ISIRR 2003 Hunedoara, Romania, 2003

TERMINOLOGY OF E-COMMERCE

Marina KATIĆ

UNIVERSITY OF NOVI SAD

FACULTY OF TECHNICAL SCIENCES
TRG D. OBRADOVIĆA 6, 21000 NOVI SAD
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO
E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT:

Entering the third millennium, we are witnessing one of the most important
changes to our daily lives - the move to an Internet based society. As a result, much
has changed at home, school, work. One of the most significant changes is how we
conduct business. In that sense, appearance of e-commerce (also known as e-
business), which in fact involves the process of buying, selling, or exchanging
products, services and information via computer networks becomes one of the most
investigated phenomena of the last decade. It is analyzed in relation to many
disciplines such as law, politics, software engineering, sociology, international
relations, business, economics, security, linguistics and so on.
In this paper, special attention will be paid to development of new e-commerce
terminology from linguistics point of view. As a consequence of digital revolution
there are a lot of terms in the field of e-commerce such as brick-and mortar, B2B,
B2C, B2E, EDI, Extranet, Intranet, mobile commerce, virtual communities, and so on
which should be collected, considered and studied. The aim of this paper is to show
that people will not understand e-commerce properly if they are not familiar with e-
commerce terminology.

KEY WORDS:

E-commerce, B2B, B2C, Extranet, Intranet, Virtual communities

1. INTRODUCTION

Since importance of the Internet grows rapidly in the fields of human life,
including not only research and education but also marketing and trade (a part of
which is e-commerce), it becomes more and more important to know how to use
Internet services and as a part of that to write and read English well. In case of lack
of English knowledge you may find yourself isolated on the Internet. In that sense,
using of proper Internet terminology (mostly written in English) becomes one of the
most significant things for surviving in a world of rapid and continuous change.
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2. ENGLISH AS THE MAIN LANGUAGE ON THE INTERNET

“Generally speaking, English is the universal language on the Internet, but it has
no official status and it will never have.” [1]. The main reasons for this status are the
imperialism and economical and political importance of English speaking countries.
Linguistically, English, as a national language is extremely unsuitable for international
communication. There are several reasons for that. For example national languages
exist in various dialects and forms, sometimes they are even mutually unintelligible,
but the differences always make communication harder. A national language carries
with it the history of the nation. Words and phrases have got in addition to their
dictionary meanings, connotations, colors and associations. From international
communication point of view it is a burden. Due to their long history national
languages have historical relics and features, which make them illogical and
irrational, such as grammatical gender or irregular forms. Moreover, being originally
spoken language it lacks sufficient tools for expressing things in an exact,
unambiguous manner. The need for such expression is immense, especially in the
field of business and trade. Nevertheless, English remains universal language of
Internet because no alternatives (like constructed language) have been promoted.

3. ABOUT E-COMMERCE

This digital revolution is believed to impact us as much as the Industrial

Revolution did, or even more. The Internet usage is estimated to reach approximately
a billion people in the near future. One of the reasons for this popularity lies in the
fact that people are delighted with buying opportunities online offered by e-
commerce. The convenience is overwhelming in many respects. People can shop
on-line 24 hours a day, from almost any location, products and services availability is
increasing and quick delivery is enabled. With e-commerce, each product that a
company produces can be offered to everyone that can access ordering web site, or
ordering line in the phone system. Without having to actually produce these products
to keep shelved, companies will be able to lower production cost, preventing
overproduction of products that they won’t be able to sell.
Consequently the appearance of e-commerce, which actually refers to buying
and selling of goods or services over the Internet, has become a social trend.

4. E-COMMERCE KEY TERMS

The terminology of e-commerce is defined so as to explain how the people

name and classify transactions and activities being referred to by this area. The best
explanation of the most important e-commerce terms and phrases is given in [2]
where all definitions seem to be like a standard. In fact, it is an insight into the world
of digital economy, based on digital technologies, including digital communication
networks, computers, software and other related information technologies.
The interpretation of e-commerce key terms and their definitions will be the
main task of this paper.
It is well known that electronic commerce can take several forms depending on
the degree of digitalization of the product sold, the process and the delivery agent.
Pure physical organizations (corporations) are referred to as brick-and-mortar or old
economy organizations, whereas pure EC organizations are considered pure online
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virtual organizations. Click –and-mortar organizations are those that conduct

some e-commerce activities, yet their primary business is done in the physical word.
EC can be classified by the nature of the transaction or relationship among
participants. The following types of EC are distinguished:
▪ (B2B) Business–to–business: All of the participants in business-to business
e-commerce are businesses or other organizations. Today most EC is B2B.
▪ (B2C) Business-to-consumer: It includes retail transactions from business to
individual shoppers. This EC is also called e-tailing
▪ (B2B2C) Business-to-business-to-consumer: enables some product or
service to a client business. The client business maintains its own customers
to whom the product or service is provided.
▪ (C2B) Consumer-to-business: This category involves individuals, who use
the Internet to sell products or services to organizations, as well as individuals
who seek sellers to bid on products or services they need.
▪ (C2C) Consumer-to consumer: In this category consumers sell directly to
other consumers. . The best examples are individuals who are selling
residential property, cars and so on in online classified ads. It also includes
advertisement of personal services over the Internet and the selling of
knowledge and expertise online. A special type of C2C is where people
exchange music, videos, software and other digitizable goods electronically
using a peer-to-peer (P2P).
▪ (M-commerce) Mobile commerce: Operations of this category involve
transactions conducted in a wireless environment. M-commerce transactions
targeted to individuals in specific locations in specific times are called location
commerce (l-commerce).
▪ Intrabusiness (organizational) EC: This category includes all internal
organizational activities that involve the exchange of goods, services or
information among various units and individuals in that organization. Intra-
business EC is usually performed on intranets.
▪ (B2E) Business-to-employees: This category is a subset of intra-business
activities in which the organization deliveries services, information, or products
to individual employees.
▪ (C-commerce) Collaborative commerce: It is applied when individuals or
groups communicate online. For example, business partners may jointly
forecast market demand.
▪ Non-business EC: There are a lot of non-business institutions such as
academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, religious organizations,
social organizations and government agencies using EC to reduce their
expenses or to improve their general operations and customer service.
▪ E-government: (G2C) Government to citizens and to others: In e-
government EC, a government entity buys or provides goods, services or
information to businesses or individual citizens.
▪ (E2E) Exchange–to-exchange: This category describes a public electronic
market with many buyers and sellers. In fact, it is a formal system that
connects exchanges.
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There are also a lot of new terms in the field of payments online. The
overwhelming majority of Web payments (B2C payments) are made with payment
cards (usually credit cards,) not with digital cash. One innovation in online credit
cards is a virtual credit card. It is an e-payment system in which a credit card issuer
gives out a special transaction number that can be used online in place of regular
credit card numbers. Purchasing cards are used for B2B.They are special-purpose
payment cards issued to a company’s employees to be used solely for purchasing
non-strategic materials and services up to a present dollar limit. Smart cards look
like plastic payment card but they are distinguished by the presence of an embedded
microchip that enables predefined operations or the addition, deletion or manipulation
of information on the card. Smart cards can be categorized by the way in which data
are downloaded and read from the card. There are two major types of smart cards.
The first type is a contact card. That is a smart card containing a small gold plate on
the face that when inserted in a smart-card reader makes contact and so passes
data to and from the embedded microchip. The second type is the contact less
(proximity) card, which is fact a smart card with an embedded antenna, by means of
which data and applications are passed to and from a card reader unit or other
device.
Electronic payments (e-payments) are another payment option. In fact it is a
transfer of payment from one person or party to another person or party over a
network without face to-face-interaction. They are used as alternatives to credit cards
when small amounts are in question and they are grouped into four categories:
ƒ e-cash and micro payments,
ƒ stored value cards,
ƒ e-loyalty and rewards programs, and
ƒ person-to-person (P2P) payments.

E-cash is the digital equivalent of paper currency and coins, which enables
secure and anonymous purchase of low-priced items.
Micro payments are small payments, usually under $10.
Stored-value cards involve visa cash (sponsored by Visa) and mondex
(sponsored by Mondex, a subsidiary of MasterCard), which are designed to handle
small purchases or micro payments.
E-loyalty and rewards programs are used to generate repeat business. The
currency used by loyalty programs is electronic script. It is a form of electronic
money, issued by a third party as a part of loyalty program. Consumers at
participating stores can use it.
Person-to-person payments involve one of the newest and fastest-growing e-
payment schemes, enabling the transfer of funds between two individuals.
Intranet is an internal corporate or government network that uses Internet tools,
such as Web browsers and Internet protocols.
Extranet is a network that uses the Internet to link multiple intranets.
Virtual communities involve groups of individuals linked on the Internet.
The ability to define terminology reduces ambiguity, improves consistency and
makes e-commerce operations more precise. In order to get the most qualitative
terminology it is necessary to be aware of the interdisciplinary nature of of EC.
After brief overview of EC infrastructure it can be observed that EC is based on
several different disciplines, which are mutually interrelated (Fig.1) [3].

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Fig.1 – The interrelated disciplines of EC [3].

For example, economists are needed to understand the myriad of marketplace

and financial considerations that shape the business environment. Social scientists
are needed to understand the behaviors of consumers and organizational entities
competing in the new economy. Computer scientists, information technology
specialists are needed to understand the electronic and informational linkages
among the infrastructures. Linguistics as a science is necessary to take into account
the interdisciplinary nature of e-commerce and find appropriate solutions for rather
complex terminology, which requires continuous updating and unambiguous
identification of entities.
Consequently, terminology of e-commerce must provide business transactions
without ambiguity and uncertainty, which are not desired from legal, commercial
consumer and information technology perspectives.

5. CONCLUSION

As the universal language on the Internet, English has a leading role in the
usage of e-commerce, which rapidly developed thanks to development of new
technologies. Naturally, along with new technologies comes new terminology,
which involves terminologists’ adaptation to the new technological environment.
Consequently systematic approach to Internet terminology will have to be developed,
bringing to light the underlying linguistic nature of terminology as well as socio-
terminological aspects.

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Having in mind the fact that EC is a new field, based on several different
disciplines, the development of new terminology should be a group activity with
interaction between terminologists, subject matter experts, and direct and indirect
users of the terminology. In that sense, it will be possible to create networks for
producing and sharing information, transcending national and geographical
boundaries, because it is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

6. REFERENCES

1. Jukka KORPELA, “Human Languages: English – the universal language on the

Internet ?”, Internet edition – www.cs.tut.fi, 2003.
2. Efraim TURBAN and David KING, “Introduction to E-Commerce”, Prentice Hall –
Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA, 2003.
3. Stuart FELDMAN, “The Objects of E-Commerce”, OOPSLA’99, Denver, Nov.
1999.

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