommerce websites give them the
space to include more information like reviews, demo videos, and customer testimonials for
helping increased conversion.
6. Personalised Messaging: E-Commerce platforms give people in business the opportunity to
provide personalised content and product recommendations for registering customers. These
targeted communications can help in increasing conversion by showing the most relevant content
to the visitor.
7. Increased Sales Along with Instant Gratification: For businesses selling digital goods,
eCommerce allows them to deliver products within seconds of placing an order. This satisfies the
needs of the consumers for instant gratification and assists increase sales, especially for the low-
cost objects that are often known as “impulse buys.”
 8. Ability to Scaling Up (Or Down) Quickly Also Unlimited “Shelf Space.”: The growth of any
online business is not only limited by the availability of space. Even though logistics might
become an issue as one’s business grows, it’s less of a challenge compared to running any brick-
and-mortar store. E-Commerce business owners can choose to scale up or down their operation
quickly by taking advantage of the non-ending “shelf space,” as a response to the market trends
and demands of consumers.

Disadvantages of e-Commerce
1. Lack of Personal Touch: Some customers appreciate the personal touch they offer when visiting a
physical store by interacting with the sales associates. Such personal touch is especially essential
for businesses that sell high-end products as customers will want to buy the products and have an
excellent experience during the process.
2. Lack of Tactile Experience: No matter how good a video is made, customers still can’t feel and
touch a product. Not to mention, it’s never an easy task to deliver a brand experience that could
often be including the sense of touch, taste, smell, and sound via the two-dimensionality of any
screen.
3. Product and Price Comparison: With online shopping, customers can compare several products
and find the least price. This forces many businesses to compete on price and reduce their profit
margin, reducing the quality of products.
4. Need for Access to the Internet: This is obvious, but don’t forget that the customers do need
access to the Internet before purchasing from any business! As many eCommerce platforms have
the features and functionalities which require a high-speed Internet connection for an optimal
consumer experience, there’s a chance that companies are excluding visitors who have slow
internet connections.
5. Credit Card Fraud: Credit card frauds are a natural and growing problem for online businesses. It
can lead to many chargebacks, which result in the loss of penalties, revenue, and a bad reputation.
6. IT Security Issues: More and more organisations and businesses have fallen prey to malicious
hackers who have stolen information of the customers from their databases. This could have
financial and legal implications, but it also reduces the company’s trust.
7. All the Eggs in One Basket: E-Commerce businesses rely solely or heavily on their websites.
Even just some minutes of downtime or technology glitches could be resulting in a substantial
revenue loss and customer dissatisfaction.
8. Complexity in Regulations, Taxation, and Compliance: Suppose any online business sells to its
consumers in different territories. In that case, they’ll have to stick to the regulations in their own
countries or states and their consumers’ places of residence. This could be creating a lot of
complexities in accounting, taxation and compliance.
Electronic Payment Systems
Electronic Payment System (e-Payment) is a type of payment conducted via electronic or online
mediums. Online payment systems eliminate the need for cash or cheque payments. It is a unique
payment method that allows you to conduct online transactions via digital wallets, bank cards and internet
banking systems. The funds are directly debited from your bank account.

Common Methods of E-Payment

1. Credit or Debit Card Payments – When paying by card, an electronic payment device initiates the
online payment transfer. The consumer will have to fill out their card details and have their
transfer cleared by their bank.
2. Internet Banking – This is done by digitally transferring funds over the internet from one bank
account to another. This method tends to be used by smaller businesses or freelance workers.
3. Direct Debit – Direct debit transactions transfer funds from a customer’s account with the help of
a third party.
4. E-Wallet – An E-Wallet is a form of prepaid account where the customer’s account information is
stored electronically. This means you can quickly and seamlessly pay for goods online without
having to constantly fill out your information.
5. Store Credit Card – A store credit card is a card that has a prepaid monetary value. A more
common name for this type of payment is a gift card.

Types of Electronic Payment Systems

The commonly used types of electronic payment systems include:

ECS Payments
For bulk and repetitive payments like salary credit, interest payment, dividend payments from
companies, etc., the RBI introduced the Electronic Clearing Service (ECS) credit scheme in the
1990s. This system enables payers to credit a specific amount directly into the payees account on
a particular date. ECS enables recurring payments to banks, Mutual Fund companies, service
providers, utility companies, etc. The bank collects payment from your account and passes it on
to the relevant companies.
Electronic Fund Transfers: NEFT, RTGS, and IMPS
National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), and Immediate
Payment Services (IMPS) are three modes of electronic fund transfers. With NEFT, you can
transfer any amount of money, while the minimum transaction limit for RTGS is INR 2 lakhs.
These transactions are cleared in half-hour batches, whereas IMPS transactions have a daily limit
of INR 5 lakhs and are instantly cleared.
Clearing Corporations
Clearing Corporations settle trades in money markets, foreign exchange markets and government
securities. Banks and other financial institutions set Clearing Corporation of India Limited
(CCIL) as an industry-wide clearing company across India.
Pre-Paid Payment Systems
These include the purchase of goods and services using bank cards. You can use internet and
mobile banking facilities, third party or bank digital and mobile wallets, and credit and debit
cards to make payments on domestic and international e-commerce websites.
Types of Electronic Payment Transactions
Electronic payment transactions are divided into two types:

 One-time Vendor Payments – These are commonly used on eCommerce websites such as
Shopify, Amazon and Etsy. A cardholder will type in the card or banking information when they
reach the store’s checkout page. This information will then be approved by their bank if the
information is correct and they have sufficient funds.
 Recurring Customer Vendor Payments – These payments are used when the cardholder is
paying for goods or services on a regular basis. Instead of entering your details each time, you
enter them once and opt-in for a recurring billing option. This tends to be used for subscription
services, paying for bills or for businesses such as insurance agencies.

Advantages of Electronic Payment System

 Lower costs: E-payments eliminate the costs associated with paper cheques, cash and postage.
Payments conducted via electronic payment systems like credit card or debit card charges,
processing fees, internet fees, etc., are lower.
 Highly accessible: You only need an internet-enabled device like a smartphone or computer to
access the various type of types of electronic payment systems from any place, any time.
 Speedy transactions: You can buy the product within seconds, transfer money, pay your loan
EMIs, get salary credits, and more with electronic payments.
Disadvantages of Electronic Payment System

 Credit Cards- Credit cards have drawbacks when it comes to making purchases on credit. Perhaps
the main drawback for B2B purchases is that credit cards will charge the merchant a fee. Swipe fees
have increased over the years, with the National Retail Federation noting these fees were around $20
billion annually in 2001 compared to $137.8 billion in 2021.
 Bank Transfers- It might take a little longer than other payment solutions. While the processing time
might only be a few business days, which is a fraction of the time it can take for an invoice to be
approved, that still will not be quick enough for certain vendors who need their money immediately.
e-CRM(Electronic CRM)
 The eCRM or electronic customer relationship management coined by Oscar Gomes
encompasses all standard CRM functions with the use of the net environment i.e., intranet,
extranet and internet. Electronic CRM concerns all forms of managing relationships with
customers through the use of information technology (IT).
 Electronic customer relationship management (E-CRM) is the application of Internet-based
technologies such as emails, websites, chat rooms, forums and other channels to achieve CRM
objectives
eCRM processes include data collection, data aggregation, and customer interaction. Compared to
traditional CRM, the integrated information for eCRM intra-organizational collaboration can be more
efficient to communicate with customers.
Meaning of CRM(Customer Relationship Management)
Loyal customers can not only give operational companies sustained revenue but also advertise for new
marketers. To reinforce the reliance of customers and create additional customer sources, firms utilize
CRM to maintain the relationship as the general two categories B2B (business-to-business) and B2C
(business-to-customer or business-to-consumer).
eCRM Lifecycle
There are three steps life cycle:

 Data collection: About customers’ preference information for actively (answer knowledge) and
passively (surfing record) ways via website, email, questionnaire.
 Data aggregation: Filter and analysis for firm's specific needs to fulfill their customers.
 Customer interaction: According to customer's need, company provide the proper feedback to
them.
eCRM Features
1. Contact Management: Primary goal of ECRM is maintaining effective interaction with customers.
ECRM software can assist organizations in collecting and analysing data.
2. Automate Marketing Campaigns: Marketing automation in ECRM allows targeting customers with
personalized campaigns by leveraging data.
3. Sales Tracking: Sales tracking enables organizations to gain a 360-degree view of sales in various
channels. Also, it is feasible for organizations to get real-time insights and identify the flaws in the sales
strategy.
4. Case Management: Case management refers to solving issues or inquiries raised by a customer.
ECRM pulls customer inquiries or complaints to a centralized database, enabling the customer service
department to manage such cases effectively.
5. Analytics and Reporting: There are advanced analytics features in ECRM that provide precise
insights on data for aspects like customer behavior, campaign performance, sales reports, and customer
queries resolution, etc.
6. Effective Integration: ECRM can be integrated with other platforms to automate operations. This will
streamline the processes and reduce time wastage.

Challenges in eCRM
There are ample benefits when integrating ECRM into the organization’s infrastructure. But there are
some challenges associated with it as well. The challenges faced in implementing an electronic customer
relationship management solution are as follows:
1. Quality of data and effective management: An organization must gain accurate customer data to utilize
the leads to increase customer interactions effectively. Optimizing ECRM requires a considerable amount
of data, whose accumulating and management is a tedious task.
2. Integration: The main challenge frequently encountered with ECRM software is ineffective
synchronization and improper integration with other systems, which hampers the effective operability of
the organization. Also, sorting out this integration issue is complicated and time-consuming.
3. Change Management: Introducing a new ECRM system requires building new workflows and
processes and providing extensive training. Employees’ resistance to accepting the change or adapting
advanced technology can create a major issue for organizations implementing ECRM systems.
4. Security and Privacy Concerns: This is a main concern when sensitive data has to be collected and
handled regularly. Compliance with data protection laws and upgrading the security framework for
safeguarding the data is challenging for the organization.
5. Cost and ROI: ECRM system is an essential investment. Still, it becomes challenging and affects the
ROI (Return on Investment) adversely when its utilization is not done effectively.
Blogging

Meaning of Blog
A blog (a shortened version of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website displaying
information in reverse chronological order, with the latest posts appearing first, at the top. It is a platform
where a writer or a group of writers share their views on an individual subject.
Today, there are more than 570 million blogs on the web.
Blog structure
The appearance of blogs has changed over time, and these days blogs include a wide variety of items and
widgets. However, most blogs still include some standard features and structures.
Here are common features that a typical blog will include:

 Header with the menu or navigation bar.

 Main content area with highlighted or latest blog posts.
 Sidebar with social profiles, favorite content, or call-to-action.
 Footer with relevant links like a disclaimer, privacy policy, contact page, etc.
Definition of blogging
Blogging is a collection of skills that one needs to run and supervise a blog. This entails equipping a web
page with tools to make the process of writing, posting, linking, and sharing content easier on the internet.

Definition of a blogger
A blogger is someone who runs and controls a blog. He or she shares his or her opinion and knowledge
on different topics for a target audience.
Wikis
A wiki is a website that allows the site visitors to add and edit content. Generally, site visitors use their
browser to edit text without requiring HTML code. Additionally, some Wikis allow adding and editing of
graphics, tables and interactive components.
Example- Wikipedia
The term wiki may also simply refer to the software used to create such a Web site.
A blog site, by contrast, does allow visitors to add content, but does not usually allow them to change or
edit previous comments from others.
Wikis can be dated to 1995, when American computer programmer Ward Cunningham created a new
collaborative technology for organizing information on websites. Using a Hawaiian term meaning
“quick,” he called this new software WikiWikiWeb, attracted by its alliteration and also by its matching
abbreviation (WWW).

Characteristics

 "A wiki invites all users—not just experts—to edit any page or to create new pages within the
wiki web site, using only a standard 'plain-vanilla' Web browser without any extra add-ons."
 "Wiki promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages by making page link
creation intuitively easy and showing whether an intended target page exists or not."
 "A wiki is not a carefully crafted site created by experts and professional writers and designed for
casual visitors. Instead, it seeks to involve the typical visitor/user in an ongoing process of
creation and collaboration that constantly changes the website landscape
Widgets
In computing, a widget is an element of a graphical user interface that displays information or provides a
specific way for a user to interact with the operating system (OS) or an application.
Widgets include the following:

 icons;
 pull-down menus;
 buttons;
 selection boxes;
 progress indicators;
 on-off checkmarks;
 scroll bars;
 windows;
 window edges that let you resize the window;
 toggle buttons; and
 devices for displaying information and inviting, accepting and responding to user actions.
More generally, the term widget is used to mean to any discrete object, usually of a mechanical nature
and relatively small size. The term commonly is used to refer to gadgets that don't have a name or where
someone can't remember the name.
Widgets on smartphones
On both Apple iOS and Android devices, widgets present specific data that resides in an application
running in the device. Each widget on an iPhone or other smartphone display presents selected bits of
information that reside in the associated applications.
For example, a user might wish to see baseball scores for only one team. The widget extracts the selected
data from the app and displays it on the screen. Or a user might not want to read a detailed weather
forecast, but would rather see only the key data points, such as the temperature and forecast. Weather data
is compiled in a weather app and regularly updated. The weather widget is programmed to display only
the specific data the user wants.
Widgets in computing
In computing, the term widget was first used in Unix-based OSes and the X Window System. In object-
oriented programming, each type of widget is defined as a class or a subclass under a broad generic
widget class and is always associated with a particular window. In the AIX Enhanced X-Window toolkit,
a widget is the fundamental data type.
Uses of Widgets

 adding a live chat function to interact with customers in real time;

 conducting surveys to collect user preference data;
 launching a call-to-action widget that uses pop-ups or other techniques to attract customers'
attention and invite them to sign up for a free newsletter or watch a video.
Advergaming
An advergame is a form of advertising in video games, in which the video game is developed by or in
close collaboration with a corporate entity for purposes of advertising a brand-name product.
While other video games may use in-game advertising (such as an advertisement on a virtual billboard or
branding on an in-game object), an advergame is differentiated by the Interactive Advertising Bureau as a
"game specifically designed around the product or service being advertised". An advergame is considered
a type of advertainment.
Advergames are commonly targeted to youngsters, who tend to be more responsive to persuasive
messages that can be embedded in such games.
Examples
Examples of advergames that have achieved widespread awareness include:

 Yo! Noid, a 1990 platformer released for the Nintendo Entertainment System to advertise
Domino's Pizza. Its cult fanbase eventually led to a fanmade 2017 sequel called Yo! Noid 2:
Enter the Void which eventually got a deluxe edition called "Yo! Noid 2: Game Of A Year
Edition"
 Chex Quest, a non-violent first-person shooter developed for personal computers in 1996 for the
Chex cereal brand. While the game was a total conversion of Doom, it is considered one of the
few advergames that was enjoyable to play.
 Pepsiman released for the PlayStation in 1999, was developed by KID only for release in Japan.
It focused the player on avoiding obstacles to save dehydrated people by bringing them a can of
Pepsi.

Characteristics and Benefits of Advergaming

1. It is not about putting up ads, but about including branding.
Advergaming does not consist of inserting advertising into any video game, such as when banners or
intermediate videos appear in video games. In advergaming, the brand is the main focus of the game:
everything revolves around some particularity of the company or its products or services.
2. Voluntary interaction is important.
Advergames provide a non-intrusive alternative to connect with the public. Users are those who enter to
play voluntarily and knowing that it is a game made by a brand.
3. Rewards for playing.
Although it is not a requirement, many times brands establish clear rewards for players: discounts, prizes
on products or services or incentives for purchases or subscriptions.
4. Improve brand awareness.
Advergames have been proven to increase brand awareness among users, which could be their biggest
advantage.
5. They work for any type of brand or product.
One of the great advantages of advergames is that they work for all industries and markets. It doesn’t
matter if you sell food, tires, beauty products, or legal advice. It all depends on the game you design and
if the users enjoy it.
6. Long-term results.
With traditional advertisements, people often forget about the products after the campaigns are over.
7. They work for a wide variety of demographic groups.
A few years ago it was believed that video game campaigns only attracted young men. But in 2021 this
myth was displaced: multiple studies have shown that advergames manage to reach diverse demographic
groups, as long as proper research is done prior to game design.

Drawbacks of Advergaming
● It can be expensive.: Although today developing a mobile video game is much cheaper than before,
advergaming and mobile advertising campaigns can be expensive.
● It requires a lot of creativity.: We all know that users are not going to be interested in a game if it is not
as fun or if it looks a lot like the hundreds of games they have already played over and over again.
● Requires promotion.: Even if a brand has created a good game, if they don’t promote it enough their
efforts can be wasted. That is why it is necessary to develop a separate marketing campaign for the game.

Social Concerns regarding Advergaming

1. Protection for children: Because video games generally draw significant interest from minors,
there are ethical and legal concerns around advergames. Whereas adults generally can recognize
and resist persuasive advertising in games, younger children may not recognize that an
advergame is a form of advertising and can be drawn in by statements made by the game.
2. False advertising: Advergames can violate laws established related to truth in advertising.
Making false claims, even if in language not intended to be advertising, in advergames can result
in penalties and fines by the national or regional consumer protection agencies.
3D Printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD
model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited,
joined or solidified under computer control, with material being added together (such as plastics, liquids
or powder grains being fused), typically layer by layer.

Benefits of 3D printing
1. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing has rapidly gained importance in the field of engineering
due to its many benefits. Some of these benefits include enabling faster prototyping, reducing
manufacturing costs, increasing product customization, and improving product quality.
2. Furthermore, the capabilities of 3D printing have extended beyond traditional manufacturing,
with applications in renewable energy systems.3D printing technology can be used to produce
battery energy storage systems, which are essential for sustainable energy generation and
distribution.
3. Another benefit of 3D printing is the technology's ability to produce complex geometries with
high precision and accuracy. This is particularly relevant in the field of microwave engineering,
where 3D printing can be used to produce components with unique properties that are difficult to
achieve using traditional manufacturing methods.
General principles
1. Modeling
3D printable models may be created with a computer-aided design (CAD) package, via a 3D scanner, or
by a plain digital camera and photogrammetry software. 3D printed models created with CAD result in
relatively fewer errors than other methods. Errors in 3D printable models can be identified and corrected
before printing. The manual modeling process of preparing geometric data for 3D computer graphics is
similar to plastic arts such as sculpting. 3D scanning is a process of collecting digital data on the shape
and appearance of a real object, creating a digital model based on it.
CAD models can be saved in the stereolithography file format (STL), a de facto CAD file format for
additive manufacturing that stores data based on triangulations of the surface of CAD models.

2. Printing
Before printing a 3D model from an STL file, it must first be examined for errors. Most CAD applications
produce errors in output STL files, of the following types:

 holes
 faces normals
 self-intersections
 noise shells
 manifold errors
 overhang issues
A step in the STL generation known as "repair" fixes such problems in the original model. Generally
STLs that have been produced from a model obtained through 3D scanning often have more of these
errors as 3D scanning is often achieved by point to point acquisition/mapping. 3D reconstruction often
includes errors.

3. Finishing
Though the printer-produced resolution and surface finish are sufficient for some applications, post-
processing and finishing methods allow for benefits such as greater dimensional accuracy, smoother
surfaces, other modifications such as coloration.
Surface finish of a 3D printed part can be improved using subtractive methods such as sanding and bead
blasting. When smoothing parts that require dimensional accuracy, it is important to take into account the
volume of the material being removed.