Growing business online

Every business is unique and they have their specific target and strategy to be successful in achieving their goal. To be successful in online business one has to monitor the competitors, trend, demand of the current time and many more things need to be observed and adapt as necessary.

The following video is about online book sellers who are doing great business by using the business platform through internet.

The video shows that the main thing what they are focusing for business is the following:

1. Who is your target audience: the actual audience who are the product prepared for and by which the actual goal of and the enterprise can be succeed.

2. What is your business product and competitive: The main thing of the internet business is product which has to attract customer. The competition makes it tougher to run business and the price, quality of product has to be maintained to survive from the competitor’s effect.

3. Social networks: Social network has been playing a great role now days. Face book, twitter etc social media provides a big help to run business through online and it connects the people to introduce the best product and services.

4. Mobile marketing: The world is getting more advance and people prefer to do business just using their smart phone from anywhere in the world. User friendly software and attractive websites can gain more customers in less time.

Reference:

www.youtube.com

 

SUCCESSFUL E-BUSINESS PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Management refers as "the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.  Successful e-business project management means the combinations of discipline of initiating executing, planning and managing resources with the goal of completing specific deliverables within time and budget.  Thus, successful e-business adequate and effective project management is required because if is all about making the project happen.

For every organization, successful e-business project management is required to achieve its goal in its field.  The journey is a never ending adventure, which brings unforeseen challenges each day.  Nothing is more perilous than shepherding a technology project.  Business owners who assume they have no stake in the projects, so the technology requested, designed and delivered is never exactly according to necessity in the end.  Therefore, such needs are either identified early in a project or later in a project.
 For a successful e-business, project management should be made more flexible to keep pace with business and IT.

"The secret to successful project management at any level of business is building windows early and then continually peering into these windows to check the progress and look for problem."

For the successful e-business, the proper project management is required in which the business should identify the technical team and the individual requirement of a system are defined.  For successful project management the business should be careful towards their envision.  The entire project from start to finish and also must have prowess to realize this vision.  Ongoing planning, keep improving your project management practice, open communication without losing sight of the time, budget and quality.  Healthy risk management, etc. are certain major rules for highly successful project management is key to a:  e-business.  The progress of an e-business system under development is monitored by interacting with the way the final end-users should.  For example – developing of new website portal for customers to login, place orders, view their account and track shipments.

For successful business organization business owner should handle new requirements to identify them and keep a "wish list" for later in the project in the better way and skills.

In summary, the business owner should work with the system hands-on to see if it performs as expected and also needs some important consideration like,
1.  Identification of the primary e-business system requirement.
2.  Project success occurs when it is delivers on time within budget, with a level of deliverables that are satisfactory to the client.  Therefore, I agree on a budge, responsibilities and a timeline is essential.
3.  Verification of e-business system satisfies.
4.  Avoiding scope creeps!  identifying the additional needs and saving them for successive phase.

References:

Mical Curry. 2010. Successful eBusiness Project Management. [ONLINE] Available at: http://michaelcurry.com/Default.aspx?p=82&n=How-to-Successfully-Manage-an-eBusiness-Project  . [Accessed 30 May 12].

LIMITATIONS OF E-BUSINESS

E-business is the use of electronic, computing and internet-based technologies, which are run and operated over the internet.  To achieve goal or any business organization, e-business plays essential role which changes business designs and traditional revenue models.  In today's world, they are very popular business model because of their low overhead costs and easy marketing practices.  However, there are certain limitations for e-business.

Sectoral Limitations

Among other limitations, Sectoral Limitations are one where there are certain lucrative markets that cannot be served through a computer.  For example, e-business cannot offer such services as food processing, hair dressing or dog walking.

Security Questions Limitations

E-business also has Security Question Limitations.  Security questions are surfer than trying to verify callers' identity over the phone.  Although some times some customers refuse to make large purchases from e-business because of security concerns and also they fear identity theft or fraud online information security varies between and within countries.

Available Customers Limitations

E-business has available customers limitations where e-business can sell its products only to such customers who have access to a computer and credit or debit card account.  Available customers limitation refers that the customers around the world having low income are not reachable by e-business.

References:

Limitations of E-Business | eHow.com. 2012. Limitations of E-Business | eHow.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ehow.com/facts_7365688_limitations-e_business.html. [Accessed 30 May 2012].

TYPE OF E-BUSINESS MODELS

E-Business models means to the methods that a company employs to grow into a profitable web-based business.  The component of an e-business model concerns the overall principle behind the company's formation.  It also describes how an organization operates and provides types of products or services to the customers, strategies for generating revenue plans for market penetration and plans for technology development.  It also demonstrates how the company makes profit.  In addition, E-business models include business activities, resources and core capabilities.

However, there are different types of e-business modes which are discussed in the below
include:

               
Brokerage Model

Brokerage Model means to bring buyers and sellers together and facilitate transactions.  Here, brokers plays a frequent role in consumer to consumer, consumer to business, or business to business markets.  This model earns money by charging a fee or commission for use.  Some examples of such sites including Ebay, Etsy And Amazon.

Infomediary Model

Infomediary Model deals with capturing and sharing information.  Data about consumers and their consumption habits are valuable, and their products.  Independently collected data about producers and their products are useful to consumers when considering a purchase.  Some companies may have website user to register to gain access to the information on website.  However, this is a common technique.  This model also provides consumers incentive, such as, coupons or points to patronize certain businesses and who collects data to sell for target advertising campaigns.

Advertising Model

The advertising e-business models is an extension of traditional media broadcast model.  This model provides a combination of content and ads.  This business may offer free or paid services, such as email, blogs or instant messaging.  Generally, this model has banner or text ads.  The advertising model only works when the volume of viewer traffic is large or highly specialized.

Affiliate Model

Whenever people surf on the web, this model provides purchase opportunities.  The affiliate provides purchase-point dick-through to the merchant.  The affiliate receives a commission when a surfer clicks on the link and buy through which companies get benefit because of reducing customer acquisition costs.               

References:

Type of eBusiness Models | eHow.com. 2012. Type of eBusiness Models | eHow.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ehow.com/info_8229765_type-ebusiness-models.html. [Accessed 30 May 2012].

History of E-business

With the advent of the World Wide Web (WWW), or the "web," traditional business organizations that had relied on catalog sales had a new sales vector. Other businesses found that the web was a good place to put customer service information, such as manuals and drivers, as well as a place to help create a consistent corporate image. As the web developed, a number of Internet-based businesses developed, including companies like eBay and Amazon, and web-based information repositories like eHow.

History of E-business

1. • Birth of Modern Web Sales

     Developments in server technology, including the ability to build websites from product databases, resulted in creation of large Internet-only businesses like eBay and Amazon. In previous product-sales websites, each product had to be manually posted on a web page. With database-driven sites, companies could use web-page templates to display tens of thousands of products on-the-fly. As the number of available products increased, so did traffic and sales on these websites.

   Payment System Advances

   • Early SSL implementations were good, but many people still did not trust them to secure credit card payment information. In addition, it was too expensive to process micropayments -- payments of less than a dollar -- through traditional credit card systems. As a result, a number of micropayment sites came and went. One has remained and has done very well because of its ability to transfer money from a variety of funding sources, including credit cards and bank accounts, without revealing the payer's credit card information to the merchant. That company is PayPal. PayPal has enabled credit card processing by many small businesses that would otherwise not be eligible for a traditional credit card merchant account.

   Dot-Com Bubble of 2001

   • Problems with customer confidence began in the late 1990s. Notable denial of service (DOS) attacks on prominent websites made customers worry that their credit card data might not be safe. Throughout this period, online businesses received large capital investments via Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), and saw their stock selling at prices far above the actual value of their companies. Many companies had good ideas but poor business plans, and speculators bid up the prices of stocks in Internet companies. The initial blows came as some on-line companies began reporting large losses and investors began examining the viability of online business plans. Fearful investors started to sell their stocks, causing the overinflated stock prices to plummet below their actual value. A number of well-known companies closed, such as eToys. Many other companies that lacked solid business plans failed between 2001 and 2002.

   The Current State of E-Business

   • Currently, e-business ranges from simple sites providing corporate information to sites offering goods and services for sale online. Innovative uses for new voice and video communication technologies include online language tutoring. Large commercial information repositories are growing and use of the Internet for research is now common. Online sales from web-based storefronts continue to grow. Sales of digital information, in the form of eBooks and digital music files, are more recent offerings by e-businesses like Apple, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

     
     

     reference:

     www.ehow.com

Why is e-business important for your business?

The need for online adaptation has come as the competitive environment and customer demands have changed. The internet has created a more level playing field, where competition has increased and has given consumers more bargaining power than ever. They can now comparison shop with just a click and this takes advantage of an open marketplace where substitute products are readily available.

By re-thinking your business to take advantage of new technologies and communication channels, you are able to look at improving the effectiveness of your marketing, building brand awareness, creating competitive advantage, enhancing customer service and tapping into a much bigger prospect base.

e-business is a critical concept for today’s small business as it can:

Expand your customer base by providing your current customers with another purchase channel, and opening up opportunities for your business to attract new customers.

Increase your visibility and strengthen your brand, especially as consumers are increasingly researching products and services on the Internet prior to purchase. Your website can be a wonderful tool for both local and global markets.

Remove the barriers of time and distance, allowing potential buyers to visit your website at any time of day and night to. Unlike your ‘real’ office or warehouse, your online store is open for business 24/7, allowing your customers the freedom to shop at a time that suits them, wherever they are located.

Provide customers with valuable information about your businessby showcasing your products and services and allowing them to purchase goods, ask questions and receive further information quickly and easily. And it can generate qualified leads for your business too.

Reduce the costs for the customer because the direct cost-of-sale for an order taken through a website is lower than traditional means.

Enable more buying opportunities for niche products.  Niche products often appeal to a much smaller market but the Internet opens up the marketplace to a global audience.

Enhance customer service by providing more efficient and timely advice, fulfilment of orders and problem resolution.

Reduce marketing and advertising costs because Internet marketing can be highly targeted to your specific customer base. This can provide a higher return on investment than traditional media advertising and the results can be more easily measured.

Keep an eye on your marketplace. Small business owners can quickly gather intelligence on their competitors’ promotional activities and discover what the market is saying about them.

Engage & build communities which increase customer loyalty, help you learn more about your customers and provide a valuable source of qualified leads.

Provide overall operational benefits by streamlining processes, improving delivery times, reducing errors, decreasing inventory and generally reducing both the time and personnel required to complete normal business activities.

In effect, e-business can help reduce costs and free up cash flow.

successful e-business

successfull e-business


E bay is one of the most successful and most prominent online marketing system in the world.

E bay was founded on Sept 5, 1995 by the French Iranian, born American computer programmer Pierre- Omidyar.

One of the first item sold in e bay was broken laser point for $14.83.From that very day e bay has auctioned and sold millions of goods and items in different parts of the globe.

E bay has a very short history, within this short pace of time e bay has emerged from one of the most leading e business in the world today.

Even listed in NASDAQ it is one of the most dominant brand in the world when it comes to the online business.

With the revenue of 11.651 billion in 2011 it is widely recognised as one of the most profitable brand when it comes to online marketing.

Millions of computers, electronic items, vehicles, furnishings, equipment, domain names are listed or sold daily on e bay with billions of profit.

It has very interesting marketing strategy and have drawn attention of almost all kind of traders around the world.

E bay has very strict rules and regulations when it comes to the auction, list or sell of goods, that fairly applies to all e bay users.

In the starting days it was very unregulated, but due to its rapid growth and reputation & following the criticism of some illegal products started trading through e bay it is highly regulated nowadays.

Strict regulations has been imposed in order to discourage illegal trading through ebay.

As the e bay is huge publicly visible market, it has created lots of curiosity to economists too, due to its buying and selling behaviour and auction format.


Ref:- articales and news

TECHNOLOGY NEEDED FOR E-BUSINESS

Technology is quite a broad term. It refers specifically to the knowledge, processes and products of technological activity. Technology plays a vital role in e-business. Nowadays, e-business is highly available technology which is useful for all types of business Organization. The effective technologies changes the way businesses are operated people work. Thus many businesses today are using internet technologies to web-enable business processes and create innovative e-business applications. Technology also help in playing its role in satisfying the customer demand and maximizing the revenues for the company.

 E-business essentially combines all the facets of commercial trade with the aid of electronic technology,the most popular among others is the internet. technology plays significant role in e-business because it provides virtual setting for an entrepreneur to succeed. Technology is the best media available in conducting an e-business which includes the internet, e-banking, electronic payment system and online publishing.

INTERNET: e-business commonly referred to as an internet business. In this modern world the internet plays importance role in e-business because it provides an opportunity for manufacturers to display goods and services inexpensively. It also helps to meet clients and entrepreneurs. In general sense, e-business is a term used to describe businesses run on the internet or utilizing internet technologies to improve the productivity of business.

E-BANKING

E-Banking commonly referred to an Electronic-Banking.  It is also known as electronic fund transfer (EFT), which is used of electronic means to transfer funds directly from one account to another 24 hours a day.  It can also be used for electronic fund transfer too.  Some important activities like work of automated teller machines, pay-by phone systems, debit card purchase transactions and electronic-check conversions are crucial in an e-business.

ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEM:

Electronic payment system is the process of financial exchange online, which is only possible with credit cards or electronic checks.  Electronic Payment System is essential in making business more profitable by providing with the best merchant processing services.  It provides complete point of sale merchant processing payment solutions for all business types.

ONLINE PUBLISHING

In online publishing, the entrepreneur uses a computer and prescribed software to produce and publish electronically, which means savings of the cost and production for publishing.  Through online publishing, it is useful in making information available for use over computer networks.  it refers to the actual mechanics of putting material on the internet.  Traditional publishing makes printing books, magazines, newsletters and other printed materials.  It is useful to cover the infrastructure of internet marketing.  It also enables internet users to view the products quickly on the web.

References:

Technology Needed for E Business | eHow.com. 2012. Technology Needed for E Business | eHow.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ehow.com/list_6962467_technology-needed-business.html. [Accessed 29 May 2012].

Etoro for currency trading

There are too many businesses which are doing well through the internet. For currency trading there are thousands of brokers with different platform and facility for customers. Some provide deposit bonus around 30 to 50% on first deposit to trade currency.

Etoro is one of the good platforms for the people who want to trade currency through the internet business. Etoro has web trading platform and mobile platform for android only and they are trying to build application for i-phone and i-pad also very soon. This is an excellent way of doing e-business.

Etoro is providing the following benefit to a new comer:

• Free practice account with real time rates
• Up to $10,000 on your first deposit
• Personal trading coach and 1 on 1 trading sessions 
• No dealing desk 
• Tight spreads and no commissions
• 24/7 support by phone or live chat
• A VIP account with exclusive benefits
• Advanced Forex and commodities trading tools

Currency trading is becoming popular and the leverage system has made it more popular among the people of the world who want quick profit from small investment. On Forex market, people buy and sell currency where they can get profit or loss through the fluctuation in currency rate every day. The broker makes profit through the spread (difference between the buying and selling the particular currency). Either people buy or sell currency the broker make their profit through the spread rate anyway and even the currency trader loose or win money the broker always makes money from every trade a trader makes.

For the beginner, etoro provides chance to play with virtual money and when people get confidence then anyone can move to trade with real money. Copy trader is a most famous way of trading which etoro has just introduced few months back which helps anyone to choose a trader who is making good profit and copy them to trade the same thing what he/she trades and this copy trading idea is running so smoothly.

So, the internet has given many facilities for people who want to do business online. Like in etoro, the broker has created the effective platform on internet from which the other people of the world can make money by involving them to the currency trading market from where anyone can make money easily by following strategies to do profitable trading and can withdraw the winnings.

                                                      References:

               eToro (Europe) Ltd. 2006,viewed on 29 May 2012 <www.etoro.com >

                           E-business marketing strategies-Marketing- led business.

          

The term "Marketing is derived from the word market" which refers to a group of sellers and buyers that cooperate to exchange goods and services. According to the American Association, marketing is "The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organization objectives. e-business is the marketing led business refers to 4 "P's" -product, pricing, place, and promotion.

       Marketing wouldn't be complete without mentioning the emerging field of internet marketing. The internet has brought many unique benefits to marketing one of which being lower costs for the distribution of information and media to a global audience also fastest way to spread information to a vast number of people simultaneously. The market space model is a useful generic model that identifies these key features of e-business specially customer relationships. 

Because of the on-line nature of the internet, relationship between organization  and customers are becoming more interactive.   Successful e-marketing strategic fit the business style and characteristics. If strategy are made effective, It helps in guarantying long term success for the Organization.The main purpose of an e-marketing strategy is to generate a long term competitive advantage. It also plays major role in focusing on enhancing the performance by capitalizing on resources of enterprise and technology.Various actions may contribute to a successful  e-marketing campaign: from manual submission to search engines and directories, to building relationship with specialized portals or creating events.

Thus, In conclusion e-business marketing plays a vital role in building their sales by getting an access over the people across the world. Therefore proper attention must be given to the needs of end user. And to make e-business successful, proper e-marketing strategy should be formulated and implemented and according to the target market  and the proper marketing tools should be used.

References:

e-business marketing - Marketing-led business. 2012. e-business marketing - Marketing-led business. [ONLINE] Available at:http://tutor2u.net/ebusiness/ebusiness-marketing-marketing-led-business.html . [Accessed 28 May 2012]

e-business marketing - Marketing-led business. 2012. e-business marketing - Marketing-led business. [ONLINE] Available at:http://tutor2u.net/ebusiness/ebusiness-marketing-marketing-led-business.html. [Accessed 28 May 2012].

E-Business Background

The term “e-Business” (which, some say, was coined in and around 1997 by IBM) has now become quite a common term and used very often in business and information technology. In the early days, e-Business, used to mean any kind of business transaction conducted online using the internet such as – buying and selling of goodsor services, online money transactions, supplier-buyer collaborative systems, etc. E-commerce, which is any kind of online buying-selling, is also many times considered synonymous to e-business. However, in recent times, e-business is not restricted to e-commerce but any and all kind of online information exchange between different entities for various purposes.

Gradually, the e-Business term expanded to include any or all kind of online transactional or information exchange activities conducted for business and collaboration. This also includes, in some instances, transactions not just using the internet but using the intranet as well.

Types of e-Business Transactions

Business to Business (B2B)

Business transaction on internet for trade and information exchange such as buying and selling of goods or services for business. Ex – website for steel trade by steel manufacturing companies.

Business to Customer (B2C)

Retail selling websites such as Amazon.com or any such website which offers products and services for retailconsumers. Recently, “e-Tailing”, which is retailing on the web, is gaining more popularity across the world.

Government to Business (G2B)

Websites offering government or regulatory transactions between the Government / Government bodies and businesses such as – national centre for trade & information.

Government to Customer (G2C)

Transactions where common public would be transacting with Government related organizations such as websites for Income Tax where people can file their annual income tax returns.

Customer to Customer (C2C)

This includes websites allowing interaction, trade and information exchange between different individuals such as eBay. Of late, social and business networking websites are gaining tremendous popularity.

Components of e-Business set up

Just having a website is not enough for an e-Business set up. Following are some of key components which include enabling and supporting entities essential for successful e-Business transactions.

Provider

A provider of e-Business platform and services such as the e-Business Website is most crucial. This will include a corporate website or an intranet with IT literate people using this platform. The provider will be responsible for offering, administering and maintaining this website.

Partners

Business partners are essential for transactions to be completed, such as

• Banking institutions offering financial transaction services.
• Logistics companies offering administrative or transportation services.
• Authentication bodies providing transaction authentication services.

Purchasers

Customers or Users who will buy or use the e-Business website and services. Important point to note here is that the nature of products or services offered should be such that it provides an advantage to the buyer/user to do it online in an e-Transaction rather than physically doing it. Also, important is existence of group of people who have the mindset and willingness to do transactions online as compared to physically doing the same activity.

Government

Government plays a key role in providing a conducive environment for promotion of e-Business in the form of regulations, infrastructure, policies, people and providing business the will to undertake such e-Business activities.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure required for ease of e-Business operation includes availability of sufficient internet bandwidth to a large user base for carrying out e-Business transactions. This should be available at affordable and cheap prices such that users can afford to buy internet and carry out transactions on the web.

E-Business enabling Technologies

Packaged Solutions

There are a plethora of packaged solutions which enable e-Business operations starting from larger enterprise packages for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) or Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) to smaller and leaner packages for limited set of functions such as Email Applications, Peer-to-Peer computer networking software, etc. These packaged solutions are also customizable to a certain extent to suit the individual e-Business providing organization.

E-Business web development

On the other hand, most of the e-Business enablement is carried out by customized web applications built to address specific needs of the e-Business products or services. Typically, following are some of the common technology aspects that need to be considered while deciding and during development of e-Business website or web applications.

• Architecture of an e-Commerce system: Function and implementation of major system components (web servers, browsers, proxies, caches, databases); critical system properties (scalability, reliability, security, safety)
• Developing e-Commerce systems: Development team, development process
• Web data formats: XML, HTML, XHTML, WML, RSS and ways of transforming and displaying them
• Data modeling and storage: Relational database management systems (RDBMS); SQL; data warehousing
• Web Services: Introduction to the concept of web services and service-oriented architectures (SOA); XML and SOAP; web services description and discovery (WSDL, UDDI)
• Development tools and technologies: The Open-Source software stack (Apache, Tomcat, Axis); Microsoft .NET
• Advanced topics: Security and privacy, search engine technology.

Present Scenario

E-Business (aka e-Biz) is now a very familiar term with most businesses and people. This has now taken such a wide coverage and reach that it is no longer an alternate means of business transactions, but an integral part of any kind of business. Whatever be the business model, products or services, it is critical to have an online presence with some transaction opportunities to keep potential customers/user engaged. The term e-Biz now encompasses almost every opportunity, either commercial or interactional, and provides a wide range of choices of technologies and means to offer them.

E-Business models going forward through use of Open Source, Web 2.0 and m-Commerce

In recent times, Open Sources systems are available in the market, which provide the e-Business providers options to customize these systems to whatever extent they want. Also, the advent of Web 2.0 has just opened a host of other possibilities to customize e-Business systems in a very easy manner which can be used by a minimal IT literate population (example - wiki). Various business models such as SaaS (Software as a Service) are gaining popularity due to the flexibility offered with maximum customization, less cost and minimal system ownership. Furthermore, e-Business transactions are no longer limited to computers, but can also be transacted through mobile devices such as mobiles, PDAs, i-Phones and so on. Considering the leaps taken by technology and infrastructure, there are no limits to what form and shape would e-Business take in the years to come.