Electronic commerce: development, use, prospects

Every day, mankind is increasingly beginning to use information technology. To do this, it uses the Internet. Today almost all organizations open their websites in this system. Do not stand aside and ordinary citizens. They have their own pages in various social networks.

The Internet is an open system with an extensive audience, which allows for completely new interactions between users. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that it began to be widely used for conducting electronic business. This is a completely new level not only of market and economic, but also social and cultural relationships between organizations and people.

History of creation

Electronic business is the integration of legal entities and individuals that work in the field of e-commerce. All of them are united in a network of business. To date, such a system is formed at the level of the entire world's Internet.

What is e-commerce? Unlike e-business, this concept has a narrower meaning. It implies the use of the Internet as an information channel for the purpose of organizing business processes. In this case, there is no traditional "money-commodity" scheme. It is replaced by "information-information".

Electronic commerce is nothing more than online shopping. And this kind of activity appeared in those times when humanity was not familiar with the Internet. This happened in 1979, when the American Michael Aldrich decided to tie the computer and cable television into a single whole. For this he used fixed telephone lines. This technology allowed users to order products that were displayed on the screen. And it was not until 1990 that Tim Behrens invented the first browser. After this, e-business and e-commerce began to develop rapidly. So, in 1992, Charles Stuck opened the world's first online bookstore sales store. In 1994, Amazon.com began its work, and in 1995 - E-bay.

The development of e-commerce in Russia can be characterized by the following stages:

1. 1991-1993 During this period, the Internet is a means of communication only between academics, technical centers, computer specialists and government organizations.
2. 1994-1997 At that time, the population of the country is beginning to be actively interested in the possibilities of the worldwide network.
3. From 1998 to the present, electronic business and e-commerce are actively developing with the help of the Internet.

New opportunities

Enterprises that conduct their business along the traditional path are responsible for every stage of their activities. At the same time, they spend huge sums on the development of the product and its production, further delivery and sale of finished products. Large financial resources require and logistical support of the entire implementation process.

But now there was electronic commerce. She began a gradual transformation of the work of enterprises into a network of virtual organizations. And each of the members of this community had the opportunity to concentrate their activities on the most acceptable areas. This allowed us to make deliveries to consumers of the most complete production solution.

After the commerce of electronic, business has got new opportunities. With the help of this modern tool it became possible:

- organization of videoconferences;
- online training;
- development of new marketing models;
- creation of business information environment systems;
- obtaining a variety of information;
- implementation of financial interaction;
- development of new relationships between companies based on electronic technologies;
- Opening of new cheap channels;
- strengthening of cooperation;
- Support for alternative ideas;
- development of a new economy of production and purchase of goods.

The main tasks of trading on the Internet

The use of e-commerce involves:
- establishment of preliminary contacts with potential suppliers, customers and customers via the Internet;
- exchange of documents created in electronic form, which are necessary for the implementation of purchase and sale transactions;
- the sale of goods or services;
- pre-sale advertising of products and after-sales support of the buyer in the form of detailed briefings on the purchased product;
- electronic payment for the purchased goods using electronic money, transfers, credit cards and checks;
- delivery of products to the customer.

Business-to-business scheme

There are various types of e-commerce. And their classification implies a target group of consumers. One of the types of e-commerce is the "business-to-business" scheme, or B2B. Such interaction is carried out on a fairly simple principle. It consists in the fact that one enterprise trades with another.

Despite the fact that to date there are other types of e-commerce, B2B is the most actively developing direction with the best prospects. Thanks to Internet platforms, the whole process of trade becomes more operational and transparent. At the same time, the representative of the enterprise-customer has the opportunity to perform interactive monitoring of the entire process of performing works, providing services or delivering goods. To do this, he uses the databases of the vendor organization.

The peculiarity of the "business-business" model can be attributed to the fact that in this case, e-commerce is not possible without the fully automated interaction of organizations for carrying out entrepreneurial activities. And this has a very beneficial perspective. While doing business in the B2B sector, the enterprise simultaneously solves the problem of integrated automation of its internal management.

Trading platforms for the "business-business" scheme

In e-commerce there are special places where deals are concluded and corresponding financial transactions are carried out. These are the trading platforms, which in this case are virtual. They can be created:

- customers;
- sellers;
- the third party.

To date, for the B2B model, there are three types of trading platforms. This is a stock exchange, auction and catalog. Let us consider them in more detail.

The creation of the catalog promotes the use of those search capabilities that modern information systems possess. In this case, the buyer has the right to compare and select the goods at the price, delivery date, guarantees, etc. Catalogs are used in those industries where deals on the sale of inexpensive goods are most frequent, as well as where demand is predictable, and prices are changed very rarely.

As for the auction, for this model of the trading platform are characterized by non-fixed prices. The final cost of the goods is set in the bidding process. Auctions are used when the goods or services being sold are unique in their kind. These can be rare items or capital equipment, stockpiles, etc.

The third type of virtual trading platform - the exchange - is characterized by the fact that the prices offered by it are regulated by supply and demand, and therefore subject to strong changes. This model is the best suited for the realization of common objects with several easily standardized characteristics. The exchange is most attractive for those markets where prices and demand are unstable. In some cases, such a model allows anonymous trading, which is sometimes important for maintaining competitiveness and price stability.

Experts predict good prospects for e-commerce using this model. First of all, such sales are beneficial to customers. After all, trade takes place on a corporate commercial portal without intermediaries. In addition, for such a trading platform is characterized by the work of one seller with a large number of buyers.

Recently, new varieties of sales models have appeared in the B2B sector. This is a catalog system that combines several sellers. Begin to work and electronic platforms, combining the features of the exchange and the auction. Such e-commerce reduces time and financial expenses for the selection and search of the best products, as well as for the formalization of the transaction between the buyer and the seller.

The "business-consumer" scheme

E-commerce, built on the principle of B2C, finds its application in the case when the clients of the enterprise are not legal, but individuals. Usually it is the retail sale of goods. This way of making a commercial transaction is beneficial to the client. It makes it possible to significantly speed up and simplify the purchase of the right thing for him. A person does not need to visit shops. It is enough for him to study the characteristics of the goods on the seller's website, select the model and order the product, which will be delivered to the requested address.

E-commerce in the Internet under the scheme "business-consumer" is beneficial to the supplier. He has the opportunity to quickly track demand, while at the same time spending minimal resources for the maintenance of personnel.

Under the B2C scheme, there are traditional online stores. Their activities are aimed at one or another target group of consumers. Since 2010, the so-called social commerce has appeared and began to develop. It covers the sale of services and goods in social networks.

One of the largest enterprises working on the B2C model is the American company Amazon.com. It carries out retail trade of books and has more than one million customers in all countries of the world. Using the "business-consumer" scheme, the company equalized access to the goods between customers of different states. And at the same time it does not matter where the customer lives, in a large city or in a remote region.

Trading platforms for the "business-consumer" scheme

In the B2C sector, the product is sold through:

- electronic shops and shopping arcades;
- Web-showcases;
- specialized Internet systems;
- Auctions.

Consider these trading platforms in more detail. E-commerce companies of medium and small businesses are usually conducted through online stores. These virtual sites are nothing more than company websites. A more complex structure is the Internet series. Several virtual shops are located at the same time.

Electronic commerce in Russia is often conducted through small Web-shop windows. These trading rows are usually owned by small businesses. The main elements of such sites are catalogs or price lists, which describe the product or service itself, as well as a system for collecting orders received from customers.

Trading Internet systems (TIS) are used by large holdings, companies and corporations. Such virtual sites allow enterprises to increase the efficiency of the supply and marketing service, and also to build the most rational logistical chains for providing the production process with raw materials, materials, equipment, etc.

Many organizations use special Web sites when conducting e-commerce. On them any seller can expose his goods at the original price. Such Web sites are electronic auctions. Buyers interested in purchasing a product can specify a higher price for it. As a result, the seller enters into a deal with the organization that is willing to pay more.

The consumer-consumer scheme

The development of e-commerce led to the emergence of C2C transactions. They are committed between consumers who are not entrepreneurs. With this e-commerce scheme, sellers post their offers on special Internet sites, which are something in between the usual market-low-volume and newspaper ads. For example, in the US, ebay.com is such a provider. This is the third party that allows consumers to enter into any transactions in real time. And they pass directly on the Internet and have the format of an electronic auction. The C2C model has become very popular to date. Customers at the same time are pleased with the prices for goods, which are lower than in stores.

Other schemes

What else can electronic commerce be? In addition to the most common schemes described above, there are several others. They are not very popular, but they are used in a number of specific cases. Thus, the use of e-commerce has become possible with the interaction of both legal entities and individuals with state structures. This concerns filling out questionnaires and collecting taxes, working with customs structures, etc. Such forms of interaction became possible only with the development of Internet technologies.

A significant advantage of such an e-commerce scheme is the simplification of the work of civil servants and the release of payers from part of the paperwork.

Basic rules for entrepreneurs

The fundamentals of e-commerce should be known to everyone who wants to have their own business based on information technology. There are certain simple rules that should be a kind of multiplication table for any seller. Anyone who wishes to become a winner in competition must:

- Create a user-friendly site, optimized for search engines;
- Turn your visitors into buyers;
- Carry out marketing actions that will make it possible to popularize the site on the Internet;
- analyze the statistics of sales.

Prospects for the development of e-commerce

To date, Russia has certain factors that have a significant impact on the development of EC. Among them:

- a large length of the territory of the country, requiring a reduction in the impact of the currently available restrictions on the sale of goods that are related to the remoteness of market entities;
- the importance of enhancing the integration process for the merger of Russian business with global information and economic processes;
- the problem of reducing trade costs, which would allow our products to become competitive on the world market;
- the need for more careful control over the sale of goods of enterprises and fiscal bodies themselves;
- the importance of the dynamic development of the technological base of organizations with the introduction of the most modern computer science tools.

The development of EC in Russia is promoted by the traditionally high level of higher education. In addition, the country's financial authorities have already developed the latest banking technologies, the use of which allows for remote servicing of customers by banks . Security of e-commerce in Russia provides available technical solutions. They assume the use of means providing cryptographic protection of information provided by participants in virtual trades.

But in our country there are some problems of e-commerce. Thus, the process of development of virtual trade is significantly slowed down because of:

- the low level of culture of new market relations for us;
- imperfection of the legislative base;
- a high degree of monopolization of the economy;
- insufficient development of the infrastructure of commodity markets;
- imperfection of the system of credit and financial relations.